No Pumpkin for You

This year I learned about the availability of pumpkins in Hawaii. It's been a few years since I bought a pumpkin to carve. Last year I was out of the country, and the year before that I ate all the pumpkins I bought without carving a single one (well, besides the normal carving and cutting up involved with pumpkin preparation). This year I saw that stores were "starting" to get their pumpkins around the beginning of the month. At least I thought they were starting to. Turns out that initial shipment I saw at each store was the ONLY shipment. Of course, I didn't realize that there would be a shortage of pumpkins until it was far too late.

Now it is Halloween, and there are no pumpkins. I've been all over town looking for them, but all I came up with were specialty varieties of squash (which I bought. Hope Doug likes squash). The squashes are too small for carving. I wonder if I can still roast the seeds though? And if any stores will get in another small shipment of pumpkins for the pie making at the end of next month?

Morocco

So my Euro-trip even landed me in another continent: Africa. I only had enough time to visit Rabat, the capital of Morocco, so that I would still have time to see the last 3 places I wanted to visit in Europe before heading back across the Atlantic.

The experience was something else. Having been to Europe twice before, there has been little culture shock thus far, but all that changed in Morocco. English is not widely spoken as has been the case so far in my trip. Instead, once in Morocco, people generally speak Arabic or French. Of course there was a sprinkling of people with English skills, so not all was lost. And what little I could remember from high school French proved to be very useful.

I took a ferry across from Spain, and then following the advice of travelers met along the way, headed straight for the train station to get out of Tanger. It is supposed to be full of people looking to rip-off tourists, though I can´t vouch for that either way, as I may have spent a total of 3 hours there. The train to Rabat was to be about 4 hours, according to the guy selling the tickets. My guide-book said 4 1/2 hours, but it ended up being more like 5 1/2. Unable to find anything to book online before going, I had only the name of a hostel written out on a piece of paper to show a cab driver. Turns out prices in Morocco are very cheap in comparison to that of Western Europe, so my cab ride was hardly a Euro. Though the hostel was incredibly cheap, it did lack things that most are accustomed to, such as toilet paper and warm water from the taps. No worries though, the nearby Hammam (public baths) and a package of pocket kleenex fixed all that.

Walking through the Medina was an experience all its own. The market had everything one could ever want to buy, plus some. And it was so big that it would be easy to get lost in there for days, if it weren´t for the fact that the place closes at night. Though I got lost in there, I hardly doubt I saw more than half of the market.

On Friday, couscous is a popular dish, and I had the opportunity to experience the dish homemade. The woman who ran the hostel had cooked it up, and shared her lunch. It was a load of food, and I was encouraged to eat until I could not eat anymore. Instead of each person eating from his/her own plate, the plate was shared by everyone at the table. The entire plate was not finished.

Other travelers in the hostel were much different from the travelers I have met in Europe. Most had traveled some in Europe, but were planning on carrying out extensive travels in Africa. I wish I had more time. I want to travel more in Africa. Even more time in Morocco would have been nice, but there is just so little time left before I must find myself in Lisbon.

Random Foodstuffs

Today I learned that there is some importance in being able to read what it is you are buying before the point of purchase. While at a supermarket in Bratislava, I thought a carton of milk and a couple of pastries would make a wonderful breakfast. However, at the register, the lady wouldn't sell me the pastries because I didn't have the "special code" from the bakery - didn't know I needed this, as everyone else was happily putting what they wanted into bags before just walking away. I thought I should do the same.

The next mistake came in the yogurt/milk isle. At least I thought there was milk there. I picked up a carton of what looked to be like milk, and was able to buy it because it had a barcode. But as I opened the container, I realized that maybe it wasn't milk. Smelled a little sour, and was really thick. Oops. But I couldn't just not try it, so I took a HUGE swig. Ugh. Definitely sour. But maybe it was yogurt, just not sweetened. So I drank some more. After about the second drink, it was getting better, so I decided to drink the whole thing. After all, it was all I had, since I had no "special code" for my pastries.

Once drinking all of the contents, I asked a girl at the register of a McDonald's if she knew what it was in English. They told me sour milk. Just for kicks I thought I would ask another group of kids out on the street. While asking another woman heard me, and stopped to explain what it was I had just consumed. Turns out it is about half milk, and half cream, and soured. Uhhh, not quite milk or yogurt....

Not all is bad though, I had a full belly, and I'm (still) not sick from it. I wonder what I will find to abuse my stomach with in the next place?

Super Onion Breath

A couple of hours ago I took a huge bite out of a thick slice of onion. A nice, pretty white onion. Mostly because I wanted it on my pizza, but it didn't get on there in time. So, bite of pizza, bite of (salted) onion. And now?? Super Onion Breath. I can still taste it. Which would be okay if it were a good onion, but I've had better. Too bad I didn't have a date tonight, that could have been fun. At least for me.

Success!!

So I tried the sushi thing again last night. This time with sushi rice and brand new nori. I even opted for the sushi nori. And for how easy it was once I had the right ingredients, I'm a little disappointed I didn't take on the challenge sooner. There is still room for improvement, but at least I finally got the rice right. Now I can see just how long it will take for me to tire of sushi.

Guess what I'll be eating again today?

Failed Sushi

For some reason, lately I cannot seem to get enough of the sushi rolls. I think more than anything it is the wasabi, which really makes no sense because I usually don't like hot stuff. So today I gave my culinary skills a challenge and attempted making my own. The results? Nasty. I ate two bites and threw the rest away. I think it is all my fault though. Instead of white rice, I decided I should give brown a try. And I used nori that I bought more than two years ago, that has been sitting in my pantry in a ziploc bag getting stale. So now what do I do? I think I should head to the store, buy some rice that is meant for sushi, and new nori as well. I don't think I'll be brave enough to try preparing raw fish in my own home, at least not this far from the coast. But just filling them with veggies should be enough to satisfy me until I get closer to a salty body of water.

I think I might even try the second batch tonight.

Mmmm, Beer

As the days get warmer, things like this look ultra-refreshing:

After all, who wouldn't want their drinks frozen? I suppose if the beer were melted though, it would be flat. Maybe I should dig around my kitchen and see what I can find to make something similar. I'm not sure I would want to freeze a perfectly good beer in my own freezer, but maybe some rum in some pineapple juice would make a good popsicle. Or vodka in orange juice. Ahhh, frozen screwdrivers on a stick...

Yum, Bugs

Found this while looking around:

Still don't think I'd eat them though. No matter how hard people tried to convince me that it would increase my sexual performance.

My Very Own Eating Disorder

When it comes to this, the questions don't arise until after I have already eaten. Mostly they are things like "why did I do that?" or "how can I make it stop hurting?" What did I do? I ate. Entirely too much. Good thing I tend to avoid all-you-can-eat buffets, they would be the end of me. Then again, pretty much all resturaunt food would be. They always serve portions that could feed 3 people, and I usually manage to finish most of it. And then I feel the pain of doing so. Today it has been two hours since I finished, and it still hurts. Some might say that it proves that it is physically possible to eat as much as I did, but I would say that it is borderline possible. Sure, I got all that food in there, but if I move too much, it might just come back out. Or if I got squeezed real hard. I might be like a tube of toothpaste. Only what comes out would not be minty fresh.

Aren't you glad you read this?