Recapping a Weekend

The dust has settled (mostly) and the guests have all gone home. We have just 3 volunteers remaining (including Brent and Sarah) so life is much quieter. This is good. I didn't quite make it to the end of the 7 posts blogging challenge, but I posted more last week than I had in many previous weeks so I'm going to call it a win.

The kids watching Mwata Kazembe pass by on his litter

Mutomboko was a success this year. For those of you who aren't familiar with the annual tribal ceremony, here are some recaps from some of my very first blog posts: 

Mutomboko 
Mutomboko part 2
Mutomboko part 3

This year the six oldest kids went to the main arena to see the ceremony. They didn't make it to the very end since it ran late and they needed to come home for dinner, but they enjoyed what they saw and it was a good experience for them. It's so interesting to watch them grow up. The same kids who cried the first year and were frightened by the musket fire are now old enough to enjoy the festival fully.

We had a total of 25 people with us for dinner Friday and Saturday nights. I stuck with our traditional menu of Chili and Cornbread for Friday and then of course Saturday we had the Pit-Roasted Pork served with Spanish Rice and Coleslaw. For dessert was Addictive Youngstown Chips (or as I like to call them: Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies) and Texas Brownies. It was all excellent! (or so I've been told. Heh)

Our sun ovens came in handy this year. We cooked the 8 pounds of beans in the sun ovens before finishing the Chili on the stove. The next day we slow-cooked the barbecue sauce all day in the sun ovens which meant I didn't have to worry about stirring it at all, and the flavors developed beautifully. For Saturday lunch we 'boiled' 30 eggs for lunch sandwiches. It only took 2 hours and they were cooked perfectly. No gas or electricity required at all. Wonderful!

We did our pig just as we have for the past several years. This was our seventh year in a row! I have nearly gotten over the anxiety that something might go wrong and that it won't get done properly or on time.
For a step by step post you can read it here. This was the largest pig ever! Forty-seven kilos! That's over 100 pounds of pig. Of course by the time it was roasted, and the fat had cooked off, and it was then deboned, there were only 12 kilos (26 pounds) remaining. That was one fat mama pig.

A funny thing to note is that I cannot stand pork. True story. I also don't care much for BBQ sauce. And yet year after year I prepare massive pots of BBQ pork. I have to wait for others to tell me if it's OK because I honestly think it tastes awful. Yet year after year I'm told it's some of the best barbecue sauce and/or pork people have ever tasted. Strange but true! 

For breakfast on Sunday morning I served Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls which are a wonderful way to end a weekend with friends. They all leave devoted to you and swearing eternal love--which is just as it should be. 

Moriah--yep, she's got swag!