As I was getting ready to head back to the states and I got very engrossed in my thesis proposal, I definitely indulged in some convenience meals. Normally I really hate doing this, because I really enjoy cooking, and if I don't have time to do any, it means that I am not really taking any sort of break from work all day. But, in this case, it was nice to feel really productive in my research. Plus, since it was the tale end of the summer holiday in Paraguay, my cousins and their friends were having nightly beer sessions around the pool, and I would join in, share a beer, and offer some of our dinner before heading in to do more work or to sleep--so I did get a little bit of social time.

Here are the nachos we made. Very quick and the ultimate in convenience food. We don't make them often because I really doesn't seem healthy, but once in a while to save you some work. I'm really glad they have tortilla chips at the supermarket now. When me and my sisters tried to make guacamole one Christmas, we had to serve it with crackers because there was nothing remotely like a tortilla chip in the country. But, I'm still considering smuggling an avocado tree into the country. They only grow reed avocados in Paraguay. They are really big and bland. The flesh is watery and slightly bitter, rather than buttery and creamy like the Hass avocados we get in the U.S. People think of avocado as a fruit here, and mash it with milk and sugar as a desert and are kind of grossed out by the idea of putting it in a salad or eating it as a vegetable. At any rate, they make really terrible guacamole, but weren't so bad chopped up along with some shredded chicken and homemade salsa for these nachos.
The next night we made some chicken quesadillas, using flour tortillas from the supermarket (Paraguay is getting so cosmopolitan). We managed to use up the rest of the chicken and the last of the leftover cheese from the christmas-time pizzeada here.
Then I made some hummus. While I actually had to make it completely from scratch (including the tahini) this still turned out to be a really fast and convenient meal. I just blended some sesame seeds with some oil, before adding the garbanzo beans which I had pressure cooked and the rest of the ingredients to the blender. It came out perfect, and along with the excellent and fluffy pita bread from the supermarket, and a watercress and roasted red pepper salad, we had an awesome and fresh dinner in less than half an hour (beat that Rachel Ray!)
I did manage to cook one really excellent, and rather labor intensive meal before taking off for the U.S:
squid-ink fettuccine with cuttlefish, yard-long beans, and yellow curry sauce.
We found the squid-ink pasta at the supermarket, imported form Uruguay, and the cuttlefish frozen from Argentina. We had to make everything else from scratch, which meant grinding the spices and making the curry mixture, and making the coconut milk from whole coconuts. It was really excellent. Squid-ink pasta has a really unique and sort of sweet and savory flavor and is also really visually striking. I think it is kind of intimidating to work with, because you don't want to just through a standard sauce on it. I wanted to pair it with flavors that could stand up well, and was really pleased with this. The coconut's richness and the aromatic spices worked really well with the pasta's flavor, the sweetness of the cuttlefish, and the freshness and crunch of the beans. This was a good meal (and a nice picture for a change--click on it to see it the large version), so much so that you can look forward to another installment of squid-ink fettuccine. I was in Somerville on super Tuesday to place my vote, and Capone's just happened to have squid-ink pasta that day. I'm trying to plan a special meal around it.