In the afternoon I had a blessed time with three refugee girls from East Africa. I met them at clothing room on Monday and it's been really soothing to spend time with them. We talk about jackfruit and sunshine, long bus journeys and pineapple Fanta. I thank God that they're here – I really needed this little piece of Africa to keep me going. So I invited them over to cook dinner together and we had a blast. And do you know what they wanted to cook? Chapattis! Yes, I am now a skilled chapatti chef!
I know how to cook them! Eat your heart out Karyn and Mike.
It's a fairy complicated process that involves considerable risk to your fingers, but it's very fun and totally worth it. Perhaps I’ll give you a demonstration when I get home.
I was very clear to the girls that we were working to deadline as I had to be downstairs at six to set up for ladies night. We started cooking at three and I thought 2 hours would be enough time to get everything ready for a 5 o clock dinner. But three and a half hours and two litres of oil later, the food was still not ready. I’d forgotten how long it takes to make African food. We would spend all morning preparing lunch in Rwanda, but I thought it was just because we had no proper equipment. We peeled and chopped the vegetables with blunt knives and we cooked the food outside on open fires. I assumed that in a fully equipped kitchen things would be quicker. How wrong I was! At 5.53 I carried the food to the table and we sat down to eat. Don't even get me started on the state the kitchen was in.
We also cooked curried chicken and spicy meat potato balls, as well as fragrant rice and a vegetable sauce. It was delicious!
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