If I was told to choose between mountains or beach, I don't know what I would do. In 2000, my brother, Paul, and I summited our first mountain - Sacagawea - in Montana's Bridgers. In 2001, I took my first dip in salt water. It was only the cold dark water of the Long Island sound, but for me the ocean was a whole new world of adventure. Since that time, I've swam in Hawaii's warm Pacific waters, the calm warm Gulf of Mexico near Destin, the cold tumult along California's Route 1 and various spots on the Atlantic up and down the east cost. Assateague, Duck, Sunset Beach, Belmar, Sandy Hook...the list goes on.

But I haven't neglected Mountains either. Sometimes to the chagrin of my knees, my little stubborn limbs have plodded up and down paths of every major mountain range except Asia's Himalayas. In the Colorado Rockies, it was actually my horse Bone's limbs that did the work, looping through valleys, along plateaus and up steep inclines. In Africa, my safari car labored over the Great Divide. (The power steering decided it was just too strenuous and gave out. My poor driver.) Paul and I rented bikes and cycled the mountain trails surrounding Lake Interlaken, in Switzerland. Earlier that week, we had been strolling through Huemoz, peering across the French Alps to Mount Blanc. Later, we hiked to the highest point you could go on the Matterhorn, before the climb became technical. I've scrabbled along a fair share of the Appalachian trail and sipped Chianti on a Tuscan hillside. Of course, I can't forget Yosemite, the Sierra Nevadas, or Rwanda's Virungas. Each place was beautiful in it's own way. But, in my mind, nothing compares to the Andes in Peru.

A friend turned thirty over Thanksgiving. Not one month after returning from Africa, I was on the plane again. This time, traveling to South America with 5 friends. I loved the Andes. (I also had the advantage of living in high elevation in Africa, so being at 13k feet didn't bother me at all. I'm afraid my friends didn't fair so well.) What can I tell you about the Andes? Their emerald peaks are both sharp and warm. Our troupe spent one day hiking the last part of the Inca trail and another wandering Machu Picchi. The spectacular vistas of the Inca trail are lined with history...storehouses without roofs, alters to sacrifice virgins, over 400 steps older than 500 year old. But these aren't just ancient artifices. The Incas were particularly attuned to constructing architecture in symmetry with their environment. In addition to being aesthetically placed, the location of each building had astrological import. Temples would be perfectly aligned with the rising and setting of the sun during the summer solstice or the winter equinox. I will never forget the beauty of Peru's Andes.

The following paragraph in Hochschild's book reminded me of some embarrassing moments learning random facts about Zanzibari spices and their respective reproductive (or not) properties:

Like many indigenous peoples, inhabitants of the Congo basin had learned to live in balance with their environment. Some groups practiced what was, in effect, birth control, where couples had to abstain from sex before men left on a hunting expedition, for example, or as long as the woman was breast-feeding a baby. Substances found in certain leaves and bark could induce miscarriages or had contraceptive properties. All these means of population control, incidentally, were strikingly similar to those which had evolved in another great rain forest an ocean away, the Amazon basin.

In Zanzibar the air is full of spices and my spice tour guide took great pleasure pontificating upon the many properties of their spices. These ancient medicinal plants are still revered and used today.

Woman apply a certain herb to their skin before they go dancing. Why do they apply it? For the obvious reason - to attract men. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of this plant.

Then the Zanzibari male declares he doesn't need viagra because he has ginger root. Boil ginger root in water. Drink the broth. Voila. All good. Don't you want to buy some for your husband or your boyfriend? No thank you. Persistant guide. Picture Grace - very awkward social situation.

Next. We come to the plant used by woman to cause abortions. I really should remember what it was, but I'm afraid I don't. Henna? No. Aloe? Maybe.

Then, later, when touring Stonetown, my notorious guide introduced me to a man sitting in a doorway, selling little red berries. Envision little, tiny candied raspberries and you'll be just about there. My guide declared I should try them. Did he eat them? No. Did the salesman eat them? No. Who ate them? Only woman. They are supposed to help during pregnancy. Again, awkward social moment...which is pleasant to laugh about now, months later.

I'm having fun cooking on a budget and, because I can smell the difference between quality salt and not-so-quality salt (its true...and a bit ridiculous), cutting costs without cutting ingredient quality has become an exciting little game. Here are a few of the secret rules:

1) Meal plan for 15 days at a time.
2) Buy everything with cash. Only allow yourself to take out so much cash for a set period of time.
3) When you meal plan, use recipes with overlapping ingredients. Don't waste anything. Not even broccoli stems. They become veggie broth.
4) Make sure your key ingredients are less expensive items (i.e. potatoes, beans, chicken).
5) Thank God for the nice supply of spices and oils built up before being laid off.
6) Learn to make your own bread and become a temporary teetotaler if you don't like Chuck Shaw.
7) Break any rule except rule # 2, because that rule is the most exciting.

The winning recipe of this 15 day stretch is insalata di farro medievale (Medieval Farro Salad)
Serves 10. Key ingredients - borlotti & farro. Source: A Culinary Traveller in Tuscany by Beth Elon.

1 1/4 cps cooked cranberry beans, soaked overnight
2 cps farro
1 cp capers, preserved in vinegar
1 large bunch thyme or summer savory
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & fresh ground pepper

Cook the beans over a very low heat until they are totally soft but still holding their form. Reserve.

Cook the farro in boiling salted water (substitute chicken or beef broth for lower sodium) for about half an hour, until it is cooked through but still al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain the beans and mix well with the farro.

Wash the capers well, and add to the farro along with the cooked beans and chopped herbs. Dress with a good olive oil, add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste, and serve warm or at room temperature. You may add more oil at the table.

Useful knowledge:

cranberry bean = borlotti bean = saluggia = shell bean = salugia bean = crab eye bean = rosecoco bean = Roman bean = fagiolo romano Notes: These have an excellent, nutty flavor, and are commonly used in Italian soups and stews. Substitutes: fresh cranberry bean OR tongues of fire beans (very similar) OR cannellini bean OR Great Northern bean OR pinto bean OR chili bean. (Source: foodsub.com)

Other substitutes: Farro could be substituted with barley. Dried thyme can be used in place of fresh, though it isn't as good. (I had to because my thyme plant had died.) Other foods that mix well with farro include sliced cucumbers, sliced black olives, slivers of red onion, arugula, minced garlic and chopped tomatoes.

For the DASH diet, use low-sodium chicken or beef broth to boil the farro. Instead of seasoning with salt and pepper, consider using a little vinegar (1 tbs?) and pepper or garlic and pepper.

Picaso and the Congo

If your brain would enjoy being tickled by a little art history, read on.

Most striking about the traditional societies of the Congo was their remarkable artwork: baskets, mats, pottery, copper and ironwork, and, above all, woodcarving. It would be two decades before Europeans really noticed this art. Its discovery then had a strong influence on Braque, Matisse, and Picasso - who subsequently kept African art objects in his studio until his death. Cubism was new only for Europeans, for it was partly inspired by specific pieces of African art, some of them from Pende and Songye peoples, who live int the basin of the Kasai River, one of the Congo's major tributaries.

It is easy to see the distinctive brilliance that so entranced Picasso and his collegues at their first encounter with this art at an exhibit in Paris in 1907. In these central African sculptures some body parts are exaggerated, some shrunken; eyes project, cheeks sink, mouths disappear, torsos become enlongated; eye sockets expand to cover almost the entire face; the human face and figure are broken apart and formed again in new ways and proportions that had previously lain beyond the sight of traditional European realism.

















This is an excerpt from "King Leopold's Ghost" by Adam Hochschild. Hochschild is a professor at UC Berkley. His book is well researched, and, considered one of the authorititive texts on Congolese history.

Partir, c'est mourir un peu.

To leave is to die a little. That is what my friend, Allyson tells me. I think it is a saying in France. Leaving Africa, now 7 months ago, was very difficult. I almost didn't get on that plane. But I did. Now, I'm trying to return. People ask about first impressions, when returning to the States. After all, reverse culture shock does exist. And I did experience it. My impressions. Sprawling. Telephone lines everywhere. Unkempt clothing. A lack of simple living. An unchecked sense of need. Frigidly cold. (There is nothing like the shock of November temperatures on a body that had been basking in the equatorial sun the day before.)

I do realize these are sweeping generalizations, but they have some veracity. American culture tends to fight to mold life to fit their desires, even to the point of suing. We are an extremely litigious culture. Africans in most countries like Congo and Zim, just accept what comes to them. They barter for everything, negotiating for a scrap of bread. They have many children because they hope one or two will outlive them. Daily tasks in Africa can take two or three times as long (hence the maid), but you just enjoy them. It isn't helter skelter hither thither and yan. There is more of a sense of being in the moment and enjoying the beauty or pain of that moment. Americans often have this "what you see is what you get" attitude about themselves. Not so in Africa. They keep face. Things are never as they seem. That is not necessarily bad, when you are aware of it and strive to be sensitive to the fact that you may be mistaken in your perception...grossly mistaken.

Knowing this, I came to love the people in my daily life - the bank security guards who would watch me hop off my moto taxi and cross the street and welcomed me every morning, Ingace who welcomed me home every night, Shelagh, Sarah, Adelin, Susan, and the many others I would take my lunch with, etc.

The hardest goodbye was Chantal, our housekeeper. I had packed my bags the night before. I came home and I found this card on the foot of my bed. It was a hideous pink card, but when I opened it it was inscribed with the signatures of all of Chantal's children and a little note from Chantal...as well as one of her own necklaces. My eyes still well up with tears at the thought of it. She gave me one of her own necklaces - one that I probably said looked so very pretty on her. I love that hideous card, the tacky earrings and the pretty little necklace so much. It is a picture of the warmth in the heart of woman who, over those months became so dear to me, who gave generously from the little she had.