A trip to Mozambique

We needed a mid-winter break and left the cold, gloomy weather behind for a few days and escaped to Mozambique, to a little coastal town of Xai-Xai, not too far from Maputo.  Some friends kindly gave us the keys to their little piece of heaven, a house near one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

We live very close to the border of Mozambique, but I am always amazed at the difference between the two countries.  It is literally less than two hours on a highway to get there, but cross that border and time seems to disappear.  The country was ravaged by civil war for many years and only recently started the slow process of recovery.  Remnants of a brutal war are still strewn across the landscape in places, but the war torn patina has slowly been replaced by fresh coats of paint and a desire to progress.  Yet, time still seems to matter less there.

I love living in Africa.  It is not for everyone and it requires a somewhat skew outlook on life more often than not.  But people in Africa are proud, regardless of how poor they are and people can carve a living out of literally nothing.  Never say never seems to be the driving force of this continent.  

Africa is not always the grim pictures you see on television.  People are content, smiling.  

There I became somewhat philosophical about food too.  It made me realize that food is a necessity; something you eat to sustain yourself until the next meal comes around.  There are no take-aways and few supermarkets and you get what is available, no imports or shipments of special vegetables.

I saw skinny woman working for hours to catch crabs and each one caught, fried quickly over a few smoking twigs.  Eaten as is, no starch, no salad.  Men toiling with a fishing rod for a few fishes, no trawlers or sushi chefs in sight.

We bought bread from a man in a little dwelling in a tiny town and when asked for a photo, he insisted on putting on his jacket, posing proudly in front of his wares.

We bought some fish at the market in Xai-Xai and had ourselves a braai.  Very little can compare to fresh fish cooked over hot coals with the sea in the background.  A drink in hand helps of course and so does good company. 

Our days were spent on the beach, swimming, running, playing, exploring...

And at night we relished the lack of electricity and went to bed early with only the sound of waves breaking on the shore as background noise.  

Thai-Style Litchi chicken

Well it's been a while since my last post, but sometimes life just seems to take a detour and you just have to go with the flow.  Last year was definitely full of detours for our family, nothing serious, but very time consuming.  I am not going to bore you with the details, but lets just say I even learned how to build a house out of timber during the process.

My parent moved in with us for a few months last year as well.  It was a wonderful experience, albeit challenging at times.  And the biggest challenge was to adapt our respective eating habits to suit the other party.  Strange don't you think, that I lived with them for such a big part of my life and did so much cooking while I was growing up, and yet our eating habits have drifted worlds apart since?

I am a very curious cook, always looking for new recipes, new styles of food to cook.  I enjoy nothing more than challenging myself with a complicated dish that I have never tried.  My favourites dishes sometimes evolve from opening the fridge and just cooking what is in there, trying something I have never done, mixing different flavours.  And that is how this family staple happened too.  

It is such a simple dish to put together and you don't need fresh litchis at all.  In fact, it is much better with the canned version.  The herbs are refreshing, without being overbearing.  And this dish was a hit with my parents too.