Food

What a great topic I have chosen today. I pretty much love everything about food- the look, the smell, the taste. I love to cook food and of course, I love to eat food!
When we first arrived in Uganda, the “I love to cook” part was fading very, very quickly. Nothing was familiar- the brands on the grocery store shelves were all foreign to me, the meat doesn’t taste right and there were a lot of vegetables that I didn’t even recognize. We were thinking that it was going to be a long, lean ten months with a steady diet of chicken and rice.
Fast forward to today- 3 ½ months later and the story is beginning to change. We have found some brands that we like for particular products and we are still searching for the “right brand” in other products. The problem is that the soup we like can only be purchased at Embassy Supermarket, the soya sauce we like is at Uchumi, we buy our bread at Brood, our yogurt and popcorn seasoning are at Shoprite, the coffee Greg likes is at Game, our meat comes from Quality Cuts and the rest we buy at Nakumatt. Most of you know how much I love shopping so having to go to seven different stores, which are not really close together, just to buy groceries, is not fun. In addition to that, one nearly needs to create a computer database to remember where to purchase which products. Oh Costco, how I miss you! The up side is that we have found products we like and eating has once again become an enjoyable experience. We are even getting used to the taste of the beef!
Of course the fresh fruit has always been one of the huge bonuses of Uganda. Today we took that to a whole new level. A few days ago my mangoes were getting over ripe and needed some attention. I peeled them all and used my Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor (the only kitchen gadget I brought along- no kitchen should be without one) to make mango purée. One of my favourite treats at home during the summer is to go to Fiesta Filipino (it’s on 13th Avenue- everyone should try it) and have a mango milkshake. Today I decided to make my own. It’s simple- ice cubes, a little bit of milk, mango and a little sugar (my mangoes were so sweet I didn’t need sugar)- blend it up and yum yum, yum! Have I mentioned before that I love mangoes?
We are already starting to have anxiety about what we will do when we go home. Saskatchewan in December- no fresh mangoes, no fresh pineapples and only bananas that don’t really taste like a banana should! In three months we have gone from wondering how we will survive with the food here to wondering how we will survive without the food we have here!