Last week, since I am a glutton for punishment, I ran the stairs here. Today, the same rings true I guess. I started my run and then decided that I was bored, and didn't want to do it anymore.. So I took to the stairs. Yikes. Last week, it was probably two and a half days before I could really walk again.. Hopefully this week I will not be in as much pain. I did the same amount, so hopefully I am in slightly better shape, and won't be hobbling around for days!
I learned this week (again... as I feel like I KEEP learning this lesson) I can't just expect that things here are the same as I am used to. First it happened with pizza. I assumed- ah pizza! A comfort food! I know pizza, so we can have something I am used to. Well pizza here is not the same. They don't use red sauce. And the crust isn't crusty. I was envisioning Deweys when we first ordered it. No spiciness to this pizza. That's for sure. I never thought that I would say it, since I am not a huge pizza enthusiast (I mean.. I like it, but it's not my favorite food by any means) but I really miss pizza. It's the food in the US that I think I miss the most. I expected to miss Chipotle. But we have recreated that, and I may even say that I like our "chipotle" better! Yesterday I learned another of my comfort foods that is very different. We decided to have lasagna for lunch. It was kind of a last minute decision, so we didn't even think to go over the plans with Johana. We had all of the ingredients, except ricotta, but Carlos said he didn't even know if they had ricotta here anyway, and they certainly don't use it in lasagna. I thought about it for a minute, and decided that since Johana knows how to make it, she can just use the cheeses that she is used to using. Well... As it turns out, there is also no red sauce in lasagna here. They use a cream sauce, cheese, chicken, and beef. Then throw in a smidge of "tomato sauce", or as we would call it- ketchup. Don't get me wrong.. It was very tasty. Delicious even. But it was not the meal I was expecting. I guess that I will need to spend some time, and write out all the meals I like, how to prepare them, and which ingredients to use. I can't assume that meals here are prepared the same way as I am used to.
As another example: the traditional way to cook meat here is boiling. I have NEVER boiled meat in my life. Ok, I think I have boiled chicken before maybe once or twice when it was going to be heavily seasoned, and shredded into small pieces, but for sure, NEVER any kind of beef. But here, they have to specify carne ASADA if they want it grilled. Color me surprised. I guess that is why filet isn't popular. Who wants boiled filet??? Whenever we have eaten at the farm, everything has been grilled usually, but I guess in people's homes it is different. Carlos told me that he didn't think people here really cared so much about the taste of the beef, and cooking it to optimize the taste. This I just don't get. Oh well.
I also don't get these chicken flavored chips. I haven't tried them yet, Carlos says they are very popular, but I am a little afraid to try them. These though- i totally get. Not only get.. but LOVE. These ripe plantain chips are completely delicious, and I love them especially before bed for my bedtime snack :) Just the right balance of salty and sweet!
Today our windows get covered with the prison bars and screens!!! YAY!!!! We will finally be able to have the windows open instead of closed all the time! The air here, especially at night is just so cool and fresh, and it will be a treat to be able to keep the windows open! I will post pictures of that later, after they get installed! We also put this thing on our door. It's a lock so that you can't open something. Each blue circle sticks to the surface it's on, and then when the lever is down, you can't open the door. Emma recently became obsessed with opening the door, and has been obsessed with the elevator, so we were afraid she would go down to the parking lot without us noticing. Especially since she wakes up a lot at night.
I learned this week (again... as I feel like I KEEP learning this lesson) I can't just expect that things here are the same as I am used to. First it happened with pizza. I assumed- ah pizza! A comfort food! I know pizza, so we can have something I am used to. Well pizza here is not the same. They don't use red sauce. And the crust isn't crusty. I was envisioning Deweys when we first ordered it. No spiciness to this pizza. That's for sure. I never thought that I would say it, since I am not a huge pizza enthusiast (I mean.. I like it, but it's not my favorite food by any means) but I really miss pizza. It's the food in the US that I think I miss the most. I expected to miss Chipotle. But we have recreated that, and I may even say that I like our "chipotle" better! Yesterday I learned another of my comfort foods that is very different. We decided to have lasagna for lunch. It was kind of a last minute decision, so we didn't even think to go over the plans with Johana. We had all of the ingredients, except ricotta, but Carlos said he didn't even know if they had ricotta here anyway, and they certainly don't use it in lasagna. I thought about it for a minute, and decided that since Johana knows how to make it, she can just use the cheeses that she is used to using. Well... As it turns out, there is also no red sauce in lasagna here. They use a cream sauce, cheese, chicken, and beef. Then throw in a smidge of "tomato sauce", or as we would call it- ketchup. Don't get me wrong.. It was very tasty. Delicious even. But it was not the meal I was expecting. I guess that I will need to spend some time, and write out all the meals I like, how to prepare them, and which ingredients to use. I can't assume that meals here are prepared the same way as I am used to.
As another example: the traditional way to cook meat here is boiling. I have NEVER boiled meat in my life. Ok, I think I have boiled chicken before maybe once or twice when it was going to be heavily seasoned, and shredded into small pieces, but for sure, NEVER any kind of beef. But here, they have to specify carne ASADA if they want it grilled. Color me surprised. I guess that is why filet isn't popular. Who wants boiled filet??? Whenever we have eaten at the farm, everything has been grilled usually, but I guess in people's homes it is different. Carlos told me that he didn't think people here really cared so much about the taste of the beef, and cooking it to optimize the taste. This I just don't get. Oh well.
I also don't get these chicken flavored chips. I haven't tried them yet, Carlos says they are very popular, but I am a little afraid to try them. These though- i totally get. Not only get.. but LOVE. These ripe plantain chips are completely delicious, and I love them especially before bed for my bedtime snack :) Just the right balance of salty and sweet!
Today our windows get covered with the prison bars and screens!!! YAY!!!! We will finally be able to have the windows open instead of closed all the time! The air here, especially at night is just so cool and fresh, and it will be a treat to be able to keep the windows open! I will post pictures of that later, after they get installed! We also put this thing on our door. It's a lock so that you can't open something. Each blue circle sticks to the surface it's on, and then when the lever is down, you can't open the door. Emma recently became obsessed with opening the door, and has been obsessed with the elevator, so we were afraid she would go down to the parking lot without us noticing. Especially since she wakes up a lot at night.
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