May 4

So since it's finals week, I've been pretty busy...but just doing boring things that you don't want to hear about.  However, I figured I could take this opportunity to fill you in on a fun new creation that the Adventure Wednesday crew has come up with.
As you know, every Wednesday, because we don't have much class, we've been busting out the Lonely Planet and going to spots that looked interesting.  And recently, we have added a new dimension to these adventures, to make them more adventurous; street food!  And we've created a comprehensive mechanism for describing the establishments that we've been frequenting.
Now the LP can be great, but often has misleading articles about the sites mentioned.  The problem is, one can never tell how legitimate the places really are until you go there.  So, we have created the Shack Food Legit Scale, and theoretically would love to pass it on to Lonely so that they could not send their readers to sketchy, sketchy places without their knowledge.
So first things first; these "food shacks" are a fairly recent phenomenon in the Dakar area.  They have sprung up in past years with the increase in federally funded construction projects, as workers need fast, filling, cheap food during their short breaks from their projects.  As a result, opportunistic women have set up tents or shacks on the sides of roads and median strips to fill this need.  Traditional Senegalese dishes, among them mafe, ceebujen, yassa, and thiou are served on a daily basis, in large bowls, cheaply to these workers...and now also to the curious toubabs who are running low on lunch stipend money.
So here's how our scoring system works:
Walls (concrete, wood, or metal) are worth 2 points each.  Even if it's a shared wall (ex, a tent leaned up against a building, thereby using one of its walls), it counts.
Tent sides (canvas, fabric, etc) are 1 point each.
Any sort of roof, fabric or more solid, is one point...because let's face it, unless it's the rainy season, who needs a roof anyways?  My friend Amy's host family's house doesn't even have a roof.
Doors with hinges are 2 points each.
Doors that are a flap of fabric or streamers are worth one point (but if you just have to move one of the tent "walls" of fabric to get in, it's 0 points added).
A table is worth 1 point.
Benches are worth 1 point...total, not each.
If there are chairs instead of benches, the establishment gets 2 points.
So, as you can see, these places can range anywhere from 1 to 14 points.  Those closer to the "1" end are called food benches, those in the middle are food tents, and those on the higher end are food shacks.  Any establishment earnign a score of 7 or above can officially be called "legit." Otherwise, it's basically just a bench in an open space near a construction site that has food.
Prices range from about 400-600 CFA (about 80 cents to a dollar and 20 cents USD).  And portions can usually be enough to feed 2.
Ok so that's all I've got for today...off for an Adventure Wednesday to Village des Arts and, obviously, tent/bench/shack food.  Ba ci kanam.