Like most things Dominican, my first 24 hours of homeownership can easily be boiled down to food. Let me take you on a journey through my first 24 hours of solitude via mi alimentacion.
The first activity post move in was to be dragged by the ‘muchachos’ of La Culata to El Rio (about a 10 minute walk to the edge of town…the same river that only weeks earlier no one would touch because of Cholera). We swam, we played games, we skipped rocks, and we were merry. On our way back we stopped at Ludovina’s house to pick some Toronja (grapefruit) and Cacao (chocolate…the fruit part). Once we got back to my house I found myself peeling everyone’s grapefruits, and after a rush of noise and a frenzy of small shouting people, I was left with a front porch covered in chocolate seeds, grapefruit seeds and peels.
That night for dinner, my neighbor/landlord Ricarda brought me some boiled yucca and avena (Directly translated = oatmeal, but in the Dominican way it’s kind of a thick milky drink that’s got just a little bit of oatmeal). I appreciated it very much. After eating her meal, I boiled myself two eggs since that meal didn’t really have much more than carbs and sugar. One of the muchachos showed up and said, “Que me guardaste?” (What did you save me?). Well there went one of my eggs, what was I supposed to do, NOT give it to him?
The next morning I woke up bright and early, did my first day of P90X (I am so out of shape), and then prepared myself some breakfast. It was an amazing feeling to have a meal without sugar, cooking oil or salt! I made myself some plain oatmeal with cinnamon (thanks to my friend Serena from college who sent me a package full of spices!) and a grapefruit.
For lunch, I again was extremely excited to do some experimenting. I am sure that cooking could easily become a burden someday, but it was quite therapeutic this time around. I made myself a colorful and healthy lunch; pasta with sautéed eggplant, carrots, and onions seasoned with garlic, crushed red-pepper and an orange vinegar sauce (housewarming gift from Mantula) with a sweet lemon on the side.
A lovely pasta with eggplant, carrot and onions sautéed in a garlic, red pepper, orange vinegar blend. A sweet lemon on the side.
I felt wonderful about my meal, and just as I was beginning to eat it, Ricarda walked onto my front porch with a plate of rice and guandules. I couldn’t turn down the food, so half-way through my meal I started eating a separate lunch. Also, Ricarda’s husband brought me an entire shopping bag full of ripe, sweet-lemons, so now I’ve got a ton of those. Hopefully I can find a time to eat them all, along with the leftovers of my first lunch, before they spoil (as I don’t have a fridge to preserve anything).
I would have eaten the leftovers from my lunch for dinner but I had already promised my host-family that I’d come over for dinner. I went back to my family’s house and Mantula taught me a really easy, Dominican favorite: Bollos con Coco. Bollos are one of my favorites, a pretty basic corn-meal ball mixed with fresh coconut, boiled and then with peanut butter spread on top. Mantula says that they’re especially good with some aguacate (avocado) on the side. I can’t wait until April runs around…Mangos and Avocados for all!!!
So that’s more or less my first 24 hours as experienced through food. I like to think that each meal hits on some of the major points of my new transition:
#1: Children are EVERYWHERE and they know how to make a mess.
#2: This is a compartir-ing (share-ing) society, and what little you have for yourself should be shared with everyone else that is around.
#3: I am thrilled to have the freedom and ability to cook my meals a mi gusto (to my liking).
#4: People here are extremely generous, and I know that I will never go hungry here on my own because all of my vecinos are eager to share with me.
#5: My host family is struggling a lot with the fact that I left, especially Juan de Dios and Yanelys who begged me to sleep at their house after dinner. I imagine I will be spending a whole lot of time with the family still, including many meals.
