Monday, March 7, 2011

Summer Eats

Well we’re deep into the rainy season. We’ve had 5 straight days of rain, keep us largely in the house. Even if the roads weren’t in terrible shape, and we could get out to the communities, it would be too muddy and wet to do anything. People are brewing their Chica (fermented corn drink) for Carnaval next week, and to visit folks, we'd just end up drinking a bunch of that. About the only thing we accomplished this week was a couple meetings and to press 15 gallons of apple cider with a friend.

We had decided early in the week to escape the cabin fever and to travel to a nearby town and see the tourist sights there. Well, the rain didn’t quit, and the forecast says rain for the weekend. After so much rain we just can;t stomach the idea of getting on the bus - the first 2 hours are clay-dirt roads and a lot of guided sliding is involved in getting down the mountain.

So we stayed at home and got caught up on reading, studied Spanish, fixed up our room, and cooked!




Here’s Saturday lunch with all the local produce available in late summer.
Fried lacoyote squash
Nathan’s quick whey sauerkraut
Vallegrande cheese
Apple cider
Api (ground corn hot drink) with fresh peaches
Ají sauce (spicy salsa of fresh ground hot locoto pepper)
The centerpiece is of Broccoli flowers.

Life is good.