Food for thought

Last night was a late one and so the compound is quiet this afternoon, with most of my fellow interns napping or reading. I spent an hour or so lounging on the empty bunk by the window, enjoying some delightfully spunky prose from Zadie Smith and smelling the last hints of the sugar cane they cut down a few days ago. Usually, things around here smell pretty bad - don't you love the smell of sewer water and burning trash in the morning? - but for the past few windy afternoons, we've been granted a sweet reprieve. 

But enough about smells. It's time that I got down to business, and focused on what's really important: tastes. I'm sure you all know how much I love food and maybe you've been surprised that I haven't talked about it more since being in Haiti. Well, don't worry. I have been talking about it. ALL THE TIME. I'm already planning my first meals back in the U.S. But the food I've been eating here has been less of a conversation topic, mostly because there isn't much variety. Beside some rare meals in restaurants or a surprise treat (yesterday blessed me with a fresh cupcake, pizza, crazy bread, and french fries, oh my!), we eat the same thing all the time. But, because you can't really understand my life without knowing what I'm eating, I'm going to give you all the details.

Breakfast - best meal of the day, hands down. Some things we typically eat, in different combinations:

Fresh coffee

Evaporated milk

Corn flakes

Bread (and we have a toaster - a wonderful indulgence)

Margarine

Peanut butter (it's a bit spicy and completely delicious)

Hard-boiled eggs

Scrambled eggs

Porridge (with anise and cinnamon)

Bananas

Mangos

WAFFLES (we had these twice, and it was amazing)

Lunch/dinner - highly variable in terms of tastiness. Possible dishes:

Pumpkin soup (a personal favorite, with cabbage and lots of tubers)

Dumpling soup

Spaghetti with "hot dog sauce" (everyone's least favorite)

Pates (empanada-like pockets of meat; I eat the vegetarian version with cabbage and onions)

Rice and beans (heavy on the rice)

"Veggie mash" (vegetables pureed beyond recognition which you eat with rice and beans)

Okra

Ham salad sandwiches (I have not partaken)

Fried plantains

Pikliz (a spicy cabbage slaw)

Fried fish (ANNOUNCEMENT - I started eating fish here because I was worried about my protein intake, which means that I recently dealt with bones for the first time in 8 years. And the bones are so tiny! And fish have eyes! So weird.)

Beets

Tomatoes and water cress

Beverages:

Water (of course)

Aforementioned coffee

Ginger tea (to calm our tummies)

Juice (mango or passion fruit, usually; any time it  appears at lunch it's a good day)

Hot chocolate (we only really got this in the beginning, but it was good)

Coca-Cola or 7-Up (made with real cane sugar)

Prestige (the beer of Haiti)

Rum (they like it a lot here)

I'm sure I forgot a few things, but that's more or less it. Enjoy!