Learning to Cook... all over again

Apologies for the late post. I've had technical difficulties most of the morning.

Now that we've been here for almost 3 whole weeks, we're starting to get into the groove of day to day life. Grocery shopping, working normal hours, cooking/eating dinner together in the evenings, etc. Speaking of dinners/food... we've had our share of meals out and about. Mostly the normal go-out-to-eat cuisine: some Italian, Sushi/Japanese, Mexican, British Pub, even Chinese delivery and a pizza delivery. (I'll give you three guesses what we were glued to the Slingbox viewing when delivery became a requirement).

As far as home-cooking, we're slowly getting acclimated to the local grocery's offerings. Most of our meals are chicken related, though admittedly, we were pretty chicken heavy back in the States as well. I'd say the weekly grocery staples are a variety of fruits and vegetables (notable missing items include berries and zucchini), chicken, quinoa, lentils, and some additional salad fixin's. At least one or two meals, we try to incorporate something new beyond the usual fare.

We have tried some beef and pork so far which has been noticeably different in taste and texture than we are used to. We assume it is due to the soil and crops grown here that become the diet of the animals. Imagine the temperature and humidity contribute greatly. To be fair to the pork, it deserves another chance. Dan thought he grabbed a pork loin (based on appearance and the label on the package that said "pork loin" haha); however, when he opened it, it unrolled into a long, thinly cut piece rather than the round loin he was anticipating. His preparation was still very good; however, the mistake was an oven miscalculation. He was quite confused as to why the oven only went to 280 degrees. It wasn't until later that he realized he probably overcooked the pork quite a bit because that 280 degrees was Celsius (or approximately 536 Fahrenheit... whoops!)

All in all, we're winging it most weeknights and doing just fine. Most of our old go-to meals are a bit of a challenge as we are usually missing a key ingredient that isn't stocked here... namely, any Mexican food staple, ricotta, hot sauce, spinach, etc. But we're learning, even if we are a little bland and/or repetitive right now!

Visual evidence that we don't call in the pizza reinforcements every night!

 

Top row: mixed greens with tomato, bell pepper, carrot, avocado, topped with chicken;
quinoa with chicken, tomato, carrot, bell pepper, garlic, onion.

Bottom row: another quinoa/chicken concoction with cranberries, almonds, garlic and some veggies; chicken thighs with lentils and broccoli; pork "loin" with broccoli and a red wine sauce.