A night to remember

I enjoyed my upgrade in the condo we are staying in. I moved into the room with the better shower :). Today I got back to being a normal person ... 3 meals and off work by 5:30PM. I returned to Java's for breakfast, then lunched on traditional Ugandan food with Ann from work. I had been told the local fare is very bland; I'll say. One gets two plates ... one has an assortment of vegetables, the other a soupy broth with meat of choice, all surrounded by banana leaves. Ann pointed out these were not the sweet banana leaves, rather those from a close relative of the familiar desert variety ... and I quote:

"Most people, except a few who live in urban centers, produce their own food. Most people eat two meals a day: lunch and supper. Breakfast is often a cup of tea or porridge. Meals are prepared by women and girls; men and boys age twelve and above do not sit in the kitchen, which is separate from the main house. Cooking usually is done on an open wood fire. Popular dishes include matoke (a staple made from bananas), millet bread, cassava (tapioca or manioc), sweet potatoes, chicken and beef stews, and freshwater fish. Other foods include white potatoes, yams, corn, cabbage, pumpkin, tomatoes, millet, peas, sorghum, beans, groundnuts (peanuts), goat meat, and milk. Oranges, papayas, lemons, and pineapples also are grown and consumed. The national drink is waragi, a banana gin. Many restaurants in large population centers serve local foods."

With a diet made up of mainly root vegetables and other grains and beans, Ugandans' life is probably summed up by two words ... healthy and regular :). Ann also said the traditional food varies based on the district of the country. There are 80 districts spread across 4 administrative regions. One of the guys I work with lost 3 friends in the terrorist attack on 2 separate rugby clubs last July 11 in which 74 people perished.

Dinner was Chinese at a place close to where I live. The Fang Fang came well recommended and the experience there led to the title of this post. No, it was not the food (which was excellent by the way) nor the length of time between ordering and consuming (close to 40 minutes) ... tada! The "night to remember" is because I managed to eat rice with sweet and sour chicken without spilling ANY FOOD on my shirt; what a concept.