Udderdly Delicious

During the past week Scott and I experienced a few meals that could best be described as "culinary delights." When my sister and I were growing up we discovered that this was the term mom would use for new recipes that we probably ought to be suspicious of.

First up was "requeijo." A lady who lives in a fertile volcanic crater near our house told Scott and me that she would show us how she makes cheese. Her daughter helped her milk the cow and get the process started. We chatted for a long while and then went into her outdoor kitchen area where she cooks over a wood-fed flame. Boiling inside of a thick pot was a lumpy mixture that she served up for us. It looked similar to ricotta or cottage cheese, and it was delicious. Senhora Concessão explained that this type of cheese was made of goat´s milk but couldn´t be made very often. We were in luck because that morning her goat had given birth. The cheese we were eating, called requeijo, was made of a mother goat´s yellow milk before her regular milk came in. I was a little upset by the news that I was eating boiled colostrum, and I was concerned for the baby goat. Senhora Concessão laughed when I expressed my conern, though, and assured me that there was plenty for the baby. And since it was so tasty, Scott and I ate a lot of it guilt free.

The Second culinary delight turned out to be a triumph. Last week when I attempted whole grain yeast rolls, they came out much more like tough biscuits. This week, however, they were fluffy and amazing. Pat pat, Melissa. Well done.

The third incident takes the cake. A man who works near our house invited us to join him for some of his wife´s famed pizza. When we arrived, however, his wife had gone out of town unexpectedly, and he had done the cooking himself. He served us sauted goat liver, esophogas, and mammery tissue (!) on a bed of rice. Liver is not something that I can normally choke down. In recent past I´ve secretly spit it out for people´s pets. I will conceed, though, that goat liver is much more paletable than chicken or beef liver; it´s tougher. Scott didn´t find the udder to be all that bad. He snickered, "I guess I´m a boob man."

In other news, on Friday we had the honor of attending a new food inspection facility´s inaguration. The facility means that an embargo on Santo Antão´s agricultural products can be lifted, and as such, it was a big deal. Cape Verde´s prime minister gave a speech and paused to speak with Peace Corps volunteers after the event. Scott didn´t recognize whose hand he was shaking, though, and misunderstood him when he asked where we live. Scott said over and over that Santo Antão is really pretty. Later he was able to laugh at the situation but feels it was a testimony to how hard it has been to learn the language here.

*We now have a mailing address. Please email or check my facebook page if you´d like to send letters, photos, or gallons of ice cream : )