Lusaka Photo of the Week

Wall mosaic and street vending on Cairo Road

My First Leg of Pig

A little while back Katongo and I had a pig leg that needed to be cooked -or more I was so enticed by it every time I opened the freezer that we finally decided to go for it and cook the whole thing. Never having tackled something like this before I poked around on the internet for some inspiration and advice. There were only a few pig leg recipes I found as most were for other cuts of the animal but all provided some wonderful culinary daydreams. The recipe we chose to be our main visionary guideline was for Hornado de Chancho (recipe below).

Hornado de Chancho – Roasted Pork Leg

Ingredients:

20 pound whole pork leg (for about 40 people)

Juice of 3 limes

40 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons of ground cumin

3 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon of ground pepper

8 cups of beer for marinating and 6 cups of beer for baking

12 ounces of butter (3 sticks)

2 tablespoons of ground achiote or annatto seed

Optional: 8-10 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut in half

As we did not have all of the necessary ingredients we decided to deviate slightly from the plan (not that Katongo ever really follows a recipe anyway). I can not include the resulting recipe as it was such a spontaneous creation however mouth-watering photos can be seen below. 

Our pork leg was about half the size. After cleaning it and scoring the skin I doused it in lemon juice and beer before applying a healthy serving of a garlic Cajun dry rub mix we created. After letting the flavors sink in we then let the pork leg bath in a Cajun  butter and beer marinade for over 48 hours. Once ready we roasted it in the oven for a few hours adding some potatoes to the brew partway through, constantly drenching the meat with the marinade and more delicious Carling Black Label beer. 

roast pork leg

The resulting dinner was so much more flavorful and juicy and melt-in-your-mouth-scrumptious that we had expected of ourselves. Even with his family helping us we still had leftover for days, not that we complained one bit. Weeks later we still reminisce about this meal - so much so that Katongo has decided to kill a pig and attempt to recreate it for my parents when they come to visit in November. I hope you bring your appetites mom and dad!

roast pork leg

Farm Photo of the Week

Tree by the Road

Lusaka Photo of the Week

Findeco House: the tallest building in LSK

New arrivals on the farm!

A couple of weeks ago we had two new births, within two days of each other! We welcomed two lambs to the farm, and boy are they adorable.

Welcome to Busuma Farms little ones!

Best Buddies

Grazing with Momma

I got home from work the other afternoon only to find the baby sheep and cows grazing in the yard right by my car. Someone must not have been paying attention. Seeing them play in the old playground was just too cute though, I had to get some photos before chasing them out of the yard and back onto the road to the field.

Silly animals

The Lounge

The Lounge is an extremely popular club here in Lusaka. You can hear the music from around the corner and as soon as you walk in you are stopped by a wall of people. It is easy for me to get overwhelmed here as the music is so incredible loud and they pack so many people inside it can be suffocating in more ways than one. If I am not in the right mind frame, this is not the place for me; when I am in the right mood though nothing compares, I can count on having a fun dance-filled night. There are two bars, one along the left wall and the other in the back right corner. There is soft lounge seating in a raised area in the front right corner and high-top cocktail tables on the left side. The middle is left open and in the back there is a small dance floor with floor-to-ceiling mirrored walls, although dancing often happens all throughout the small club.

Farm Photo of the Week

Gum Boots

Betty Is Finally All Mine

Last week I finally completed the transfer of ownership of my car, Betty. After a couple weeks if running around town and standing in queue after queue she is officially mine and fully insured. It took us four trips to the RTSA (Road transportation something authority - basically the DMV here) to pick up forms and then return them and pay the fees. Next time you are sitting at the DMV waiting for you number to be called know that it could be worse... you could be at RTSA. 

There are about 30 counters... you get your forms from one, find out you need to pay with another, submit your forms with someone else, and that is all if you get in the right line in the first place. There is basically no seating and no air conditioning, the fans they have don't do much except push around the hot sweaty air. Everything takes so long and people move so slow, but when you are sitting in that heat you know why, your body just partially shuts down and can't possibly process that much at once. If you moved at normal speed you could go for about 20 minutes and then me done for the day, in order to last all day everyone moves at tortoise speed. At least that is my theory as to why Zambians and people who live in warmer climates live life at an easier pace where as back home in the northeast you have to keep moving to stay warm.

In addition to RTSA we had to visit the police station (twice), the seller of the car (twice), ZRA - Zambia Revenue Authority (three times), car insurance agency (twice), and a separate RTSA office to get the car inspected. Most of these trips involved going once to get the proper forms, then returning to wait in a queue to pay the fees and another queue to submit the forms. I had to take four days off from work just to complete everything. We could have paid someone to take care of everything for us but it would have cost us 3 times as much. Although standing in all those lines made me kinda wish we had paid them to do it. Thankfully Katongo had gone with me and helped me through everything because I would have given up by myself. 

I still have to go back to RTSA to update my drivers license so I have a proper Zambian one but we decided I deserved a week off from them and will maybe head back next week. This process seems a bit more simple, but we shall see. They say all I need to do is get the medical clearance form filled out by a doctor (already picked up the form) and bring it with a copy of my American drivers license and then take the road test and pay the fee and an official Zambian drivers license will be mine.

Polo Grill

The second social venue review  I have is of Polo Grill. It is located in the Rhodes Park area of Lusaka and is extremely popular. Parking is tough and most often the lot is full so you have to park on the street down the block. The main building is a large wooden and thatched structure in an oval-ish shape. You enter at the top of the oval and directly to your right is a bar. In the opposite end you will find a second bar and a grill area. The DJ booth is almost halfway down on the left side and the middle is filled with large round tables and chairs leaving room to dance in between sections. That is one thing I appreciate about this place, there is always ample seating. Sometimes the siding is removed on half of the building to reveal a half-wall with – you guessed it – a Polo field. This high ceilings and open concept (in addition to it being one huge room) makes it hard to feel claustrophobic no matter how many people are there. On the weekends the DJ plays all the top international hits as well as the many popular local tracks. The drink prices are reasonable and the food selection is geared for the intoxicated. Most nights you will find yourself there at some point in the evening. Even on a slower night you can usually count on a fairly decent crowd being there. Also, across the Polo field you can find Portico’s, a popular Italian restaurant/lounge. I have not eaten there yet however it is a great place to head for a drink and some conversation – the food I noticed at other tables did look tasty, I hope to head there soon and try out some dishes.