Nov 9, 2007

just a spoonful of nutella helps the mexican food go down

nutella - the real chocolate substitute

What are you in the mood for - Mexican? Thai? Ethiopian? I can't wait until I can ask myself that question without having it prompt a moan. Have you ever tried diversifying your palette with little more than pinto beans and a few pesticide-laden veggies on hand?

Of course, it isn't all bad - I did find this lone jar of Nutella at a local store, which I proceeded to devour like a famished dog. Chocolate is hard to come by. We have, on rare occasion, found a bag of unmarked chocolate chips hiding amongst the tortilla chips. Taking this to be a good sign, we began to ask for chocolate chips when we couldn't find them on the shelves. They had NO clue what we were talking about. The woman at the register actually showed us chicken bouillon and said, "Si, es chocolate." Umm ... okay, so she was crazy. Whatever. The chocolate chips had a vague taste of "been sitting around a Mexican grocery store for 10 years so start to taste like the grocery store" thing about them, anyway.

Most of the time I try to make the best of the situation, but come winter, the prospects get considerable worse if you are a Moosewood snob at heart, like myself. You mean the only vegetables available are carrots, an occasional tomato, and iceberg lettuce? Going grocery shopping can be pretty depressing, let me tell you! Especially when all of you lovely bloggers are constantly raving about a newfound wonder-recipe using all organic ingredients, or posting saliva-producing photos of your latest baking pursuits. Am I the only one who got totally envious when I downloaded Amy's recipe cheat-sheet? Gosh. I'm pretty sure this means that I am due to gain about 278 pounds once I move back to the US and sign up at a local organic co-op.

Just a quick update - I have been receiving so many sign-ups for the Holiday Traditions Exchange that I can no longer respond to each one! Just look for an email from me sometime before Nov. 14th, which will contain your swap partner's information. If you don't hear from me by the 15th, then go ahead shoot me off an email.

P.S. Watch this for a good laugh. It's also perfect for inducing cheese ball lust.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I do not know what I would do without chocolate. Seriously... how do you survive?? Nutella is also one of my faves. I bet you're going to be getting lots of care packages coming your way after this blog post. ;-)

Lindy said...

Ok so you know you have to send me your address- well if you want some chocolate that is...

Lori said...

Heehee, I came to post a comment telling you to send me your address so I could Send Help Now. So if you want some chocolate and such from Downeast Maine, I'm due for a random act of chocolate-sharing...

Meg McElwee said...

Oh! Oh Oh Oh!!! Care packages for a chocoholic? I'm speechless, but my fingers can still manage to type my mailing address:

Meg McElwee
Apartado Postal #35
Creel, Chihuahua
Mexico
33200

:) You people are amazing.

Kristin Shields said...

I love the Moosewood cookbooks too! I had no idea it would be so hard to find chocolate in Mexico. What a bummer. I hope you get some nice goodies in the mail!

Violette Crumble said...

Sometimes I eat a spoonfull of Nutella straight from the jar. Then I have one more. Then just one more.

Can't you stock up on baking chocolate and cocoa when you go to a city? That way you can always bake whatever goodness you like.

I will attempt to send you something tasty but I hear from friends in San Miguel that mail is often tampered with...

Marcy said...

I must say, one of the things that makes me so happy to live in such an expat-filled city is that I can find things like, say, peanut butter. Which I love. Which I have been devouring this entire pregnancy (God, please don't let my kid get a peanut allergy b/c of this craving...). We also have had people send over things like pumpkin puree and salsa (hubby misses salsa) to help satisfy our other food cravings.

I'm about to go to the store, I'll pick you up some Swiss chocolate. =P

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Oh I do feel your pain: As a girl I spent long, (hot) summers in Sonora... in a very remote, small, ranching village. Beans and tortillas, and beans, and tortillas, and whatever single crop was being harvested that summer. We had a watermelon summer, chile summer and a potato summer. LOL... a care package would have been most welcome. Hang in there!

TulipGirl said...

Oooh! Nutella was always a welcome treat when we were in Ukraine. And I know what you mean about being. . . creative. . . in making things you are craving from what is at hand.

And, yes, I did gain 20 lbs as soon as I moved back to the states.

Unknown said...

Glad to see that I wasn't the only person whose first thought was, "Holy cow! I must send this woman chocolate! ASAP!"

Suzanne said...

Geez, can't get chocolate! I hope a hundred care packages laden with this gold come your way:-) Chocolate can make the day so beautiful...LOL! I love the Moosewood cookbooks too!

Tracy said...

So the big question...dark, milk, bittersweet, baking???

Say the word, sister.

Linda said...

No chocolate in mexico? I mean..... They INVENTED chocolate....!?!?!? Strange.... ;)

It's the same in the caribbean though.. I guess it's too hot, so people don't bother?

greetings from the netherlands!