Good news on the bean front: finally tracked down a strainer. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do with an extra 20 minutes I’m saving every day. Seriously, there is no doubt that these beans are straight out of the ground – dirt, sticks, rocks, and all. What did I do before this glorious day? Cleaned each little beanie individually, even had a toothbrush reserved for my daily bean cleanin’. Not really, I just got a little extra B-vitamins from the soil…it’s good for you, kind of, and my hair’s been growing pretty fast. Ahh, the joy of simple things, like strainers.
A group of UA professors came down for a week of meetings (to set up more, potentially short-term programs for UA students in Cuba), and they took us to dinner twice. Eating out is a rarity, and you’d think we were savages (or just poor college students) based our behavior when presented with free food. The last night they were here, the dean rented out a restaurant for a private party and invited all of the Cuban professors with whom they had been working. There ended up being about 50 people, and the restaurant churned out huge (really huge) skillets of paella and vegetable salads. At the end of the meal, there was a considerable amount of paella left over in the 3-foot diameter skillets, which prompted all of us to start scheming a way to get it back home and into our refrigerators. Six full to-go boxes later, we had depleted the restaurant of their supply, but still half of the leftovers remained. The waiter, now amused by our desperation, went back to the kitchen to find another method of transport. He came back with a giant plastic bag, and for some reason, I was elected to scoop the paella from the pan to the bag. The wine was flowing to an extent that no one really noticed, and the ones who did came to join in on the paella-scooping merriment. Nestor, the photographer, has documentation of the event. Must get those photos.
We then returned to our room later that night, and, like skilled scavengers, proceeded to eat more paella. Success.
Below is something I wrote a while ago and forgot to post. Of course, it pertains to food.
Walking to and from the market takes about an hour. Once there, I load up my big green hiking backpack with beans and fruits and vegetables – a week’s worth for about $4. Then, it’s mandatory to stop at the panaderia across the street to buy a $.05 cookie, called simply and appropriately “un dulce” (a sweet). It tastes like cake batter. I have no idea what’s in it, but my guess is mostly butter. Some days, they have this other cake dessert-thing or sweet muffins instead of the cookies, which does not make me happy. Taste like soggy sweet-n-low. But it’s okay because I’ve made friends with another dessert vendor that I pass on the walk back home. Also for a nickel, he sells little pieces of baklava filled with guava jam, and sometimes, my favorite of all – flakey little pie crust pastries filled with coconut. I am officially obese. Although, perhaps it’s canceled out by the amount of walking we do on a daily basis, and by the fact that, besides those once-a-week indulgences, my diet consists of piñas y frijoles (pineapples and beans).
Oh, and tomatoes. I’ve been buying copious amounts of them at the market recently. I chop up about 10 at a time and put them in a big pot with some sautéed onion, garlic, peppers, and cumin. Let it simmer for a while and then I have a week’s worth of this pasta sauce/tomato soup/salsa/gazpacho/concoction. It’s quite versatile.
The supermarket is 3 blocks from where we live, and is a far cry from Publix when it comes to options, brands, and availability. Maybe in some convoluted way it’s more like a Whole Foods or an organic grocery, because everything is seasonal. Instead of being founded in growing seasons, however, their stock depends on the economic climate. In other words, what flavor of potato chips did China send us this month? How’s the desforestation in Argentina going? Meat market still holding up? Basically, I've never seen a more bizarre assortment of foodstuffs. During the first month, we mistakenly thought that oatmeal was a constant, but it disappeared a long time ago and has yet to return. But green olives and canned pears seem to be plentiful right now. If there’s more than one brand or flavor of something, it must be really special. Profe says it’s funny to see Cubans come to the states and be amazed at all the different options, brands, and flavors we have for one product. It’s true, we are so accustomed to having everything at our disposal all the time, consumed with options, and confronted with marginal decisions every day. Should I buy nonfat milk or 2%? Or soymilk – regular or light? The generic or the brand name? Here, there is one kind of milk, and it comes from cows. Actually that was a bad example because you can also buy imported powdered milk....sometimes. But my point still stands. It just makes me wonder, how does making all of these trivial decisions affect our ability to make important ones?
Anyway, I may have culture shock upon going to Target or Publix when I get back, and I will never complain about a lack of options. For now though, I rather like the factor of surprise upon going into the supermarket. It’s like Christmas everyday…never know whatcha gon get.
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