Food at my sisters’ house was prepared and served in style. Their rice was always boiled separately and meat and vegetables were served as two separate side dishes over the rice. Some of their meals were new to me.
I learnt you could mash potatoes, add butter and milk into it and serve it with meat and vegetables. Crepes (mikorogo) were also served as a meal, cleverly rolled up and served with meat and vegetables as a main dish. Back home in OlKalou, mikorogo is what you whipped up quickly for unexpected visitors and served them with tea. They were never served as a main dish.
My sisters’ githeri had more beans than maize, unlike our githeri in OlKalou that had more maize than beans. Reason being, we did not grow beans in OlKalou back then, we purchased from the market and they were quite expensive. The maize my sister used for her githeri was the green maize (mbembe njuwa) never dry maize. In OlKalou, we only had green maize for two months in a year before they dried and were harvested in January. Our githeri was therefore made with the tough dried maize for ten months of the year until the new crop was ready sometime in October. That is why githeri at my sisters house did not quality as “The Githeri” I had known all my life. Even after it was mixed with meat, potatoes, carrots and cabbage just like we did back in OlKalou, hers tasted so delicious I even enjoyed the cabbage and the potatoes.
I had tasted chapatis made with EXE flour back in OlKalou, but I never knew chapatis could peel in layers like they did at my sister’s house. They were then cut into quarter pieces, everybody getting four pieces to equal one chapati. They were so light and delicious, I could have gone for a second chapati like we did back home in OlKalou, but I realized nobody else was going for more, including the man of the house, my brother in law. That made me realize one chapati was supposed to be enough. But that I can tell you, is according to them, not me. I went to bed grumbling that night, wondering how they could only eat one of such divine chapatis.
Oh well, I was in new territory, so I towed the line.
