Blogging from the Road

Literally.

Our rental car company offered an in car modem, that's also portable for hotels and whatnot, any place you can plug it in to a socket for power. It was $11 per day, one dollar less than getting a GPS, we can both use it at the same time, and we already used my laptop to Google the directions to Narcobollo, the Colombian restaurant that is a sister to the original one in Barranquilla that I visited with my profesora on one of our culture activity afternoons. We ate arroz con coco, tajadas, bollo limpio y bollo de mazorca, remolacha, suero, arepa con juevo, jugo de tamarindo y agua panel and got one more of each bollo to go. It was pretty close to the airport, but we got a little lost on the way.



Then we Googled directions to my Grandparent's house, and used Skype to call them and tell them we'll be late.

WE'RE SUCH GEEKS! HOORAY FOR GEEKS REUNITED! HOORAY FOR TASTY COLOMBIAN FOOD!! HAPPY!



Flight was fine, had a seat to myself for half of it and listed to my iPod, took pictures of clouds and wrote down verbs I want to understand better. They seem to use the same word to mean a lot of things...



I would write more, but my laptop battery sucks, so signing off for now. Just had to write while we were on the road. :D

In Which I Prepare Lunch

To preface, I have barely lifted a finger to cook my whole two months here. They have a cousin who comes to help cook and clean about 3 times per week, and I think also G's mom likes to make me food, it's like, fulfilling her purpose or something. Because I've made myself some pasta with ketchup about 2 or 3 times when they were out late and I was hungry, but the last time I was starting the water to boil and they came home and she was like "oh, no no, I bought stuff to make little pizzas, please, let me serve you!" I think especially since her youngest just moved out a few weeks ago she really does like to take care of me.

Sometime last week, G's dad declared that I would cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for the final two days of my stay, that his sister would come for lunch, and that I should prepare a list so we can go grocery shopping the weekend before. I told them I knew how to cook many things, but I was afraid they wouldn't like them. They said not to worry, they would eat anything and it didn't matter if there wasn't any meat, they would be fine. So I agreed, and we went on to have a discussion about the differences in breakfast foods between here and the US. (US tends to favor sweet flavors for the mornings) But it turns out I ended up cooking lunch today.

The story really begins early last evening.

VM, my nephew, was warming up some food in the microwave for the cranky parrot. Unfortunately he miscalculated the time or pressed the wrong buttons or something because it was for way too long and the little plastic food dish and all its contents got seriously shriveled up and the whole apartment smelled horrible. (and the kitchen continued to smell bad even into the morning).

G's mom is pretty allergic to lots of things and very sensitive, not to mention she was the one in the kitchen scrubbing the microwave trying to clean out the smell. Her eyes and nose got really irritated and she was sneezing most of the night. She took an allergy pill but it didn't help. (I'm not really surprised since I think it was more of a chemical irritant than allergic one).

We all woke up pretty late this morning and the poor dear was still feeling pretty wretched and stumbled to the kitchen to make breakfast, but was really only able to prepare coffee with milk and came to my room to apologize that it was just going to be bread and butter for breakfast, even though she had wanted to make other things, and we could try to have an early lunch. I told her not to worry and she went to lie down. After I ate my bread and butter I went to her room and told her that if she needed any help with the food to tell me, and she said that a little later we could see what was left in the kitchen because there wasn't too much.

So after a bit she got up and showed me that there was pasta and a mix to make cream sauce and there was a little bag of mixed asian veggies plus fresh ones and some frozen beans in the freezer. So I made pasta with cream sauce and a few veggies, some other veggies and white beans, and I made some little triangle toast type things out of a flat bread they had that I fried in a little olive oil with garlic powder and salt. I also mixed up a pitcher of raspberry juice out of a bag of frozen pulp and added some sugar.

G's dad came in once to check on me and said it smelled good, and helped me find some lids to the pots. The water didn't really ever get to that rolling boil I'm used to for the pasta unless I kept it covered, so it was actually the last thing I finished, and I set the table while it was cooking, remembering the napkins, (which is kind of a running joke because they ALWAYS forget the napkins) and then served up three plates and said "Listo!" (ready)

G's dad said something about how now they get to see how I cook, and I said I was nervous. But it turned out they liked it! G's mom loved the little breads and wanted me to teach her how to make them. I told her it was super easy, and then how to do it. G's dad declared that next week when I cooked for the they would also invite his sister AND his dad, who would be so amazed that the entire meal didn't have any meat. Then he went on to ask his wife if maybe they should even invite her cousin who they hang out with all the time, and I think also his daughter and her family for the weekend. He asked if I knew how to make soups and when I said yes he said he imagined that G liked them. He also teased that perhaps he would lock me in my room so they could keep me and I should tell G to come here instead, and wasn't it such a pleasant surprise that I knew how to cook. G's mom said she already knew because G and I had made something nice the last time we came, and she asked if anyone wanted the last piece of toast.

She also tried to do the dishes but I wouldn't let her, although I did let her put away the clean ones since I didn't know where they went. She thanked me again, said again that it was really tasty and went to lie down. So I hope she got to have some good rest.

Oh, also, the cranky parrot liked the pasta. He seems to eat anything, but he really likes mango peels and scrambled eggs. He was eyeing me rather woefully as I put the leftover pasta in the fridge, so I gave him a few strands and he started gobbling. I also broke up a saltine and put it in the dish, but he yanked out a couple of the bits that were covering up the pasta and tossed them on the floor like "Screw the crackers! More pasta!" so I got him big forkful and tore it up into smaller strands for easier eating.

All in all I think it was a very successful meal! Now I need to figure out a few menu options for next week, in case I can't find some of the ingredients for the dishes I'm thinking of preparing.

Water in Bags, Gloves on Hands

Some of the stuff we don't have back at home doesn't really surprise me too much - like the fruit stands and street vendors. Some stuff though, I never would have thought of, like all the things they sell in bags - water, milk, jam, ketchup, mayo, soda. Sometimes it's like - "I'll have a liter of soda/juice in a big plastic bag please!" and they fill up a bag like you'd use at the grocery store for veggies or bulk items, tie a knot in the top and there you go, empty it into a pitcher when you get home!

And then last night, we went to quite possibly the best restaurant EVER. Well, best in terms of my amusement value. We were driving home from visiting some friends of the family and G's mom asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner. I said, as I do at home quite often when asked the same question, "food". She laughed and started listing off different options. I jumped on "potatoes" because they were something I hadn't had in a while, and she said something about "oh wait, darn, we don't have (something something)" and I said, "french fries?" (something I hadn't had since I've been here) and at that moment we were driving by a little fast food chicken place called something like Pikoriko.


G's mom dashed into the grocery store across the street while his dad and nephew VM and I went in. It was very similar to a McD's or any other fast food place, plastic seating, tile floors, white walls with huge pictures of menu items, and a little net covered play place for kids with a bunch of climbing tubes and a ball pit. VM immediately started playing on the play thing, and we sat down and a girl came and brought us menus, which was so weird to me in a fast food place. And then my Father in Law asks what they have that's vegetarian and the girl is like, uhhh, nothing? (Which doesn't surprise me) But we find the french fries and order some of those. It seems like maybe they fry each batch to order, because it takes a while, and they come on a REAL ceramic plate with the little chicken logo, not paper!

Then G's mom comes and they order their chicken and some plantain thing for me, and some juice for me and soda for them. VM, busy "dunking" the plastic balls in the basketball hoop in the playplace says he doesn't want anything. Then the chicken comes and the girl says they don't have any of the plantain things, so they order me another plate of fries, and VM comes and starts eating mine and so they order ANOTHER plate of fries and I have some of his when they come. (Also F-I-L steals some of the fries from the first plate, which I wouldn't mind except it's my ENTIRE DINNER but luckily with the 3 plates, I had plenty so I needn't have worried.)

But anyway when they girl brings out the chicken, it comes with PLASTIC GLOVES that they put on to eat it! (like the kind I'm used to seeing food service people use to make your food) And that cracked me up SO HARD. I only laughed a little on the outside and I told them I'd never seen anything like it but I was silently lauging inside for like 10 minutes at least, every time I saw the ceramic plates and the plastic gloves. Now honestly, as a vegetarian, this could be something that they do all the time in the states and I just don't know, but I DID ask at least one non-veg friend and she said that whenever she goes out for messy chicken they just bring out a bucket of napkins. I guess it's a bit more more efficient in a way, one pair of gloves vs. tons of napkins? But it looks darn silly. :-D

And they do seem to use paper napkins a lot for other things - like to hold their sandwiches or pizza or little fried things. Sort of preventative to getting your hands dirty? I'm used to getting the hands dirty and then using the napkin AFTER to clean them, and having the napkin wrapped around whatever I'm trying to eat seems like an invitation to a mouthful of paper. But maybe that's just cuz I haven't learned how to maneuver it properly.

Going to the beach again today! Although I'm a wee bit confused because I thought they said we were leaving around 8:30 or 9, but it's 9 right now and G's mom just got up and is cooking something, possibly breakfast, possibly my lunch. Everyone else gets fish on the beach, but after my bad experience with probably the beach salad the last time I came here, that doesn't leave me with much to eat, so when we went out on Wednesday she made me pasta and fried up some deditos. (Deditos = "little fingers" =mini croissant type things with cheese inside). I probably woke up around 7:30 and didn't hear anyone out and about so I stayed in bed until I started freaking out because I don't have a clock in my room, and a little after 8 I got up and checked some emails, accepted a few new MySpace friends and started this blog at about 8:30.

Anyway, my beach bag is mostly still packed from Wednesday, so I don't have much to do, but I think I will go take a quick shower so my skin starts off clean before all the sunscreen I'm going to be slathering on it...

YAY BEACH!

Barranquilla and the Iowa State Fair Need to Be Friends

I think the two of them would have a really great recipe exchange of greasy fried inventions.

Click the picture to see it bigger.

This was a whole plantain smashed flat and fried, topped with tomato, onion, cheese, mayo, some sort of pink sauce and finished off with crushed potato chips. Dang was it tasty. Can't be good for you. And luckily I was sleeping alone, cuz that was a LOT of onions.

The drink behind it is a soda they call Kola. It's red and VERY VERY sweet... I personally found it a bit amusing that G's dad warned me not to eat too many fresh pineapple chunks because they were so sweet, when they drink this stuff almost every day. We also have fresh fruit juice pretty much every day at lunch - the fruit chunks are blended with water and sugar to taste. So it seems like the plain fresh fruit would be the most healthy, but whatevers!

Last night we went out for another fast food dish that I think could go over well at the State Fair, if they don't have something like it already. It's called mazorca desgranada and it's basically corn OFF the cob on a little plate and then it's topped with tasty things - mine had mayo, cheese and crushed potato chips. They seem to like to put crushed potato chips on everything here, they do it for hot dogs too. I tried to get juice, but they were out of juice. So then I tried to get orange soda but they were out of orange soda. All they had was Kola.

(Anyone heard Weird Al's song Albuquerque? (the part I'm talking about is about 5 minutes in, and if you're not a fan of dumb cartoon violence, skip it! hehe)
I said "You got any cinnamon rolls?"
He said "No, we're outta cinnamon rolls"
I said "You got any apple fritters?"
He said "No, we're outta apple fritters"
I said "You got any bear claws?"
He said "Wait a minute, I'll go check"
"No, we're outta bear claws"
I said "Well, in that case - in that case, what do you have?"
He says "All I got right now is this box of one dozen starving, crazed weasels"
I said "OK, I'll take that")

I'm thinkin' Barranquilla might dig walking tacos... (and I think it would be easy for a veg like me to substitute beans for the ground beef)

After dinner we took a walk around the park across the street. Funny I'd been here a month and a half and never gone and then two nights in a row I take a walk around the park. I'd gone the night before with G's aunt. She took me out to eat another tasty fried thing - I think it was called maribuñuelo? but in any case it was a buñuelo that I think was made with yucca and had cheese inside. Washed down with Kola of course. :-) (I just did a quick Google search and didn't fine maribuñuelo, but it appears that in much of the rest of the Spanish speaking world buñuelos are sweet - like donuts... there's that donut connection again...)

I need to load up some pictures of the baby shower from Saturday. More soon! I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left here!

Geography Lesson

For those of you who have no idea where I am, Barranquilla is there with the green arrow. Once you get to Miami it's only about a 2 hours and 20 minute flight, and it's in the same time zone as the East Coast in the US.

It's fairly hot and humid year round - think Iowa summer, but with a lots of big breezes coming in off the ocean to keep things pretty bearable.

Oh, and see how far away it is from Mexico? It's a totally different country, totally different food. I've yet to be served hot salsa or any spicy dish, though I HAVE had a lot of rice and beans. And I hear the food from the coast is different from the food from the mountains. Just like we have Chicago style and New York style pizza, and the culture in the US is different from the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc. Of course there are many similarities between the English speaking countries and the Spanish speaking countries, but thinking that all food south of Texas is tacos is both a huge and common mistake.