Bula Fiji

Every year Pete heads over to Fiji for a month for work and I get to join him for 2 weeks.  This year we spent 5 nights in a local village!!!  Talk about a different way of life and a different way of COOKING!

Lanianna - my beautiful 'homestay' mother and cooking companion.

I had the delight of spending some time in the kitchen with these beautiful Fijian women laughing and sharing together.  Let me explain this is no traditional kitchen, we are talking a small gas burner and a small convection oven (only some people have these), no counter space and no refrigerator (some people have them but not everyone).  It was great fun, we sat on a simple mat in the very simple kitchen with no measuring cups or spoons, just eye balling everything!  I was taught how to make a Fijian style pumpkin pie (very different to the tradional American pumpkin pie I am uses to) it was a pretty interesting recipe with more of a cake like base and then pumpkin that we boiled and then mashed spread over it and then topped with condensed milk mixed with lime juice.

The next day I taught them how to make peanut butter cookies, a good old classic, I think peanut butter was a bit of a luxury because it can be expensive to buy.  The cookies seemed to be a hit, I wrote down the recipe for them. 

It was so interesting spending this time with these women, who have probably never even looked at a cook book but they are just passing on recipes verbally and doing what they have been taught from the generation before them.  I can't really imagine life with no cookbooks!  So when I get back to Australia I am going to send these ladies a little care package for the kitchen with some measuring cups, chocolate chips and a cookbook.