Month: April 2011

  • Heidi’s Brown Butter Spice Bread

    When I saw the list of ingredients in this cake I knew I had to make it. Browned butter? Roasted winter squash? Garam Masala? Yes, please! We have plenty of Garam Masala lying around from all our attempts at making a good curry. It’s a beautiful blend of peppery cinnamonny cardamummy goodness. Since I’ve been doing a whole lotta “stress baking” to avoid packing, now seemed like the perfect time to bake this up!

    One of the things that I love about living in Durban is the really large and totally unique Indian community. *warning, incoming “did you know” fact* Did you know that Durban has the largest Indian population of any city, outside of India? It shows, we have curry coming out of our ears and I love it! You have not lived until you have tasted a Durban Bunny Chow, but that’s another story.

    The name here says bread, but this really is a cake. Heidi who created the remarkable 101 cookbooks mentions you can skip the browning of the butter. You could, it’s true, but I don’t think I ever would. The browned butter gives this cake an amazingly dark and nutty favor. Plus I just love browning butter, and being around butter, and eating butter… you get the picture. This cake is soooo good paired with a doppio of espresso on a Sunday afternoon.

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    double click or drag above recipe to print

     

    Love,

    Kristy

    all images Kristy J Carlson recipe via Heidi at  101 cookbooks

     

     

  • House Hunting In Burundi

    Here’s a clip of Ben’s house hunting efforts last week in Burundi. He didn’t find a house that worked for us, but we are crossing fingers and praying like mad that the right place will come along soon.

    House Hunting in Burundi from longmilescoffee on Vimeo.

  • No Easter Egg Dye? No problem.

    Here in Africa dying Easter eggs is… well, not all the rage. Which means that there are no egg dying supplies to choose from. Over the years we have had to get creative about dying eggs, using food coloring or just decorating them with markers (I know, probably toxic!) or just blending in with our South African friends and well, not doing the dying thing (and rather eating chocolate eggs instead, not a bad trade actually!).

    Recently I ran across this blog post about how to make natural Easter egg dyes. I think it’s great for those of us in other parts of the world who want to keep their own childhood traditions alive, but I am sure it’s also a much healthier option to the dyes bought in the store. Plus, I think the colors are very pretty. I love the muted tones the natural dyes leave behind.

    So, if you haven’t already dyed your eggs this year, check out Boulder Locavore’s natural dye recipes and give it a whirl. You won’t believe that red cabbage makes a blue egg coloring! I can’t wait to try this out. Better HOP to it, not much time left!

    Love,

    Kristy

    image Boulder Locavore

  • The Beginning

    Ben began his journey in to help the farmers of Burundi produce better coffee this week. He’s also on the hunt for the best beans Burundi has to offer, so that he can get them into the hands of coffee shops who want to buy directly from farmers.

    Ben’s trip to Burundi this week did not yield a house, but the beginnings of his work with the farmers was a great success.

    What do you think of those roads? Egh? Pretty intense!

    Long Miles Coffee Project from longmilescoffee on Vimeo.

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  • Today.

    Today I want to stop time from moving so fast

    from eating up my precious little left.

    Today I want to take back

    what I said last night

    with a heart full of

    fear.

    Today I want to pretend we are

    a family

    not moving.

    Today I want to live like

    this house is ours forever

    life here is ours

    as long as we wish

    we aren’t going anywhere.

    Today I’m scared

    to be challenged

    to leave my friends

    to make new ones

    to learn a new language

    to learn a new city

    to say I’m sorry

    to trust God.

    To admit

    that it’s happening.

    Luv,

    Kristy

     

     

  • You can add to it.

    I am an unashamed Cesar Millan fan. Truth is, I try to apply his techniques not only to our family pooch, but also to myself and my kids. In an episode I saw recently, Cesar was introducing a couple and their Great Danes (can I get a “hip hip” for Great Danes) to a dog park. He turned to the couple, stopped, and said something like (ok the following is a “from Kristy’s memory” paraphrase), “Never underestimate the energy around you when you enter a new place. You can add to it.” How often do we really believe…

    I add.

    I am a great contribution.

    I’m awesome.

    I’ll tell you what, I sure need to be reminded of those truths, every.single.day. Above are some moments with dear friends. These are women who ADD and CONTRIBUTE and BREATHE LIFE into me. Thank you, dear souls. Thank you as well to those not in the fancy dancy pictures above, you know who you are. Thank you for journeying with me.

    Love,

    Kristy

     

  • Why Not You?

    I’m enjoying the TRUTH from this post today. Let’s all go out and LIVE the life we long to have. Go be inspired!

    Love,

    Kristy

    image MTH2011

    p.s. Ben will be on the National Burundian Radio station tomorrow for an hour. Any of you wanna tune in? Ha, just kidding.

    p.p.s. The house hunt continues. Ben has just a few days left to find us a place to live, and to visit all the local coffee farmers.

  • Why Go.

    This little ditty was made because we want you to travel on this adventure with us. We need all the moral support and prayers we can get, we really truly do. And we want you to know why we are making this risk, why we believe it’s worth it.

    Long Miles Coffee Project from Cooked in Africa on Vimeo.

    The guys over at Cooked reworked this little vid for us and we think that’s just great. It was great before, but whew… now it’s a stunner. Shelly of Make My Day Pictures shot all the footage (except the Burundi bits) and became our friend in the process.

  • On my way to Burundi with 30kgs

    It’s creeping up on 9 p.m. and I haven’t started packing yet. I need to get on that. My flight to Burundi leaves in 12 hours. But what does one pack to take to Burundi?

    Here’s the hard bit. 30 kgs is all I get on the ever reliable Air Rwanda. Kristy is determined to pack a whole bedroom linen set-up for us and the boys. Add to that the medicine arsenal sent by friends from the USA. For good measure, I might just try and squeeze in a couple changes of clothes for my week in Burundi.

    But really, I’m planning to adios anything that gets in the way of the freshly roasted coffee, travel french press and Hario hand grinder that I’m packing. Hard to believe I’m going for a week, leaving Kristy and the Adventure Boys behind.

    I’ve got a mountain to climb when I reach Bujumbura (literally and figuratively). There’s a business to set-up. I need to interview someone to assist me (I’m admin challenged). Connect with government officials to ok my visa. Get to the lawyer. Hunt for a house. Look for a school. Meet with four washing station managers (climb the hills to get to them). Find import permits for a car, a cupping lab and a Great Dane (yes she’s coming). A videographer to update. And relationships to build. What did I forget?

    I’m sure I’ll remember.

    On the flight.

    Watch for my tweets from Burundi…. oh yeah, must also get a Burundi sim for my cell.

    Coffee Guy

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