I bake…who knew?

Back home in Chicago I was not known as a baker. In fact I made ONE thing for dessert: oatmeal brownie bars (also known by their much more controversial name better than sex bars…my husband always is sure to remind me to clarify that they are definitely not…but they are pretty fabulous). I made these over and over again mostly because I knew this recipe by heart and all the ingredients were usually hanging around our house at any given moment, and because they are dang yummy! I really hate baking because of the need to exactly measure things and have all ingredients (I once made cookies without the baking soda & I do not recommend it!). I much prefer cooking because you can experiment a bit more, not as many constraints and I have never been one to follow rules just because they are there. Plus, you can add four times as much hot pepper as required:) Cooking is me, baking is not.

Alas, it is rather ironic that I have become known for my baked goods here. This week I shared some banana bread muffins with some neighbors while Anni and I were visiting a friend and inviting people to an Easter dinner we are hosting at our house. The next morning on an early morning run an older women I had never met stopped me and told me that someone had brought her a muffin and that she loved them. She then came over later that night with a armful of avocados and starfruit from her shamba and told me that she was giving my these so that I would make her some banana bread. Gotta love the bartering. She was very sweet to Annikah and I was happy to oblige.
That same afternoon I was walking home after taking the dala-dala into town and another neighbor who we buy mandanzi (African doughnuts) from told me some loves the keki (cake) and wanted to know how I learned to cook it and could I teach her. One of the helpers at Annikah’s school rides his bike over to our house some days just to see if I have any made and invites himself in for some. What is funny is that I have shared these before but apparently I am getting better at making them. Then today my good friend from down the street called me and said she needed to borrow my muffin pan because she had her sister in law over and wanted to make banana bread for their family celebration. She stopped over and I wrote the recipe down in Kiswahili the best I could (plus, she has seen me make it before). She grabbed the pan (and my whisk and some vanilla) and was on her way to impress her family with MY recipe. Ok, definitely not MY recipe but I did steal it from a cookbook, tweak it, and it is now in high demand around these parts. They especially love it when I tell them all the ingredients are local and the reason they are so yummy is because the spices here are AMAZING! Jason says if we ever are really strapped for cash I could sell them in town. Although, now that I given away the recipe I may have to find another fallback. In a world where I so often feel like I lack knowledge and expertise my little banana bread muffins have given me credibility and some cause for celebration.