Holy Mana from God!

I know I just blogged yesterday, but oh goodness my belly, bella!! Yesterday I had a delicious meal that I have not been able match. If I was to describe it to someone who loves good food & places as much as I do, here's my attempt: An extreme gorgeous looking Italian man walked by in a swarm of good looking Italian men, whispered foreign words in your ear (such as "Mangian questo cibo, bella" in that accent...you know the one I'm talking about), and then, finally, you got to eat him dipped in chocolate. Except this wasn't Italian. This was quite Ecuadorian, fresh, & delicious. I was really surprised that it was this good because the restaurant was in Gringo Land & not a small hole in the wall where you usually find the best food (I was going to do that today, but I'm just not confident enough in my Spanish to walk in a restaurant of Ecuadorians, sticking out like a sore thumb trying to ask for huevos fritas con queso & avocado but actually saying I want the balls of a bull dipped in cheese and avacado). So for now, a higher priced restaurant with tables & chairs will do, but tomorrow I'm giving an almuerzo teria a go. So here's how this meal went:

1) Sangria with fresh apples & strawberries. This doesn't sound like much, but it was just sweet enough to make me want a pitcher, which is exactly what we ordered.

2) I wasn't very hungry before the meal, I even told Carol I was only going to get vino y dulce, but then I saw something on the menu that looked weird & sounded delicous: llapangacho y chiros con huevos fritas, avacados, beets, y tomates. Granted I had no idea what chiros & llapangachos were, but I was practically aching for fried eggs with avacados. I ended up getting a plate with potato cakes with cheese in the middle (I referred to these little bits of heaven before), fried eggs, delicious sausage, & a plump avacado. They were all sitting, looking around, hoping a skinny girl would be looking down at them. But no, you have me, a girl who has a serious talent with the amount of food I can eat & thoroughly enjoy. I will try anthing (literally anything...I ate a horse fly once & I will try guinea pig before I leave here).  This, however, was a wonderful choice compared to quinea pigs & horse flies.

3) Now I love sweet food, but when I usually only eat sweet pastries when I'm not bloated with cheesy potato cakes. Ecuador, however, is an exception. The higos con queso  were good, but not what I was expecting. The figs were succulent & the cheese balanced the sweet syrup.

I have included some pictures that do my meal no justice, but food has become a central part of my experience & this makes me realize that food will always be something I can enjoy everywhere in this big, bad world.