Ouaga is a funny mix.
I can order beautiful iced donuts and a great salsa and homemade herbed tortilla chips for a great price to be delivered to my door the morning after I order but butter has become so expensive that I think twice before buying and instead on my bread am putting mayonnaise or processed cheese (don’t even suggest local margerine - Yuck!) and have practically cut out cooking with it.
There’s a guy who used to cook for missionaries that now does home bakery deliveries, including hamburger buns, mini banana breads, and larger things like pizzas and cakes. It’s useful when your only cooking equipment is a 3-burner stove top (like the camping ones back home).
I looked at the standard (not even fancy) stoves here all priced around AUS$620 (same price as a chest freezer) and decided I didn’t need baked casseroles, grills, muffins or homemade baking that much. I’m waiting for the April/May sell-offs of expats leaving at the end of the school year to see if there’s something reasonable for sale (and if there’s a cheap freezer it would help out for those times of year when vegies are limited).
Even if I get one I’m not likely to put it into the kitchen (ie. the small bedroom now furnished with fridge, stovetop and cupboards) since the house already acts like a brick oven and hot season has barely started. I'll probably copy another misso and have it on the porch.
I’ve put cane mats above the windows in the hot cement area behind the house, and am growing passionfruit vines on a network of cables. They’ve just reached the level of cables, and seem to grow about 20cm a week now so it’ll be a while before there’s shade back there on the concrete bricks that absorb heat all day and radiate it back inside at night.
