Last night, Emily and I made dinner for our family. It was pretty fun. We decided last week to make burritos, because rice and beans are pretty easy to acquire and chapatti is tasty and easy to find also. We also got cheese, onions and peppers (which Emily sautéed), and made guacamole.
We were both done with class and lunch and such at about 2, so we left campus then. We went by our father’s workplace and our little brother was there, so he came with us. Emily had gone with a friend from UCU earlier to buy the veggies and beans from the market, so we just went to the supermarket are got rice, cheese, and spices. I also bought candy bars, which were delicious. We got the chapattis from a vendor right around the corner from our house. The first step in making Ugandan burritos is to clean the beans. We had to sort through them and pick out any grass or small rocks, then put them in water to rinse. We then had to rinse them again and then put them in a pot and over a fire to cook for a few hours. We started on the rice next: put a bag and a half (which was way too much) into a pot with a bunch of water and some oil, salt, spices, and Tabasco sauce and put it over the charcoal “stove.” The stove was like a little pot with charcoal embers. It cooked a lot slower than the actual fire with the beans. We cooked and stirred and added stuff to the rice for a while. It was cool. Our brothers laughed at us a lot. When the rice was almost done cooking, Emily went inside to chop up the veggies in peace, because we were outside cooking for most of this and our mom and our brothers kept telling us what to do and whatnot. It was good, because we didn’t really know what we were doing, but also not the most fun thing ever. When the beans were done cooking, Enoch (our brother) brought out the beans and drained the sauce out of them (their beans look similar to baked beans, but taste a lot different). When we told him not to put the sauce back after they’d cooked over the charcoal stove and we’d added some onion to them, he looked at us like we were crazy. They were a petty similar texture to refried beans, which is what we were going for. After that stuff was done, Emily sautéed the veggies, I chopped up cheese, and we made guacamole. Then we had a break, then we had our tea with dinner, since dinner was ready early and tea wasn’t ready until late (about 8:30).
I think they liked it. They all thanked us a lot and loaded up on the food, which they always do. It was a little blander than I’m used to, but the rice here is usually bland. The sauce that we drained from the beans generally has all the flavor in it. It took us a long time to make our food, but it was a good afternoon. We took a bunch of pictures, of us preparing the food and of the food at various stages, and a couple pictures of our family. It hasn’t rained since 2 nights ago, when it poured for a long time, but it’s pretty cloudy out right now. It was really sunny yesterday when we were out making food. My contacts are faring well here now, better than they do at home.
Our homestays are done after tomorrow night; Friday we come to school and bring all of our stuff with us. Then we leave at 5 to go on Honours College Retreat! We’re going to Jinja, which is an hour or so north of Kampala (it’s on maps of Uganda). It’s the source of the Nile. We’re going to be staying in a resort there, which I heard has running water and a pool, so I’m pretty excited. And because I get to dress casually. That’ll be sweet. I like skirts, but not wearing them all the time. I hope you all are doing awesome at home or wherever. I would really love to hear from you although I may be slow in replying. I’m online at least a couple times a week, but that depends on the Internet and whatnot. I am, overall, enjoying Uganda although there are definitely ups and downs. I’ll be glad when I don’t have to walk uphill 45 minutes to school every day. Vaya con Dios.
No comments:
Post a Comment