A Multicultural Pavlova

This past week I left Virginia and my older sister's house in order to stay with my younger sister for several weeks. She is due to have a baby any day now, her second. Last time I saw her she didn't even have one kid!!! So, I get to be here to help her and her husband over the coming weeks.

So far I've managed to do a few dishes, play with their son and read books to him, and sweep the floor a few times.

I also introduced them to pavlova (an Australian/New Zealand dessert that I learned about in Tanzania). It was fun using blueberries and strawberries, grocery items that are not available in Musoma. But I couldn't resist adding in some pineapple, something that is seasonally available in Musoma.

What started as a solution to the question "what should we do with the extra egg whites?" turned into a dessert that in some ways speaks to the many different cultures and countries that have influenced me over the past several years. It is an Australian/New Zealand dessert topped with fruits I associate with America and Tanzania, and it was beautiful and delicious.

(Maybe next time I should have a section with hagelslag to make it more complete).

Mbeya!

Mbeya - what is that? Well, it is one of the larger cities in Tanzania and it is located in southern Tanzania. SIL has a cluster project down here and after nearly 5 years in the country I finally get to visit the cluster! I traveled down here last week to help teach another LtL (Learning that Lasts) workshop. Today is day #1 of the workshop, so I don't have much to say about that yet, but I thought I would share some highlights from my trip so far!

Getting to travel with my colleague Samson on a plane! I had only 40 minutes in the Dar airport to pick up my checked bag and recheck it...and they close check in 30 minutes before the flight. Thanks to Samson running ahead and talking with the counter, checking us in for the flight, I was met at security with a baggage tag and told I didn't even need to go to the counter. Just go straight on through. Yay!!!

STRAWBERRIES!!!

Making home-made marshmallows and getting to show my friend Jane how tasty they are. She said they were the first marshmallows that she has ever eaten!

Mbeya has great coffee. So, what else could I do but go to Utengule (a coffee farm) and spend the day in the beautiful sun having some delicious coffee!

This weeks starts a new highlight of my trip - teaching LtL!!!