In the Kitchen with Cheima

Cheima (sitting in chair on the right) lives across the way from Pequeños Pasitos (the mountain clinic). She's an amazing cook, and as far as I can tell, she feeds the entire community (and the clinic staff) lunch every day. Her house is typical of the houses in the area, and she's a true Dominican chef. I invited myself over to her house to have a little cooking lesson, and she seemed happy to show me around her kitchen.We made the usual delicious fare: habichuelas rojas (red saucy beans), arroz (rice), and berenjena (eggplant). Cheima cooks both indoors on her gas stove and outdoors on a smokeless wood stove (that the clinic helps to build in the communities around here). Although there is a sink, there is no running water, and it is truly amazing at how tight of a ship this little lady runs out here. She truly works with what she has and serves those around her with a generous heart.

These beans are really really good. The orange color comes from squash puree that Cheima uses to thicken the beans.

Here's Reina (a neighbor who was helping out that day) with the rice. Dominicans specialize in concón which is the crunchy rice that forms on the sides and bottom of the rice pot. They scrape it out and serve it in a special bowl; it's a delicacy and an art form here. (You don't want to accidentally mix your concón up with the other rice or you might break a tooth; Micah has dubbed it "burnt rice" but we pretend we like it...we're so Norwegian.)

We learned a new way to cook plantains today, and we're still eating as many mangoes as we can before the season ends!