Last month, we ate this farmer’s market cheese. It is so common to eat it on a daily basis I’d almost go as far as calling it’s a staple. This cheese may or may not have been delivered daily by a guy on a horse. (Had I known that, I would have tripped the horse. Ha-ha.) We had this cheese fixed for us in ways you might not have been able to imagine.
· With beans and rice…and rice and beans Ha-ha
· Big blocks of cheese, and little blocks
· Mild, Bitter, and “mmk, guys it’s realllly not that bad (ick face)”
· Grated over food- “Muahaha, now they can’t get away from the cheese.”
· Inside of crepes
· Inside of Picos (a pico is normally a VERY DELICIOUS pastry type food, folded to look like a triangle and sugar sprinkled on top. Inside is usually a coating of honey. These are very cheap and can be found home-made at any local tienda)
· We learned that if we put “hot sauce” on the cheese, it is a lot easier to eat. (They have probably never seen so many hot sauce bottles used in 1 month, Ha-ha)
· And the best for last: a block of The Cheese inside of a mashed and fried plantain- This was a HUGE surprise because it was so unexpected, like a sneak attack. (Normally we would save the fried plantains for the last part of the meal because when they are fried, the outside caramelizes a bit and becomes perfectly sweet.)
We could expect to have this delicious side dish at any meal of the day.
After this experience, we felt that a humorous blog just had to be written about it. I decided that a picture of the infamous cheese was a must. In the market, people have huge hunks of it and just cut off however much you want.
The market is by far not the safest place, but it is “ok” if you don’t carry a whole lot of things. Amber and I decided to go to the grocery store and then pop into the market to try to get a shot or two of the cheese. During the short time of walking in the market, someone ripped out a chunk of my hair and Amber was grabbed in a few places. I didn’t respond to the yanking of my hair. In fact, I think I must have been in shock, because the longer we walked the more upset I became (and let’s just say it was a good thing I didn’t know about Amber’s situation until afterwards. Ha-ha).
We had just decided to give up and were leaving when we came upon a huge block of cheese that we had apparently missed when we came into the market place. I stopped and pulled out my camera, and suddenly it was as if the whole place got quite. I snapped two quick photos and we booked it!
Needless to say, after all that trouble a blog was definitely necessary. For those who are wondering, we actually did enjoy getting a chance to take part in the Nicaraguan culture, even through food.
