Still Lovin' The Antigua Hostel Kitchen

I've been challenging myself for the last week or so, to see if I can eat (moderately) well for a bit more than a dollar a day here. Shopping at the (expensive) grocery store, that hasn't been too challenging. Sure, I've needed a bit of imagination to come up with some stuff.

But for the most part, I've been well, if repetitively, fed for the last week.

I've nommed pancakes (just about every day) with failed simple syrup (it keeps crystallizing), "Mexican" stove-top pizza, and fast pasta with fresh-whatever.

Today, I wandered down to the supermarket, knowing I had an almost-empty pantry and no caffeine waiting for me back at the hostel. I was hoping for the magic 4lb bag of potatoes for 6Q. Unfortunately, there were no magic bags this morning, so I picked up loose potatoes, instead.

It is potato harvesting season down here, by the way. So the potatoes are fresh. Like, with very soft, almost see-through skin fresh. I picked up about a pound and a third, and I'll spread it over three meals. That, plus two good-sized onions, 4 medium Roma's, 2 small cans of black beans in tasty sauce, and 3 cans of soda cost me Q28.85, or a bit less than $3. Not a dollar a day, I'll be back tomorrow for some pasta to make eating more interesting.

But it let me have something I've been dreaming of for a couple weeks, at least.

Crispy, yummy, salty, greasy, fried potatoes. With a quarter of an onion for flavor, a can of beans for nutrition, and a diced tomato for nutrition and yumminess, it was just what I wanted.

Sorry, no photo. I ate it too fast. Only three things could have made it better--

1. Someone else to cook it for me
2. Garlic
3. Some melty, tasty, cheesy thing.

Otherwise, it was perfect. Gonna have it again, just like this time, tomorrow for breakfast. Om-nom nom.