my saturday night was spent at a friend’s house celebrating her 9 year old daughter’s birthday.

birthday dinner

this is yam laplap (a staple meal in most households i think) with island cabbage and chicken wings. there’s so much to say about all of these things….

laplap is grated vegetable (yam, kumala, manioc, pumpkin or cooking banana/plantain) spread over banana leaves about a metre in diameter (i’m sure there’s other stuff that goes in at this stage too). then topped with another vegetable, usually island cabbage (a slimey spinachy thing) and meat – most often chicken wings*, but sometimes fish. hot stones from the fire are put in with the veges/meat, and then the big package is wrapped and put on hot coals on the fire to cook.

it’s unwrapped and cut into pieces to serve, with freshly milked coconut milk on top. it’s growing on me.

i have developed a knack for finding obscure things in the little chinese shops here, and i managed to find a dusty 50 year old magic tree in a packet for a birthday present. a science experiement and days of entertainment all in one package.

and i have found the best chocolate cake recipe ever. yet another science experiement, involving bicarb soda and cider vinegar to make an egg-less, dairy-less chocolate cake. with espresso coffee as the liquid (yay another way to consume the good local coffee they grow here). i made a cake yesterday for the birthday party, and if today goes to plan there’ll be another one to sample.

*frozen chicken wings are one of the biggest imports into the country (after staples like fuel and cement). its hard to buy any of the other parts of a chicken here.