Shawarma and shrimp

We heard about a restaurant in San Clemente that served shawarma, we headed down there one day, just to find out that he only did shawarma on the weekends, it took us a couple weeks to get there on the right night, but boy was it worth the wait! 

Chifa Surf is the name, and if you remember from an earlier post, Chifa is Chinese food, so not only does he do shawarma, but he does Chinese, great to have two very different options to seafood! He, is Pablo, a young man originally from Lima, Peru, who has traveled much and studied cooking in Israel, he is a master! 

We got there early the other evening, he was just getting set up, but you can see the shawarma doing it's thing, let me see what Wikipedia says about shawarma.

Shawarma (Arabic: شاورما / ALA-LC: shāwarmā; Urdu: شوارمہ) is aLevantine^[1][2] meat preparation, where lamb, chicken, turkey, beef,veal, or mixed meats are placed on a spit (commonly a vertical spit in restaurants), and may be grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving, and the remainder of the block of meat is kept heated on the rotating spit. Although it can be served in shavings on a plate (generally with accompaniments),shawarma also refers to a sandwich or wrap made with shawarmameat. Shawarma is usually eaten with tabbouleh, fattoush, taboon bread, tomato, and cucumber. 

I'm pretty sure he said this was chicken, and his toppings are lettuce/cabbage slaw, tomato, onions, and the wonderful flavorful sauces. His sister is in Israel and was trying to ship hummus and spices over, yummy!

As the meat cooks, it's juices drip in the pan, then when he cuts the meat off, he let's it fall into the pan, where it swims in the juices just a minute before being placed in the sandwich. This little tabletop meat spit is powered by a gas tank. At one point in the evening he went across the street to another restaurant and came back with another gas tank, we thought this one was out, but...

Somebody had ordered Chinese, so he started up his inside cooking space to prepare it. One of these days we will have to try his Chinese food, but the shawarma is just soooo good! Oh yeah, the shawarma sandwich...$2.75

We tried the restaurant next door the day we went looking for shawarma on a weekday, and it was Muy Rico! (Very delicious) We tried something new, camaron a la plancha, and were not disappointed!

We had been getting pescado frito, and sometimes it was pan fried, but other times it was deep fried (not what we were looking for), but we found a la plancha, is iron plate, so it is more or less seared on a hot grill. Perfecto! So when we saw they had shrimp done that way, we jumped at the chance to try it.

This was 8 shrimp, and I know I got 8 to a pound, so we got a whole pound of shrimp! Very tasty, and so was the fish. We usually get two different things and share, yum. Shrimp $7, and fish $4.50.

The ensalad is shredded cabbage, cucumber and carrots, with a delightful lime/ vinegar dressing, we can care less about the patacones, (plantain rounds) but all in all a great meal. The outdoor seating is in the shade usually, which is always a plus, and only a storefront from the beach, so beautiful view and breeze. Definatly one to try!

Just got word from Catalina, that we have more papers to sign in Manta, so we cancel our lunch date, and will get on the bus. Our lunch date was with someone who also is working with her, but has a furnished condo and was going to loan us an end table and lamp, aww the little things. But there's always tomorrow...Hasta mañana! The adventure continues!

Friendly folks

Yesterday marked our first week living in San Alejo, and well, we pretty much LOVE it! The house is very sparce in it's furnishings, but with what we do have, we can tell it'll turn into something great! We don't want to buy too much, but when we tried to pan fry some fresh fish fillet and I told Mike we didn't have a spatula, he threw up his hands. (It turned out great by the way) 

It started out with sunrise on the rooftop deck, the sky was clear, without the usual marine layer. Then a walk on the beach, as tide was low, found more starfish and enjoyed the fresh morning air. Home for quick breakfast, had to do scrambled eggs (still no spatula) and decided we had to find some things so we made a list and headed out. We chose to go to San Jacinto first, as we were walking we ran into Pat, a wonderfully helpful expat who walked and talked and took us to her Casa for a minute. Traded telephone numbers and got lots of good information. After we parted ways we tried a couple ferreteria (hardware store) as we were looking for a very small battery for the doorbell Dave bought us. Showing them the doorbell, and saying pequito (small) they all knew exactly what we needed, but none had it, Charapoto was the common answer.

So the trip into San Jacinto wasn't successful for a small battery, but we bought huge shrimp, they call them langostinos, a pound for $5, then we saw our fruit and veggie vendor, found out his name is Angel, he gave us each a banana, and sandia (watermelon) slice. And found the fish market, so when the vendor doesn't come in front of the house, we know that half a mile away we can get some. Bought some limes, and fresh peanut butter there too.

After we dropped off our treasures, we walked into San Clemente, still on the hunt. Stopped by the ferreteria where we bought the hammer a couple days ago, he didn't have the battery, but ....the next one did! Casa de todo (house of everything) is NOT false advertising! We bought the battery, $2.44, a spatula and large spoon, two different size funnels, 2 whistles (so we can catch the vendors outside the gate) all this for a little over $10. Great family that runs this shop, I've got to get a picture of his sign, I can tell this will be one of our "go to first" places!

Joined the San Clemente Ecuador residents Facebook, and put out a request that I was looking for a fabric store, heard of three in Charapoto, and one in Bahia. Got a message from a lady we met the other morning at brunch, that she was going into Bahia did we want to go? Yes please! So today we will get to check out a new place, and hang out with Jackie a very kindred spirit. That's what we are finding about the expats here, we all really have something in common. Beach people are special. Expats are adventurers by nature, and then choosing this beach area says a lot about ones character. Laid back, positive outlook, fun loving.

Dave, the landlord has a hostel, Casa punta bikini, and on Monday nights he does a little restaurant, so we went to see and be seen and meet the neighbors. It was hopping, very big turn out , we met some wonderful people, and look forward to spending some time with them, getting to know people's story. Some were visiting, doing exploratory trips, not ready to take the plunge just yet, and others, Pat and her husband Marshall have been here 6 years or more. Fun crowd, and finding out about all sorts of things, Dave does Wednesday night game night, Meiers (where we had Sunday brunch) does Friday eve too, found out where to get shawarma (Thursday thru Sunday) Chifa surf and a very decent pizza Bamboo and Ceibo.

Update on the container: Catalina submitted our paperwork and is waiting to hear if our inspection is on the schedule for Monday. That would mean going to Guayaquil, paying a couple hundred dollars to Customs, then getting a trucking company. Catalina had me write a formal complaint letter to Express Cargo, that opened a can of worms and ended up with Catalina and the ExpressCargo management sparring thru emails. Was ugly. Catalina looked into Express Cargo reviews, and they are horrible! Made me sick all over again, we had looked into them, but I guess didn't look at the right places. Naive, and overly excited for the move I guess, my vision was clouded...trying to get some reimbursement from them, but I dont see it happening. They pretty much said it was my fault.

But, on a happier note, it's almost time to hang out with Jackie, and see Bahia! Maybe get some fabric, these sheets are slightly like sandpaper, (added with the sand blown in, and on our feet, it's rough) and maybe I can buy some soft fabric to use until we get our container. Will use the sheets as curtains. Stay tuned! The adventure continues!