A visit to Shaka Zulu!

  

My housemate, Danielle, and I are a bit obsessed with Africa, and she'd told me several times previously about Shaka Zulu and how amazing it was.

For those who haven't heard of it, it's a quirky South African themed restaurant, bar and club, in Camden Town, London. Danielle had been a couple of times before for special occasions, and absolutely loved it, so when I was stuck for a birthday present, I decided to treat us both to a meal there, along with 3 of our friends from work.

It's very easy to get to; in Brighton we live around an hour from London, and it's less than a 5 minute walk from Camden Town tube station. Head towards Camden Lock, and it's just there on the left.

From the outside, it looks like it's going to be a very cool, but tiny restaurant, but appearances can be deceiving! You immediately head underground to the club/bar area, which is absolutely gigantic. I think the restaurant can serve around 600 people, plus a large bar area, and lots of very cool decorations! You get the African vibe instantly, with carvings on the walls, statues dotted around, and live African music (think lots of drums and dancing).

It's advisable to book in advance, especially for large parties. There were 5 of us, and we'd booked well in advance. The restaurant is an entire floor (down another level), and was pretty much full. They'd called to confirm with me the night before, and informed me that we'd have our table for 2 hours, which I was a bit worried about (I didn't want to be rushed), but in the end it was absolutely fine as we finished dot on 9pm. I don't know what they'd have done if we'd run over, but we didn't have to worry about that, and weren't rushed at all.

We'd been really excited about the food for weeks, and there's so much to choose from! We had water and bread to share while we decided, and even that was amazing. The bread was warm, and we had different types of butter (that admittedly my friend Holly mistook for cheese and ate on its own!)

The big draw of the menu is the large amount of game and exotic meat available. The food is pricey, but massively worth it, as they have a selection of meats including zebra, ostrich, buffalo, crocodile, springbok and others. Surprisingly, they also have a varied vegetarian selection; I used to be veggie (purely for taste rather than ethical reasons), and although I've now started eating meat again, I always prefer the veggie options.

               

We shared some crocodile cigars to start (crocodile spring rolls, with spices and vegetables), which were surprisingly nice. Crocodile appears to be a mixture between chicken and fish, but it's pretty tasty!

The best part of the whole evening (in our opinion) was the AMAZING cocktail we all shared. It was called a Cape Town Share, and had rum, watermelon and all sorts of amazing things in. It was served in a giant elephant which held our straws (too cute) with flaming alcohol served in a passion fruit! It lasted us all through our meal, and cost us £11 each, which isn't bad for a cocktail in a fancy London restaurant! I could have drank 10 of them, they were so yummy!
      
              

Three of the girls then had ostrich (they had sold out of buffalo, which Danielle was a bit disappointed about, but the ostrich was still good!), whilst Holly and I had sea bass (which was incredible). We had vouchers for 2-for-1 main meals, so we also got a springbok to share.

Both the ostrich and the springbok were red meat (which surprised me particularly for the ostrich), and were cooked medium-rare. The piece of springbok I had was particularly pink (I prefer my meat well done), but it was still very tasty! The quality of the food was phenomenal, and although the meats are around £30 per head, it's definitely worth it as a treat.

  

The good thing about nice food, is that it doesn't fill you up until you're stuffed, and we still had room for dessert! I wouldn't say dessert was its strongest point, but they were still very nice. I had a dark chocolate torte with Amarula cream, honeycomb and pretty sugar-work, and the others had Vanilla Crème Brulee (which looked amazing), and a Strawberry Trifle, which they also enjoyed.

It was then time for one more cocktail (I had a Madiba - passionfruit and melon!), before we headed upstairs to soak up some more of the atmosphere.

             

For everything that we had (bread, water, starter, main meal, dessert and two cocktails), we only spent around £65 each including service charge! Admittedly we had 2-for-1 vouchers (check out National Rail Days Out - always worth a look, and GroupOn have deals too), but I was still expecting it to be a lot more. The food was amazing quality, the restaurant itself was amazing, and we had quite a lot to eat and drink, and I was perfectly willing (and expecting) to pay a little more as a treat.

             

If you're just going for a drink, I think there is a charge to get in after a certain time (may be just on the weekends), but I don't think it was particularly extortionate for the area, and definitely worth it. They had several live acts while we were there, and there was plenty of space to sit and stand in the bar area. I didn't really realise how busy it was until we went to the toilets, as when you're sat at your table, you have plenty of room around you, and it's quite dark.

It's definitely somewhere to go for a treat, rather than every weekend, but I will definitely be going again! Whether you love Africa, or just want a different experience, it's something I'd highly recommend! http://www.shaka-zulu.com/

  

            

A day in the kitchen.

England finally seems to have realised that it's no longer July, and has given up a seemingly indefinite summer to a week of heavy rain and thunderstorms! Autumn is my favourite time of year, so unlike those bemoaning the lack of sunshine, I'm quite glad of the chance to wrap up and cook some of my favourite foods.

With my housemate away for the weekend, and it only being a couple of weeks until payday, I couldn't afford to do anything particularly exciting this weekend, so instead I spent all day in the kitchen! I'm an avid fan of the Great British Bake Off, so will take any excuse to try some of their recipes, and I also planned to batch-cook for the week ahead.

First of all, I wanted to try out Richard's toffee apple doughnuts from Advanced Dough week on Bake Off. I actually wanted to make his rhubarb and custard ones, as they looked amazing, but the recipe isn't online yet, so I thought I'd give these a go.

The full recipe is online here, but first you begin by making the dough

                       

I've made dough quite regularly before for bread, but this is 'advanced dough' and so my first batch was an utter disaster. I'm not 100% sure what I did wrong - I have a feeling that I retarded the yeast at the very beginning of the process - but the dough was basically liquid and didn't prove at all. Fortunately, batch two was a little more successful.

Richard's recipe did call for an electric mixer and a dough hook. I barely have a whisk, so this may be why my dough wasn't as good as I hoped, even on the second batch. I kneaded it by hand for 15 minutes instead, which worked, although it wasn't quite right.

The next step is to make the apple filling for the inside of the doughnuts.

                        

It's a mixture of apple, sugar. butter and cinnamon - quite nice on its own, as it tastes like grown-up baby food haha! Doesn't look too inviting once it's been blended, but fortunately it's not on display.

                                       

Then, once that's done, it's time to make the caramel. This was the part I was the most worried about - I was pretty sure I was going to ruin the pan! The recipe is quite vague here, and just says 'melt the sugar.' As I'm not a baker, I didn't know if this meant literally putting sugar in the pan over the heat, or adding water to it first. Fortunately, Google provides all the answers, and you are of course supposed to add water. Once the sugar is golden brown, time to whisk in the butter and the cream.

I forgot at this point, that I don't actually like salted caramel, so I followed the recipe and added the salt. If I were to make it again, I'd leave it out as I can't stand the stuff and means I now can't eat half the doughnuts haha! I'm sure it's very nice if you like it though.

                        

                                

At this point, my dough had proved enough to create the actual doughnuts. As I say, my dough wasn't quite right I don't think (although I don't know what was wrong with it. Can anyone help me out for next time?) but I just about managed to create blobs from my dough, with the addition of a little extra flour. They weren't quite spheres, as the recipe dictated, but they were around the right shape...

I then had to leave the balls to prove for another hour. They were supposed to double in size, but I saw no real difference, so I clearly did something wrong! Bread is incredibly easy to bake and prove; doughnuts are not, and I don't really know why. More research needed, clearly.

The next job was to deep fry the doughnuts. As I don't have a deep fat fryer, I did them in a pan, which scared me a little, I'm not going to lie! I had the oil at too high a temperature at first (I must invest in a cooking thermometer...) so this happened after 1 minute of cooking...

                                      

I soon got the hang of it though, and soon all my irregular shaped blobs had cooked. I still didn't actually know if they tasted like doughnuts, as they didn't really look like them at this point!

                      

Fortunately, they tasted ok, and with the addition of some cinnamon and sugar, and the salted caramel, they actually look vaguely like they're supposed to! (I'm not going to put a picture of Richard's here for comparison, mainly because I can't actually find one, but also because it's embarrassing haha!) Bring on the rhubarb and custards!

Whilst my doughnuts were proving at various points, I also batch-cooked a couple of meals for the next week. Fortunately, I've made these before, so they were much more successful!

First up is one of my all-time favourites - spicy chickpeas! Pretty much what it says on the tin - onions, garlic, potatoes, chickpeas, tomato puree, spinach and spices. It's a quick and easy recipe, freezes well, and is very filling! Here's how you make it:

  

Fry 2 onions and 2 garlic cloves (my favourite smell in the world!), then once soft, add turmeric, ground coriander, cumin seeds and chilli powder. Add veg stock and 300g potatoes (boiled) with the tomato puree, then simmer until the sauce has turned thick. Wilt in some spinach, and voila!

                          

I also had some halloumi to use up, so made a very quick and easy halloumi and quinoa salad, recipe available here. It also gave me chance to laugh at my favourite cheesy(!) joke (sorry).

What did the cheese say to itself in the mirror?
Hallou - mi! ;)

                                     

So there you have it. My day in the kitchen with some successful, and not so successful results! I did come to a few conclusions after today though:

1. I need some bigger pans (I had to use two for the spicy chickpeas), some better kitchen equipment (blender, dough hook...) and a dishwasher, as I washed up 4 separate times today!

2. I'm getting old if I'm considering asking for said kitchen equipment for Christmas.

3. Despite my working class roots, I am most definitely middle class, as these recipes wouldn't look out of place in a Waitrose!

Next week? Veggie Chilli and Parkin! Happy Autumn :)

Travel Talk on Twitter #TTOT

I have long since been an advocate of Twitter. I joined Facebook very early on in 2006, and find it a great way of keeping up with family and friends, but Twitter is something more. It's a global community; a network of people, places and stories, and I just can't get enough.

Twitter is a place where celebrities and nobodies; journalists, artists, authors and everybody in-between, hang out side-by-side, almost equals (if you disregard follower numbers). It's become a place where you can (attempt to) speak to your favourite pop star, comedian or TV star; THE place to get live news updates, literally as and when they happen, and a place to meet and talk to like-minded people.

One of my favourite times of the week is a Tuesday evening, around 9.30pm GMT (also at 9.30am, but I'm hard at work at that point ;)). Hosted by several Twitter and Travel fanatics, there's a set 5 questions based on a theme every week, that are then posed to the travel community on Twitter.

www.twitter.com

And what a community it is. There are some regulars, and there are those who happen upon it every so often, but each week it's a fascinating mixture of travel stories from around the planet. It's basically like being in a room with lots of other people who are just as interested in travel as you, and exchanging tips, horror stories and ideas.

It's a fantastic way to meet new people, get new travel ideas, and get lots of new travel blogs to have a nosy at! Everyone is interested in everyone else; no-one is there to (outwardly) promote themselves - everyone is just having a great time reading what everyone else is sharing.

Just to give you an idea, here are the questions from the last my favourite #ttot topic - Mountains! (16th September 2014)

Q1: Which mountain adventure is on your bucket list?
A1: Wow! What isn't?! I have to say Everest Base Camp because I've been dreaming about it for so long (booking my flights in two weeks, argh!) and it is, but there are so many more! In no particular order, Kinabalu, Island Peak, Kilimanjaro (again), Annapurna Base Camp, trekking in the Alps, Toubkal, lots of trekking in Nepal, Mount Kenya, the Rockies... the list goes on! Some part of me dares to dream of Aconcagua, but that's a long, long way in the future yet.

Q2: What was your most dangerous climb and why?
A2: It has to be Kilimanjaro, just because it's the highest I've ever been. Altitude sickness was a real killer for me, and I was very lucky not to be more seriously ill.

Q3: Describe a time and place where a mountain inspired you. 
A3: Wow, mountains inspire me all the time. Physically, again it has to be Kili. Otherwise, Everest has inspired me for a long time. Something about it caught my imagination, and it has been the sole focus of my travel plans to see for a good few years now. About to be a dream come true in May! Something about its history, both dark and happy, its spirituality, and its beauty draws me to it.

Q4: What is the most important piece of advice you can give to someone going hiking in the mountains?
A4: Hmm, just one? Be prepared, and be determined. Sheer stubbornness and determination got me to the summit of Kilimanjaro, so it's something you'll need reserves of. Also, appreciate where you are. Don't just focus on the summit - enjoy the climb!

Q5: Show us a picture of your favourite mountain adventure.
A5: Just one?! ;) Have some pictures of Kili!

It's fun re-living your own travels, but even better to see what other people have been up to! Give it a try - join the travel community on Twitter on Tuesdays at 9.30(am and pm) with the #ttot - I'll definitely see you there!

Tips for climbing Kilimanjaro

In 2010, I did my first big trip to Tanzania, and had the absolute time of my life. I led a group of 22 volunteers in fundraising for Childreach International, climbing Kilimanjaro, then travelling around Tanzania for a couple of weeks afterwards. (Full blog of the climb here).

At the summit!

Kilimanjaro is quite honestly the best thing I have ever done. When people ask me why, I can't quite explain it. It's certainly the hardest thing I've done, by far, but it's also one of the things I'm most proud of. I pushed myself to the absolute limit, did much more than I ever thought I was capable of, and yet still managed to enjoy myself.

I'm not going to lie and say that every minute was amazing. There were times, especially on the summit attempt, that I was SO close to turning around and giving up. There were times, when I was being sick onto the rocks, or hallucinating on my descent to Millenium Camp on summit day, that I questioned why I was even there, but the trip as a whole massively outweighed all those downsides.

The scenery is incredible, and changes every day, so you never get bored. If you have a good group, the camaraderie is brilliant, and above all, the guides and porters are absolutely phenomenal. They cook for you, carry most of your equipment, organise everything, and do it all with massive smiles on their faces. They'll be your chefs, doctors, porters, friends and more during your week on the mountain, and you could not climb without them.

View from the tent

I've booked quite a few people to do the climb through work, and people always ask me the same thing. What are your tips for the climb? I've documented some of my main ones below - it's by no means a comprehensive list, but it's the most important ones I can think of.

1. Enjoy yourself. Having the right mindset is key to this climb; if you go there believing it's going to be too hard, and you're never going to do it, you probably won't. Acclimatisation is at least 50% psychological, and I would say that sheer determination and stubbornness got me through the summit day. The guides and porters are amazing; they'll cheer you up, sing you songs and look after you, so do them a favour and go into it with a positive mindset, and you'll be absolutely fine.

2nd degree sunburn - ouch!

2. Bring a first aid kit with you. You're climbing a mountain for a week; the chances are, you're going to at least get a scratch from a rock. Cuts heal less quickly at altitude, so it's important to keep them clean. Anti-septic wipes, baby wipes, anti-histamines, plasters and painkillers are vital - I used them all. Also suncream! I was too ill to remember to apply this on the summit attempt, and paid dearly for it, so I can't stress enough how important it really is.

3. Bring water purification tablets with you, preferably chlorine if you can, as they taste much nicer than the iodine ones. Water will become purer the higher you are, but it's all from the streams on the mountain, so don't take chances.

4. Wear layers. Lots of people in my group brought big down jackets, which were great for the summit attempt, but not so good for the lower slopes of the cloudforest. I took a thin waterproof coat, but packed fleeces, thermals and jumpers, and piled them all on underneath for the summit attempt, when you're climbing through the night and it's much colder.

5. Prepare yourself for illness. Most people get some form of altitude sickness, even if it's just a mild headache, so if you resign yourself to it not being the most comfortable few days, and don't fret about it, you'll be absolutely fine. I completely lost my appetite, and didn't eat for about 4 days; I also had problems with my breathing. Let your guides know if you're suffering, and they'll keep an eye on you, and make sure you don't continue if it becomes dangerous. As I walked for miles, and was running on empty, I felt dreadful and pushed myself to the limit, but at no point was I in any danger. Had I been, the guides wouldn't have let me continue.

6. Bring a headtorch. Quite a simple one, but very useful for both the summit attempt, and for navigating the camp at night.

7. Take LOTS of photos. I had bought a wrong battery for my camera, so instead of having a spare battery, I was left to conserve the one I had as much as possible, determined to keep it alive until summit night, for the all important summit photo! As camera batteries die more quickly at altitude, and the fact that I didn't have the energy a lot of the time, I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to, and no videos, which is something I regret. Take as many batteries as you can!

8. Appreciate your guides and porters. I know I've gone on and on about this, but you really won't appreciate them until you're there. I tipped mine at the end around $100, but wish I'd had more. The assistant guide that was with me the whole way to the summit, and practically dragged me up there, is an absolute life saver. He kept my headtorch after looking after it for me, but I didn't mind in the slightest, and would have given him more if I could. I wouldn't have reached the top without him.

9. Eat and drink as much as you can. I'm a massive hypocrite for saying this, as I lost my appetite half-way through day 2, but I kept myself going on soup, juice and water. I wouldn't have felt half as ill as I did had I been well enough to eat, and keeping yourself as hydrated as possible helps you to acclimatise.

10. A good sleeping bag, daypack and walking boots are possibly the three most important pieces of your kit. Make sure your bag and boots fit you well, and are well worn-in, and make sure the sleeping bag is warm enough and a good quality.

If Kili is something you've always thought about, but been unsure as to whether you should do, I have one last piece of advice. DO IT. I've never met anyone who hated it, and to a lot of people it's the most special thing they've done. I shall be doing it again at some point in the near future, and I don't imagine it will be the last time. Amazing people, scenery, and an amazing trek - what more could you want?

Jambo, jambo bwana;
Habari gani, mzuri sana;
Wageni, mwakaribishwa;
Kilimanjaro, Hakuna Matata

My time as an ICS Volunteer

I spent some time as an ICS volunteer, spending three months in Mali in 2011. Back then, it was a very new scheme (I was part of the second cohort of volunteers), but it's now developed and has achieved some incredibly positive things worldwide.

International Volunteers Day

Those of you who know me will know that I'm hardly David Cameron's biggest fan, but this was his idea, and a very good one at that. The aim of the scheme is to send young people out into the world, to experience life working abroad, and to give them a chance to join in the fight against global poverty.

I've always wanted to work for a charity, and if I could go back again I'd study International Development at University, so this scheme was perfect for me. There are lots of different aid organisations who work together as part of ICS (Restless Development, VSO and Progressio are just some of them), and I worked for International Service, who are based in York, where I went to University. I heard of the scheme in a 'Charity and Third Sector' career talk in my third year, and knew straight away that I had to apply.

The scheme is funded by DfID (Department for International Development), and although volunteers are encouraged to fundraise a small amount of money themselves, everything else is included in the programme. This was very important for me - I'd always wanted to do something like this, but could never have afforded to fund it myself, so it gave me an amazing opportunity that I wouldn't otherwise have had.

I applied as soon as I could, and was invited for an interview with several other people around my age. The scheme is open to 18-25 year olds, and I'd encourage anyone to apply! Had I known at the time that it was several different organisations, I may have applied through another, not because I don't think International Service are amazing (they are) but because others have slightly more range of countries to choose from.

Goat on a Sotrama!

I was still spoiled for choice however, and could state a preference of either Palestine, Bolivia, Mali or Burkina Faso. I originally wanted to go to Bolivia (I've always wanted to see the Salt Flats) but when I was accepted onto the programme I'd been allocated Mali (because I spoke some French and I'd been to Africa before), and I certainly wasn't complaining!

The scheme includes a couple of days of training before you depart (mine was in London, and they reimbursed me for all travel costs) which is great. It gives you some idea of what you're letting yourself in for, as well as giving you a chance to meet the people you'll be travelling with before you go!

I was to be in Mali for around 3 months, from September through to December, and in that time all airfares, accommodation etc. would be provided, and I'd also get a small allowance each week for food. If I wanted to travel or buy souvenirs etc., I had to bring my own money (which of course is to be expected - they're not necessities!) but basically I had everything I needed!

There were 10 of us volunteers headed to Mali altogether - some of us had met at the training weekend, and others had gone to a different one, and we were certainly a mixed bunch. Fortunately, people doing this kind of thing all tend to be of the same mindset however, and we all got along relatively well (a few tiffs along the way are to be expected in three months!). We were split into two different teams, and each had a team leader who had already been in Mali for a week or two by the time we arrived.

International Service work with local NGOs in the countries they work in, to ensure the work they do is both ethical and sustainable, so we were based in the main IS office, but each team was working with a different NGO. Our team was working with AJA (Association Jeunesse Action), an organisation which aimed to reduce unemployment in Mali through microfinance and entrepreneurship. The other team was to work in a school for children with special needs - Amaldeme.

Artisans hard at work making bags

Anyone who's ever been to Africa will know that it works differently there to the UK - time is different, attitudes are different and the way of life is different! TIA! (This Is Africa!) One of the most important things the scheme taught me was to be flexible in the way I worked; we expected everything to be done to a timetable, and allowed ourselves to become frustrated when things didn't happen as we liked, but we learned to accept this over the course of the three months, and to adapt to the Malian way of doing things. You can read more about my day to day life in Mali here.

We worked with a group of artisans who were struggling to sell their crafts. Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, and apart from a group of volunteers, ex-pats and missionaries, there are very few tourists there. In the whole three months that we were in Mali, there were just 19 Brits in the whole country, and we constituted 10 of them! This means that the artisans struggled to make a living, so we endeavoured to help them market their products. We interviewed them, created a catalogue (both in French and English), set up a social media page for the gallery, and even leafleted and put posters up in the wealthy ex-pat area of Bamako.

We achieved a small amount of success, despite difficulties (few of us in the team spoke enough French to interview the artisans in great detail, and we were very low on the priority list for AJA, meaning we often didn't get access to resources we'd paid for, such as the car). The gallery increased quite significantly in revenue, and we managed to create a few networking opportunities with craft markets in the UK by the time we left.

Artisan working on a loom

Unfortunately, whilst we were in-country, the political situation was deteriorating; Colonel Gadaffi was killed while we were there (he had a lot of support in Mali), and French hostages were being taken in the increasingly dangerous north of the country. We were banned from going into town on several occasions because it was too dangerous for a white person to be seen during protests, and the next cohort after ours was evacuated from the country when the military coup d'etat took place. This meant that International Service stopped operating in Mali for a while, as it was too dangerous, and all of our work was lost in the chaos.

  I still feel that ICS is the best thing I've ever done however. As we were the second cohort, there were a few teething problems that I believe have now been ironed out (team leaders are now there much longer, and language has become more of a requirement for example), but nothing that impacted upon my stay. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given such an amazing opportunity, and it's definitely added a huge amount to my CV. I really felt like I was living in the community and giving something back to the country, which I hadn't felt when I volunteered before.

Baguineda

There's a real sense of community within ICS, and it's such an amazing opportunity that I think everyone should experience! Don't expect it to be easy - you're out there to work and are expected to do so - but you have the opportunity to experience and achieve such a lot! I travelled, ate weird things, celebrated local festivals, and basically had an amazing three months! It's given me so many skills I use on a daily basis, and I really feel I have an increased understanding of International Development, which is something I'd like to look into further. I'm considering applying to be a team leader at some point in the future, as I'd love to develop the skills I gained through ICS.

It's something I'd recommend to anyone, and I'm glad the scheme is developing and growing bigger in the way it deserves to. International Service is now operating in Mali again, and although ICS volunteers are currently situated in Ghana, I hope that one day they return to Mali - there's such a potential to achieve there!

ICS Volunteers celebrating Eid al-Adhar

Children at a local project

Embassy of Ghana