food incidents - updated
We've had a few food incidents here recently.
1. The International Cookie Incident: my Dad and his wife sent us some cookies. Not just cookies. Malomars. Could have broken open the entire South American cookie market here they're so damn good. We love malomars and it would have been great. Unfortunatley, the folks at customs had other ideas. Apparently, these cookies were picked up at customs. Contraband? maybe. The shipping company claims that packaged food goods are nto to be imported without paying a duty. It's 4 boxes of cookies. My family is not in the import-export business. I could go down to the airport (US$30 cab ride each way) and fill out a form and pay the duty and get cookies, or have the shipping company "abandon" the package. If I do nothing the shipping company charges my Dad for "storage" of the contents. As if these cookies would last more than 10 mintues. I think they're scared here for what Malomars could do their cookie business.
2. We decided to make tex-mex food. Actually, I decided. Found a recipe on the net for re-fried beans that was supposed to be easy and involved beer. Looking good. However, the recipe called for canned black beans, which are not available here. I had to work with dry beans. So I bought a few bags and soaked them overnight. They outgrew the first pot I put them in - that should have been the first signal that I bought too much. I needed four 14-ounce cans, which is about 1.4 kilos. I ended up with more than three times that. Adn it seemed to grow with each passing minute. The other problem is that dry beans are not cooked, like canned beans. So the recipe that was supposed to take 2 hours ended up taking 6, as the beans needed to cook. On the plus side, they turned out fantastic and we have enough for a week. And we have beans ready for round two next week. And I threw out a third of the beans. So if you want some home made tex-mex, come on down!
3. Cheedar. We found a mexican restaurant nearby (great guacamole, but everything else was mediocre) and found out more about cheese. Apparently when you ask for a small side of cheddar cheese (which is actually spelled cheedar in two different places on the menu), you don't get a small cup of grated cheese. You get a large pot of melted cheedar like a fondu pot. Large, like you could swim in this bowl of cheedar.
4. More cheese. There's an expression here "Soy un queso" which literally means "I am cheese" but which we gather implies more that you're a spaz.
5. There's another expression from Spain involving milk that our friend Elizabeth taught us but we can't repeat it here because it's not for public consumption.
1. The International Cookie Incident: my Dad and his wife sent us some cookies. Not just cookies. Malomars. Could have broken open the entire South American cookie market here they're so damn good. We love malomars and it would have been great. Unfortunatley, the folks at customs had other ideas. Apparently, these cookies were picked up at customs. Contraband? maybe. The shipping company claims that packaged food goods are nto to be imported without paying a duty. It's 4 boxes of cookies. My family is not in the import-export business. I could go down to the airport (US$30 cab ride each way) and fill out a form and pay the duty and get cookies, or have the shipping company "abandon" the package. If I do nothing the shipping company charges my Dad for "storage" of the contents. As if these cookies would last more than 10 mintues. I think they're scared here for what Malomars could do their cookie business.
2. We decided to make tex-mex food. Actually, I decided. Found a recipe on the net for re-fried beans that was supposed to be easy and involved beer. Looking good. However, the recipe called for canned black beans, which are not available here. I had to work with dry beans. So I bought a few bags and soaked them overnight. They outgrew the first pot I put them in - that should have been the first signal that I bought too much. I needed four 14-ounce cans, which is about 1.4 kilos. I ended up with more than three times that. Adn it seemed to grow with each passing minute. The other problem is that dry beans are not cooked, like canned beans. So the recipe that was supposed to take 2 hours ended up taking 6, as the beans needed to cook. On the plus side, they turned out fantastic and we have enough for a week. And we have beans ready for round two next week. And I threw out a third of the beans. So if you want some home made tex-mex, come on down!
3. Cheedar. We found a mexican restaurant nearby (great guacamole, but everything else was mediocre) and found out more about cheese. Apparently when you ask for a small side of cheddar cheese (which is actually spelled cheedar in two different places on the menu), you don't get a small cup of grated cheese. You get a large pot of melted cheedar like a fondu pot. Large, like you could swim in this bowl of cheedar.
4. More cheese. There's an expression here "Soy un queso" which literally means "I am cheese" but which we gather implies more that you're a spaz.
5. There's another expression from Spain involving milk that our friend Elizabeth taught us but we can't repeat it here because it's not for public consumption.
posted by gregory stackel at 8:59 PM
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