Sunday March 13, 2011
Buenos Dias a todos!
Today almost everyone from our group went on a day trip to Mexico City.
I decided to stay behind since I will be visiting Mexico City with my mom and Rick in a few weeks. I woke up at breakfast and went running. My legs were tired and my mouth was really dry and it was a pretty dang hard 45 minutes run. I brought some money with me because my plan was to stop on the way back to buy a few things to make lunch and dinner.
I finished running at about 10:30 AM and the streets were bustling with people shopping at makeshift markets and stores lining the calle. I bought a zucchini and carrots from a woman with all produce. This cost me 5 pesos. I kept walking and then stopped to buy a lime from another store, jicama, rice, and an orange. All for a grand total of 11 pesos - about 1 US dollar.
I returned home and had to figure out what I wanted to make.
We had a lot of torta (sandwich) bread, kind of like french bread and I was thinking some kind of bruschetta, especially because I have access to oregano and fresh rosemary. Then I decided on a panzanella.
Ingredients:
Makes 1-2 servings (I ate it all!)
1/2 zucchini
1 tomato
1/2 white onion
1/2 jicama
1/4 avocado
Hot pickled peppers
5 cloves garlic
1 slice of day old torta or french bread
olive oil
salt
pepper
rosemary
oregano
Preparation:
I sliced the onion, tomato, jicama, zucchini into small chunks and placed them in a pie dish along with the whole cloves of garlic. Drizzle olive oil over top. Add salt, pepper, oregano, and rosemary and use hands to coat the vegetables in spices and oil.
Bake them at 425 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes depending on how soft you like your veggies.
Place a frying pan on medium heat and add olive oil. Cut bread into 1/2 inch chunks and place into hot oil along with some salt and pepper. Toast bread until browned.
Combined roasted vegetables and bread.
Slice avocado on top and you're done!
Saturday March 12, 2011
On the weekends the cooks do not work so they leave us a variety of food in the fridge to put together out own meals - usually beans, rice, and sandwich fixins.
I was in a dire cooking mood for lunch.
I made myself a delicious breakfast of toast with peanut butter with a sliced banana on top. I put this in the microwave for 30 seconds to break down the bananas which makes them more banana-y. I sprinkled some cinnamon on top and plopped in some plain yogurt next to the toast in the bowl I had placed it in. I also add a tidge of milk to the bottom of the bowl.
The combination was almost like french toast with cooking it, the milk made the bread ever so moist on the bottom and the warm bananas and peanut butter were quite a clever addition.
For lunch I was craving a grilled cheese and tomato soup. I knew we had whole wheat bread, manchego and oaxaca cheese, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. I knew I could do it.
My friend Deidre helped me out with the cooking. We sauteed some garlic and onions that I "deglazed" hahah with water. We added some chopped tomatoes and I also added a few hot peppers to spice things up along with salt and pepper. There is a rosemary bush growing out in the front so I ran out front and got some rosemary to also add to the soup. We added more water and a little milk and let that simmer for a bit.
Then for the sandwiches I carmelized more onions and we assembled our sandwiches to place on the hot pan. My sandwich was simple - a little oaxaca cheese, manchego, and tomato slices. Then we grilled them up.
Deidre had the brilliant idea of placing some rosemary on top of the soup to make it more photogenic. I arranged the plate. I am working on my food photography skills - it is a lot harder than it looks.
After lunch I went to a cafe called Cafe Guernica with Sarah and Rebecca.
I ordered an iced chai, it was superb.
Now for dinner. I wanted to cook again but had limited ingredients as usual.
I sauteed garlic and onions and added some chopped apple and brown rice.
I used a little honey, soy sauce, salt, and pepper to season.
I placed this on top of a bed of romaine and added a few beans.
It was surprisingly good.
Dinner March 11, 2011
Prepared by Don Victor
Tonight's dinner was a salad with tomato, onion, cucumber, carrot, and romaine. I had a big serving as usual : )
Then there was brown rice flecked with sweet yellow corn and pinto beans.
Our main dish was a thick corn tortilla filled with either oaxaca cheese or tuna and vegetables.
Oaxaca cheese is a very interesting cheese that I had never seen in the United States.
It is sold in ropes and looks similar to string cheese. It is not extremely strong in flavor but is not really mild - so somewhere in between. I had a the tuna quesadilla.
The sauce on the salad is a tomatillo sauce with pureed avocado.
Today I am beginning a real food blog.
I am going to take pictures of all of our food here at CEMAL for the next week because we will be going to our host family next Friday.
Dinner March 10, 2011
Prepared by Don Victor
These are my first attempts at food photography. The lighting just happened to be great when I took these pictures so I think these are the best food photos I have ever taken ahhaha.
So, I will attempt to describe tonight's dinner. First we always have a huge salad with various toppings. Tonight there were onions, apples, cucumbers, and tomatoes on the salad. I always take a lot of salad.
Then there were mashed pinto beans.
The main dish were the green rolled things. They were absolutely delicious. They are made of spinach and inside is brown rice and garbanzo beans in something lemony, I didn't get all the details from Don Victor.
And we always have a salsa, tonight it was a pico de gallo of jalapenos, tomatoes, and onions.
It is also mango season so we get mangoes everyday!
