Best discovery of the week

And this week something amazing happened. I made beef stroganoff. I know, everyone is shocked and is probably thinking to themselves, "Wait, maybe she made goat stroganoff, or camel stroganoff, or maybe veggie-lentil-TVP stroganoff." And yes, generally one of you assumptions would likely be quite accurate- but only as of last week. This week, (drum roll please)... I found beef in the market close(r) to our house! I couldn't believe it, I would have hugged the lady I bought it from had her hands/arms not been covered in raw meat and hadn't been holding a knife that was approximately the length of my arm.
You see, there are goats everywhere here. And sheep. They like to sit in front of our front gate to greet me/terrify me or our kids (Atira is terrified of them, Isaaq generally tries to ride them, Eden, of course is just content petting them). We're happy to have the goats frequent our front step, as long as they don't have diarrhea, then we are no longer buddies. So, naturally, when I go to buy meat, I have goats/sheep on the mind. It's probably like how Iowans generally have beef and pork on their minds when they go to the grocery store. But this week in a stroke of brilliance, I thought to myself, let's expand our horizons.
And thousands of new culinary doors have opened to me. I took half of the beef and had it made into ground beef. Here, a few stores (more like vegetable stands), have meat grinders. It's important to be mildly selective when choosing a meat grinder. You want a good sturdy machine, good choice of veggies, place to sit and chat with other ladies, and doesn't charge a ridiculous price because you are a foreigner. Then, once you've selected an establishment you bring your meat to them and have them add whatever veggies you want (a clever way to sneak veggies into meals) to your ground meat. I usually like adding carrots, onions, and garlic. I took it to one of my favored shops to frequent and told my friend, the shopkeeper how excited I was about the meat. Our friends here really like their meat, so this seemed like a perfectly natural topic of conversation to her. Good. I like it too.

PS: The stroganoff was delicious but was spurned by those under the age of 7. Boo