So, here it is. The first of hopefully many adventures of Inna. The blog was suggested by my dear friends as a way to stay in touch and for living vicariously:) Thank you guys and here we go...
My husband is active duty Air Force, and as such has to go to different bases every so often. When we started trying to figure out where to go after the fabulous Gadsden, Alabama, we thought Mt. Home AFB in Idaho was as far as we were going to get. Then completely out of the blue, my husband says - why not go to Europe? And really, why not? And that is the story of how we ended up in the Azore Islands, or on Terceira Island at Lajes AFB to be exact. (For those of you who are Travel Channel junkies, Anthony Bourdain did a show about the Azores, look it up on YouTube!).
We got here Sunday, January 10th. After three days of traveling and trying to make the cat stop shedding what looked like furbies all over everything, we finally arrived on the island. Molly the cat was promptly placed into the Atlantic Kennel, and the humans were dumped into what is called the TLF, or temporary housing a.k.a. a hotel. I say dumped not because the welcoming committee (consisting of the entire Fire Department, because my husband is a fireman in the AF) was not welcoming - it was; but because I was hopped up on DayQuil and was trying my hardest to cough up my left lung all over the row in front of me. By the time we got to the hotel room I had no idea where we were.
Let me just say that the welcome we received into the Lajes FD family was amazing! Our sponsor organized all our reservations, took us around the island to get all our things done , AND put all the food essentials into our hotel refrigerator. We even had milk for our cereal! We were greeted by what seemed like 20 firefighters at the airport. All smiles and handshakes.
So I spent the first day pretty much in the same condition as I arrived....and the second day as well. In between the Benadryl induced naps, I managed to get out long enough to pick out our apartment (one of two offered) and take a mini shopping trip off base.
The shopping trip was to the local 'supermarket', the only one on the entire island. You see, before I came here, I read just about everything there is about the base itself and the food here, and I was delighted to learn that they do lots of interesting things with fish and ALL parts of animals here...much like the part of the world I came from - Ukraine. So, there I was staring dead in the face of a fileted, spreadeagled, salted and dried humongous fish of some sort that seemed to be telling me that were going to become great friends. I smiled. Why yes, yes we are!
And then there it was. In all its blackened and curled glory - black pudding. For those of you who are unfamilliar with this animal it is also known as blood sausage [cue suspenseful music]. I know it sounds appaling, but considering this will be a blog largely devoted to the local quisine, I suggest you breathe a little and relax, this is sure to be a fun and interesting journey. So I bought it. Came back to our hotel room and fried it with some wonderfully creamy locally made butter. Put it on a piece of toast and served it to my husband. He is a very brave American indeed:) It turns out he liked it....I didn't.
The texture was very similar to what I'm used to eating while hanging with my peeps in Ukraine, but the taste was way more complicated. The texture was a bit grainy but creamy, with a casing that pops like brauts. The taste was very smoky and salty, to the point where one could not discern the fact that the stuffing was not really 'meat'. In the end, I suppose it reminded me of any other sausage that has been overflavored. They do have another kind at the supermarket, I'll have to try.
Shortly after the supermarket trip, we stopped at a local restaurant (and although I failed to to remember the name, I assure you I will get the name soon). They had a 5 Euro lunch special, which included a drink, a starter, a main course and a coffee. Not bad at all for 5 Euro (about $6.50)!! Ken and I both got Fanta, because we wanted to be EuroChic :). For the starter we got Carrot Soup, which consisted of pureed carrots and potatoes in a really rich vegetable stock, and for the entree, we both got "red fish". It's an ocean fish that is a very pretty pale red color with disproportionately big eyes. Simply fried in a skillet and served with plain boiled potatoes and greens. Flaky, white, and practically boneless, it was served almost in entirety, minus the head. The mild fish flavor was offset by the very crispy and salty skin. My husband's coffee choice was rather blah - sugar, cream, coffee. Mine was served in what looked like a tripple shot glass (tall and thin), piping hot. It was almost entirely cream with a shot of exresso on top, with froth just collecting over the coffee as it made it to the table. Delish!
The rest of the time, I'm afraid we've spent eating my "I'm sick, I can't cook today" disasters. Things like Ramen Noodles, and ham and cheese sandwiches. The all carb diet has started to take a toll on my bowels, and so I'll be compensating with LOTS of green beans:)
On a side note, Molly the cat, refuses to speak to me since her kennel adventure, but is still very actively growling at innocent passers by.
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