#pcveats

Dish #2 is way less photogenic, but is tasty: pastai. Potatoes, green beans, onions, and flavors (garlic, salt, bay leave). #PeaceCorpsVegetarians #PCVEats #PeaceCorpsMoldova #ThankfullyVegan (at Criuleni)

I am very grateful to Liuba for teaching me how to make sarmale today! We made mushroom sarmale with cabbage leaves. She was very patient with me, taught me each step and had me try each step, and we succeeded in making a big pot to share with my friends tonight! #PeaceCorpsVegetarians #PeaceCorpsMoldova #PCVEats (at Criuleni)

Another hybrid dinner, inspired by laziness. With Polish family, I find pierogies comforting. Moldovan coltunasi remind me much of pierogies - we get the mashed potato stuffed dough pockets cheaply at our local shops, bought by the kilo. They're super easy to make, as easy as dropping into a pot of water and done! But, I also want to eat veggies or fruit at every meal. Thus this creation! I sautee veggies we have around (today that was onions, green peppers, carrots, and chard stem), steam up the coltunasi on top of that, then toss it in a bowl and cover with sriracha. Boom! Lazy and delicious! #PeaceCorpsVegetarians #VeganJunkFood #PeaceCorpsMoldova #PCVEats

But about two months ago, something changed. I was now craving that berbere-soaked injera.  It has amazingly become one of my favorite Ethiopian dishes. And my local friends told me that this means that I have truly converted to be habesha...and it breaks my heart knowing that Ethiopian restaurants back home will never have this ‘street food.’ So in my short time that I have left, I will be ordering myself a plate of hot, steaming firfir every chance I get!! <3  

So grateful to @minamoldova for the idea, ingredients, and execution of the most delicious meal I've had in ages, huevos rancheros! The sauce, the layers, the fresh everything - it's a meal to remember. Grateful for the fun and the food! #PCVEats #PeaceCorpsVegetarians #PeaceCorpsMoldova #PCMoldova (at Criuleni)

#CelebrateTheSmallSuccesses, like a delicious, fresh, big jar of nut butter! I've loved "real" nut butters for a long time. The recipe I would spout to explain "real" (roasted nuts, a pinch of salt, that's it!) has a new meaning to me. In the US, I would buy it at the store, maybe making a special trip to get freshly ground peanut butter from #CliftonNatural. Now, I actually have to work through the recipe and more. I take a long bus ride to Metro for raw peanuts and raw sunflower seeds that I trust. I roast them on the stovetop. I put in that pinch of IODIZED salt (ask me why the emphasis sometime) and wait for everything to cool. Then I run the nuts in the food processor for a long, long time. It's all worth it. Tonight I made sunflower seed butter. Tomorrow evening will be all about peanut butter. #PeaceCorpsVegetarians #PCVEats #PeaceCorpsMoldova

It’s like comparing apples and oranges…and bananas. They’re all green and they are all sweet, ripe, and ready to eat! I threw in some bright red avocado skin too, for good measure. Nothing is as it seems in Madagascar. 🍏🍌🍊

There are so many reasons we love visitors - having an extra reason for food fun is tops among them! :) Thanks to @saylesj21 for coming to kick off #PeaceCorpsWeek tomorrow and for being my excuse to try making chocolate chip Oreo pancakes. #PeaceCorpsMoldova #PeaceCorpsVegetarians #veganjunkfood #PCVeats