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KZ KitchenIf more of us valued good food & cheer & song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien |
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Going SoloJoel wanted to go for a walk by himself on Saturday morning (read), so I decided to try shopping for the vegetables and chicken by myself.
This is what I got at the Fruver La Canasta Campesina for $18,140 (about $10 USD).
 cilantro, baby potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 yuca, onions, red bell pepper, 3 avocados, 5 tomatoes, 4 lulos, 4 limes, 1 plantain, 4 bananas, 2 peaches, 2 Hawaiian papayas (they are smaller), 2 maracuya (for juice). Red, White & . . .If I didn't have a Facebook account, I might not immediately remember that USA Independence Day should be celebrated this weekend.
However, we managed to celebrate with some American food in one of the more expensive restaurant neighborhoods in Bogota.
Can you guess where we went?
 First Clue: Part of the decor above our table (yes, in English in Colombia)...
 Second clue: The part of American restaurants that we don't sit in . . .
Third clue: Does this shed any light. . .
Final Clue: I can't magnify the evidence more than this!
Yup. T.G. I. Friday's. The Asian Nacho appetizer was a little bit sweeter than Joel preffered. It came with plastic gloves, rather than wet-wipes. Joel took longer than usual to decide what to order. He ended up choosing the blackened chicken sandwich. I got 4 riblets with apple coleslaw. Both plates came with "American" fries, but we think that they still used Colombian potatoes. The decor was very similar to what you would expect to see at TGIF in The States, but the atmosphere was a bit different. A few of the waitresses had Mickey Mouse ear headbands on. Ours had black fishnet hose and a short skirt. I wasn't suprised to see that the buttons pinned onto her shirt had playboy bunnies... Happily, she didn't try to flirt. Well, back to the food! Joel said the chicken was the right texture. Although it was a whole piece of chicken breast (not shredded or sliced), it came apart easily when he bit into it. The ciabatta bread was also just about perfect: neither too crunchy and dry, nor tough and rubbery. The meat on my ribs didn't fall off, but it was pretty tender. Again, the sauce was a little bit sweeter than what I would serve, but it wasn't bad. The apples in the slaw were tasty, but I was getting tired of cabbage after eating alot with the Asian nachos. Overall, we stuffed ourselves and were satisfied with the food. Hurray for the Red, White & Blue!
Breakfast-Lunch-Supper?We've been in Bogota for just over a month now. Although we plan to stay here, we can't really settle in until after we finish our TEFL training. Our class schedule makes it difficult to eat meals at "regular" times. Another factor is that we sleep in later...we think we are more tired because of the altitude?
 This morning we had our first meal at 9:30a.m. 
Then a cono de helado (ice cream) for me and tinto (black coffee) for Joel at 11:45 a.m., because we got to class 20 minutes early.
We found out that our teacher was infermo, so we decided to find one of the big libraries in Bogota before we returned home.
At 3 something, I threw almost everything we had left in the fridge ( I need to go shopping again) together to make chorizo fried rice.
 Then Joel asked for some of the left-over zuchinni brownies to go with his 5th(?) cup of coffee.
An hour or so later, he decided that tomato soup and toasted cheese would be good, so we made our way through the neighborhood to a cooperative and a cheese store.
After that, I blended some juice from a fruit that I don't remember the name of along with some lime and pineapple.
Hopefully, we won't need a midnight snack. Chocolate or Chimichurri?One or two years ago, we spent a weekend in Granite Falls, MN with friends. Saturday night at the parsonage, Todd fired up the grill and we were already munching on the Doritoes that Rachel had contributed to our meal. Deborah and I had the challenge of figuring out what to do with the giant zuchinni squashes that had won in the Mitchells' garden. That evening we decided to slice the "baseball bats" into rounds, marinade them in Argentinian chimichurri and envelope them in aluminum foil, so that Todd could cook them outside.
This year, the "Big Zuchinni Challenge" is back. However, in Bogota I don't think that there is any chance of ever finding those perfect, pencil-sized zuchinnis. Most of the squash that I find at the neighborhood tiendas are larger than a strong man's arm. It was only after rummaging through a pile last week that I got one that I decided I might be able to slice into something edible.
My other adventure today was to put together lasagne, so zuchinni on the side seemed appropriate. Thanks to the internet, however, I decided to forego grilled vegetables.
 You've probably heard of chocolate zuchinni bread or chocolate zuchinni cake, but have you tried a zuchinni brownie? My attempt at baking cookies in high altitude failed early last week. However, I like fudgy brownies, so I figured it wouldn't matter if my batched turned out a little bit more moist than other's.
I was able to find most of the ingredients in the cupboards, but was short on flour and only came across baking powder instead of baking soda.
1/2 c oil
1 1/2 c white granulated sugar
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 c all purpose flour
2 c (ground in the blender) dry oatmeal
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 c shredded zuchinni
Preheat oven to 200* Celcius (Remember that I'm baking at high altitude: mountains, Gandalf!)
Grease and flour a rectangle, glass baking dish ( I don't know the dimensions, sorry.).
Mix oil, sugar and vanilla extract together.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, ground oatmeal, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
Add dry mixture to the oil-sugar-vanilla mixture. Fold in the shredded zuchinni and combine until just moist.
Transfer mix to the greased baking dish and bake it for 35 - 40 minutes.
Remove the brownie pan from the oven while the batter still looks a little bit loose. Let them cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes on a cooling rack.
Enjoy!
...Got milk?
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