Jungle Palm Worms February 6, 2009

I went on a trip with 34 students from my 7th grade classes. We spent one night in a jungle lodge near a town called Tena, about 4 hours from Quito and another night camping in the rain off of the Arajuno River. Torrential downpours is a better description as rain just doesn’t do it justice.

Here is a picture of one of the few clear moments.

This picture was taken from my tent. 

For dinner we had a covered area near where we camped and put together our own dinners of chicken, fish, heart of palm and a palm worm, wrapped in a leaf and cooked over coals.   This was served with yucca and madera, or ripe cooked banana. The worm was an experience. I’m not talking about a small grub. This thing was huge and moving as you may imagine a giant worm moving. 

This live worm was ripped in half to release its flavor and then tossed with the other meat and wrapped up in the leaf. 

I didn’t eat a whole worm, but I did take a good sized bite. I can’t say I was able to stomach it easily, but I can say I tried it and it tasted good. Then I was slightly grossed out that it was stuck in my teeth for the next 15 minutes. I do have to say that evening, I was just as grossed out by the chicken. Thinking about a live one of those in front of me and killing it is much worse than the palm worm.

 I’m not sure how ethical it is to eat something you can’t kill.

Making bread, well almost January 11, 2009

 

I have this great bread book called The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. It has wonderful step by step instructions for making bread at home by hand. Last night Andres and I worked painstakingly to recreate the bread that is illustrated in the book’s first recipe “Tassajara Yeasted Bread”. The process took about 3 hours including the various times the dough was left to rise. We seemed to be going really well, with each of the steps looking somewhat like it’s numbered, illustrated instruction.

I finally got the first loaf ready to go into the oven. I turned the dial on our only oven in the house, our toaster oven, and…click, out went the electricity. I’m sure we blew a fuse, but being 11pm and the first time this had happened we were unable to figure out what we would need to do to get the juice flowing to the house again. The bread, the poor, poor, almost perfect bread. I wrapped up the various pieces of dough, which by this time were in the form of rolls and loaves and put them aside for a time when I would be able to bake it. 

This morning electricity was restored and I put the dough in the oven. I was hoping for something at least somewhat edible so as to not waste 12 cups of flour, milk, oil etc. The rolls turned out small and hard, but edible and I’m sure we will eat the loaves, even though their consistency isn’t what was expected. 

Overall disappointing, but I do vow to try again. I’m kicking myself for not investing in the full sized stove with gas oven. The $80 extra just seemed like so much at that time. Toaster ovens are not ideal for bread in so many ways. 

The machine responsible for the ruined bread and loss of electricity. This is the morning after these rolls should have been baked. They did not get any bigger than this, just a lot harder (see above). Maybe I’ll make breadcrumbs. 

These are two of the loaves the day after they were supposed to be baked. They look very different than they did last night. They would have been much fluffier if they had been properly baked.

Eating a Guanta December 17, 2008

The Pacheco family was delivered a smallish rodent sent by a friend of theirs from the coast. The animal came via land, wrapped in bags of ice. It was the size of a small pig. 

Guanta or Paca

According to Frommer’s, the animal is a forest dwelling creature that feeds on fallen fruit, nuts and leaves. With such a diet you might think it would taste good. Maybe it was the fact that I had seen the corpse hang out in the sink before trying it (see above), or the fact that I couldn’t get the idea of a giant rodent out of my head, but either way I wasn’t able to eat very much of it. 

It was prepared with a maracuya (passion fruit) sauce and was roasted. The final product could have passed for beef, or possibly pork in appearance and odor. It smelled like bacon in the pan.

Nothing like a large rodent for dinner. I’m glad I can say I have tried Guanta. 

A Giant Twist on Mojitos November 21, 2008

I posted a recipe similar to this one month ago, but I love this drink so much I am going to repost it with some additions. 

 

Cucumber and Mint Mojitos

Handful of Mint- roughly chopped
1/2 large cucumber- sliced
Juice of 6 lemons
5 Tablespoons sugar (more or less to taste)
1 in. cube ginger, peeled and sliced
16 oz rum or vodka 
1 cup sparkling water
Mint leaves to garnish
Ice

Boil 1/2 a cup of water and add sugar to dissolve. Let dissolved sugar water cool. In a large pitcher mix the sliced cucumber, juice of lemons, dissolved sugar, ginger and mint. Lightly mash with a fork for 30 seconds. Divide ice and vodka into 4 tall glasses. Put 1 or 2 pieces of cucumber in each glass. Pour mixture in pitcher over the vodka and ice leaving room for a splash of sparking water. Top off with a mint leaf to garnish. 

I understand mojitos usually have rum, but as I am not personally a big fan of the stuff I recommend using vodka if you are like me. I am sipping one of these right now as I enjoy my Friday afternoon. I am so grateful for Friday afternoons. The whole weekend in front.  Hope you can enjoy your next one with a cucumber and ginger mojito.

Tenting at the Beach August 12, 2008

We spent a long weekend at the beach in the province of Esmeraldes. We took the scenic route there and stopped by grandma and grandpa Erazo’s house. On our drive to the beach we found my store, if only my life had been a little different:

 We arrived late in the afternoon at the beach and found a great place called Playa Escondito. The site was awesome with electricity, a great fireplace and beach front view. Best of all there were no other people camping. Although it is high season for travelers in Ecuador, camping is not very popular. 

We cooked our own food including excellent langostinos, or big shrimp. We cooked them two ways, one with curry and another grilled with pineapple. They were just excellent. 

The best part of the long weekend was the relaxing. I finished a good book, took some nice walks and swam in the warm ocean water. We cooked great food, went to bed early and slept in late. It was vacation at is finest. I am getting ready to start a job tomorrow that I did not previously expect to be doing. I will begin teaching 6th and 7th grade social studies and English. I am excited about this and grateful that I got a couple really good vacations in before starting back to official work. 

I loved this place.

Pebre August 1, 2008

With every meal here we have a sauce made with hot peppers and a variety of spices. It goes with just about everything. We put it on bread, soups, spaghettis, salads, potatoes, rice and just about every dish with meat you can imagine. I just talked with my dad and he mentioned he has a lot of hot peppers in his garden and isn’t sure what to do with them. This recipe is for him and I hope you will try it too. 

Pebre

• 2 hot peppers – any color, any spiciness (finely chopped)
• 1/4 cup parsley (finely chopped)
• 1/2 onion (finely chopped)
• piece of ginger (finely chopped)
• basil (finely chopped)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil and white vinegar
• any other fresh herb or spice that you like and can find in your garden or refrigerator

You really want to chop everything finely so that it mixes well in the sauce. The ingredients listed above are just a suggestion. If you don’t like ginger, don’t put it. If you really like cilantro, make sure to add it. The beauty of Pebre is that it is never the same twice. Your creativity is your only limitation. 

Here is the Pebre we had today with lunch and dinner today. We finished the one from yesterday with breakfast.

I wanted to get a more colorful picture of Pebre using red hot peppers, but this is authentic as it is what accompanied almost every dish I ate today.

Thanks to Carly who reminded me I forgot the olive oil and vinegar!

I love France in the Fall November 26, 2007

Emily: In October Andres and I traveled to France with our families. We stayed two hours outside of Paris at a chateau big enough for the 10 of us. We cooked great food, took daily excursions to towns close by and had time at the beginning and end of our trip to explore a little bit of Paris. It was such a great trip. Not even the exchange rate of the dollar to Euro could put us in a bad mood. The two weeks went too fast and left us wanting more. Now we are working on our plans for our trip to Chile in December and hope to make it even more relaxing.

Weekend Cocktails September 4, 2007

We decided to explore the liquid side of food and beverage photography and conducted a late night cocktail photo session. After running around town looking for the perfect glasses, olives, ice and mixers we set out to create the perfect drink concoctions. Andres started with a blue vodka drink that ended up down the drain after we got some good pictures of it, as it was made with a blue frozen pop that tasted slightly like soap. From that point we made a rule that if you are not going to drink it use water, as we were quite sure the camera would not know the difference. Our favorite drink of the night was inspired by a drink I ordered recently at a bar in San Francisco. I don’t remember the specific, funky name the bar gave it, but to keep it simple, I’ve named it a Cucumber Mint Mojito. It is quite amazing how refreshing the mixture of mint and cucumber is. I am actually sipping another one right now as it’s still close to 90 degrees at 9 pm. Other drinks we experimented with were berry vampires, dry martinis, green monsters and a limoncello, which like many Hollywood celebrities, looked splendid on the outside, but was quite rotten and inaccessible when it came down to it. Check out our photos from the wonderful night on our food page.

Cucumber Mint Mojito
½ cup of fresh mint leaves
Juice of 4 limes
5 TB white sugar
8 oz vodka
¼ large cucumber, peeled and finely diced
½ cup carbonated water
Ice
Slice of lime and fresh mint for decoration

Combine mint leaves, cucumber, sugar, lime and vodka in large plastic glass. Crush ingredients together with wooden spoon. Once ingredients are mixed together fill glass 1/3 full of mixture including some mint and cucumber. Add ice and fill glass to 2/3 full with more of the cucumber mint mixture. Add carbonated water, top off with ice and decorate to taste. Serve immediately.

Camp Food With Style August 26, 2007

During our many nights of camping we did not miss out on great food. We made sure we were stocked with fresh produce and local meats and cheeses. This dish is a fresh, local, Canadian salmon, that we marinated in maple syrup and grilled. We served the salmon over a bed of spinach linguini in a white wine, tomato, basil, bell pepper, garlic sauce. The pasta dish was accompanied by a South African white wine. The meal was incredible. We slept very well under the stars that evening in Victoria, Canada.

The Chilean in Us August 13, 2007

Andres has taught me everything I know about Pebre. It’s a hot salsa that originates in Chile that can be added to almost every any food to give it an extra kick. From bread to mashed potatoes to salads, everything tastes a little bit better with a spoon full of pebre. We make a different pebre at least 4 times a week. A bowl of it lasts maybe a day. Each bowl of pebre has its own unique flavor. Even with similar ingredients, it never turns out exactly how it was the time before. Your own creativity is your only limitations and I have yet to taste a pebre I didn’t like.

Basic Pebre (Andres and Emily Style)

-2 Hot peppers of any type or color
-small white onion
-small handful of parsley
-clove of garlic
-splash of white vinegar
-splash of olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste

Chop all ingredients finely and mix with olive oil and vinegar. Use 2 parts olive oil to 1 part vinegar. Serve on pieces of bread or with pita, tortilla or potato chips. Can be served with any meal.

Note: A variety of other ingredients can be added to pebre to spice it up. These ingredients include, but are not limited to: fresh ginger, oregano, basil, green onion, green or red sweet peppers, red onion, tomato, chives or dill.

Your only limitation with pebre is your own creativity.

A chick pea and curry dish August 13, 2007

Andres made chick peas with some curry and coconut milk with garden herbs and naan recently, it was delicious and mildly spicy. We love to cook and will be posting our food pictures really soon.