Hot Liquids & Orange-Yolked Eggs

Fasten your seatbelts… this is my most exciting blog post yet. Well, not quite.  For the past week I’ve been sick with a cold so I don’t really have much to write about, but my friend Emily has been pestering me to post something so I figured I could do a little food post.

When I first started to sniffle, I thought it might be a good idea to pull out my Jewish grandmother card and make some chicken soup.  Whenever I buy a chicken, I throw all the bones and guts in a big ziplock bag in the freezer. And when I have enough bones, I throw them all in a big pot with water, thyme, onions, carrots, parsley, oregano and a few peppercorns and let it all simmer for 4 or 5 hours. So I figured this was as good a time as any to break out the frozen block of guts. Into a big pot it went along with the veggies, spices and water, and 15 minutes later after everything had thawed I took a peak only to see the following…

Cock a doodle doo

Poor birdie! Coming up and gasping for air! (Yes, Ecuadorian chickens come with all the parts!) So here’s a thanks to Señorita Pollito for making my chicken stock taste so good.

My diet for about three straight days consisted of lots of chicken soup and a spattering of toast and eggs. For the eggs I treated myself to Criollo eggs, which the Lojanos claim are far superior to the standard egg you can buy at any local tienda. The main difference is that the Criollo eggs come from chickens that just peck around the owner’s yard all day eating insects and a few kernels of corn, whereas the standard eggs come from chickens that are fed balanceado, or a blend of grains and powdered vitamins and minerals that you buy at the store. The Criollos can also hang out with a rooster so occasionally you get a recently fertilized egg from a knocked up hen! The Criollo eggs are supposedly higher in all kinds of vitamins and minerals and have a healthier fat profile. Plus, I think they taste better. The standard trademark of a Criollo is a deep orange yolk since all the insects in the hen’s diet make the yolk much higher in beta caroteine. The pics below were of the last Criollo egg I had, but the ones I cracked open before were a much deeper orange color, almost red.

Criollo egg left, Standard egg right.
The criollos actually come in all different colors from white, to brown, to taupe and even a pale turquoise.

Criollo left, Standard right.
The Criollos are typically an even deeper orange.

Criollo left, Standard right

Criollo left, Standard right

To complement all that soup, toast and eggs I decided to make some Horchata, so I paid a visit to my five-foot tall organic farmer ladies at the Sunday outdoor market. For fifty cents Rosa filled a big bag with a whole variety of fresh cut herbs and flowers – ranging from rose petals and begonias to chamomile, mint, violets, lemon balm and even flaxseed. There are also some deep red leaves and fuzzy flowers in the mix that give the drink its signature almost artificial-looking deep magenta color. I have no idea what they’re called though. Horchata is the traditional drink of Loja, and it’s even hard to find in other areas of Ecuador. The climate here is perfect for growing all these herbs and flowers year-round.  Back at my apartment I added the bag of goodness to a big pot of boiled water and let everything marinate for a few minutes before straining it and adding honey and a squeeze of lemon. Super good. And it’s also great cold after a night chilling in the fridge.

The colorful blend of herbs, flowers and flaxseed

"I'm melting, melting. Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world. Who would have thought that some little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness... "

Squeeze of Lemon

I feel better already

Equally as good cold the next day

Hopefully you’re not sleeping on your keyboard by now! I promise my next post will be a bit more riveting! Off to the beach tonight on a 9-hour bus to go whale watching. See you soon!