dinner possible…

My first foray into grocery shopping abroad was less than a success in my book. We had a good meal, but I could have bought take-out chicken at home. I wasn’t going to be satisfied until I put together an entire meal from truly local sources.

Next morning, hubby headed off to his scheduled dive and I headed back to the hotel shuttle for another trip downtown. I quickly walked the block to the street market (officially known as the “floating market”). The boats and the fish were back! I had 2-1/2 hours to kill, so I decided to watch for awhile to see how the local folk shop for fish. The sidewalk by the floating market is narrow and the foot and vehicle traffic were particularly heavy, so I soon had to move on. These fish were big, so a whole fish would be too much, and I had yet to figure out how to buy just what I needed. I walked on down the street to the “round market.” I had noticed the round market the day before, but the vendors were closing as I walked through, so I wasn’t entirely sure just what was available there. Now I had time, so I went back for a closer look.

This place had everything; a fish vendor selling individual fish steak cutlets, rows of vendors selling produce, toiletries, and jewelry. I also found two butcher shops (I never did identify the ancestry of the red meat, but the pork chops bore enough resemblance to the ones back home at the local grocer to at least claim a branch on the same family tree). I’d found the local super center!

Actually making the purchases was even more fun than I’d imagined. A local shopper was buying fish, so I stood back and watched. The fish vendor sliced mahi-mahi into steaks, counted them off, and then put nearly the whole fish in a bag. Two thick pre-sliced mahi-mahi steaks were displayed on the table, so when my turn came, I asked the cost of two steaks. Ten guilders, or approximately $5.55 U.S. I handed her the guilders and dinner was on the way to becoming reality. Next I went to a produce stand and picked out three tomatoes, a cucumber, two limes, and an onion. Four guilders ($2.22 U.S.) later I had the makings for the salad course and extra onion to flavor the potatoes I’d bought the day before. Now I needed cooking oil. I thought I had figured out the local system, having seen vendors pouring cooking oil into small bottles, and I thought I had identified the words which translated into “cooking oil.” I stepped up to a vendor and asked in English. She replied with a shake of her head. I tried again and she responded with the same head shake and pointed to the next booth over, where the vendor spoke English. My request was passed, in words I couldn’t understand, to all surrounding vendors, and one young man nodded his head and handed me a small bottle of commercially packaged cooking oil. Either I hadn’t figured out the system after all, or the vendors assumed I wouldn’t want home-packaged goods. So much for my attempt to blend in with the locals. I consolidated my treasures into one bag that looked slightly less conspicuous than the previous day’s purchases and headed back to the shuttle pick-up point. I could hardly wait to start dinner but I had no choice, since hubby wasn’t due back for several hours.

Anyone still reading is probably wondering by this point when I totally lost my mind. We had several options for good, reasonable meals, but the minute I first saw those fish vendors, something clicked. Too much Food Network? Too little sleep? Who knows? What I do know is that I had a lot of fun doing something I like to do in a place where I had never been. Isn’t that what adventure is all about?

Dinner turned out better than I had hoped. The one thing I hadn’t considered was how to drain the potatoes without a lid and without sending oil down the sink, but we found a grass-less patch and used a spatula to drain the potatoes outside (after checking to make sure the coast was clear). Not bad for one skillet, two burners, and a dive knife.

I don’t think we’ve ever enjoyed a meal quite so much.