I hate going to the grocery store. And I really hate going to the grocery store on the weekend. But when I toasted the "butt end" piece of bread and washed it down with the last drop of OJ, I knew the local Stop n' Shop was in my future. I also had plans to cook my meal from Angola last night, and my grocery list had some unique items on it, so this was not going to be a quick in-and-out. So, after much procrastination, I grabbed a few essentials out of my diaper bag and hopped in the car at 9am in hopes of beating the mid-day rush.
After fifty minutes of patiently pacing every aisle, and making sure I had all the items the Keysor family would need for the next week, plus the ingredients for my Angolan feast, I found the shortest checkout line. I reached my hand into my jacket pocket and immediately froze. On my way out of the house I had grabbed my cell phone, my grocery list, and my keys. There was one essential item I did not think to retrieve, and as it's absence became a reality, I felt the tears well up behind my eyes.
I didn't have my wallet.
I had absolutely no means to pay for this cart filled with food. I looked at the milk, yogurt, and other refrigerated items piled high, and thought about replacing everything. But I was upset and eager not to make a teary scene in the store, so I dropped the cart in the dog food aisle, and made a hasty exit. When I walked in the door at home I asked Ted not to ask any questions, and I went and washed the incident away with a long, hot shower.
I guess that is what they call "baby brain".
8 Hours Later....
I shamefully returned to the grocery store later yesterday afternoon. It felt like I was living out the movie "Groundhog Day", but I refilled my cart with the exact same things, this time much more quickly. Now I was home in the comfort of my kitchen and ready to begin the most calming part of my day - cooking dinner.
Angola has a fairly eclectic cuisine. It is a large country with eighteen provinces, and different types of food come out of these many regions. Angola was a colony of Portugal until 1975, so there is a strong Portuguese influence on their cuisine. I did find two major ingredients that seem to be used everywhere in Angola; Fish and Cassava. So my Angolan menu would consist of Mufete de Causo (Grilled Tilapia with Onion and Chilli Sauce) and Mandioca Fritata (Fried Cassava).
I love tilapia. It is so light and mild, and easy to cook. I rubbed both sides of the tilapia filets with olive oil and salt, and let them rest while I made the sauce. The sauce was quite simple; chopped onions, white wine vinegar, olive oil, the juice of one lemon, salt, and pepper. The one ingredient that I was not able to find in the grocery store was the bird's eye chili pepper. I read that this pepper is also referred to as a Thai chili. I also read that a possible substitute is a fresh cayenne pepper, which I happen to grow on our back deck. So I carefully chopped one cayenne and added it to the sauce ingredients. I didn't care for the chunkiness of the sauce, so I put it in my food processor and pulsed it a couple times. I sauteed the tilapia on my Calphalon grille pan and then poured the onion and chili mixture over the top. It was delicious! My only complaint is that the sauce was missing some heat. I would add an extra pepper the next time.
The fried cassava made me nervous. Though I love to eat fried food, I am not a fan of cooking oil at high heat on my own stove top! The recipe calls for palm oil, which I was not able to find. I decided peanut oil was the next best thing, since that is a good oil for frying. I cut the cassava in half and boiled it for twenty minutes. After the cassava pieces cooled, I cut them into one inch wedges and fried them in the peanut oil until golden brown. They tasted like the thick cut fries you often get in restaurants when you order fish and chips. While not necessarily a good accompaniment to the tilapia, I could have eaten them all night long!
Yesterday reminded me why I love cooking so much. It had really been "one of those days", but it was all forgotten once I was in the kitchen and concentrating on the recipes in front of me. In addition, Ted joined me last night and helped by manning the cassava while it fried. We chatted about what he has going on at work, and recapped our weekend activities. Cooking my Angolan meal saved my Sunday.
Because of that, and because the food was just good, Angola scored a 3.25.
*On a side note, most grocery stores in the U.S. do sell cassava, but it is called "yucca".
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