Christmas Pictures!

We are Moving

At the end of January, we say goodbye to the apartment we have been house-sitting and hello to the next home we will house-sit. We are not sad to move away from all the noise we have encountered while living here. Let me tell you that we’ve had some pretty loud nights. Yet, we have been very grateful for this place to stay. As we prepare to move to the SIM Director’s house, we continue to be grateful for this additional place to stay through June while living in Loja. We are enjoying our house-sitting tour. Hopefully, we will be able to continue house-sitting next year.

Cooking with Oswaldo

    I believe I have already expressed my initial regret at the differences between Ecuadorian food and Bolivian food; however, I am learning to enjoy Ecuadorian food and I am even learning to cook some. Our friend Oswaldo comes over every week or two and cooks with me. The first thing we made was fried Yucca which I missed from Bolivia. They eat yucca (manioc root) here in Ecuador which is an 18 inch long tuber that tastes somewhat like a potato. In the US we only use it to make tapioca pudding and root beer. Ecuadorians mostly boil it instead of frying it like they did in Bolivia. But no one in South America makes root beer out of it, which makes me sad. Since making fried yucca, Oswaldo has taught me to make yucca patties by boiling and mashing the yucca and filling it with cheese before frying it.

    The next starchy food we made was a stretch for me as Lisa and Scotty can attest. We fried bananas… And I liked it! I didn’t like fried bananas before this recipe. In fact I disliked them enough to have a shirt made while I lived in Bolivia proclaiming my love for yucca and my dislike of fried bananas. But even more miraculous than enjoying fried bananas, is that we melted cheese on the top of the fried bananas and I found that I liked the cheese!

     I have eaten cheese all three continents that I have visited and was surprised at how different it is from place to place. I am always tempted by South American cheese because I miss North American cheese so much, but after eating it I am usually disappointed. South American cheese reminds me of the type of product you would get in return from doing a deal with the devil. It looks good from a distance but the moment you get near enough to it, it smells rancid. I don’t think that my descriptions do it justice. You will have to come visit us to see what I mean.

     On the outside chance that you have access to South American cheese and green bananas, I have included recipes for my favorite two dishes prepared with them. If you can’t get South American cheese, mozzarella works as a tasty substitute (unfortunately Ecuadorian mozzarella doesn’t melt). Green bananas are known as plantains in the US and are available at many grocery stores and lots of specialty stores such as Valley Harvest or Trader Joes.

 

Répe (Potato and Banana soup with cheese)

2 green bananas

2 medium potatoes

2 cups of water

4 oz cheese

¼ cup fresh cilantro

Salt and Pepper

1 avocado

 

1. Peal, cube, and boil the potatoes.
2. Peal and cube the bananas and add them to the boiling water.
3. When the potatoes and bananas are soft, mash them into the water.
4. Grate the cheese into the soup and wait for it to melt.
5. Add the cilantro and turn the soup off.
6. Salt and Pepper to taste.
7. Top with slices of fresh avocado and cilantro.

 

As long as you are eating cooked bananas and rancid cheese, why not try making patacones (or majaditos as they are called in Panama)?

 

Patacones (Twice fried bananas toped with cheese)

2 green bananas

4 oz cheese

Salt

 

1. Peal and cut the bananas into 1 inch long sections.
2. Fry both ends of the banana chunks in a pan with vegetable oil.
3. Remove the bananas from the pan.
4. Salt the bananas on both ends.
5. Smash them flat using a mug.
6. Fry them again.
7. Top with cheese and cover pan until cheese melts.
8. Serve with Ketchup, Mayonnaise, or Hot sauce as you like.

 

Garbage, Garbage, Garbage

I didn’t believe it would happen even when we were warned. After many diligent nights retrieving our trash can from the street just as the garbage truck passed by, we waited too long. The garbage truck comes by each night to pick up garbage. Is it green tonight or black? We always ask each other as the colored cans are picked on alternate days. Green is for, we think, compost material, while black is for all other trash. Each evening we wait to hear the garbage truck coming, much like an ice cream truck. Click here to hear download the garbage truck song on MP3! Once they come close enough, we drag our can out onto the sidewalk. Now, you are supposed to quickly rescue your can immediately after the garbage men empty it. From the first day, we were told that if you are too slow, your trash can we will be stolen. And so, one night, we waited too long. The moment we remembered we needed to fetch our garbage can, it was gone!

Why would someone do that? Take our trash can? For the next few weeks we secretly put our bags of trash into the trash cans of our neighbors. Not a big problem. Others take their trash to public trash cans on the streets. We thought we would have to do this for the remainder of our stay in this apartment and then pay for the lost garbage can. Last week, we were heading out of the house for church, when I opened up the door and there was our black garbage can! How did it get here? Not just outside our gate, but right next to our front door. Insider work….either someone from our apartment building found it, or it was them who needed our garbage can for awhile. We are grateful to have it back…!

Keeping it clean!

Loja is proud of their clean city. However, if it weren’t for the green men and the orange men, this place would be a garbage pit. Every day, we see green men landscaping public gardens while the orange men sweep the streets. With this help, it makes it convenient to toss your garbage onto the streets.