Kristmas in Kaolack

No white Christmas this year...

While most volunteers chose to hit the beach for the holidays, I decided to take the budget option and spend Christmas at our regional transit house in the city of Kaolack. There were only three of us, so it was pretty low key, but we still managed to have a good time. We baked cookies while listening to Christmas music, watched all of the classic holiday movies, had a gift exchange for which we all raided our buckets and trunks to find random things we didn't want anymore, and of course we made a fabulous Christmas dinner that cost us a whopping $60. Totally worth it.

Christmas dinner! Green beans, roast beef, mac
and cheese, baked potatoes, yogurt dip with
cucumbers and of course, cookies!

  The worst Christmas gift I received this year was from Senegal itself...a fever, strep throat and an ear infection. I spent much of the day wrapped in a sheet and fighting to stay awake. On the positive side, the Peace Corps gave me one of the best Christmas presents I've ever received...the paperwork and manuals associated with my Close of Service! That's right, its time to start preparing to go home! Its still four months away, but with the amount of government paperwork, medical examinations and hoops we have to jump through before we can leave, we get to begin the process now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Merry Christmas!

Neem wreath.

Bon Appetit!

While everyone is planning holiday feasts and cooking up delicious family meals, I though I would share a recipe for a village delicacy I recently enjoyed. Feel free to put your own spin on it. Its called bush lizard, and after a year and a half of a diet consisting mostly of rice and peanuts, its a rare and welcome source of animal protein in my diet.

Step 1: Capture a lizard. Not just any lizard, a Faasa. A large, dinosaur-like monitor lizard that roams the fields and forests around the village. Bring a long-handled implement such as a shovel or a rake...these guys are notoriously fast and if you get too close they'll whip you with their tail. Once you've beaten it into submission immediately remove the head with your machete and let the blood drain out. Hold your faasa by the tail and beat it against a tree to expel all of the internal organs from the neck hole. Spectators should be aware that the first three rows are considered a "splash zone" and should occupy them in the understanding that they will be covered in small pieces of blood and intestine.

Step 2: Once your faasa is good and disemboweled, leave it outside on a firm cement surface in direct sunlight for several hours. This serves to begin the tenderizing process, which will continue until the following day. Once the sun begins to set, scrape off the top-most layer of scales from the skin and wash the carcass in soapy water. Be sure to reach inside and remove any remaining entrails. Then soak the carcass in a mixture of salt and hot pepper powder over night, to flavor the meat. In the morning go out to the forest and collect an armload of sticks, then start a pot of water boiling over a fire. Once the water is scalding hot, submerge your faasa and let it boil for two to three hours.


Step 3: Remove your faasa from the water and heat a small amount of oil in a different pot. While the oil is heating, take the time to cut the carcass into manageable chunks. First remove the legs, and then section the tail and torso. When the oil has reached frying temperature, rub the pieces of faasa in more hot pepper and drop them in the oil. Fry until crispy.

Step 4: Enjoy.

Step 5: Impale the severed head on your garden posts to ward off any other lizards who may be contemplating revenge.

Liqueur de Warang

This past weekend 12 volunteers converged on Liqueur de Warang, a local distillery just outside of Mbour that makes fruit liqueurs from local ingredients and spices. It has been on my Senegal bucket-list for quite a while now, and the simultaneous birthdays of two of my stage-mates was the perfect excuse for an 11am tasting.

The distillery looks like a cross between a monastery and a botanical garden, and has a beautiful outdoor bar. There are six or seven different liqueurs available for free tasting that vary depending on season and availability.We quickly made good friends with the guy behind the bar, who poured us more than our fair share of free shots, and explained how they were distilled and flavored.

Tasting options

Kombonella was an orange, lemon and grapefruit concoction that tasted just like a lemon drop. It had a sour first bite and an alcoholic bite that delivered a swift kick to the uvula on the way down. In my opinion it was better taken as a shot rather than sipped, but then again I'm not a huge fan of sour. My favorite part was the chunks of real fruit resting on the bottom of my shot glass.

Passion Warang was a sweeter liqueur with a slightly lower alcohol content that was distilled from passion fruit. It had less of a bite, which made me feel less guilty about drinking it at 11 o'clock in the morning. I could imagine sipping it poolside on a hot summer day.

Cocana was a pineapple and coconut concoction that tasted more or less like a pina colada. You could definitely taste the coconut.

Menthe was, in my opinion, exactly what Senegalese attaya (tea) should taste like. The only ingredients are sugar and mint leaves bought in the local market, yet the whiskey-colored liquid managed to conjure up all kinds of different associations. It was like pepperment hot-chocolate, but without the chocolate. Not a toothpaste/mouthwashy mint flavor, but the sweet minty aftertaste of a glass of attaya without  the bitterness of the green tea. I liked it so much I bought a bottle.

Kombonella

Pomme Cajou is made by fermenting cashew apples, and it was the flavor that surprised me the most. I'm not a big fan of cashew fruit, because although the fruit itself is extremely juicy (and messy!), it has so many tannins that it immediately sucks all moisture out of your mouth and turns your lips inside out. I have a really hard time getting past the dryness to even recognize the flavor, so I was pleasantly surprised to have my first real taste of cashew apples in the liqueur. Delicious!

Creme de Warang was last but certainly not least on the list. This one was my absolute favorite, a creamy mix of milk, cocoa, coffee, sugar and bananas. It would be perfect in an Irish coffee. I was so taken with it that the bartender offered me several more shots, and I ended up leaving with two bottles; one to be carefully rationed for the rest of my service and one to bring home to America to share!