Lunch at Fatou's House

     Jourdan and I have been teaching an English class on Thursday afternoons.  One of the girls who has been attending is Fatou.  While we were visiting in her home a couple of weeks ago, we received an invitation to come back to have lunch with them on Sunday, March 24.  Fatou was going to cook one of our favorite meals:  chebu jehn (rice and fish).  As soon as we finished church at our house, Jourdan and I walked to Fatou's house.  The meal did not disappoint us!  We enjoyed a delicious meal with her as well as her mother and father.  Below are pictures of the preparation.

Fatou cooking in the kitchen

Rice that has been steamed

Fish and vegetables removed from the pot

Rice that has been cooked in the sauce

Placing the fish and vegetables on top of the rice

Platter complete

     Once the food was prepared, Jourdan helped Fatou bring it into the area where we would eat.  In a Senegalese home, you sit on a mat on the floor around the platter.  They will give us toubabs (Americans) a spoon but the Senegalese will just use their right hand and eat from the platter.  Fatou's mother helped remove the fish from the bones and would place bites of fish at the area where we were eating.  She would also squeeze lemon juice on the food to add some flavor.  I'm really going to miss Senegalese food when my time is finished over here.

Jourdan bringing in the platter of food

The mat on which we sat and ate the meal