The first adventure in baking was very fitting (and might I add hilarious). Task number 1: bake a cake from a box on which all the instructions are in dutch. Apparently Lutfiyah took it as a challenge when she saw it in the local expat store (read: expensive.. almost like the yuppie markets in the U.S., just take away the organic food and keep the prices). For those of you in Juba- no it's not JIT. She found it at VAMP.
So, adventure 1 begins. It looked like a simple yellow cake and if you read the dutch instructions out loud you could make out some English equivalents. Language barrier mostly overcome- check. Now for the measurements... how much is 200 grams of butter from a package which has no measurement markings on it? Who the hell knows, but we did guestimate and decided it was good enough. Throw in some sugar, a bit of milk, part of the box mix and test taste. Hmmm.. we should put some vanilla in it.. Mix made: check.
Now, we are in a much better situation now than before, meaning, the oven we have actually has a temperature gauge of sorts. Amazing, I know. Before, at our office compound, you'd have to adjust the oven flame and watch the cake very closely so it wouldn't burn. Now it's a lot easier- you can sort of trust the oven (and hope the power doesn't go off in the middle of baking).
The cake looked done a couple of times, but clearly wasn't. When we finally took it out the cake sunk. Then we tried it... way way too much butter, too much sugar... and who did we blame? The Dutch of course! Silly directions in Dutch... It really wasn't good- like squeezing a sponge of butter into your mouth.
Final thoughts: No more Dutch box mixes. I have to say the Americans really got it right with the box mixes.
(Pictures to come)
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