Alyzee Lakhani - Roamancing

Roamancing Mozambique: Sights and Sounds of Maputo

January 28, 2013 by Alyzee Lakhani 5 Comments

One of the nicest things about Maputo, Mozambique is how sunny and close to the sea the city is. It was a pleasure just to get into the car with no destination in mind and take in the sights. With the weather warm and conducive to relaxation, sometimes we would just take a ride into, around or out of the city to see what we found.

Coconut water vendors in Maputo, Mozambique

It was not uncommon for us to start such a day with a fresh coconut juice. The most fun part of this was watching the vendor hack into a fresh coconut and seeing its juice spurt out of the top, before he stuck a straw into it and handed it to us through the car window. It was still cool from being inside the coconut, where the summer heat hadn’t got to it. It’s such a perfect drink for the hot weather too. No wonder the area is filled with so many palm trees. I loved looking at all the flora in the neighborhood, because it is so different from the kind we find here in Vancouver.

The tropical plant life in Maputo was fun to look at.

The kind of mood I found among the people in this city was generally relaxed. It seems hard to believe that a whole city can still function while most people are relaxed and cheerful, and yet that is the general sense I got in my interactions there. My unofficial tour guides for example, loved to have fun but were also hardworking art students and ambitious entrepreneurs that worked late into most nights. And the coffee shops were full of people shootin’ the breeze at all hours of the day. Perhaps it was because I myself was on vacation and not so stressed, but I found that the general environment of Maputo was one of general ease and relaxation. You never see anyone in a terrible rush. I’ve heard that other residents and visitors find this to be true about Maputo as well, and can’t really put their finger on why either.

La Dolce Vita, a popular cafe in Maputo, Mozambique.

Even though the city is quite commercialized, there are some pretty gorgeous sights to take in just driving or walking around. Being as there are so many roads that run near the coast, the sea is never far, and something about a big blue ocean view is so lovely. No wonder they advertise them for hotels and such. But I’ll quit rambling and just let you see for yourself.

A small lake in Boane, just outside Maputo

A small rivulet in Boane, just outside Maputo.

Okay, that’s not an ocean, but look at how blue it is! Even having seen it face-to-face it’s hard for me to believe the colour. I asked to stop the car so I could take a picture of this rivulet, because of how striking its colour was. It could not have been bluer if a child had coloured it with a crayon.

Costa du Sol, a road running along the coast in Maputo, whose name literally translates to the “Sunshine Coast”.

Looking at these pictures again in the depths of a drizzly winter, I really do miss the sun and sea of Mozambique. I’m glad it’s always summer somewhere in the world. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. It almost brings out a sigh of relief to see a place so bathed in sun and warmth. I hope it does for you reading too. To summer! And travel. And cheating winter by going to the Southern Hemisphere in February. And using pictures of sunny days to get through the winter. To those of you that understand what I’m saying, We can do it! To those to whom I sound crazy, my apologies. But I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Until next time, happy travels!

Filed Under: Africa, All Aboard!, Alyzee Lakhani, Mozambique, Our Travelers, Planes, Trains ..., Road Trips Tagged With: blue ocean views, happy travels, maputo, maputo mozambique, mozambique, roamancing mozambique, southern hemisphere, sunny travels, travel maputo, travel mozambique, tropical coconut water, warm weather

Roamancing Mozambique: Bolo de Arroz

January 26, 2013 by Alyzee Lakhani 10 Comments

Bolo de Arroz is a Portugese rice cake popular in cafes and bakeries in Portugal, Mozambique, Brazil. You’ll know it when you see it because of it’s characteristic cylindrical shape, golden crust, and wax paper wrap that often reads ‘BOLO DE ARROZ.’ (‘Bolo’ meaning ‘cake’, arroz meaning ‘rice’). It’s unique shape and wrapping make it a singular member of the pastry world. It`s usually taller than a cupcake, and thinner than a muffin. It’s in a class all on its own. Bolo de Arroz! I love saying it.

They were a part of why I loved visiting cafes so much while I was in Mozambique.

Photo by Inayaili de León

So now that I’m far from cafes with delectable looking bolo de arroz-es in their windows, I had to set about making some of my own. I found there isn’t very much on the internet (in English) about recipes and guidance about how to make these cakes. With the questionable help of Google Translate, I looked to Bear’s Kitchen and Outra Comidas for general instructions to work from.

I learned that there are different versions of the cake: the traditional and the more commercialized bolo de arroz. The traditional ones are denser than the adapted versions, which are airier and, from what I read, a bit greasier. Though I think they’d both be yummy, I was looking for a traditional recipe, and so made sure the instructions I used were from purists looking to restore the cake to its past glory.

Contrary to what the name of the cake suggests, it is not made with only rice flour. Most of the flour used is wheat, and to confirm this I asked to go into the kitchen of a little cafe in Mozambique so the cook could show me what he used to make my beloved pastries. The bag of flour he held up for my inspection was undeniably wheat flour. Anyone interested can find a wheat-free version of the recipe here. Because I was looking for a traditional cake, I followed a recipe that used wheat flour and was pleased with the results.

That said, one of my downfalls as a chef is that I don’t have a kitchen scale. And to my dismay, all the traditional bolo de arroz recipes I found used grams and millilitres. So did a risky thing and used an online metric converter to turn grams and millitres into cups. I’m going to include the measurements I used in the recipe here, but I would strongly recommend using a kitchen scale if you can get your hands on one. The dry to wet ratio seemed kind of off in the batter, and I am certain the results would be even better with more exact measurements.

While you can make these cakes in a cupcake, or if you have one, a tall muffin pan, I wanted to have them in the traditional shape with the pleasure of tearing the paper away, and so I made the moulds myself using parchment paper. I am indebted to these instructions on how to do so.

If you don’t want to make your own moulds, skip ahead to the cake recipe below. If you do, you’ll need:

Parchment Paper
A paste of flour and water
A can or vitamin bottle, about 2 inches in diameter
A pencil and some scissors

What you’ll need to make Bolo de Arroz moulds.

First trace the bottom of the can onto the parchment paper to make a circle. Each mould will use two of these circles. As I was making 8 cakes, I traced 16 circles.

Next roll the can with the parchment paper so that it is covered with some overlap. With the can still wrapped in the paper, coat the overlapping paper with the flour paste and glue it around the rolled up can to make a cylindrical casing.

Roll your bottle or can in parchment paper and seal with flour paste.

Slide the casing over the can so that there is about a centimeter of parchment overhang. Cut slits into it on all sides, about 3-4 in all. Place one of the circles on the bottom of the can and coat its edges with flour paste. Then fold the parchment down onto the circle. Put more paste onto the folded parchment and press another circle onto it. That is the base of your mould.

Let some parchment paper hang over the bottle. Cut slits into the sides of the overhang and glue down.

Wait a minute before carefully sliding the can out of the mould and putting it aside to let it dry. That is your first mould! Repeat 8 times.

Bolo de Arroz

(Makes about 8 cakes)

Ingredients:

Butter (softened), 100 gr (7 oz)
Sugar, 200 gr (1 C)
Eggs, 2
Egg yolk, 1
Milk, 200 ml (4/5 C)
Flour 200 gr (2 cups)
Rice flour, 200 gr (1.25 C)
Baking powder, 1 envelope (1 Tablespoon)
Baking soda, a pinch of
Salt, a pinch of
Lemon zest (finely grated), from 1 lemon
Lemon juice, from 1/2 a lemon
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)

Gather your ingredients together.

Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F.

Sift the flour, rice flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl, mix well, and set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, using an electric beater. In a third bowl beat together eggs, milk and vanilla if you are using it. It helps if the eggs are room temperature so keep them outside the fridge for an hour or so before you start.

Next add the egg mixture to the butter and beat it in. Then add the lemon juice and zest and mix.

Add the flour mixture in gradually and mix until all the flour is incorporated. The batter will be pale yellow. Mine was thicker than anticipated (a problem I think might be solved by using a kitchen scale to measure the flours). You can trim the parchment paper so that there is just one inch of it above the batter line, or trim it after baking, like I did.

Line the moulds in a cupcake or muffin pan. It helps keep their shape.

The recipe said to bake for 20-25 minutes, but my cakes took longer before the toothpick came out clean — about 40 minutes.

When they were done I took the tray out of the oven and sprinkled icing sugar on top. They still looked pale yellow so I broiled them at 500 F for two minutes to give the cakes their emblematic crust. It worked perfectly.

I distributed them among friends and the consensus was that they were crumbly, lemony and very tasty. They smelled so good too. I don’t think I would go through the trouble of making my own moulds again, but I will definitely make the cakes again. If you try the recipe out, do share how it worked for you. Enjoy!

Finished! Bolo de Arroz.

Filed Under: Africa, All Aboard!, Alyzee Lakhani, Mozambique, Our Travelers, Roamancing, Tasty Morsels Tagged With: bolo de arroz, bolo de arroz crust, bolo de arroz instructions, bolo de arroz mozambique, bolo de arroz recipe, brazil, making bolo de arroz moulds, mozambique, portugal, roamancing mozambique, traditional bolo de arroz

Learning Portuguese in Sunny Mozambique

November 4, 2012 by Alyzee Lakhani Leave a Comment

My favourite part about going to a different country is delighting in the unfamiliar sounds of a new language — and then trying them on my own tongue. Mozambique has many different dialects, but being a recently decolonized country, Portuguese is the most commonly spoken language in the capital of Maputo where I spent the greater part of my visit. My impression of the culture here is very much a fusion of European and native Mozambican, as many Portuguese people still make their home there even after the country’s independence in 1975. Though I’ve never visited Portugal, I compared notes with a friend who had and found many similarities in the cuisine in particular: lots of seafood, salad, fruity puddings and juices, wines, and many, many little cafes with a variety of to-die-for coffees on the menu.

A seaside cafe in Maputo, Mozambique. Also the place I practiced a lot of beginner’s Portuguese.

My aunt, who has lived there for about 14 years, describes it as a “Latin” culture — people from all walks of life like to dress up, dance and be social in the evening rather than stay home. Even the music on the radio in the morning in rhythmic and makes you get in the mood on the way to work or school. Also, since it’s customary to kiss the cheeks of someone when being introduced, I think I will save a lot of people the embarrassment — the nature of which I will leave up to your imaginations — if I share with any future visitors: start with the right cheek. Every time.

The following are several Portuguese words and phrases that I found myself using a lot in Mozambique. Knowing them might make your travels in Mozambique, or any Portuguese-speaking country, smoother and easier. The biggest challenge I found to learning Portuguese is that the spelling of the words is often very different from the pronunciation. For example, ‘bem‘, meaning ‘good’, is pronounced ‘bay(n)’, with a nasal sound at the end. Once you’re there and hearing the local speech, the nasalizations will grow on you and even become intuitive.

Trying to decipher street signs is a fun way to learn the language.

Here are some phrases that it really helped to know in Mozambique.

Greetings and Goodbyes

Bom dia — Good morning

Boa tarde — Good afternoon

Boa noite – Good evening

Ola — Hello

Como estas – How are you?

Tudo bem? — Is everything good? (more casual)

Como vai — How’s it going? (to which you can respond, tudo bem, if everything is good) – also more casual

Até amanhã — Until tomorrow, see you tomorrow

Tchau — Goodbye

Asking for things

eu care — I would like… um cafe com leite (a coffee with milk), or o menu (the menu), for example

a’cabou? — Is that all? or Is it/Are you finished?

quali-sensa – Excuse me…

por favor — Please

Obrigada/Obrigado — Thank you (say obrigada if you’re female, obrigado if you’re male)

If you visit, be sure to enjoy the fresh coconuts. They are everywhere and so refreshing.

Miscellaneous

hoje – today (silent H, pronounced auj)

primera – first

segunda – second

depois — then, followed by

amanhã – tomorrow

outro dia – another day

d’escupa — apologies, or sorry

falar — to speak

muito — much, a lot

And finally: d’escupa, eu nao falar muito portugais — sorry, I don’t speak very much portugese. This last one was particularly helpful.

That’s my portugese cheat sheet. These phrases got me through a surprising number of situations with many accomodating portuguese speakers, and hopefully will do the same for you.

Happy travels!

Filed Under: Africa, All Aboard!, Alyzee Lakhani, In Translation, Mozambique, Our Travelers Tagged With: beginner's portuguese, learning portuguese, maptuo, mozambique, mozambique cafe, mozambique coffee, mozambique culture, mozambique custom, portugese phrases, portuguese cheat sheet, portuguese greetings, portuguese phrases

Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist at Jericho Arts Centre

July 25, 2012 by Alyzee Lakhani Leave a Comment

Though there are only a few days left to see Ben Jonson‘s, The Alchemist, at the Jericho Arts Centre, I thought it was an important play-experience to share with theatre lovers in Vancouver. I say this simply because it is rare to find Renaissance theatre in the city that a) is written by a playwright other than Shakespeare, and b) feels like some sort of bizarre amusement park ride with elaborate schemes that go impossibly far, long tracts of fabulous lies improvised by lovable rogues, especially delightful word play and a few real explosions besides. Ensemble Theatre‘s production reminds us that Shakespeare was one of the many great playwrights of his time, Ben Jonson being another popular contemporary and rival.

The Alchemist tells the story of a few conning masterminds (Face, Subtle, and the beguiling Dol Common) working together to gip anyone who will believe into handing over their cash for the promise of boundless riches to come. All three undertake whirlwind of character changes throughout the play as part of their scheming. Each sorry client that knocks on their door is conned with individual attention paid to their particular dispositions, desires, and weaknesses.

I loved how the director and cast altered some of the characters to look like caricatures for the modern audience to laugh at. I particularly enjoyed the weed smoking surfer dude who fell for promises of lucky trading, all with the calm, good-natured optimism one can only put down to help from the magic root.

Dol Common spends most of the play in some very attractive lingerie, making sure the men do their part in the gold-getting scheme with a whip, and a tongue that acts much like one. As the professor that spoke at the talkback after the show pointed out, we are never invited to feel sorry for the characters getting cheated, as they do so while blinded by their own greed, or gullibility, or desire for an impossibly easy ride. Instead we laugh at them, enjoy their little weaknesses and overreaching ambitions, and recognize our own weaknesses in the easily-cheated folk. Rich or poor, none are immune to the promises of greater wealth and prosperity, even though it is delivered by means of some incomprehensible magic, explained in colourful pseudo-scientific, mystical language in the play. Freedom from the tyranny of hard work and tough circumstance unites many of the characters, including the alchemists themselves. Some are even drawn into their promises from easy circumstances for dreams of more, and even more plenty. Appetites grow to accommodate the offering, and this is the secret to the con artists’ success.

I think we don’t feel sorry for the defrauded because it seems to me that Face, Subtle and Dol earn every penny in the tireless, customized performances they give to everyone who approaches them with the hope for more. Sometimes they have to change in and out of character so quickly I can barely keep my head on straight. Face’s many hats and personas alone would have been enough to entertain me for several evenings. The cast is energetic and engaged in this spirited performance, and when I went the house was friendly, entertained and laughing as the plot lurched into areas of greater and greater improbability. I’d recommend this play to anyone who wanted to spend a light evening being amused, tickled, titillated frequently shaking with laughter. And to top all of that: somehow, the director and cast found a way to bring out a Dora the Explorer Snuggie as one of the props during one of the play’s more serious moments.

Thanks to Ensemble Theatre’s cast and crew for a highly amusing ride. Particularly memorable in the cast are: Tariq Lesie, Trevor Devall and Joey Bothwell (as Face, Subtle and Dol Common), William Hopkins (as Dapper the lawyer), Aaron Turner (as Drugger the dispenser), and Matthew Bisset (as Sir Epicure Mammon, a knight).

Ensemble Theatre‘s The Alchemist runs nightly at 8 pm until Saturday July 28 at the Jericho Arts Centre in Vancouver.

Filed Under: All Aboard!, Alyzee Lakhani, Around the World, BC, Canada, Events, Our Travelers, Theatre, Vancouver Events Tagged With: aaron turner, Ben Jonson, Ben Jonson plays vancouver, con artists, dol common, ensemble theatre, face, Jericho Arts Centre, joey bothwell, matthew bisset, renaissance theatre vancouver, shakespeare theatre vancouver, subtle, tariq leslie, the alchemist ben jonson, theatre talkback, trevor devall, william hopkins

Mozambican Cooking: Feijao com Arroz

May 29, 2012 by Alyzee Lakhani 6 Comments

I’m now back in Vancouver after 3 months in Mozambique, and wondering how to describe it. It was both a varied and wonderful, frustrating and surprising experience. Note how I made for the Southern Hemisphere, where it was still summer, during the rainiest, chilliest and dreariest months in Vancouver. I’m still patting myself on the back for arranging to skip the winter. Ingenious, wasn’t it?

I’m sure you’re all imagining a sunny, beachy, coconut-filled paradise. And you wouldn’t be wrong. Mozambique is on the Southeastern Coast of Africa, and full of natural beauty. In the coastal capital of Maputo, the vistas knocked the breath out of me nearly every day.

This road running along the coast and is called "Costa do Sol" (Coast of Sunshine, Sunny Coast).

Sadly, due to a rise in kidnappings close to home, I was not permitted to explore the Maputo on foot as much as I would have liked for security reasons. Instead I spent a lot of time at home getting to know the housekeepers, learning Portugese and having Monica, the cook, teach me how to make Portugese-Mozambican style dishes. So even though I spent a lot of time indoors, I got to practice my Portugese and learn how to cook local meals. Sounds like a win right?

Tonight I tried one of the recipes Monica taught me. It’s a recipe for Portugese-African bean stew called “Feijao” (pronounced fay-szao, with a little nazalasation at the end). Feijao com arroz (beans and rice) is a staple local meal in Mozambique — much like it is in Brazil, which was also once a Portugese colony. The phrase Arroz e feijao is probably like our “peanut butter & jelly” in that it is much loved, goes well together, and is a cornerstone of daily dining. Most Mozambicans eat it every day. It’s a not-to-be-messed-with classic.

(For those interested in international variations, there’s a YouTube Channel dedicated entirely to Rice-and-Bean recipes).

This is a magically delicious meal. The ingredients are so simple, and the result so delicious, that magic is the only explanation.

Feijao with red kidney beans. (Bear in mind this is my first foray into food photography. I promise it tastes better than it looks here.)

Here is what you’ll need to make Feijao:

2 cups cooked beans (any beans will do — I used kidney beans today, but my favourite are black beans)
1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
3 large crushed garlic cloves
1 tablespoon grated or finely chopped ginger
1 bay leaf
1-2 of the hottest little chillies you can find (ideally the red piri piri, but green chilies work fine)
2 cups hot water*
salt to taste
0.5 tsp turmeric powder
asafoetida powder (optional)
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of lime (optional)
A big handful of finely chopped parsely

*Note: You can amp up the flavour of this recipe by using the salted hot water that you cooked the beans in instead of draining the beans and adding new hot water to the pot.

Heat the olive oil in the pot, and add in the bay leaf and chopped chilies. If you’re chillies are exta hot like piri piri, or you want to keep the dish mild, slice the chillies down the middle instead of chopping them so you can pull them out of the stew before you eat it.

Next, add in the chopped onion and stir it around. Let it cook for a few minutes. When some of the onions start becoming golden-brown around the edges, toss in the garlic and ginger and mix it in.

When the ginger and garlic start to brown a little, throw in the chopped tomatoes and stir. Let this mixture cook for about 3 minutes. Add in the salt and turmeric.

Mush the mixture together with the flat of your spatula so that all the little pieces of onion and tomato are making friends. Let no onion sliver remain aloof from its peers. When the mixture starts to resemble a thick sauce, it’s time to add the beans, along with 2 cups of hot water or the warm water they were cooked in. Lower the heat of the stove and let it simmer.

Stand by the pot to stir the beans sporadically, making sure they don’t sink to the bottom of the pot to stick. Let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. You can simmer it for more or less, depending on how thick you want your stew. Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley. Squeeze in a lime if you like, and you’re done.

Enjoy your Feijao, and don’t forget the arroz.

I leave you with this inexplicably delightful piece of videotaped television featuring arroz e feijao!