Trivia & Tidbits Thursday: This Food Called "Pap", But Pronounced Like "Pop"

One of the staple foods of a person living in Botswana is maize meal.

This is the brand of maize meal I typically buy - usually because this is the ONLY brand on the shelf where I shop. There are other brands avail in Gabs, but not all stores carry all brands. Anyway, this maize meal (also referred to as "mealie meal") is used to make pap (pronounced "pop"). Here's a recipe I found on 'how' to make this basic dish. Very easy! (Plus, our gardener's daughter showed me how to make this dish.)



This is what the maize meal looks like in the pot, before adding water. This is about 1 cup. The texture is very smooth and powdery. When cooked, the pap looks like good ol' southern US mashed potatoes, except that it isn't fluffy. The taste is very, very bland. Tastes a bit like grits - since this is made from corn! This food is very, very filling - which is why this is so popular to eat. You don't spend much money to satisfy your hunger. (Cost of a 5 kg bag, which is about
11 lbs, is P21.70 = $3.16) This bag would last a family of 4, that eats pap at every evening meal, about a week - maybe less. Depends on whether they have any meat or vegetables to go with their pap. Most families make a huge pot of this for their evening meal. I only made a small portion for us recently, and served it with our homemade chili.



The standard practice is to serve the pap with seswaa and/or some type of tomato and onion relish. Seswaa is meat that is boiled and then pounded to death! Here's a recipe for seswaa I found online. Relishes such as the Sheba Sauce, pictured below, or another one called Chakalaka are popular. The basic components of these relishes are tomatoes, onions, and spicy peppers. The relishes are available in various "heat" forms - depending on how spicy you like your food. I

I recently attended a formal function here in Gabs, and this is a picture of my plate.


Since I'm from the good ol' southern US, I'm going to experiment with the pap recipe to yield something similar to grits! I'll let you know how it turns out. I miss my grits!

Trivia & Tidbits Thursday - Tropic of Capricorn

During our recent trip to Serowe, to visit the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, we crossed over the Tropic of Capricorn, as noted by the road sign. We did as all good tourists do - we stopped and took pictures. And of course, we posed with the marker. That will be a nice memento for our Life in Africa scrapbook - which I've thought about.

Inscribed on the plaque are these words - in case you have trouble reading it:

"This point is on the Tropic of Capricorn, which is the most southern lattitude reached by the sun. Here the sun will be at the zenith each year on midsummer day at midday local apparent time which is on 22 December at approximately 12 minutes past twelve o'clock noon. At the above time the sun will shine directly down the tube above this notice.

My silly family. Love 'em.

Notice the black tube on top of the marker? That's the tube referenced on the plaque above.

No, I'm not saluting my husband - the Major.
I'm shielding the bright Africa sun from my eyes.

So long for now! See you here next week.

Trio Chicago & Friends

On Sunday afternoon, Trio Chicago & Friends treated the US Embassy in Botswana to a fabulous concert. We were able to meet several of the musicians afterwards. The girls especially enjoyed talking to the pianist, Kay Kim. All the musicians were so easy to talk to. An absolute pleasure.

The group has a busy schedule while here. They performed one evening as part of the annual month-long celebration called 'Maitisong Festival' at Maitisong. On Monday, the group treated those attending their Master Class at the Maru-a-Pula School to a mini-convert. I could listen to them all day! The girls and I attended the mini-concert and then the Master Class for piano. Though I'm not the one playing piano in the family, I learned so much!

What an honor to meet Trio Chicago & Friends! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Here are a few pictures I was able to capture:

After the Sunday concert.
The gentleman on the far right in the photo is our Ambassador.

The mini-concert at Maru-a-Pula school.
Photo taken at the Maitisong theatre.

I loved watching Kay Kim's hands while she played.
Her fingers seemed to float over the keys so effortlessly.

The vocalist has an amazing voice! She is so passionate when she sings.

I didn't get a photo of either of the girls with any of the group members. Can you believe they were too shy? We have great memories of our time with them, just the same.

Trivia & Tidbits Thursday - Shoes!

For those who love shoes - those high-heeled - kill-your-back kind of shoes - Gabs is the place to be!

The ladies here dress sharp! They love their shoes. A different pair for every outfit - in coordinating colors, of course. (I know a lady here that has 80 pairs of shoes in her closet. I don't think I've seen her wear the same pair of shoes twice the 15 months I've been here. And that was after she got rid of some shoes.)

I am amazed to see the women here walking around in these styles. I tried on a pair of high-heeled shoes recently, and thought I was going to fall forward!

This is just a tiny sampling of the shoes available. I like the shoes on the bottom right. I'm a classic black pump with a twist style kind of gal.

Our Latest Safari - Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Botswana

The way of thinking/life here in Gabs for a holiday weekend is quite interesting.....you must go out-of-town. People don't usually stay home on a 3- or 4-day weekend (Botswana honors Good Friday and Easter Monday as well). All last week conversation among people was, "Where are you going for the long weekend?" It seems one is expected to travel, and if you end up staying home instead, others feel sorry for you. Too funny. We joined the ranks of those going out-of-town for the long weekend. We planned this trip back in January - because lodges get booked quickly.

We went to a reserve, about a 3 1/2 hour drive away, called the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. We've heard about this place from others, and wanted to try it out for ourselves. The appeal for us was the opportunity to drive our own vehicle (4x4) around the reserve, and view the animals at our own pace. Another appeal was the price. Very inexpensive compared to other lodges. However, this was a no-frills place. We had a warm, clean place to sleep and bathe. That's all you need, right? I have to admit - I really, really LIKE being spoiled at the other lodges we've been to. As hubby and I said to one another over the weekend....this is as close as we'll get to camping! I'm a city-girl and don't do 'roughing it'. I must have a place to plug in my hair dryer! Plus, my hubby has done enough 'roughing it' during his two tours in Iraq.

This first photo is of a white rhino. Can you believe the incredible horn on this beast? The horn is made of keratin. Amazing. Do you think t it gets in the way? I've learned there are two types of rhino around these parts of Africa, the black rhino and the white rhino. From Wikipedia regarding the naming of the white rhino:

"A popular theory of the origins of the name "White Rhinoceros" is a mistranslation from Dutch to English. The English word "white" in English is said to have been derived by mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd", which means "wide" in English. The word "wide" refers to the width of the Rhinoceros mouth. So early English-speaking settlers in South Africa misinterpreted the "wijd" for "white" and the rhino with the wide mouth ended up being called the White Rhino..."

This is Mama Rhino's baby....too cute!!!!

Beautiful zebras at a watering hole

Love this photo that hubby took...I think we'll have to get this one framed for our "Africa Wall" that we will create on our return home.

The animals got very close to our car, at times. In this photo, young wildebeast casually walk in front of us. We had stopped, turned the car off, and just enjoyed watching God's creatures grazing.

Another wildebeast, whose photo was taken at another part of the reserve. Note here: on a previous safari, the restaurant served wildebeast on the buffet. I tried it. It tasted like beef, not chicken. No gamey flavor at all. Fairly tender.

This is a closeup of a 'thorn bush'. You see how long those thorns are?! Ouch! I've been poked/stabbed a time or two. Not fun. Thorn bushes are found all over Botswana. I see them in the city as well as out in the bush.



This is a herd of female impalas. As you can see, they were just grazing by the side of the road. We stopped, and they just stared at us as we stared at them.

Now for a little about our accommodations and such. This is a photo of the chalet where we stayed. Notice the thatched roof. The chalet had 2 bedrooms, bathroom with hot water, and a kitchen sink. No air conditioning. The chalet was designed with openings (thankfully covered with netting to keep bugs out) to allow for air flow. Outside we had a 'braai' stand (bricked grill) where we could cook-out or build a fire in the attached fireplace. Below I have pics of us roasting marshmallows.



When we arrived late Friday afternoon, it was raining off and on, and continued raining through our attempts at cooking out hot dogs and roasting marshmallows. Here you see hubby and children looking out at the rain from our chalet.



Roasting marshmallows! Mmmm. They were so good! Too bad we didn't have any graham crackers (haven't found those here anywhere), we could have made s'mores.

Though we didn't expect to see any monkeys on this safari, I did spot a couple in the tree outside our chalet. :-)


I'm working on another post about the Tropic of Capricorn. We crossed that on our journey to the rhino sanctuary. I should have that post up in another day or so.

Trivia & Tidbits Thursday - Grocery Shopping (Part I)

This week's topic is grocery shopping in Gabs! (I call it 'grocery shopping', but some people here call it going to 'the market' or going to 'the shops'.)

One of my favorite stores for grocery shopping is Woolworths. If I remember correctly - they are a British-based company. (I could look it up, but I just don't want to at the moment---it will soon be midnight for me. Maybe if you have nothing better to do, then you could Google "Woolworths" and let me know what you find.) Anyway, I like their products. Their breads are wonderful. Their produce is always fresh. Of all the milks we've tried here, we like the Woolies (easier to say than Woolworths) milk (lowfat) the best. And, of course, theirs is the most expensive in town.

Another thing you should know about this particular 'grocery store' - this 'market' is located in the back corner of their clothing store. Kind of like a mini-mini Target in the US. It's small. Really small. Don't ask how many square feet. I'm terrible at guestimating that kind of stuff.

Anyway, there are about 4 aisles in this market - and as you can see in the first picture above, the aisles are short. The aisle above is of the snacks, juices and bottled water.

This is a pic of the fruit section. Apples, melons, grapes, berries, etc.

Pic of some of the 'ready made' foods. Choices are chicken nuggets (really good), varieties of samoosas (our favs).....

My photographer wanted you to have a close up of a samoosa package.
Samoosas are phyllo filled with a slightly spicy beef, chicken or vegetable mixture.
We like beef the best. You bake them in the oven for about 10 mins. I like to dip them in mustard.

The yogurt and pudding section of the dairy case.

The block cheeses. Gouda is a popular cheese here.
I prefer cheddar.
If you look to the top left corner of the pic, you'll see egg cartons.
Only brown eggs are sold in Gabs. They taste the same as the white ones from home.
This Woolies is the ONLY store I've found in Gabs that refrigerates their eggs.
All other stores stock their eggs on a room-temp shelf.
This is where I buy my eggs. They are sold in 1 1/2 dozen cartons.

Though not easily conveyed in these pics - is the fact that options of products offered is EXTREMELY limited compared to the US. For example, this is the 'paper products' offering at this store. This store sells 2 varieties of toilet tissue and 1 or 2 choices of paper towels. I don't get my paper products here. Too expensive. As for paper towels - I order those from www.alice.com. Brawny is my brand of choice, which is not available here - nor is Bounty. The quality of paper towels offered here is poor.

There I am, at the 'till' (check-out). The little blonde head in the bottom left of the pic is our youngest child - bagging groceries. Yes, we had our canvas bags. No, we don't get stared at funny when we use them. Recycling is big here - so bringing your own bags is a welcome sight to the clerks. And, if you don't have any canvas bags, the clerk usually has some at the till that she'll sell to you.

I'll post more pics next week - or maybe the week after - of the inside of another grocery store. I think my photographer won't mind snapping photos again. She doesn't charge me too much - just a candy bar.