Lunch anyone?

One day we had the pleasure of dining in town with Richard and Mama Jesca.  The restaraunt was called "El Patron" and we were excited to try a "traditional" Ugandan lunch.

The waitress arrived and told us what was available.  A menu wasn't offered which is very different than we we grow accustomed to in America.  The selection was beef, chicken, goat or liver with rice, potatoes or matooke.  We hadn't tried matooke yet and we were feeling pretty hungry so we thought we'd go with the chicken and rice.

When our plates arrived, Cathy & I just stared at each other.  We weren't concerned about the "rice" part of it....but what was that brown blob of stuff on the side of our plate?  We wondered "is THAT the chicken...or did they make a mistake and give us the liver"?

I think Richard saw the concern in our eyes and said "it's ground nuts" with a smile on his face.  Just then, the waitress returned with the "chicken" portion of our rice and chicken lunch.  Insert great sighs of relief.

Richard & Jesca got a good laugh at us.  We got a good laugh at us.  The ground nuts?  Well, they taste like ground nuts!  The chicken and rice was DELICIOUS.  Of course, there really wasn't any food in Uganda that we didn't find delicious.

I find myself longing for Mama Jesca's cooking.  In the morning, breakfast usually was omelets made with fresh eggs covered in garden fresh tomatoes.  Eggs were always served with either fresh, homemade biscuits or hashbrowns.  Coffee was such a treat because our "creamer" was fresh milk from the cow, cooked with just a hint of ginger.  Who needs Starbucks?