La Comida

That's right folks, time for the food blog.

Everything here is delicious. I wish I could leave it at that, but some things require a little explanation and a little ranting. Ok so only one thing requires ranting; and I kind of lied before. I should have said "almost everything here is delicious."

Empanadas--every southerner's dream. Take whatever you want (I've seen everything from ground beef and veggies to pizza toppings to seafood to strawberries and chocolate.) and wrap it up in this delicious, crispy, yet soft dough and fry it. Fry it good.

Carne--the beef here is a little tough, but Mama makes it with a fried egg on top and it is glorious!

Sidenote: Mama isn't said like a baby to it's mother or like a southerner trying to prove they're right ("Well, Mama always said..."). Mama and Papa are pronounce in Spanish like maMA and paPA. Just so ya know.

Frutas--so much fruit. Some days, all I eat is fruit. Ok that's a lie too, but it seems like it a lot!

Lentils--yum. enough said.

Tea--I have found the greatest tea in the world. It requires no sugar or milk or honey or anything. It's that good: Manzanilla. It means literally "little apple" and its awesome!

Here's the other tea we have in the house. For those of you as immature as I am, please note that every time I see the box I giggle. Yes, I'm 12 and I know it.

Ok ready for the ranting?

Chocolate.

I know right? Not what you were expecting. I mean, who can screw up chocolate? Let me tell you. Ecuadorians can. They mix it with all these crispies and cookies and nuts and fruit jellies and flavorings and they screw it all up. I mean, they have taken one of the most glorious things God put on this earth and destroyed it. I'm looking in the Bible, because I'm pretty sure its sinful what they've done. Here's a for instance: I went to get ice cream at this place that specializes in desserts, and I saw this amazing looking chocolate sundae, and I thought to myself, "Self, you have to have this. Finally, you're going to get to taste the wonderful, bittersweet, heavenly taste of chocolate in Ecuador. All will be right with the world again."

Nope. I take my first bite and just about spit it out. They've put hazelnut in it. It tasted like Nutella. I know there are many of you out there who are all like, "Wow, that must have been so good. What's the matter with you? Nutella is the most amazing thing ever."

Nope. Wrong again. I'm here to tell you my friends that Nutella is not the most amazing thing ever. It's mediocre at best, and if you've ever seen me eat it, it was probably for one of two reasons: either you gave it to me and I didn't want to hurt your feelings, or I had a really bad sweet tooth and was willing to stoop as low as Nutella to satisfy it. Chocolate, now that might just be the greatest thing ever. But not when you botch it up with all this extra stuff. LEAVE MY CHOCOLATE ALONE. UGH.