stellabella

directly south of Tallahassee along the undeveloped coastal areas west of the st marks' wildlife refuge you can find some very interesting local bars that serve smoked mullet and all other types of fried local catches & oysters on the halfshell, ect, all served up alongside an icecold longneck. i have been to posey's and ouzt's [OO-zez] a number of times. lots of, er, local color. further west in a very small town is a restaurant called carrabelle's, [i don't remember the name of the town--does anyone?] -- they serve very good fried fresh seafood platters and homemade pies...

if you get to join in the process of making tamales from scratch, your entire trip will be justified!!!! lucky you!! unfortunately, i think you have to be careful with seafood--use your best judgment. i haven't been to the yucatan and have no idea to what extent cuisine varies regionally in mexico. you will have the opportunity to eat lots of luscious fruits. hand-patted tortillas, which are a sublime basic food in and of themselves. hot chocolate. avocado. good soups. looking forward to hearing about it. i hope you can share the tamale experience with us.

to add to steven's list of things besides bugs that can cause illness: dehydration, a common problem when traveler's aren't getting enough water--on top of exhaustion and the general overindulgence of being on holiday i believe it is true that we all react differently to the organisms in our environment, and travel to any place far enough away from home can upset the balance--i got really sick in seattle, for example, and i attributed it to jet lag and strange water. on the other hand, one more word of caution: a lot of travelers make the mistake of thinking that the locals are "used to" the water/microbes/etc. and that in time the traveler becomes used to them, too. in fact, in many developing nations, local people, esp those in the most impoverished communities, live with low-grade chronic gastrointesinal disorders. malnutrition is one of the leading causes of death amond young children, caused not only by a lack of food, but by chronic diarrhea. just a thought. it sounds like a lot of you have done a lot of traveling in asia, and with little trouble. this is good to know as i am hopeful soon to visit an asian country.

steve plotnicki, this fascinates me so let me clarify: "appetizing" is "Jewish immigrant" vernacular, no? it means, roughly, the "fixings" that go with the bagel? it does NOT mean "appetizer"--these two words aren't interchangable here. is the use of this word in this way a direct translation from the original yiddish [i'm assuming yiddish]? and to further clarify, the present participle of a verb can function as an adjective [participial] or as a noun [gerund]: That deli specializes in appetizing. noun That bagel looks appetizing. adjective the problem i am having here is that there is no verb to appetize that i am aware of, as has already been noted. being a southerner and sadly not jewish, i have never seen appetizing used in the way steven describes. being a language teacher i feel i MUST have an answer. answer me, people !

the only concern i had ever heard about eating from a cart in the states [or other "developed nation"] was that these vendors spend hours in the streets away from sinks where they can routinely wash their hands--hence cabrales concern about heps a & b. i used to eat in market stalls in mexico. the food almost always gave me heartburn, which i considered a small price to pay. during our honeymoon in guatemala, my hub and i contracted GIARDIA. the irony was that we got it at the home of our hosts, some american ex-pats, who bragged about the quality of their state-of-the-art water filter. we know we got it there because my cousin, staying there while adopting a child, got it, as did her daughter. to this day my little cousin still has a very sensitive intestinal tract. i will never be the same, either. i had to do two rounds on flagyl and cipro to knock it out. flagyl does terrible things to the intestinal tract and i pray to god i never have to take it again. i also got sick once in mexico city-- a fluke--my husband and i ate off the same plate all day and as soon as we got back to our room i had the most violent -- but mercifully, briefest --intestinal disorder of my life. since then i have become cautious to the point of being paranoid. i often feel i am missing out. but then i think of what the consequences can be. but then i also consider that, based on my track record, i'm more likely to get sick from a house/restaurant kitchen than from a street stall. funny, steven, about your egypt experience. i went to egypt with girlfreinds back in the day. i had never been out of the states before. we ate everything put in front of us and brushed our teeth with tap water. one of my girlfriends got violently ill for about two days. i was fine. when i got home, my stomach was "off" and stayed that way for about a month, and then, suddenly, i was fine. but looking back i think that there may have been a series of experiences that have weakened my stomach--i am much more sensitive to foods than most people i know. the whole "iron stomach" thing is true--my hub has one--i don't. when we go to ecuador we take doxycycline as an anti-malarial and it seems to have a prophylactic effect--i have never had so much as a sour stomach--even after eating guinea pig. i also now always travel with cipro and flagyl, just in case. but mexico is still one of my favorite places in the world. i long to stand in a market and drink a glass of horchata and eat a cup of sliced watermelon and papaya with chili powder--but i dare not. i wish there were some 100% guaranteed effective safeguard against intestinal bugs. :confused:

we try to use only eggs from our friends--in the summer we get more than we can use--in the winter the supply gets short, but some of our chicken-keeping friends use lights to promote egg-laying throughout the winter. after eating really fresh eggs, it's hard to buy even good-quality organic eggs from the store. when i was little and my grandparents still actively farming, i got sent into a chicken house in the morning to hunt for breakfast. i always wondered why eggs at home never tasted like eggs at my grandparents'...now i know.

my mother used to make banana pudding from scratch--of course, the 'nilla wafers came from a box. she used the recipe on the back. i haven't had that in years. real meringue on top. comfort food is rich, but i find myself able to eat it regularly in the cold winter months. of course, I am in georgia, where cold is warm, but our house is drafty. meatloaf and mashed potatoes would be gross in july.

Jinmyo and Cabrales brought up the subject of eating street food on the Cook at home or eat in a restaurant? thread. I'm curious, since so many eGulletarians travel: Do you eat street food? Can you truly experience local cuisine if you don't eat street food? Are there basic safety guidelines you follow? I want to hear some responses amd then I will share my own experiences. I am really torn on this one. I love food and street food often looks more appealing than anything else, but the risks can be great. Are they worth it? Any "scarred but smarter" stories?

Cabrales and Blue Heron, yes, and yes. BH, we live in very similar communities. Right after my hub and I moved into our house in June, 1998, we started finding bags of back yard tomatoes on the porch. I always try to take food to people who are sick or have had a death in the family--sometimes this is hard to arrange, though. I know one woman who buys up corning wear at yard sales for this reason--then she never has to get her dish back. I grew up watching my family and neighbors do this. It happens less and less as people become so busy. My sister had major surgery a couple weeks ago and her neighbor brought over a huge casserole, salad, dessert and some iced tea. I wonder how you have missed out on food-sharing, Cabrales? I must send you some food right away!! One couple routinely leaves little snacks on our porch for us--one afternoon we found a box of captain's wafers, a block of cream cheese, and a jar of homemade pepper jelly. Recently we found a dozen eggs from their chickens and a jar of dilled cucumbers. I do some canning and so do many of our neighbors. Eggs: we know lots of people who keep chickens and I can easily be reduced to begging when we run out of eggs--I don't ever want to buy eggs anymore--it's easy to get spoiled on free-range fresh eggs. BH, while in Green Point, Brooklyn, last fall, in search of peirogies, I fantasized what it would be like to live next to a baushka who would have me into her home and show me how to make tradtitional foods. Oh, I am green with envy. STREET FOOD: I just posted a note to Miss J on the Mexico page about taking care with seafood. I think we should begin a whole new thread about how to eat adventurously BUT SENSIBLY in developing nations--I have had some interesting experiences, meself.

miss j, not to be a fuddy-duddy, but please make sure any seafood you eat is well-cooked. i'm sure you've read all the appropriate pre-departure material, etc. i have never been to the yucatan, but have heard shrimp horror-stories, so please be careful. the seafood is coming out of very warm water, etc. you shouldn't have any trouble if it's well-cooked--also douse it with lots of lime juice. i have been sick in mexico before--it sux you will have a wonderful time!!!!!!!!!!!!! please report.

Blue Heron, the neighborhood party sounds wonderful. Most of the parties we throw/attend are potluck or "everyone bring a heavy-grazing dish." Out here in the tiny country town where we live, we do potluck all the time and the food is always all wonderful. It's weird how that happens--almost serendipitous. In addition to everything else I love about my town, I can't believe how progressive and skilled my neighbors are in the kitchen. Part of it has to do with the fact that those of us who socialize are "birds of a feather," and also with the reality that we live too far from any major city to dine out often--so we are forced to cook. Last fall the mayor and his wife threw a wonderful oyster roast--they ordered oysters from the Gulf of Mexico which were shipped within two days--we all brought sides, while D & B provided oysters, a shucking table, a grill, and a deep fryer. One of the guests broiled pans of them in the oven with marinara, bacon and provolone. It was an AWESOME party--it could never have been as fun in a restaurant.

in terms of dining, there is nothing i love more than sitting down to a well-executed, delicious, beautiful, fabulous meal, shared with people i love, in my home or at the home of the friend who cooked the meal...especially on a summer evening, at a picnic table in the back yard, candles and torches blazing, many bottles of wine chilled and ready to drink. this is living. my motto is: YOU CAN HAVE MORE MONEY, BUT YOU CAN"T HAVE MORE FUN

well, in a manner of speaking, i reckon we do....but our interest in them in almost purely academic : without getting off topic again, i just want to say that i thought i was one of the ONLY people who DIDN'T eat squirrel. Once one of my sisters and her then-boyfriend shot a couple behind my parents' house and fried them up in pan with red wine and mushrooms. they stretched the pelt on a board to dry. :wow: a pal of mine hs harrassed me a couple times about the fact that my husband and i don't cook and eat the squirrels in our yard. "omigod, stella," she says, "they're great--i can give you recipes." this same friend was a home-visit nurse in a rural southern county. once she got invited to stay for supper at a patient's home. simmering in the pot was a whole racoon, it's musk pouch removed, head intact, it's pointy teeth grinning up at her from the bottom of the kettle. may i also add that southerners--and perhaps people in other regions of the us--still eat possum. also turtle, which is sometimes called cooter. and alligator, big down in florida and swampy regions. and out west i know for a fact cuz i have SEEN it--rattlesnake. read marjorie kinnan rawlings' Cross Creek what's the name of the ecuadorian place? for my files

i just heard something on the news yesterday [here in the States] about a petrus scandal--some businessmen charged tens of thousand of dollars of wine to their expense acount and got fired. is that so? what's up with that? is it a big scandal in london right now?

cabrales, as for andean meats, you see a lot of farmed trout and flank steak, chicken, maybe pork, etc. nothing particularly strange about it--if anything i have found ecuadoren cuisine to be consistently underwhelming, with a few noteworthy exceptions. animal protein is most definately a luxury, but moreso even for the lowlanders than the highlanders, who are the ones eating gp. adam is probably at least partly correct, but i second you questioning how efficient source of protein the gp is. now i am very curious. it may also have something to do with altitude/cardiovascular system, in addition to quick breeding? one of the shamans we visit uses the gp in the cleansing ceremony--he rubs a live animal all over the patient's naked body. the animal absorbs malignancies of whatever sort..... is the queens restaurant you all are talking about by any chance called hornado equitoriana? it was recommended to me but i never got a chance to try it. please fill me in after you go.

the guinea pig served to me was scrawny--i mean, they look all cute and cuddly but it's all fur. there wasn't really any meat on the head, didn't seem to me. one fried guinea pig doesn't provide much meat. i am not sure why the guinea pig has become a staple in andean cuisine--next time i'm down [which is in a couple weeks] i'll try to get a more straight answer on this and then i'll post it here. personally if i had a choice between guinea pig and just about any other meat [served in the andes, i mean] i'd choose another. i think it's okay, in other words, but we all have different tastes; some ecuadoreans i know really love it. when i am down there would anyone like for me to do a little informal research on any other aspects of this cuisine?

Nothing bothers me more than a dinner companion who is cheap or inattentive. And then there's the friend who's both. I mean, why go out?

Bolivar, I grew up in TN and until I moved to GA I thought figs were only eaten in the Middle East. Now we harvest them from everyone's back yard and can them. Can you believe there are people with ancient fig trees who let the fruit fall to the ground year after year? There's nothing more sensual or sensuous than biting into a fresh-picked fig. Add to the list: fried corn backyard tomatoes backyard tomato sandwich [bread, tomato, mayo, sink] skillet cornbread watermelon squash casserole with potato chip topping chow chow Steven, did you see I posted about pot likker? We must have been tuning into the same food frequency recently. Pot likker is not only Southern, but it's also a home food--I can't remember the last time I saw it served in a restaurant.

Wilfrid and Cabrales, I have to admit my spine is tingling as I never thought I'd ever read the words "I envy you" on a site visited by so many food-ologists. And I fear getting off-topic again, as I am wont to do, but: I ate guinea pig in Ecuador, where they are raised like chickens for daily consumption. I had it first at the restaurant of the Hotel Aya Huma in Peguche, where it was served to me whole. It's eyeballs had been fried away, and it tasted like the dark moist meat of wild fowl, not exactly chicken--I was being snarky-- --and I encountered it in the street in Salasaca, where a woman was frying pieces of it on the bottom of an up-ended oil drum, with chunks of what looked like grits. I had to have some. I then asked the dumbest question of my life--Can I try some grits? Duh, they were potatoes--and delicious, soaking up all that guinea pig fat. FYI: guinea pig is an Andean staple--I don't think they eat it in the lowlands.

I have eaten guinea pig [tastes like chicken] and I think I may have made some faces when it was first brought to the table, but my back was turned to the waiter. Nonetheless, in this instance manners and decorum were suspended indefinately. The rat was lying supine on the plate, it's mouth opened in an enormous screaming yaw, oil glistening on it's spiky yellow teeth. But I ate it. I'm sure others have said this, too, but perhaps none better than MFK Fisher, who insisted on eating calf's heads because, after all, if we're going to eat animals, let's eat the whole animal, and let's look our food in the eye. But initial shock aside, Adam, I can't imagine someone making gagging sounds or saying yuck at the table of the person who prepared the food. I am stunn-ed. Had I been the host, I would have locked myself in the bathroom and guffawed, and then, after she was gone, my husband and I would have b***ed about her for a few days til we got over it. As for not having her over again--I hope that's an option.

ok, i'll take a guess: ummmmm, not jewish? tommy, i have had a very bad week. be nice to me. or else.

absinthe drinking seems a bit trendy to me, esp since people are often forthright about their desire to "get high." it's the search for something new and different, also "cool." everything i have read says that even if you get your hands on real absinthe, you're still more likely to get drunk than "high." the pleasant dreamy feeling lasts 20-30 minutes, but then if you keep drinking, you're smashed. and the interaction of the herbs, of which the wormwood is just one, may cause not very well understood changes in brain chemistry. my friend used to make it and now orders it from spain or france. he drinks one or two glasses. he really likes it. i don't. it does have a distinctive flavor, tho very similar to pernod. i am not a licorice liqueur drinker, but if you like that sort of thing, hey..

okay...somebody, anybody....London cabbies....?

i am NOT an expert but I have traveled in Guerrero, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Jalisco states, as well as Mexico City. as for regional differences, first of all, i have never eaten anything anywhere in mexico that resembled standard "american mexican" fare. i eat differently in mexico, too, cooked food only, and i drink lots of bottled soda [and beer]. enchiladas are pretty common, but otherwise you don't see the same kinds of foods as you find on "mexican" restaurant menus. i usually start with soup, often a very hot steamy brothy chicken-based vegetable soup, but in my favorite town of patzcuaro, in michoacan, the specialty is sopa de tarasco, a hearty tomato based thick soup flavored with ancho peppers and finished off with dollops of fresh mexican crema. if i'm still hungry i order a piece of cooked meat or an omelette. i never eat seafood but i will eat farmed trout. as far as i am concerned the best thing about mexican cuisine--assuming that this is ubiquitous, and perhaps it is not--is the basket of hot steaming soft corn tortillas that accompanies EVERYTHING. depending on where you are, the tortillas have probably been hand patted and cooked individually on a wide flat griddle that looks like a garbage can lid. a fresh hot tortilla sprinkled with some course salt is one of the simplest and most divine foods in the world, and it has been sustaining millions of people for a long time. mexican hot chocolate is also heavenly--flavored with cinnamon and served frothing. it's not fair to compare it to, say, french hot chocolate, either, cause it's a different animal. it rocks my world. in guadalajara i found a bakery selling flax seed cookies. my husband and i bought a dozen of them and then had to go back and buy more--and they were HUGE cookies. I have no idea how to make them--they were sorta sugar cookie like, dense and crumbly and full of thousands of flax seeds, which added the moist delicious crunch. i dream about those cookies.

simon, the NEXT time you come south, if you can make it to georgia, i will cook you some skillet cornbread and collard greens, cheese grits and meatloaf, and biscuits. or did i already say cornbread?