Coffee and Choroko

Friday, March 15, 2019


Today I wanted to visit the albino women’s workshop and select a few final items to purchase as gifts for people back home. If I went just after noon, I could purchase my selections and pick up MaryLou so that we could go downtown for lunch. We wanted to go to Kitamu at least one more time before leaving Arusha.

So, as usual, Ray picked me up and drove me to the workshop, where MaryLou soon joined us. When we arrived at Kitamu, we read the sidewalk board listing the specials of the day. MaryLou decided she would have the stuffed chicken breast, and I wanted the chicken mushroom pasta dish. Neither were very African dishes but they sounded good. While we were waiting for our food to come, I watched the other customers and noticed two striking things. First, most of them did not order the dishes as printed in the menu but rather “customized” their orders to get cheaper combinations of side items. For example, on gentleman had a huge mound of ugali and a small bowl of greens instead of ugali a meat stew as usual. Second, I was appalled to see that all 7 Africans were on their cellphones almost constantly. There was no conversation between the two couples at all. This is really going to destroy traditional culture which is based on a strong foundation of conversation and social interaction.

MaryLou definitely needed some coffee.

When our orders finally came, we were amazed at how pretty MaryLou’s chicken breast was. It had been stuffed with a mixture of greens, wrapped in bacon, and baked to a toasty brown. Then it was sliced and shaped like a croissant. MaryLou said it was delicious. My pasta was very good, but not spectacular. However, I had plenty left to take home for a future meal.

We had a wonderful lunch.

One of the reasons that we went to Kitamu was that MaryLou wanted to buy a large amount of whole coffee beans. Our waitress, Esther, had to climb up on one of the stool to get up to the high shelf where there were two bags of beans. Mary Lou took them both.

Climbing to get MaryLou's coffee beans.

Before we had ordered, we asked if Kitamu’s credit card machine was up and running, and were assured it was. So, we hadn’t felt constrained to just the money in our purses and both ordered french press coffee with our meal. Then, when we tried to pay, the machine wouldn’t accept either of our cards! It declined MaryLou’s 3 or 4 times and mine twice. It seemed as if MaryLou would have to walk several blocks to a bank and hope her card would allow her to take out cash there. But just at the last minute, we tried my card once more, and it went through. Oh happy day.

We still walked to the bank so MaryLou could get some cash. Then we continued toward the Clocktower because we knew we could find a bjaji there for our ride home. First, however, we stopped at the small grocery store by Naz because I knew they had Azam ice cream bars in their freezer. I wanted to have my favorite, a Carmello, and I thought MaryLou should try one, too. Unfortunately, there was only one Carmelo bar left. I let MaryLou have it and then for no reason other than to try something very different, I chose a Cherry Bar. With only one bite, I regretted my choice: the coating and ice cream were bright red, but there was no real cherry flavor. Meanwhile, MaryLou was enjoying her Carmello.

Once we had finished out ice cream bars, we walked closer to the clocktower and hired a bjaji to take us back to Kundayo. I left MaryLou do the bargaining for the fare. She was great and got the ride for only 4000 Tsch ($1.75). Taxis are now charging 10,000 Tsch. ($4.35) for the same trip. I actually enjoy riding in a bjaji more than in a taxi unless I have a lot of bags to transport.

Dinner this evening was choroko and sausage stew. I’ve been able to improve this dish until it is excellent. I don’t think we can buy choroko in the States though. When I look it up via Google, I’m told it is the same a mung beans, but it definitely is not.