Umu

The Sisters presented a Samoan cookout  - an Umu - at the Welch's house on Monday for our District P Day gathering.  They are ward members who live in the Sister's area.  Brother Welch is American and his wife is from an island near Fiji.  They have a son who left our ward a few weeks ago to go to Australia on a mission.  Once we had finished the cooking and eating we took a group picture to send to Elder Welch.

It took hours to heat the rocks and prepare the chicken and pig that was wrapped in foil and put into the underground oven once it was hot enough.  Brothers Welch and Ferejen prepared the meat for the outdoor oven and Sister F prepared and steamed banana tamales for our desert.   The foil packets of meat were covered with piles of crunched banana leaves and then blankets and smoked for a couple of hours.  In the meantime, we wrote letters to our departing  Elder Allred and played Apples to Apples.

The food was worth the wait, especially the meat.  In this oven was ribs and chicken, breadfuit and bananas which were also roasted.  Elder Jones and I are still working on acquiring a taste for these foods.

They also prepared a really great drink that I will try to make when we are home.  It was made from a ripe, juicy watermelon that was shredded with a fork into a large bowl.  Coconut milk and sugar were added.  Yummy!  They called it Otai.