The Joy of Life is Love

Our New Friend Manna

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

Max and Elly have been on a roll when it comes to exciting and fun adventures lately. Today they met a new friend, Manna.

Manna is from England. She is almost two years old. Her Daddy is a doctor; her Mommy is a teacher. They will be living in Tanzania for about five months.

We met Manna and her Mommy, Rachel, at the Family and Friends Restaurant near our house for a play date.

Max and Elly talked excitedly about meeting their new friend all morning at home. Once they arrived it didn’t take long for them to warm up to Manna and have some fun.

Like Max and Elly, Manna was a big fan of the teeter tot.

Manna and her parents just arrived in Tanzania last week, so Max and Elly demonstrated how we wash hands Tanzanian-style.

All three kids had their first taste of chipsi maiyai–thick-cut french fries cooked in eggs.

Elly and Manna both noticed the distinct difference in their hair. I think Elly was envious of Manna’s cute little clip barrette, pulling back a wisp of her soft, fine hair, and Manna was envious of Elly’s hairband which doesn’t slide off her thick, tight curls.

Max and Elly talked about their new friend Manna all the way home. We hope we’ll get to have another play date again soon!

(Thanks to Manna’s mom Rachel for giving me permission to share some photos of our play date on my blog.)

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Our Fun in the Sun Weekend

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

Back in December when Kakasii took me on an overnight kid-free retreat as my Christmas present, we spent a lot of time talking about what our priorities were for our life together. Of course, our children ranked high on that list and we decided we wanted to focus on providing our children three things: 1) special family outings; 2) meaningful holidays and celebrations (e.g. birthdays); and 3) encouragement and support in pursuing education.

Some of our special family outings are as simple as making a impromptu trip into town in search of peaches (which we did earlier today). Max and Elly love to ride in “daddy’s truck” and see the sights as we drive down the busy and often crowded streets of Arusha. Other family outings are (or will be) incredibly elaborate like our plan to some day take the Mother of All Road Trips and visit every single national park in Tanzania.

This weekend fell somewhere in the middle. On Saturday one of the international schools in Arusha was hosting an International Music Festival. The school, International School Moshi, is one of the potential schools Max and Elly will attend when they reach school age so it’s nice to visit the campus. The festival featured student music and dance performances and some community performers as well. The most exciting performance for Max and Elly was a cultural dance and drumming troupe. They loved the movement and rhythms and colors of the performance.

There was one particular part of their act, though, that Max found especially fascinating: the fire eating. Without saying anything out loud, Kakasii and I simultaneously had the same thought as we saw Max’s eyes frozen on the dancer as he put the flaming torch into his mouth: Max is going to try this at home.

So we talked a lot after the performance about how the kaka (brother) eats moto (fire), but Max and Elly don’t. And we reinforced the message by letting them eat ice cream as better option.

After Saturday’s fun outing, on Sunday we decided we’d go out again. Our original intention was to go to a nearby restaurant with a playground, but then Big Sister Brenda uttered the magic words: swimming.

So we grabbed our swimming suits and towels and went to a lodge not far down the road from us that had both a playground and a swimming pool. This was the first time Max and Elly had been in a big swimming pool since our visit to Nebraska last summer.

I hope to find a place that offers swimming lessons in Arusha for Max and Elly, but in the meantime, we’ll do our own version.

Max and Elly both tried putting their faces in the water were pretty good a kicking. After a while, Elly got tired and hitched a ride on Brenda’s back.

And both of them liked having Mommy hold them in the water–at the same time. (This was actually a pleasant break from their earlier insistence that I show them–multiple times–how Mommy can swim from one side of the pool to the other.)

I was totally wiped out after the swimming but Max and Elly, being 41 years younger than me, still had plenty of energy. So we moved to the playground. There were lots of slippery slides and swings, two trampolines and this cool pedal-powered merry-go-round.

I thought this would be a great way to help Max and Elly develop some foot coordination in preparation for the bicycles they’ll be getting for their 3rd birthday in July (shhhh, don’t tell them), but Max was much more interested in pushing than pedaling.

It was nearly supper time when we were finally able to drag Max and Elly away from the playground. I thought for sure with all the activity, sunshine and fresh air from the weekend they would be ready to go to bed early. (If you’re a parent, I know you’re laughing right now.) Of course not! They were much too exited from all the fun to sleep. I don’t know what time they finally went to bed because this tired Mommy left them in the care of Daddy and I hit the hay!

Posted in Family Time, Twin Fun | 2 Comments

Equal Time for Max!

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

Just about any Twin Mom will tell you of the near-constant pressure and anxiety about not showing favoritism between your twins. So, in the spirit of equal time, I present to you Mr. Max, equally as adorable and photogenic as his little sister.

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Elly’s Fashion Photo Shoot

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

I’m so grateful that my mom saved several of the dresses I had as a little girl. It’s been fun to give them a second chance and have Elly wear them; and it’s especially fun to play Fashion Photo Shoot when she does.

Posted in Twin Fun | 3 Comments

A World Without Chocolate Chips

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

I’ve been wanting to write this post (and several others, actually) for quite a while now, but the month of February was plagued with some of the worst Internet access speeds I’ve experienced here in Tanzania for a long time. Things seem to be back in order now and I’m happy to return to blogging.

In January our friend Trevor came to visit our shamba while he was in Nairobi on business. As we messaged back and forth making our plans, he asked if there was anything he could bring for me from Nairobi. Long ago, before I had even moved to Tanzania, I heard a rumor that it was possible to find chocolate chips in Nairobi. I had used up the last of my stash so I asked him to bring me some if he could find them.

When Trevor arrived in Tanzania he explained that he wasn’t able to procure actual chocolate chips, but he did bring something he hoped would be a suitable replacement:

Trevor had brought me a one-kilogram (that’s 2.2 pounds) bar of solid milk chocolate (which, he learned, does raise suspicion at the airport when your bag goes through the x-ray). I was excited to get back to Arusha and see what I could make.

I’d been hanging on to a Pinterest recipe for quite a while that combined some of my favorite foods: chocolate, peanut butter and pretzels. Peanut butter is no problem to find here in Tanzania. Like chocolate chips, however, pretzels are also nearly impossible to find.

But on a recent visit to what I call the “mzungu supermarket,” mzungu being the Swahili words used to refer to white people, I did find these:

I’m guessing that’s German on the package. I was grateful for the open window on the bag and the cute illustration of a pretzel man to confirm for me that I was, in fact, buying pretzels.

So with my newly found pretzels and one-kilo bar of chocolate, I set out to make No Bake Sweet & Salty Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars. I loaded the recipe onto my Kindle and gathered the rest of my supplies.

(If you look closely, you’ll see that the chocolate package is already open; I must admit I did sample a bit of the chocolate before I used started on the recipe.)

The recipe called for two cups of chocolate chips so now was the time to figure out how to simulate chocolate chips from a solid block of chocolate. Enter: my Pampered Chef food chopper.

When I lived in Baltimore my kitchen was heavily stocked with Pampered Chef products that I just loved. But the sad reality was that I couldn’t fit an entire set of cookware and several other kitchen implements in my suitcase when we moved to Tanzania. So I narrowed it down to just the few small things I really thought I would get a lot of use out of here: the food chopper, ultimate slice and grate, and a couple of knives. I gave the rest of my Pampered Chef collection away to friends. I am happy to occasionally see photos of those things surface on Facebook when my friends are posting about their own cooking pursuits. It’s like catching up with a long-lost friend.

So with my Pampered Chef knife I cut the large block of chocolate into smaller blocks that would fit inside the food chopper and started chopping away.

It went pretty smoothly and didn’t take too long. I was glad I had frozen the chocolate bar first; it made it easier to chop into chunks.

Part of the chocolate chips were mixed into the peanut butter base of the bars and the other part needed to be melted for the topping. The recipe said to microwave the chocolate chips and peanut butter together. Problem: I have no microwave. So I fashioned my own version of a double boiler to melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter. (I hope Mrs. Mitchell, my high school Home Ec teacher, reads my blog.)

With the chocolate and peanut butter topping nicely melted, I added it to the base and sprinkled the rest of the remaining German pretzels on top.

The recipe said to refrigerate for three hours before cutting. I think I lasted about 90 minutes before giving in.

The base of the bars ended up being a little bit dry, I’m guessing because the natural peanut butter available here doesn’t have as much oil in it as Skippy or Jif back home. But it did not seem to detract from the taste, as Max can attest:

The layer of orange smeared on his face beneath the chocolate and peanut butter layer is mango, which is what the Good Mother part of me fed him for a snack. The Bad Mother part of me then let him eat two—okay, maybe it was three—of the peanut butter pretzel bars.

So let it never be said that the lack of chocolate chips will deter me from making yummy chocolate treats. I used the remaining chocolate to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe to serve when I hosted my Bible study group at our house, and ate a fair amount of it directly from the package.

Another Baltimore friend, Carole, recently visited and brought along not just chocolate chips but also peanut butter chips and dried cranberries so I’m all set for a while in my baking endeavors!

Posted in In Our Kitchen | 2 Comments

Play Day Fun

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

This past week we found an absolute treasure right in our own neighborhood. Kakasii and I had passed this restaurant several times on morning walks but I had no idea that it featured such a fabulous playground. This past week when we were desperately needing a reason to venture out for the afternoon and blow off a little steam, I decided to give this place a try and am so glad I did.

It’s called Family and Friends Restaurant and, although we drove there this time, it’s easily walkable using the footpaths between our house and the main road. We spent the afternoon playing on the see-saw, merry-go-round, swings and, the best part of all, the giraffe slippery slide.

Letting Max and Elly go down the slide gave me a few flashbacks to when I was four years old and fell off the slide at a family reunion and broke my arm. Max loved the slide immediately but Elly needed a little coaxing.

The neck of the giraffe was a bridge you could walk across and below were monkey bars.

All that playing worked up an appetite so we enjoyed some french fries and fresh mango juice before we went home.

Such a fun place and right in our neighborhood!

Edited to add on February 25, 2014: Here’s a cute video clip of Max and Elly going down the slide with Big Sister Brenda. Love the giggles!

Posted in Family Time, Twin Fun | 5 Comments

The Many Hairdos of Elly

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

Max was born with a lot of hair. In fact, when I checked in at the hospital to deliver the twins and was examined to see how far along I was, the nurse asked the midwife, “What do you see down there?” To which the midwife replied, “Hair. Lots of hair. So either Baby A has a really hairy butt, or he’s coming out head first.” (That moment when you cross the TMI line with your blog…)

Elly, on the other hand, was not as richly blessed with hair.

But that didn’t stop us from accessorizing.

And on the bright side, less hair made her beautiful eyes stand out even more.

Eventually she got enough hair to justify her first haircut, which her Aunt Lisa did when we visited Nebraska for Max and Elly’s first Christmas.

And then she started to pick up some momentum in the hair growing business.

On the top and sides of her head, anyway.

The staff at the daycare were the first to start exploring the styling possibilities of Elly’s curls.

And then we started to get really stylish with the accessories.

By the time we moved to Tanzania in June 2012, when Elly and Max were just about to turn one year old, Elly had a full head of curls.

And then it was time to experiment with some more Tanzanian-style hairdos with the help of Big Sister Brenda and our house helpers.

But not every day was a good hair day for Elly.

So we brought in some professional help and took her to the salon for her first braiding.

She did so well sitting still for the stylist to braid her hair, we knew she was ready for the ultimate in Tanzanian braiding styles: the “Kilimanjaro.”

Elly sat on Brenda’s lap while the stylist, with lighting speed, braided rows all around Elly’s head from her scalp line up to the top of her head, forming a mountain peak of hair.

A few colored beads finished off the look.

So after a slow start, Elly has caught up and even surpassed Max in hair volume. But her modest beginnings will forever be recorded in her first passport photo.

(Bonus points to this mama for my ingenious technique for taking a five-month-old baby’s passport photo.)

Posted in Twin Fun | 3 Comments

The Art of Nyama Choma

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

Last weekend we had the great pleasure of hosting our friend Trevor at Kimaro Shamba (I’ve given it its own proper name now). Trevor and I worked very closely together at Lutheran World Relief on the Quilt & Kit Ministry for many years and–not gonna lie–we made a pretty awesome team.

Trevor was in Nairobi on a work trip and was kind enough to use the little free time he had to make a quick trip to Tanzania. We originally had plans to take Max and Elly to the Meserani Snake Park for their first camel rides, but opted for a weekend in the village when we heard Trevor could visit. The snakes and camels will have to wait for another day.

One thing that’s certain when you visit Kimaro Shamba–we’re gonna make nyama choma. There’s just no way around it. What’s nyama choma? Simply put, it’s roasted meat. In this case we roasted beef but you can choma any kind of meat: fish (samaki choma), goat (mbuzi choma), or pork (I’m not really sure why, but it’s called kiti moto, which translates as “hot seat” in English). You can also roast bananas, known as ndizi choma.

At the farm we make our nyama choma the traditional way–skewered on sticks over an open fire.

To prepare for Trevor’s nyama choma experience, we went to the nearby town of Kwasadala earlier in the morning to buy the meat and a few other things for our lunch.

The photo below is from a few years ago but it will give you an idea of what it’s like buying meat in Tanzania. There are lots of little butcheries located throughout the towns and villages (Kakasii’s father owned several area butcheries when he was alive). Each day several cows are slaughtered at a central location and the meat is distributed around to all the butcheries. They don’t have refrigeration so all the meat is sold the same day it’s butchered.

The meat is hung on hooks and the butchers cut pieces of it based on the customer’s order–steak, heart, liver, kidneys, tongue, intestine, etc. Then the meat is weighed and packaged–usually either wrapped in newspaper or in a plastic shopping bag.

Once we had our meat selected and purchased for Trevor’s visit Wera headed back to the farm on a pikipiki (motorcylce) with the food to start cooking and we continued to the airport to get Trevor.

When we got back to the farm with Trevor, the meat was almost done, thanks to Wera. Wera is an expert at nyama choma and is often hired by others in the village to make it when they are having a party.

Nyama choma is best served straight from the fire so Wera and Kakasii worked as a team to quickly carve and serve it.

For the ndizi choma we used green “cooking bananas” and first roasted them inside their skins and then peeled them to finish roasting. Then it’s just a matter of brushing off the ashes from the fire and eating them up.

The perfect complement to nyama choma is a Tanzanian side dish called kachumbari. The contents of kachumbari can vary depending on who makes it, but we usually make ours with tomatoes, carrots, onions, green peppers and cucumbers. Just chop the vegetables and dress with lemon juice and a little salt. Delicious!

Also perfect with nyama choma is pilipili (hot peppers). We picked up a few hot peppers at the market that morning, cut them and squeezed a little lemon juice over them to make a nice dipping sauce.

To top off an excellent meal (enjoyed underneath our big mango tree, which kept us dry when a short rain shower threatened to disrupt our lunch), Kakasii made his specialty fruit salad of mangoes, watermelon, pineapple and oranges cut up and mixed together with a bottle of ice cold orange Fanta pop. This time of year is perfect for this salad because the fruit is wonderfully sweet.

After we suitably stuffed ourselves with roasted meat, we spent the afternoon catching up and then took Trevor to see our church. We ate more traditional Tanzanian food for supper (kuku na wali–chicken and rice) and then enjoyed a campfire under the stars. The next morning we did a short walking tour of our farm before whisking Trevor off to the airport to catch his flight back to Nairobi. It was a short visit, but wonderful nonetheless.

Posted in In Our Kitchen, Little House on Kilimanjaro, Tanzanian Culture | 8 Comments

When the Water Runs Out

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

We aren’t getting any rain here and the municipal water supply is being rationed. Yesterday morning our 3,000 liter reserve tank ran dry. What do you do when that happens? You carry water.

The spring is about a 15-minute walk from the house. Max and Elly like to go along; this morning they chased the chickens and explored the forest. Tonight they each carried their own small container to help.

As I’m writing this, I can hear a small trickle of water coming from the tap outside the house. We’ll pump what we can into the reserve tank and put off laundry and mopping until we have fully replenished our supply.

This is a pain in the neck (quite literally; carrying a bucket full of water on your head is not easy), but it’s a temporary bother for us. Some families in Tanzania do this every. single. day.

Posted in Urban Homesteading | 2 Comments

Lucky 13

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Brenda Kimaro

On January 8, 2001, I was on my first trip ever to Tanzania. I was walking to the hotel restaurant for breakfast before starting out on our safari. As I neared the parking lot a friendly Tanzanian man with a beautiful, bright smile took my bag and put it into the vehicle he would be driving for our safari. Thirteen years later, that friendly Tanzanian man with a beautiful, bright smile is my husband.

I love you, Kakasii!