The Man Who Came to Dinner

On Tuesday night, we had the honor of sharing a meal with Bishop Linus and Archbishop Zacchaeus in the Friars' Dining Room. There were 27 people crammed into one little room, around four tables, and we shared a special meal of "Chicken Maryland," soup, brown ugali (add some millet to the maize flour and suddenly the ugali turns brown!), sukuma, "chef's best salad," fish, and cake and pudding for dessert.

One of the coolest things about the whole night was how absolutely global the whole experience was. At our little table, we had a Franciscan sister from Kenya, two Dominican sisters from the Philippines, the two of us, and a novice from Mozambique. All the tables were spread out like that- there were people from India, Uganda, Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, and from various parts of the US (New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, and Bethlehem, PA). It was so cool to share this meal with these people from all over the world. If you haven't noticed, food has been a big part of our experience here- it nourishes our bodies, spirits, and intellects, and unites people in a way that nothing else can.

The meal itself was good, maybe one of the best meals we've had so far in Kenya. "Chicken Maryland" was breaded, fried chicken- I think it's called Chicken Maryland because there is supposed to be some old bay involved, but instead there were just regular and red breadcrumbs. Chef's Best Salad is a concoction that Antony makes (and Patricia tells him it's her favorite, so now he makes it all the time...) that is a big mixture of chopped fruits and vegetables. It's predominantly purple because of the beets, but there is pineapple, papaya, maize, pepper, tomato, and a whole bunch of other unidentifiable pieces of produce. It's not my favorite, but it looks really pretty!

Another instance of food- we have since had another lesson in cooking from Antony, this time our goal was mandazi. They're little doughnuts, almost like beignets. They have cinnamon in the dough, and I sprinkled some powdered sugar on mine... delicious! We decided to make these for the kiddos instead of chapattis- much easier to make in bulk, and they'll love the sweet treats. That's our plan for tomorrow: we're getting up at 5:30 to start our day of cooking! Say a prayer for us before you go to bed tonight... that's probably when we'll be waking up.

We can't believe the time here has flown by so fast. We have to start packing tomorrow........ whaat?! We just got here! We are going out for dinner tomorrow with Maria and Sister Mary for yamachoma on the lake (I probably just butchered that spelling, but that's how you say it), which is barbeque! It should definitely be an interesting experience, but we have a lot to get done before then!


A week from today we'll be in Nairobi on our way to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on our way home. I'm not sure how many more blog posts I'll be able to publish from Kenya, but I'll type them on my computer and post them from home if nothing else.

See you in a week!
xoxox