what do you eat?

I have to start this post with what every meal starts with here in the village... washing of your hands. This is basically what I do before every meal except we use a basin to catch the water. Rub your hands together for about 3 seconds and you have clean hands... :) All our water comes from a spigot just outside of our house. We have a bunch of the yellow buckets in the picture below that are filled up. That's what I sometimes have to carry back to the bathroom so I have "clean water" to shower with!

Breakfast usually consists of a few slices of bread, a banana and a cup of chai. There have been mornings where we've enjoyed left overs from the night before.

For lunch and dinner we pretty much have the same six or so meals over and over again. Sukuma (a type of greens) is the only thing I'm not a fan of but will eat. Mchicha (another type of greens) is my favorite for sure. It's so sweet and delicious! Chapati (fried tortilla) is my favorite carb. It's quite a process to make it but we still get to enjoy it at least twice a week. Here are some pictures... are you drooling like I am?? :)

Another breakfast meal of nhogo, ndizi(bananas) cooked together with a chapati. This is an interesting meal which can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Because nhogo is grown in our shamba it's free and therefore we have it pretty regularly. It's not sweet but it's not plain either. During the cooking process a paste sort of texture is created. Both the nhogo and ndizi are soft but not mushy. It's an interesting meal for sure, probably not something I would crave but it's definitely edible and filling!

close up from the picture above.

What the kids drink as well as us teachers during break while at school. It's called uge (porridge) and it's made with corn flour and water (and sometimes sugar). It tastes a lot like malt-o-meal if you've ever had that in the states. I like it, especially when they have sugar. I'm usually sweating pretty good after I finish my cup because it's already warm outside and then I'm drinking something hot... and I'm not complaining, I just don't understand why the Kenyans are affected!

I love helping prepare dinner! This is always my task now. I chop and fry the onion, bell pepper & garlic. I peel and dice the tomatoes and add it to the fried mixture when it's ready. Once this mixture is cooked it is then added to whatever the main meal is... nhogo & ndizi mixture, green grams, boiled meat (goat or chicken), or beans and maize.

Tomato mixture has just been added to the boiled chicken. Let simmer for about 15 minutes (about the same amount of time it takes to make the chai) and then dinner is served.

Tomato mixture mixed with boiled goat. Ugali and mchicha are the sides that night. Ugali is simply corn flour and water cooked just like the porridge except its cooked longer and there is less water to ugali combination. The water and corn flour has to consistently boil during the entire cooking process or else it won't hold together which makes for a messy preparation! I'm not sure how to describe mchicha other than simply delicious! It's not as mushy as cooked spinach and has a much better taste than sukuma does. With garlic and it is out of this world! I could just eat mchicha and I would be very content. The meat here is always boil unless it's a special occasions and then it may be roasted. Most of the time the meat comes right off the bone and it's not chewy but not like medium rare steak either. It has a interesting flavor to it and I would definitely prefer chicken but it's not bad. 

Green grams (mdengu) before they are cooked. I was helping my Kenyan Mama to pick out any bad ones and also any small branches or anything else you may not desire to eat.

Yum! Cooked green grams with wali (rice). I cooked these (almost by myself here in Nairobi, our house help helped me a bit to know when they were done) and really enjoy them. They kinda have the texture and taste of peas but not as mushy. If fresh garlic is used in the tomato sauce, these green grams are definitely delicious!

**This is not my picture** This is called githeri (beans and maize) cooked together. We eat it often because it's my Kenyan family's favorite meal (not necessarily mine) so I'm surprised I don't have my own picture... but this one will suffice. The means usually turn out perfect and they often mix in different types of beans which add good flavor. I have a hard time loving this meal because the corn isn't always cooked all the way and therefore there is still a crunch and when I can taste the oil too much I get kinda grossed out and eat very little.

We've only had dessert twice and due to not having an oven I haven't ventured out in trying to bake yet. Thank goodness I have a few sweets I keep in my room to satisfy my sugar cravings! I look forward to baking a bit more in the near future as I get a bit more comfortable with their cooking techniques and capabilities.

Making donuts! They turned out okay. They were considered "very sweet" and were made for "kids" but I didn't think they were that sweet at all however they satisfied my long awaited craving for something baked! My Kenyan mom used a cook book she had received when she was at missionary training in the mid-70's and taught by a mzungu (white person). Pretty simple ingredients but quite a process to make. Make the dough, let it rise, role out, use a cup to make the big circle and a pepsi bottle to make the middle hole. Drop in hot oil, wait for it to turn a light brown, flip over, wait for the brown again, and then remove. (At this point i would have dropped them in cinnamon sugar but we didn't this time). I did learn that lime zest is a natural preservative which she added but I wasn't a fan because I could taste it.

Here's another dessert being prepared? Any guesses what's inside that sufuria (cooking pan)? The jeko holds the hot coals underneath the tin that is shown in the mixture. On top of the tip is sand which she preheated before she put the sufuria on top. A tin lid is used and then more hot coals are piled onto to create a "oven". I think the sand is suppose to help the insides not to burn but it didn't work this time... It was edible but a little too dry for me.

Kenyan cake! Thanks to Marco & Laura I now have funfetti cake mix to make back in the village. I had to convince them to let me have a few bites after dinner. Mama prepared the cake with the intention of eating it for breakfast! It's just mean! When I make the funfetti cake I may have to eat most of it myself... they aren't a big fan of sugar or dessert in general. However they will put two to three heaping spoonfuls of sugar in their chai and don't question it at all... some things I haven't figured out yet!

Chai is ready! Through the sifter it goes and it's ready to be served. We use milk straight from our cow which is collected just minutes before it is heated up to make the chai. I really like chai and enjoy drinking it (which is good because we have it at every meal). I however was having a hard time drinking it at lunch, it's just too hot out to drink something hot. And the first few times I said I didn't want chai she asked me if she could heat up some water for me... they really don't drink cold water or even room temperature water for that matter! I now take my malaria medicine during lunch (which can't be combined with dairy) so they don't even ask me anymore if I want chai or hot water, praise the Lord!

While visiting my Kenyan parent's home outside of Kitui I was treated with millet porridge when we visited a family. It's made with some part of the cob of a corn. It looked like watered down dirt but it actually tasted good! Because in this part of the country they live off of the corn that is grown they really don't waste any part of the corn. When you visit a home they treat you better than they would ever treat themselves and this is what I was served. That tells you something about the people in this part of Kenya... breaks my heart, especially when I see all the kids there.

And that's it! I hope you've enjoyed! I enjoy it which I guess is what's really important. For the last 4-5 weeks, this is the only food I've seen except for a few day trips to Malindi where I've enjoyed some good American cooking for a meal or two. I'm enjoying the food and don't have too many cravings for "American" food. It is very Kenyan to eat a lot. I seriously think their stomachs are never ending. Since I realized I was putting on a few pounds, over the course of this last week I've been eating close to half of the serving size they give me. They aren't always happy (especially when I refuse seconds) but I'm trying to slowly teach them about obesity and the fact that I want to be healthy. When I come back to the states I will definitely be sharing some of these meals with you all... make note of your favorites :)