Limited Menu

In my quest to avoid boredom and keep my spirits up, I’m doing something every week that’s a bit different and enjoyable.  Unfortunately, most of the stuff seems to revolve around food. 

Today I stopped at the store in Salelologa to buy a few things and was waiting for the bus home.  My treat was fake crab.  It’s not really that expensive - about $5 US for 500 grams which is enough for about four meals if I’m frugral. 

But the bus was taking forever to come and I’ve been craving fast food so I flagged down a cab to Uncle Bill’s.  Aside from the couple of stands that are open sporadically to sell barbequed or fried chicken, Uncle Bill’s (which has a picture of Uncle Sam on the sign) is the only fast food option available.  Sit down dinners are nice and I can think of 4 resorts between my village and Salelologa that have restaurants but they are priced for tourists.  $30 – 50 tala (15-25 USD) for a meal is only an option for a special occasion.

Anyway, I’ve heard very mixed reviews of the burgers at Uncle Bill’s.  A PCV told me they’re fine if you like the frozen, microwaved kind.  I used to turn my nose up at that but I’ve had less than a dozen burgers in the last 18 months so I’m not so picky.

Unfortunately, Uncle Bill’s was out of burgers.  I asked for fish and chips but they were out of those, too.  I then asked about chicken, the last item on the menu.  Yes, they had fried chicken.  Ok, the snack pack then, which is a leg and thigh plus fries for $4.25 USD.  And a chocolate smoothie, fa’amolemole.  Nope, out of those, too.  Any smoothies?  Yes, mango.  Ok, it’s not fresh mango but I didn’t care.  Uncle Bill’s smoothies are stupendous.  They are crushed ice with some milk and fake fruit flavor.  Do you have any idea how good it feels to get brain freeze when you’ve sweated all day?  Stellar.  Actually, the brain freeze hurt like hell for a few minutes but the chill on my tongue was so worth it.

As I type this, my chicken and chips are sitting on top of my fridge.  I’m savoring the moments before I eat them.  Take out food.  What a luxury.