Blogs from Mauritius, Africa - page 15

Rain, cyclones and humidity Well it is summer which means it is rainy season, so no surprise that we have a bit of rain some days. Luckily there have not been any cyclones since we have arrived... actually there was one but it too far north of the island to give any serious affect. In case it occurs, Mauritius has a well structured system of cyclone warnings and procedures. Warnings are classed from 1 to 4. Class one is early warning usually 36-48hrs before it strikes and 4 is at striking moment when everybody should be indoors; not hanging out at the police station looking at flags (police stations hang out a red flag for each class). We asked some friends what they did during a cyclone, the response was; play cards, chat, eat, drink and ... read more

We were perusing our Bradt guide to Mauritius for recommended local restaurants and decided on Coco de Mer Seychelles cuisine since their Saturday buffets were supposed to be very good value at MUR 300 (~£5). We joined a table outside with the chef and a multilingual Swede from Vienna who was raving about the cooking from 50 metres as we approached. The curries were especially fantastic, so Joachim asked the chef if he’d teach him and Bruno said sure thing. Next day at 1230 Joachim was the Creole chef’s happy and eager assistant! I mainly chopped vegetables, but was lucky to observe and take notes on the spicy chicken, calamari tomato and a kind of Creole salsa sauce “á la Bruno” with a secret home made ingredient. Very nice… too bad they were for other customers! ... read more

Godt Nytt År / Happy New Year First and foremost thank you all for comments on the blog! We love reading them! Hope you all had a good break during the holidays and are now ready for a new year with all the opportunities that it will bring! Some of you are expecting your first child (or just had one!), some are changing jobs, some are moving place and country altogether... Whatever you might be up to: Good Luck to all - keep us posted!! ☺ Celebration of New Years Eve in Troux Aux Biches After they have been selling fireworks in every shop for weeks we were not surprised when the fireworks went off all night, we even woke up to “bang, bang” in the morning on the 1st of Jan. Good fun and ... read more

Mostly we eat the local food but we have been trying to go for cheap English breakfast, pizza and pasta, but found that this is rarely worth it since it is more expensive and not really close to what you'd expect. Unless you have oodles of money to spend, which makes food good in any country, I would stick to the local cuisine. It is good, cheap and everywhere. The Mauritian people love their "snack" and the people making it are good at it. For 40mur (1.39cad, 7.50nrk, £0.64) you can get a tasty kebab, fried noodles with chicken, or some stir fried rise. The also sell yummy Roti for 7mur (0.24cad, 1.30nkr, £0.10) an Indian round flat thin bread with your choice of filling. This local food is typically sold from a bike, a little ... read more

Hope you all will enjoy the festive season wherever you might be - I know some of you have snow, some are the height of summer and many are just in between where it is not quite a white Christmas, but not quite summer either. But in the end of the day this season is about being with family and friends and not to forget eat and drink a lot of good things! We are debating to go for Seychelles or Mauritian cuisine for Christmas evening. Good thing we had both pinnekjott and lutefisk when back in Norway this year, so we don’t feel completely left out. :) Hope to see as many of you as possible in the New Year, take care of each other and keep in touch! Greetings, Nina and Joachim ... read more