Comoros

Keeping up our African country average, next we were headed to Comoros (COM-ah-Rose). This is one of those 'oh hey, that's a country, I've never heard of it before' places. It's hard to know what you didn't know after you know it, but this one I am acutely aware that I didn't know before this project. (Everything I read called Comoros 'the least known destination in Africa', so I'm not the only one). 

Although, if you know more geography than me, you might just think I'm an idiot for not knowing this one. But here we are in a tiny little island country in the Mozambique channel, somewhere between the coast of Africa and Madagascar. 

Comoros is made up of four islands, but only three are part of the actual country. The fourth island, while considered part of the Comoros Island region is still owned by France. The island of Mayotte voted against independence from France. It's even trickier than that, in 2009, they voted to fully integrate with France. The Comoros government- which has been subject to over 20 coups and assassination attempts- refuses to recognize the referendum. 

The country is tiny- clocking in with 719 square miles. That's something like a tenth of the size of New Jersey. 

It's a country where 98% of the population practices Sunni Islam. (The official languages are both French and Arabic). 

And our landmark comes from the capital of Moroni. Moroni is the largest and most diverse of the islands. The Arab quarter in Moroni features narrow streets lined with buildings dating back to Swahili times. The carved Swahili doors found on many of the houses are one of the most interesting things to see in Comoros. 

Really though, it's an island nation, so the water is the country's best asset. Off the coasts of the various islands you can find over 600 species of colorful fish and many sea turtles. One of the world's weirdest fish, the Spookfish, can also be found in Comoros. The fish is freckled and black with large telescopic eyes and a transparent head. 

There's also a double barrier coral reef 100 miles long that stretches around the entire island of Mayotte (so I know it's not technically Comoros). 

Comoros has it's issues. Not only is the government fairly corrupt and unstable (state run media and all that), but it is also one of the world's poorest countries. (Although they find the money to throw 'Grand Weddings' that last ten days.)

Add to that, nearly half of the population is under the age of 15. The country lacks the infrastructure and education system for all those kids. (Only about half of those kids are enrolled in school.) 

They have a high unemployment rate (around 14%), with most people working in agriculture. They are the world's biggest producer of ylan-ylang (which is used in perfumes and oils), and produce a ton of vanilla. 

The boys made their postcards. 

Calib's postcard features a president on each island, because the presidency of the union actually rotates between the three islands. The money represents the 80% of the annual budget that goes to fund the rotation. 

Peyton noted the Swahili doors, and the island of Mayotte that still belongs to France. 

Hayden meanwile, drew some lobsters off the coast. 

Comoros imports some stuff from France (which you know, makes sense). They're actually really big fans of French boxed wine, which is random, and not something I'm into. But we did get the French lemonade from sprouts. 

Sprouts also had some crazy melons this week, which was awesome. We picked up a regular cantaloupe, a Santa Clause melon (we'll be having that one later), and a Canary melon for Comoros Day. (I'm sure you can surmise the yellow one is the canary melon). When you cut it open it looks more honeydew-ish. 

We used it in the Frias a la Cannelle (fresh fruit with cinnamon). Missing from here are the bananas, because I just can't keep those in the house. I'll be sure I have them one minute, and all of a sudden the boys each had two for a snack and I'm out. What can you do? 

For Comoros dinner we had Comoros Sandwiches, the Frias a la Cannelle , couscous salad with corn and red pepper, and pineapple.

This dinner earned four spoons up. 

But truth be told, we altered this one a bit. The sandwiches are basically just mayo, cucumber, tomato and hard boiled eggs on a roll. First, Peyton doesn't eat mayo, so he put spicy brown mustard on his and was happy. Second, Asa decided it needed something more, and he had a little bacon left. Usually I'm against altering the recipes too much- but this one I could get behind. It just seemed like it was missing something. Now a country that is 98% Sunni Muslim probably doesn't put bacon on much. But, I did find some references to ham, so maybe? I took a picture of the sandwiches in steps, to show the inside.

Anyway, Hayden actually had two sandwiches (though his was on the bun instead of the roll, so it was a bit smaller). Peyton said he could see making it as a bedtime snack, so he was a fan. I was the hold out this time, as I was just ok with dinner. But I didn't think I'd like it at all, so it exceeded expectations that way. (Asa actually wasn't looking forward to it either, and he really, really liked it). I was actually really hoping to make Lobster with vanilla sauce, but lobster (and even vanilla) isn't in abundance at my house like it is in Comoros, so that just seemed too expensive of a meal for the five of us. 

The couscous was pretty popular with everyone but Hayden. Peyton liked it, but did pick out most of the red onions. (He loves anything couscous though, so I knew he would like this one). But the veggies in this really made it for me. It looked awesome in the pan even before Asa added the couscous.

There's also a lot of fruit with this one, but I still had a pineapple left from when I bought a couple for $1 and I had to use it soon, and I wasn't sure how well the fruit dish would go over, so it was sort of a backup. They do have an abundance of fruit on the islands, so it worked. The Canary melon wasn't super popular though.

We made three dots  off the coast of Mozambique for Comoros. I asked the boys if they wanted to make a fourth dot in the French turquoise color , but Peyton said 'I've been planning on doing Madagascar in that color, so that won't work'. I didn't know planning out colors was a thing, but apparently it is.

79 down, 114 to go!

Next Up: Uganda