150 peso’s to feed myself over the next 4 weeks..gotta love mince, onions, garlic, chilli, coriander (cilantro here), & eggs; rice & bread for fillers..tomato & cucumber sandwiches at least once a day, if not twice.
Here, you never ever count the money you’re promised until it hits your wallet in cold hard cash! That lesson harshly learned, if no cash arrives between the end of the 1st lesson & the beginning of the 2nd, there is no 2nd lesson. So whilst I’ve been assured of a load of students, I’m not counting on it yet.
HEY! Don’t you be worrying about me..I LOVE tomatoes & cucumber! The other stuff too..except for maybe the mince (depending on my culinary inventiveness), & definitely the eggs. The last of the licorice teabags Claire sent me while I was in Surgut are working some serious wonders in my rice salads..the Canook & Mexicans, like the Russians, are in ecstasy over this new flavour!
Best we don’t talk about the exhorbitantly priced quality beef steaks cos I think it’s marbled fatty gaggy crud..give me a nasty tough & tasty rump for marinating any day (GASP! SHOCK! HORROR! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, CHICK FROM NZ, WHERE THE BEST BEEF IN THE WORLD COMES FROM?) I’ve taught a few locals the joys of garlic, red or white wine vinegar, herbs, & the occasional mango.
Mince is the same price per kilo as eye-fillet!
FANTASTIC street food for next to nothing..I could eat chicken mole every day for the rest of my life! Hey Gary & B-S; if you love curries Gary, you’d mess your pants over mole!..& for B-S & all my girlies out there..mole is this amazing Indian curry-type sauce, but LOADED with CHOCOLATE! Hang on a minute..I need to grab a cloth to wipe my drool off the keyboard & table! Contrary to what you’d expect, it’s not hideously sweet. Very rich though.
Taco’s..the real McCoy, are not those crispy curled things we buy in NZ. A taco is a soft corn bread thing, like a burrito. The only difference between a taco & a burrito here is that a burrito comes ready-filled & rolled; a taco is the same except it isn’t rolled..just folded in half. Sometimes your taco meal is a plastic bag or bowl of heated corn bread, accompanied by the usual ‘team’ of lettuce, tomato, grilled onions & chillies, bags or bowls of guacamole & chili sauce, & some grilled beef or lamb..you make your own combination.
Chillies..you imagine it, it’s here! Dried little red or green ones..like the Asian ones we find in NZ..they’re in bulk bins..grab a bag & start scooping. The ‘normal’ fresh red or green ones we buy at the supermarket in those plastic cubes..here they’re in chilled compartments like the ones that contain lettuces, tomatoes & the like. Big ones..green or yellow, that I’ve never seen before. Huge ones..green or yellow, about the size of a big capsicum..sometimes in chilled compartments, sometimes just sitting in crates on the supermarket floor. The ‘big’ and the ‘huge’ ones you can buy cooked from a street vendor. They’re stuffed with cheese & grilled. The first couple of them that I was fed, I was assured they’re not spicy. In the greater scheme of things, they’re not, but after a year of bland Russian food, those chilies made my nose run & my breath catch in the back of my throat. They ARE delicious though! Not nearly as hot as some of the curries I used to make..I’m just out of practice.
Finally getting back into the swing of spicy food, I find the locals protective warnings about something being ‘caliente’ (hot) endearing. In return, they’re thrilled by my capacity.
Gordita’s: the same as taco’s & fajita’s, except the corn bread is like a pita bread pocket. Most gordita stands are ‘ordinary’, but occasionally you come across a “WOW!” taste sensation.
Barbecoa: generally the meat is lamb, hogget, or mutton. Traditional barbecoa is a HANGI! Sadly, 21st Century economics mean something more like B-B-Q’d meat & grilled onions.
(epiphany..Rene has frustrated me for months with his loss of English “you’re an English teacher for heaven’s sake!” I’ve just spent 10-minutes trying to remember..still can’t..what’s the casserole cut of beef that usually comes cubed, that the likes of Andrew Jarvis calls ‘animal food? AH..got it! Gravy beef! Criminy..I’m starting to worry about me!)
Tomales: I’m positive I’ve told you about these already, so I won’t expand. If I haven’t, let me know. It’ll be because I’ve written but not been able to send.
Cactus: raja's are YUMMY! Juicy..sometimes sticky & stringy like..well, like aloe leaves! The spines are sliced off, then you either buy the whole ‘leaf’, or you buy a sliced salad.
Same but different from Russia; pork skin is a delicacy. It comes two ways; sliced & presented in brine, or something like crackling..an entire pig skin crackled & available for sale, you choose how much you want.
Bread: 99% sugar..it’s evil stuff! It doesn't even go moldy! The ‘Vogel’s” ads are all true! A loaf of Vogels would be separated & hidden in multitudes of supermarket bags under my mattress!
Fresh fruit: you can buy it in the supermarket. You can buy it from a street vendor. If pre-prepared, it comes doused with fresh lime-juice & sprinkled liberally with chili powder. “Errrrrrrr..isn’t fruit supposed to be sweet, juicy & refreshing?”
Sensible folk; breakfast is reasonably substantial, lunch is a big event, dinner is often cereal & milk.
Needless to say, although tasty, the traditional food is not too good for my body. By choice, I never eat beans, seldom corn or dairy products. With the lack of real work & activity over the last few months, I’ve ‘chunked up’ a bit. Nothing any of you would fret about, but I’m so afraid of regaining those 27 kg’s that cost me so much to lose.
Gastronomically betwixt & between,
Pru XXXX
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