Porkfest 2008

what else would 15 pcvs do at the end of an extremely exhausting week-long girls camp? Of COURSE we would buy two whole pigs and eat for three solid days. this idea was the brainchild of a pcv talking about rendering lard and as we talked the idea just got out of control and turned into near protein poisoning...but in a good way. the deliciousness that happened was the best i've had in years (apart from the stint at home in which i gained a solid pound a day) so, this is how it went down. 15 pcvs, 2 pigs, totaling 70.000 cfa (about $150) of our pooled money. we got the hook-up from our friend the beverage distributer with factory prices and were able to use our workstation to make it happen. the first pig came in on the shoulders of chris, and was immediately dismantled to pieces and parts, some for grinding, some for grilling. our first meal was ribs, slaw, and cornbread. the ribs weren't huge like back in the states but they sure did the job. the whole next day was eating and preparing. there was no shortage of breakfast sausage, eggs, gravy, and biscuits. on to the brat making. we'd ground the meat the night before and washed the small intestines out. i'm amazed at the things intestines can do! we stuffed those puppies full and left them under a mosquito net to dry. after boiling and grilling them we ate whole trays of 'em with green salad and german potato salad. throughout the day, there'd been a pit crew, in charge of pit roasting the second pig we'd ordered. the boys had a good time spitting it and throwing together the roaster which is roofing metal and borrowed iron bars. in exchange for the bars we bartered with the welder for some pig meat and he was delighted! dinner was around 10pm but oh worth the wait. if you've never had pit roasted pig, you need to go out immediately and find out the quickest way to consume it. it is amazing! i loved pig roasts in the states but this was so gratifying. we kept saying how COOL we were to be doing this ourselves. hey, a little pat on the back never hurt anyone. this was a great end to a great project. also nice because a bunch of us are COS-ing (close of service) from now until october so to have this last hurray was awesome. also on the list of activities was frying porkrinds, making pies (french silk, key lime, and apple) african yam pancakes with homemade applesauce, and paté making from the liver. i learned a lot as when a group of pcvs gets together it's all about food all the time and there were a lot of recipes to try out. hope you like the pictures, sorry they're not in order, i was in a hurry. off to hunt down the last ton of cement in the morning.