The food here is great! And fortunately (knock on wood) I haven´t experienced any "problems." My host mother makes me breakfast and dinner. Breakfast consistently includes, a hard boiled egg, a croissant type roll with jam or cheese (or both), a glass of fresh homemade juice, a banana, and a cup of warm milk with either chocolate or instant coffee (or both). I haven´t been able to figure out why a country that grows their own coffee prefers to drink NesCafe. I understand that it´s cheaper and they'd rather sell than drink a very profitable crop, but it is just not the same. The fresh juice is my favorite. My host mother makes it every day in the blender and often with a strainer too. Orange, passion fruit, guava, tree tomato (which is more juice like than traditional tomato juice), and a number of other delicious fruits that are native to Ecuador that Í don´t know the names of. By far the best is the ¨mora¨ juice which is the Ecuadorian equivalent to the blackberry.
The discovery of blackberries in Ecuador inspired me to teach my host mother how to make pie (because my favorite pie to make is Blackberry Sour Cream). Since a recipe of pie crust is enough for 2 or 3 pies, we also decided to make apple pie. Due to the challenges of baking at high altitudes and my substitution of corn starch for yucca starch (pronounced YOU-KA, it´s kinda like a potato), the blackberry pie unfortunately turned out a bit runny (my Ecuadorian brother called it pudding), but the apple pie turned out great, and made me very popular amongst my siblings. My Ecuadorian mom loves the ¨masa¨ (pie crust) so much she wants to use if for empanadas... I can´t wait to try them.
Carmen (my host mother) and I with the apple pie.
Lunch and dinner are about the same and always include hot soup. Fortunately my host mother enjoys cooking, particularly cooking soups. After the soup course there's a "dry" plate usually including rice, potatoes, some kind of meat, and some sort of vegetable or salad. It is very common to have rice, potatoes and pasta all in the same meal... Ecuador is not for the Atkins inclined.
I have to do laundry once a week because, well to be honest, that´s how much underwear I brought. My family has a great washing station in the back yard that includes a washer and dryer, and a number of clothes lines. Because things dry very quickly at this high altitude and because of the cost of electricity, the dryer is actually only used to store the dog food.
The weather in Quito is different from the rest of Ecuador and it´s currently winter. It will be sunny and warm (mid 70's) in the mornings, by noon it´s usually cloudy, and by about 2pm it´s pouring down rain. Nights are cool, in the mid to upper 50´s. If laundry is done on a week day, someone has to be home to bring it in before the rain starts.
Thanks to my wonderful brother I now have a new camera. It would have been 50 bucks for me to pick it up form the post office but because the woman felt bad that I was replacing a stolen camera I didn´t have to pay...:)
Me at school:
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2 comments:
Hello Dayna, good to hear from you. Very interesting situation to be in. You pictures are interesting to see. Food sounds good and your family sounds like they are good folks to be with.
How are your Spanish lessons comming? Your stories in some ways remind me of the stories your folks sent home when they where in Brazil with the Peace Corp.
Do you go to chuch?
Do you meet folks your age?
No news on the job front.
Dayna, email me when you can.
My email address is vebellevue@aol.com.
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