What's for Dinner?

Tonight on the menu we have a variety of international options for your enjoyment. These treats have been etched into our palates this year, and bring fond memories of the places we enjoyed them. They rank among our favorites. So, bon appetit, guten appetit, buon appetito, dober tek, buen provecho, bilhana wa ashshifa!

Morocco

The best meal here was prepared by a Muslim woman name Namah. Nameah worked at the riad we stayed at in Marrakech and not only prepared a fantastic lamb and vegetable tangine for us, she gave a how-to lesson as well. Her multi-step recipe looked easy enough, and yielded the best tangine we had while visiting Morocco. We’re hoping to reproduce her lesson sometime soon.

Italy

While staying and working for Paul and Paula in Velletri, we were treated to a very memorable meal of artichokes. These artichokes were prepared by stuffing them with a garlic, salt, pepper, lemon, mint and olive oil mix (2 tbs. of mix per artichoke). The artichokes were then charcoal grilled for about an hour. Though the hosts weren’t our favorites, the artichokes were to die for.

Another memorable meal in Italy was with Lucy and Peter, our help x hosts in Arrezo. They had two other helpers from Canada staying with them during our visit, and these guys worked on building an outside barbeque. The trial run for the barbeque, made out of cinder blocks holding up an iron mesh door, was an amazing assortment of sausages, ribs, vegetables, and potatoes wrapped up in foil. In hindsight I know we’ve had better barbeque in our lives, but this one was the first we had enjoyed in months, which heightened the taste even more.

One final memorable meal in Italy was in Padova. We had been walking and touring the city most of the day and stumbled into a somewhat chic looking establishment. There were white linens, candles, and servers in ties; but the prices were bargain. The meal was memorable to us because of the chapino (a fish soup) that we ordered. It had velvety white fish with plump shrimp and mussels, floating in a rich tomato broth. It was one of the best tasting meals we had in Italy.

Slovenia

On our final night in Branik, our help x host Tjasia took us to a traditional village harvest gathering for food and music. The music was polka. The food was giant plates of proscutto, olives with garlic and cheese, roasted eggplant, roasted pork, sauerkraut, sausages, and bread. This typical Slovenian food (mixture of Italian and Bavarian) was pleasantly filling, and the polka music and dance floor full old-timers was unforgettable.

Guatemala

There is small, dinky little restaurant in Antigua called Traveler’s Menu. They have four dishes on the menu and all are Asian themed. We both ordered the stir-fried chicken and vegetables, and were amazed at the amount (huge pile) and quality of the food. The reasonable price, and fact that we were eating very small portions at our home-stay, made it a treat.

In Panachel there is a main street that is lined with restaurants, both local and gringo owned. We chose one that was Argentinean, so I guess it would be extrajero (foreigner) owned, but perhaps not gringo. Anyway, the meal was memorable because they serve this mouth-wateringly juicy grilled chicken with chimichurri sauce and salad. Chimichurri is a green sauce with cilantro, parsley, and other fun spices. The atmosphere was open-aired and lined the busy Pana main street, so you got a nice view of all the locals and tourists passing by.

Portugal

Portugal had the best prices and some of the tastiest food in all the European countries we visited. Trisha’s favorite was the grilled fish (cod), which could be found expertly done at many of the restaurants in Lisbon (supposedly cod in Portugal can be prepared in so many forms, that you could have it a different way each day of the year). The way we had it was prepared simply by grilling it whole, which gave it a smoky and salty taste. A typical plate came with three fish, a salad, and rice or potatoes.


Nicaragua

After living in this country, I would not say their known for their food. However they ended up on our list five times, so they must be doing something right. I think most Nicas would be proud to know that about their food.

The first memorable meal was a fish soup we had on the Ometepe Island. The soup consisted of a huge bowl filled with a giant fish caught fresh that day in the lake, covered in a sweet, milky coconut broth, with vegetables and various spices. This was another of Trisha’s favorites. I liked it too, though was happy it came with toastones, which are fried, thick plantain disks that have a starchy-sweet taste to them and go great with ketchup.

The second winner is the typical Nica breakfast. This was not Trisha’s favorite, but definitely scored high on my list. The meal consists of two eggs (usually scrambled or fried), a big helping of gallo pinto (the main Nicaraguan staple eaten with all meals - rice and beans mixture), fried plantains (the sweet ones) and maybe bread. There is one addition that I never touched after a few initial taste-tests, and that is cuajada. This cheese is by far my least favorite food item of the year. It’s a salty, white cheese that has been fried and is served in squares. It smells and tastes like gym socks.

If I chose to eat the traditional Nica breakfast (not everyday of course), Trisha was sure to be partaking in a wonderful fruit bowl. Indeed the fruit was so plump and sweet and incredibly inexpensive, that when living in Matagalpa, we prepared cantaloupe, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, and banana, or a combination of those on a daily basis.

Our fourth favorite was a meal we had in the city of Leon, at Dick’s Last Resort restaurant. This turned out be one our most random, yet satisfying meals. Being in Leon on New Year’s Eve and Day, our food options were extremely limited as everything was closed. After walking the city for hours on New Years Eve, we ran into Dick’s. This gringo run restaurant with Nicaraguan employees was decorated in a surfer theme, and had two giant televisions showing U.S. sporting events. So while watching the Holiday Bowl, or Jeep Liberty Bowl, or one of those bowls, we enjoyed yummy plates of fajitas.

Our final Nica meal was memorable both for the company we shared and the great food. As mentioned in previous blogs, our students Enrique and daughter Anna befriended us at Academia Europe, and invited us for dinner at their home. After enjoying an informative tour of their coffee plantation farm and house, we dove into some excellent vegetable lasagna, homemade bread, and freshly prepared fruit juice. With salad and a flan dessert to accompany, we had our biggest feast in Central America.