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Ramblings from South America-Anaconda's trip home

I know, I'm trying real hard to keep my eyes open. I don't want to leave the office today with "QWERTY" imprinted backwards on my forehead.
 
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I've actually had that in San Antonio, except they were steamed. My uncle had one of his nieces come up from Oaxaca and she brought a ton of stuff. I was really confused by it at first. The sweetness of the banana or plaintain leaf that is infused with the cornmeal is really different, especially for someone who is used to spicy stuff inside the corn husk. Great report Ana, Beautiful Country. My sister is trying to get me to take a vacation with her to South America, Im getting very tempted. Thanks for the pics and sharing with us.
 
I was starving and couldn't wait for the omelette (the spanish omelette has potatoes, so it takes a while to prepare), so I quickly attacked the "pan the jamon", a traditional bread prepared for the holidays which is filled with ham, olives and raisins:

Ummmm. Had some pan de jamon" the other night at my neighbors house for Three Kings celebration.


Lee
 
We did pan de rosca for the three kings at the office. fortunately I dont have to shell out for the party this year. :mrgreen:
 
The next pics might help bring more context on the political situation down there.

After Chavez lost the referendum to ammend the consitution on last month's election, these ads started appearing all over the city (paid for with taxpayer's money off course...)

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Which means "For now." This is an obvious reference to the profetic words uttered by Chavez after he was arrested during the attempted coup-de-etat many years ago when he was in the army. The ads hint at the government looking for another way to push the socialist agenda and other changes that got rejected when they lost the referendum on the constitution ammendment.

If only they would really concentrate their efforts in solving more pressing issues like the widespread poverty:

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And the alarmingly climbing crime rate. Caracas has never been the safest of cities in Latin America, but when you see electric fences on some neighborhood you kinda know things are going downhill quickly...

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But hey, why not waste money in anti-yankee propaganda instead?? :doh:

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The ads above read "Corn is not fuel!" "Against the crop of death". The cartoon is self-explanatory. On the lower left hand sign, one of the stupidest oximorons I've read in a while: "Building the Bolivarian Socialism. The full democracy!".
And another non-sensical phrase: "We're free. WE're (made) of corn". Unless they were reffering to the Popol-vuh, but I digress... The ad was paid by the Ag and land ministry.
 
And to end this report on a happier note...more food!!!! :eat:

Saturday night a couple of friends invited me for dinner on one of many spanish food restaurants in the city. With the high influx of immigrants from Spain (and Italy and Portugal), you'll find that many of these restaurants will have food as good as what you could get in Spain.

We decided to go with "tapas" or appetizers instead of a regular entree. We had fried spanish peppers (they aren't hot at all, in fact, their flavor is a little on the sweet side),

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"chistorras", a variety of sausages,

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...and "pulpo a la gallega": octopus with potatoes seasoned with paprika:

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The octopus was cooked to perfection, which is not an easy feat, too much or too little cooking time and you end up with a chewie mess with suckers. But this one was outstanding. We had a few brewskies to wash it all down. Salud!

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On sunday we were invited for lunch by some good friends of the family. As some of my posts may have hinted, my parents are spanish immigrants, and so are most of their friends. When I knew I was going over there for the holidays I kinda hinted (ok, I asked) I wanted this particular lady to cook me some particular spanish dish, since she makes a mean "cocido gallego".
When we got there she was finishing preparing "empanada gallega" with the most traditional filling, cod fish:

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The "cocido" is like a stew, in which you cook veggies and meats in a huge pot. On the veggie side: mustard or collard greens, cabagge, chickpeas and potatoes:

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The meats are usually beef, pork ribs, bacon and other pork bits....like snout, ears, tongue... The bacon and ribs on this dish are not the regular bacon and ribs you buy at any store. These are salted, cured pork ribs and bacon, that are de-salted before cooked. I imagine this goes back to the days when most people didn't have power, let alone a fridge, and had to figure other ways to preserve meat.

This dish is usally served with "filloas", or crepes,

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..and then eaten in the company of family and friends

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After this artery-clogging, yet delicious lunch (followed by some empanada by mid-afternoon) I went home, but not before stopping to get a pciture of the "Cruz del Avila", a huge cross on the side of the mountain that is lighted every year during the holiday season, and can be seen pretty much everywhere in the city

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This brings to conclusion my trip report. I got back to TX a couple of days ago. It was a great visit with the family and the old stomping grounds, but I'm also glad to be back in the USA. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
 
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Great report! I love seeing stuff like this! I am a picky eater so the food looks like it would really challenge me :lol2: However,... I'd sure like the opportunity to face that challenge ;-)
 
I have been very late in catching this thread, but I have enjoyed it immensely. Thank you Ana for sharing with us. I'll have to add this one to the "things to do" list. Of course it may take a few years.




Well I'm back in TX. The trip home was great, but I'm happy to be back. I still have a couple of entries to finish this report. I'll try to do that after I get back from work today.
 
This brings to conclusion my trip report. I got back to TX a couple of days ago. It was a great visit with the family and the old stomping grounds, but I'm also glad to be back in the USA. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

:clap:
Thanks for posting this. It's really nice to see how others live.

Mostly shows me how we are all more alike than different.

Now, take another trip so you can write another report! :lol2:
 
Great report! I love seeing stuff like this! I am a picky eater so the food looks like it would really challenge me :lol2: However,... I'd sure like the opportunity to face that challenge ;-)

I, on the other hand, am NOT a picky eater! I would try it ALL.

Great report. I loved it.


Lee
 
Outstanding! What a visual treat. Thanks so much for taking the time to put this great report together. Makes me want to book a flight!
 
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