December Eating
Ah, holiday season! I can almost forget that it is December, and only a few days to Christmas--what with the palm and banana trees, sunny 80-degree weather, and nary a christmas decoration in sight in my neck of the woods. All I have to do, though, to remember what Christmas season means in the greater western world is journey across town to Garden City, the "american/european" shopping mall. This I did unthinkingly last weekend, hoping to pick up a few things for friends here. I walked in the door and almost fell over from shock. I thought I was home! Christmas trees (fake but of the pine variety, which you don't find alive here), lights, frantic(well, not really--who can be frantic in the tropics? you sweat too much!) shoppers, families with hyperactive kids, and stuff, stuff stuff everywhere you turn. Those who know me well know my tolerance for shopping is very thin, and it only took about 7.24 seconds to become overwhelmed. My eyes glazed over, I wandered up and down the aisles of Uchumi (the "big" department store)unable to focus on the task at hand, and eventually walked out with...a muffin? Yes, it is true that even in a crisis situation (shopping) food remains my highest priority and as I ended up in the bakery section (and who wouldn't)and found a banana muffin (!!!) for 700 shillings ($.40) it was clear that I should grab the muffin and get to safety, quickly.
Other food adventures--you know of my love for hummous. It has been a long four months here, searching for garbanzo beans (yes, I know you thought I came to africa to save the world, but when the going gets rough, the tough..they eat, right?)Which apparently have to be imported. As I was wandering through a bit of Kampala the other day (ok, I was lost)I stumbled upon (ran in for safety)a small indian grocery store. What appeared before my wondering eyes? a small bag of garbanzo beans! Images of lebanese food began to dance through my head...
The next task (of course) was to find tahini. Tahini, of course, is sesame seed paste. I hadn't seen it in grocery stories, but I had found a small restaurant "Cowboyz," where the unfortunite wait staff are forced to wear cowboy hats, and they serve a mixture of ugandan snacks, american fast food, and...lebanese food! I wandered in yesterday to get the low-down on hummous ingredients. I asked the young ugandan man, "Do you make your own hummous here?" "No", he replied, "we get it from lebanon." Disappointed I tried again. "Do you have tahini?" When he replied in the affirmative, I almost began to jump for joy. He disappeared into the back to find the blessed tahini. He returned with a jar and charged me an exorbitant price (8,500 Ush= $4.00 : ) which I immediately forked over. Ah, the world has become a brighter place!
So I'm looking forward to this weekend, when the rest of the MCC staff will descend upon Kampala as we plan to go to Kenya on Sunday. I plan to head for kenya with my largest tupperware container stuffed full of hummous...it will (hopefully) make the 12 hour, overnight bus ride a little more bearable. That, and Catch-22 which I have been reading--don't remember the last time a book made me laugh so hard (probably A Prayer for Owen Meany..)We'll be with the East Africa MCC staff for a week of retreat-ish activities and then I'll head to Mt Kenya with Eric to attempt to climb (not the actual peak) but one of the shorter peaks. Although we won't be going up where crampons or ice axes are required, we will see snow. I had to go last weekend to Owino market to look for winter clothes since I neglected (silly me!) to bring them to sunny Uganda. I scored a pair of burton snowboarding pants and jacket and went home happy. Finding hiking boots was a little more difficult but luckily Eric called the other day and said "I'm in the market, I found some size 37 boots, do you want them?" So, i'll be climbing the biggest mountain of my life so far in hiking boots from a market in the village... : ) Oh well. Adventure, right?
I hope all of you are finding time this month in the midst of work, christmas preparations and eating (!!) to enjoy the people around you and preparations for the celebration of Christ's birth. I am so thankful this year for God's provisions and protection, for the Joy we can find in knowing him! Many blessings.
Other food adventures--you know of my love for hummous. It has been a long four months here, searching for garbanzo beans (yes, I know you thought I came to africa to save the world, but when the going gets rough, the tough..they eat, right?)Which apparently have to be imported. As I was wandering through a bit of Kampala the other day (ok, I was lost)I stumbled upon (ran in for safety)a small indian grocery store. What appeared before my wondering eyes? a small bag of garbanzo beans! Images of lebanese food began to dance through my head...
The next task (of course) was to find tahini. Tahini, of course, is sesame seed paste. I hadn't seen it in grocery stories, but I had found a small restaurant "Cowboyz," where the unfortunite wait staff are forced to wear cowboy hats, and they serve a mixture of ugandan snacks, american fast food, and...lebanese food! I wandered in yesterday to get the low-down on hummous ingredients. I asked the young ugandan man, "Do you make your own hummous here?" "No", he replied, "we get it from lebanon." Disappointed I tried again. "Do you have tahini?" When he replied in the affirmative, I almost began to jump for joy. He disappeared into the back to find the blessed tahini. He returned with a jar and charged me an exorbitant price (8,500 Ush= $4.00 : ) which I immediately forked over. Ah, the world has become a brighter place!
So I'm looking forward to this weekend, when the rest of the MCC staff will descend upon Kampala as we plan to go to Kenya on Sunday. I plan to head for kenya with my largest tupperware container stuffed full of hummous...it will (hopefully) make the 12 hour, overnight bus ride a little more bearable. That, and Catch-22 which I have been reading--don't remember the last time a book made me laugh so hard (probably A Prayer for Owen Meany..)We'll be with the East Africa MCC staff for a week of retreat-ish activities and then I'll head to Mt Kenya with Eric to attempt to climb (not the actual peak) but one of the shorter peaks. Although we won't be going up where crampons or ice axes are required, we will see snow. I had to go last weekend to Owino market to look for winter clothes since I neglected (silly me!) to bring them to sunny Uganda. I scored a pair of burton snowboarding pants and jacket and went home happy. Finding hiking boots was a little more difficult but luckily Eric called the other day and said "I'm in the market, I found some size 37 boots, do you want them?" So, i'll be climbing the biggest mountain of my life so far in hiking boots from a market in the village... : ) Oh well. Adventure, right?
I hope all of you are finding time this month in the midst of work, christmas preparations and eating (!!) to enjoy the people around you and preparations for the celebration of Christ's birth. I am so thankful this year for God's provisions and protection, for the Joy we can find in knowing him! Many blessings.
posted by Christi-Lynn at 12:17 PM
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