Cooking Exchange Part 2

Tonight my friend Emma and I cooked dinner for my host family!  We made curry beans with rice and salad.  The dish wasn't all that different from what we've been eating here on a regular basis, but it was so fun to cook again!  I'm excited to get to site and be able to cook for myself. Mozambican food usually has a TON of salt and MSG so it was great to eat some food with a different flavor.  My family said they liked the food, except that it needed more salt.  Of course.

Emma and my mae Gloria.  I don't know how Emma got away with kneeling on the floor.  The only time I did that my mae made it clear that was not the way to cook.  You have to keep your legs straight and bend from the hips.

Here, mae Gloria is demonstrating good cooking posture.  I am not.

Cooking on a charcoal stove.  A tip I learned today: if your charcoal stove isn't lighting, carry it outside so the wind will feed the fire for you.  It worked really well for us today!

How do you turn down the heat on a charcoal stove? You move a few coals over to the empty burner and place your pot there.  Presto: low heat!

Yum, dinner!  The electricity was out so we were eating by the light of my headlamp and a candle.

My sister Laiza enjoying the beans.

Emma approves.