Have Soy Sauce - Will Travel

Some older pictures: Swaziland and Botswana

2009-06-29T10:26:00.007+01:00

In each of our stops, we've barely had time to post pictures and descriptions. Today we're in Nairobi, but I've finally made it somewhere with free and fast internet access. So, here are the photos I meant to post last week.

In Swaziland, I saw fields and fields of pineapples (a little hard to see in the photo)...

...and a reminder of home:

In general, it was a beautiful place.

Here's the main bus terminal in Mbabane:

I like this photo because the smoke on the hills is beautiful. It looks like early morning fog or even clouds, but actually it is smoke. Someone was probably clearing the land or burning trash.

I like this photo (below) not only becuase the light at dusk was so beautiful, but because it shows the amazing infrastructure in Swaziland!

In summary, Swaziland could be a great fit (as could any of the four places we're visiting). In a nutshell, the upsides are: it's beautiful, safe, and quiet. Downsides are: the HIV/AIDS problem is staggering (one estimate I read put the prevalence at 32%), it's small, and the most remote of the four places we're considering. Of course, the most important factor (where I find the best job) is still up in the air, too.

I found the middle class-ness of Botswana both attractive and boring. One morning, we tagged along with one of Peter's prospective colleagues to the Gaborone stables, where he was taking his daughter for her riding lessons. Riding lessons!??!?! Where am I?

On one hand, it's very safe, quiet, and prosperous - i.e., lots of great supermarkets where we can buy whatever we need. On the other hand, it might not be quite as interesting / challenging as the other three. In the US, I can't imagine living in a sprawling house with a yard in a quiet suburb...but we're older now, and suddenly that big yard doesn't look so bad.

Botswana, cold, sunny desert

2009-06-26T14:17:00.003+01:00

After another short flight, we arrived in Gaborone Thurday evening. Friday was cold, clear, and sunny. In general, it looks like a southern Californian suburb, transplanted into Africa.

More pictures to come...

Mini-California

2009-06-25T09:16:00.002+01:00

If Pretoria seemed like Palo Alto, Swaziland seems like the hills outside L.A. No time for a long post now, but here are a few pictures to help explain. Briefly: downside of Swaziland is that it is tiny, and a flight away from Jo'burg (thus, two flights away from the US, rather than one). Because it is tiny, it might be harder for me to find a job that I want here. Upside (and this is a big upside): it is clean, organized - and most importantly - safe.

Lots more to say later...

If you want Skippy peanut butter

2009-06-23T08:51:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was great. We both met with our prospective employers, and then some of Peter's potentially-soon-to-be colleagues showed us their houses. Most of them live in 2 or 3-bedroom homes in gated compounds, surrounded by high concrete walls topped by a few feet of electric fencing.

It's clear that life in Pretoria would, in many ways, be very easy. Everything is modern, and apparently, we'd be able to get whatever consumer goods we'd need. As one of the Americans put it, "If you want Skippy peanut butter, you can get it."

We topped of our day of touring with dinner at Kream, a very fancy place in an upmarket shopping complex. Our starters were fabulous: arugula (called rocket here) salad with salami, parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar; seared scallops in butter and garlic. Dinner was good, but a bit heavy: filet with bone marrow and sauteed mushrooms, and kudu (antelope) kabob with roquefort sauce. Delicious red wine to wash it all down, and I think the whole thing only cost $40.

However, life here does seem a bit divorced from reality. People zoom around in new cars, on freshly paved roads, to modern supermarkets. We've seen hints of poverty, but unlike in Liberia (or anywhere else I've been in Africa), here the poverty is almost hidden - at least in the neighborhoods we visited. Occasionally we saw day laborers hanging around, waiting for jobs. A couple times we saw black South Africans peddling apples or candy or other assorted items on the side of the road. Poor neighorhoods tend to be quite far from the wealthy ones - so far that the housekeepers employed by rich people (here, that includes us) live in Pretoria during the week to avoid traveling two-hours each way every day to get to work. Apparently there are still many homes with "maid's quarters." Seems a bit outdated to me, but it's what works.

So life here would be very Western- very close to life at home. But is that really what we want? It'll be a hard decision...

First stop: Pretoria

2009-06-21T15:42:00.012+01:00

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you snapshots and sound bites from our 12-day, 4-country Where-Should-Peter-and-Callista-Move-Next??? Tour.

First stop: Pretoria.

Left Monrovia at 17:30 on Saturday, landed in Accra by 20:00, in Nairobi by 5:30 local time (Sunday morning). Two hour layover, and then off again to Johannesburg, where we landed at about 11:30 local time.

On our way to Pretoria, we drove through gently rolling hills, recently harvested of corn and perhaps wheat. Gorgeous sunshine, clear air. Maybe 70 degrees or so.

First thought: Am I back in California?

Second thought (after arriving at the guesthouse): Are you sure we're not in California?

Third thought: When are we moving here?

Already had a nice walk in the bird sanctuary down the street, and a great lunch with springbok (!) carpaccio. Apparently we are having Thai food in a neighborhood called Brooklyn tonight!

A typical drive to work

2009-06-18T11:31:00.001+01:00

This morning on the way to work, I was stuck in a traffic jam. When I got to where the backup had started, in front of the Executive Mansion (where the President works), I saw that it was because someone had dropped a pineapple on the ground. As I was driving our very tall SUV, I figured I could drive over it without damaging it. But as I was maneuvering to get the pineapple between the wheels, a man came running toward the car, holding his hands up as if to say, “STOP!!!!!”

He carefully stooped down, rescued the pineapple, and scurried back to his car. Traffic then moved along.

As usual, I passed two or three cars that were being pushed by their erstwhile occupants, and a pickup with its hood up (and one guy peering into the engine) in the middle of the street.

Cocoa, part 2

2009-06-18T10:36:00.004+01:00

The next day, we visited a Farmer Field School. Basically the school teaches small scale farmers techniques for improving their farming yields. The one we visited was conducted in Mandingo, one of Liberia's fifteen languages, but many of the participants also spoke English. That day, farmers were learning about cocoa, but schools also teach farmers about rice and cassava.

During our visit, several participants took turns standing up and talking about last year's harvest. Unfortunately, each person's testimony was along the same lines:

"Last year, I only harvested 100 kilos. I carried on my head to Guinea, where I sold it for 80 Liberian Dollars per kilo."

Right now, 80 LD is about $1.20. Unfortunately, I don't know that much about cocoa, but I'd be willing to bet that Liberian farmers are neither growing the best quality nor getting the best price. A very quick Google search turned up this article about the cocoa industry in Trinidad, where farmers are earning $18.00 per kilo. Although not everyone was in attendance that day, the group consists of 30 farmers, including 7 women. For some reason, only the women spoke in Mandingo when they stood up, even though they seemed to understand some English.

Walking to Guinea probably takes these folks half a day, at least...with the cocoa ON THEIR HEADS.

More to come...

cocoa

2009-06-14T19:12:00.002+01:00

It's not often that I get to leave Monrovia, so I was thrilled when I was invited to go on a field trip to Lofa County. Counties are the largest sub-national administrative division in Liberia - equivalent to states in the US. Lofa County, in particular is known for (at least) two things. First, along with Nimba and Bong Counties, Lofa is one of the country's three "bread basket" counties. Second, Lofa County is known for having been a hotbed of rebel activity during Liberia's prolonged civil conflict. We went to check out the potential for reviving the former, but saw signs of the latter.

Since the rainy season has started, we couldn't rely on the UN helicopter; at the first sign of rain, those helicopters turn right around and head back to their starting points. So, we had to drive 7 hours each way. It was definitely worth it.

First, we stopped by the offices of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to hear about a few of their projects. As an illustration of their hospitality - and Lofa County's fertile soil - we were presented with a gigantic papaya.

To the naysayers who might claim that such a large fruit couldn't also be sweet, I'm sorry to say you're wrong. Later that night we had some of it, and it was amazing.

Next stop: ADA. Last year, a major rice concession was signed between the Liberian government and the Foundation for African Development Aid (ADA). My understanding is that, in the US, even an enormous parcel of land - in this case, 15,000 hectares, which is about about 37,000 acres or almost 60 square miles - could be purchased outright from the government, or more likely, from a private owner. Here, the Government of Liberia controlled the land, and thus could allow a private concern access to it.

While neither I nor my employer is at all involved with this deal, the folks at ADA were kind enough to chat with us about their work and give us a quick tour of their commercial farm. Other than a few major rubber plantations (namely Firestone and Salala), it's been years since Liberia has been home to any commercial agriculture, so the ADA deal has received a lot of public attention. The landscape of the farm is impressive...as is the equipment:

Having trouble with our internet connection, so I'll finish the post about this trip tomorrow...

New York, New York

2009-05-16T21:55:00.003+01:00

Last month, we went on a truly fabulous trip back to the U.S. After three short days in Edwardsville, we headed to New York. With Grandma Frances, we shopped for wedding dresses, dined at Sugiyama, and saw a Neil LaBute's new play, "Reasons to be Pretty." In short, we had an excellent day. The next morning, Brooklyn did not disappoint: sunshine and spring flowers. What's not to like?

Onwards, to help my sister with some last minute wedding details. They did a great job, and the party was fabulous! Here are a few photos from the weekend.

On the way to the rehearsal dinner...
The youngest guest...

Piglet is helping my brother write a toast for the wedding.

On the big day...

Sarah and Henry, clowning around at brunch...

We were terribly sorry to leave, especially without having seen some very close friends. We hope to be back soon...

Freetown

2009-03-28T15:34:00.014Z

For months, we've been talking about visiting our friend Renee in Freetown, and last weekend - Renee's last before returning to London - we finally made the trek. After a lot of last minute scrambling (tip: Americans do need visas to go to Sierra Leone), we were one our way. Thanks to our various work connections, we were able to take the UN helicopter for free.

The helicopters used by the UN here are not exactly new, but they were equipped with useful safety information, including the card pictured here. Good thing we weren't wearing any hosiery that day.

After two and half hours, we were definitely ready to get off the not-so-soft helicopter benches and head into town. We walked around Freetown a bit, and met Renee at a bar downtown. We took a nice walk on the large, public, mostly clean Lumley Beach at sunset, and and later headed to Alex's Beach Bar for a very lovely dinner.

In many ways, Freetown resembles Monrovia. The dirt is the same orangey red. The shacks built of the same corrugated metal. The mango trees have the same slender leaves hiding the same clumps of heavy fruit. A few major differences stand out: Freetown is hilly. As the chopper descended, we looked out among dark green hills. Because of the hills, our friends there can enjoy one activity absent from Monrovia: hiking! Saturday morning we took a short hike on one of the highest hills in Freetown. (The views are more impressive than they look in this photo.)
After the hike we drove to Franco's restaurant (seems like the expats just call it Franco's) where I took two hours to polish off two giant grilled crabs.

Last stop of the day: the beautiful No. 2 Beach, where the sand was very soft, and the water was just warm enough. Surrounded by rolling hills, the glittering water was a pretty turquoise color - quite different than the rough waters at most of the beaches near Monrovia.

Sadly, we had to leave on Sunday morning. While Lungi Airport is pretty difficult to get to, the Pelican Water Taxi was very professionally run, and fairly comfortable. During our 2 hour delay at Freetown's Lungi Airport, we watched a television set in an entertainment center strangely reminiscent of the oddly designed apartments in Monrovia...

Our Elysian Airlines flight home was interesting. For an hour after we were supposed to have left, we couldn't find out if and when the flight was going to happen. Two hours later, we finally were rushed onto the plane. The door was quickly slammed shut, and after little communication from the pilot, we took off. However, the flight was smooth and comfortable. Sometimes it's better not to think too much about these things...

if only i spoke french, arabic, or berber...

2009-01-23T19:33:00.010Z

The week before Christmas, we spent a week driving around Morocco. We arrived in Casablanca at about 7 AM, picked up our rental car, and were on our way down the coast by 8:30 AM. First stop, El Jadida.

Quick stop at the Portuguese Cistern, where Orson Welles shot the movie, Othello.
and where the old Portuguese walls are still up.

The Moroccan coastline was beautiful. Lots of agriculture, crashing waves, and clear blue skies.

For lunch, we stopped in Oualidia, a little seaside town famous for its oyster industry. Yum.

That night we stayed in Oualidia at a very cute, family-owned inn, and had dinner by a roaring fireplace at another cute hotel halfway up the hill.

Day 2: Onwards to Agadir
Poor Peter put in many, many hours of driving (I have yet to learn how to drive stick.) But, at least it was beautiful...

We stopped in Safi (uneventful), Essaouira (touristy), and finally, finally, made it to Donya and Greg's house (Donya is Peter's aunt's sister) outside of Agadir. Here's the view from their balcony:

From their house, we took a short drive to the beautiful Paradise Valley:

Below is a picture of us having the best (and most gigantic meal) in Morocco. Peter had a huge plate of couscous, topped with a hearty, spicy beef stew. I tried the pastilla, an amazing, plate-sized flaky pastry, filled with chicken, almonds, and raisins, and spiced with cinnamon and sugar. Pictured here with us are Donya and Greg.

After three lovely days on the Moroccan coast, we headed inland to the mountains...

cece beach

2009-01-15T22:14:00.009Z

On November 15 (yes, I am blogging about something that happened two months ago) we threw an engagement party at Cece Beach, a private beach/restaurant about 45 minutes from our apartment. Peter's mother, Ellen, had come to visit, and it was a great opportunity to celebrate with her and with our friends here.

In the morning, Peter and I were both rushing around to get ready, and when we got home, we were absolutely surprised to see this beautiful flower arrangement sitting in our apartment...with a card from Peter's grandmother, Frances! Her handwritten card was truly sweet and completely unexpected. We were both very touched and had to pause to remember what this day was really about.
We got to the beach early, so we could set up before the guests arrived...

...and so we could take some fun photos.
Several weeks before the party, a flood (from a nearby river, apparently) destroyed some of the property on the site:
...but fortunately there was plenty of space on the beach side for the party. We had plenty of food, beer, and wine, and we had a great time.

Ellen gave a wonderful toast, as did our coworkers, Florence, Moses, and Mounah, and our roommate Jim.

All in all, a success!

Nairobi and Addis

2008-12-30T22:11:00.010Z

I have no photos from Nairobi other than the one of the advertisement for Obama, the Musical. I'm not sure why, other than perhaps because Nairobi looks much, much more a Western city, and seemed somehow less striking. It's a very green city, and we spent an afternoon in a lovely arboretum, walking among gigantic clusters of bamboo and enormous trees of all kinds. It was beautiful, and I envied the families and groups of giggling teenage girls: there is nowhere green, quiet, and clean in Liberia to go and relax on a Sunday afternoon.

After a few days in Nairobi, we went onto Addis. Because Ethiopia is still a despearately poor country, it's somewhat shocking to visit places such as the Sheraton, where I tried (unsuccessfully) to exchange some AmEx gift checks.
From our room, we could see one of the city's largest cathedrals, beyond the dozens of construction projects.

We saw some amazing Ethiopian dancers at a restaurant. The show was a little touristy, but still pretty amazing. This clip is very dark, but at the very beginning you can make out the dancers slinging their heads around in circles in a truly amazing way.

I like the next photo because it shows two of the major factors affecting growth in Africa: 1) Western companies are increasingly realizing that developing economies have tremendous potential for growth; 2) the presence of Chinese investors, companies, and contractors.

Zanzibar, Part II

2008-12-28T21:21:00.012Z

Sorry to be posting these pictures so late. Now that we're back in the land of high speed Internet connections, the rest of the pictures from this year will go up very soon. Here's a map showing Zanzibar's location:

View Larger Map

So...back to our October vacation: First stop was Zanzibar, which is the name of an island (the largest one in the archipelago of the same name.) After a few days in largest city, Stone Town, we took a tiny flight to the other large island nearby, Pemba. Here's Zanzibar from our teeny plane:

On Pemba, we stayed at a place with an absolutely stunning view of the ocean.

We saw a couple unbelievable sunsets.

There were many naps (leading to blissful post-nap state):

...and we went on a fun, if uneventful, snorkeling trip. Here I am in an ill-fitting wetsuit during the break.

On the way to snorkeling we saw some boats full of fishermen:

After a few beautiful days in Pemba, we headed back to Zanzibar's east coast. We woke up early to see the sunrise, which was beautiful, if a bit cloudy.

One of us looks less excited to see the sunrise.

We biked on the beach at low tide.

And then onto the next flight...

Zanzibar, Part I

2008-11-09T20:10:00.017Z

Two weeks ago, after several days of pre-vacation madness, hundreds of While I'm gone... emails, and three flights, we landed in Zanzibar.

Zanzibar, a semi- autonomous island off Tanzania's east coast of Tanzania, has a colorful history, both as a major crossroads for traders from Africa, Arabia, India, and Indonesian and as the home to dozens of lush, highly coveted spice plantations. Compared to sullen, struggling Liberia, Zanzibar was calm...even quiet.

Despite its relatively strong tourism industry, Zanzibar is still fairly poor. (I couldn't find any hard numbers, but nominal GDP per capita seems to be about $428/year. As a point of comparison, Liberia's is only $195/year.) Judging by the conversations we had with locals (ok, just one local - our tour guide) and by this sign, the government has some work to do to convince the population of its good intentions.

We spent a few indulgent days in Zanzibar's largest city, Stone Town at an opulent hotel called 236 Hurumzi (formerly known as Emerson and Green.

For our first dinner, we ate grilled seafood from a street market - a gigantic crab claw with sweet, tender flesh; smoky, chewy octopus; and soft salty mussels - all doused in fresh lime juice and dipped in a spicy-sweet tomato sauce.

We couldn't resist going on a spice tour - for good reason. A very knowledgeable guide brought us to a spice farm, where we saw, sniffed, and tasted products both familiar (vanilla, cloves, oranges) and unfamiliar (the "lipstick" plant). Here I am, sampling the latter:

And Peter, enjoying a familiar treat:

During the tour, a young boy demonstrated how to harvest coconuts. In this photo, you can see the piece of rope around his feet used to provide support, as well as the gigantic knife in his back pocket. Yikes.

The farm workers gave me an amazing little frog woven of leaves.

After the tour, we ate a traditional lunch at a Zanzibari home. I have no idea whose house we visited, but the food was delicious. Fragrant rice scented with cloves and cinnamon under a mysteriously spicy yellow lentil sauce, small chunks of fried tuna, a cool tomato and red onion relish, garlicky shredded spinach. And to wash it all down, fresh, juicy oranges.

We were happy and rested and ready for Part II...

Obamamania...in Kenya!

2008-11-04T20:44:00.007Z

We've been on vacation for the last 10 days, and we've been pretty good about staying off email. Zanzibar and Pemba (a smaller island north of Zanzibar) made it easy. I'll post more pictures later this week, but here's the gist of it:

Now, however, we’re in Kenya, a.k.a. “Barack Obama’s ancestral land.” I had expected a bit of Obamamania, but this is amazing. He isn’t just in the paper, he’s on nearly every page of the paper. Today’s Daily Nation included these stories (among others):

Only a few had faith in Obama in the early days
Big parties planned in US and Kenya to celebrate an Obama victory
Family suspends daily media briefings
What Kenyans said on possibility of Obama win
Kisumu to hold vigil to keep up with results
Obama must not lose sight of black people’s struggle
Village upbeat about change of fortunes
Democrat unites Kenyans of all shades
Visit to fatherland ‘was a wonderful time’ for US senator and his family
What Africa will gain from winner
Tourism banks on Obama win

Yesterday, Peter’s Kenyan Clinton Foundation colleagues were deep in discussion about the merits of various states. Ohio’s not so bad... Today, the whole office (six Kenyans ages 22-45 plus Peter's British colleague from the Liberia office) was checking poll results online, and repeatedly checking CNN coverage. This was especially funny, since Nairobi is seven hours ahead of the East Coast, and nothing had happened yet.

Unfortunately, we are flying out early tomorrow morning. Not only will we be on a plane right as preliminary election results will be announced, but we will miss our last chance to see "Obama, the Musical."

keeping up with events at home

2008-10-13T22:42:00.004+01:00

About ten days ago, a fellow American expat held an Obama fundraiser here. He showed a tape of the Vice Presidential debate - during which the crowd played Palin Bingo - and by the end of the night, we had raised several thousand dollars for the campaign. The real question is whether there have been Monrovia McCain fundraisers, as well...

happy new year

2008-10-12T19:21:00.007+01:00

Two weeks ago, we hosted Rosh Hashanah dinner at our apartment for fifteen Monrovia-based Jews and assorted friends (such as myself and our flatmate, Denise). Our other flatmate Jim estimates that this group represents close to 100% of the Jews who have wandered to Liberia, but Peter is sure there are more out there and the numbers are growing daily. In fact, Peter may be right, as the same day as our dinner, the local newspaper reported that a rather famous Liberian had discovered Judaism:

Charles Taylor, of course, is the ex-Liberian President currently being tried in The Hague for war crimes. Does the text under his picture represent Taylor's point of view? Or was it just the newspaper editorializing, perhaps, about the benefits of Judaism? We'll never know.

Our friend Dan led the first prayer, and then we had apples and honey, which symbolize the hopes of a sweet new year.

Our menu included foods from a few cultures:

Apples and honey
Chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce
Ratatouille and bread
Homemade round challah with and without raisins
Brisket with roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, and dates
Roasted squash
Collard greens sauted with onions and white wine
Chocolate cake with coconut frosting

It was one of the more successful dinner parties we've had, I think, mostly because we started the preparations so early. On the Saturday before the dinner, Peter, Denise, and Jim visited a butcher shop on Benson Street in search of brisket. Jim and Peter brought a sketch of a cow to indicate the area of the brisket, and the butcher used an axe - yes, an axe - to hack it off the cow carcass hanging from the ceiling. Later, they told me that said cow's head was sitting on the ground of the shop.

On Sunday night at about 8:30, Peter started preparations for cooking the brisket. Why hadn't he started earlier? I can't really remember, but it probably had to do with the fact that we were lazing around at the beach that day. I made fun of him, which I would later regret. Peter stayed up until 1:30.

On Monday night, at about the same time, I cursed myself for having procrastinated again, and started baking challah at 9 PM. At midnight, the dough hadn't risen enough, but I figured it just needed more time. I decided to take a quick nap, but a few minutes after I turned off the light, I couldn't stop thinking: What did I do wrong? I bake bread every weekend...Suddenly I realized I had used a teaspoon of yeast, instead of a tablespoon. I dissolved some more yeast in warm water to make sure it was alive, but then realized that with so much more water, I would need more flour. Thirty minutes later, I had turned the dough back into a mushy mess...and now I needed to braid it. Oy.

I had known that round challah is often eaten at Rosh Hashanah, but for some reason I also wanted to bake a loaf with six braids, rather than the usual three. At 1 AM I found myself giggling as I tried to maneuver lumpy, sticky ropes of dough into a complex, elegant braid. They were pale, masses of mush. I let them sit in the refrigerator for a few hours, and at 5:30 AM, Peter kindly got out of bed to take the dough out of the refrigerator. I got up an hour later to bake them, and they actually looked great. Thank god for egg wash, which makes even my challah look presentable.

On Tuesday, the day of the dinner, we braised the brisket for a few more hours, cooked the squash and collard greens, and our friend Leah brought over the chicken and ratatouille.

Notwithstanding our manic midnight cooking, the dinner was really wonderful.

Here's a rough approximation of Pete's brisket recipe:

Pete's Brisket with Sweet Potato and Carrot
Adapted from a recipe on the Florida Department of Agriculture website (although he attests that most of the inspiration came from his mom's tsimmes recipe.)

Ingredients
6 medium onions, chopped
8 large cloves garlic, chopped
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
5 cups chicken stock or canned broth
3 cups "Sangria" (or whatever inexpensive sweet wine you can find)
3 bay leaves
2 5-pound boneless first-cut beef briskets
2 handfuls of dried dates
1 1/2 cups pitted prunes
3 pounds sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
6 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
minced fresh parsley

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Heat oil in heavy large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon allspice and crushed red pepper and stir 20 seconds. Add chicken stock, wine and bay leaves. Boil 10 minutes to blend flavors. Pour into gigantic roasting pan.

Make a mixture of salt, black pepper and olive oil and rub in to the brisket. Add brisket to roasting pan, fat side up. Add dried dates and pitted prunes. Cover and bake 1 1/2 hours. Add sweet potatoes and carrots to roasting pan. Cover and cook until brisket is very tender, about 5 hours longer. Remove from oven and let stand 20 minutes. Remove brisket from pot and slice thinly across grain. Arrange on platter. Degrease pan juices. Spoon pan juices over meat. Arrange fruit and vegetables around meat. Garnish with minced fresh parsley and serve.

If cooking in advance, as we did, slice the brisket and place at the bottom of the roasting pan and cover with juices and vegetables. Reheat as needed.

Yield
16 servings

flag day and blue lake

2008-09-13T17:03:00.008+01:00

A few weeks ago, we took a short road trip to Blue Lake. It was Flag Day, so we bought a little Liberian flag to show our national pride. (Photo to be posted tomorrow.)

After 90 minutes of fairly smooth driving, we were rewarded with a beautiful view:

That day, some UNMIL (United Nations Mission in Liberia) bigwigs were also gathering near Blue Lake. All over the country UNMIL troops have built schools, roads, toilets, and countless other public facilities. Without them, our presence - that is, of the hundreds of development workers - would be nearly impossible, mostly because UNMIL's 13,000 troops also provide a steady security presence. We weren't allowed to hang out where the VIPs were gathering, so we retreated up the hill where we could picnic with our grouper sandwiches, sodas, and Pringles. We had a lovely lunch, and as ate we heard strains of...wait...is that really Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita'?

One nice thing about the UN presence is that the troops take great pride - deservedly so - in their contributions to the country. At the top of the pictures above, you should be able to see some picnic tables and shelters, in an area named Pak Point for the Pakistani soldiers that constructed them.

All over the country there are signs for BANBATT, GHANBATT, and of course PAKBATT. According to UNMIL's website, soldiers from 49 countries are serving in Liberia.

The only downside about the UN troops - really, probably a downside about any military - is that it occasionally becomes true that many of them haven't interacted with women for many months. This is no big deal, and usually manifests itself in slightly awkward jokes and eager smiles. At Pak Point, we came upon some Jordanian soldiers celebrating the holiday with a little barbecue. The leader welcomed us and insisted on feeding us each a mouthful of delicious grilled chicken - and I mean by actually putting the chicken in each of our mouths himself. When Peter introduced me (protectively, as we are engaged but not yet married) as his wife, the Jordanian exclaimed, "Lucky man!" and smiled excitedly. "Lucky man!*

From Pak Point itself, we could see across the lake to where we had picnicked. It looks as though the lake was formed at a former quarry site, though no one could confirm this.

Later, I was sitting alone under one of the shelters while Peter chatted on the phone with a friend, and some solidiers approached me. Could I take a picture of them? Sure, sure. I started to get up and reach for one man's camera. No, no, they explained. They each wanted to be in a photograph with me. Oh. Um, ok.

even more like home

2008-08-18T22:58:00.005+01:00

Although I sometimes hate myself for it, our home here seems extremely luxurious - far fancier than our homes in New York and Philly. But our apartment is too big, even for four adults. It seems as though the only design criteria for the place was simply: As Big As Possible.

Because our kitchen is so gigantic, it used to be a somewhat difficult place for cooking. It has relatively little counter space, and I would resort - as I did in New York and London - to using the microwave as a pot stand or the floor as a an extra dish rack. So Peter, because he takes excellent care of me, commissioned a local carpenter to build us a kitchen island:

Having the island made our preparations for Saturday night's dinner party easy. Again we went to the fish market, and bought two large fish. Apparently, we bought two mullets. Here I am, looking both pleased and terrified by the fish.

Peter carved the mullets into several huge fillets, and again we had a feast of sweet, firm fish. Amazingly, we found red bell peppers at the market - banged up for sure, but the woman selling them cut off the bad parts and sold them to us at about $1.30/ pound.

For a starter we had some freshly popped (on the stove!) popcorn, and for dinner, we had grilled fish with a spicy pineapple chutney, grilled red peppers, roasted plantains, and a thai-style cabbage/grapefruit/peanut salad. Homemade mango ice cream for dessert. (Ok, the ice cream didn't exactly freeze, so we had very cold, chunky mango milkshakes.) I have to say, it was pretty damn good.

a normal weekend, sort of

2008-08-12T09:56:00.009+01:00

Every once in a while, we have a weekend that's normal...almost. Last Saturday, we decided to go buy some fish for dinner. That's something we often used to do at home. So we went to the fish market down the street. There were five-foot long barracudas and giant red groupers - a bit much for the two of us, so we bought a "small" grouper:

For dinner that night we grilled a third of it: two thick, meaty steaks and its enormous head. With a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and a few splashes of lime juice, it was magic.

Later that night, I completed one of my numerous culinary experiments: homemade challah. Not too difficult, as it turns out (even if one accidentally uses cold water, instead of warm). Here's Pete, showing it off to our roommate, Jim.

Not quite as puffy as I'd hoped...but I'll try again next weekend.

Sunday was a beautiful day - maybe the best we've had. After two straight days of rain, the air was clear, rather than muggy. On days like these, Liberia seems like a pretty happy place. I printed out the Sunday New York Times crossword, and lounged around on the couch.

Before heading down to the pool, Peter and I made lunch. Putzing around the kitchen in our bathing suits, listening to the radio, it didn't seem so different than the time we spent in Florida last December, or in St. Maarten several months before that.

We used the leftover grilled fish and the challah to make fish salad sandwiches for lunch. At home, we would have had tuna salad on bagels, potato chips on the side, and maybe an apple for dessert. Here we have grouper salad on challah, plaintain chips on the side, and papaya for dessert. Pretty close, right? (Diet Coke on ice, in both cases.)

Not bad at all, for a Sunday afternoon.

more signs

2008-08-12T09:32:00.005+01:00

As I've said before, very few signs here are printed. This is changing slowly, but for the most part, bumper stickers, signboards, and sometimes even bulletin boards are hand painted. Here are two of my recent favorites:

I didn't realize "the people" needed or wanted table tennis, but hey, who am I to say?

rain, rain, go away

2008-08-10T20:08:00.000+01:00

About 10 days ago, I was scheduled to travel by helicopter to northwestern Liberia to inspect some road rehabilitation works.

Here's my colleague, Paul, from the EC, in the red shirt:

We wear headphones to block out the noise of the chopper.

One of the Ukrainian UN pilots gave a short pre-flight talk (wear your seat belts, we'll be there in 45 minutes), and then we were off! Since the helicopter flies very close to the ground (apparently about 500 feet above the ground, the views were fantastic.

I like this photo because it shows the swampiness of the land around Monrovia. During the rainy season, clogged drains and flooding are a huge problem - more on that later.

But after 20 minutes, I felt the chopper tilt a bit, and bear left - we were turning around. It was too loud to talk, so one of the other passengers was gesturing to her colleague, holding her hands in front of her face, wiggling her fingers and moving them down...rain in the distance.

We returned to Monrovia's small, domestic airport, Spriggs-Payne, and reluctantly climbed out of the helicopter. Maybe next time.

another guest

2008-08-03T20:26:00.009+01:00

For weeks, Peter and his coworkers (and especially our roommate, Denise) have been preparing for today's visit from a man who could sort of be described as Peter's boss's boss's boss's boss's boss's boss...former President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

For weeks, Denise and others have been developing potential visit schedules for President Clinton and the "delegation" accompanying him: celebrities, US government officials, Foundation staff, and press. The final schedule included a visit to a market, a hotel funded in part by the Clinton Global Initiative, a radio interview, and a reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is serving as the President's official office until the Executive Mansion rehabilition is completed.

Our role today was to stay at MoFA, herd people along, and provide logistical support. (I actually was just tagging along, since I don't actually work for the Foundation.) Here are the buses of the delegation and press entering the MoFA parking lot:

Our first task was to arrange the bag lunches for the delegation. The sandwiches, supplied by a local grocery store, came with the usual fillings- ham, turkey, cheese - and with more exotic flavors: crab, mortadella, and "c. bocon" (Canadian bacon, we realized.)

Later, President Clinton greeted each and every one of the Foundation's Liberia staff - and posed for pictures all of them. (Unfortunately I don't have Peter's, but the Foundation HQ apparently will send it to us in the next few months.) Here's Denise:

After that, he made some official remarks in a small auditorium downstairs. The best part (in my opinion) of his talk was his last point. He encouraged Liberians to stay the course, and described what has happened in Rwanda. Four years after the end of the Rwandan genocide, the GDP per capita was less than $300, but now, 10 years after that point, the per capita GDP has nearly quadrupled. We read about it all the time, but it's still heartening to hear the message: Stay with the program, and support your progressive government.

We then exited into the lobby, for a short reception. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf walked right in front of me!

And that was that.

She's all grown up

2008-07-10T14:44:00.005+01:00

Some of you will remember the pictures of our adorable puppy, Libby...whom we gave away not long after I arrived. We were doing a terrible job of training her and playing with her. Our friend James really wanted a dog, both for himself, and for his five year-old son. Since James has a house with a big yard...we couldn't say no.

James is Liberian, and even though he earns what's considered a good salary here (probably about $250/ month), it's still much, much less than what most expats here earn in a day.

So we were a little embarrassed when, about two months ago, we brought him Libby's huge bag of toys, a sheet, biscuits...and her own shampoo.

At any rate, they've taken great care of her, as you can see from this short film we took last week:

James is the man holding the DVD player, and the little boy is his son, John.