It is really
easy to make the ‘thock thock’ noises I hear on all sides from my
neighbours. All you need is the
incredibly beautiful heirloom of a proper hardwood mortar and pestle – mortier et
pilon – and here I am, being instructed in its use by Awa and Yeri. The prop is borrowed from their Mum so that
we can pound half a kilo of roughly-peeled root ginger. This gets added to water, re-pounded, re-soaked,
squeezed out, re-pounded, re-soaked, strained and then – surprise, surprise –
lots of sugar is mixed in for that truly child-friendly taste. They love it.
About 6 litres of syrup was created.
I had been foolish enough to think it would at some stage be boiled – like
the bissap – so I did not monitor very carefully the provenance of the
water. Damn. I shall explore the mortar and pestle as they
are so very wonderful, but I expect it is not something one can get one’s hands
on unless lucky one is enough to have a man who knows how – probably a villager - in thrall. Also, it would need to be shipped home …
which might mean I had room for some of the wonderful baskets, leather sandals,
clay cooking pots, leather boxes …. Hmm. Worth exploring!
And the observant
among you will be expanding the photograph to check out the hair growth. This is beyond ‘Her roots need doing’ and into ‘Is
she growing it out?’ territory. Much
was made of the need for hair dye at the beginning. The fear of having badly-dyed hair was too
great for my vanity. There we are. A decision will be taken once I am back in
the UK.
Hot news
from the capital this morning – Thenain has changed status – she went to Côte D’Ivoire
to get engaged in customary fashion, and came back married. There seem
to be quite a few life-changing events occurring; I am planning a rather early trip to
Ouagadougou in case she follows the newly-wed Bakary to Birmingham when he
leaves her to return to their home. Congratulations, Thenain!
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