Night in Tunisia

New Appreciation

I would love to think it's not an immigration sickness thing. I can't really say for sure. Whatever the problem is, it's sitting in my digestive tract somewhere, mucking things up when I eat. That's the bad news. The good news is that having to stick to simple foods isn't really so bad. For the past few days I've been living mostly off of fresh oranges and plain yogurt. You wouldn't believe how tasty that is. When things are going really well, I indulge in some bran bread (salt-free) and yesterday I found a packet of Knorr chicken and rice soup. It's not like home, but it's close.

I would love to say that the food has made it all worth it, but it's actually the food that makes me fell hard-done by. Today I had to pass up a meal made by Habiba, ENDA's housekeeper/cook, that almost made me cry. It was fresh, spiced chicken and olive soup with a platter of sliced, fresh vegetables for salad. She even had left-overs.

Sigh.

But the up side is that I will have found a whole new appreciation for tunisian cuisine, and cuisine in general, after this required hiatus from real food. And having survived thus far on oranges, I would like to make a note of something that all canadians should probably hear. In general I wasn't fond of oranges, the kind you buy in the store or in Japanese mountain-decorated boxes. Real oranges grow on trees!

posted by tiaraletourneau @ 3:55 p.m.