addicted

I failed to mention harissa in the previous post because I didn’t have a photo of it yet…



Crisis averted.

Popular throughout Northern Africa, harissa is to Tunisians what chips and salsa is to us at a Mexican restuarant- the forever opening act to the main show. They serve it with warm bread and also use it to spice up recipes. I’m totally addicted to it and going to miss it terribly when we leave.

If anyone wants to make it for me at Christmas here’s a recipe…

• 11 ounces dried red chile peppers
• 3/4 cup chopped garlic
• 2 cups caraway seed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions
1. Remove the stems and seeds from the chile peppers. Soak in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain. Place the peppers, garlic, caraway, coriander, and salt in a mortar; pound with a pestle until smooth. Place harissa in a jar, and cover the top with a little oil to maintain freshness. Store in the refrigerator.

Put a tablespoon or so on a plate with raised edges and pour a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil on top and serve with warm bread and olives. Spicy deliciousness!

tunisia

surprisingly, this country or at least the area of tunis that we're staying in has loads of ethnic food choices. we’ve had italian, chinese, some really good indian, japanese…you get the point.

but, we’ve also had some tunisian fare…



lamb and couscous is pretty much a staple.

so is coffee. very, very strong coffee…





and sweets, they love their sweets…




which are even better with fresh strawberry juice and sweet mint tea…



the best part is how much french influence there is here. not only in terms of language, but also their food...



we scored some fresh hot chocolate croissants in the medina last saturday. they were divine and cost less than 15 cents each. win. win.

honduras

moving north in central america didn't really seem to change the food choices...




although this bean dip kept warm by coals was pretty delicious.

especially, when the last thing you ate was a sausage and cheese english muffin thingy from burger king that your bus passed out as breakfast 10 hours earlier.

although at the time that thingy was pretty good considering you were still a little tipsy from going from the bar to the bus station at 4:15am.