Drawing water from shallow wells

Makala Commune

Photo update

Glo got some yucky stuff on her leg and show and so we stopped to ask for some water to wash it off.

Above and below: Missionaries heading to the Ivory Coast.

 

Making cassava flour.

Map of water projects.

Church building in Kinshasa and future temple site

Apartment 5B Valentine Bash

Traditional heart shaped meat loaf under construction. We made two this year since it was a party!  Usually the mashed potatoes stuffed inside the meat loaf are pink but um...no red food coloring in the Congo.

I know you are all lusting after the lovely table setting, pink and orange plastic flowered table cloth with magenta flowered Melamac (yup it still exists) plates.



Wonderful salad created by Howard and Sue Bybee (Public Affairs missionary couple)

Note:  Heart shaped pieces of red pepper! 



Fruit salad with red apples and craisins presented by Kathleen and Roy Sneddon (Mission President’s office couple).

Apartment 5B’s Valentine Bash grand finale created by Mark and Elaine Smith (Perpetual Education Fund Missionaries)- a homemade 4 layer red velvet cake  with a heart candle (found in Kinshasa no less)  Serious yumminess!

Heart shaped rolls hand made by Hugh and Marcy Matheson (New friends, land developers and attorney from Salt Lake City here for a visit).

The Temple construction advance team Dean Schick and Ryan Dain brought the drinks, they weren’t red nor pink but they were yummy.  A mixture of ginger beer (non alcoholic of course this is a bunch of Mormon’s here)  Orange Fanta, Sprite and a few drops of bitters.  Give it a try.  Recipe courtesy of Marcy and Hugh Matheson  ingredients provided by Dean and Ryan.  A fun bunch.

This was my valentine to Ro.  Everytime we go to the market we see these gorgeous huge perfect red peppers imported from Belgium!  We look at them longingly and then look at the price tag and move on by.   But hey, what to get for a guy who would rather have a red pepper than chocolate?  Cost:  $5.50.  Memory:  Priceless.  He has judiciously included a little bit of his pepper in about 5 different dishes through the week. 

A vew from the plaza

Post Saturday morning walk we posed for a photo. This is taken across the street from our apartment building in the middle of a huge plaza where we like to walk.  It makes Kinshasa look like a real developed area. Well, this is the only "ritzy" section of town less than a block away is the rest of the story.

 

To fufu or not to fufu that is the question

Our adorable site monitors Eddy, Eric, Jordeo and Water and our Felix our equally as adorable translator love to give me a bad time about fufu.  They are determined that I should eat it.   At a recent meeting I asked them what their mothers would make for them as a treat when she wanted them to know that she loved them.  "Fufu"...(cassava flour and maize flour cooked together into a lump of....well a lump)  "No no no, I mean when it was your birthday or some time special" I cried!
The resounding response, "fufu"....all accompanied with huge rounds of laughter.  So I said, "I am going to show you what I made for my kids when I wanted to give them a real tread and I brought in a huge platter of homemade chocolate chip cookies and containers of cold milk.  Do you think they turned it down?  Nope not a crumb left.   Then I asked them if they had any idea where I could find some tortillas.   I had checked at the market  for tortilla chips to go with taco soup but when I saw the price tag of $17 for a 4 oz bag that was probably stale I tried to find corn or even flour tortillas, "I will make my own chips"!  The guys response to my question about tortilla's was, "ummmm what is a tortilla?".  After describing my beloved taco soup and how it is topped with tortilla chips, their faces resembled mine when they described fufu.  (green in color)  I was determined so at the market I picked up a little package of corn flour. "I will start from scratch and make my own corn tortillas then I will toast them into tortilla chips, I will show them. "   It didn't take long to realize what had been labeled corn flour was corn starch.  Undaunted I made flour tortillas.  Well they were ok, but my quest continues but I will not pay $17 for a bag of tortilla chips. 

My homemade tortillas

Fufu mix available at Fresh World in Herndon, VA