I started dinner before heading to volleyball yesterday. I’m calling it Swiss Roast, since it’s sorta like Swiss steak but tastes a bit like pot roast. I brought some chuck steak back from Apia and stuck it my fridge for a rainy day. Yesterday was rainy so I thawed it. Dredged it in flour, browned it with some garlic in a tiny bit of oil, then added sliced onions, carrots and potatoes and a bit of water. Let it simmer, very slowly.
While I was slicing and peeling and the meat was browning, the flies came in. Hundreds of them. No kidding, I’ve never seen so many flies in one place. It’s not unusual for flies to appear in my house when they smell food cooking, but this was ridiculous. They covered my bed. They flew in my nose. They perched inside the lens of my glasses. Beyond annoying as I tried to cook and swat. I took out a strip of fly paper I’d purchased. Within 5 minutes it was full. When I picked it up to toss it, I could feel it vibrating from the number of frantic fly wings flapping.
I turned off the burner under the food, left a mosquito coil burning and headed to voli. Enjoyed that for a couple of hours, then headed home, hoping that the flies had vamoosed. Yes, indeed they had. There were still a few but nothing like the swarm that had invaded earlier.
I ate the steak, potatoes, carrots and onions with some spicy Italian peppers I found in Apia. Just like Sunday dinner back home, almost.
The flies were in full force at school today and I asked what was up. As I suspected, it’s all the rotten breadfruit attracting them. I guess it’s flattering to know that insects think my cooking is more appealing than breadfruit rotting on the ground.
You're always the positive one, eh?
ReplyDeleteI'm two weeks from Staging and one of the things on my mind is whether I will be able to keep current with your posts because your perspective is so refreshing and your descriptions of your experiences shore up my motivation.
Continued best wishes to you!