Food!

Let me begin my stating that for far superior thoughts on food, you should check out Ariel's blog that she does with a mutual friend Alex - http://www.aveganblarg.com/ They cook vegan, but more importantly they cook tasty. Here in the jungle, I often end up cooking vegan or vegantarian myself - my other inclinations are generally more expensive and requiring of refridgeration - but not nearly so consistently tasty. But I'm learning! And I'm happy to have spent a few happy hours in Ariel's kitchen learning amazingly applicable things for my cooking here - who would have thought a collegiate Vegan kitchen wouldn't be that far from a Peace Corps jungle kitchen? Of course, it is really far which is tough but we do what we can.

So, this is the story of a meal I made. But it starts with a woman. A grandmother that lives near me, to be exact. One whom I have helped make cassava and other things and who, as grandmothers the world over, often gives me food and expresses concerns about me not eating enough, etc. Unfortunately, she tends to give me/make TERRIBLE tasting food. Cassava bread is in fact almost unpalatable unless it is still warm or smothered in peanut butter. She often has meat, which is wonderful - meat! But jungle meat, particularly smothered in local oil, is not actually yummy. And she knows I love okra and so often calls me when she makes it...but the way they cook it here, and in particular the way she cooks it - mixed with the incredibly bitter vegetables they love here and cooked until it is slimy and viscous - it hurts. It just hurts.

GRANDMA BAO - They do have Bao in this country. Asian market in the city. Oh yes.

ME WITH CASSAVA

In this grand tradition, she gave me some quaak. It's cassava based, but prepared differently and kind of dried/baked into something like grape nuts that can be eaten as a hot cereal or mixed with rice. I didn't think to get a picture of it in raw form, but picture grapenuts without anything grapey and you have it - she gave me a large calabash full of the stuff. I didn't really know what to do with it except I was pretty sure I wouldn't love it for breakfast.

So here's what I did instead, here in my jungle kitchen. Two burner propane stove, two pots, one pan, only the spices and sauces you thought to bring from the only city in the country - a seven-ish hour journey away by car and boat.

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

THE TOOLS OF MASTERWORKERY (more commonly known as the majority of my pots and pans)

I made soup! Well, really stew. Given the amount of wood-ish stuff, dirt-ish stuff, and small beasties (even after washing it several times), I knew this was something I wanted to boil hard. So I put it all in my big pot and started it a roiling! I knew it was going to be bland to death except for that faint (and not entirely wonderful) cassava back drop, so I added two packets of Chinese Chicken soup flavoring and a healthy extra dose of garlic and soy sauce. It boiled into the consistency of a slightly watery gruel, but smelled pretty good - now to make it into actual food! It was probably about 20 minutes for those of you following along at home, but you'll know by looking and tasting.

STEAMY POT (ignore the fact that you can see green beans and thus know that this is out of sequence)

My garden here produces green beans, antroelwa, and eggplant so far. Antroelwa is perfect for one thing - giving away. I don't know how to cook it yet, but I know it would have to involve sugar because it is just to bitter for me to love at this point. But the eggplant and beans are good and a staple of my diet here. So I cut them up together to steam/stir fry in my pan with a maggie (bouillon) cube and a bit of oil and enough water. It comes out tasty every time - so easy even I can't mess it up! Though I almost did this time, since I learned in this go that they are better cooked separately - too bad I only have the 1 pan!

Given how much stew-base I had made, it was a good thing I hadn't picked beans in 2 days - I cut up a bicep-sized bundle of green beans, and they are generally 14-18 inches long here. It was about three eggplants - they are less than half the size of what I picture eggplants as in the States, but they add some consistency and some variety to whatever you throw them into. The oil and bouillon are mostly for flavor and sticking, the water should be just enough to boil into steam not to really boil the veggies. Stir it up good when you first start it, but then leave it covered for about 10 minutes before you begin checking it. I like them slightly crunchy, here. When my mom makes them, with almonds and other lovely things, I like them cooked soft - but here a little bit of crunch is welcome, since Saramaccans cook EVERYTHING until it's soft. Including fish bones, which I think I mentioned in a previous episode.

STEAM-STIR FRY ATTACK THROW DOWN

So anyway, green beans are good, but do they have protein? I don't know, but I know I love my protein - especially when eating cassava based foods. That's thanks to an article my dad sent me - thanks Dad! - about an odd neurological condition that can strike if you aren't getting your proteins right while consuming large amounts of cassava. I'm oversummarizing and I didn't read the article deeply, so my facts are basically nonexistent, but let's just be honest - this stew still needed some oomph!

So I mixed in three chunks of white protein - I would recommend tofu for those vegemites among you and eggs for those baby-eaters lacking access to tofu! They do have it here, but it requires refridgeration so you can't keep it for long.

Saramaccans eat asian style - rice based and pulling from several small communal dishes of vegetables and whatever else. So they are occasionally scandalized by my approach of mix-it-all-together-smush! Thanksgiving loaf, any day of the year. And that's the approach I did here, quite appropriate to the stew-like idea I think.

UNHOLY MIXTURE OF TASTY JOY

After that, I gave it some time to cool and meld a bit and then it was time to eat! Pretty darn tasty, surprisingly enough! I don't really know how to cook, but when it comes to making things up as I go and having fun at the same time I tend to do alright. Usually.

GARRRRRRLICSSSS! Some of this got thrown in - who'd have thunk it!

FLYING SAUCES! Well maybe they aren't flying. But they are on my wall! Kind of!

Anyway, sorry I can't always include pictures like this - it's just too hard given the type of internets we have here. I'd love to be offering better albums and comments too, but it's just too hard for the above reasons. So check out the link at the top of my blog for the photos I have been able to upload - jumbled as they may be - and enjoy this slightly more coherent attempt. And now, more food pictures! Yay!

ANOTHER DAY'S ATTEMPT - Lessons learned! Don't mix beans and eggplant when you cook them! Use both your pots! Rice turned out ok this time. TVP for protein, good vegan meal!

ANOTHER UNHOLY MIXTURE!! - from training. When the primary ingredients made available to you are peanut butter, bread, nutella, and cucumber...well eventally you end up throwing them together. What can I say - it wasn't half bad! It made for breakfast and I can claim the title of champion (family scrabble, thank you very much just to name one example) so therefore UNHOLY MIXTURE BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS! NOW ABSESTOS FREE!

BANANA BREAD! I tried to get a picture of the um...you know...banana bread itself. But it goes fast. Very fast. It once got a speeding ticket in Pennsylvania. No joke. I've made banana bread about 6 times here and it's turned out tasty four times, ungreat once, and burned but tasty once! Not bad! Wish I had chocolate chips though.

That's all folks! Bye!