Paul the Elder flew in on Tuesday night and Sally and Paul the Younger flew out late last night. I'll admit it was a little odd having a middle-aged woman as a roommate, but I have to say that I'll miss having her around. We would go biking and cook together and we had some good conversations. We cooked a big Welcome Back/Goodbye dinner last night. Actually, I should say, I cooked a big dinner and everyone else helped out a little. Sometimes I get a wee over-adventurous in the kitchen and have to shout for people to come help me. I made an Indian themed dinner, with butter chicken, vegetable masala, lentils and basmati rice. It was pretty awesome. The recipe for the lentils I traded with Prof. Asher for a biscuit recipe. I think we both got a good deal, since this is seriously the best lentil recipe I've tried to make.

Masala Massoor (Curried whole Lentils)

1 c massoor (green lentils)
2 sliced onions
2 large tomatoes
7-8 small onions
4 tbspn oil
1 tspn green coriander

Grind to paste:
8 cloves garlic
8 hot red chilies
2 tspn coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
ginger (1 -1.5 in piece)

Cook lentils and whole sliced onions in 2 cups water. Saute sliced onions (3 mins). Add paste, fry 3-4 minutes Add cooked massoor and salt. After 5 minutes, add tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Any vegetable or beans (black eyed or split peas) turn out well cooked this way.

I couldn't find coriander at all and the cumin I found in the spice rack was mysteriously covered in mold. Even without those spices, the dish was delicious.

Edson is in Mwanza for a few days trying to finalize arrangements for a CARE Canada retreat. I have the office to myself, which would be nicer if the power didn't keep going on and off. This does mean that I can listen to music while I work. I left my external hard drive in the US, so I don't have anything on my computer. I've been experimenting with online radio, with poor results. For some reason NPR is the only website I can get streaming music from. This is ok for now, but they don't have a big selection.

Sorry this is kind of a boring post. Not much has happened around here recently. I get to go back to Bagamoyo on Sunday for my final workshop. It was supposed to be in Zanzibar, but Ramadan is starting next week. Since Zanzibar is 99% Muslim, a workshop there is not a feasible idea. Bagamoyo is nice, though, it has beaches and large, clean hotels. It's not a bad place to have workshop, but it's definitely a poor substitute for Zanzibar.