Melrose Place, Pig Roast

South Africans are crazy! In a good way, but still crazy. A bit of advice we got when we first arrived here was "find the Italians...that's where the party is!" (The Spaniards say that's because they Italians lead you to the Spaniards! ) As you can all imagine, this is definitely true...however, if you can't find the Italians, find the South Africans-they party like the Irish.

Well, Melrose Place, Accra has become South African Central! First there were none, now there's a ton! And, as a result, we all benefitted from a pig brai!

South Africans are known for their brai (just a fancy name for the BBQ). They can't live without it. One of the first South African houses here in Melrose Place actually had a brick brai built in their back yard. I haven't actually gone over there to see it myself, but I imagine that there isn't much back yard left!

Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago, they organized a whole pig roast! It was an all-day affair that started at 11 AM. I wish I'd had my camera when they came in to the club house with a freshly skinned pig, full head and all! Chloe was intrigued. It was pink, like Wilbur. She didn't really know quite what to make of it. We'd visit the pig ocassionally as it was spinning 'round and 'round on the pig rotisserie...and she would say "guaguau!" -- which is essentially the Spanish equivalent of "bow wow!" No, honey, that would be Vietnam or Malaysia...not South Africa!

My contribution was brownies. Cook's Illlustrated Classic Brownies. I think I screwed up the butter. It's packaged very differently here and the conversion is a pain in the patootey. These brownies were so dense and rich that you honestly couldn't eat more than a 1" square. Brent claims the issue was under-cooking. But given that we have been cursed with the world's fastest cooking oven, with temp readings in C, no less, I doubt that it would have spared the brownies the same fate as every other item we put in there! They couldn't have been that bad...someone came knocking a week or so later asking for the recipe. Of course, with the recipe I had to provide measuring cups and spoons and a lesson in converting "grams" of butter into "cups" as Europeans just don't measure ingredients the way we do...

Good time was had by all. If you have a day to while away, I highly recommend getting yourself a whole pig and roasting it....