My dad made some "South African" food for dinner tonight. I use the quotation marks not because it was nasty (it was awesome!), but because he found the recipe on the Internet, so who knows if it really is South African or not! But either way, it was great. He made some white stuff that was a mix between mashed potatoes and grits, and a tomato sauce that had onions and green bell peppers in it. It was good and interesting to my taste buds! I had seconds. Nicci (one of my best friends who joined us for dinner) had two bites of it - she didn't really like it a whole lot. Dad, being how awesome and laid-back he is, wasn't offended. I think he liked it too.
It made me realize how much I love trying new things. I love trying new foods, reading new books, watching new movies, hearing new languages, seeing new places, learning new stories. I'm thankful that I have a dad (and a best friend) that like trying new things too.
Today's been a good day, except my back has been hurting pretty fiercely. Hopefully it'll feel better tomorrow - I'm too scared to go to a chiropractor!
Well, to wrap this up, I want to share a picture with you. It was taken by Diego, my fellow AIMer. He's from Brazil - so this is a picture of the names of our team members, written in Brazilian sand! I thought that was pretty awesome. Also, a quote from him.
Hum.. if I could just say a phrase resuming my 8 months AIM EXPERIENCE in America… I would say:
“IT´s ABOUT LOVE”
It is not about the language…
It is not about the culture
It is not about you
IT´S ABOUT LOVE. It´s about God´s love.
-Diego dos Anjos
The "white stuff" was boiled white corn meal, which in South Africa is called "pap" or "mealie meal". This is pretty much the same as grits. The sauce was supposed to be a tomato gravy called "sheba". It was okay, except I should have sauted the diced green peppers along with the onions. I'm hopeful that Tara can find something similar when she gets to RSA, so she tell me how close (or far off) I was to the authentic dish!
ReplyDeletePS: If I cook the pap/grits again, I'm putting butter and sugar in it and eating it with toast!