Seafood Ramen Recipe (Pemba Version)

Here is a recipe for ramen that I came up with after 11 months of not having real ramen in my stomach

Ingredients:

0.5 Kg of Noodles (tambe)

2 litres of clean water

1/8 Kg of seafood, I used whole prawns and some small squids. You can use any kind of seafood

1 whole onion, peeled

3 cloves of American sized garlic

Half a root of ginger

Salt

Peppercorn, whole or ground

1 Tbs Sesame oil

4 Tbs Soy sauce

Optional – 1 Tbs of Fish Sauce, and some loving

Topping – Curry Shrimp Cake

A handful of peeled shrimp

1 clove of American sized garlic, diced or chopped

Black Pepper

Salt

1 Tbs Fish Sauce

1 Tbs Sesame Oil

1 Tbs Curry powder, or 2 Tbs for a little kick

Instructions:

Broth and Noodle

1. Drop the seafood into a pot, fill the pot with water, then bring to a boil.
2. While the mixture is boiling, add the cloves of garlic, onion and the ginger (no need to peel, just wash the ginger).
3. As the pot come to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer
4. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours.
5. About 1 hour into the simmering process, add the Shrimp cake and the fish sauce
6. About 1 hour 45 minutes, add the shrimp cake, soy sauce and sesame oil. Further reduce the heat
7. During this time, boil another pot of water to cook the noodle. You can cook the noodle however you want. Depending on if you want a harder texture noodle or a softer texture, you would cook the noodle at difference time length.
8. When the noodle is ready and to your liking, serve with the broth.

Curry Shrimp Cake

1. Put all the ingredients in a food processor or a blender. If you do not have either of these items, you can use the old mortar and pestle to make it all together.
2. When adding the shrimp cake into the broth, scope a tablespoonful each time.

I would like to thank Andy and Khuyen for sending me the bottle of Meiwei Brand Sesame Oil and some baby dried squids. And especially Khuyen for reminding me that I really miss ramen.

A Reunion with my Bicycle

I have missed the weekly update from last week, for the simple reason that I was too lazy to write. In concurrent to my laziness, I felt like I didn't have enough material to write what I thought would be a worthy update. So here is my 2 weeks worth of updates on what I have been doing at my site and on the island of Pemba.

Last week

First of all, my students have won yet another singing competition last weekend. This time it was at Miti Ulaya (the European Trees???) Primary school in Wete. So now, this is the part that everyone has been waiting for, traveling tips on traveling around Pemba. I mean after all you are reading a blog with the name The Hitchhiker's Guide to Pemba. What sort of hitchhiker's guide would this be if there isn't going to be any traveling tips.

To get to Wete from any where on the island is actually very straight forward. From what I have observed, in every major town on Pemba, there is at least one dala dala (a pick-up truck that the local have converted into a mass public transportation, or an overly cramped Toyota Hi Ace van.) Here is one tip, always and always opt to sit in the front cab, no matter the tempting invitations by the locals in the back of the cab to chat with you or anything. More than likely, when you are sitting in the back of the cab in a dala dala, you will experience something many foreigners have called the Tanzanian Squeeze. You will experience something similar to the canning process of the cannery industry. You will most likely be sat on, poked by random appendages, or simply be squeezed into a new waist size that you have not have since you were a wee lad/lass. In the front cab, there is a legal limit of only 3 person including the driver, so it is pretty spacious comparatively to the back. So here is the take-away from all of that, to get to Wete, simply try to sit in the front cab of any dala dala that has the sign in the front saying Wete - ??? or ??? - Wete.

Back to singing competition. According to what I have heard from the other teachers and students, the next competition will be in Michiweni, Pemba. Afterward, if my students are to win the next competition, they will be going to Mkoani, Pemba, then finally to Unguja (the main island of Zanzibar) for an all Zanzibari competition. The singing competition comprises of how well the students can perform the song, how well they have their formations (similar to marching band), and how meaningful and on-topic the topics they are singing about. Hopefully my students will get at least to the all Zanzibari competition, for it would definitely boost their confidence level tremendously.

Now onto some matters that I have observed since being on the island.

There is actually a cottage industry of food delivery services. Now we all know that the States have pizza delivery, Chinese/Thai food delivery, sandwiches delivery. In Asia, there are all sort of delivery services, from McDonald's, KFC, noodles delivery in Việt Nam (Mì gỏ). Well in my village on Pemba, there is a fresh corn delivery service. I was just eating dinner with my lovely neighbors, and all of the sudden, I heard a familiar “Hodi hodi hodi.” In came a kid that I recognized from around my village. At first I did not pay much notice to the backpack that he was wearing, until he took it off to unload his goods. There were at least 10 cobs of corn in the small backpack, don't ask me how they all fit in there. I immediately asked my neighbor what the kid was doing with all those cobs of corn. My neighbor then just casually say that she had ordered the corn a few minutes ago. So yea, I can boast that my village has a pretty speedy (even by American standard) door to door corn delivery service. I think I have also heard of another delivery service involving fresh milk, which I need to investigate into more.

Tanzanians, from my observation these past few months, are a generally amiable people. I have not seen any Tanzanian staying mad for more than 15 minutes. There isn't really a concept of holding grudges. If there are grudges, then the Tanzanians must be quite gifted in the art of acting. An example of I can think of right off the bat is that of my neighbor's kids. One day the older sister was chastising and disciplining her younger siblings quite harsh. But then no more than 15 minutes later, the whole group of siblings were back to cracking jokes, laughing and dancing with each other like nothing has happened. I remembered when I used to get chastised by my parents, I would stay mad and not talk to my parents for at least a day. Now I am not sure if this is due to their amiable nature or being so desensitized to corporal punishment that they do not remember any sort of chastising or lessons. I have no idea what the point of me telling that story, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with my amazement by the stark difference between Tanzanians and Americans

Well well well, now that you have read almost 900 words of this update, I have a special present for you. I have concocted a recipe to make a seafood based ramen with ingredients that one can find on the Green Island. Here is the link to the Ramen Recipe.

Finally, we get to this week

The highlight of this week was a visit by some PCVs from the mainland. Usually PCVs would come to Pemba for one reason and one reason only, to go SCUBA diving. From what I have heard, Pemba is probably one of the cheapest place that a PCV can get certified for SCUBA diving with NAUI. Seeing as how I have not seen many other PCVs for a really long 2 months, I decided that I would meet up with them for the weekend at Swahili Divers in Makangale, at the northern tip of the island. 2 of the visitors came to Pemba on Friday, so immediately after lecturing my students, I bust a move and biked my way to Konde, at 5:30 PM. Now you see, riding a bicycle in dusk was not one of my brightest idea. O yea, the reason why I attempted to ride my bicycle to Konde was because dala dala are extremely rare on Pemba after 4:30 PM. Knowing that it would be hard to catch a dala dala, I decided to attempt to ride a 26 miles ride to Konde. Luckily for me, I was able to hail a dala dala heading for Wete. Since Wete is not on the way to Konde, I had to jump off the dala dala at a junction called Madanjani (the cost was 500 TSH), and continue on my bicycle. After riding my bicycle for a while, I was able to hail a dala dala heading from Shengejuu Secondary to Konde (1000 TSH). Once in Konde, I was able to meet up with the 2 visiting volunteers and another PCV residing on the island. That night, we enjoyed a typical Kondite/Kondean meal, comprising of urojo (Zanzibar soup mix), mishikaki (meat skewer), and a glass of freshly pressed sugarcane juice. The next morning, Saturday, we departed for Swahili Divers. Normally I would have ridden my bicycle through the Ngezi Forest for a nice weekend ride, but seeing as how we had 2 visitors that did not have access to their own bicycles, we opted to take the dala dala to Makangale (1500 TSH). The ride was a long and bumpy ride through the nice forest. Another traveling tip, when you are traveling from Konde to Makangale, opt to take a bigger dala dala, do not by any way take the small kei car pick-up dala dala. The small kei car truck was not meant to travel through rough terrain being heavily loaded with people and other junks with it.

All in all, this weekend was a nice weekend at Swahili Divers. I was able to hang out with some PCVs after a long and stressful week.

A very small note, if you do not want to walk or ride your way back to Chake Chake, Wete, or Mkoani or any place from Konde. Be prepare to leave Swahili Divers before 3 PM if you are traveling by bicycle. The dala dala leaving Konde usually stop running around 3:30 – 4:00ish PM.

So until next time.  Next week, I'll be traveling to Michiweni District.

I think I found a new profession

Life on the Green Island is never boring, especially not with a batch of homemade fruit wine to warm my stomach every once in a while.  But overall, this week has been a struggle and a half along with some incredible moments.

Let's start with the beginning of this week.  The first thing that greeted me as I walked into the teachers' lounge was a stack of papers.  Now normally a stack of papers on my desk is a normal thing, but not this stack . . . This stack was the stack of forms and papers that I have been advising my school to acquire in order to apply for a grant to help complete our new school buildings.  Everything would be all and dandy and easy and I would have been able to turn in all the forms right away, but then again TITZ (This is Tanzania/Zanzibar).  Of course all the forms and papers were in Kiswahili, I mean school officials and local governments usually do all their work in English right?  Since the grant that we are applying for requires that all the paperwork are in English, so it fell upon me to translate everything into English.  Luckily I was able to recruit the help of another teacher to help with the translating process.  All in all, it took just a little bit more than a week to finish everything.

Immediately after I have finished teaching all of my classes for the day, I went on a hunt.  It was a glorious hunting session, where my prize was not the elusive Kanga of Kangagani (which I saw for the 2nd time today).  Last weekend, I was told by a fellow volunteer on the island that most if not all the primary schools on the island received a projector and 2 laptops for educational usage.  I was thrilled when I heard of this news.  I knew I had to get access to this fabled projector.  As I asked around the school, I felt like a tracker, gathering all the necessary information about my prey until the very last moment before I pounce.  In the end, I was able to track down the headmistress of the adjoined primary school.  She was willing to let me use the projector, indefinitely, as long as I would let the other teachers use it when they need it.  In other word, I have a projector and some speakers to show my students some Magic School Bus of Bill Nye, and the occasion movie nights (kila siku) (now all I need is a popcorn machine, would any one like to donate to the Help Son Establish a Movie Theater Fund?)

As I made my way home after a long day of teaching and tutoring, I was greeted with another pleasant surprise.  One of the rope beds that I have ordered was finished, and I couldn't wait to start the stringing process.  With the help of my handy neighbor, I was able to finish the bed in 2 days.  The stringing process was quite arduous, but I managed, well more like my neighbor managed.  I can say that the bed that we made is quite comfortable, but then again, I like to sleep on a firm mattress.  Next week, the other bed should be finished and I will be able to house up to 3 people at a time in my house. Hint hint

A very tightly strung bed

The rest of the weeks went by smoothly.  Like usual, I was teaching for the majority of the day, 7AM – 1PM, then 3PM – 6PM, then 7:30PM – 8:30/9PM.  Luckily I was able to schedule my teaching schedule so that I do not have to teach on Friday, or else I would soon be feasting with the Drowned God.  This week, my students have been trying to teach me some tongue twister in Kiswahili.  And it is safe to say that I will not be memorizing any of them soon enough. The same can be said about the bombardment of Arabic that my students think are lessons for me.

“Barabara ya Pemba si barabara ni bora barabara ya bara na barabara”
“Moka piki paktilali titimuka pati pati lili titimuka ua”
“Mbirimbi mbili mbivu mbovu mbaya”

On to the weekend -

Saturday

I have never realized how long a day can be when I am not constantly napping or doing nothing.  Fresh off the morning, I was woken up with a cacophony of tapping outside my bedroom window.  Luckily I was sleeping far away from the window because I was test running my new awesomely strung rope bed that is tighter than the sharpest of hairpins.  It was only the handyman that was suppose to come today to help with my most ambitious project yet, an extension to the counter-top in my kitchen.  I can say that I actually help with this project, that is until one of my Form II students decided to show up as the delivery boy from the village supply store.  He decided to stay and help out with the project.  I mean, who am I to deny him of the opportunity to shovel and mixing cement for no pay at all.  I was content with the slow shoveling and mixing, but he just came in and took my job.  The work day ended quite early, per TZ custom, after just 3 hours of work, with a 30 minutes break for chai (tea).  Although we finished early, it was because we have done all that we can do for the day.  The next part was to way for the cement to dry.

There are not that many sight in the world that can instantly cheers you up

The begining

Prepping

Before Chai break

Well that's the result of the first day

After the construction project, I was left with half a day of nothing on hand.  I had expected today to be a really long day, ending possibly at 4PM, but we were finished about 11AM.  With so much time on my hand, I decided I was going to do what I do best, to be a kid.  The neighborhood kids are always playing around my house, for some odd reason that has nothing to do with me being an mzungu (foreigner) at all.  Today they were braiding each others' hair, so I decided to join them.  It took some negotiation skill on my part to convince them to try to braid my hair (seeing as how in Tanzania, Pemba at least, it is not customary for males to have braided or tied up).  But before they got to braid my hair, I was distracted with another curiosity.  I saw my neighbor was preparing to chop some woods for her kitchen.  Being bored, I decided to give it a try to help her out.  What became was a spectacle for my neighborhood.  I have to give it up to people who have to chop woods for a living, it is pretty hard work.  I was utterly tired by the 3rd or 4th stroke of the ax, but being hard headed and prideful, I did not stop until the large branch was reduced to nothing but mere tinder and kindling.  After a session of utter carnage, I was back to my hair braiding session.  I did not expect much, but once one kid started to braid my hair, the whole neighborhood of kids joined in. What became of my hair was an amalgamation of a raven's nest and a litter of autumn leaves before the long incoming winter.  Needless to say, I dare not ask them to braid my hair again.  I did try to teach them how to dance, but they prove to be too much for even Hassan the Dancing Fiend.

Who's ready to dance?

My KND's

Sunday

Once again, I was woken with the ruckus tapping on my window.  Today the work was even less.  I think it only took us 1 hour to finish and to clean up from the mess that was left behind from yesterday.  For some reason I decided to be adventurous and break my fast on a savory oatmeal mixed with egg, I will not try to do that again.  Oatmeal was meant to be eaten with sugar, Milo, milk, and occasionally cinnamon, not fish sauce, egg, and furikake.  Once again, I was left with a whole free day of doing what I am so good at, being a kid again.  Today I decided to take up goat herding.  Those goats were very strong, I don't know how a kid was able to take care of 3 or 4 goats.  It was already a handful with just 2 goats.  In the evening after I have finished playing with goats and the Kids Next Door, I managed to convince my neighbor to put his freezer in my house, and I'll pay for the electricity.   Needless to say, he was more than eager to do it.  So now without having to pay for a freezer, I have gained a freezer for use in my newly renovated kitchen.

The result of 2 days of laborious work

My kitchen is almost complete

In other news, this highlight meals of the week were cá kho and cá ướp muối chiên.  Also after a night of chatting with my neighbor outside in my front porch lit with my new super bright light bulb, I discovered that I have a bush of húng quế (basil).  So now I can cook even more Vietnamese food.

That is all for this week Hitchhiker's Guide to Pemba.  Stay tune for next week episode when I'm actually traveling around Pemba.

Peace Outside,
The Amateur Goat Herder / Axeman