Geeta's Kitchen

Geeta is considered a long timer in the church here in Guyana. She has been a member for about 3 years.

She's the Relief Society President, the seminary teacher and the Gospel Principles teacher all in one. Her husband is a Hindu and they live in this cute house with Geeta's mother, Shiela.

For a mother's day present, she invited us to come to her house on a Tuesday so she could cook curried chicken and roti for us and to give me her gift. I said, "Oh, please, teach me how to make it all."


She agreed and we arrived at her house at 10 am with the chicken to start the cooking.


We met her at the door to her kitchen and dad immediately found himself a seat!

Her kitchen is the cutest one I have seen so I asked her if I could take photos of it. Notice the large blue container at the right. It is filled with water. She is one of the lucky ones to have a faucet at her sink also that provides her with water.

She is very short and doesn't she have just the best smile?

She has no refrigerator and gives any leftovers she has to the neighbor. You can see the 2 green kerosene oil burners that she cooks on. The curried chicken is cooking in the pot on the right. The flat roti pan is on the left burner.

To her right is her work table where I prepared the roti while she gave me instructions. It was made of flour, water, baking powder and oil and I rolled it out like a flour tortilla. Then, she fried each roti on both sides with a little oil on her flat pan. After each roti was fried and still hot, she clapped her hands around it to break it up and to make it flaky. It is a favorite of the Guyanese and they probably eat it most days.

Is the curried chicken done?

Meanwhile, Garbar, her husband, and dad chatted in the shaded, breezy area under their house. We later ate at the table you can see near Garbar's foot.

The meal was yummy and we were served it without spoon or fork. That is the way many of the people here eat...with their hands. In fact, later that day I was feeding Jade some Swedish Pancakes and when I handed her a fork, she said, "I don't know how to use one of these!"

What's with the loosened tie, Elder Bullock?

Just as we were about to leave, Geeta got out her wooden paddle to show me how she washes her clothes. After she soaks all the clothes in a tub of soapy water, she takes each piece of clothing, wads it up and hits it with the paddle. She continues to turn it over and hit it before she rinses it and hangs it up to dry.

I asked Geeta, "May I come back another day and do your laundry with you!"

Sunday at church I wore my new maroon skirt she had given me for mother's day.

I love Geeta a lot and I know she loves me, too. Can you tell?

Sorry, suddenly the blog went bizerk!