Food Part Two: Meals

Last week, I wrote about food, and this week I am continuing with typical Tanzanian meals. 

 

   Rice and Cabbage (shredded and stir fried with shredded carrots)

 

Ugali (White corn meal boiled until solid) and Spinach (stir fried with onions, tomatoes and carrots)

 

Ugali is the national staple, sometimes made with Cassava flour, a tuber that grows locally.

 

Chapati (a thick tortilla) and beans (made with green peppers, onions, carrots)

 

Rice and Beans

 

Pilau (Beef or chicken cooked together with rice and spices like cinnamon, chilies, cumin, garlic, coriander, and cloves)  Usually the meat is cooked in pieces on the bone

 

Chips Mayai (An omelet made with Large cooked fries) served with salt and chili sauce.

 

Kuku na Chips (Chicken and Fries)

 Fish and Chips (Fries)

 Mishkaki (Meat kabob), chips and salad (shredded cabbage and carrots with vinegar)

 

Supu (Soup- can be made with out with out beef or chicken- potatoes, carrots, and corn

Plantans fried, or they can be cooked into a stew

 

 

Next week, Snacks!

 

 









 

Food!

         I'm going to try to write more about what it's like to live in Tanzania.

This time, I'm going to write about food. Food here is a little different.  Today I'll write about raw food, next time I'll show some of the typical Tanzanian meals.

 

First of all, water.  We can't drink it out of the tap.  And, although boiling water kills the bacteria, etc. that might be in it, it still has a very high fluoride content due to us being near a volcano.  Fluoride can be very harmful to teeth in extremely high amounts, especially for children's teeth that are still growing in.  Their teeth can grow in with a brown line across them.  So, we only drink bottled water that has gone through reverse osmosis- the only known way to remove fluoride from water.

Butter comes in a 1 lb. block wrapped in foil.  MMM, butter!

Tropical fruit, yum!  The bananas come in many different varieties here including small "finger" bananas, red, green (plantains), and huge ones.  I LOVE avocados, and mangos.

For those who don't know, I am gluten intolerant (I can't eat wheat), so I was excited to find rice flour, millet flour, corn flour and tapioca flour here.  Now, I can try some baking from scratch.

Eggs come in a "tray", which contains 30 eggs.  Trust me, we eat about 30 eggs a week.  They are a healthy snack when boiled, and we eat eggs most mornings for breakfast.

We buy UHT (ultra high temperature) milk, which can remain unrefrigerated until opened.  That's how milk comes here because not many people have refrigeration, and it lasts much longer.

 

Back in the swing of things

Our homeschool room

    Today is we have been in Arusha for exactly one month.  It is nice to be back again, in our routine, and in our old neighborhood.  The kids have started homeschool again, Katrina is in 6th grade, Heather 3rd grade, and Jonathan Pre-School.  Jonathan mostly paints, colors, plays with blocks and play dough.  So... WHAT DO I DO ALL DAY??  Good question.

   My typical day is: 
5:30 am- wake up, work out on Wii Fit
6:00am- Shower
6:30am- Bible reading and Prayer
7:00am- Kids get up, and we eat breakfast together
8:00am- We start school with Pledge of Allegiance, and practicing our memory verses.  I might read a Bible story.  I do Vision Therapy for Heather (she is slightly far-sighted).
8:30am-10am- Katrina and Heather do their first 3 subjects. I do vision therapy and Audiblox with Jonathan, then he plays.
10am- Tea break
10:15am- Gym class.  We go outside and play baseball, Frisbee, or jump rope.
10:45am-12pm- Katrina and Heather do three more subjects while Jonathan paints, learns a letter, or plays.
12pm- We eat lunch, usually national food such as rice and beans, or chapatis (thick tortillas) with stew, or cooked spinach with ugali (corn meal cooked until firm).
1pm- Katrina finish their last 2-3 subjects, and then they take turns playing on the computer or the Wii. They each have 1/2 hour of screen time per day.
2pm-4pm- Kids play, I spend time with the kids playing or going on a walk, I catch up on email, Facebook, etc.
5pm- I send the kids out to play.  Their friends are all arriving home on the bus. I start dinner.
6pm- Kids come in and we eat dinner together as a family.
7pm- Kids shower, and get ready for bed.  We might watch a Monk together.
8pm- Kids in bed, night night under the mosquito nets!
9-10pm- Catch up with Bill, watch a show together, and go to bed.
                 Repeat!

      Weekends are times to spend time with friends, watch movies and just hang out at home.
I hope my daily schedule didn't bore you!! 

Some of the friends from the neighborhood

Katrina's creativity

 
      Now that we are back, Katrina is back to baking!  She made me homemade granola, and she made some apple turnovers.  Both recipes, she made up on their own.  Very creative, and good!

Back in Arusha again!

We're back!

 

 

 

We are getting settled in again, after our 1 year and 4 month furlough.  It's SOO good to be back.  We are staying in the same compound we lived before, and the kids have meet their friends again.  It's wonderful to meet up with our friends and ministry contacts again.

   We first flew into Nairobi, and spent two nights there before taking a 5 hour bus ride down to Arusha.  It took a taxi and a taxi-van to get us and our 15 pieces of luggage to our house.  We slept the first night in our house, and have been unpacking and getting organized ever since!  We started school the Wednesday after arriving- the kids were eager to get started again.  It's slowly starting to feel like home again.

     We don't currently have a vehicle, so I've been hoofing it!  I walk almost everyday, usually to the nearby fruit stand to get some veggies for dinner or other small things.  If we need to go into town, we have to hire a taxi, so we try to limit out trips and do lots of things at once.

     We went to Moshono Christian Church yesterday, and were very blessed to see everyone again.  I feel blessed to be here.

 

 



They put a playground in at our compound while we were gone.

The view of Mt. Meru from our house.

3 weeks to go

Now that we are down to the last three weeks, and are up at Bill's parents with all of our luggage, it is time to finalize what we are taking, weigh the bags, and list what is in each bag.
     
   I wonder what I'll forget this time?   Every time I move, we usually lose something.  And, every time we have gone to Tanzania, I have forgotten something crucial. 
  
  For example:
My computer power cord
My purse
Our toiletries

So, I wonder what I'll be missing, or have forgotten when we get there??

40 days and counting...

We won't be seeing any snow for a long time!

  This summer has just flown by, and I can't believe it but we have purchased tickets and we are set to return to Tanzania Sept 9th.  That is 40 days from now!  But, no pressure!!  Haha...
   Ironically, we are mostly packed to go already, because when we moved out of the apartment we just put the things we wanted to take back with us into tubs and have now taken those up to Bill's parents (we will be flying out of Chicago, from their house).  So, we feel really prepared. 
     TOO PREPARED!  Now, what are we supposed to do?  It's a waiting game now.  The ACM meeting is next week, then we will be visiting family and friends as much as possible before we head out.
    Bill was able to find a house for us while he was on his short trip, so we will be going straight into our house (or at least shortly after we arrive).  That will be nice, as I'm hoping to get back into our routine/homeschool schedule as soon as possible.  All of our homeschool books and most of the materials are already waiting for me over there, thanks to the Connect Christian Church team.

    Getting excited!