Seafood Curry

Seafood Curry with Rice and Vegetables

I went to Lamu and ate seafood curry, but the dish was unfamiliar. In the curries of my past, whether vegetable, beef, lamb, or seafood, the spices were powerful, strong. You immediately knew, grounded in the scent, that this could be no other dish but curry. But tonight, as our group of 10 sat around the mahogany table, still weary from travel but grateful for the gentle warm breeze, this dish was a mystery. The seasonings were so mild, the dish sparked curiosity in my palate. I could not find the ingredients in the first bite. As the curry lingered on my tongue and settled in my belly, I began understanding the components that built this dish.

Gradually, the flavors of ginger, tomato, garlic, onion, coconut milk, meaty fish chunks, and curry powder's faint taste revealed themselves. The curry was brought to this tiny island by the tradewinds that brought Indian spices, and the seafood was fished from the waters surrounding the island. Together, they blended to make one harmonious dish, but catching the thread and understanding the connection that united the dish was complicated because the taste was so faint.

As I muse, I see the women seated around the table. We were brought together with the promise of a week-long creativity retreat thousands of miles from home. We are all the same and vastly different. We're all American women who are educated, comfortable, and seeking a creative spark in the later years of our lives. Yet we followed varied paths. We were raised in blissfully happy homes and broken ones. Some are married, some are not, and in a passionate belief that, in time, love finds us all, some have married multiple times. We are judges, artists, writers, business leaders, designers, decorators, and philanthropists. Although we have followed different paths, we bond immediately and feel safe in each other's care.

Our theme for the week is "begin again." We are searching, investigating, and using the creative process to find our true selves. Like the seafood curry, which required me to pause, think deeply, and seek to understand each individual flavor, this process could only happen in a quiet and reflective place and time. Rushing and being distracted would make understanding and creation impossible.

The faint taste of the curry made me work harder and be more present. The creative challenges for the week do the same. My creative nature, my inner self, is faint to me. I must be still and present, detail each experience, and then weave those strands into a cohesive story. The women who surround me support my journey. Without them, I would not have the strength or space to begin the process of understanding. And without the insight of our leader, I would not know that the creative process demands constant creation and constant release into the world, to peel through and discover our true inner selves.

The meal ends, and I am grateful for the experience of being confronted with something new, the work of understanding, and the gift of receiving the dish as a balanced whole. As I leave the table, I know this work must continue tomorrow. I must continue to confront the unfamiliar, both within and outside myself. I must follow that faint thread, name and understand its features, and blend those strands into one constantly changing unified story.

A Few More Things that We Ate in Lamu

Locally Caught Calamari with Vegetable Rice

Prawns with Delicate Sauce

Roasted Vegetables

A Dark and Stormy - chilled and sipped by the setting sun

A Local Craft Beer

We often ended our days with cocktails on the roof of our rented home. We would mix our drinks and conversation and nibble on delicious samosas.

I ordered the fish tacos, thinking of home in Texas. I received a mound of crabmeat inside a seaweed wrapper. It was a delightful surprise!

We began each day with luscious fruit! This picture shows mango, papaya, watermelon, and passion fruit.

Of course, we also began the day with Kenyan coffee. Brewed in a French press and served alongside warmed milk, it was a perfect start to the day. Although Kenyan coffee is world famous and one of their key agricultural products, most Kenyans drink tea.