fud

 


Stuart and I found ourselves in a bit of a panic this week. We were almost out of tonic, for his gin and my rum (I know, I've been drinking tequila, but I like variety!), and after looking in several stores, we were still looking at a dry spell. So, Friday we hopped a bus, and went to the Mega store north of here, but not as far as Gran Plaza. To make a long story short: bingo! We left with a case of 6-pack bottles, the last case in the store. There is much packaging waste in this country, seems that everything is sold for single unit comsumption. While we were at this big, mega store, I did a little more shopping. Cheese, for my queso rellenos, was on the list, (scored) along with Stuart's other eternal quest for decent bread, where we failed.

The meat department at my fav store in NC is against the back wall, with the display coolers and walk-in coolers adjascent to each other. This Mega store had the meat department set out in the middle of the store. The meat hombres were slicing away, surrounded by the display coolers. Hey, there is refrigeration here, unlike the meat section at the mercados. The photo above is from the deli area of the meat department. This 'ham' is turkey (pavo), and Fud is prounounced 'food'. So, for those of us who were unaware that turkeys are now being grown cubularly, this is living proof. hehehe! I also bought some green chorizos, sausages. For about $2 US, I'll find out just what is in this. The meat hombre told me the color is from the vegetables, and he assured me that they are 'sabrosa'. We'll cook them our our grillito soon.





 

Now, in my opinion, THIS is fud! I went to the Santa Ana, after our Mega trip, to buy the real stuff, and found mangos. It's very early for them, so I was surprised to see them. My sweet fruit man gave me an extra, I seem to be getting a gift a day. He told me they came from Tehuantepec, in the Isthmus of Mexico. Of course, I also bought a papaya, and I found those delicate little squash crillo that I love from Oaxaca. It is a good food day, and it's not even 10am!

The queso relleno turned out vveerrry good, if I do say so myself. I didn't have flour, for the kol, so I made rice flour, which worked ok. The freezer here is getting full of stocks of various kinds, I feel so rich, to be able to pull out a bag of stock to make a soup or stew. My Lyman Morton 'Oaxaca to Yuacatan' cookbook is a great food companion, many thanks to Lyman. And, the queso relleno is something I can easily reproduce at home.

Later, Friday, we met friends from VT for lunch. They spend 6 months here, and 6 months there. Jeanne has a great haircut, and called her hairdresser while we were at the restaurant. Eddie, a cuban/american, said to come this afternoon. Great haircut! And, he's just as cute as he can be!
Eduasrdo Romero
Calle 38, No. 243, 71 y 43
cel. 999-162 2809

Jeanne had a pedicure while I was getting coiffed, and it looked so good, I made an appointment for Stuart and me for Saturday morning. Time for pampering! Jeanne and Charles are renting a huge house on the north side of town, and we got the tour. A lovely, open, air-moving type of new house, with lots of windows and tile work. A pool in the back garden, tall fence all the way around, umpteen bedrooms and bathrooms (which they share), it is a beautiful place to spend the winter. Our lovely little apartment will fit in kitchen/dining room of their house. Oh, and they have a 2 car garage, with no car, and a maid's room. Jeanne has a place for her watercolor painting, and has begun a small herb garden out back.

Another beautiful day here, time for cocktails on the patio...