Sarah has been so diligent about making every minute count here in Marulaon, especially since we don't know when we will return. She requested that we make pisu again, and I enlisted Kiko to help us. Kiko's niece, Daris, helped Sarah start the fire to cook the nice thick coconut cream that Aaron had already scraped and squeezed for us. While the girls boiled the coconut cream, Kiko and I cooked the cassava that my awesome kids had already harvested and peeled. We delved into family trees while smoke filled her kitchen.
Several years ago, we asked one of the men here in Marulaon to make us a nago and kolkol (big wooden mortar and pestle). So today, we used our own equipment to smash the cassava. Kiko has a smaller, stone nago that belonged to her mother. It was beautiful, but very heavy! Several of Kiko's nieces were on hand to help with the labor intensive process of making pisu.
One of my favorite little ones, Laitima, has no fear of me. She kept asking me to take pictures of her. In fact, she's at that question asking stage, so questions are constantly pouring out of her mouth. "Whose pen is that? Where are you going? Will you take a picture of me?" She and I function about the same level of Lavukaleve! We all took turns smashing the soft cassava in the nago (and sneaking pieces of cassava to the little ones gathered around!).
When the cassava was smashed into something resembling mashed potatoes, we dribbled a little bit of the coconut oil on a tray and spread the cassava nice and smooth on top. Then, we skimmed the layer of coconut "curds" off the top of the oil and ladled it onto the cassava. Finally, we sliced the goodness into six pieces and rolled each one up.
We took a dozen pisu for our family and left the rest as a thank you for the precious extended family that helped us make some more memories. What a sweet way to spend the afternoon!
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