what’s to eat #35
A seaside lunch on Nungwi Beach in Zanzibar: Calamari and cabbage, Chicken curry with rice, naan, and roasted veggies.
All posts filed under: Eats & Drinks
on a potluck
I left my first job in Somaliland last week, to join a different organization just down the road. Serendipitously, my last day at the old gig coincided with the US Thanksgiving holiday, so all my gratitude was thrown into one bucket. To celebrate, our office hosted a lunch potluck. Some were concerned that things wouldn’t go off well, given this was an unknown holiday (by the majority) and a new dining concept (potluck). In the end, though, things went swimmingly, staff brought mountains of food, and we indulged to our hearts’ content: Somali classics, Ethiopian loaners, American standards, pizza and burgers (but of course@), and more. Appropriately, this post is an ode to gratitude, for a number of things perhaps elementary but also fundamental. Work | For employment, period; for a relatively seamless and drama-free transition; for 9-to-5s and side projects alike; for the organic relationships that grow from contrived collaboration and the friendships that develop among colleagues. Love | For the give-and-take, for the patience, learning, and maturing that emerges inevitably (though not always painlessly) from being in loving …
what’s to eat #34
No, not those guys (as far as I know, no one here eats those guys). Oatmeal with bananas (the lesser, Somaliland–Ethiopian?–bananas, as opposed to the giant, creamy bananas of south-central Somalia) and jam, mint tea, and a few gulps of camel milk. Truth be told, the camel milk was for my canine companion. but it is a breakfast, dinner, and snack of choice for many. I can tolerate it in Somali tea (see also here and here), but this creamy drink is not for the faint of heart: if it comes from a camel, it inevitably tastes like camel. The benefits of this milk are much-touted, especially where it’s consumed most–strength, vigor, vitamin C, anti-cancer properties, and enough oomph to keep you full for hours. For now, I’ll stick to my oatmeal, and a just a cup of the magic stuff from time to time.
what’s to eat: camel remix
A round of camel for the first second time, because once just wasn’t enough. There’s meat, there’s hump fat, there’s a dry rub and fresh lime, there’s dates and soda. Camel meat is fatty and flavorful, filling you up completely, and the acidity and spice of the accompaniments balance it well.
what’s to eat #33
Working lunch date with myself at Café Royal, on the outskirts of Hargeisa. I started with crumbly orange cake and Somali tea over an Excel spreadsheet… …and finished with vegetable soup, pasta with goat meat, and a very spicy chili salsa.
on eid-al-fitr
It was Eid al-Fitr, following the month of Ramadan, and we had a goal: to win over the neighbors on our hilltop. our strategy: cookies, as many kinds as we could manage to churn out of our small stove. We mixed and rolled and patted… …and raided the grocery store and our kitchens for the most cookie-esque ingredients we could muster. We did well, with an assortment of shortbreads: cocoa, coffee and chocolate, lime, date and nutmeg, cardamom, and peanut butter with blueberry (green!) jam. We packed and wrapped in flashy, Eid-appropriate paper, tied with a string. …and headed out into the neighborhood, intent on making smiles, and crumbs, and friends.
outerNotes 