and so she enters her 30th year

In the states our one special day is our birthday where you are royalty for a day and your life is celebrated... but here in Togo and many parts of Africa its the special day for all the invitees..not you. Meaning everyone is looking to profit from the celebration of anothers bday and its up to you to fund your celebration. I managed to figure out a plan to go with the usual traditions that filled most of my previous bday celebrations while utilising the resources of my village.

Everyone who was invited was asked to wear green and I brought sodabe, the locally made palm wine with green mint syrup to color it as well as peanuts and popcorn. My PC buds made me the most amazing carrot cake with laughing cow frosting and we all sat together over milk stouts from Ghana and even though part of me got the impresssion that I let them down from not slaughtering a cow and paying for dinner and drinks for the entire village, I recieved some wonderful gifts and great company. So here I am now....29 and in Togo.

sun and spin...

Heres how the Togolese launder in the sun..on the riverbanks.

Haute Couture du Togo..How to rock the Pagne

So you want to know who the Marc Jacobs of Togo are...it's the haute gamme of pagne and Vlisco is where it's at. Here's a few window scenes of their boutique in the capital city of Lome. This is where I seek inspiration for the many ways one can construct meters of printed cloth into a work of "complet" construction.

Here is thier site if you are interested in learning more of who dresses the wealthy Togolese. Based in the Netherlands, this company has been in the African fabric business since 1847 (way back in colonial times) and have shops in Togo, Benin, the Netherlands, and soon Nigeria.

Handprinted Vlisco fabrics at a factory in Ghana.

The Vlisco location in Togo, West Africa.


Some images from their ad campaign.

Togo Joe

When you need a buzz...
When you live in a place that grows and harvests the real stuff yet there isn't a coffee house around where you can get a good cup of joe...well..you take matters into your own hands.
I have mentioned before my work transforming cocoa beans into chocolate, now I will like to take a moment to show you what is neccessary for a girl who loves a strong brew in a country that grows the real stuff yet only offers instant coffee. Granted the pace of life here does not demand that I power up on coffee to get through the day, as well as the fact thatit is so hot here one more steaming cup of something is not needed. But I miss the taste of a nice brew from time to time so I decided to take matters into my own hands...
I took the robusta (yup 2x the caffiene with a taste that is not as rich and bold as arabica, but its all that grows well here) green beans from my agricultural cooperative to roast at home. There is only one local roaster here who, by the help of a former Peace Corps volunteer started bagging and selling the goods locally. Cafe Kuma is the name and Togolese coffee is thier game, yet I still wanted to give it a shot myself. Here is a couple photos of me back in my little den of a kitchen brewing up mischeif.

the coffee cherries or "peaberries"

Here is the coffee on the tree, the red “cherries“ turn dark brown after drying in the sun. The course is then removed to reveal the green grain of coffee.

After drying the beans are taken to the mill where the husks are removed revealing the green grain (bean). The beans are then taken and poured from pan to pan, removing any remaining parts of the husk.

Here is the method Cafe Kuma uses to roast thier coffee. It is similar to a whirly pop popcorn maker. The constant agitation is what keeps the beans from burning and creates an even roast.

I just used a pan rasting method to roast the beans to the richness I liked. This of course caused a lot of smoke and soot as the beans cracked and popped thier way to a dark brown.

Here is an image showing the different levels of roast, from green to “cinnamon“ to dark rich and bold (well with hints of a smoky aftertaste)

From start to finish..green to brown.

I will be posting more of the behind the scenes process in the coming days. I recently went up the mountain, through a winding dirt path in a cargo truck to collect sacs of coffee from the members en brouse. To be continued...cheers!

got coffee? Togo does....

mmmmangos

I cant wait till Mango Season...it was just beautiful last year...cant you see?

monkey business

Hey everyone in the cold cold US... this is what Im up to in Hot Togo
I ran into this monkey on my way to market yesterday and thought I may stop to chat a bit with him. He seemed to be a bit stuffy in that damn jean jacket so I gave him my water sachet and wished him a good day... wow life is charming here.

Togo likes to party

When in Togo..do as the Togolese. So when the Togolese party it's all about good friends, good fun , and matching outfits. Not to mention stuffing your face at the end. Here are some highlights from my Valentines day festivities. There was a huge region wide fashion show where all the seamstresses, tailors, and their patrons partied on the mountain top. Which involved each village in the region constructing matching outfits, parading out, dancing, singing, and then...PICNIC TIME!! After all the marching around everyone got down and dirty.... Who brought the sodabe? My friend Chrissy and I, upon being notified of the festivities a bit late threw together a matching pretty in pink ensemble and hit the town. It was wonderful. I love my village! We REPRESENTED!

Abra, Togoto and Aglame cleaning up the couscous bowl

Zoro stuffin face with s-getti salad, water sachet on hand for a quick clean up

When not a table left in site..use chez Eugenie's tete.

Yup, that one there..on the left, he stole the biggest drumstick.

So you think this one can dance, oh boy can he, just look at that face..kid can boogie.


If you're good enough someone will slap a coin on your forhead, paper bills are a bit too cher to be stuffing into pants.

Beg and the bottle...don't worry this kid works nights at a bar.

She didn't want to do it but Precious here made her do it.

If you find a video of this on Togotube..you know it was really me...and I though pressures of drinking in college were bad.

How do you get down..well stick your butt out and do the chicken dance..shake it shake it

yo? eh? enyo ento!