Eating MOAR things.

So I’ve been eating (and drinking) new things lately.

Some of them have been typical, like bananas. Only these bananas are better than whatever bred-to-look-perfect ones we get in the US/France. They taste more tropical, if that makes any sense.

Some of them have been less typical, like these. I can’t tell you what they’re called, because Amadou didn’t know/remember, he said they’re “un truc sauvage quoi.” Wild fruits. You have to crack them open (which can be fairly challenging), and then you suck on the little sections of fruit and spit them out (each little section has a big seed in the middle). Amadou said they’re like candy, and he’s totally right. They’re like natural Warheads (do those even exist anymore?!); they start out sweet, and the longer you suck on them the more sour they get. Since I like sour things, I think they’re awesome.

 

I also have tried chicken soup now, to go along with the fish soup. That basically means that they give you soup broth (which is very tasty) with a part of a chicken in it. Last time I got the chunk that involves the rib cage, so that was a little beyond my usual skill level (but I figured it out). This is not a good place to wimp out on foods. Every time I order something new I’m never quite sure what’s going to end up in front of me – but so far, I’ve liked just about everything.

… But that might change, because it must be caterpillar season. Everyone is out selling them in giant tubs. Apparently they need to be grilled before you eat them. I admit I cringed when we stopped to get some. I haven’t tried any yet (Amadou is in charge of them being grilled at home), but I swore that I would try one. Because seriously, what better story for the next time I’m in front of a bunch of kids than to tell them that I have eaten a giant caterpillar? Also, I have a strict policy of trying [almost] anything once. It’s better if I don’t know what it is first though (i.e. blood sausage). I draw the line at brain though. I don’t eat brain.

The other thing I discovered last night is that “aloco” is the Burkinabé code for fried plantains. This is a problem because I love fried plantains, ever since my roommates introduced me to them many summers ago (thanks Karina and Antoinette). So this might become another food that I am unable to control myself over.

Which brings me to all the new things I’ve been drinking. Number one is “hochata.” I have only ever had “horchata” once in the US, but since they’re both milk based, I kind of wonder if they’re related. At any rate, I can tell you that it’s sweetened milk with something I can’t identify in it (which is kind of like a powdered spice maybe? But not one I recognize). And it’s delicious. I have to remind myself to scale it back, because I could probably knock back a liter of it without a second thought. I also tried ginger juice, which is sweetened, but it is SO strong. I forced myself to drink almost all of it (it was a big glass full). It wasn’t that I didn’t like it (it was actually really tasty), just really, REALLY gingery. I also tried tamarind juice, which was a total shot in the dark, because I don’t even know what a tamarind is in English. It turns out to be some sort of fruit, and in juice form it almost looks like a dark iced tea. It was sweet and pretty good, too. 

 

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve been wondering why I keep finding dead bugs all over the floor of my bedroom. Only my bedroom. Like, why are you all coming here to die? It’s kind of gross, could you not?

Annnnnnnd then I remembered that half of my bedroom is taken up by an insecticide-treated bednet. Not so much that they’re coming here to die, more that they’re coming here, and then they die.

You can tell a lot of stories from the same facts.