Hobbies

It’s not uncommon for Peace Corps volunteers to pick up a new hobby. Some people learn to play the guitar others taking up biking or trying to reach a certain number of books read. My new hobby came to me out of sheer desperation. I’d been in country for about five months. I was in Atapkame doing banking and enjoying some time with the finer things in life (aka electricity). I’d been craving cookies, chocolate chip cookies to be exact.

I’m no stranger to the kitchen, and I’ve been a good cook for a long time. Baking, however, just never interested me. After all, I could buy delicious baked goods practically anywhere in the states. Sweets are just not something Togolese like very much. Chocolate can only be found in regional capitals in what we call “yovo stores”.  Still, it didn’t mean I couldn’t bake my own cookies.

When I first was sent off to my village Peace Corps gave out these cookbooks. They are from scratch recipes created by volunteers with ingredients that are possible to get a hold of in Togo. The cookbook is called “Where there is no Whopper”, and have been a good friend to me.

I’ve enjoyed learning to bake in Atapkame and sharing the goodies with my fellow volunteers. I’ve made cookies of all kinds (peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, and chocolate chip). In all I’ve also made pizza, cinnamon rolls, brownies, mango bread, pineapple upside-down cake, and poppy bread.

Below are some photos of the goodies I’ve made over the last year.

Poppy Cake

Pinapple upside-down cake

Its amazing what having a toaster oven and a dry goods blender can do to make things easier. As you can see from time to time I get to make yummy treats to enojy. So I'm not suffering too bad here in Togo.