Air Afrique: Worldwide Network, 1999 Television Advert: Detail Still Showing Route Map.

From the TimeTablist

The animated map sequence in this 1999 Air Afrique television commercial gives the viewer only moments to decipher Air Afrique's route network, and its European destinations are never in full view, with Rome discernible here (and is listed in the words moving across the screen) and Paris assumed, but the dot on the Cote D'Azur might be either Nice or Marseille.

Despite this lack of clarity, this still frame shows the classic structure of its home network, with a few qualifiers. It seems that at the turn of the millenium, Accra, Bobo Dioulasso, and Nouadhibou had been dropped, along with Monrovia and Freetown, both sadly embroiled in conflict at the time.

The city along the coast between Libreville and Kinshasa would correspond to the Brazzaville which pops up on screen despite being more the location of Pointe-Noire, which, along with Port-Gentil, is absent from the network.

The eastern extension from N'Djamena to Jeddah is clear, as is the transatlantic flagship from Dakar to JFK at left. Nairobi comes across the screen but there is no clear route to East Africa shown here.

Air Afrique: Worldwide Network, 1999 Television Advert

Our series from the TimeTablist Continues...

This wonderful Air Afrique television advert from 1999 finishes Air Afrique Week on Timetablist. In the sequence, the palm of the boy's hand becomes the African continent, with the entire route network shown as the image zooms out across the globe.

While the cities are not labeled and the map is too cartoonish to accurately determine what city corresponds to each node, the names of major destinations soar across the screen. The route from Dakar to New York can be clearly seen, as well as the incredibly dense network into Metropolitan France, but as with Thursday's post, specific routes and cities are very difficult to conclusively ascertain. Some secondary cities, such as Nouadhibou and Bobo Dioulasso, are not evident.

The next post will cover this route map animation in a bit more detail.

Air Afrique: Route Map Poster c. 1962

The penultimate post for Air Afrique Week brings this polychrome poster showing the home ports of the consortium. Little information is available for this print, which was a lot in a New York vintage poster auction in February 2010. While the usual suspects of Air Afrique's destinations from Brazzaville to Bamako, Douala to Dakar, Freetown to Fort-Lamy are evident, this low-resolution preview doesn't reveal many of the details.

It seems that, near the crane-like yellow and blue bird straddling the Nigeria-Cameroon border are some mysterious destinations, and the oval inset map shows a zebra-stripe of trans-Saharan routes by the dozen, including what looks to be some very easterly swings, suggesting something like a Bangui-to-Budapest or Malabo-to-Moscow, which is fantasy.

The auction catalogue gives a date of 1950, but this is more than a decade before Air Afrique was incorporated. Perhaps, given the vintage, this was willful rather than a matter of record.

Article Courtesy TimeTablist

Air Afrique: Systemwide Timetable, July 1975. Detail # 1: Trans-Saharan Routes

Still from the TimeTablist
A detail from the previous post, showing the trans-Saharan routes of Air Afrique in summer 1975. Its a bit difficult to determine just which cities are served--does the line from Abidjan to Rome hit Tunis? Is the service from Nouadhibou to Paris via Bordeaux? Which routes stop at Marseille or Nice? Its confusing that cities such as Tripoli, Agades, Lisbon and Algiers are included unnecessarily, making the connections more difficult to ascertain. However, it can be appreciated that the great North Chadian crossroads of Faya-Largeau is also helpfully included for viewers to establish proper orientation. The trans-Atlantic service to New York from Dakar is shown as an arrow at bottom right.

Vintage African Airline Timetables and Route Maps:Air Afrique-Systemwide Timetable, July 1975

Our series from the TimeTablist Blog continues: This week, we will continue with Air Afrique 1975....



Timetablist's Air Afrique Week continues: this copiously-detailed but rather low-tech brochure was published in July 1975, showing the entire Air Afrique network at the time, along with lots of other statistics not normally provided to the passenger, such as Finances, Traffic Results, and IATA certification details--perhaps this was for corporate purposes.

Dakar and Abidjan are clearly the main stations, but N'djamena, Cotonou, Lomé, Douala, and Niamey all have direct service across the Sahara to Europe. Possibly Bobo Dioulasso and Ouagadougou have non-stops to the Metropole as well--if the map has a major drawback, it is difficult to judge which routes connect where in many cases, and a great number of cities are included for reference but are not part of the network. The next post details these destinations and the northern portion of the map.

Molly & Me

No new recipes or food experiments tonight. I'm house/dogsitting for some friends that live out by the Arden Whole Foods (yes, the 'burbs!) this week and this cute little pup here is keeping me company. Since I promised the kidlets that I would make them a batch of fruit leather once apricots came into season I'm doing that tonight. If you're interested in making a batch for yourself it's easy, here's the recipe:  Easy-Peasy Apricot Fruit Leather.

How cute is this mug?

Sweet Potato Cake With Coconut Filling (Kuih Badak)

Ingredients:
600 g sweet potato
6 tbsp flour

Filling:
1/2 grated coconut
1 lemon grass
2 onions
2 cm turmeric
2 tbsp dried prawns
1 chili
1/2 tsp salt

oil for frying

Method:
1. Wash and boil sweet potato till soft.
2. Peel the skin and mash them with a fork or potato masher. Add all the flour to the potato and mix well.




Prepare the filling:

1. Slice lemon grass thinly.
2. Dice onions, chili and dried prawns.
3. Pound turmeric till fine.
4. Heat up 2 tbsp oil and fry all the ingredients till fragrant. Add grated coconut and some salt.
5. Cool it in a bowl.

 Prepare the sweet potato cake:

1. Divide the mashed sweet potato dough into small balls.

2. Flatten each ball and put a tablespoon of the cooked filling.

3. Close up the filling to form a ball. Flatten the ball slightly.

4. Heat up a wok and deep fry the cake.
5. When golden brown, take out the cakes.
6. Serve on a plate.

Quick 'n Easy Potatoes




Hope all of your summers are going well. We just had our first vacation of the summer recently. Mr. S., his kidlets and I joined his family on a nice getaway to Fort Bragg for some camping at MacKerricher State Park. The weather was fantastic-- nice and cool and I did absolutely no cooking while we were gone! To be quite honest- it was kind of nice. It truly was a "vacation. " The kidlets rode their bikes around the campgrounds with their cousins and scoured the beach for sand dollars with their dad while I relaxed and caught up on my leisure reading. By the way, have you read Kathryn Stockett's, "The Help" yet? If not, you should. It's an excellent read. I couldn't put it down.

Anyhow, we're back home now, back to the grind and back to cooking. Did I tell you that Kidlet #2 (Mr. Picky Eater) has seemed to have turned the corner and to some degree is willing to try some new foods? In fact the other night before we took the kidlets to see Cars 2, we had a family dinner together. I made a simple potato side dish (which normally he'd turn his nose at just because it's something new to him) to go with the chicken and he loved it! Color me surprised...and pleased!

Funny thing is I can't get PO'd at him for being a finicky eater because I used to be one myself when I was a kid. In fact, one of Mr. S.'s favorite stories about me is the one about me and my Aunt Eleanor. My dad's the youngest of four from a loud Brooklyn family. His family's always been a "tell-it-like-it-is" bunch, which is probably where I get my penchant for bluntness. Anyhow, I remember as a kid being at my Aunt Eleanor's once for dinner. I didn't like what she was serving up and squeaked out some sort of snotty complaint about the night's menu. Next thing I knew, my aunt was slamming the plate down in front of me and bellowing, "IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, EAT SH*T!!" I kid you not. I remember sitting there stunned initially, then fighting to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes. Somehow I got through the meal and Aunt Eleanor's outburst had it's desired effect...it scared the bejesus out of me and I rarely complained at mealtime again. Now I have no plans to scream at a small child at the dinner table, but I do plan on continuing to slowly push the boundaries of Kidlet #2's food comfort zone so that his palate expands over time. I'd hate for him to miss out on the delicacies of the world as an adult because we caved to his tantrums and allowed him to eat hot dogs and Kraft Mac 'N Cheese for dinner. Hopefully his newfound desire to try new food continues.


(Print by HipHeart)


Quick 'N Easy Potatoes

Ingredients

1- 1.5 lbs. small potatoes (I usually buy fingerlings at the farmers' market or TJ's Teeny-Tiny Potatoes)

2 T olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Thyme


Instructions

- Preheat oven 425 degrees F.

- If using fingerlings cut potatoes in quarters. If using TJ's Teeny Tiny Potatoes, cut potatoes in half.

- Place potatoes in bowl. Toss with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

- Spread potatoes evenly on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkly lightly with thyme.

- Roast for 20-25 minutes then turn sheet and roast for another 20-25 minutes.

- Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss. Serve hot.

* PS This would be an easy recipe to do while camping as well.

AirAsia Should Fly to Africa - Mahathir

Air Asia Africa Bound?
Former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad has urged Asia largest low cost carrier AirAsia to make Africa its next destination as part of its expansion plans. The PM was speaking during a Malaysian-Africa Business Forum.


“It is the lack of air connectivity that has limited the ties between Malaysia and African nations from flourishing.
“Perhaps, if we can start (air connectivity) with the low-cost airlines, that will be the answer.
“Perhaps, we should persuade AirAsia to fly to Africa, which will bring us closer,” Mr Mahathir said

During a presentation at the same Forum by Ethiopian consultant Henok Assefa, it was stated that Nairobi and Addis Ababa would be the best locations for creating airline hubs. South Africa offers steep competition with a myriad of low cost carriers already operating in the country. Nairobi, would especially be attractive investment choice should Tony Fernandes turn his eyes towards Africa.

There had been talk in the last year that AirAsia was behind the long awaited startup OneJetOne Airlines but those rumours were dispelled by OneJetOne CEO Mr. Arjun Ruzaik in an earlier interview on this blog.

Cheese Making Part II : Goaty Goodness


"Cheese- milk's leap toward immortality." ~ Clifton Fadiman


I was just reading a great blog post about goats today on LA Fuji Mama (did you know goat is the most widely consumed meat on the planet?) when I remembered that I forgot to post Part II of the cheese making party! At Cate's party in addition to the mozzarella, we also made a big wad of chèvre. It was absolutely scrumptious but would I make it again? Probably not. Unless you have the inside track on some cheap goat's milk, it's not very cost effective. However, I do love using chèvre in recipes, it's delish and gives it some tang that you don't get with using cheeses from cows. Try subbing it in on your pizzas or tarts.





Here's the chèvre recipe that we used at Cate's:

Chèvre

Ingredients

1 gallon pasteurized whole goat's milk

1 gallon direct set chèvre set

cheese making salt

sterile 18" square piece cheese cloth/muslin

thermometer

sieve


Instructions

- Pour milk into a sterilized 6 quart non-reactive pot.

- Heat milk to 86 degrees or place in sink of hot water to raise temperature.

- Add starter and let sit 5 minutes to re-hydrate. Stir in using an up and down motion without breaking through the surface of the milk.

- Cover and let sit for 12 hours at 72 degrees. (We placed ours on a seed starting mat, but you could fill a cooler with hot water and set it on there or turn your oven on low/then turn it off/then set it in there.)

- When whey is clear or clean break* is achieved, carefully scoop out curds into sieve lined with cheese cloth and tie four corners. Hang and let drain 6-12 hours until desired consistency. The longer it drains the firmer it'll be. (We hung the cheese and cloth off of Cate's patent cheese hanging system AKA "a hanger.")

- Mix in salt. A little bit more whey may drain out after salt is added if cheese is soft.

- Can be stored for a week, maybe a bit more.

* "Clean break" can be done by inserting a sterilized implement into the whey at a 45 degrees angle and lifted through the surface, the curds will appear to 'crack' instead of having a soft yogurt like texture. If it doesn't break easily, let it sit for some more.


Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Best Locations For Airline Hubs In Africa

Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Nairobi, Kenya are the best locations for the the creation of airline hubs in Africa, the Malaysia-Africa Business Forum recently revealed in a study.

Ethiopia's Precise Consult International PLC managing partner Henok Assefa said this was because the best connections to African destinations were actually provided by Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.

He pointed out that Ethopian Airlines, an over-a-billion dollar company, right now flew to about 60 countries, which included more than two dozen flights weekly to India and China.

"The airlines industry is growing very fast in Africa even when the global aviation industry is falling apart. All African airlines, the one that are run well, happen to earn profits.

"We need more help and I know for sure, AirAsia, or any airline in Malaysia, would like to make a connection," Assefa said in response to a proposal by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that African countries should come together to set up airline hubs to derive more benefits and increase inter-connectivity.

Dr Mahathir has suggested that low-cost airlines such as AirAsia seriously consider flying to Africa to facilitate travel and increase trade and investment linkages.

Currently, Johannesburg in South Africa is the known hub for Africa.

Source: Ethiopian Investor

Social Media and the MENA Airlines

Social Media amongst Middle Eastern and North African Airlines. Interesting read courtesy of Oussama's Take blog. This inspires me to do a follow up on African airlines and social media, which, my friends, will be coming soon

 The Arab Spring was attributed to the use of Social Media by the Arab younger generations. Social Media has galvanized opinions and coordinated marches and sit ins that changed regimes. Yet, MENA airlines have not tapped this resource.

It appears that most of these airlines have Info pages with no interaction with passengers or potential passengers and it is sometimes hard to figure out if the page is the airlines official page. Of the twenty one (21) airlines, that I have looked at both legacy and LCC that have Facebook pages; only four (4) have flight booking and other facilities on their pages; Royal Jordanian, Gulf Air, Bahrain Air and Etihad.  

The most liked so to speak page is Qatar Airways (161200 fans) but it is not growing and that maybe attributed to their successful promotion celebrating its 100th destination. 

The fastest growing is Royal Jordanian's page (53500 fans) which adds around a 1000 fans a day and is probably the most balanced page among the region's airlines. It has a lot of traffic directed from the airline which prompts comments and likes but not much customer service content that the airline should encourage.

The most interactive page with customer service issues is Air Arabia's but only has 5500 fans.

Interestingly Emirates (43000 fans) has an info page only but is not growing, Etihad (31000 fans) is not very interactive same as Gulf Air (15500 fans) even though both airlines provide booking and other facilities on their pages. 

It appears the MENA airlines are not very serious about social media yet, a few of them have advanced Facebook Pages but are not very successful in promoting them to the public probably due to lack of resources..

Of all the airlines Royal Jordanian seems to take the effort seriously, they launched their efforts with an aircraft on ground tweet up with the 20 most popular bloggers in Jordan and have allocated resources to maintain the effort and it seems to be successful; around a 1000 fans per day for an airline the size of Royal Jordanian and a country the size of Jordan is no mean feat.

Turkish Airlines Set for Kigali

Information was received overnight from Kigali that Turkish Airlines appears set to commence direct flights between Istanbul and Kigali / Rwanda, although the exact routing could not be confirmed immediately. The new connection will add yet more seats to the country, which has been busy promoting its tourism and investment opportunities around the world, and with Turkish, a member of the world’s leading airline alliance ‘Star’, an emerging global player is coming to Kigali, offering a growing network of connections to many key global cities, in Europe, Eastern Europe, the Americas, the Gulf, Asia and beyond.

Turkish already connects 14 cities in Africa with Istanbul and the choice of Rwanda’s capital Kigali also speaks for the country itself, now considered as a rising star on the continent and a choice destination for tourists and business visitors alike.

Watch this space for more announcements ahead of the inaugural flight.

Courtesy Wolfganghthome blog

Just Peachy : Prosecco Sangria

During the summertime one of my favorite drinks to whip up for BBQs is sangria. Now mind you, the sangria that I make is no frou-frou lightweight cocktail garnished with some citrus...no ma'am, it's a knock-you-on-your-butt weapons grade sangria. Sure there's some fruit in it but a good portion of it is made up of red wine which I then I fortify with rum. Anyhow, as of late I've been getting some rager migraines when I drink anything more than a glass of red wine so when I offered to make a batch of sangria to take to a friend's on Thursday night, I decided to dig up an alternate recipe. Something milder, lighter and without red wine. I looked at a few white wine recipes but then came across this gem from Martha Stewart (yep, Old Jailbird Marty). The recipe actually came out really good...sweet but refreshing...I'll probably make it again this summer.




Prosecco Sangria  (Martha Stewart)
Yields About 2 Quarts

Ingredients

1 peach

1 nectarine

3 apricots

5 ounces peach brandy

1 bottle (750 mL) chilled Prosecco, (Italian sparkling wine)

1 cup peach nectar

Superfine sugar (optional)


Instructions

- In a pitcher, combine peach, nectarine, and apricots, all pitted and cut into wedges.

- Stir in peach brandy; let sit at least 1 hour.

- Stir in Prosecco and peach nectar.

- Add superfine sugar, if desired.

- Serve chilled or over ice.

Kenya Airways Signs for 10 more Embraers and 10 more options

African Aviation News this week:

In a breaking news story it was confirmed that East Africa’s leading airline, Kenya Airways, has just signed a 10 aircraft deal – vis a vis a letter of intent – with Brazilian manufacturer Embraer for 10 more of their jets, with an added option for a further E190 or the E170 series, with specific purchases to be confirmed at a later date.

This latest acquisition plan for new aircraft will set the stage for an intense battle unfolding over the African skies between ‘The Pride of Africa’ and their nearest competitors Ethiopian and South African, the latter reportedly now also committed to finally roll out a comprehensive Africa network in coming years, a shade late though to catch KQ and ET who now have a near equal coverage of the African continent via their Nairobi and Addis Ababa hubs. Kenya Airways offers flights from Nairobi to 43 African destinations and a further 10 international destinations in Europe, the Gulf area, India and the Far East.

Kenya Airways has already announced during the recent presentation of their annual financial year results that they will by 2013 fly to every African capital city or commercial hub, and the new aircraft will help them, especially with the ‘Advanced Range’ models of Embraer, to fly to new destinations with initially less traffic density where their fleet of B737NG’s may initially be too large to yield early profits.

The 20 new jets, should the ten options be exercised as is expected, will boost KQ’s Embraer fleet to be the largest on the African continent and will come in addition to the 5 E170’s and 2 E190’s already operating under the KQ livery, with the final 3 deliveries of E190’s still due between now and early 2012. All aircraft will be outfitted in a dual class configuration of business and economy, offering this service on each and every route and offer the passengers of not just Kenya Airways but of their Sky Team alliance partners Air France / KLM the superior service levels expected by their faithful travelers.

It is understood that the new order just signed between Kenya Airways and Embraer will begin deliveries by mid 2012 to allow for the projected traffic growth on existing routes without impairing the network rollout recently confirmed.

When asked a regular source in Nairobi, while preferring anonymity, also confirmed that the airline’s ties with Boeing remained strong and that in particular more B 737 NG will in coming years join the fleet too, to have the right sized aircraft available for all the domestic, regional and continental routes where the narrow body 737’s of -700 and -800 types are deployed or to be deployed.

KQ’s CEO Dr. Titus Naikuni was reported to have said after the signing ceremony in Paris: ‘The E190 jet fits well with our expansion strategy, giving us an opportunity to expand our network and increase our frequencies beyond the current offering while cementing our mandate of connecting Africa to the World and World to Africa through our hub at JKIA’.

With this breaking news story Kenya Airways will retain their claim to leadership over the African skies and to be indeed, for Africans from all corners of the continent ‘The Pride of Africa’.

Article Source Wolfganghthome blog

Eritrean Volcanic Eruption brings ash cloud scenario home

African Aviation news this week:

The recent eruption of a volcano in Eritrea and the subsequent ash cloud drifting across the continent is bringing home the Icelandic ash cloud scenario from last year to East Africa.

According to airline sources flights are being delayed or even cancelled already as the ash cloud drifts into the air-lanes leading across the continent, causing airlines to fly extensive detours while others have reportedly cancelled flights to Djibouti, Asmara and even Addis Ababa.

The eruption was registered on Sunday night and initially thought to be a local event, but soon it became evident that ash clouds were rising as high as 45.000 feet and began to drift across those parts of Eastern Africa frequented by aircraft flying at various altitudes between 37.000 and 41.000 feet enroute to and from Europe.

Located near the border with Ethiopia the Nabro eruption was preceded by several earthquakes, about which no damage reports are available from Eritrea, a country almost notorious for its secrecy about all and sundry and current weather forecasts are also not conclusive if the ash cloud, should eruptions continue, could eventually drift across the Red Sea and reach the Arabian peninsula, where intense air-traffic would be equally disrupted. Watch this space.

Article Courtesy Wolfganghthome blog

More bad news for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as Water Heater Explodes

African Aviation news this week:
Only days after a failure of electricity supply and of all backup systems brought East Africa’s busiest international airport to a complete and utter halt for several hours, leading to flight delays galore, has the explosion of a water heater in the government VIP section of the airport caused more consternation amongst passengers and air operators. The water heater, probably – and this is speculation as of right now in the absence of hard technical evidence – may have been damaged by power fluctuations and the often experienced low voltage periods, and when the thermostat failed the water overheated and eventually cause the tank to explode due to overpressure.

One regular source was immediately available for comment and had this to say: ‘it is lucky for everyone that there were no casualties. It goes to show that KAA – the Kenya Airport Authority – has huge problems in maintaining our most important airport in the region and unless they pull up their socks we may find more such accident happening for lack of good preventive maintenance. They charge us airlines a lot of money, the airport expansion and rehabilitation is slow in progressing, the power backup failed last week again and caused all airlines losses through delays and now this. Maybe the time is right to  bring professional airport management to Nairobi now and send the civil servants home’.

Harsh words but understandably so, considering the endless petitions and requests made to the KAA by operators and most of the time to no avail. Watch this space.  

Article Courtesy Wolfganghthome blog

Ooo-la-la, Cookies!

“Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.” ~ Robert Fulghum


My friend Mary is an inspiration. Seems whenever I talk to her she's attending a new cooking class, going to an interesting lecture or taking on a fun sounding project like making a batch of homemade limoncello. Recently she took a class at the Whole Foods Culinary Center on how to make french macarons and asked if I'd be interested in attempting a batch at home. Would I? Does a bear poo in the woods?

Anyhow, the cookies came out a bit (ok, a lot) bigger and flatter than they should have (we think it may have been due to the weird weather we had that day -high humidity- and that we didn't have a #5 pastry tip and went with another size) but we had a lot of fun and they were extremely delicious. And I'll take tasty over pretty any day.

* Listed below is the recipe we used for the cookie batter and buttercream that Mary was given in class. We did not make the buttercream at my home, since she had some strawberry buttercream left over from the class she attended.








French Macarons  (Chef Christa Colardo, Marin Cooking)

Ingredients

7 oz. confectioner's sugar

4 oz. blanched almond meal

3 oz. egg white, room temp., preferably aged overnight

Pinch cream of tartar

1 oz. granulated sugar

Food coloring

Lemon zest (optional)


Instructions

- Sift together confectioner's sugar and almond meal. Set aside.

- In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whip egg whites and pinch of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add granulated sugar and whip to stiff peak. Whites should be moist and not dry. Add food coloring (we skipped this step, preferring to go au naturale, and added some lemon zest instead).

- Add sugar-almond mixture to whites and fold until completely incorporated. The mixture should be smooth, shiny and able to flow off a spoon.

- (Using a #5 pastry tip) Pipe small rounds (about 1 1/2') onto parchment covered sheet trays. Let macarons dry at room temp 30-60 minutes.

- Bake at about  300 degrees for 16 minutes. Cool completely before filling.


Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

4 egg whites

8 oz. sugar

1 lb. butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla extract


Instructions

- Whisk egg whites and sugar in bowl of stand mixer. Place bowl on bain-marie and heat, whisking constantly until mixture is warm and sugar is completely melted-- you should feel no graininess when you rub it through your fingers.

- Remove mixture from heat and whip at high speed until it is cooled to room temperature and is light, resembling marshmallow fluff.

- With mixer on medium-high speed, add soft butter a few tablespoons at a time, allowing each addition to fully incorporate before adding another. Add vanilla and blend well.

* Note buttercream will look broken partway through the mixing process. Continue adding the butter and it will come back together.

(May be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen until needed. Return to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment of stand mixer until smooth, warming with torch if needed.)

Yield : about 5 cups.

Eggplant Bhaji


Pakoda - Bhaji is quite famous in Maharashtra. All weddings must have these, when guests are invited, you have to have this item. Its been quite long time since we had bhaji so i decided to make them on Monday but decided to give it a twist. Given that eggplant is so easily available here i thought why not use it. The experiment was quite successful so here is the recipe.

Eggplant Bhaji
Ingredients
2 Cup diced Eggplant
1 Onion
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/2 Cup Besan
Handful Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Mix in diced eggplant, diced onion, chilli powder, besan, turmeric powder, jeera powder, coriander powder, finely chopped coriander leaves and salt to taste. Add in some water to make the paste.
  • Heat oil. Add couple of spoon of oil to the paste and mix well.
  • Take a small lemon sized ball from the paste and flatten it a bit
  • Fry on medium heat till done on both sides. Serve immediately

Notes
Normally i would wait around 5 minutes after mixing all ingredients but before adding water. The salt with all the veggies secrets water so if you wait your paste doesn't end up loosing consistency later on while you are in the middle of frying.

Fly Ethiopian Airlines and Earn Double Miles

Ethiopian Airlines is offering double miles on its Sheba Miles program on the following routes:

  • Fly between Addis Ababa and Frankfurt on Ethiopian Airlines and earn double miles.
    Your flight between Addis Ababa and Frankfurt in June and July 2011 will entitle you to double bonus miles. 
  • Fly between Addis Ababa and Mombasa, Nairobi, Bujumbura, Dar-es-Salaam, Entebbe, Kigali, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar on Ethiopian Airlines and earn double miles.
    Your flight between Addis Ababa and Mombasa, Nairobi, Bujumbura, Dar-es-Salaam, Entebbe, Kigali Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar from in June and July 2011 will entitle you to double bonus miles. 
Learn more about the program here

Ethiopian Airlines New Nonstop Service from Addis Ababa to Milan in July 2011

Ethiopian Airlines Second Destination in Italy

Ethiopian Airlines will begin new nonstop service from Addis Ababa to Milan, Italy, Europe's fashion capital, effective July 2011.

Milan is one of Europe's main transportation and industrial hubs and EU's top ten most important centre for business and finance. Here are the ET schedules for the route:


Flight Days From Dep Arr To Via
ET708  
1234-6-  
Addis 23:00  
5:10  
Milan  
Nonstop
ET709  
-2345-7  
Milan  
23:00  
6:40  
Addis Nonstop

Ethiopian has served Italy since 1964 with its maiden flight to Rome, then to daily and now to a second city Milan.

 The airline has some goodies for passengers traveling to Milan."To celebrate this new flight, members on the new nonstop flight can earn double miles for sixty days from commencement of operation. For more details please click here ."

Banana Muffin


Ingredients:
Orgran Gluten free Self Raising Flour, 17.5-Ounce (Pack of 7)India Tree Superfine Caster Baking SugarDanish Lurpak Butter - Unsalted (8 ounce)



Horizon Organic 1 % Low Fat Milk, 8-Ounce Aseptic Cartons (Pack of 18)




Bio Fresh BananaSodium Bicarbonate Powder Usp LB


200 g self raising flour
50 g Castor sugar
100 g butter
25 ml milk
2 eggs
2 bananas
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda


Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
2. Add in beaten eggs a little at a time.
3. Sift flour together with bicarbonate of soda.
4. Add in milk and flour alternately till well mixed into the cream mixture.
5. Peel bananas and mash them with a fork. Add in the mashed bananas.
6. Spoon the mixture into paper cups till 3/4 full.
7. Bake in a hot oven about 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
.


.

Sweet Mustard and Herb Roasted Chicken


The combination of sweet brown sugar, punchy dijon mustard, tart lemon and fresh herbs makes a fantastic rub for chicken.  It comes together in seconds then you slather it all over a whole chicken and throw it in the oven and supper cooks itself.  Seriously SO easy! I like roasting two chickens at a time because I love having shredded chicken on hand as a starter for other recipes during the week.  One easy recipe turns into two or three easy recipes.

Gotta love that.


Recipe from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry
__________________________________________________________________________________

Serves 4





1 4 lb whole roasting chicken
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Grated zest and juice of half a lemon

Move oven rack to bottom third of oven and preheat to 425 degrees.  Place a rack inside a small roasting pan and pour 1 cup of water in the bottom of the pan.

In a small bowl mix together mustard, brown sugar, fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper to make a paste.  Add the lemon zest and mix again.  Rub all over the chicken. Place the other half of the lemon inside the chicken and tie the legs together using kitchen string.  Place breast side down on the rack and roast uncovered for 30 minutes.  Remove chicken from oven and flip over.  Add a bit more water to the pan if it has evaporated.  Return to oven and roast for 35 to 40 minutes more depending on the size of the bird.  If chicken browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil.  When cooked, legs should move easily in sockets and the thigh juices should be clear (not pink).  A meat thermometer inserted into thigh (away from the bone) should read 170 degrees.

Remove chicken from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. 


Click here for printable version of Sweet Mustard and Herb Roasted Chicken
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RESULTS?
The rub on this chicken is so flavorful!  I love the combo of sweet with mustard and the freshness of the herbs.  It's possible that the roasted chicken skin is my favorite part, and it's also possible that I sort of kind of steal bites of it while I'm carving the chicken for my family's dinner.  Don't tell anyone.

Meal Ideas:

Leftover Ideas:
Strip all the meat off the bones, and use the carcass to make: Homemade Chicken Stock.  You can then make any number of homemade soups with it like: Creamy Summer Vegetable Soup.

Vanilla Icecream


This is Ajoy's favorite flavor in ice-cream which i finally made last Saturday. This is so easy and tasty flavor that i wonder why i didn't make it earlier. The texture of the ice-cream came out so well, so much better than the store bought ice-cream.

Vanilla Ice-cream
Ingredients
1 liter Milk
3.5 Cup Cream
2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Vanilla Extract

Method
  • In a mixie blend sugar and 1/2 liter of milk together till sugar completely till it dissolves.
  • In a bowl mix the milk-sugar mixture, cream and vanilla extract and whisk with fork till everything is combined.
  • Set the mixture in ice-cream bowl according to the ice-cream maker's instructions.

Notes
I used heavy whipping cream instead of light whipping cream so if using light whipping cream, you may need to use 4.5 cups of cream instead for the smooth flavor.

African Aviation Events: 17th Aviation and Allied Business Leadership Conference

The 17th edition of the annual Aviation & Allied Business Leadership Conference will be held at the Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski, Dar es Salaam from August 28 - 30, 2011.

The Leadership Conference which is a private sector driven initiative has held annually since 1995 and attracted leaders and distinguished personalities in the air transport industry in Africa and beyond. Over the years, the Leadership Conference has enjoyed the participation of government leaders such as the Presidents and Heads of Governments of African States and several Ministers responsible for air transport across Africa.

The Leadership Conference has also continued to attract attendance from the leadership of various international agencies and organisations in Africa including the African Union, Commission, African Civil Aviation Commission, African Airlines Association, Airports Council International-Africa and the International Air Transport Association.

The theme of this year's gathering is "Air Transport In Africa: Strengthening Leadership: Sustaining Growth", and is a sequel to the 16th conference held 2010 in Gaborone, Botswana, with the theme: "Air Transport In Africa: The Challenge of Leadership".

According to the convener of the event, Captain Edward Boyo,"The conference will provide avenue for the public and private sectors to seek the best way forward for air transport in Africa. The 17th A&AB Leadership Conference will, therefore, strongly promote opening of intra-African markets, as well as the build-up and prioritization of effective leadership to drive aviation transformation in Africa"

You can download the 17th Aviation & Allied Business Leadership Conference Brochure here

Selling Air Zimbabwe would be a challenge given its financial state: Minister

Air Zimbabwe is in such shambles and its financial position so hopeless it would be difficult to find takers even if the government decided to offload it, a Zimbabwean cabinet minister has said.

State Enterprises and Parastatals minister Gorden Moyo on Wednesday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatal Management that finding an investor to buy the ailing airline was likely to prove a mammoth task.

Moyo was responding to a question by Chiredzi North MP, Ronald Ndava, a member of the Portfolio Committee chaired by Zvishavane-Runde MP, Lawrence Mavima, who had asked him to explain why his ministry was not disposing of loss-making parastatals that were draining the fiscus.

“There are certain entities where we think surely, government should be out of,” Moyo said.

“But it may not be easy to sell Air Zimbabwe right now even if you want to offload it because you may not find a taker because of its state,” he said.

Moyo however said the difficulties facing Air Zimbabwe were not unique to Zimbabwe as a lot other airlines around the globe were performing very poorly. He cited Zambia Airways as an example.

“It is not just Air Zimbabwe which is suffering — very few airlines are doing business and it might be a big problem to sell Air Zimbabwe. A lot of parastatals are faced with huge debts and this on its own makes our parastatals unattractive to suitors. To get investors investing in a shell is not easy because of this debt overhang,” Moyo said. Moyo indicated most of the equipment in the country’s parastatals was dilapidated and archaic. To get investors to inject funds into businesses that were going under was not easy.

“The fiscal space is also too constricted to inject capital or even expertise into these entities especially given the serious human capital flight Zimbabwe has suffered,” he said.

State Enterprises and Parastatal Management deputy minister Walter Chidakwa said the issue of marketability to suitors by ailing parastatals was affected by tariffs.


“The investor looks at prices in Zimbabwe and compares them with those in the world. He looks at whether he will be able to recover his investments and we end up in this dilemma,” said Chidakwa.