Schultz Family in Tanzania

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Since Jay’s birthday fell on a Sunday, our most busy day, we decided to have a fun birthday dinner for him on Saturday. This is his short review.

Hello, this is Jay, today Mom and Dad made a special dinner for my birthday. We had my favorite food fish- not just ordinary fish though, Nile Perch! And a wonderful treat, Mountain Dew- which is very rare in this country. Dad cooked the fish to perfection. It was fun to be able to celebrate my birthday today. It was so good, that Tyler thanked me for existing. Mom wasn't quite as excited as Dad, Tyler, and I. She tries to stay away from fish but, it turned out all right, I had a good time and hope to live to do the same with my family.

Who would have thought that lemon pepper fish filets and home-made fries would make a 12-year-old so happy?

On Sunday, it was announced to the church that it was Jay’s birthday. I wish you could have heard the 20 or so Africans sing “Happy Birthday” in English to Jay. What a treat!

Afterwards, we went home and invited the Wagoners to join us for cake and ice cream. Believe it or not, we are able to buy Pillsbury cake mixes here as well as some decent ice cream. I picked up some vanilla, cookies-n-cream and mocha flavored ice cream from the store. We had a good time eating cake, ice cream and visiting with our friends.

Nile Perch filets- $7 per kilo (good price, good fish)
6 cans of Mountain Dew- $4 (imported from EAU) a little flat but not bad.
Pillsbury cake mix- $5
2 gallons of ice cream- $19 (Yes, that’s 19 US dollars!)

Hearing your 12-year-old hope he can do the same with his own family- Priceless!

This entry is tagged: Birthday, Family, Food, Jay, Living in Africa
Posted by BJ at 12:53 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

In the 10 months we've been in Africa, we've eaten more beans than BJ and I have ever had in our 13 years of marriage. I cook beans almost every day now. We've tried red beans, green beans, striped beans and brown beans, as well as lentils. I ruined many pots of beans before finally getting the cooking method down.

Continue reading "Sopie Beans" »

This entry is tagged: Cathy, Cooking
Posted by BJ at 10:45 AM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

Continue reading "Cooking Stir-fry over a Jet Engine" »

This entry is tagged: Cathy, Cooking
Posted by BJ at 10:21 AM | Permalink | What say you?(1)

While in Mwanza, BJ ordered the wrong salad in a restaurant--but it turned out to be a good thing. He liked it so much he asked me to help him duplicate it in our own kitchen. The salad he ordered was called a Russian Salad. It consisted of strips of chicken, mixed together with chunks of pineapple and cucumbers. A spicy Russian dressing topped the mix. The restaurant used shredded cabbage and carrots as garnish.
Try it sometime--it's a healthy lunch and even BJ liked it!

~Cathy

This entry is tagged: Cathy, Cooking
Posted by BJ at 9:53 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

Flour, Flour and more Flour.
We use lots of flour now that I do all of our baking. The photo shows 4 two gallon bags and 2 Tupperware containers full of flour. BJ just went to the market in town and bought another 25 kilo (55lbs) bag of flour, our second in a 2-month time period! I spent most of the morning sifting it to get out any bugs that may be living in it. There were none in this bag! I was very happy about that. However, just in case, we store all the flour in the freezer to keep anything that made it through the sifter from living and reproducing (ugh, I know, but you get used to it). My Aunt and Uncle in Freeland, Michigan, made it possible to store this flour by providing for me boxes and boxes of 2 gallon Ziploc Baggies. Thanks, Uncle Oz & Aunt Jan!

~Cathy

This entry is tagged: Cathy, Cooking, Living in Africa
Posted by BJ at 10:10 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

Today I visited the butcher shop. The butcher shops here are quite interesting. In nearly all of the shops you will see the carcass of a cow displayed in the front area of the store. There are no windows or screens to keep the flies out as well as no refrigeration to keep the leftover carcass fresh. When a customer comes for meat they simply request the amount they want. The butcher then grabs a gnarly knife and hacks off the requested amount of kilograms. There are no such things as Tenderloin, T-bone, Rib eye, Flank steaks or even Baby Back ribs. There is only with or without bones. Many people here will eat the intestines, liver and other inner parts. Because there is such a demand, you will often see these parts hanging from a hook along side of the cow carcass. When it comes to wrapping it up, the butcher throws the whole chunk of meat into a plastic bag. Butcher paper? There is no such thing here. I have eaten meat like this before. I was lucky and got a nice hunk of tenderloin. God did a wonderful thing when he made fire and allowed its heat to purify that to which it is applied. Thank you Lord.

This entry is tagged: Butcher, Cooking, Living in Africa
Posted by BJ at 6:13 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)