Recreating breakfast

Nearly everyday that we were in Djibouti, my traveling companion (M) and I visited the juice bar at Cafeteria Sana'a a couple blocks from our hotel. It was normal a late morning break, usually after our second walk around the city. 

Around 7:30 a.m., we'd have breakfast on the porch of our hotel, a cup of café crême with a big cube of sugar accompanied by a basket of baguette slices and a couple croissants. The plates that came with the basket had a dollop of strawberry jelly and a large pat of butter. With my recovering broken hand, sometimes the butter started too cold to manipulate but within seconds it literally would begin to melt.

After this breakfast, we'd walk. With temperatures at 90 degrees F (even that early) and humidity around 85 percent, it didn't take long to find ourselves drenched in our own perspiration. We'd return to our hotel to drink a liter of water and let ourselves dry out and then we'd repeat. 

On the second morning tour, we capped everything off with a juice from Cafeteria Sana'a. 

The first day I ordered ginger juice. I thought, since gastro-international issues can pop up during travels in Africa, ginger would help keep my insides healthy. It was fabulous. Spicy and zesty and refreshing, even 20 minutes later still walking around in the heat that ginger juice left and incredibly pleasant taste in my mouth.

The next visit they had run out of ginger. This afternoon, they said. I was heartbroken so I let M order me a mango. It was delightful but lacked the zip and surprise of the ginger.

We returned the next day. No ginger. Maybe tomorrow, they said. I ordered "melon." I had no idea what type of melon to expect. I'm not a huge melon fan, but isn't the point of traveling to expand your horizons and be adventurous? Would it be watermelon? Honeydew?

Cantaloupe. Served in a frozen mug. Not as breathtaking as ginger but a flavor I soon learned to crave after an hour or two in the hot sun. That day we had a second juice, lemon. Our server offered us lemon with mint, something not on the board, but at this point we may have become regulars. This became M's pick.

The final trip to the juice bar we ordered large juices instead of regular. Still no ginger. So I stayed with my melon.

And today I made a breakfast that incorporates all of these taste memories:

- Take and bake Archer Farms baguette with Brie from Aldi and a chunk with butter.

- Simply Balanced green tea with ginger.

- Cantaloupe juice

My first attempt at my own cantaloupe juice smoothie included about 2 cups cantaloupe and 1/2 cup water in the blender. Suitable, but lacked the frozen mug. 

Belated Wisconsin entry

Last week, I went to La Crosse, Wisconsin for NCUR 2013. I ate at Edwardo's Pizza Wagon, Sam's Sawtooth Saloon, and had a superb coffee at Moka.

The university provided continental breakfast and bagged lunches. At the airport going in, I had Chinese and on the way out, I grabbed an egg sandwich at Einstein Bagels.

Had fried cheese curds twice. They were like mozzarella sticks with air under the breeding that popped when you bit them.

Road trip!

Friday morning at 5:30 am, we headed into the dark for our first road trip in our Nissan.

We started out with dark chocolate covered espresso beans for the grown ups and baby carrots and sesame sticks for the child. The types of food allowed in the Nissan... Is limited.

We drove to the suburbs of Baltimore where we met my college roommate and her young boys for a delightful breakfast of popovers, blueberry muffins, fruit, eggs and bacon fresh from the butcher.

From there we headed into DC where we headed down to the Mall (no cherry blossoms yet) and bought the child ice cream from a food truck (and I got an egg roll).

Dinner was Salai Thai. My daughter loved their pineapple chicken last time since it came in a pineapple... And so she requested a return visit. Our party had a tofu appetizer that was quite melt-in-your mouth.

I had scallops and I don't remember the sauce/preparation. They were spicy in a big way, which was sooo good, but the scallops themselves were not as tender as I had hoped yet not tough either.

We had brought our host food gifts of zaatar bread, Tunisian Harissa and chocolate halawa. I believe he enjoyed them.

In the morning we went to PAUL. Spoke some French, ate lots of pastry.

Our final meal in DC was pitas at Cava Mezza grill near the DC City Target. Fun stuff-- organic food locally sourced.

On the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel where I did something crazy-- I got the sampler platter instead of one of my favorites. This allowed me to try the chicken and dumplings, ham AND meatloaf. Surprisingly I liked the ham best and the meatloaf, while perfectly adequate, didn't hit the spot. Then I had a molasses sundae. That was fun.

Daughter had the chocolate coca cola cake. That was one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever eaten.

Margez

One of my favorite parts of travel to the Arab sections of French cities and to North Africa is lamb sausage, Margez.

This particular platter posted is from a café in the Tunisian resort city of Sousse, about 2.5 hours by train from the capital city of Tunis.

What's interesting about Franco-influenced Arab cuisine is the flood of bread with every meal, even more prevalent than in France. The North African region gives a basket of baguette slices its own twist-- by serving it with the chili pepper paste known as harissa blended with olive oil.

See the empty bowl in the background with red smears? That was harissa.

My travels have renewed my interest in checking out the halal butcher in my neighborhood.

En route

Dinner stop at Popeye's Louisiana kitchen in Detroit metro airport

Easing my way back

I left Marseilles in the South of France at 10:55 am Saturday, having woken at 6:45 am. That, in American time, starts me at 12:45 am. We took a bus to the Marseilles/Provence airport where we ate our final pain au chocolat with coffee.

Boarded the plane to Paris, enjoyed the airport lounge for several hours, and embarked on an 8 hour 40 minute flight to Washington, DC. We landed around 8 pm.

I checked my luggage for my final plane home, and departure was delayed until 10:40. Then the plane broke and we were sent back into the terminal until about 12:30 am.

By that point I'd been awake 24 hours. We finally got to my fair town at 2:10 am.

And the spring semester started Monday. And I had dental surgery Tuesday for my implant. My digestive track did not survive Africa unscathed, so I haven't eaten much.

Last night I graduated from clear liquids/Gatorade/bananas/applesauce to rice-- because if I didn't eat something soon I was going to kill someone.

And so I made my family teriyaki snow peas and vegetarian meat to go with it.

It smelled so good... I ate it. No issues.

I had applesauce, coffee, Greek yogurt, Cipro and Motrin for breakfast. All is good.

For lunch I made half a tuna sandwich with Miracle Whip, a small serving of sweet potato fries and a Bolthouse Berry Boost anti-oxidant smoothie.

Final preparations

So, my traveling companion's Algerian visa did not come through and the embassy referred to mine as a mistake. Plans have been canceled and remade and we are departing for Paris tonight, with plans later in the week for Tunis (Tunisia) and Marseille (South of France).

The most stressful part of this upheaval has been eating. I have labeled certain pantry items for my husband and daughter and to eat them now feels like I am stealing food from their mouths.

While a friend takes me to the airport today (husband has to work but daughter will be done with school) husband plans a trip to Aldi on the way home.

These are my suggestions for upcoming menus:

- spiced peaches and the exotic plums I canned over the summer will jazz up some breakfast

- fresh spinach in a tortilla shell with some of the spicy turkey/bean pâté in the freezer

- steak with brandy sauce, potatoes or sweet potato fries

- chili (in the freezer)

- zaatar bread with feta

- boxed Mac and cheese

- Market Pantry orange chicken

- leftover daddy pasta (rotini, red sauce, ground beef, and a touch of cheddar)

- nachos with black beans, olives, cheddar and fancy salsa

- SteamFresh parmesan risotto with vegetables and added tuna

Crazy goodbye dinner

I am scheduled to leave for Algeria tomorrow, though if my traveling companion does not get his visa tomorrow, our journey may be rescheduled and our destination for this week changed.

So, hoping that tonight will be my last dinner at home, I whipped up some family favorites:

- spinach and spring mix with hot bacon dressing (my mother-in-law's frozen from thanksgiving)
- Market Pantry sweet potato fries
- buffalo blue cheese broccoli with Cheetos topping
- tuna sandwiches on wheat bread
- mango cherry Bolthouse Farms smoothie
- Edward's Key Lime Pie for dessert

My freezer is packed with vegetables, chili, turkey/bean pâté, a steak ready to cook and my brandy cream sauce to go on it...there's vegetarian sausages and Gardein beef tips, snow peas, and water chestnuts. Spaghetti. Boxed Mac and cheese. Fruit I 'canned' over the summer.

Plus cheddar, black olives and salsa for nachoes.

They won't starve.