Nairobi floods

I understand the BBC have reported the floods that we have experienced here in Nairobi over the past few days.   Tragically nine people lost there lives in the floods which took place in the most torrential rain I have ever experienced.

Having grown up in South Wales I am very familiar with rain!  The amount of rain, and the sheer deluge of the rain in the past few days however has really astounded me.  After several months of drought the long rains season has now being going on for around a month.  These rains aren't the days of drizzle that I remember from my youth but torrential downpours and thunderstorms nearly every night.  At first I was amazed at how quickly the water disappeared into the parched soil but after several weeks the water has no where left to go, hence the floods.

The floods have brought with them an addition hazard, with a Cholera outbreak hitting the city, especially in the slums.  Maz and the kids received a vaccine today and I will follow suit tomorrow evening. 

                                                                                                                                                           

This is a wonderful country but overcrowded cities such as Nairobi cannot cope with rain like this. Please pray for a temporary let up in the rains, for those whose property has been damaged or loved-ones killed and for an end to the Cholera outbreak.  

Oh that hurts!

Sometimes it is worth having the injections for the treat afterwards!  

Cake number three

I'm on a roll and we are already at experiment number three:  

Factors changed:  Flour. (Now using self raising rather than all purpose) 

Result:  Better than last time although still seeps over the sides. 

So if you look really closely you may be able to see that this cake (number 3) has risen, albeit only a few millimetres more, but I would say this is progress wouldn't you?  It is amazing that it had the success it did really as the oven turned itself off four times whilst cooking and the grill fell down onto it too.  

I was discussing my experiment (for that read 'cake disasters') with a friend who recommended I used a tablespoon of oil. Sounds strange but worth a try for next time. 

I still couldn't serve this to guests but the kids are enjoying all of the experiments. 

Experiment number two of high altitude cooking.

So here's my next attempt of cooking a cake at high altitude. As you can see the results are pretty similar to the first one. Oh dear!  So what did I do differently?  I sieved the flour and cooked it on a shelf lower.  Both of these factors obviously make no difference at all when cooking at high altitude!  It is still as flat as a pancake and the mixture still seeped over the sides rather than rising.  A change of flour I think next time.  (At least this experiment tastes good even if it doesn't look great!). 

High Altitude cooking

So I thought I would let you into some of my disasters in the kitchen. 

Some of you may have heard that cooking at an altitude is rather different. In Nairobi we are at 5500ft above sea level and believe it or not, this affects how your cakes rise in the oven. 

I have heard about special 'high altitude, fool proof cake' recipes but being an avid cook I didn't think they would be necessary. I've cooked a lot of cakes in my time and considered myself a bit of a pro. Big mistake!  

Here is one of my first attempts of cooking a coffee cake in my gas oven at high altitude. 

As you can see, flat as a pancake pretty much!  Rather than rising it seems to run over the sides of the tin and onto the shelf below. Here it does seem to rise, so perhaps the mixture just wants to be free from the tin, rather than stuck inside one. 

So here begins my 'High altitude cake experiment'. 

Feeling like I am now back at school I am going to keep experimenting until I can make delicious cakes again. I am going to keep changing my method and see if I can figure out how to make my cakes rise once more. 

There are some things I already do differently that I must tell you about before the experiment begins. Firstly the butter.  Previously I have used margarine but here I am using real butter - more expensive option but there isn't really an alternative. Secondly, the flour. Most of it is All Purpose ( Plain I think) so this is what I will be using first of all. And then we come to the oven itself. It's gas, which I haven't used before, but I know lots of people like using gas. It's a good oven but does have a tendency to randomly switch itself off during cooking when I am not looking - but this only adds to the challenge -right?  

So let the challenge begin and I will post the next cake pictures after the next experiment. 

Maz

Bug hunting

Bug hunting in Kenya is certainly very interesting. So far this morning we have caught a chameleon, gekko and grasshopper

Home sweet home

It feels like quite a long time since June 2014 when our belongings were packed into boxes and we waved them goodbye.  Since then they have journeyed in a lorry, boat and train before finally arriving with us 9 long months later. To say that we are all excited would be underestimating it!  Our home finally is beginning to feel like a home again with our familiar things around us. It's funny as before they arrived I always felt a bit like a guest and a stranger in the house but now it is beginning to feel like home. 

There are still lots of boxes to unpack, surprises as we remember what is in them and we now have the fun job of finding places to put everything. 

This is the truck used to move our shipping container as we waited at customs. Ken was keen to have a go driving it. It looked like a lot of fun. 

Moving the container into the shade!  Just because they could! 

Taking a peak inside!

Opening it up. We only filled half of it. Then we took all of the boxes out for customs to check it. 

All checked and ready to go. 

So here we are at home. And the unpacking commenced. 

Audrey's dolls house was a present for her birthday and was wrapped up and shipped less than a week after she had received it. She is now a very happy girl. 

The kitchen as everything was emptied onto the work surfaces. 

And ta dah!  My shelf is up with some of my favourite things.  You just can't look at the rest of the house yet as there are boxes everywhere but we will sort it soon. Home sweet home.