Food in a bag

We like bags. Little plastic bags. Like sandwich bags, but not the ziploc kind. Here in La Palma, you can put anything into a bag. ANYTHING. soda is a popular thing to put into a bag. salsa, pasta, beans, cheese, bread, fruit. One time, I ordered food to go at Pollo Campero and they gave me a to go cup. They put the to go  cup in a plastic bag. I sorta looked at them with amusement like what am I supposed to do with this? Do I dump the soda into the bag? Do I drink the soda from the cup while still in the bag? Or do I take the cup out of the bag and pretend like the bag incident never happened? I tried the second option, felt foolish, and quickly got rid of the bag. Problem solved.

At school, they serve refreshments for the kids. My favorite is when they have fruit. I've been buying watermelon slices for 25 cents a piece, bag included. I love it. Its healthy and delicious and only costs a quarter. Can't beat that.

Sadly, our "lunch lady" is now working for a different school and the new lady doesn't have fruit. She has pupusas. I miss our other lunch lady. We were friends. Not just because of the watermelon, but I'm sure that helped the friendship blossom.

Happy Eating!
love, tree

James Jonathan

First, let me just say, I've missed you! Things have been a little crazy (as always, excuses excuses), but I'm back.

I feel it is more than past time for me to devote a post to my favorite sub shop. Jimmy Johns. JJs. James Jonathan. Whatever you want to call it, its amazing. And freaky fast. Although, I must say that while it is always amazing, it is not always freaky fast. When you go into the restuarant and order, yes, freaky fast. I've had my sandwich before I've even paid before. (Subway makes you pay after they make the sandwich, its a different set up). But if you call in and order this sub sandwich that is anything but sub par, it can (at times) take a long time for it to be delivered to you. I understand, they are bike messengers with sub sandwiches tucked under their arms, but dont claim to be freaky fast and then take 30 minutes to deliver me my tasty #11. Its just not right. We're hungry Jimmy Johns. Also, I tried to get them to deliver a sandwich to me in El Salvador. I even said I'd meet them at the airport. No can do. Such is life.

My love for James Jonathan runs so deep that when I was home at Christmas, I had my Mom drive 20 minutes out of the way AFTER checking my bags at the airport so that I could get one last #11 and eat it on the 20 minute drive back to the airport. I'm quite certain my mother thinks I'm crazy, but at least she is supportive of the craziness. That's something. Really. Thanks Mom. I have officially been 70 days without a JJs sandwich. Assuming my math is right... and thats not something I'd really put a lot of faith in. BUT my NEXT JJ sandwich will happen in approximately 100 days. LOVE. JOY. theres just not words to express a number 11. But this is JJs attempt: Fresh sliced turkey breast, applewood smoked ham, provolone, and tons of lettuce, tomato, and mayo! (A very traditional, yet always exceptional classic!). I'd like to point out that the website provides a picture of the #11... on toast. really? Come on, JJs. I've never had my #11 on toast. Ok maybe once, but I was mad and made them fix it. That was a JJs in Edmond, OK (where things are known to go wrong) it wasnt the one by Pimp My Hair. The one by Pimp My Hair would never do that. The bread makes the sandwich. Sorry to say, their photo department failed. Also, the #11 is called a Country Club. Its pretty much the most country thing about me. And also, its not your typical club. its not cut into little triangles with frilly toothpicks. Its a real sub sandwich.

Happy Eating!

love, tree

Erin.

Who likes converse shoes and the color yellow, only speaks Spanglish, has an ear for good tunes, and has a little brother that is a super hero?

Lunch with Tree follower Erin! Thanks for your support and for having lunch with me on several occasions.

Happy Eating!

Mangos

Carrot's cousin. Carrot's cousin that moved to Jamica and became a Bob Marley fan after his time in the Peace Corps.

Need I say more?

No, I don't.


Happy Eating!

Carambola

 Yesterday, I went to La Teja. I go there a lot and they have a wide variety of food so you'll see a lot of La Teja on this page. They have four different restaurants that are all in the same place. Like a food court. If the food court was beautiful and open air with a view of the mountains.

I was really hoping for a frappachino from Cafe de Cafe. I had some work to do over lunch and frappachino usually motivates. But they weren't open yet. Schedules here are flexible. I was early, I got there at 11:45. I asked again for the frappachino at 12:30. Still wasnt ready to make a frozen coffee drink. Oh well, I guess I survived the day without my fancy coffee treat. I ordered food from Estancia. I ordered a plate of veggies and chicken cooked in soy sauce. Almost like Chinese food. Spanish rice. And a fresh salad. (very fresh, almost an earthy taste.) This wonderful meal also came with a tortilla. I wasn't too crazy about the tortilla but I ate part of it. Half way through lunch, I discovered what I thought was a sauteed onion cut to look like a star. I thought that was fairly creative and probably took a lot of work. Till I tasted it. Definitely not an onion. I wasn't even quite sure if it was a fruit or a veggie. I asked the waiter. He told me what it was and I was still confused. So I asked him to write it down. Carambola. According to wiki, its a star fruit. I was interested to see how wiki described it because I was at a lost. Apparently, so is wiki. They said the taste is almost incomparable but it was most like a cross between an apple, a pear, and a citrus fruit. I'm not sure I agree with that but I don't know how else to describe it. Except that it looks like a star.

All in all, it was a nice lunch. I got a little quiet time to appreciate the mountains and just be outside the wire for a bit. I also worked on my Bible class for last night. Enjoyable and productive lunch.

Happy Eating!

Rice Soup

I will admit that the rice soup mixture looks a lot more appetizing the day its made. This soup has been hanging out in our kitchen for three or four days. My roommate makes it at least once a week. It is soup, rice, a little pit of tomatoes and green peppers, and potatoes. She sprinkles some magic seasoning in it as well. I think the magic seasoning is chicken flavoring. But I'm not a hundered percent. She showed me how to make it once... that was an adventure. To try to be fair to the roommate, I'll post a picture of the soup the day its made as soon as I can.

I'm without a doubt certain that if I had just gotten here, I'd probably hate the soup/rice. But since I've become a little more accustomed to the food of El Salvador, I like the soup. And when its fresh? First day soup? Delicious. Today I had it for lunch. For the third day in a row. I liked it a little bit less today and it looked a lot less appetizing.

None the less, I'm a thrilled to have a roommate that cooks and is willing to share her secret El Sal reciepes with me.

Earlier this week, she made flan and it was wonderful.

Happy Eating!

Pollo Campero

Tonight, I went with my good friend Erin to eat at Pollo Campero. Literally translated- Country Chicken. This chicken is probably some of the best fried chicken in the world. Its a little greasy and probably not healthy at all, but people love this chicken so much that they will literally buy bags of it, take it on a plane, and fly it home (to wherever their home may be). I'm not super comfortable with chicken thats been sitting out through the duration of a long plane trip, but for Pollo? I can see how people jump to the conclusion that flying fried chicken home is not only a good idea, but a necessity.

I got the Menu Campero. This includes two pieces of fried chicken, fries, and a soda. Erin ordered up a torta and a soda. The torta is more or less a chicken sandwich... but with beans, mayonaise, Guatamala (my new word for guacamole), tomatoes, lettuce, and a very small chicken patty. You basically have to tear all of the bread away to find the chicken, which is exactly what Erin did. Oh i should have got a picture of that. Picture a plate with a bunch of bread and a sad little piece of chicken. Great, now you know.

Also, I read an article the other day that a kid stapped his step-dad over a chicken patty. I completely dont understand that. Its not like it was Pollo Campero. It was probably just a chicken patty from the local freezer section. Not that I'm condoning violence over Pollo Campero.... but....

Happy Eating!

For the Love of Umami

A recent Yahoo! article sparked my attention. Is This the Best Burger in America? I read it and instantly started researching the art of hamburger making and what in the world Umami means to dinner plates world wide. The new Umami Burger sounds so delicious that I almost fainted from hunger. This might have something to do with my current living/food situation. I live in El Salvador and our hamburgers have one thin slice of poor quality meat. Its a very sad hamburger. One kind of cool thing about our hamburgers is that they are served with cucumber slices instead of pickles. I love pickles. Love them. bread and butter, sweet, sour, kosher, love them. But the cucumber is a nice change and gives the hamburger a fresh, crisp edge. Its a very hip hamburger.

I will admit that I'm not a food critic. Not even close.  I don't have the experience or education or the refined palatte of a food critic. I'm just a normal girl that likes food and happens to think the idea of going to restaurants and then informing the masses on the great food of our time sounds intriguing. So how does one become a food blogger? I assume, like anything else, its with practice. So here I will attempt to update you on the finer and not so finer foods of El Salvador.

Oh and for those of you that are curious: umami: its the fifth taste, you know, after sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Its what happens when you sprinkle parmesean cheese on top of your spaghetti sauce. Umami just makes everything taste better.