La Rive Droite

We've been across the river. And found a whole scene with pumpkins coming in on Piroques - long boats with beautiful decorations.

The pumpkins are offloaded by a human chain - they almost seem to levitate.

(Note the dude in the blue and yellow coat - apparently expecting a cold snap!)

Superman waded over to inspect the mechanics of the boats. Boats are one of his superpowers, his father was a Captain, and as a boy wonder, SM travelled on his father's ships to places like Rio del Platte and Mumbassa. I parked myself under a tree and took pictures of the Niamey skyline.

There is a dyke along the river there. Being culturally programmed for such things, SM and I walked along it. On the land-side is a low area with rice paddies and fields of salad crops. It was almost quilt-like.

The University is on this side of the river,

and an industrial area. There are no highrise buildings though, and life seems to move at a different pace. Sometimes quite literally so.

No crossing the river for us this weekend, though. The security situation is still bumpy, with sporadic protests in Niamey particularly as the election results edge closer to finalisation. Earlier this week there was a tragic killing of 58 villagers in the West of Niger, near the border with Mali.

While this isn't directly related to the election, there's quite possibly a reciprocal benefit for both the Opposition party and for the forces behind the murders of these villagers. The latter seems to fall somewhere between inter-ethnic tensions, the multiple terror groups in surrounding countries and quite simply the profit motives of smuggling guns and drugs north to south, and people from south to north. Increased chaos and instability may suit both those who want to challenge the government, and those who want to evade its reach.

Meanwhile, at home, our tomatoes are maturing. Any day now we are going to be really hit with a glut. The lemon tree is loaded with fruit - but we've only had one ripe citrus. The Cana lilies have started to flower.

Also, in garden news, Superman has transplanted a small mango tree, and the Guava tree he pruned has made a Lazarus-like come-back and now not only has leaves, but actually is flowering. Trees are another of his super-powers, as he worked as a tree-surgeon for a while.

And a neighbour's tree was overhanging our garden in a dangerous way, so the landlord sent a team to cut it. Naturally, SM was keen to lend his expertise. I do believe he even uttered the words: "I wouldn't do it like that'. Still, a large branch was removed and no harm done

I've started to get more adventurous with shopping, and found several things that the fruit and vegetable sellers keep under hessian, sheltered from the sun. It started with Coriander - 'Just ask them", someone told me. Seems so obvious when you say it like that!

There was lemongrass hiding under there too, so last weekend I made a Thai-style fish curry, using the local river fish called Capitaine. You can see these being sold whole by the side of the road, approximately the size of a four year old child!

This week I found Amranth leaves, and taking advice from Ester, our 'femme de ménage', made what's called here a 'sauce' - meaning a stew. Having promised that this blog is about 'Life and Food in Niger', here at last is a recipe.

West African Peanut-Amranth stew

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 1 medium onion (chopped up)

• 5 cloves garlic

• Big piece fresh ginger

• 2 teaspoons ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 veg stock cube

• 1 tin crushed tomatoes

• 1 tin tomato paste

• 1 - 2 cups water

• 2 medium potatoes (in chunks)

• 3 carrots (in chunks)

• 1/2 tbs chilli paste (plus or minus to taste)

• 1/2 cup peanut butter (make sure it doesn't have sugar in it)

• 1 bunch Amranth (or spinach)

• Salt and pepper to taste Saute the onions gently. Whiz up the roughly-chopped ginger + garlic in a mini food processor to a fine blend - you can add some of the oil to make it go easily. (Or chop them up very finely). Add the garlic-ginger and the cumin and coriander to the onions, saute for another minute or so. Add everything else except the peanut butter and the amranth or spinach. In a separate pan, boil the amranth or spinach for a few minutes until soft. (If you are using baby spinach, you could just add this straight to the main pan.) Drain and add to the sauce. Stir through the peanut butter, and serve with rice.