In the market in Zanzibar

Our last holidays took place in the beautiful island of Zanzibar. One thing I did not want to miss was a visit to Stone Town, Zanzibar's cultural and historical heart. It is said to resemble the medinas in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, but to me it seemed particularly easy and quiet. Maybe because my point of reference would be the old part of Jerusalem, which is incredibly busy and crowd with people.

Being with the children was quite a challenge, since a walking tour is not really their favorite thing to do. We chose, though, not to go in a group, so we had more time to stop, drink water, etc. Quite interesting for them was the visit to the Central Market, also called Darajani Market. There is a section for meat and fish, no ice or cooling visible, and another one in the outside for vegetables and fruits.

In the vegetables section, it is also possible to buy spices, already pre-packed, and easy to bring home as a gift. Paul and Anna enjoyed sitting on top of some boxes, not sure that the seller was so happy to have them "helping him" around.

If you travel with young children, I do not recommend this trip for more than half a day. It gets very hot at noon, and it is difficult to enjoy the strolling. We finished the visit having lunch at Monsoon Restaurant in the Forodhani Gardens. We chose to be inside to have more shadow; there you have to take out your shoes and you sit on cushions on the floor; great for children! And luckily there were no other guests, so no worries about annoying other people!

You may also want to read the following posts:

• Lupingu Lua Luimpe: What is that?

Lupingu Lua Luimpe: what is that?

Recently I received a gift that intrigued me. It is a wooden figure of a mother with a baby in her arms. Not totally my taste, and not quite sure what to do with it. But still, it seems to be a fine piece of congolese art, and I wanted to know some more about it.

I found a picture on the internet that looks a lot the one I have, in the site of the Brooklyn museum. Quoting from the site: "Lupingu lua luimpe figures such as this were used by a cult among the Lulua, called Bwanga bwa Cibola, which aimed to cure infertility. Women who were having trouble conceiving could be initiated into the cult, after which they would receive a lupingu lua luimpe figure, which was designed to ward off any ill intentions that might be directed her way." Those figures seem to share also some features, such as scarifications in the face, almond eyes, and long straight noses.

Ok, so far, and considering I am pregnant for the third time without making much efforts, I guess I do not need anything to solve my infertility. But it is never bad to have something against any "ill intentions my way!".

Birthday invitations

Paul is 4 years old! Yesterday it was his birthday, and for the first time, I organized a real party for him. First thing to do, of course, was to write the invitation letters for the children in his class.

Since I do not know where to find nice cards and envelops in Rwanda, I decided to make my own. I simply used an orange A4 folded as a square. In the outside part I wrote " Paul will be 4 years old on Wednesday!", and in the inside part I gave further information on the party and my contact details. I closed the "envelop" with a flower sticker from Hema.

All in all, I think they look quite cute!

Are you able to draw?

I don't! Well, or at least I thought I wasn't able to. Thanks again to Flow magazine, I made a small trial today. I have followed their mini-course: how to draw figures?, by Caroline Ellerbeck. These are my first results:

I mean, considering I do not see myself as a very artistic person, aren't they lovely? So, from now on, when my children ask, "mama, draw for me this or that", I will be actually able to draw something cute! Check the Caroline Ellerbeck's blog; really inspiring!

How to cook king prawns

Thanks to my aunt, and her recipe, we were able to celebrate Christmas in Kigali in a pretty Spanish traditional way. First of all, it was the issue to find the prawns (got them at Benalco) and later on, the sherry. But with all the ingredients in my hand, it was not that difficult to follow the recipe. Be patient, and you have a guaranteed success!

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 kg of frozen king prawns
- 2 lemons
- Garlic
- Fresh persil
- 3 ladles of olive oil
- A cup of dry sherry

INSTRUCTIONS:
- Defreeze the prawns You need to defreeze the praws the evening before. Full a big pot with water, salt and lemon slices. Let the prawns in the pot during the whole night.
- Cleaning the prawns In the morning, you need to remove the water and spend some time removing the feelers.
- Preparing the prawns Add salt and pepper to each prawn and place them carefully in a shallow wide pot (for example, 22 or 24 cm diameter). Add crushed garlic and fresh persil, the juice of half a lemon and a cup of dry sherry. In a separate pan, warm up a 3 ladles of olive oil. When it is warm, distribute slowly the hot olive oil in the pot where the prawns are. Let the prawns at least two hours in the fridge marinating.

- Finalizing and serving Do not follow this step until you are sure that your guests are ready to eat the dish! Take the pots from the fridge and cook the prawns just until they change color from grey to pink, around 5 minutes. Do not let them cook further or they will quickly become dry! You can either serve them in the pot, or separate the prawns from the sauce, and serve the sauce in a separate dish.

Enjoy your meal!

You may be interested in the following posts:

• Cooking a traditional cocido
• How to make pepernoten
• Tomato salad with salted cod
• Banana cake (first trial)
• Banana cake (second trial)

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Paul had a Christmas show at school, including singing and dancing, as best as they could, three Christmas songs. I know pretty much all the Spanish Christmas songs, but I was not familiar so far with Rudolph. Paul loves it! So, we cut a small reindeer using hard paper, painted a red nose, and made the sleigh as well. Handy as well, are Rudolph's legs. We used clothespins, and they are very stable, so they whole structure stays in place.

And if you still find yourself in Christmas mood, please, go and sing along!

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw him, you would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeers used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say:
'Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
 Then all the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
you'll go down down in history.

More about Rudolph here.

Dowry giving ceremony in Kigali

We were invited to a dowry giving ceremony in Kigali. We have learned that a Rwandan man pays the dowry to the family of the bride. The dowry is the money (or cow) that the man's family pays to the woman's family in the process of marriage. So, quite a different story that in other countries like India! 

In this ceremony, no cow was given (to our disappointment), but money. The bride's family was sitting in one side of the room, (the bride was not present), and the groom's family was sitting on the other side. A lot of speeches and comments were exchanged between the two sides, most seeming an exchange of jokes. Unluckily, our knowledge of the local language is very limited, so we could not follow much!

Anna, of course, did not miss her chance to sit as much as possible with the groom. At a certain point, and when the dowry was accepted, the bride came into the room, and some dancing and singing took place.

I was very happy that we could be present, but I do not recommend it for European children who are not used to sit in a chair for more than half an hour!