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3 June 2001

Hooray! As of this morning it looks like we'll be able to rent the house on "Tank Hill" - the one with a view overlooking Lake Victoria. The apartment we're in now is convenient, but we're looking forward to sitting outside on a balcony and a little patch of green to call our own. We move in 1 July.

Had some time to kill while waiting for Askan Friday evening, so decided to put a little methodology into beer sampling in Uganda. An extensive internet search has turned up that there's basically two breweries here. Nile Breweries Ltd - "Have a Nile Special day" - produces Nile Special, Nile Lite, Number One, ESB (Chairman's Extra Strong Brew), and Club Pilsner. Their only competitor, Uganda Breweries, Ltd. - home of "You can tell who drinks Bell" - produces Bell Extra, Bell Lager, Guinness, and Pilsner Red Top. That's it. Coming from a brewing town like St. Louis, having lived in a beer country like Germany, that's not a lot of choice. THANK GOODNESS! I'm not a big beer drinker and having a zillion choices of a drink that basically tastes like fermented socks is not my idea of fun. In four weeks I've already identified the one beer that's palatable to me in Uganda. I don't have to second guess my choice, I don't have to be tempted to sample from a head-spinning number of options, and I don't have to wonder why, when I order a Weissen, sometimes the beer is cloudy and sometimes not. (OK, I did learn this in Germany.) The weather is warm; I know which cold beer I want. Life is good.

At Nakasero Market this week mango season is reaching its peak. Yellow mangos are piled everywhere, and the price has dropped. The beautiful displays of papayas, pineapples, mangos and passion fruit were too tempting and I brought home just about every fruit I saw. Had a couple of egg whites leftover from Wednesday's Nile perch meal, so decided to try making a mango mousse. Here's the recipe I came up with; it was easy and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!

Mango Mousse
(4 servings)

1 large ripe mango
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites
3/4 c fine sugar
1 cup cream

Cut up mango, heat with milk and vanilla gently on stove, crushing pieces with fork to release juice. Remove from heat when mango is crushed and strain into bowl, removing remaining large pieces, but allowing some of the pulp through strainer. Cool.

Whip egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time, whipping until peaks are shiny. Gently fold in cooled mango puree.

Whip cream until thick. Gently fold whipped cream into egg white-mango mixture. Spoon into small bowls and cover with saran wrap. Place in freezer until firm. Remove from freezer 1 hour before serving and place in refrigerator.