La Cucaracha! La Cucaracha!

On Monday evening, I decided to open up a little package that Leslie had given me before I came back to the Dominican.  On the back it read, "open when you need a reminder of Edmonton." Well a week of being away from Edmonton was enough of a wait.  When I opened it, I was so happy to discover an adorable card and two lovely and unique pendants from both Leslie and Benita, which they had bought at the City Market back in the spring.  It was such a thoughtful gift and made me so thankful to have amazing friends like the two of them!   Here are some pictures of the pendants - they are made from Scrabble tiles!  Funny thing, when I opened the card, the Scrabble tile side was showing and I kept thinking, why I and E.  And then I turned them over and realized there were pretty designs on the other side!  Silly me.

Cute black and white design and a birdie

I and E

On the weekend I bought my first plantain (platano) as I was determined to cook something that was more Dominican.  So on Monday evening, my goal was to make platanos frites - which are essentially fried plantains.  The ones in the restaurants look (and taste) much better than the ones I made.  But for my first try, I was happy.  Usually in the restaurant they are more squished/spread out... but when I tried to squish mine, they just broke apart.  I also think that sometimes they are deep-fried.  I'm also unsure of the right ripeness.  

Plantain in the peel

Chop Chop Chop

Add a bit of salt and pepper

Frying

Done!

Tuesday was very hectic at the office.  However, I am so excited to be working on a project for an international firm that involves me doing real actual International Business work - the stuff I learned in school!  It has me quite excited.  It's actually a project that I kind of took on voluntarily.  When it was originally assigned to me, I was given a contact in another Caribbean Island to speak to in order to get the information.  But once I looked at the list of questions in more detail, I figured it was all information I had the knowledge to understand and obtain.  So I've been working away at it and have, so far, been successful.  Lunch was spent at Pola again with Robert and Mari, and again, we went to the bakery afterwards for an espresso.  We're enjoying going there a lot, especially now that we are regulars!  I also learned something random that I should have known before.  While in the pest killing device section of Nacional we came across some traps for cockroaches.  I then read the Spanish text which indicated it was to get rid of cucarachas.  Cucarachas?!  My entire view of the song, "La Cucaracha" was suddenly changed.  And then I felt silly - how did I not know this before?

Chocolate Croissants that rival ones I've had in France

In the evening, I went to pilates with Mari.  It was a good workout!  We also bought tickets for an event there on Friday, where there will be sushi and a jujitsu presentation.  While it is not really my thing, it will be nice to spend time with the ladies.  After I had my nightly chat with Bart, I went over to Robert and Mari's apartment to try Mari's guacamole.  We found out that people think we both make excellent guacamole and we make it differently.  So it was time for me to try her version.  It was very yummy!  She also showed me this crazy bug.  He looks like a bunch of leaves and is quite large and sort of scary!

Mari checking out her guacamole

Crazy Leaf Creature

Today has been another busy day.  I forgot to buy more cereal yesterday, so I didn't eat any breakfast at home.  However, this did not upset me since it meant I had an excuse to purchase multiple pastries at Sweet Bakery.  Along with the Croissant de Chocolate, I also decided to try a Croissant Dulce con Queso Crema.  I'm pretty sure my face says it all.

Mmm cream cheese goodness!

 The power was out at the office, so J and I packed up our stuff and headed over to the framing shop to do our work there.  On the way there, J was driving down this kind of narrow street, when he turns to me and says, "I think maybe this is one-way..." This kind of made sense since all the traffic was going in the opposite direction.  I loved how no one, not even the other drivers, was fazed by this.  I do enjoy working at the shop (and there were less ants as compared to last time) since I get to check out the art well working.  I was sad though because going there meant that I had to miss out on lunch with Robert and Mari at Wendy's.   Instead, I ate lunch with J at La Sirena.  It was kind of awkward but not as bad as I thought it might be.  However, their salad bar did not compare with the one at Pola and I ended up throwing most of it away.  We stayed at the framing shop for the rest of the day.  It was nice to work in a silent, air conditioned space.  Every once and a while, J would interrupt the silence with some random story.  Usually they didn't have a point, but they were kind of amusing. 

The plan for tonight is to head to the colmado and celebrate both Costa Rica and Guatemala's Independence Days!