Roach Coach Sunday

Huh? Roach Coach, fast food on wheels! Here is Wikipedia's definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_truck
So when I get home after church I like to take a walk to Parque Rodo where the Sunday ferria is set up. There are a few hamburguesa an dpancho roach coaches, around 3 or 4 that do business there. I can get a hamburguesa and Coca Cola for about 70 pesos (Around $3). The hanburgers are not like what you would get at McDonalds. It comes with a strip of ham along with the hamburger patty, but usually no cheese. They also have a lareg assortment of condiments, but this is where I learned all roach coaches are not the same! I realized the one I went to today only had a few items to pick from while the one a litle bit further away had a large assortment of condiments.

Usually if you are waiting by a roach coach you are going to get approached by kids asking for money. I was really surprised by the two little girls that asked me for money today as I couldn't have told them apart from any other kid with their parents, clean and clean newer looking clothes, thats not to say the clothes could have been donated and they were poor.

I always drop a couple of peso coins in the bag of this crippled guy with a froggy voice. He walks with crutches and has a bag around his neck that he jingles occassionally so you get the idea where to drop the money. I also see him at the Saturday ferria as well. I always say "Here you go amigo", for whatever reason.

Oh, I see a young guy trying to give away a baby kitten, it's been done buddy! LOL!

Pan de carne

Funny story. Went to the cafeteria at work the other day and asked the
cook what was under one of the lids "pan de carne", I grinned from ear
to ear. The woman next to me said she that I had the biggest smile on
my face. I know what your thinking, it's just meat loaf, but they
really make a delicious meat loaf, with a strip of cheese down the
middle, mmmmmm yum!

The Best BBQ Song Ever

Click on the kink, these guys explain BBQ better than I have ever heard it before and in song!

http://www.speedysroadtrip.com/#/WatchEpisodes/Branson/

Note to self

Don't watch The Food Network for extended periods when hungry.

So to satisfy my hunger pains I went to Red Hot and Blue a bbq joint. There are a few up here in Northern Virginia I'm not sure where else. I got a sandwich to go, but next time will eat in as I think the portions are a bit bigger. They do have a wicked hot bbq sauce. I know everyone has a really hot bbq sauce, but this one is definitely hot, but a good hot.

Homemade marshmallow fluff

All I can say is YUM! We can't find marshmallows here, and definitely not marshmallow fluff (Which I love with peanut butter as a sandwich). So Chris took it upon herself to make some, only it required corn syrup, yet another item you can't find here. So she was going to make the corn syrup but decided against it.

Well to our good fortune a colleague was leaving and bestowed upon Chris 2 bottles of corn syrup! The marshmallow fluff recipe was on the counter the next morning.

I am right now enjoying a very warm apple crumble with flax seeds covered in gooey marshmallow fluff! YUM!

New sneakers and blueberries

So after my 11km "march" I have to admit my feet hurt a little. My Hitech hiking boots (That I wore everyday in Baghdad) didn't cut the mustard. So I broke down and bought some cheap Chinese made sneakers. I don't think you can buy anything not Chinese made here in Uruguay.
So I've been walking to work in them and I think I enjoy the difference.

We just brought home a dozen containers of fresh Uruguayan blueberries, very big and tasty. When they first came out they were very expensive, over $4 per container. Good, but not that good. Now they are only $1 a container and just had some in my cereal this morning, mmmmm.
The peaches are in season too, let me tell you they are just as good, if not better than any peaches you would get in Georgia! And cheap, 29 pesos per kilo (Don't feel like Googling that, but say around $1.40 for 2 lbs).

Pictures soon!

Cat food rebellion

The other day we received some cat food from the States that a friend
had sent us. The cat food choices here are limited at best, although
fortunately our cats will eat it. Well at the first snap of the can of
Pro Plan our new Uruguayan gatita (Female kitten)"Tawny" came running
for the food dishes, our older expat cat "Cricket" could tell by the
distinctive "snap", this could possibly be "The good stuff". Let me
tell you, you have never heard more grunting sound then when these two
went at the food bowls, the cat food disappeared in less than a minute.
There was some hissing from Cricket as she didn't like the idea of the
new kid getting the good stuff, but it passed.

Oh, on a side note, Tawny's favorite toy is a wine bottle cork. It
keeps her entertained all day and night for that matter!

Food shopping in Montevideo

Just returned from are usual trip to the mercado to pick up the usual staple items.  Our refrigerator is a bit smaller than it's USA cousin so we can only get so much.
The prices are generally reasonable, as I had mentioned before the beef prices are by far the best.

As you can imagine the fruits and vegetable that are not South American or grown locally can be priced anywhere from wow, to oh wow!

Other food items can also be quite expensive, case in point.  I noticed there was only one type of whipped cream on the shelf, around $7USD.  Most likely locally made too!

The peaches and strawberries are in season, mmmmm.  Priced cheap!

One vegetable that always makes us laugh is the bell peppers, be it red, green or yellow.  They are always HUGE!  I took a photo next to a 2 liter bottle of wine to give you an idea how big it is.

Pizza Night

You know what I haven't had in awhile?  Pizza!  Well there isn't  a Pizza Hut or Domino's or anything else like that around here, so we decided to make one ourselves!
And what a fabulous decision that was as this was one great pizza!  With onions, mushrooms, red peppers, salami, anchovies, olives and a big heaping helping of mozarella cheese!  We did cheat on the crust though :  )

And followed this with some ice cream :  )