Butternut and Mangoes

For this 24 hour period my favorite food is Butternut squash!! I love the stuff. I used it in place of sweet potatoes in my thanksgiving sweet potato casserole yesterday and I must say it turned out great and then someone else brought cubed, roasted butternut and someone else mashed it! I do specify it is a short lived love affair because i don't always enjoy it quite this much. (Yesterday, when I was boiling it prior to mashing I had some extra and just ate it plain with pepper!) but it is definitely a food we have "discovered" since moving to Malawi. I used to buy them in the States but then wouldn't end up using them. I started getting them here for Karis and then starting finding recipes for them and other people started talking about it. One of the restaurants has an amazing feta and butternut pizza and I now make a feta and butternut quiche! Now, don't assume this is actually an indigenous food to Malawi. As far as I can see, it certainly isn't. If fact they are usually on the expensive side - although not this week so who knows! The funny thing about trying to recreate American Thanksgiving in the southern hemisphere is that it is summer so fall/winter crops like pumpkin are no where to be found and it really isn't sweet potato season (hence the butternut casserole in the first place!)

Another funny food comment: mangoes! It mango season and we love it but John and I definitely have different taste in mangoes! He went to Salima, the home of Malawi's best mangoes, for work on Monday and brought us back a bag. Mathilda cut them up for us and they are great just a bit on the ripe side for me. Then last night someone brought a bowl full of mango that are much more on the green side! I love them and John said he didn't even try them because he could tell they weren't ripe enough!