Pass the potatoes . . . I mean bananas!

Hello, All!

Well, things have been going along pretty smoothly around here for the past week or so. I’m getting into the swing of things with school, and really enjoying re-learning all the things I skimmed over in high school (I’m pretty sure I’m having more fun in class then the boys). Little miss Lynnsi Ray is working up to a full school day too (we’re completely trouncing her math!). The culmination of a school day is when, if there aren’t any appointments that afternoon, we put away all of the school books, write out the homework lists, then move over to the couch and put in some time reading Fellowship of the Ring out loud. For those of you who really know me, you understand what a sacrifice I’m making in reading that book . . . not!

Anyway, enough of that, for now. I wanted to take some time to share my food experiences here in Uganda so far. I expected eating out to be different, so I was prepared for the frothy cup of flavored milk as a milkshake, and the discovery that most salads didn’t include lettuce, but it was the mixture of familiar and unfamiliar things in shopping and cooking at home that kind of caught me off guard.

I think it’s the semi-familiar things that throw me most (a lot more than the completely new foods). I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch with the kids today, and realized how different it was! The jelly was plum jam (the most available fruit spread, as opposed to American grape jelly) and it came in a little tin instead of a glass jar. This can be disconcerting to a habbit-formed “jelly-from-a-jar” girl like me! It’s true that Sadie and I had an opportunity to buy familiar peanut butter, but the expiration date was almost up on it, and, never having run into an expired jar of peanut butter, I never want to, so we went with the Kenya-manufactured brand. When I opened it, it wasn’t entirely mixed and instead of the usual peanut oil on top, there was a thick, white lard-like layer. I managed to scrape most of it off, leaving the peanut butter somewhat thick and dry, but somewhat less worrisome to consume. Just about all of the bread I’ve encountered in Uganda has been pretty dry, with a very hard crust, so even the bread was different (and that’s not even going into the varying thicknesses of the slices).

Speaking of the bread, there are a lot more “from scratch” foods around here, which Sadie and I are really enjoying. Fresh bread making is next on my agenda (something I enjoy and haven’t done in a while). We’re also forgoing the store-option of long-life box milk and buying fresh milk that we have to boil and separate the cream from.

I’m also slowly learning more in the way of local dishes. I’ve already told you about African tea, but I’ve also been learning about how to make tortillas (soon I’ll try the African Chapati), spicy peanut sauce, and matoke (a banana-looking fruit that tastes like and is cooked like potatoes). Whenever I go out to the orphanage (or any other more Ugandan or rural meal setting), a plate of beans is usually served, with either rice or Posho (cooked maze meal, like thick, dry mashed potatoes). Posho can also be served for breakfast as a liquidy porrage, accompanying a snack of “g-nuts” or peanuts as we know them.

The best part of all of our food adventures so far has been trying new recipes and new ingredients! The fruit and veggies have been amazing (especially after the expensive and less-than-amazing Alaskan fruit), and Sadie has mastered the fruit smoothie craft (yes, it’s a craft, soon to be ‘art’). There are still adjustments I have to make in my head each time (like looking for “minced beef” at the store instead of hamburger, and having to put the flour in the freezer for a couple of days to kill the bugs in it), but “the kitchen” is slowly becoming “my kitchen” as I become more comfortable in it, and learn the ropes. I can’t wait to bring back the new recipes I’m learning!