My Ship Came In

I decided to make a visit to the local shop for a walk more than anything else.  There was always the chance that fresh fruit and vegetables had come in so I took a shopping bag.  At the least I would return with a loaf of bread and a bottle of rum.

It was very fortunate that I had taken the shopping bag with me because the fruit and vegetable man, whoever he is, had paid a visit.  There were big fresh carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, garlic, and bananas, both ripe and green.  I loaded up Big Time with the vegetables and bananas, and skipped the loaf of bread although I couldn't resist getting four of their fresh-baked buns.  Unfortunately there was no rum so I took a chance on a bottle of  “Askov” vodka, at 35 Reals for 900 ml of 35%  alcohol.

On the way back to the boat I spoke with Ricardo who told me about a better provider of fruit and vegetables, “Alex”.  His shop is only 50 meters past the guard post on the way to the beach and I had missed it, but when Ricardo told me that it was across the street from the machine shop (which I of course had spotted) I knew exactly where it is.  Alex supplies hand picked fruit and vegetables, including lettuce, which I haven't seen since Argentina.  I will be visiting Alex next week.

After sunset I had to make a decision on the Vodka.  I had no ice or additives.  I improvised by pouring it neat into the stainless steel cup then squeezing into it juice from the limes that I had purchased at the shop.  Let's call it a Pachuca desperation cocktail, which tasted OK but packed a big punch.

After complaining to Brenda that I had not been able to find meat for the pressure cooker she had responded that there MUST be meat somewhere near by, given that there were people living all around.  Armed with this encouragement I had checked the freezers of the shop a few days earlier and discovered that they had in fact frozen meat, and I had purchased a slab of what appeared to be beef.

There had been a happy confluence this day of the advent of the fresh vegetables with the thawing of the meat which I had put out in the morning, and in the evening I began to work to work on the pressure cooker meal.  I have never thought of myself as a cook but I realized that I was enjoying cutting up the fresh carrots thinking of what they would do to the stew.  (Onions are a sine qua non to my meals, but I've come to realize that the humble carrot is also indispensable.) Into the pressure cooker I threw in two large carrots, several potatoes, and several cloves of garlic, all chopped up.

Then I began to work on the meat, which was labeled “Carne Congelada de Bovino”, dated 12/09/2011 with another date of 12/09,2013, which I presume is the “use by” date.  I looked up “bovine” in the Oxford dictionary, but found it to be not helpful, defining it as “(1)  of or like an ox (2) dull and stupid”.  It could be pork but it looked like beef to me; but it didn't matter.  I spent a lot of time cutting away the fat while dicing the meat.  I suspect that as at the my previous boat Angie's  mooring in Rockingham, Western Australia, the local crustaceans would by now have discovered Pachuca as a source of all sorts of culinary goodies thrown over the side.

The vodka cocktail was really good.  It set me up well for a great meal and a good movie.  By then I had already decided to visit Paraty (spelled as “Parati” in the charts) tomorrow (Friday).  To that end I had charged up my video and still cameras.