My evening in Bakau

Tonight I was keen to come back to Bakau and have some Natalie time. I hadn’t shopped for two weeks, the cupboards were empty, I hadn’t exercised in over a week, and I felt like I needed a nice quiet Monday evening at home.

So after work I went to see Bas the tailor to ask him to take the hem of my wrap skirt up a bit – he made it a couple of weeks ago but I hadn’t had chance to return to him for the alterations. He did a great job as usual – it’s a simple skirt, but I love the pattern and it only cost  60pence to make, and less that £1.50 for the material.

I then headed to the vegetable stall. While deliberating over which vegetables to buy I heard ‘Natalie, Natalie’ and saw Bas running towards me with my camera in his hand! It must have fallen out of my bag inside his shop, and I am so glad that he saw it and was able to return it to me – I would have been devastated to lose it!

I bought the usual supply of fruit and veg – nothing overly exciting today, but a nice colourful mix for £1.60. Further inside the market I bought rice, beans, sugar, and fresh ginger for my tea – this all cost me about 70pence, which is a bit of a bargain.

On my way back I stopped by George’s place to have a chat. George is a Yorkshire man who owns a bakery and peace corp / VSO friendly food place – I’ve mentioned it on here before I am sure. He’s a nice friendly face to see around Bakau, and I always wave as I pass, but it was nice to sit and chat with him for a while. He uses cashew fruit to make cakes, vinegar, and a range of other products, and he is always keen to give a little sample of something. Today I tried some cashew fruit cakes made with cinnamon and orange that he has developed with Christmas in mind – they were delicious and would be lovely with some custard! Not sure if I can get that here though! He also gave me some of his home made baileys – it was amazing! He makes it with condensed milk, coffee and something else that I can’t remember, and you can chose to have either brandy or whisky. He is selling it for about £4 for a 750ml bottle and I will definitely need to get some in for Christmas!   

Once home I did a workout from my exercise dvd (thanks for the recommendation Anna!) and then cooked spicy aubergine and tomato pasta. The perfect ‘homely’ Monday evening that I was looking for!