Adventure of the Wonderbake sugar packets and Heather’s Zambian Funny Cake

In one of our very first emails last summer starting to get to know each other in preparation for our year together in Zambia, Heather mentioned one of her favorite treats: Funny Cake. She was appalled to learn I had never heard of such a food, and was clueless about its scientific composure.

Funny Cake (for all my non-Pennsylvania readers) is a vanilla cake lined with an amazing chocolate layer and baked in a pie crust. Heather tells me you eat it for breakfast! Who doesn't like a bit of dessert for breakfast?

Ever since that day last July when Heather discovered I had never eaten Funny Cake, she promised me she’d introduce me to this indulgence.

 

please note that our sugar is fortified with
vitamin A for a healthy body and good eyesight!

It didn't take long for us to notice that sugar here in Zambia isn't quite the same as sugar back in the States. The sugar here is processed locally from the sugar cane fields of Mazabuka. Zambian white sugar is a bit coarser and browner than the refined white beet sugar we buy in the States. For most purposes, sugar is sugar and what does the texture and color matter anyway?

For Funny Cake, it’s a different story. I have learned that to make a real Funny Cake one must have the true ingredients.

Enter the sugar packets from Wonderbake.

Heather’s been collecting sugar packets for months each time she enjoys a cappuccino at Wonderbake. She was a bit disappointed when the cappuccino man started giving her only two sugars instead of three, because these little packets are filled with precious white (actually white) sugar (which is unavailable- as far as we know- anywhere else in Choma).

Heather saved and saved the blue and white packets. Some friends even learned of Heather’s white sugar stash, and donated some sugar packets to her cause.

It was a special day when Heather mixed all the treasured ingredients for the Funny Cake (thanks again to Heather’s mom for shipping unavailable ingredients all the way to Zambia!). Heather had nearly ½ cup of white sugar from her Wonderbake packets!

Heather measured and mixed and poured. Then, we put the cake in the oven, set the timer, and gloried in the delicious smells. All of a sudden I heard an exclamation and a moan. I hardly knew what was happening. There was an emergency Skype call to Pennsylvania, and Heather was almost in tears.

The Funny Cake ran over the pie plate in the oven.

As a Funny Cake novice, I didn't know what was so tragic. So, it ran over. So, good thing there’s a cookie sheet in there to catch the spill…

I knew it was serious when Heather’s mom said, “Oh, honey… I’m sooo sorry.”

They tell me a Funny Cake is never the same—never as good—after it runs over. And to think this might be our sole stab at producing an authentic Funny Cake here in Zambia. If Shakespeare were sharing this story, it might be categorized as a tragedy-??

Thankfully, though Heather’s Zambian Funny Cake ran over, it was, well, I’ll let the pictures speak:

Not quite as tasty as it should have been (I’m told), but how can you complain when eating vanilla cake lined with dark chocolate and wrapped in a pie shell for breakfast?! 

And that, friends, is the tale about Wonderbake sugar packets and the Zambian Funny Cake. If the electricity stays on and the tea pot doesn't boil over and no one knocks at the door in the next five minutes, I might be able to gather my thoughts and tell you another Zambian adventure soon, right after I pepper my Isuzu’s tyres (increases speed, you know)…

[Did anyone else love Uncle Wiggily as a child, or was that just me?]

Bush

Thought you might enjoy some more bush shots.

yes??
(btw- we're standing next to the area BIC church)

two of the field officers

photo upon request :)

For Kristen

welcome!

You said you wanted to see pictures of my gym...

Now you wish it were your gym too, don't you?!

that's a small swimming pool just past the thatch shelter

Wings of a Dove

More than once I've read David’s words from Psalm 55:6 and felt a heart connection with his cry. Oh that I had wings like a dove and could flee far away…

Not that fleeing from life’s problems is the solution for dealing with challenges, but there are times when getting away for refreshment is definitely in order. After all, as David notes later in Psalm 55, God is our Refuge.

At the encouragement of several friends, I decided it was time for me to flee from the demands of Nahumba and spend some time away— out with the birds of Zambia for a few days.

my private chalet

inside

up :)

complete with a private toilet/washroom

Masuku Lodge, popular for its birding tours, had been highly recommended to me, and I wasn't disappointed. You can see why.

the dam

the main house, where meals are served

It was blissful. Just marvelous. There I was, less than 30 kilometres from home, but in the middle of nowhere—with no phone service, no internet, no people. Nothing except the beauty of nature and the luxury of lovely accommodation and meals. People dialed and redialed my cell phone, problems came to the door at Nahumba, urgent matters arose, but I didn't have to deal with those things. The world moved on while I sat on the lawn, gazed out over the dam, listened to the birds, and drank mugs and mugs of tea…

perfect. perfect. perfect.
(looking from the main house toward the dam)

I walked and jogged for miles each day, basking in the sunshine and feasting on the Michigan sky [In Zambia, a “Michigan sky” is bright, light blue with puffy, white clouds; a "Pennsylvania sky" is smaller-looking, more gray and overcast]. No one yelled at me. No one laughed as I wandered past. Instead, I was surrounded by scads of butterflies and birds, and the occasional annoying fly circling my head. I happened upon a few bush bucks, four donkeys, and two water pigs who were as startled to see me as I was to discover them. All that meandering through the bush, and I only saw one snake! [Thanks again to my friend Rebecca's grandma who prays for protection from snakes for Heather and I; her prayers are powerful and effective.]

The setting was exactly what I was looking for, a quiet place to pray and think and read and listen. Absolutely glorious.

It was so wonderful, in fact, that I got the brilliant idea of sending my parents to Masuku Lodge for their anniversary next month. Only problem is the flight from Michigan to Zambia… Maybe Plan B is in order.

main house lounge

main house looking toward dining room

tea service in every room :)

Thanks to each of you who prayed for me during my time away. I had a refreshing stay at Masuku Lodge, and highly recommend this lovely place.

the road back to the real world

wouldn't you want to work for...

just thought it was a fun name!

How to make meat pies

gather the ingredients

Slowly, Heather and I are learning how to cook Zambian style. Recently, I invited a friend over to teach me how she makes her amazing meat pies. What a good time we had.

I hope I captured the directions well enough that you can make your own meat pies too! As we say here in Zambia, they’re quite, “Taste.” [“Tasty” with the smallest ever hint of “y” at the end]

prep the meat and potatoes

cook

mix (add tomato and a bit of each: ginger, garlic, salt, oil)

make the dough (using the potato water, flour, salt, baking powder, and a bit of oil)

roll dough; stuff and fold (seal with flour/water paste)

place on greased and floured pan

then bake.
then eat.

oooo. la. la.
la.la.la.la.

*btw- I hope you don't mind that I’m posting about food. Again. Life has been hectic lately, so while that yields itself nicely to providing stories for posts, it often leaves much to be desired in the line of photos to match those stories. Something about gazing upon a great presentation of successful culinary inspiration motivates me to grab for my camera to share the moment with the rest of the world, or at least with my sisters! When I’m finished, I’m left with a blog post just waiting to tell the food story.

However, lest you think I share every culinary adventure, I haven't even mentioned such things as pumpkin soup and banana orange muffins and pumpkin pancakes and freshly toasted ground nuts and peanut butter honey cookies (ok, so those were kind of a flop…) and pumpkin smoothies and coffee cake muffins for tea and homemade yogurt and easy-one-bowl veggie salad and iced chocolate and honey cinnamon granola with flax seeds…