Whinnying Weekend

Fall is in the air. For those of you above the equator it is hard to imagine the cool weather, changing leaves, jackets and shawls we are experiencing here on the other side. In fact it is probably hard for those of you not on the African continent that it gets cold enough in Africa to even put on a jacket. It does. And the longer you are here the more clothes you put on when it is a freezing 65◦F. It actually might get colder than this, but I don't have a thermometer nor do I look up the weather on line. There is no need. It is the cold season; it will be cold in the mornings and evenings and warmish during the day. Layer to prepare. In the hot season it is simply HOT. In the rainy season it is rainy and HOT. Wear clothes for the hot weather and bring a rain coat. Since we are in the cold season, layering is the best option for dressing. But I am not meaning to write about the weather, even though this is my favorite time of year. I am meaning to write about adventures, clothes and pumpkins.

I finally did it! I started my next big learning project. Horseback riding! I have mention before this desire but only in passing. It kind of seemed like an arbitrary thing to want to do. But I took the plunge and got on the back of horse on Saturday. Unfortunately I have no photographs of this funtivity so you will just have to take my word for it that it actually happened. Saturday morning I woke up early to replace the tire tube on my bike, clean the bike chain and lube it up for the trek I was about to make. I packed myself a picnic lunch of cheese and crackers. Dug up my salaula (second hand) jeans and cut up long sleeve t-shirt I stole from my brother. I headed to my friends' house on my bike, riding for the first time in 9 months, and met up with my new riding partner. I will spare you the details of all the delays, but we were an hour late starting off for our destination. Somewhere in the midst of the delays my bike went from a smooth ride to completely dead weight, giving me a harder workout in 1 km than what the other 15 km offered. My buddy figured out the problem, I only know how to change a tired on my bike, and we took off up Leopards Hill Road towards Eastern Province. Because we were running late hitching to the country side seemed like the right decision. A canter truck carrying flatware to the American International School picked us up and took us part way. From the American School we carried on biking to where the tar road ends and the dirt road begins. We were looking for the second gate on the left after the tar road ended. All said and done we were only 10 minutes late but arrived very dirty and a little tired.



Picture by Ryan Keating. Thanks for the contribution!

  Patrick met us with a smile and laughing at the thought of us having ridden some 15 km out into the country to go horseback riding. Patrick is himself an avid biker, but not so much anymore because he has horses now. Turns out it only takes him 30 minutes to bike the distance that we had just come (it took us an hour and ten minutes including the dragging tire riding, fixing the dragging tire and the hitch). We got changed into our horse riding gear, I once again donned my bike helmet and we met our horses. Jill was the pregnant mama horse that I would be riding for the day. I can't remember the last time I was on a horse. Maybe high school. Maybe my birthday party in middle school when we went on a trail ride and my brother got knocked off of his horse. The saddles looked different. The horses didn't seem as tall. But I was still a little nervous. Ok maybe a lot nervous. I clambered on to Jill and sat awkwardly in my English style saddle feeling like an idiot sitting precariously on top of a horse in my snazzy bike helmet just waiting for the moment I was going to fall off. With me holding on for dear life on top of Jill, Evans led us to our lesson. Patrick stood in the middle of the kraal while Evans led Jill and I in circles letting us get used to each other. She actually couldn't be bothered. She was more concerned about the other horses passing by, whinnying at them every chance she got. After a while I got more comfortable on her and we moved on from the kraal to a yard that had obstacles. We were not ready for the obstacles. However, we were learning up-down-up-down movements to ride the horse in a standing trot. My god, were my knees and thighs killing me after 15-20mins of this, and yes my butt too. To rest these very unused body parts we went for a leisurely walk through the woods. And then the lesson was over. It went really fast. It wasn't quite an hour. But we were late to begin with and I was tired by the end of the lesson. Buddy and I sat on the steps of the equestrian shop eating our picnic lunches. Buddy's girlfriend packed him a lovely lunch of a toasted sandwich, carrots, tortilla chips and walnuts. My cheese and crackers paled in comparison. It was beautiful out though and so nice to have a rest before heading back. The ride back only took 50 minutes, door-to-door. An afternoon nap was in order to rest up for people coming over for dinner and to meet up with the "British Chicks" for an evening of dancing, and no drinking for me.

On Sunday I was up early to get the house back in order and to do laundry before people were coming over to meet up with the tailor Winnie we have recently commissioned to realize our fashion dreams. Alex, Ruben and I had an impromptu and awkward fashion show for all the guests. (Sorry there are no pictures of us in the outfits, it was really uncomfortable having people stare at us that were not participating. At least I know now that I don't have the stomach, in more than one way, for modeling as my future career). But here are the clothes I had made: 2 skirts, a wrap top, and a long dress.



New additions to my wardrode: two skirts, a dress and sleevless blouse.

 Before everyone came over Ruben and I were busy making pumpkin pie, cinnamon rolls and pumpkin soup (I suppose this could be the other reason I don't have a stomach for modeling!). Geoff and Ruben had both bought pumpkins while up country, traveling for work. I boiled Geoff's pumpkin donation down the other day after making roasted pumpkin for dinner. Ruben's pumpkins were used for making the pies, mine was far too watery and stringy. Mine made a fantastic soup though. It was a day full of pumpkin. Pumpkin pie for lunch. Pumpkin soup for dinner.



My pumpkin pie





Pumpkin Soup

 It was a very successful and productive weekend. Hope the week is as good as the weekend was.

Cooking Jun with Yu Jin

For those of us that don’t speak Korean, jun are pancakes. Korean pancakes. Not the kind of pancakes your mom makes for breakfast on a Saturday morning. They are hearty, dinner pancakes. Yu Jin is my new friend. She is working on a post graduate project with her professor from the University of Seoul setting up an exchange of students between the University of Zambia and the University of Seoul. Yu Jin is on the hunt for a man. She has traveled and has a master’s degree. Now she is ready to start a family. It seems in many societies the definition of a good wife or mother is a woman that is an excellent cook and who loves to do it. Turns out that Yu Jin loves to cook and my friends and I love to learn. We are hunting for a man for her, but in the meantime we will be learning her seductive, Korean ways to make good house wives and house husbands.

Yu Jin, master chef.

A dinner get-together had already been in the works, so we decided to make it a learning experience with Yu Jin as the teacher (she volunteered, I think. Otherwise she just acquiesced). Yu Jin’s hunt for a husband has spread far and wide. Some friends were on the train from Dar es Salam, coming back to Lusaka after holiday. They met a nice Korean boy who was studying at the University of Zambia. Amanda got his phone number because he was somehow a bit like Yu Jin. Amanda passed his number along the day she left the country so that we could call him up and introduce them. So, we called him while making plans for dinner. He came over. He was a nice boy. But he was far, far too young and not hot enough to justify her becoming a cougar. So the search continues while we all improve upon our Betty and Bobby homemaker skills.

Public Service Cooking Announcement: Wash your hands thoroughly after handling spicy food items, especially chilies. Gentlemen this is especially important for you, wash all chili oils off your hands before going to the bathroom. It is very difficult to carry on a conversation and entertain properly when your nether regions are on fire. Sorry to say it is a hysterical situation, but very painful and one that seems to not have any real resolution. Maybe milk or yoghurt? Which makes it that much funnier.

Ok on to the cooking.

Ingredients:

2 white onions

1 small bunch green onions or scallions

1 small package mushrooms

1 can of tuna (or any seafood: squid, shrimp, etc.)

2 eggs

Salt

~ 2 cups of flour

Water

Kim Chi

Cooking oil

Directions:

Thinly slice the white onions and mushrooms. Slice the white ends of the scallions and then chop the stocks into bigger (2 inch) pieces.

In a large mixing bowl add about a cup of flour, 2 eggs, a teaspoon of salt and about a ½ cup of water. Mix. Keep adding water bit by bit until it is about the consistency ofslightly runny pancake batter your mom makes. Add in the onions, scallions, and tuna. Mix, coating all the veggies in the batter.

Keep adding a bit of water if you can’t mix well. Add in the mushrooms and mix. If you want them a bit spicy add in some kim chi sauce and cut up the kim chi veggies to bite size to add in as well. Mix.
Heat a frying pan and add some oil. Scoop about a ½ of your batter mixture into a hot pan adding a bit of extra batter to cover some of the veggies. Once golden brown on one side flip the cakes over and press down with a spatula. Carry on like this until the batter is finished.

Serve with chili sauce (recipie to follow) or soy sauce flavored with a little bit of chili powder, paprika and crushed red pepper (like a ¼ to ½ tsp each).

Chili Sauce

There prepackaged chili or paprika paste (we couldn’t determine what it was exactly but the package and texture are below)

Add 3 teaspoons of the past to a bowl. Add about a tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix well and add vinegar and sugar to taste. Dip your pancakes in this delecious sauce and enjoy.