Summer Cocktails

Photo by Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

This feature in The New York Times is making me crave a good summer cocktail – something we certainly don’t have here in Uganda.  So far this summer, it’s just a Nile Special or two on the weekends.  While the Live Basil Gimlet (pictured above) looks to die for, two of my favorite drinks from summer’s past are below.

Summer in a Glass – created on glorious day at Copake Lake in summer 2009, this gem combines equal parts spiced rum, light rum, and vanilla cream soda, plus tons of fresh lime to taste.  Try it out at your next summer barbecue.

Photo by Oh MG

Frozen  Glögg – Thank you to Mary Paschen for introducing me to this phenomenon last summer.  Yes, it’s a frozen glögg slushie, or glushie if you will.  If you are in Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago I highly recommend picking one up.

Photo by Mary Paschen

Dressmaker, Dressmaker, Make me a Dress

This morning I was in the field again with the Qualitative Research Team.  We traveled on a very bumpy road to the farthest clinic hub on the shores of Lake Victoria.  After arriving back in Kalisizo and meeting up with Elizabeth, Leigh, and Rachel, our co-worker Josephine took us into town for a visit to the dressmaker.  In a few weeks we'll have new dresses!

Getting fitted by Betty the dressmaker.

Selecting the perfect pattern - or in our case mixing and matching and asking if we could get the skirts shorter.  I choose a dress and everyone else went with separates.

The fabric choices.  I decided to order two things and went with black and white for a dress and the pattern on top for a skirt.

The dressmaking team fitting Rachel.  Photos of the finished products to follow in a couple of weeks.

Slim Aarons Does Masaka

Relaxing at The Tropic Inn, Masaka, 18 June 2011.  It's a 30 minute drive away and at 5,000 Ugandan shillings ($2.05), admission is a steal.

Photo by Oh MG.

Photo by Slim Aarons, via.

Photo by Slim Aarons, via.

Week in Review #20

We arrived home for lunch the other day to find this guy on the porch.  Later we jokingly asked if that was dinner and Teo, the manager of the guest house, simply said "Yes, chicken stew for dinner."  Quite a change from simply buying boneless, skinless chicken breast at the store - Michael Pollan would be proud.  Incidentally, the stew was quite delicious.

Chicken --> Dinner

In non-food news, earlier today we visited a rural health clinic in order to interview field staff about their experiences with the new clinic structure.  It's exciting to have the interview guide I developed being used to collect data.  So far I have conducted two in-depth interviews and the Qualitative Research Team has done another five, that means 12 more to go plus four focus groups.  For now though, I think we're all glad it's the weekend.  Tomorrow we are heading into Masaka to check out a rumored pool followed by an outing with our co-workers.  We're staying local until our big outing to Queen Elizabeth National Park next weekend.  Have a good one!

Government Health Clinic - Kibaale

Our New Friends

Among all the little kids who live in Kalisizo we are quite the celebrities.  Mzungu is the Luganda word for non-African person and everywhere we walk children of all ages greet us with a chorus of "Hello mzungu"' "How are you mzungu?" "Good evening mzungu!" or just "Mzungu, mzungu, mzungu!"  The little ones are especially enthralled.  When we go for evening jogs we are often trailed by a group of kids or little ones will cheer us on the side of road and give us high fives as we go by.  Walking home for lunch the other day we encountered this trio heading home from school as well as a sports group that was just thrilled to hang out with Leigh.

Staying Connected

Even though I am far away in Uganda, I have enough internet access to stay connected.  While I am not keeping up regularly with my Google Reader, I do check out my favorite blogs every now and then.  Below, some things on the internet that have made me smile lately.

This photo from The Sartorialist.  I adore the summer knits and sunglasses both gals are rocking.  Also, this made me realize that I actually miss my white Converses ... such a great summer shoe.

via The Sartorialist

Since JM and I are reuniting in Amsterdam and then heading to Paris later in the summer, I've been addicted to looking at studio apartment rentals for the trip.  I spotted the property below on Haven in Paris.  Way out of our price range, but fun to browse!  I want to go to there.

via Haven In Paris

This very fun feature on Famous People Hanging out with Their Vinyl.  Makes me wish I had a record player back home.

via

Lastly, today I enjoyed my pal Lauren's dinner party post over on Gatsby & Glitter.  Not a lot of wine & cheese to be found here in Uganda, but I'll get enough of that in Paris later in the summer.

via Gatsby & Glitter via Uncommon Goods