Non-traditional Goulash recipe

I have always been intrigued to try new recipe. The other day someone posted a recipe of Goulash and after a few more digging, I found that the dish is originally from Hungary. Then of course the Americans also have their own version of Goulash. After reading about it I decided to add something Italian to my Goulash. This will probably infuriate the Hungarian for playing off with one of their national dishes ; but...my version tasted so good. So, here is my non-traditional Goulash recipe, a mix of Hungarian, American and Italian.

Ingredients:
750 grams ground beef
1 can (800 grams) diced tomatoes
1 can (400 grams)  tomato paste
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 medium green peppers, chopped
2 tbsp garlic salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
500 grams macaroni
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp dried basil
1 cup of cheddar cheese
1 cup of monterey  jack cheese

Preparations:
In a large pot, brown the ground beef until it's no longer pink colour. Add onions and peppers, mixed until the vegetables are soften.
Season with garlic salt and pepper.
Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, rosemary and basil. Mix well.
Simmer for 10 minutes in medium heat. Meanwhile in another pot, add water to boil, generously seasoned with salt. Cook the macaroni until al-dente, about 6 minutes.
Drain the cooked macaroni and add it to the beef mixture. Stir well.
Add the cheese and mix it until it's combined. (PS: Save some cheese for garnish)

Serve immediately in a bowl and top it with the leftover cheese.

This is the kind of food that gets better after time. To reheat, add 1 cup of chicken stock to the pot, stir and leave it in medium heat.

Enjoy!

Cabo Verde, where is that?

Not many people know where Cabo Verde is. When I told my friends that we are moving to Cabo Verde, they all asked the same question: Where is that? 

To be completely honest, I just recently learned where it was. Thanks to Mr. Google, everything is just a click away.

Cabo Verde is a country located in the Atlantic ocean, west of the west coast of Africa. It has ten islands and it was a former Portuguese colony. The official language spoken is Portuguese and the daily conversation is carried out in Creole.

For a brief moment, I hesitated. What will I do there? I don't speak Portuguese. I love my job and my friends here in Canada. Moving? Again? Gosh!
I took a glance of the pictures provided by Mr. Google and I gasped with admiration of the blue turquoise beaches.
Why would I say no to a new adventure? An exciting life of the unknown?

Long story short, here we are.
We settled in nicely in the island of Sal, named because of the salt mining back in the old days. Unfortunately it was mentioned as the least attractive island of all islands in Cabo Verde. Trip Advisor said to skip Sal and better go to other islands instead. The beaches are beautiful. More beautiful that the pictures provided by Mr. Google. But that's it. The rest is pretty basic. Really nothing special here but the sun, beautiful beaches, abundant fresh fish and good weather all year round.

The weather is pretty similar to Indonesia, minus the humid. Sun, sun, sun. Sal is the sunniest island of all with 360 days of sunshine in a year. Because it's flat, it barely rains in the island; which means, it's also pretty dry. Brown is the colour of Sal. When we got here in May, it was really windy. Apparently we got the wind from the Sahara desert. It was so windy sometimes it was painful to go to the beach. The wind blew the sand and it hit you like thousand small mosquito bites.

After a month or so, we get to know some shops and restaurants. Fresh fruits and vegetables are difficult here. They have to get it from the other island. Things that available varied and there is no such thing as one stop shopping here in Sal. You have to get to know what each store has. Creating one meal might means a few trips to different stores. Each time we go out, it seems we find new store with new things in it. The other day we found a little Italian shop that sells Parmagiano, and we were so happy like little kids that we had spaghetti with Parmagiano cheese. Amazing how in this place we find happiness in simple things.

Have I mentioned that the streets have no names? Yeah! That's why it's difficult to memorize where the stores are sometimes, along with what they have. Still, I look at this as an adventure.and I have the perfect man to share this experience with. The most important thing in life is to be with the person you love; and I plan to make the best out of it.

Santa Maria Beach

Fishermen's boats

A typical day at the wharf