My favorite thing: FOOD!!!

So, I have been in Haiti for two weeks now, and it was brought to my attention that I have not told you guys about the Haitian food! I have been so excited about the hamburgers and ice cream that I haven’t even touched on the awesome food that our Haitian cook, Lannie, makes! So this blog is dedicated to the food lovers out there that don’t care about my pizza and hamburgers!

RICE AND BEANS: Of course, we have rice and beans every single night. Lucky me! I love rice and beans. Most nights we have rice with peas in it, so naturally I pick all the peas out and just eat the rice. The rice has a bit of a spicy flavor to it, but tastes AMAZING. I could eat it every single night. Some nights though, we have white rice and pinto beans, which is my favorite type of rice and beans that we have!

LE GOO: I have no clue if that is how you actually spell it, but I don’t really eat it. It is vegetables mixed up in a blender, and then you pour it over the white rice. I don’t like veggies, so I don’t eat it. The main vegetable in it is some kind of green leaf, so it really just looks like green stringy stuff. Everyone says it is delicious, but I haven’t had the guts to eat it yet!

BULLION: I’m killing the spellings of these things. This meal is like a vegetable soup. It has chunks of potatoes in it and beef and carrots. It has an amazing flavor, and you put the rice in the soup and eat it all together. It is so delicious, but soup is hard to eat when it is 100 degrees outside.

CHICKEN LEGS: Lannie makes some of the best chicken legs I have ever had. I am not a huge dark meat eater, but her chicken legs have the best flavor! She bastes them in some kind of sauce with onions and it tastes amazing. We have those about 3 times a week!

MAC N CHEESE: Now, this isn’t your run of the mill every day macaroni and cheese. This is Haitian mac and cheese. She takes long penne noodles and cheese of course, but puts ham and some seasonings in it. It takes like heaven on a plate. It is so good! I wish I could be more descriptive, but that’s really all I can tell you. I’ll try to start taking pictures of our food so that you can see the deliciousness I am talking about!

SALAD: The salad here is so fresh, because all the ingredients are bought fresh from the street markets. She puts cucumbers and onions and we usually have a vinaigrette dressing. YUM!

FISH: I don’t eat fish, but this is the main thing that people eat in Haiti. Fish and shrimp. We went to a fish place the other day and when you order the fish, they literally bring out the ENTIRE fish. Head and all. It looks absolutely disgusting to me, but everyone says it tastes good. So if you like fish, Haiti is definitely somewhere you should go!

CHINESE: You read it right… Chinese!! In Haiti!! Say whaaaat?!?! We discovered this awesome little Chinese restaurant the other day! It had traditional Chinese food, but was way overpriced, so we won’t be returning there unless it is a special occasion, but it did taste wonderful! I had sweet and sour chicken and fried rice!

BBQ CHICKEN: When we went to the fish place, I ordered BBQ chicken. It was chicken wings (bone in) drenched in a wonderful barbeque sauce. And fresh cut French fries of course.

JUICE: When Lannie cooks, she always has fresh squeezed juice for us to drink. My favorite is fresh squeezed lemonade! It is to DIE for! We have also had grapefruit, and mango, but I try to drink water at dinner because it’s better for you!

HAITIAN BREAKFAST: I’ve only had a Haitian breakfast once. We had a buffet! A normal Haitian breakfast: boiled eggs, spaghetti, and bread with butter. I ate boiled eggs and bread with butter, but I’m not a big fan of spaghetti in the morning. Their spaghetti is really good. I’ve had it for lunch, but didn’t venture trying to eat it for breakfast.

PLANTAINS: So I thought plantains were like bananas. I was wrong. When Greg and Michelle picked me up from the airport, Michelle was buying plantains from a guy on the side of the road. She gave me one and it literally tasted like a potato chip! We eat them all the time now! Lannie made some the other night, but she cuts hers extremely thick so it tasted very starchy. I like the thin ones must better!

So there is my tribute to Haitian food. I am still pretty partial to the hamburgers and pizza though! I haven’t been asked to eat goat yet, so I’m doing pretty good. I eat a lot of sandwiches and cereal for breakfast and lunch. Overall, I’m getting a good mix of American and Haitian food, and loving it!

Oh and today is my sister’s birthday, so I couldn’t imagine writing a blog without giving her a shout out!

Happy birthday Marissa!! Enjoy old age!

Be on the look out for my next blog about my trip to the orphanage. It’ll be a heart wrencher!