Food

Food, Kenya

Haha, actually, computer bugs suck, and even Linux crashes. Anyways, the ATM in Tala had this error on the screen the other day when I was getting some money. It was working fine, just a little slower than normal. I even got a chance to practice Swahili with a mama (mama is a respectful word for a woman, pronounce it like in Spanish, with the accent on the second “a”). When I left the booth I tried to explain to her that it was broken, but only a bit, and that it was still working: imeharibika kidogo, lakini inafanya kazi. She looked a bit puzzled so I reassured her that I had withdrawn money, but that the machine was working slowly. She seemed relieved, so I hope it worked… I didn’t stick around to see if she was successful.

On a side note, I’m cooking some fried rice with enough cilantro to kill a horse. Just another Friday night alone in Tala… good thing I have Linux and death metal.

Food, Kenya

I posted a few days ago about making a “salad” for dinner in Tala. I found some new ingredients in the market and I’ve improved on my past attempt. I don’t know what I was thinking before, but I’ve got it down now. I decided that hot peppers and cilantro are not necessary, but I’ve added zucchini, bell pepper, and avocado! Tonight I used the following:

  • Two small cucumbers, cubed
  • One small zucchini, cubed
  • Half a small onion, diced
  • One medium-sized tomato, cubed
  • One medium-sized avocado, cubed
  • Two small carrots, diced
  • One small green bell pepper, sliced

I just throw it all in a bowl and add a pinch of salt, mix, and let it sit for a few minutes… and voila! I only wish I hadn’t lent my ground black pepper to a buddy because I think that would be the ultimate addition. It’s delicious AND nutritious!

Sara has a book which has a funny caption on the front, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” It’s Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. I never read it, but I think the the caption is catchy and probably true (duh?). Anyways, I’ve been enjoying eating a lot of vegetables lately. No cooking, no cleaning of dishes. I think it’s a no brainer…

Food, Kenya

My "salad"I ate a bunch of crappy food today so I wasn’t looking forward to deciding what to eat for dinner. I got to thinking and figured I’d really like to have a nice salad. Well there’s no lettuce anywhere around Tala so I had to improvise a bit. I ended up just mixing cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, onions (kidogo tu!… “just a little”), cilantro, and some hot pepper (raw). The pepper was a little on the hot side, oops, but the cucumber was refreshing, and I’m sure the carrots are helping somehow too. Maybe vision? Other than that, I cooked a lot of fried rice a few weeks ago, and this week I was experimenting with beef stew since I had a really sweet one in Nairobi at Tash’s house over Easter weekend. I learned that beef gets very tender in a pressure cooker!