Colombia in an RV

Tonight was the night for Colombia. Miss Thing aka Super Dave the Girl Cat had to "supervise"...you know how that goes. On the menu: Carne Asada, Hogao, and Coca-Cola Rice. Wendy had helped me out by finding a recipe for Fried Bananas, but when I went to see what all it needed, I didn't have all the ingredients for it, so I had to take a pass...so I did have a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for dessert...does that count, Wendy??? LOL!Colombia is located in northwest South America. It borders Venezuela and Brazil to the east, Ecuador and Peru to the south, Panama to the northwest, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The capital and largest city is Bogota. Colombia's population is over 46 million. The land area is 440,831 square miles. It lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire. Colombia's landscape is dominated by the Andes Mts. At an elevation of 8500 feet, Bogota is the highest city of its size in the world. Colombia celebrates its Independence Day on July 20th.
This is the start of the Hogao recipe. I didn't realize that I had used up all of my ground cumin, so I got out the mortar and pestle and ground up some cumin seeds...it only takes a second and I'm not sure I'll buy the ground stuff anymore.
This was just chock-full of good veggies! I decided that I didn't need a separate vegetable side dish with this.
The recipe calls for Sazon Goya...this is what it looks like. It comes in a box of 8 packets. It's in the Latin section of the supermarket. I only found one variety (I needed 2 different types) at Walmart, but I found the other that I needed at Fred Meyer. The veggies are cooked down with a packet of this and the last 5 minutes of cooking time, add in...
a nice handful of chopped cilantro.
I thought, at first, that it would be soupy and runny, but after cooking for a bit, it tightened right up for me.
I let it cool completely to room temperature...
and in a word, YUM!
This is the start of the Coca-Cola Rice :/ I cannot say I was impressed. It was just bizarre to pass up and I'm usually game to try anything. Key word: TRY! I tried, I wound up scraping in the garbage can...good thing I only made half the recipe!!
I didn't go all out for a true coke...I used a generic cola because it all tastes the same to me, except Pepsi...that junk tastes like mildew!
The only alteration to the recipe that I did was to cut everything in half...I figured it was a 50-50 shot...we'd either really like or think it sucked...we thought it sucked!
You never know, though...you could like this recipe!
For the star of the meal, I started it out soaking in its marinade last night. Beer, fresh lime juice, orange juice, garlic, cumin...what's not to like about the sounds of that??
See? I used a Henry Weinhard Hefenweisen for the beer.
I flipped it a few times throughout the night and today....the recipe called for flank steak. I could have sworn that I had some in the freezer, but I didn't and I had already spent most of my $20 budget, so I did some quick thinking and used flanken style chuck ribs.
Bob grilled them up in no time flat...
They smelled fantastic!
I couldn't wait to bite into one of these suckers!
OMG!! To die for!!!
Tonight's dinner...I'll definitely do that marinade again...the rice, no way in hell would I eat that crap again...but the hogao was pretty damn tasty, too!

Groceries for tonight's dinner ran me $13.56 which left $6.44 for the ol' Beach Bag. The total after 23 weeks is $132.94.

You all voted and by a slim margin, Pakistan is where we are headed next week. It's all good, though, because I have a friend who lives there. She has been more of a help to me than she will ever know!

Make sure to vote for week 25 by scrolling ^^^ up and to the --->>> right to vote. I can't believe this second year is almost over...crazy!! I'll be doing another giveaway box on week 26, so make sure to sign up to follow Life in an RV to be able to get in on that...only members will be eligible.

So, until we meet up in Pakistan next week, all you folks in the tornado areas, stay safe and check in with me on Facebook...I really do worry about you all...Peace!