Variety is the spice of life?
Apparently variety is the spice of life! This I am coming to realize is indeed very true! I have been here for a year now (how scarily quickly time flies!) and am starting to get bored with the same old food and the same old routine.
Before coming to Malawi I really didn’t like onions or tomatoes that much come to think, but now they are really all I eat and no meal is complete without them in some shape or form! I have also discovered that I do actually like avocados and French beans are great, especially chopped up in pasta, rice etc. Thankfully my garden is helping to add to the spice of life in the kitchen and for some weird reason my peppers are still growing – George planted them way back in September and they just keep on coming – another little bush thing of them has just sprouted. To think that I didn’t really like peppers either! At least I can say that I am probably eating healthier than at home and all organic (I think!) One other bonus in the kitchen is herbs and spices. There is a good Indian run shop in Mzuzu that has all sorts of herbs and spices. My average meals consist of: potatoes (Irish, or baked potatoes as a rare treat when they have them), pasta, rice (but I can’t really be bothered with all the winnowing palaver that happens before cooking it to remove all the stones and weevils), mince, fajitas and pizza. All homemade from scratch! Thank goodness for my oven! I really don’t know how Malawians can eat the same meal 3 times a day every day of their lives! I struggle with the 5 or 6 meals I have and that doesn’t include treats to the local restaurant or the new pizza place in Mzuzu which is fully equipped with a stone oven!
As for the routine here in Rumphi – it really is mundane but actually probably quite similar to my weekly routine at home but at least at home I can get out and do something at the weekend. Monday to Friday I go to work and generally faf about. Cooking and tidying up after takes a couple of hours in the evening, then its watching a DVD (substitute for a TV) and sleep. I get a real treat on Mondays when I have a pile of ironing to do instead of the DVD. Cam sent me ‘Lost – the third season’ for Christmas and Jonathan and I only have 5 more episodes left to watch. Think we will be ‘lost’ without it! Thankfully you can get plenty of cheap DVDs from Japan to watch – of varying quality of course! Weeks are actually ok, especially if we are busy at work. Weekends in Rumphi are quiet to say the least! There really isn’t much to do so I either read a book, sleep or waste the day pottering about – no shopping, no football and certainly no big nights out on the town! It is really nice to get out of Rumphi during the weekend to do something and meet up with other folk. We are going to the capital next weekend and then to the lake as well. Mind you al least when I stay in Rumphi I don’t spend that much money!
Having been really quiet at work for a while we are suddenly rally busy and are spending a lot of time in the toy car that VSO gave us. We have expanded and are now working in 3 districts, with the boundary for the furthest away one half way down to Lilongwe at least. The touring is really tiring, for example last Wednesday we had a meeting in Mzimba. We left at 6.00 and travelled for 3 hours, had a 2 hour meeting and then travelled back 3 hours! The roads are really awful at the moment with the rains and the car we have literally has no suspension or they forgot to put in the shock absorbers! We go flying over the bumps (well it is more of a crawling along as the car has no power either!) and any poor passengers in the back end up with bruises on their heads. It really is like being at Alton Towers but the ride lasts longer – no wonder my neck and shoulders are killing me these days! The joys of African roads! It is really good to be working with new people who all appear to be enthusiastic – it is also interesting to note all the teething problems! More on that another time!
Anyway must dash for tonight’s entertainment – what variety will it be tonight I wonder……….
Before coming to Malawi I really didn’t like onions or tomatoes that much come to think, but now they are really all I eat and no meal is complete without them in some shape or form! I have also discovered that I do actually like avocados and French beans are great, especially chopped up in pasta, rice etc. Thankfully my garden is helping to add to the spice of life in the kitchen and for some weird reason my peppers are still growing – George planted them way back in September and they just keep on coming – another little bush thing of them has just sprouted. To think that I didn’t really like peppers either! At least I can say that I am probably eating healthier than at home and all organic (I think!) One other bonus in the kitchen is herbs and spices. There is a good Indian run shop in Mzuzu that has all sorts of herbs and spices. My average meals consist of: potatoes (Irish, or baked potatoes as a rare treat when they have them), pasta, rice (but I can’t really be bothered with all the winnowing palaver that happens before cooking it to remove all the stones and weevils), mince, fajitas and pizza. All homemade from scratch! Thank goodness for my oven! I really don’t know how Malawians can eat the same meal 3 times a day every day of their lives! I struggle with the 5 or 6 meals I have and that doesn’t include treats to the local restaurant or the new pizza place in Mzuzu which is fully equipped with a stone oven!
As for the routine here in Rumphi – it really is mundane but actually probably quite similar to my weekly routine at home but at least at home I can get out and do something at the weekend. Monday to Friday I go to work and generally faf about. Cooking and tidying up after takes a couple of hours in the evening, then its watching a DVD (substitute for a TV) and sleep. I get a real treat on Mondays when I have a pile of ironing to do instead of the DVD. Cam sent me ‘Lost – the third season’ for Christmas and Jonathan and I only have 5 more episodes left to watch. Think we will be ‘lost’ without it! Thankfully you can get plenty of cheap DVDs from Japan to watch – of varying quality of course! Weeks are actually ok, especially if we are busy at work. Weekends in Rumphi are quiet to say the least! There really isn’t much to do so I either read a book, sleep or waste the day pottering about – no shopping, no football and certainly no big nights out on the town! It is really nice to get out of Rumphi during the weekend to do something and meet up with other folk. We are going to the capital next weekend and then to the lake as well. Mind you al least when I stay in Rumphi I don’t spend that much money!
Having been really quiet at work for a while we are suddenly rally busy and are spending a lot of time in the toy car that VSO gave us. We have expanded and are now working in 3 districts, with the boundary for the furthest away one half way down to Lilongwe at least. The touring is really tiring, for example last Wednesday we had a meeting in Mzimba. We left at 6.00 and travelled for 3 hours, had a 2 hour meeting and then travelled back 3 hours! The roads are really awful at the moment with the rains and the car we have literally has no suspension or they forgot to put in the shock absorbers! We go flying over the bumps (well it is more of a crawling along as the car has no power either!) and any poor passengers in the back end up with bruises on their heads. It really is like being at Alton Towers but the ride lasts longer – no wonder my neck and shoulders are killing me these days! The joys of African roads! It is really good to be working with new people who all appear to be enthusiastic – it is also interesting to note all the teething problems! More on that another time!
Anyway must dash for tonight’s entertainment – what variety will it be tonight I wonder……….
posted by Caroline Pitcairn at
3:02 pm
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