Some favorite snacks

I thought I would give a run down of some of our favorite snacks here in the Gambia.
The first and foremost on my list is what is called chokkory or cherre. It is basically sour milk and couscous with some sugar. But the best thing about it here in Brikama is that I can go to the foil station and get a frozen cup of this wonderful goodness. You cannot imagine anything better to have on a hot dry day here. I find every excuse to have one, one the way home or to the market, on the way back from a long hot bike ride, walking around with our friends... it doesn't matter the reason! I've even taken to putting a small metal spoon in a ziplock that I put in the bag I take to the market, because the plastic ones they give you just don't cut it! It is the most refreshing thing most likely because it is frozen :) a little creamy (but still enought to be refreshingly iceey), and slightly sweet (not overpowering). Yeah for chokkory! (by the way, I have no idea how to spell it!)
The second on the list and now in no particular order of favorites is fresh french bread.
How many of you (I want to see hands!) can walk less than a hundred yards to grab some loafs of fresh (often still warm) french bread? Well, we can! 2 dalasi for a half, 4 for a whole.It is lovely. and the best thing is that here in more of a "city" our bread does not have bugs in it very often! Believe me this is a great thing to be happy about, because you get that little extra needed protein in the bread made in the more rural villages.
My favorite traveling snack is the bagged local roasted peanuts. If you are traveling, it is the best thing to pick up a bag of roasted , slightly salted peanuts, in all varieties (covering on, shell on, salted, roasted, not roasted, etc.) Bite off the tip of the bag and chow down. And the best thing is you can get a bag for a dalasi or bigger bag for 5. Grab that, run after the gelley, hop on and your set.
While on the subject of peanuts. We will probably never go back to buying skippy, jif, etc.. Because here you can go down to the market, (there is a whole area here where people have grinders set up to grind the peanuts people bring in from the villages) I have my specific peanut butter guy. He is my favorite because the peanut butter is so thick and has a great roasted taste. Andy's favorite breakfast, or snack is the local peanut butter, with honey from the beekeepers, a banana on that great french bread.
And the last thing (though I'm sure there will be more later!) on my list today is the icees. Our host mom makes some great ones. They usually use fruit juices, like caba, (a small tangy orange on the inside fruit), wanjo (dried hibiscus leaves with tons of sugar in the juice made from them), baobab (the monkey fruit) icees too. There are more, but those are my favorite. They are little frozen bags of juice icees, you can get for a dalasi, and is a great refreshing treat. These along with a lot of the other things are available along the street, and in the car parks.
Well, hope your hungry now! Later.