Hello Fellow Eaters,
I notice that when I’m reading, a novel, or a recounting of someone’s journey, I always want more food details. Shackleton to the South Pole — What did they have for dinner? I never get enough. I don’t know why. So, in that self-absorbed way we have of thinking that our particular interests are common interests, I thought I’d give you a little behind-the-scullery look at all things food related here at the Red Rhino Culinary Academy.
The first batch of photos is what we call here cereals. We buy them once a month and store them in round 40 liter plastic containers, each with a doilee over the opening to let in air and keep out dudus. They and the fresh vegetables and fruits form ninety percent of the diet.
The kids eat meat three times a week. Pieces in a beef stew.
They also eat a fair amount of ugali, a Kenyan staple. Think polenta, then back off a good deal. And, they have pasta, “supageddi,” twice a week.
Here goes.
Maize. Unground big kernels. Used in a number of dishes here, including muthokoi, where it is boiled with maharagwa beans (like pinto beans) and butternut squash. It's nice.
Rice. White. I tried to introduce brown. That's when they knew for sure I was insane.
Kunde. Small red beans.
Kamande. Lentils.
Mingi. Dried peas.
Ndengu. Green grams. Same as mung beans, I think.
Njai. Smaller, striped black beans.
Maharagwa. Like pinto beans.
Uji. A kind of flour made from sorghum and some other grains. Mixed with boiling water it makes the porridge the kids have many mornings.
The vegetable shelf. Some we get delivered daily others we buy twice a week. The middle shelf, eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper...here...aubergine, courgette, capsicum. Lovely. Also, bananas for peeling and eating.
These bananas will never turn yellow or ripen as we think of it.
They're hard and are peeled with a knife, boiled and mashed.
Stiffer and starchier than mashed potatoes.
Jacqueline peeling butternut squash.
Mildred on k.p. with the potatoes.
The bowl is full of chopped french beans. It's how we like them here, and we eat a lot of them. Four crates a week are donated to us by Indu Farms.
They need to have the ends removed, as you know,
and the preschoolers often wander over to the kitchen after class
to pinch off a shirtful or two.
Everything is cooked on the energy efficient giko you see behind Christine, our cook.
It burns wood, in our case, free scrap wood from our pals at H-Tess, the company we worked with for our timber-framed houses.
The two big, stainless steel pots, or soufrias, fit snugly into openings on the top of the giko and down into the sealed fire pit
which cooks the food without much heat loss and vents the smoke out the back and up the flue pipes. These are chicken eggs. Gives you some idea of the size of the soufrias.
Here's a problem most of you probably haven't faced. We have to work to get a little fat into the kids' diet. We all need some...just not as much as...well, you know.
Mandazi are one way. A kind of rough pastry. Fried dough, essentially.
The kids are nuts about them.
The other way is chapati. Made with a special flour,
patted into balls, rolled out like thick tortillas,
then cooked with some fat on a special metal plate. The one Christine is using here. This is the favorite of most all the kids.
In order to keep our good standing with the rest of the progressive culinary world, we eat locally and what's in season. It's easy here. In fact, everyone does it. They just don't know they're so up-to-date.
Now, God be praised, is the season of mangoes.
Their sensuous flesh is the color of monks' robes, juicy, sweet, and, now, cheap.
Just ask Simon,
who, lacking the only proper comparison,
thinks they are the best thing in the world.
After all the pinching and chopping and cooking, we wind up with something like this. Potatoes with mingi and rice and french beans.
Or this. Boiled and mashed green bananas with meat stew, carrots and french beans.
How people eat is just as riveting to me as what they eat. You too?? I thought so.
Simon folds the separate ingredients together with an inside out motion, like cake batter.
Mercy is an indiscriminate mixer, but she is the fastest from plate to mouth. She's Dan Marino with a spoon.
Rachel, who likes to count things, invariably uses a counterclockwise spoon motion with a clockwise turn of the plate.
Here Mikey, after thorough mixing, patts it all down fritatta-like before getting to work.
Steve's version of a mothokoi pat down.
Peace's "never the twain shall meet" technique.
Steve's save the spuds, and cut them into equal parts turn.
Mikey's ugali version of the same.
My uninspired offering.
Wisdom's "just eat your food already" take on it all.
A rag, some water, a smile and a volunteer. That's clean up around here.
The tools
and the implementation. And dinner is a cavity-less memory.
I should, to be thorough, include the alternate food prep that goes on occasionally.
Puree of ice plant, porch-style.
Followed maybe by chopped ice plant
sashimi on cedar plank. Please pass the wasabi.
To this point, we haven't trod the road of the
cow's foot barbeque,
that David, Anthony, Matthew and I came across in Kibera.
But chicken feet...When we have kuku, they go quickly.
These aren't the feathers of slaughtered fowl, they're termite wings. After the first good rain, they stream out of the ground in their thousands for one night of romance. Many find instead a hot frying pan and a little salt waiting for them, and a happy Gilbert.
Those cows who met with the rough treatment in Kibera, would, no doubt, rather have gone to their reward here, at God's Blessings Butchery,
and then be served up right next door as one of Alice's Dishes. Not sure if that's THE Alice. Have to run it passed Arlo.
Around here, when the undead don't feel like cooking, they have options.
How about, skeletal parts, the parakeet, and just the right soft drink.
Well, I’m kinda hungry. Think I’ll track down a mango and dream.
Hope your stove is hot and your kitchen smells just like you want it to.
David
Comments(9)-
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Lisa says
February 3, 2012 at 8:51 amYummy, makes me want to stay home from work and cook. Thank you for sharing.
Debi Lorenc says
February 3, 2012 at 10:31 amDelightful! Thanks David!
david says
February 3, 2012 at 11:49 amLisa,
Sounds like a good plan. What’s on the menu?
David
david says
February 3, 2012 at 11:51 amHi Debi,
Reminds of when you and Chris were here and you made some kind of chips with guacamole. Still one of the best things I have ever eaten. My keyboard is covered in drool. Come back soon. Your starving friend.
David
Peggy says
February 3, 2012 at 1:51 pmLooks good to me. Can’t wait to partake. Think I’ll share my chicken feet with the kids. It really was a fun post, David!
Chris L says
February 3, 2012 at 8:09 pmSo happy to see that open-walled kitchen in full flourishing. I remember how long and seriously I meditated upon the feng-shui of it all. (And probably about exactly as practically as all my other meditations turn out to be 🙂
Love those bowls of kunde, maharagwa, kamande et al, too. I think Debi can probably make wrist-rosaries out of all of them. OK, maybe not the uji. That might stump her.
I owe you an email — and much gratitude, dear brother — for all the dimensions of our friendship and for the steady faithfulness of all the work and love and care on behalf of these dear children.
david says
February 4, 2012 at 12:23 amHi Peggy,
Can’t wait to have you at the table here. And to give up your chicken feet…the ultimate sacrifice. I know you’ll have much more to share with the kids you have loved and worked so hard for all these years. Your plate is ready.
David
david says
February 4, 2012 at 12:45 amMy dear CL,
I remember clearly that our invaluable servery window came about as a direct result of your feng-ing the shui around in your mind. And the semicircular single step below it, still my favorite single feature of our construction, flowed naturally from the same source.
Your imprint, as well as the tail end of the Glenfiddich you left, are here, and will remain. If I could find the right emoticon lying around, I might well use it, but I don’t know where they live.
See you this summer,
David
Martin says
February 19, 2012 at 8:30 pmI would devour some chapo and green grams right about now. A bit tougher to find in Manhattan, though.
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Your ticket for the: 3 February 2012 – Food For Thought
3 February 2012 – Food For Thought