Please Don’t Judge Me (a.k.a. Mac ‘n Cheese ROCKS!)
Don’t get me wrong – I am nothing if not an adventuresome eater. Indeed, I feel extraordinarily blessed to be able to sample the World’s cuisine – authentically, amid the globe’s curb-side street eats (well o.k. perhaps not that fermented mare’s milk in Mongolia).
Ah but those steaming bowls of Pho in Vietnam, delectable Phad Thai in Thailand, dreamy “Tea Leaf Salad” in Myanmar – droool…
Furthermore, while I adored the many delish foods that I ate for nearly three years in Asia, I must say – the cuisine here in Ecuador is ever so much closer to my native land than the ubiquitous rice and noodles simmering on every street corner in Asia. We’re talkin’ m-a-s-h-e-d potatoes here people, some even made into perfect little puffy “papas” clouds, deep fried and tucked next to a heavenly serving of “pulled” pork. Granted, that pork isn’t exactly neatly sliced Hometown U.S.A. style “chops” so much as – snout ‘n ears, hoofs ‘n tail staring at you whilst the delectable strings of “cerdo” are pulled from the piggy’s innards, but still…
There comes a time (or three) in every expat’s nomadic life, when the lure of their childhood comfort foods simply gets to be too much. So, when I spied this box of good ol’ Kraft, errr… “Sumesa” (indeed, “hace en S.A.) at my neighborhood grocery here in Cuenca, well… What can I say?
Ladies and Gentlemen (please don’t judge me, but…), the time has come for a big ol’ plateful of MAC ‘N CHEESE!
(mouseover the image and watch it flip-flop!)
Yessireee, gobs of utterly non-nutritious macaroni, smothered with “salsa de queso” (a.k.a. purely artificial cheese uh, more like bright orange, crumbly sawdust?) Nonetheless…
Two words: YUMMM. MMMERS!
Note: I didn’t enhance the color at all – that’s the amarillo 5 and amarillo 6 artificial colors talking.
I mean, “fortificada” can’t be all bad, right?
| Ingredientes: Macarò enriquacido: Sémola de trigo durum fortificada, agua. CONTIENE GLUTEN. Salsa sabor a Queso: Suero de leche, sal, sabor queso, azúcar, ácido citrico, fosfato trcicálcico, citrato de sodio, glutamato, monosódico, colorantes (amarillo 5, amarillo 6). |
Indeed, as I slid the first forkful of artificially colored and artificially flavored noodles onto my salivating tongue, I was suddenly transported back to my childhood. And my U.S. of A mouth was oh so happy to momentarily taste the cheesy goodness of my native land. In short, trust that I savored every neon-orange morsel while sitting on my Ecuadorian balcony listening to the chatter of Spanish in the cobbled streets below.
What about you – what’s your expat/travel food guilty pleasure? What could you simply NOT live without were you stranded on a desert island like Tom Hanks?
About the Author
Dyanne Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion,and I’ve always lived life “like-a-kid-in-a-candy-store” – eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been: This ain’t a dress rehearsal, folks!
You might also like...
Thanksgiving Tasting Menu at Casa Dyannita →
Nuema →
Haute Cuisine in Cuenca →
Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion, and I’ve always lived life “like a kid in a candy store” – eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been:
Hi Dyanne,
I live in the good old US and can get all the (junk) food of my youth I want. But when I vacationed in Barcelona I actually got sick of eating tapas every night. They started to feel heavy and oily to me and I was only there about 8 days! When I found the open market, La Boqueria, I stocked up on fresh fruit, yum! And one night I went out to dinner in a proper restaurant at 7 pm (nobody eats before 10 pm, hard to even find a restaurant open earlier than 9 pm) and ate a piece of fish, steamed veggies and rice. Tasted so good!
After a year of travel we compiled a spreadsheet of all of our expenses and we had a real eye opener when we saw our average monthly grocery bills. Buying “comfort” foods or familiar foods can really increase the bills but it does bring a little bit of “home” into your world wherever you are…
I LOVE mac and cheese. I try to feel more grown up by getting Annie’s organic mac and cheese though. I also really love pasta with butter and ketchup. I don’t know why a lot of people think that is gross.
Talk about comfort food, my German heritage (twice removed) has given me the love of wurst and sauerkraut with potatoes. Yum My kids even love it. With a lager beer, there’s nothing better! (even though the wurst has become Italian hot sausage)
Peanut Butter. Unsalted, 100% peanuts. Maybe I could live without it, but I wouldn’t want to attempt it. Does anyone else spread it on Fig Newtons?
Lamb, leg of – roasted or butterflied then broiled – was on the list. An unbroken streak of dreadful lamb since leaving Cebu has not just broken the urge, it killed it, buried it and erased my memories.
I miss American-style Chinese food the most… Crazy, I know, considering I now live in Asia. But radioactive red sweet and sour sauce? Little packets of plum sauce for those humongous egg rolls? Cold Moo Goo Gai Pan the day after eaten straight out of the takeout containers? Nothing beats that. Thankfully there is ONE American-style Chinese delivery place in Saigon and I’m ordering some tonight! Yippppeeee!
lol James – missing American Chinese take-out in the land of some of the BEST Asian food on the Planet (Vietnam) is ironic indeed. Hope you’re enjoying your leftover radioactive red sweet sour sauce this morning! 😉
Nirvanah for sure! The pic says it all. 😉
Yes, Sis – and your perpetual GoodDealMeals blog postings of mouth-watering childhood favorites that Mom used to make (e.g. this week “Chicken Caccaitore”), surely don’t help! 😉
Ah yes, I was and still am a fan of good ole Mac-n-cheese occasionally. I might have to say I would miss hot cocoa (made with milk!) probably the most. So thats really 2 things lol… Hey that flip thing is pretty cool eh? Another great use!
No worries Sue – among the special treats here in Cuenca is slabs of organic chocolate for a pittance, and I often make my own super rich creamy cocoa from scratch!