STRAWBERRIES

Yes the big news is that I was able to find strawberries in the Dakar market the day before yesterday. I won't even tell you how much it was, because you would give that shocked sound (quick intake of breath).

So these strawberries of the first of the season so that is why they are extra expensive. The usual price is $6 a kilo. but as its valentines day today, I really had planned on having strawberries, making some shortcake and topping it with cream and maybe having ice-cream on the side. I got some champagne for my birthday from Brook's boss and his wife so we are going to get that out. Brook's boss is in town so we'll share this day with him. We'll see if Mike (the PCV who he and his wife came over for pizza the other night) will come too. His wife Liz is about to embark on a West African vacation with some of her girlfriends. It's good to see different countries around. It makes you realize how different each one is.

The strawberries actually had a pretty nice ride of yesterday. It was the best shape they've ever been in coming up before. Usually I hand carry them and have their strawberry heads pointed at the air conditioner vent in the car and they still come out 8 hours later in Tamba like they have been left in the sun for 3 days. They are always on their last legs when they get here. Luckily there were only a few yesterday that were pretty soft and tired. This is a good thing considering how much I paid for them. I cut them up immediately so they could soak in their juices. And I whipped up a batch of shortcake too so we could have some strawberries last night. It was great.

This picture is of Brook last week at the cashew conference in M'bour. Here he's talking about his work in cashews in Senegal with a powerpoint here. He wouldn't turn around so I could get a good picture, so I bribed this french guy standing in front of him to get a picture of him straight on. Ha HA.