Cooking with Catherine

It's been over two years now since I first visited Kenya and since I had my first traditional Kikuyu dish at Catherine's house. Every time I have traditional Kenyan food, I love it and want to learn how to make it. The Kenyans cook with such fresh ingredients, the food is very healthy and tastes great. I have been asking Catherine for awhile now to give me a cooking lesson and we finally had the date scheduled!

I arrived at the athletes' house around 1:30 and Catherine was just finishing her lunch. The house was quiet as her brother, Samuel, was off at a race in Michigan, so it was just Catherine, Irene and Simon there.

Simon Ndirangu smiling as usual!

The lights were out to keep the house cooler, and everyone had already done their morning training so they were relaxing. After socializing for a bit,  it was time to shop for our ingredients. First, Catherine took out some dried peas and left them in a bowl to soak while we were out. 

soaking peas

Our first stop was to Dollar Tree, or what I refer to as "$20 Tree" because it is virtually impossible to leave there without spending at least that much! We both love that store but knew we didn't want to spend too much time so we grabbed a few items and went on our way. Our main stop was at this amazing produce store not too far from where the athletes' house is. This store is more like a large stand; it's just a plain building and there is nothing but produce; massive quantities of it at extremely cheap prices! You walk in, take a number, and when you're called someone waits on you, you tell him/her what you want, they get it, put it in a box and even take the box out to your car if needed. (Usually, when the athletes shop here they buy large quantities and the box is heavy)! The whole process is very streamlined and while it can be extremely busy, it usually moves along fairly quickly. We got our fresh vege supply and returned to the house.

At this point it was too early to start cooking so Catherine asked me for a favor; would I take her shopping? Of course I would; if that is the price of a cooking lesson, it is well worth it! I know she loves to shop and without a car in the U.S., it's hard to do large shops! Once Irene heard we were hitting the Walmart, she was on board for the trip! The three of us hit Walmart and had fun; Irene shopped for her daughter Debra and bought herself a matching outfit. Catherine shopped for her daughter, Jane, as well as for her niece and one of her friends asked her to pick up some educational DVD's. We went through a huge bin of DVD's and her and Irene both got a few titles suitable for youngsters. My recommendation was for them to find Sesame Street DVD's if they wanted educational ones, so we found them and they both purchased that as well. Overall, we had a good time shopping and laughing but it was getting late and it was time for the "lesson" to begin!

 Irene Limika models one of her new outfits

Once we got back to the house, we laid out all the ingredients and Catherine immediately started preparing. The cooking lesson for the day was Mukimo and stew. I've written about mukimo before, but if you haven't read the posts, it is a traditional Kikuyu dish made from potatoes. It is similar to mashed potatoes but there is no butter in it. It is simply made with the potatoes and a select few vegetables and is a healthy staple of the Kikuyu diet. Usually, you don't eat it by itself; it is served with some stew or soup in the same bowl and eaten together. Today we were making a stew with beef in it.

Catherine jumped right in and started grating carrots as I took notes, photos and video to be sure i didn't miss a thing! I also wanted to help and when I asked, Catherine was very cute; she didn't think I knew how to peel potatoes without a peeler! I laughed because she just assumed that we all use the peeler here, which of course we do but it doesn't mean I didn't now how to peel with just a knife! So, Irene and I went to work peeling all the potatoes and cutting them up. Catherine chopped, grated and prepared the remaining vegetables and Irene cubed the beef. I asked questions along the way and took good notes because I know that the next time I will be making the dishes and Catherine will be grading me! She has already told me that Irene will not be allowed in the kitchen with me when I do so she can't help. Catherine said she will be the proctor and make sure I do it all myself to earn the good grade!

fresh ingredients ready

mmmm, onions and garlic

 

everything prepared

Catherine starting to cook

 It was a lot of fun learning and I have a real appreciation of the work involved. It's not that it is hard work, but it is quite time consuming getting everything prepared, letting things simmer and cook, and then making the final preparations which includes "smashing" an entire pot of potatoes. The key to a good mukimo, Catherine taught me, is to not have any lumps! 

 those are not lumps, that is corn!  

 














The finished stew

  The table is ready....

After two hours everything was ready and we sat down for the meal. After a lengthy and heartfelt grace by Catherine, we all enjoyed the delicious dish! 
Mukimo, left and stew, right 
 

Catherine offers Anthony a plate, too bad he's in Kenya and can't join us!

This is how it is served

During dinner, I asked Catherine about how she was feeling with her running and she was very happy with her run at Falmouth where she placed fourth. She is looking forward to the Crim race in Michigan next week. We also discussed where she may run a fall marathon and she is undecided about that at this point in time. Her and Lisa (Buster, her manager) need to look at her schedule and figure it all out. Once they do, I will post where she will run.

I am looking forward to making the meal on my own the next time but we decided to hold off on scheduling until after the Crim race where, she heads with her brother next weekend. After that, we will schedule my test! I will post my "marks" after I receive them (if I pass)!

Back in the USA

It had been awhile since I'd seen Catherine; the last time was when we drove back from Boston after the marathon there. Her flight back to Kenya had been canceled due to the volcano ash and her trip home was postponed. So it was really nice to see her on Sunday and catch up on everything! I arrived at the Norristown training home where there are currently four Kenyan athletes living: Catherine, her brother, Samuel Ndereba,

(sura ya kazi!)

Irene Limika and Simon Ndirangu.

Fortunately, it was Sunday, the day no one trains  because it is the day for church and relaxation. The weather the past few days had been ridiculously hot & humid; above 95F, and they all said how difficult the heat was. So not a good day to train but, it was a perfect day to go produce shopping! Thankfully, as soon as we were ready to leave, the skies opened up and a huge storm passed through, cooling off the sticky temperature by over 20 degrees; it felt SO nice!

When we got back from the produce store, Catherine started cutting up vegetables. She loves to cook and I love watching and learning. I am hoping to be able to cook like the Kenyans soon! They use all fresh ingredients and the stews are SO good! So I watch and take mental notes. I reminded Catherine about her promise to teach me how to make Mukimo and she said she definitely will soon. I can't wait! In the meantime, I took good notes on how to make Chapati. It is really a team effort both on the track and off with this group of runners managed by Lisa Buster. In the house, they all take turns preparing meals and sometimes even prepare them together. I find it interesting especially since in Kenya it is definitely NOT that way. There, the women do the cooking and you generally will not see the men in the kitchen! I mentioned that to Samuel and Simon and they both agreed that is true but here in the U.S. they all work together!

Here you can see how they all made Chapati as a team!

First, Samuel mixes the dough; today he combined some Chapati (whole wheat) flour with some white flour, he mixed in some shredded carrots and combined with enough water to make the dough. It almost looks like pizza dough!

Simon Ndirangu (L) & Samuel Ndereba (R)

Then he put some oil on the table so the dough wouldn't stick and rolled the dough out very thin. The next step was to score the dough vertically with a knife so the dough now stood in strips.

Next was to roll up the strips into pinwheels (looking almost like a Cinnabon!) He then dipped the pinwheels in flour, dusting each one lightly.

 

 Then it was time to roll out each "bun" into a perfectly formed circle that looked almost like a large pancake!

It was at this point that Irene stepped in; she would take each "pancake" and cook it in a very hot, cast-iron pan, carefully turning it often so it doesn't burn (trust me, you have to be careful! Last year in Kenya Catherine's mother taught me how to make Chapati and let me make a few. Catherine was able to pick out every one I made because they were a little burned!)

Once Irene had cooked each Chapati, it was time for Simon to step in. He took each one, put it in the cast-iron pan and basted it lightly with oil making sure not to burn them. And that was it! Chapati was ready!

In the meantime, Catherine was working on the stew. All the fresh veges she had cut up were simmering nicely to form it. Finally it was time for dinner and well worth the wait as always! 

Catherine was in great spirits and said she's feeling great and looking forward to some upcoming races; the Beach to Beacon in Maine August 7th and the Cigna Falmouth Road Race August 15th. 

It was a fun, relaxing afternoon/evening with everyone and I'm looking forward to more days like it. Welcome back Catherine!

Here we had some fun taking our own photos!  There's no hiding that Catherine & Samuel are brother and sister!

Me & Catherine

    

  Me & Samuel

Me & Irene

Mokimo Monday before Boston Marathon Monday!

Last night I had dinner again with Catherine Ndereba. When we were at the mall on Saturday, Catherine invited me to come back to the house for some Mokimo but I was busy that night so she asked me to come on Monday. I officially dubbed the night "Mokimo Monday"! I always look forward to her mokimo. She says it is very easy to make but I can see it does take a lot of arm muscle! Picture a huge pot filled with extra thick mashed potatoes with other ingredients all mixed in and you can imagine how hard it is to stir smooth! She makes a stew to go along with it and that had beef, squash, tomatoes and other fresh vegetables in it. When you put it all together it is a delicious, nutritious meal! You can find photos of it from the last time she had me over for dinner on the blog post from 11/24/2009 here 

Samuel Ndereba

Also at dinner was Catherine's brother, Samuel Ndereba,  

Moses Kigen Kipkosgei (who is also running Boston Marathon next week) and Simon Ndirangu who is Lisa Buster's newest runner. It was a very late dinner, 9PM because they had such a full day going to the chiropractor, training and with Catherine and Moses packing for Boston and then their trip back to Kenya. As always, it was fun. I felt a bit left out at times though because my Swahili is not very good and there was a lot of talking going on that I could not understand! Simon offered to be my Swahili teacher so I may have to take him up on that  at some point!

 Moses Kigen Kipkosgei

Simon Ndirangu

Catherine is looking forward to being back in Boston and Moses is looking forward to running there. I asked Catherine if she gave Moses a lot of good tips and she had a twinkle in her eye when she said "of course" :-)

It was a nice diversion to spend some time with the runners. It's been a stressful week since Catherine's announcement. The BAA revoked my media credentials for the Boston Marathon saying they didn't feel I needed them now that Catherine was out. I had to write a letter of appeal letting them know that there is still a story and just like any other journalist, I have to deal with it and incorporate it. I still have interviews and events planned to film all week! Fortunately, they reinstated the credentials late yesterday and now I can focus on finalizing all of the arrangements. It will be a busy week but I'm looking forward to it! I haven't been in Boston in 12 years and am looking forward to not only filming with Catherine but to visiting some college friends!

I'm also looking forward to my stay at the Lenox Hotel and can't thank the great people there enough for partnering with WinCatherine and sponsoring my stay there while filming! The Lenox is located right AT the finish line of the Boston Marathon!

After tomorrow my posts should be from my room there and who knows, it could be overlooking that finish line!