Photos of Cuyes

2nd consecutive post on sports...

Greetings, earthlings. It's been a while since I posted, and well, you know what they say, "If you don't use it, you lose it." And, well......

First off, and this is not just because I live in a socialist country now, I hate the Winter Olympics. And I couldn't care less about hockey, either. I'm sorry if that makes me a bad person. The only event I watched (not by choice) was the gold medal curling match. And it was terrible. But, back to hockey. It is unwatchable. It's like if soccer were played underwater and you couldn't ever see the ball. What's the point. And most of the other events are all variations on one theme: There's a mountain and you see who can go down it the fastest. Luge, skeleton, bobsled, slalom, downhill. It's all the same look. The Winter Olympics is the Derek Zoolander of sporting events.

Sure, the Summer Olympics has a lot of the same stuff too, but there is a lot more variation. Plus it's exciting. There's basketball, boxing, Eastern European women(possibly) lifting cars, or something. If the Winter Olympics put the pommel horse on the side of a mountain and said, "Okay Nadia, lets see what you're made of", than perhaps they would grab my attention. Or they could draw up a basketball court on a frozen lake. That would really be the Winter Olympics' Magnum.

I finally had my first taste of cuy (pictures to come). I thought it was pretty good, as far as deep fried rodents go. Roasted is up next. Gotta try 'em all. Once you pop the fun don't stop. When pizza's on a bagel.... Oh yeah, Doritos time! Gotta crunch it 'cuz it's good.

That's all, off to bed and a 5:30 alarm.

-Ryan

Just Life

Just a couple of things we've been doing lately...

1. We both have pretty full class schedules. One of my classes might be canceled and Ryan needs one more but we still work a lot. Every day we're up at 5:30 for class at 7. Then about 3-4 nights a week we have class till 7pm. They're long days but it's nice to be able to work, come home, work, play tennis, work, eat dinner, etc.

2. We're taking Spanish classes everyday now. 1 hour/day. Tuesday and Friday at inlingua and Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday with Jhon. Jhon is our boss at inlingua, Danni's, fiance. He's studying to be a Spanish teacher. Classes at inlingua focus on grammar and move really slow. Classes with Jhon focus on conversation and move really quickly.

3. We've been playing tennis. We finally figured out how the courts work. There are about 10 courts in the parque by our house, La Carolina. You have to reserve a court before you just hop on it. It's fun and we're thinking about taking lessons.

4. We're cooking... A LOT. Almost everynight we cook a big meal and then have it for lunch the next few days. It's fun and we're enjoying it. The only problem is by the time we're done just about every dish in the kitchen is dirty and I hate doing dishes. But, I'm learning to like it.

5. I'm looking for someplace to volunteer. Maybe an orphanage or a day care. I'd like to be around kids but I'm not sure I could handle an orphanage. I think I'd want to take all of the babies home with me. And, well, we can't afford that. So I'm still looking. The problem is there aren't many things on the internet that are actually local in Quito. Most places that have a website are international companies. So when I google "orphanages in quito" or "volunteer in quito" there are all of these websites for gap years where you have to pay to volunteer. I'm going to ask Jhon about it tomorrow in spanish class.

That's all. Just wanted to give everyone a little update. Tonight we're going for sushi with Maria Jose and Casey. We're really excited! Then this weekend, on Friday we're going out for a drink or two with some of the other teachers. Saturday, I think we're going to Peguche waterfalls with another teacher and her Quiteno boyfriend. And Sunday we might go to the Leagua soccer game (supposedly it'll be a good one).

We'll it's my turn to do the dishes today.

MULUB,
Taylor

Are you ready for some football!

Today we went to our first football game here in Ecuador. It was actually a lot like an American sporting event. Except that we bought our tickets on the street. For sixteen dollars. Oh, and we bought our jerseys on the street too, five dollars each. The guy told me the were officially licensed merchandise and I have no reason not to believe him. He said it's supposed to give you a rash. That's how you know it's authentic.

We had general admission tickets, so we just went in and found an open seat. The game started right on time, unlike just about everything else. People walked around the seats selling refreshments, like beer, popsicles, cigarettes (sold by a five year old). At halftime we ate traditional stadium fare; fried chicken with rice, fries, lettuce and some purple stuff. The halftime show was a big inflatable milk carton in the middle of the pitch. It lacked some of the panache of American halftimes. Football games in Ecuador are a family affair, even if most members of the family are still breast-feeding. Some of the babies there were so young, as though they just recently fell out, crying because the stadium feels nothing like the womb.

The team that we decided to like, Barcelona, didn't win, they drew. So the Barcelona fans threw their empty bottles at the ref as he left the pitch. That'll teach him to be an idiot.

-Ryan

All Things F/Good

So dinner was AMAZING! If anyone is ever looking for a great place to eat for a special occasion in Quito, Zazu is the place! The food was decently priced and the wine list was sooo extensive. You can check out the menu at www.zazuquito.com. Don't miss the pictures too! There's a really cool one of the wine cellar.

The place was definitely trendy, but Ryan and I were dressed the part. I wore that fancy dress I bought for Rob and Cherice's wedding last summer. By my calculations, now that I've worn it three times I can justify what I paid for it! Ryan wore a black suite with a Ben Sherman shirt and tie. I even wore makeup for the first time since we've been here! The First and Second Pictures.

It was one of those really slow dinners, intentionally slow not poor service slow. The kind where you order one course and then another instead of everything all at once. The kind of meal where the food is the real star but the conversation is so great that you keep ordering more and more and more. All in all, it was the perfect evening! But without further ado, lets talk about the star of the evening... the food!

We'll we started with two appetizers and a bottle of Chardonnay (don't worry the Chardonnay lasted longer than the appetizers). I ordered the beef carpaccio and it was heavenly. First of all, we haven't had any beef (besides ground beef and you know how I feel about ground beef) since we've gotten here, with the exception of a hamburger (think fresh McDonald's quality not T's quality). So the idea of delicious, top grade raw beef was extremely enticing. To put me over the moon though, as if the raw beef didn't do it, they rolled the carpaccio around goat cheese and sauteed mushrooms... what? Ok, you know I'm not a huge mushroom fan but these mushrooms were chopped finely enough that they didn't overpower the goat cheese texture. Anyways, we knew we were in for a good meal once the carpaccio came out.

Ryan ordered the duck raviolis as an appetizer. Now, Ryan is a huge duck fan but we were slightly disappointed with the raviolis. Duck has such an intense flavor that these raviolis were missing. There wasn't any of that warm, earthy taste and the homemade raviolis could have used a few more minutes in the boiling hot water to soften them up a bit more. But oh well, the carpaccio made up for the flawed raviolis.

Then we realized we should probably take pictures of the meal so that everyone could see what we were eating.

We ordered the ceviche mixto next (see the third picture). OH MY WORD! The last time I had good seafood was in Chicago at Tapas Las Ramblas with all of the girls before Jess left for that one place she briefly moved to. Anyways, the beach is about an hour away, which makes the ocean about an hour away, which makes fresh delicious seafood highly available in Quito. DUH! Why didn't we realize this sooner? Why have I been ordering so much chicken everywhere? This ceviche. was. to. die. for. Yes, the sole was so fresh, the octopus so perfect, and I can't even remember what else constituted the 'mixto'. But what I can remember is the sauce. Oooooh, that sauce. Lemony fresh with just the right amount of acidity, and the cilantro, ah the cilantro. So perfect, so amazing, so energizing, so clean and fresh. Whatever you do, get the ceviche.

Then, as if we hadn't eaten more with the appetizers and the ceviche than we'd eaten at any other meal since we've been gone, we ordered our entrees. Now, don't get me wrong, the carpaccio was amazing, but it didn't quite quench my desire for beef. So, with the prompting of the waiter, I ordered the Uruguayan steak (see the fourth photo). I tried to switch the potato gratin for potato gnocchi but said waiter advised I shouldn't. So I went with his suggestion and HOLY COW (Uruguayan cow that is). I was not disappointed. The steak was perfectly medium rare, seasoned with aji amarillo. Before the meal, we thought aji only came in one color... red. We were wrong. Aji apparently comes in all different colors and, by golly, the red is probably the worst. Which is saying something because we LOVE the aji rosa and use it in everything. This aji amarillo gave the steak heat, but not cheap mexican food heat, it gave it that subtle heat that is more flavor than spice. You know, that 'I've been marinating in something oh so right for oh so long to make the flavor seem more apart of the meat than on top of the meat.' It gave it that kind of heat. And the potato gratin, well the waiter was right. It was delicious. The caramelized onions were shoestring thing and the tomatoes were a nice cross between grilled and confit. I'm not sure how they did it, but I could eat tomatoes like that every day.

Ryan had stone crab stuffed tiger prawns. I can't really describe them because he only gave me one intsy teensy bite. I guess that's description enough. (See photo 5)

Somewhere in there we ordered champagne and then dessert.

My all time favorite dessert in Creme Brule. I don't like a lot of chocolate; I don't like heavy desserts; I don't like a lot of fuss. Creme Brule is perfect because you've got the creamy texture of the creme contrasted by the brittle texture of the fire-glazed sugar. Its satisfying without being to heavy. And it comes with fruit... at least there's something healthy about it. I don't like flavored Brules, I don't like fancy fruit with it. Just give me a well made, not runny, vanilla creme brule with a couple berries and I'm a very happy girl.

Well, Zazu had no creme brule on the menu. Go figure. The next closest thing was Pana Cotta. Now, I've never had Pana Cota. I've heard of it and know generally what I would expect to get in front of me where I ever to order it. But I haven't because I've always been too busy ordering Creme Brule. This pana cota rocked my world to the core of dessert choices. It was that good. Light, creamy, a lot like brule but just a little different and still served with berries. YES PLEASE. (See photo 6)

Ryan ordered some chocolate trio. If you've read all of this you know my feeling about his dessert. But there was a chocolate espresso brownie of sort that was slightly redeeming. (See photo 7)

After two and a half hours of eating and talking and drinking, we were exhausted and sooo full. But not too tired for one last picture outside of Zazu after a fantastic evening. (See photo 8).

Valentine's Day a Week Late

So tonight we're going out to celebrate Valentine's Day because on the actual Valentine's Day Ryan was sick in bed (reference the picture below). Tonight we'll be going to one of the best restaurants in Quito, courtesy of my father, as we could not afford it on my $0.07 pay check.

Anyways, the menu looks great and it's been reviewed by the New York Times. This restaurant may be, in fact, the only thing in Quito EVER reviewed by the New York Times. But we'll see... I often get my hopes up for these great, swanky restaurants only to feel very uncool in the crowd and disappointed by the food. If there's one thing I can't stand its a restaurant that tries too hard.

Recently I've started to miss some of the things from home. I saw that Katie joined the facebook group for Chicago Festivals 2010 and it made me nostalgic. Even though I worked too much last summer to enjoy most of the festivals, it's nice knowing they're going on and that they're available to anyone who wants to grab some beer and greasy street food and sit on the sidewalk listening to local music. Ahhh... Chicago.

I also miss, Dad just keep your mouth shut, a good Gin and Tonic made by a bartender for under $5. Maybe I'll have one tonight, although I'm sure it will be much more than $5.

I miss Trader Joes like mad. We have great produce here, so that's not it. I don't even know what it is but I miss shopping there, just being in the store with the free samples and the constantly changing selection. Plus there's nothing remotely close to 2 Buck Chuck here. The cheapest wine we've seen has been $4 in a box and about $8 in a bottle. Too expensive.

There are certainly things I don't miss one bit though too. I don't miss writing a rent check, a car payment check, a car insurance check, and utilities checks every month. I don't miss that at all.

I also don't miss one bit all of the hours I spent at work. Don't get me wrong, I miss my co-workers, but not the hours I spent there. Certainly not.

I also don't miss having a car. This might be suprising, considering the amount of time I spent in my car. But goodness, I'm soo happy to not have one. I've got two legs that work great and for 25 cents I can get anywhere in this city. It's nice to be my own mode of transportation.

I also don't miss not seeing Ryan everyday. Living together is great for the sole fact that we get to see each other everyday. I love that!

Anyways, wish us luck tonight! I'm sure it will be great!

MULUB,

Taylor

PS. Can anyone guess what I miss probably the most about living in Chicago (besides seeing my girlfriends everyday)?

We're Home

Ryan sick in bed with tons of gatorade, fiber bars, and pedialite. This is how we spent most of Valentines Day, all of Monday and some of Tuesday.

At the beginning of the Cuicocha hike. See that ridge? That's what we hiked along. Pretty strenuous for a first hike.

Ryan bought a flute at the handicrafts market. yay. He can play two songs: When the saints go marching in and Jingle Bells.

At the waterfall before being sick, after the market!

We got home from Otavalo yesterday afternoon. It was a really great trip with one minor bump. On Sunday we went for a hike at Cuicocha lake. It was a pretty tough hike. We basically hiked along the ridge of these mountains overlooking the lake for 4-5 hours. Ryan got pretty sick from dehydration while we were hiking and it took him a couple of days to recover. Hence, coming home on Tuesday instead of the originally planned Sunday.

All in all though the trip was really great. The hostel was AMAZING! If anyone is ever in Otavalo we would highly recommend Rose Cottage. It was outside of the town, nestled in between valleys and mountains. It was so beautiful and so relaxing. The perfect escape from the city. Plus, we really got a long well with the people that run the hostel. Basically the place used to be a family's vacation home. Then about a year ago they decided to make it into a hostel. Instead of building one big building, they built a bunch of smaller houses. Each member of the family takes a turn living at the hostel and running it. One of the sons, Richard, had just arrived a couple of days before we arrived with his girlfriend, Sophie, and Sophie's brother, Alex. Sophie and Richard are going to be running the hostel until at least June. We exchanged phone numbers and hope to see them sometime again!

Anyways, we'll share more about the trip in the next couple of days. In the meantime, check out the photos on facebook. The album is Otavalo and they're on my account.

MULUB,

Taylor

PS. We're praying for the Matson family.