Sunday, September 19, 2010

Learning survival techniques

The secret of survival here is to learn from the local people on how to eat the local productions and using basic staples. It’s only a matter of time before one becomes use to, but more time than we have. Being in Bahia Honda with Domingo as our host has been one of the best experiences we have had. There is so much knowledge in this person and generosity to share it with us that we can only bow our heads in act of grace and feel the blessing. Just today we had a lesson on “how to make coconut milk” to be used later in a delicious rice meal. He opens the kitchen door that overlooks at the bay and where the chickens and dogs are all attentive for any tossing that may come their way. He pulls a little stool, on top he places a board shaped as a cutting board with a serrated blade at the end of it (chuzo). He sits on the main part of the board, holds the coconut white meat against the blade and scraped all the meat in less than a minute. He then transferred this bowl full of coconut shavings to the sink, covered the coconut with water and began squeezing the milk out of it. When the coconut was light in weight it was the sign that all the milk had been extracted. From this simple process 3 are the potential productions; coconut milk, coconut oil and coconut pulp. See.. a few more classes like this and we will not have to depend on grocery stores.


Other foods and recipes he and his family have shared with us were the pifas, also known as Pejibayes, Sugar Cane, Fruta de Pan, Hojaldes de Maiz, Platano Rojo, Mince and others, but the most interesting recipe so far, although unlikely for me to ever try out is the “Revive Muertos” (The dead man revival). Supposedly this soup is highly nutritious and it has amazing curative powers. It is great for the treatment of those recently hospitalized:

1. Catch a cute little pigeon, male or female.
2. Clean the feathers
3. Boil some water, add oregano, salt, pepper and any spices of choice
4. Add the pigeon
5. Serve hot!
6. Garnish with parsley!..hehe

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