What else did you learn in Uganda, Kahlua?

Before I get totally slammed with "upload those pictures already" requests, here is a picture of the foothills of the Rwenzori mountains. Enjoy. I was taken all over the area surrounding Fort Portal. This was on a day hike when all 8 of us wore me out hiking up the trails. Also, this particular shot shows the slope of the mountains. The camera is upright. The trees in the foreground are planted on the slope of the mountain.

But onto the real reason for this post.

A couple years ago Clea along with her family and mother, moved into our house. While we all lived together we learned much about each other - as anyone would... I learned that I'm a terrible housekeeper and my dear friend learned that I live in the MATRIX. If you need a pot, there's a special place for it, but you have to move the canister in front before you reach for the pot or it won't come out or if you want a special jar of sauce, it's in it's place, but you need a stool and a road map to get to it. Everything is that way - even my linen closet. Pull from the top and insert at the bottom... I also learned that if there's a way to make a doable list, Clea's the gal for the job.

Well, in Uganda, things weren't much different when I entered into Clea's home. I didn't think they would be. The amazing thing is that I didn't see much activity going on about cleaning anything. It didn't need to be cleaned. Either it had been or would be before the next month is over. I didn't notice it until we were talking one day and she mentioned her chore program. It's for keeping the house clean without giving up days on end to accomplish it. It's useful for Susan who works in the house to help Clea and Connie, because it lets her know what's going to be done so she needn't worry about it.

I've heard of such programs. Flylady is the only one that comes to mind right now, but they are all over the place "how to clean your house in 15 minutes a day" "What to do when guests are coming over" "Year round spring cleaning" (Those are just my ideas) Here's what you get when you do a web search for "How to keep your house clean":

1. How to Keep Your House Clean in 20 Minutes a Day
2. The 10 Habits That Keep Your Home Clean
3. Keeping House Clean - Tips on Maintaining Your Home As a Peaceful...

So imagine my delight when I had a chance to sit down with Clea herself and generate a plan that if followed at a minimum should help me with my own home. You would think it was complicated or something but really it wasn't. I'd share it with you but a picture is worth a thousand words. I've been following the chart for nearly two weeks now. I actually find it quite rewarding. My family of males can even follow it. I'm sure you can't read it, but you don't need to. Just know that I'm following the program and enjoying success along the way.

Clea, here's to you, dear friend. Thanks for a job well done!

Did anyone besides me notice that the beginning of CLEAn is Clea?

I've had a weeks rest at home...

[just in case you are wondering, the pictures haven't been uploaded yet...]
now back to the old grindstone... I thought I'd start my journey blog with a taste of the cuisine to which I was treated...

We'll start with dinner since it's the first thing I ate at the Wootton's monastary (more on that later). I had chicken soup. I'm confident there was chicken but from where I didn't know. The soup was great. I think I even had buttered bread. I was quite surprised at the presence of chicken as I had heard that meat was not very good locally and it was too expensive to get to the big city for better meat... Even so, I enjoyed the soup after a long journey (3 days to be exact!) to get there.

Fast forward to breakfast and you have eggs - rolled up in chapati - Add a little sauce of chopped onion and tomato and perhaps some green bell pepper on the side. Oh but wait, it's not that easy... First you have to get the eggs from the market --- more on that later --- then they sit on your counter in a egg carton (the big 2 dozen or so size) until you use them. Yuck say all us refrigerator freaks, but the reality is, fresh eggs can be treated that way. Before you cook the eggs, you must crack them. How will you know that the egg is fresh? The grocer might not have perfectly rotated his stock. Does he even know how to rotate stock? If he does, does he throw in a few bad with the good and pretend ignorance?

In Kenya, Connie and Clea, broke many rotten eggs and were very sad to say the least when once it was broken right into a cake batter they were making - all from scratch... It wasn't until they arrived in Uganda that they learned to float test the eggs. You know the old David Letterman segment "Will it float or will it sink?" Good eggs sink. Each egg is tested that way.

Back to breakfast - are you worn out yet? Don't give up, last night we had to make chapati (much like tortillas but with fat cut into them and the pan fried.) If you've never made tortillas, you ought to try it some times. There's no bakery to go and pick up the bread you want at $1 a loaf. Even if you do buy bread, you might make croutons out of it but not a nice soft cold cut sandwich. So here I am enjoying breakfast - complete with juice from concentrate.

From my description you'd think all we did was eat. To look at the scales, you'd be convinced. But really we did have some normal days. There are four kids to tend to. They aren't all out of diapers and only half of them will string a whole story together. Onward to lunch. It's usually leftovers, but with me around I don't think there were as many so at times lunch was an extra preparation. Peanut butter and jelly. Seems simple enough. Grab the peanut butter and jelly and a few slices of bread and you're good to go. Not so fast. Remember the bread? While breakfast was being cooked, you had to start a batch of bread dough. It takes at least two hours to prepare. which includes rising times. As long as Clea doesn't object, I'm going to take the liberty of sharing the recipe here. She got it from somewhere, but it's a good recipe.

Combine the following items and let dissolve and poof:

2 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp sugar.

Combine and dissolve in big bowl:
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp shortening
2 tsps salt
2 cups boiling water

Add first mixture to second. Add 7 1/2 - 8 cups flour (Clea uses 7 cups). Mix.

Turn out on floured surface; kneat 10 min

Place in greased bowl (probably the one you used for the second mixture); turn once; cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down let rest 15 minutes. Divide into two (2)

So as long as you started the bread before breakfast was served and you got it in the oven more than 20 minutes before lunch, PB&J is an easy lunch. Although I have to say, I really did enjoy the Nutella sandwich we enjoyed one day... Oops I dont' think I was supposed to share that... Tee Hee!

Before you take a deep breath, there's the cleaning up of all the cooking mess we made. Thankfully they have hired a helper that is able to take care of these things so Clea and Connie can focus on the kids and other things they have to do. Are you thirsty yet?

Remember, TIA (This is Africa) what should be simple is never and what should only take a few minutes of concerted effort takes weeks. TIA and therefore I shall not shall not shall not touch the tap water to my lips. TIA, I shall not touch the tap water to my lips. For that we have squirt bottles to rinse the toothbrush and our mouths. But just how do we fill those squirt bottles? Katadyn makes a great tank filter that adequately filters the water to make it safe for consumption. Every day (I can hear Connie missing me now) someone has to take the tap water and pour it into the filter tank so that over the course of the morning it can drip via gravity out of the filter and into the holding tank.

As long as everyone does their part, the water is great. I've seen other filter contraptions that aren't so nice. With any of them, there is the possibility that the floor will be mopped. Well, it seems I've rambled on and on. Perhaps too much, but if you've read this far thank you.