Foody Friday.....oh wait....it's Saturday..........

....and that is what happens when the power goes out. Things are late.

So - if you'll forgive me for the belated post we'll move on. I'm learning from my mistakes though and in the future will be using that fancy posting feature of blogger known as 'post dating'.

So - on to the food. We do thing basic here. Simpler. Most days I love this. Others? Well, lets just say I have to stay away from websites that have 'cooking' in the title as it makes me want what is not available. I have unbelievable cravings for black fig vinegar and dried cranberries and nuts and fancy lettuces and THAI FOOD...but....now... what were we talking about here???

Oh - got it. Back to the standard here. A staple. A very lovely combination.

Beans and rice.
This meal is on our menu at least 2 - 3 times a week. Served just like this. It's also a staple combination for other varieties of meals but honestly - THIS is a favorite. Rice cooked 2 parts water 1 part rice with a smidge of chicken bullion. Beans cooked in the pressure cooker with LOTS of garlic, chopped onion, chicken bullion and a jalapeno if I can find them. Last week I put in 1/2 a can of Chipotle chilis and sauce (no tuve jalapeno...) and boy was it good. :) So - in the bowl first put down a scoop of rice followed by a scoop of beans, then top with chopped cilantro, crema (sour cream to you north of the border) and grilled tomato, onion and garlic. It is DIVINE - and cheap but honestly this is no longer the main, motivating factor. :) Our FAVORITE beans are pintos but they are harder to come by here so we go with the much more common red or black beans. Anyway you cut it....fabulous.

You can also top it with cheese but we don't LOVE it and it's not cheap so we don't bother a lot of times.

Speaking of cheese - here is a picture of the common variety "queso seco". This is our preferred type. You can just crumble it up and sprinkle over anything and everything you want. (One thing to note is that I've not found a Honduran cheese yet that will melt. I know there are imported ones but nothing locally. It's funny to try and melt cheese that seriously, WILL NOT MELT. There is a burned, mesquite type flavor that goes with your non-melted cheese if you try that.) Quesillo is more common but it's 'wet' and texture is everything to me, so I wait for the seco.


This one is the strangest I've tried thus far in our wanderings. Batierna.

Seriously, when I saw these things in the market I thought they were burning material. Oh no.

It's food.

Really. Let me explain...

So - you have this long seed pod.










Then you open it and take a deep breath as it looks like worms in there.

Then you pull those out and eat the outside.



Ummmmm....honestly - it's like eating a cotton ball. Not cotton candy....a cotton ball. I have photographic proof that I did eat it. See!

It was w.e.i.r.d.. Again maybe it's that texture thing. Riley thought they were really good. He's such adventurous soul. He's going to give me grey hair.

The girls....ummmmmm.....what do you think they thought of it?


Apparently you can toast the seeds up with oil and garlic and they are something akin to a very large and super crunchy pumpkin seed. At least that's what Riley tells me. In his hanging out with friends, I'm realizing he is sampling more common foods than we are.

Hungry?? Come on over - we'll serve you up something entertaining.

Buen Provecha!

Faith