Let's Get Cookin'

I have been helping cook for large groups since I could walk. I don’t remember it, but my mom says that I started helping cook at church as soon as I could put salt and pepper shakers on the tables. As I grew up, I graduate to helping chop things, make lemonade, serve the food, and everything else in between. Sometimes, I am even allowed to add the garlic (I am known for adding too much garlic). Here at Masombahoaka the women cook together for groups of visitors too. Last month, I helped to wash dishes and serve rice to whoever walked in the door at church, and this week I have been helping to prepare meals for a group of visitors to Masomabahoaka. We have a group of vahiny (visitors) here for a two day meeting, they are staying in the dormitories that students used to stay in and the teachers are working together to prepare the meals.

So, after arriving just in time to help wash dishes last night after dinner, I decided I would wake up early this morning to cook breakfast. My alarm went off at 4:45, I quickly brushed my teeth and grabbed my lamba ohany (similar to an apron) and headed to the kitchen here at Masombahoaka. Having forgotten about ‘gasy time (again) I was the first one there, but the others arrived soon after, wearing their lambas and bandanas (not to keep the hair out of the food, but because they had just woken up and had yet to do their hair.) Instead of beginning with chopping vegetables, as we often do when we cook at church in Minnesota, we started with lighting the fires. 4 fires, one for rice, one for loaka (side dish, this morning was meatballs), one for coffee and one for tea. And of course, there was the far too common, “oops, we better run to the market” situation. After all of the visitors ate everyone who helped to cook sat down and ate together. Sure, it wasn’t stew or potato soup, and there weren’t any bars for dessert. But, the similarities were striking, even to the thin coffee that followed my rice. I drank 5 cups, I don’t usually like ‘gasy coffee, but because of the situation thin church coffee felt just right. Washing dishes was a group effort, as usual, but no industrial dishwasher, of course.

Tonight, I will help again to wash dishes after I finish with choir rehearsal. It is a blessing to spend time cooking here, and I am sure that when I return to Minnesota, I will arrive at the kitchen at Servant of Christ with my lamba ohany tied around my waist and wonder where the rice is.

Miandry (my host mom) starts the fire for the rice.

 Madame Hasina chops the greens that greens that go into the rice.

 Stirring the rice!

 Tending the fires. 

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you are enjoying the season whether you are celebrating with white snow, red dirt, or somewhere in between! 

A Day of Celebration

This past Wednesday was International Day of Persons with Disabilities (http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1620). Wednesday’s are usually my day off, but instead I spent the day celebrating with the students and teachers at Semafi, the school for deaf students where I am a teacher. When I arrived, the day felt just like any other day I have spent at Semafi. We went from the yard by the house where the students and some teachers live down the hill to the building for school and had a short prayer service. As usual, I didn’t understand much, but at the end of the service instead of going outside to raise the flag, the students were separated into 4 groups and each given a Malagasy tribe name. Then, we headed back up to the house and the students got ready. There was face painting and the students put on their nicest clothes. By 10, we were ready for the dancing to begin. With the bass turned up and the volume high so the students could feel the beat of the music, the teachers began leading dances. We danced to Azonto, a very popular song around Madagascar right now, among many others. Then, the students split into their groups again and prepared a dance that was based on the tribe that they were given. After each group danced, we played a few games in the yard and it was time for lunch! We had a feast of potato salad (potatoes, carrots and green beans with mayo), pasta salad (pasta and ground beef served cold), and then rice with chicken as loaka (side dish), fruit juice, and mangoes for dessert. Everyone pitched in to help clean up and wash dishes outside after the feast. And, there was a soccer match in the afternoon. The day was filled with laughter, picture taking (once the students found out I had a camera, each one had a million picture ideas), a sunburn for me, practicing Malagasy and sign, and lots of celebration.

Some of the youngest students got their faces painted, but smiles are hard to come by!

One of the oldest students paints the younger students faces.

The boys had fun with all sorts of face paint designs! 

There are smiles!

I got my face painted too!

And the dancing begins!

Tired from dancing? Time for a piggy back ride!

I even dressed up in clothes from a tribe in the south of Madagascar.

And, all the students wanted a picture with me all dressed up!

The teachers too!

They ate all the rice! 

The feast ended with mangoes, of course!

All of the students and most of the teachers at Semafi! 

Thanksgiving, Mada Style

Holidays away from home are often a struggle, it’s difficult to sway from your routine for a holiday in a new place. So, I wasn’t expecting much for this Thanksgiving. But, the 8 MadYAGMs were together with Austin and Tanya (our country coordinators) in Antananarivo (the capital of Madagascar) last Thursday because we were just finishing up first retreat. We spent a relaxing week swimming in waterfalls, lemur hunting, eating lots of cheese and telling story. Then, we returned to Tana for the close of retreat and to celebrate an American holiday in a new place. And, it felt mostly like Thanksgiving at home. We did our best to combine all 10 of our Thanksgiving traditions into one Malagasy Thanksgiving. We began the morning with breakfast and lots of coffee. Then, the cooking began. There were appetizers of veggies, hummus and other dips, and pumpkin dip with ginger snap cookies. There were two turkeys (much smaller than the 20 pound bird I’m used to, these were ‘gasy turkeys, so not your average butterball). There was stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, mac n’ cheese, green beans, and fruit salad (with mangoes and other specifically Malagasy fruits).  Another volunteer, Kelsey, and I, spent much of the day cooking and being grateful for sharp knives, two ovens, hot water from the tap and other fancy things that Austin and Tanya have at their house. We ate outside with a wide variety of plates, silverware and fruit bowls that we gathered from around the kitchen to seat 12. The 12 included the 10 of us described earlier plus two dear Malagasy friends of the MadYAGM program, Sthela and Neilson. For Sthela, Thanksgiving was nothing new, she has celebrated in the states. But, for Neilson, it was his first Thanksgiving, so we made sure to explain each dish and make sure he got enough of each. After, there were pumpkin and chocolate pies and apple cider. In the evening I got to skype with my family celebrating their Thanksgiving in Minnesota. At, the next day I got to listen to the 2013 edition of Turkey Confidential (don’t worry, 2014 is downloading now!). The whole day was a great reminder of all the things I am thankful for around the world.

The mostly devoured appetizers.

The dinner table set with mostly plates except the one cake pan, which we decided to call the trough. And, there weren't quite enough forks so Tanya and Sthela took it for the team and ate 'gasy style with just a spoon.

Our Thanksgiving Feast!

And the turkeys!

Let's Make Feta!

On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons I have time off. My host sister Nomena is usually free these afternoons as well, so we often cook. We always start with a quick run to the market to get the ingredients we need and then to my house to cook. Nomena and I both like to cook, and I especially love to learn Malagasy recipes. A few weeks ago, we spent Tuesday afternoon making feta, which is the Malagasy version of banana bread. Here are some pictures of our adventure and the recipe, it’s delicious!

First, the recipe is very simple.

½ kilo rice flour (which you can find in the states in Asian grocery stores or sometimes in the “Ethnic food aisle” of Cub, Rainbow, etc.)

Bananas, enough to make the batter like biscuit dough when they are all mashed in, if it’s not like biscuit dough, add another banana.

About a teaspoon or so of baking powder

Sugar, add a little and taste it, it depends on how sweet your bananas are, make it so the dough is just a little sweet

Unsalted and roasted peanuts, crushed (the Malagasy use a spice type grinder for this, but you could use a food processor or blender)

Banana leaves (okay, so you can’t use banana leaves at home, I’m going to suggest using plastic sandwich bags, definitely not ideal but they will work, let me know if you have other ideas!)

 First, you mix the batter together.

Then, we had to roast and peel the peanuts.

 And, crush them. I used a mug and a cutting board to crush these because I didn't have a Malagasy grinder yet. Your blender will be much easier!

 Then, to gather banana leaves. Nomena after she cut the leaf off the tree in my yard.

 The leaf was as big as me

Then, it was time to cut the sides off the leaf to get rid of the hard part in the middle.

We also searched for and cut up sticks to put in the bottom of the pot so to make a Malagasy steamer.

 Next, we had to heat up the leaves on the fire a bit to soften them so we could wrap them around the dough without breaking them. I was terrible at this part.

 Then, we tear off sections of the leaves about 4 inches wide. You need two sections for each piece of feta.

 Next, make a cross with the leaves and put a spoonful of dough in the middle.

 Then, add a teaspoon or so of peanuts and another spoonful of dough on top.

And, fold up the leaves to the center to make a neat little square.

 Then, we stacked all the feta pieces in the pan with the wood on the bottom and water under the sticks (you can use a steamer or make a 'gasy steamer, whatever you'd like.)

 Then, when the dough is cooked it's finished (the amount of time varies, and will probably be different when you aren't using charcoal). It's delicious!

 And, it tastes really good. You should probably take silly pictures of you eating like this too.

 Nomena thinks it's great too!

  

I hope you enjoy! 

An Adventure to Ihosy

I have just returned from spending a week in Ihosy, about 4 hours south of Fianar. I went with Nomena to spend time with her family there. There was vacation for a holiday at Masomabahoaka so I did not have to work for the week that I was there. It was a relaxing week, we spent a lot of time playing games and just hanging out. It was very hot there! I was able to practice my Malagasy as well. The best way to tell you about my adventure is through pictures.

The street in Ihosy. You can see the mango trees and other plants.

A stand at the market with vegetable. Things are usually sold by the kilo so you can see the scale that they use to weigh. There are tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, and many other vegetables.

I stayed with some family of my friend Nomena's. They have a shop in town. This is the father, Donne working in the store.

The sell pasta and coffee in the store. It is very common here in Madagascar to have things like this in buckets or tubs and measure them into small bags using a can.

Flour and sugar are sold the same way. 

This is the mother, Louisette, working in the shop.

Outside the big shop, Louisette's sister sells things too.

It was almost time for mangoes to be ripe in Ihosy. These are manga manta (unripe mangoes).

But there were still many mangoes that they bring north from the very south of Madagascar.

This is me and two of Nomena's cousins by a river just outside of town.

Nomena's aunt, Nessy, sells jewelry in the town as well.

Nomena and I by the same river.

It's common to see cows and sometimes sheep being led around Malagasy towns like this.

This is the river, you can see fields, mango trees and the river.

We went to the cow market where you buy cows. It was mostly a huge field with many cows. 

We also took a walk to a nearby lake. The lake was very small because rainy season has not yet started, but there were people swimming, and many people washing laundry.

Rice fields are everywhere in Madagascar!

In Ihosy, a common way to get around town is by kinga. There are no kingas in Fianar though. 

One of the family members in Ihosy has a snake. He will eat it when it is big enough. 

The children in town were excited to see the vazaha (foreigner) holding the snake.

Many of the children were afraid of the snake.

The street again in Ihosy. It is a much smaller town than Fianar, so the street is much less busy.