What we tend to do when self-catering in an apartment, serviced apartment or a house with a kitchen is basically buy ingredients for tasty dishes we want to cook and eat, and consider the least waste we can produce once we leave. Yes ok, that's kind of obvious, isn't it? So what are these tasty dishes, and what are the basic groceries so far? Like a proper hipster, I have an avocado obsession and so far, avocados in Morocco are the best, they're large and always in exact ripeness. Kenyan avocados were bitter and under-ripe even when they look ripe, which is odd. The Chileans live off their Palta (Avocado in Chilean Spanish, instead of Aguacate in Castellano Spanish) and they're mini sized and delicious. They're also super cheap. My eyes always watered a little when I bought avocados in Singapore. So, naturally, we always seem to stock up on these upon arriving somewhere new: 1. Eggs, milk, bread, tea, pasta, cans of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and cheese. (note: fresh milk does not seem to exist in Chile, so people here buy the processed milk in boxes.) 2. Beer and wine (unless you're in Morocco) 3. Basic survival dry goods for when we can't go out, jet lagged, too late to go out are Indomie/Mie Goreng, which seems to also double as an minor antidote to non-asian food, believe it or not. 4. Bottled water, mostly only when the tap water is unhealthy, undrinkable or tastes terribly metallic even after boiling it. 5. Spices, including salt and pepper, we have a million variety of situations with this, but 5 months into our travel, we have a healthy travelling pantry which consists of salt, black pepper, dried oregano, dried bay leaves, chilli flakes, curry powder, and the now dead Sriracha bottle as I've recorded in this little drawing posted on Olij Studio Instagram. Sadly, during the flight from London to Nairobi the bottle lid exploded and we lost most of what was left. So we said bye to our Irish supermarket bought Sriracha in Kenya. It's been real with #Srirachaoneverthing. Time for a replacement! The travelling pantry also included these precious little packets of HP sauce and Heinz ketchup. Appreciating little things has never been more real.
Finally, I burst into a little laugh when I saw the brand name of one of these bottled water in Kenya. In colloquial Indonesian, Keringet literally means "sweat", while in fact Keringet is actually a place in Kenya, near Nairobi, in a region of West Pokot. Indonesian can appreciate this, just like the cleaning agent Cillit Bang, and that cookware brand Silit. I just cannot stop a smirk and then an LOL because the word in colloquial Javanese means "asshole " in the most inappropriately rude expression.
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