Sunday, Oct 2, 2016
We took a walk in El Centro this afternoon and went to a small vendor fair. One of Chase’s friends sells honey that is infused with different flavors. We bought a vanilla, a cinnamon and apple, and a rosemary infused honey. I’m looking forward to trying them on Heidi’s homemade bread.
We also bought some coffee I haven’t tried here before. I think it will taste great, and it was reasonable priced at $5 bucks a bag. One man was selling pickled aji peppers and they are very hot, so we got some to make our eyes water when we eat dinner. And the last thing we picked up was a chocolate nutella-type sauce and a jar of some dark-red jam made from a fruit that looks like a small octopus. (Sorry, don’t remember the name). Both are delicious!
Cositas restaurant on Simon Bolivar 4-49, Cuenca, Ecuador
After we finished at the fair, we went on a search for an almuerzo somewhere close to the area we found ourselves in. We walked by a place called Cositas with a placard on the sidewalk advertising their almuerzo. I’ve seen Cositas, which means “little things”, before but I thought it was like a five and dime type store. I had no idea it was a restaurant.
When I saw the inside of Cositas I understood the name. All the walls inside are covered with random “things”. Ties, tools, records, napkins with handwritten notes on them, just an array of random things.
Cositas ‘things’
The restaurant is organized such that you need to order and pay first, then bring the receipt to your table, which you get to choose. The server will then bring your food to you. A small dish of popcorn is a regular lunch plate appetizer here in Ecuador. Cositas also had a self-serve popcorn station where customers can dish up their own and take it to their table.
The almuerzo was actually pretty good. It started with a chicken broth soup with vegetables. These types of soups have chicken “parts” that are used for flavor but, at least I don’t, eat the chicken parts thrown in. My soup had a neck and a joint of some sort. Chase’s had a heart and a foot, and Easton’s had a foot as well. Heidi had some unidentifiable parts too.
I took the feet from Chase and Easton’s soup and put them on the edge of my soup bowl. What do you think?
Chicken feet, don’t eat
See, for $2.75 not only do I get fed, I’m entertained too. The main meal was rice and lentils with a beef in a brown sauce. I find that many times beef is tough when offered in an almuerzo. I stay away from that choice because of it. Today this was the only choice, and much to my surprise it was tender and tasted very good. I think Cositas regular menu probably offers some great tasting food. Just watch out for the chicken the feet. 😉
After lunch we met our friend Aurobindo for coffee. He is always a great one for interesting stories of people he has met here. Today is football and the Broncos are playing, so because of that we have a 3 pm curfew to be back home. After an hour of visiting we said good-bye to Auro and headed home.
The Broncos win!
Chau.
Hi there !
I don’t know if I will order chicken soup ! The chicken feet were a little much for me ! Glad the beef was good. Are you folks from Denver ? You have mentioned the Broncos before. We are big Seattle Seahawk fans, they won yesterday too !
🙂
Nope Laree. We’re from Utah but we like the Broncos. My wife’s family lives in Portland so we are also Seahawk’s fans. The chicken feet made my son sick to his stomach looking at them. He couldn’t eat his soup. It just made me laugh.
Todd
Yes, I think it would make me sick to my stomach too! I just added Pepto-Bismol to my back pack for our trip! We love going to Portland, it’s a neat city !
Have a great day!
🙂