Pork and Wine

Last weekend, I visited a coffee roastery. Nothing better than the sweet smell of freshly roasted Arabica beans. When I asked the shop owner where the organic beans originated from, he proudly announced they were from the region of the Kivu lake in Rwanda.

Now, this made my heart beat faster (it was probably already doing a few extra beats after my caffeine intake), since my Mother lived the 12 first years of her life at lake Kivu in Congo (the other side of the lake). My beloved grandfather August Pas owned a coffee plantation in the subtropical hills about a day's drive from Bukavu.

Waking up in the morning is something really special now; when I am grinding the coffee beans, the perfume carries me away to the footsteps of my mother's childhood at the shores of the Kivu lake. I think of the  youth memories she shared with us about mangoes she picked from the trees at the age of six. I think about my truly missed grandfather, the great mathematician and teacher, who used to tell us riddles and stories about the Wild Africa (like the one where  they nearly got killed by a Hippopotamus). I am far away from home, yet I am closer then ever to my roots.

On special request, I have published my famous 'Fillet of Pork in red wine' recipe as recipe of the week. See 'Recipe of the week' in the sidebar.

Dear Michelle, you understand like nobody else what the business is asking from us; there hasn't been much room for experimenting with plum tomatoes. And let's be honest, the past weeks haven't really been tomato wheather. But I promise that I will spend some time to try out your submission and publish it with your approval. You are hereby invited to join me in my kitchen and we can even organize a small Tomatina (1 tomato each because the last thing I would do is play with food).