Today is hot, already 76°, the high for the day. The sun is out though the weather calls for a cloudy day. The breeze is slight, but I’ll take any breeze as the days warm. The birds are serenading us. The windows are open.

When I add a piece or two to my jigsaw puzzle, I cheer. The colors left in the box are all red and green, mostly kiwis and watermelon, so each piece is a triumph. I hold the piece and check the box top hoping to find where it belongs. This morning it was two green and a red.

My mother used to do jigsaw puzzles on her dining room table. She’d spread out all the pieces making it easy to find the right piece. Anyone going to the kitchen had to pass through the dining room. Just about everybody stopped to work on the puzzle. Success was announced out loud, “I got one.”

My favorite Ghanaian dishes are jollof rice and kelewele. Jollof rice has, of course, the rice with tomatoes, onions, tomato paste, peppers and spices. Most times it has chicken. On my last trip to Ghana, I ordered jollof every night with dinner.

I used to buy kelewele from aunties cooking it in large pots over wood fires on the sides of the road. Kelewele’s main ingredient is plantain which I came to love. The plantain is fried and has a crispy outside and a soft inside. Added to that is fresh ginger and grated onions. The Ghanaians grind the ginger and grated onion in a heavy, black clay sort of bowl with sides. They use a wooden piece shaped like an hour glass to do the grinding. I brought the bowl and grinder back on one of my trips. It was so heavy I could barely lift the carry on. Hot pepper is added. I think the Ghanaians add hot pepper to just about every dish. The paste is added to the plantain which is then cooked. Groundnuts, peanuts, are sprinkled on the top of the cooked plantain then served. I would eat this every day if I could find it or had someone cook it for me.

I haven’t a list today. I do need a few groceries, the usual bread and cream, and whatever treat catches my eye, but I’m hoping for a coconut cupcake.

This entry was posted on June 5, 2026 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.