a new year, a new fave

i notice every year my favorite ghanaian food changes. last year when i came back from home assignment i really craved banku. i lived in the guest house and there just happened to be a banku/okra soup seller right down the street. i cannot tell you how much banku i ate. i remember the first time years ago when i ate banku. i remember thinking, "i am never going to like this. it is sour, and the soup is so slimy". but somehow 2013 comes around and i LOVE BANKU. so strange. well, 2014 started even stranger. i find myself craving...this is so wild...craving--kenkey!! and pepper!! and fried fish!! kenkeyi remember saying i would never like kinkey. and i just learned to accept and resign myself to eating fishy-fish. you know, the kind that smells really fishy, not the dipped in beer batter and fried so you can't even tell you are eating fish. so now i find myself going to a chop bar** and voluntarily ordering very spicy pepper-tomato-onion sauce with fish and kenkey. this is really wild. i have always said i will never like kenkey. never.what is kenkey? it is corn that has been soaked, fermented and ground. then they pack it into a ball and wrap it with leaves. the pepper sauce is red chiles that have been ground with tomatoes and a bit of salt and some raw onions thrown in. the fish is just fried and slightly salted. i do still have a little growing to do because i still am not able to eat the fish head and the eyes and all that. when i am questioned about it i tell people i don't want the fish to see what is in my belly. it usually brings about a laugh and they forget to try to convince me to eat the head. PHEWWW!in all this madness i do remember to thank God because i always tell new people keep trying the food even though you may not like it and now i can add because maybe after 8 years you may find yourself liking it!** a chop bar is a place where you can buy food and "chop". it is usually small, cheap, furnished with plastic chairs and tables, and not the most sanitary. but they are so handy and usually have hilarious names! ghana-chop-barIMG_0500