A Clearer Picture

I just looked at my previous entry and realized that the "after" picture of Seacliff doesn't look burned at all (not that I'm glad that it is!)

So here it is again, much larger this time. Notice the burned charred window shades on the top floor, right side:


I happened to run into the guy who runs Top Knots (arguably the best and most expensive hair salon in Dar) at the Seacliff Village supermarket today and he says his salon is currently closed. It's not burned, fortunately, but investigation as to what caused the fire is in progress.

Perhaps it was arson (cue dramatic music...jeng, jeng jeng!)

Seacliff on Fire!

Seacliff was on fire!

There's a long story behind how I found out about this (goodness knows it wasn't through the local paper; I know I should read it but I don't).

I was baking cupcakes for the Bead Queen on Saturday afternoon because she just LOVES cupcakes and because I like her and I want her to eat them. Besides, she's going to have a baby soon and I think expectant mummys should get what they want:


I began baking at about 5pm and I made a HUGE MISTAKE by setting the oven temp at 220C instead of 200C. The cupcakes came out slightly burned and because I'm a perfectionist and because I don't want Bead Queen to eat burned stuff, I decided to make another batch. Unfortunately, I'd run out of vanilla essence. So....because I'm a perfectionist and because I didn't want Bead Queen to eat essence-less cupcakes I decided to go get some.

Anyway, long story short, The Engineer and I made a quick run to Seacliff Village Supermarket to get the stuff. On the way, we were overtaken by a rather slow, silent fire truck with flashing lights. The truck didn't really look like it was in a hurry to get anywhere as the driver unhurriedly negotiated past the few cars on the road. I initially thought that it was heading for some sort of Fireman Family Day or something until The Engineer spotted smoke billowing up in the sky, straight ahead of us..... turns out The Seacliff Hotel was on fire!

I had never seen a real fire before and like every other person there, was morbidly curious about it ( I turn away from road accidents and the like but couldn't stop myself from staring at this). At the time we got there, the fire was pretty much confined to the back of the hotel but because of the hotel's thatched roofs, it was blazing angrily and looked like it might leap onto the neigbouring Seacliff Village building as well:




In view of this imminent danger, I noticed that they had closed and evacuated Seacliff Village so the vanilla essence was a no go. I had to go to Shrijee's and get the cheap kind which I disliked doing but powers greater than myself had thwarted my attempt at procuring good quality vanilla essence...what's a girl to do?


The Engineer, being far more morbid than I am and far less bothered by the lack of quality vanilla essence,rushed to the roof of our apartment building, the moment we got home, to see if he could spot the flames at Seacliff from there (which he could). He was eventually joined by Bead Queen's husband, Bead King and their little boy.

The Engineer and I went back to Seacliff the next morning and discovered the damage:


As far as I know no one was hurt (thankfully!) and I'm seriously glad that Seacliff Village Supermarket (which I can't live without) and the Java Lounge (which I also cannot live without because of their fabulous cafe latte) has been spared.

I just feel bad for the hotel guests and staff who must have had a terrible fright on Saturday night.

Hummus Calamity

Results from yesterday's attempt at hummus - it was terrible!

I'm tempted to be a bad workman and blame my tools i.e in this case, blame the recipe but I must be honest and say that it was my own fault - I was impatient.

According to the recipe, I'm supposed to soak the chickpeas overnight (hummus is actually a cool foreign way of saying chickpea paste) , then boil them until they are soft. I waited for about 15 minutes and decided that they were soft enough which they were not!

That's where all my problems began because I had to blend them until they turned into a paste and they simply REFUSED to turn into a paste!!

I ended up with hard, lumpy hummus which I tried to rescue by adding olive oil and lemon juice but to no avail. It remained lumpy and tasted like mud. Awful!

The only thing I managed to achieve was to totally waste about 200ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil which is like saying I threw away a bar of gold because that's what Extra Virgin Olive Oil is worth in Dar if you consider what it costs!

I'm not going to attempt hummus again....besides, The Engineer told me that during Ramadhan, Al Basha is open at lunch time on weekdays. Woo hoo!

Al Basha Groupie

I skipped breakfast this morning (stupid thing to do but I had immersed myself online and lost track of the time).

I am so RAVENOUS right now! I just can't stop thinking about the Lebanese food at my current favourite restaurant in the whole world - Al Basha. The best part is, a lot of the stuff there is really healthy and there's plenty of vegetables in almost every dish. It's almost too good to be true!

If you're wondering what's the fuss all about it, just look at it, isn't it beautiful?



I've already mentioned Al Basha in another post which only proves how much I love it there!

Unfortunately, their business hours are a bit erratic right now because it's Ramadhan (fasting month) so I might have to go without their hot pita bread, hummus and spicy lamb sandwiches for a while.

I don't think I can last the whole month though so I'm going to attempt to make my own hummus this afternoon.

If it turns out, I'll post the recipe in this blog but if it doesn't, I'm just going to beg the Al Basha people to start a delivery service!

New Look

Ooooh! I like the new look of my blog! I chose it mainly because of the girl. She's so cool...down to her stark, white hair and bright red nails! I'm inspired to work out and get that bikini bod of hers!

It was fun but I had to pay the price for updating the look of this blog....it took me AGES to get this up because I had to contend with the temperamental Internet that kept going on and off.

I've also not been posting for the past week because the people in charge of renewing my Internet subscription failed to do so and then took about a week to get it done once they had been informed...That's pole sana for you!

Still, I'm glad the net is back (temperamental or otherwise!). I know I sound like a junkie but I really don't know what I'd do without it!

A Moment's Notice

It's official. I haven't got a single spontaneous bone in my body.
Pinky sms-ed this morning with one line: want to go to SA?

I already knew what she was talking about. She'd mentioned to a few of us that she'd been offered free trips to South Africa.

The story behind it is that this other friend of ours has a company here in Dar. I don't know the exact nature of the business but I believe it has something to do with oil.

Anyway, this friend needs to transport oil samples back to South Africa almost every week presumably to have lab analysis done on them. Tanzania simply does not have the right facilities to support what she wants done.

Long story short, this friend often contacts Pinky and asks her if she'd like to take the samples down to SA (oh and did I mention that it's a Business Class return ticket?) Apparently, it's cheaper to send someone down to South Africa on a return Business Class ticket than to send the samples via DHL (all the wrong things are expensive here in Tanzania).

The samples will be collected at the Jo'berg airport so once that's done, the 'transporter' is free to do as she pleases for as long as she likes (I believe international air tickets are 'open' for at least a month, possibly more for Business Class).

There's only one drawback in this entire scenario. They never know when they'll need someone to go down to SA with the samples. In other words, the 'transporter' has to drop everything and jump on a plane at a moment's notice

Pinky says she finds this really hard to do since her two little boys need her around. I think mothers will tell you that you just don't do 'a moment's notice' when you have a child. The only 'a moment's notice' you do would be to catch valuable and breakable items at 'a moment's notice' when your child knocks them down from the mantel or perhaps rush to the clinic at 'a moment's notice' when he swallows a large coin. Going on holiday and the like is NEVER going to happen at a moment's notice so Pinky is largely not going to make it for the free trip (much to her disappointment).

I have no kids and even Charley (my kitty cat) isn't with me here in Tanzania. The Engineer is a big boy and can take care of himself so what's my excuse? Well, I can only say that anything done at a 'moment's notice' makes me nervous. Throwing caution to the winds makes me feel cautious!

I'm one of those 'what if?" people. What if I don't manage to pack everything on time (Pinky suggests that I should have a bag packed and ready and I didn't listen!) What if the person collecting the samples in SA doesn't turn up? What if I get stuck at immigration and they think I've stolen the samples? What if I run out of money? What if, what if , what if.

My biggest problem is that I have only one place I'd like to stay while I'm in South Africa and that's at Girlfriend and Boss' place. I hadn't informed her and what if I suddenly turned up and she's not there or she gets upset coz she had other plans? What if….here I go again!

Anyway, I don't think Pinky is going to inform me about this again since I'm such a chicken at doing things impulsively. I think I should decide to actually go through with it the next time she calls (if she gives me a second chance!). I'll warn Girlfriend about it beforehand and plan it nicely but if I do all that, then it won't be spur-of-the-moment thing now would it?

I think I'm going to give up and just be happy with my non-adventurous, non-impulsive self! Besides, all those travel-at-a-drop-of-a-hat people would end up starving or worse if there weren't any 'what-if' people like me to plan for eventualities. After all, it takes all kinds to make a go around the world!

Thirty-something Juicers

I've decided that I'm at the point where whatever I choose to do, health-wise, is going to have a lasting effect on the rest of my life.

The 20s are all about excesses and extremes - too much booze, too much food, too little food, too much smoking, too little sleep.

Yep, people in their 20s can get away with pretty much anything and wake up the next day looking like they've just spent a week at a health spa.

Anyone who's 20s are behind them will agree that this life of excess ends on your 30th birthday. Well, you can still choose to party all night, wake up at dawn and go to work but you're not going to look like you've just gone to a spa...you're going to look like you slept outside with a family of raccoons and woke up looking like one (complete with dark circles under the eye area and disheveled hair) :



In line with a new philosophy on improving our health (and a concerted effort to not look like raccoons), the Engineer and I have become smoothie and juice drinkers. We blend everything - celery, cucumber, strawberries, carrots, tomatoes and even spinach. If it's vegetable juice, we usually add a dash of lime/ginger for a bit of zing . If it's a fruit smoothie, we use yogurt and soya milk.

Before you conclude that we're a pretty hard-working pair, allow me to clarify that our sudden affinity for vegetable and fruit juices has less to do with diligence and more to do with laziness. We think it's a lot easier to take in our daily fruit/vegetable portions in juice form; that way we don't have to chew anything.... told you we're lazy goons *grins*!

I can't say that all the concoctions we've come up with are Food Channel material (the spinach is horribly bitter!) but some actually taste like creamy milkshakes (the strawberry, yogurt and soya milk mixture is exceptional!)

The one in the picture is a cucumber, celery and mint juice. I felt so healthy drinking it in the middle of the afternoon. I enjoyed it all the more knowing that I didn't have to deal with this mess....



Despite some of her rather alarming habits, I must say Sophia is heaven sent!

I used to wish I could return to my 20s but I've come to realize that my 30s are great....I know myself better, I understand what's really important in life and best of all....I don't have to clean up after I've made myself a smoothie! Life's pretty sweet!

raccoon pic courtesy of pikespeakphoto.com

The Land of Nat Geo Specials

Everytime I get used to the idea that I'm here in Africa ( I never dreamed that I would even set foot on the continent, leave alone live here for a year!) something happens to remind me that I'm in The Land of National Geographic Specials.

Girlfriend took this picture a few days before she left (sob! I still miss her lots):


If you look closely, you'll see that that leaf has legs and a head. It's not a leaf at all but an insect! Girlfriend and I weren't even in some exotic spot in the middle of an African jungle when she captured this. You might notice that the background is a marble wall....this was taken in the ground floor of Girlfriend's apartment building here in Dar!

I've never seen anything like it in my life... well not out in the open anyway, only on TV (maybe I should spend more time outdoors but that's another issue!). In Africa, you just have to step outside and a busy, crowded, remarkable world of nature awaits to greet you.

Sometimes, you don't even have to go outside. This is the view from our balcony...


I'm beginning to understand the world's fascination with Mother Africa. She has all the allure of a particularly exceptional woman....she's lush, she's mysterious and she's always surprising.

Fashion Police, Tanzanian Style

I was a rather busy bee last week. I went to the lovely baby shower for K on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning, I attended the South African Women's Group inaugural meeting.

I know, I know...I'm Malaysian, not South African so it might seem like I was crashing the party. In my defense, the organizers (one of whom I'd met through Pinky) were kind enough to let me attend because they feel that their meetings will be helpful to any expat.

I must admit, that despite their reassurance, I did consider running away at the last moment. Luckily I spotted the Bead Queen and K before making an escape so I stayed.

Michelle and Tania, the organizers, were really calm and everything ran smoothly. There were lovely snacks and even lucky draws! Looking at them, you'd never have guessed that they'd never held a SAWG meeting before (I'd have been a bundle of nerves - I'm not very good with crowds)

The speaker of the day was Helen, an Australian lady who has been living in Tanzania for 14 years. She had plenty of advice and a lot of the information was news to me.

For instance, I'd never known that Tanzanian people are largely conservative, even here in the middle of the biggest city. This means that 'revealing' spaghetti straps and low cut blouses are frowned upon. You're also in trouble if you're seen in army/combat pants/tops because only the real military is allowed to wear that (personally, I've never had the inclination to wear combat/military stuff because I think those designs are really unattractive. In fact, I think the military shouldn't have to wear them either!). She told us quite a horrifying tale about how intolerant the Tanzanians are when they believe someone or something is disrespectful of their culture.

A couple of years ago, a South African lady had taken her 11-year-old daughter for a quick shopping session in the middle of town. From what I gathered, the little girl was wearing a sleeveless top and short shorts and because she was an 'early-developer', the locals mistook her for someone a lot older. I believe she wasn't wearing anything under her top and when they saw her they immediately surrounded her and began shouting in Swahili.

This must have truly terrified the mother and the little girl as they did not understand what the crowd was yelling about. Fortunately, a shopkeeper came to their rescue by quickly throwing some cloth over the girl.

Tanzanians are not an aggressive lot so the mom and daughter weren't physically attacked but verbal disapproval, especially from a large crowd, must have been almost as frightening.

I thought back to the times I've been into town and there has been more than one occasion when I've strolled through the streets in a halter dress. I remember people giving me looks but I assumed that it was because they liked my dress (hey, its always good to think positive) plus I'm not 'endowed' enough to be 'spilling' out of the halter and didn't think it would be a problem.

Little did I know that they were probably contemplating telling me of for being a hussy!

From now on - only long pants and tops with sleeves for me since the Fashion Police in Tanzania seem to take their jobs more seriously than the real police!