Cooking Disaster

Cooking is definitely a new experience here. Janet, who I am currently living with, finally gave me the go ahead to do some of the cooking and shopping at the market. I think she probably regrets that decision. I never thought of myself as a bad cook but at least have viewed myself as having some basic practical cooking skills. I have lived on my own for over 10 years and have never felt so inadequate at feeding myself. Many of you know that I enjoy baking but there are no ovens here. Ingredients are completely different and cooking supplies/tools limited.
Janet had already picked up some Liponda (greens—in this case similar to mustard greens) at the market earlier in the day. So that was automatically going to be the featured ingredient of the meal. The other main ingredients that are always used with every meal are onions and tomatoes. She even provided me a recipe in Chiyao (I will have to translate to English later) of how you boil and fry and combine these staple ingredients. I normally do not like cooked spinach or any vegetables over cooked, but I ended up cooking this meal to death and it was awful. Next night was sweet potatoes and it turned out a bit better. I was going to try to prepare fish but just could not bring myself to buy the ones that I saw in the market. I think I need to go the market earlier in the morning to get a better selection.