Hidy-ho friendly friends!
Happy Friday to you all!
Now, I'm going to go ahead and guess that you might want to know just a little bit about what I did in Africa, if not just wanting to know all the different and awesome foods I ate (this is a food blog, I know, and I'm guessing that's why the majority of you are here? :)!
Unfortunately, like the terrible food blogger I am, I didn't actually take a single photo of my food. Oops. What I did save the memory on my card for was photos like this instead:
See what I'm saying?
So instead I'll simply describe it for you.
My school took 14 students to Tanzania as a way to give back to a school tied to ours (called St Michaels) and also to experience the complete foreign-ness of another culture. And that we did! Tanzanians are the most open, generous, welcoming and simply inspiring people I have ever met and most likely will ever meet.
Anyone you met in the streets would stop and greet you, maybe even shake your hands once, twice or five times.
I won't lie, there were moments when I truly felt challenged/intimidated/plain scared, but there were far more moments when I felt what can only be described as true in-the-moment happiness!
It is almost impossible to put what I experienced into words but just know this; when I returned from this trip to Tanzania I felt a change in me that I have not yet worked out. Somehow I look and pretty much am the exact same as I was when I left. But I know deep down that I'm not.
Now back to the food. Because let's be honest, we're all food lovers here.
Everyone kept worrying about how/what I was going to eat while in Tanzania as my vegetarian and low dairy diet had been a problem on previous camps. But to quite a few people's surprise I was probably the easiest to feed out of the whole 14 of us. The meals were generally traditional African, which meant veggies, beautiful sauces, lots of fruit, lots of freshly made breads and LOTS of rice. Yes the breads and rice and other grains were white (gasp!) but in all honesty I could feel my body crying out for the energy source after a long day in the hot sun.
I definitely didn't come short on my veggie intake and experienced some of the best meals of my life. There were beautiful mushroom dishes, many fried rice creations, carefully spiced soups and stews and even a curry with bananas in it(they were green bananas that tasted quite similar to potatoes when cooked up in a curry sauce.).
Some of the other vegetarians who didn't like veggies (yes, I was/am confused as well.) found it extremely challenging to meet their energy needs when all they would eat was bread and fruit, but in all honesty, it's times like this when you really have to let go and dive in to a new experience.
literally ;)
So that was my experience with African food. I'm not going to pretend I wasn't looking forward to cooking my own meals when I got home though- I was craving the kitchen! So here's a look at what I ate on my first full day back (Thursday):
Breakfast:
I was reunited with my baby- the Vitamix, and whipped up the thickest (it was soft serve consistency) green smoothies ever!
Frozen banana, frozen avocado, frozen cherries, rolled oats, chia seeds, vanilla protein powder, crunchy peanut butter, spinach and water.
Yeh, I had to take off the lid and eat it with a spoon. It was delicious!!
Lunch:
I just wanted ALL the veggies. And no grains.
Voila! Broccoli, beans, broad beans, peas, carrot, four beans, capsicum, tomato and spinach topped off with some blobs of hommus. Just what the body needed!
Dinner:
Roast veg (pumpkin, parsnip, swede, beetroot and sweet potato) cooked in olive oil, cumin, coriander and basil, with some spelt pasta spirals, lentils and spinach boiled with the pasta in the last few minutes:
Again- delicious!
Sad to be gone away the beautiful Tanzania but happy to be home in the beautiful Australia- complete opposites. It's a weird feeling but one that I'll have to learn to live with. Until I do, let's focus on eating the best foods, enjoying every single second of the wonderful life we're blessed with and taking every opportunity to say yes!
Your turn:
Have you ever been to Africa?
Best school trip you ever went on?
Ever had banana curry?
Have yourself a wonderful Friday! Take a moment to think about how blessed you are! Bye for now friendly friends! :D
