I was excited that I didn’t have to cook on Thursday because I had leftovers from the night before. Now, I had used too much groundnut paswte to prepare this sour leaf soup, so it wasn’t good, but it was edible. I thought that I would “spice it up a bit” by adding some tuna! Now, I had forgotten from last week when I ate a can of tuna that these cans require can openers. I don’t have a can opener, so I had to use my multi-function tool to hack-saw into the can. We can be thankful that I still have all my fingers! I really need to invest in a can opener! Now the dinner that was edible the previous night, after sitting for a day was even worse (even with the tuna!) I ate enough to provide me adequate nourishment (don’t worry Mom!) but it was pretty gross. Thankfully, since my one portable light broke a few days ago, I couldn’t see how awful it looked in the pan before I ate it. When NEPA, which was finally fixed this week, came on as an unexpected surprise around 9, I went back to my kitchen with light for the first time in about a month. I was disgusted by the greasy concoction remaining in the pan. It looked horrible!! I quickly disposed of the remains and said a prayer of thanks that I had eaten it before seeing it!
As a result of this recent cooking disaster, I decided to call my friend Laura and ask her to come over on Saturday to help me cook tuwo masara and some soup. She listed off some ingredients to buy and said she’d be over. In the meantime, I was a little reluctant to try again without some guidance, but a girl has to eat so I decided to go to the little “restaurant” right outside my compound where the women who helped me shell my moi moi beans prepare all the food. When I first came to Nigeria, I had been warned about the dangers of eating “street food”, which is why it has taken me 5 weeks here “alone” and multiple botched dinners before I decided to try it. I rationalized it with the fact that I’ve eaten food prepared at JSS, which can’t be anymore sanitary than this restaurant, had my food partially prepared by these cooks with their utensils, and have had my food ground at the community grinder which is anything but clean, and I have thankfully stayed healthy. I figured I would give it a shot.
Oh my goodness! It was delightful! Many people laughed at me for going and I still need to consult Laura as to whether it’s because I’m a bature eating Nigerian food (which they all find intriguing) or whether it’s because I’m a woman who is eating prepared food (which is practically unheard of), but I don’t care! The food was delicious! The women were so excited to have me there. There were two other men at the table with me that provided excellent conversation and one of them who left before I was through even paid for my dinner (which I was oblivious to probably because the transaction took place in Hausa)! I asked how much the meal costs for future reference and they told me 100N…yeah…that the equivalent of like $.85! Now, I know I need to learn how to cook, and I will continue to press on but this is an exciting development in my culinary world!
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2 comments:
Yah, for paid meals, those are always a blessing! Even here! :) People have offered and have paid for my lunch when I've gone out the past few weeks, and that has been a blessing. It has allowed me to go out and be more social and not feel like a money or waster or like I am spending money that I simply don't have right now. Anyways, glad to read that you are doing well! :)
Tuna is gross. You shouldn't be eating it. :)
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