Malawi

Our next country is nicknamed the 'warm heart of Africa', for it's friendly people and unbeatable hospitality. They've used this to their advantage in the tourism industry. There are now lots of opportunities for tourists to spend time in real villages (even overnight), and experience first-hand the cultures, and traditions of daily life in Malawi. 

The largest ethnic group in Malwai is the Chewa tribe, accounting for about a third of the 16 and a half million Malawians. The Chewa people perform a 'great dance' for special ceremonies, while wearing masks, that are a representation of their ancestors. 

Malawi is dominated by it's lake. Lake Malawi, Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika make up the African Great Lakes.Lake Malwai is also known as Lake Nyasa or 'Lake of the Stars' because fishing boat's lanterns often reflect on the crystal-clear water, mirroring the stars at night. It is the 9th largest lake in the world, and the second deepest in Africa. It accounts for 1/3 of the area of Malawi. 

The lake is a haven for water-sports as well has having some of the best freshwater diving sites in the world. 

Lake Malwai is home to more species of fish than any other freshwater system on Earth. More than 850 different species live here, and more than half of those are various kinds of  cichlids. Cichlids are popular in freshwater aquariums due to their bright tropical colors, and you can find plenty of articles about how to set up a Malwai Cichlid aquarium if you are so inclined. 

Today catching and collecting aquarium fish remains a small but regular industry for Malawians who live near the lake. 

Luckily, over-fishing isn't really an issue. In fact, the national parks in Malawi are slowly being brought back to life. Instead of seeing animals disappear, Africa's 'big five' , the lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, and elephants) have been 'restocked' within the parks. Other animals that can be found in Malawi include zebras, impalas, crocodiles and hippos. 

Malawi also has it's very own dinosaur named after them. The Malawisaurus was a long necked herbivore, coming in between 30 and 50 feet. 

Today, in Malawi, you'll also find a whole slew of birds, over 600 species in fact. Malawi is known as a bird-spotting paradise. One of their prized birds include the African pygmy kingfisher. This tiny, brightly colored yellow and blue bird flashes through the air, and eats insects and spiders. 

Something else there is plenty of in Malawi: maize, aka corn. A famous saying in Malawi is 'chimanga ndi moyo', or corn is life. Eighty percent of the country grow their own corn to feed their families. 

Traditional Malawian food revolves around nsima (n'SEE-ma), which is a thick corn porridge rolled into balls with your right and and dipped into a variety of 'relishes' (or stews). For most people, the relishes are made from beans, but for those with more money, the stew is made of chicken, beef or fish. 

The boys made their Malawi postcards. 

Calib's featured Lake Malawi, birds, and corn (tobacco is also a major crop there- so his guy is in fact smoking as he lays in the inner-tube).

Peyton included the Malawisaurus bones. 

And Hayden went underwater to show some of the fish in Lake Malawi. He even googled images of fish, so it would 'be accurate'. 

We've done a lot of African countries for meals, and sometimes they aren't all that exciting. Like I said, Malawi is known for their corn, and they make these little maize balls that they dip in 'relishes'. I mean, I'd try it... but that sounds like a lot of work for something that doesn't sound awesome. 

Then I found A recipe for Mbatata Cookies. I figured we could do Malawi the day I make all the cookies for the Ainsworth family cookie boxes (we for real make A LOT of cookies and then mail them out to everyone.) 

But to give you some frame of reference, here's what I needed to make 'American' Cookies.... 

...and here's what I needed to make Malawian cookies. 

All the cookie baking was a perfect time to use my brand new (to me!) Kitchenaid Mixer. You know, it's kind of amazing how un-frustrating making cookies can be when you have fancy new things like silicone cookie mats for your trays, cooling racks and an actual mixer and a kitchen that isn't the tiniest excuse for a kitchen ever. We sure have come a long way in cookie baking in the last couple years. I actually baked real, non-burnt, non-falling apart, oatmeal scotchies. I didn't even get mad once. And, the new 'cookie shovel' spatula my mom got me was awesome as well. 

But back to Mbatata cookies. Basically I made mashed sweet potatoes, added flour and rolled it out. You can just put spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and cook them that way too. But we decided to try out our hand at some cut-out cookies. It was a little sticky, but with a little extra flour it wasn't terrible to roll out. 

Then I let the boys make them into cut outs. (Peyton was not interested- it was kind of a busy day with school work, a country, cookie baking, and our Christmas activities, so I let it go). 

They actually turned out ok, in form, at least. They didn't fall apart, and they cooked nicely. 

But, the flavor was.... well, exactly what you'd expect a cookie made primarily out of sweet potatoes and flour to taste like. Asa took one bite and was out. I did eat my whole cookie. But, honestly, most of us agreed, it didn't taste like much. 

You can add raisins, but given some people in this house's aversion to it, I didn't do that. I think they would have been better. Or maybe I should have put more powdered sugar on them. Either way, it was a fun experiment. 

We colored Malawi in a light blue along the border of purple Mozambique and very lightly green colored Tanzania. (The grey sliver next to it is actually Lake Malawi. 

That's 158 down, only 38 to go! 

Next Up: Montenegro