5 Household Chores I Didn’t Have to Do in Baltimore

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

5 Household Chores I Didn't Have to Do in Baltimore

Here are five household chores I never had to do in Baltimore that are regular duties here in Arusha: Continue reading →

Posted in Urban Homesteading | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

5 Photo Friday: Rainy Day

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

5photofridayrainyday

The rainy season seems to have arrived. With November and December come what are called the “short rains”–shorter rainstorms that happen once or twice a day a few days a week. Earlier this week we had a pretty good rain and Max and Elly made the most of it. Continue reading →

Posted in Family Time, Photography, Twin Fun | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

5 Photo Friday: The Maasai Boma

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

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I’m a day late for 5 Photo Friday so I’m throwing in a bonus photo. Earlier this week we went on a family outing to visit a Maasai boma (village) about an hour outside of Arusha. The Maasai chief’s son is a friend of Kakasii and he kindly arranged for a great afternoon of roasted goat and lots of singing and jumping–even Kakasii and the older boys joined in. Continue reading →

Posted in Family Time, Tanzanian Culture | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Happy Birthday, Kakasii!

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

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In honor of Kakasii’s birthday I’m doing 5 Photo Friday one day early and including a bonus photo because these are just too good not to share. I’ve taken on an ambitious project of sorting, identifying and labeling hundreds of random photos I’ve gathered up from old photo albums and envelopes that I found scattered about our house on the shamba and our house in Arusha. These are just a few from the Kakasii: The Younger Years collection. Most of the photos have no labels to indicate who, where or when so this will be quite an undertaking to figure that out, but a fun challenge for sure. Continue reading →

Posted in Family Time, Photography, Tanzanian Culture | 1 Comment

Mbege and the Tanzanian Version of the ‘Red Solo Cup’

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

mbege

This weekend Kakasii and I attended an important event as part of the traditional marriage customs in Tanzania. We went to meet the new in-laws of Kakasii’s niece Elly (who, like our Elly, is named after Kakasii’s mother Eliasaria).

Although Elly has lived in the United States for many years, as has her new husband, the families back home are following the necessary customs. Continue reading →

Posted in Family Time, Tanzanian Culture | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

5 Photo Friday: Max

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

The Joy of Life is Love_5 Photo Friday featuring Max

Since I premiered my new weekly series with photos of Elly, my Twin Mommy Guilt insists that this week features Max. He’s a pretty worthwhile photo subject on his own standing, though. Continue reading →

Posted in In Our Kitchen, Little House on Kilimanjaro, Photography, Tanzanian Culture, Twin Fun | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A World Without Tater Tots: My Epic Adventure Making Tater Tot Casserole Completely From Scratch

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

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Saturday night is American Supper Night in the Kimaro household. Most of the week we eat traditional Tanzanian food but on Saturdays I take over the kitchen and cook up something I’ve either discovered on Pinterest or something I have a craving for from my days living in the U.S.

This week I got a craving for Tater Tot Casserole when I stumbled across an interesting variation of the recipe I was used to back home.

In the U.S. Tater Tot Casserole is one of the those quick throw-together recipes you make when you’re short on time or short on energy. Not the case here. Continue reading →

Posted in In Our Kitchen | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

5 Photo Friday

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

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To kick off my second year of blogging, I am starting a {hopefully} weekly series called 5 Photo Friday. Continue reading →

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My First Year of Blogging: Five Favorite Posts

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

fivefavoritepostsHappy blogiversary to me! On this day a year ago I hit the Publish button on my first blog post. I had been thinking about starting a blog for quite a while–more than a year actually. But I struggled for a long time with my “perfectionist procrastination”–putting something off until I was able to do it perfectly. But then I stumbled across this quote: Continue reading →

Posted in Family Time, Photography, Tanzanian Culture, Twin Fun | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Why ‘The Joy of Life is Love’?

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

whythejoyoflifeislove

One of the hardest parts of getting started with my blog last year was coming up with a name. It was hard in part because I wasn’t sure what I’d end up writing about. Sure, I knew there would be a healthy amount of Max and Elly stories so I thought of naming it after them, but then I considered that I might actually want to write about other things, too.

I wanted a name that would more widely represent our life in Tanzania, so I turned to the ultimate source of Tanzanian wisdom: the khanga. Continue reading →

Posted in Tanzanian Culture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment