Food Escapades

I’ve been appreciating some interesting food experiences that I’ve had over the last month that I thought I’d summarize in one post for today.

Here is a picture of what has become one of my favourite weekly meals… that’s right, its tuna spaghetti with laughing cow tossed about on top… yeah. I’m not a huge fan of tuna spaghetti, especially since I do not enjoy tuna. But my landlady thinks that’s the only kind of fish that north americans are willing to eat so she makes it for me all the time despite my insistance that I’d be more than happy to eat the same fish she’s eating (incredibly happy, in fact) and I don’t have the heart to let her know how much I dislike tuna. So I put laughing cow on it, and that makes it all better. Trust me.

And as much as I am learning to appreciate Laughing Cow, you can imagine my ectasy when my landlady received a block of new cheddar from a friend who had just returned from Britain. I got to take this chunk of it with me to work today an thoroughly enjoyed it :)

Later that same week I had the opportunity to attend a work meeting where we were all given a take-away lunch afterwards. Mine stared at me through the whole meal (I kept accidentally getting my finger in its gigantic googly eyes while trying to eat this dish with my fingers as per tradition)

At that same meeting I had the privilege of finally trying a meat pie, and I was also given a local favourite – a cornbeef sandwich. The kind of corned beef that comes from a can (not sure if there is any other kind). Not sure what the attraction is, though I guess beef is rather a treat here for most.

In Cape Coast I finally tasted fresh cocoa which was quite interesting. It looks nothing like cocoa whatsoever and tastes a lot like a cross between a peach and soursop to me. You suck the white stuff on the seeds. Once its gone (which is in about 3 seconds) you spit the seed out and try another. The seeds are what is later dried and processed to create cocoa for chocolate. Even when I chewed on the seed it tasted absolutely nothing like chocolate. Aw well... that's what Mr. Cadbury and Willy Wonka are for, right?

In Kumasi I finally had the opportunity to try a turkey tail! I forget what the proper Twi name is for it, but a lady at the Kejetia market was selling them and I bought one for the equivalent of $1. It tastes a little like eating a pig tail, but its got a lot more meat to it and is SUPER greasy. But tasty nonetheless. Don’t think I have any need to eat it again though.

Joseph also served me some squid that evening which was quite nice. Pretty much like calimari, but larger and more chewy.

And of course, the weekend in Kumasi with Tina was highlighted by this gigantic bowl of buttered popcorn once again :) can’t put in words how much I appreciated that.

And for Mrs. Kyei's birthday we went out for lunch and Tina finally found a decent pizza in Accra (no laughing cow on this one!)