Welcome to Our Kitchen

Our apartment here in Mbarara is really nice and comfortable. We have much more space than we did in Seattle. We even have rooms with doors that we can shut in case one of us needs to concentrate on something and one of us wants to watch a movie or listen to music. The building itself is built of concrete and brick and has some very large overhangs to keep the sun from getting in. It never gets unbearably hot inside even on the hottest of days. But enough about the whole apartment. This time I’d like to invite you to spend a few minutes with me in one of the most popular rooms in the place. Welcome to Dean and Amber’s kitchen.
Our little town has a few restaurants and bars to go to when one doesn’t want to cook but they all offer a very similar selection. You can imagine that being vegetarian here is limiting just like it is most places so Amber and I, both having decent cooking skills, usually eat at home. Our kitchen is about twice as big as the last kitchen we had in Seattle. We can actually both work in there at the same time, a huge plus since we spend a lot of time there. The main workstation is on the left side. We have about 5 feet of counter space and a large upper cabinet above it. Underneath the upper cabinet we’ve hung our utensils for quick access. The countertop is made of concrete. Amber bought some plastic to cover it just before I arrived for easy cleaning. Next to the counter sits the stove, a cute little electric baby with 4 burners and an oven Only three of the burners work and we don’t dare touch the dials because this often causes them to go out. The oven gets good and hot though and has been working quite well for baking bread and pizzas. There’s nothing quite like the comfort given from a warm piece of your own handmade bread with butter. We’re lucky, some of our neighbors’ ovens don’t work at all and some of them are unable to turn the oven off so every time they turn on the burner to cook they have the oven going full blast too.
Over on the right side we have a sink with a built in drainboard and the fridge. The sink has a small electric water heater over it for hot water. It definitely gets the water hot enough. It’ll burn you if you’re not careful. It took a little experimenting but we’ve got it adjusted so that it’s hot enough to cut the grease, but not so hot it hurts. The fridge is a cute little box sitting opposite and complementing the stove. There’s an icebox in the top, which holds the ice trays we bought on a recent trip to Kampala. It took three days for the water to turn to ice but it’s good to go now. We had to rig the door shelves so they would keep the contents in place when opening and closing the door. I bought some twine in town and Amber weaved 2 straps that I then tied on to the screws in the door. Good as new and now we’ve increased the capacity of the fridge by a lot. It’s also comforting to open the refrigerator at home and find it fully stocked with plenty to choose from. On the floor between the sink and the fridge is where we setup D.O.G.’s food and water dishes. One recent morning I noticed him go for breakfast and quickly shake his head and run off in disgust. Upon inspection I found his food totally inundated with ants. To solve this problem we put a ring of coffee grounds around his bowl and a line of coffee grounds across the front door where they were coming in. The ants won’t climb over them. It took a few days, but they eventually left. Also between the sink and the fridge is the customary window with a view of the walkway and our garden. I brought some seeds with me at Amber’s request and we finally managed to get them planted about 2 weeks ago. Things grow pretty fast here and we’re getting pretty excited at the prospect of fresh baby greens and basil, chives, rosemary, and parsley. (And I think there are more seeds on the way. Thanks Erika!). According to the book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, a vegetable garden is not a hobby, it is a fundamental part of human life. In an economic state such as ours (globally speaking) it has become increasingly necessary for people to be self-sufficient. In a world such as this it becomes as natural to have your own vegetables as it is to have your own air. Growing your own food is rewarding yourself for being good. I have to admit, though, that Amber is the one keeping up with the garden. All I did was buy the pots and fill them with dirt.
The water here is not safe to drink straight from the tap. Boiling it is enough to kill the harmful bacteria but we go one step further and filter it as well. This is a frequent operation in our kitchen. Every couple of days we need to fill our 2 pots with water and take turns boiling them on the one burner hot enough to boil that much water. After they cool we then pump them, by hand, through Ambers filter she’s had for ten years and taken to Africa 4 times now. (New filter in the mail thanks to Dad and Edda). We keep a small collection of water bottles in a basket on top of the fridge right next to the basket of mangos, tomatoes and potatoes. It’s a bit of a workout but it only takes about 15 minutes to fill all of our water bottles.
One thing I’ve been filling my Thursdays with is a small business I started a couple of weeks ago. It’s called Deano’s Pizzeria! Amber helped me with designing the menu. I’ve had to get creative with available ingredients in order to provide a truly authentic and at the same time unique pizza. I make my own sundried tomatoes in the oven for example. And my roasted potato and roasted garlic pizza is an homage to a pizzeria I used to go to in Belltown in Seattle called World Pizza (r.i.p.). I usually end up making between 10 and 15 pizzas each Thursday so I’d say it’s a success. For those of us that have been here for a while it’s nice to have a meal that reminds you of home once in a while. And for those people who are here for only a week or two it’s hardly worth it to them to fill the fridge with groceries. I get my orders on Wednesday so I know how much to prep for and I spend most of the day Thursday shopping and making pizza. And on Friday we get to enjoy the leftovers. I’m saving all of the profits to go towards accommodations in Zanzibar in March. We are planning a trip there with our friend Todd, who’s coming from Seattle, and our friends Sarah and Steve who are also living in Uganda up in Kibale National Park.
So that’s our cute little kitchen. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ve been enjoying your comments so keep them up. I’m sorry I can’t respond to them all. The internet is darn slow. And there just ain’t no speeding it up from here.