Food memories

Last night for dinner JB made a delicious dish! Calabaza squash and pink beans also known as Habichuelas Rosadas. Here's a link to the site he got the recipe from.

It's also the place I stole the picture from. I can never get food pictures to look appetizing. What is the trick? But honestly, JB's creation looked nearly identical (minus the parcely) to this.

Now not only was that dish delicious but the fried plantains he made on the side were absolutely HEAVENLY. Plantains require very, very black skins before you can fry them and get the soft, gushy fried plantains that I love so much. (My hubby discovered this after he used non-black plantains and we got crunchy plantain chips.) This time, JB did them perfectly!

Fried plantains bring me back, instantly, to our month in Nigeria in 2007. To Papa cooking in the kitchen. To couscous and plantains and fresh fruit. To oatmeal and boiled eggs. To mosquito nets and washing my clothes in the tub. To no electricity. To no running water. To the most beautiful people you can ever imagine. To one month that absolutely changed our lives.

I realized that food can do that to you. A taste of something can completely send you to another place. To a memory stored so far away.

So what does it for you? What food is it that stirs up your most vivid memories? Share away!

"Papa" our cook. He worked all day to put three meals on the table for us. He lived away from his family and would occasionally take a bus home to see his wife and children. Papa was in this seventies, but he was as spry as a teenager.

Mosquito nets. This didn't help the boiling hot temperatures and no electricity.

We were in Nigeria for the first civilian to civilian election. Here is Papa showing JB his card that allowed him to vote. His thumb was also full of ink. So exciting! He was so proud.

A typical meal (minus Tara who was taking the picture.) We ate three meals a day around this table. This was the night we were introduced (and quickly said good bye to) goat brains. Horrid! (Even Tara who will eat ANYTHING agreed.)

Team Nigeria! We spent four weeks in Nigeria and then toured South Africa for two more weeks. Kelsey (in the middle) is currently studying to be a nun in Tennessee. Tara is a resident in California. And Ajit is a newly married last year resident in Arizona.

Tara and Dr. Chris. Never, in all my life, before or since, have I met a man who more perfectly exemplifies Christ than Dr. Chris. He truly felt like Jesus in Nigerian clothing. During our stay in Nigeria, many people prayed for me and my barrenness. When I found out I was pregnant, I received an email from Dr. Chris with the date and time that the one of the prayer sessions was conducted. He is amazing. I wish everyone could meet him. If you met him, you would have a more accurately painted picture of who our Christ was.