Mexican Farina!

Here at CHCI, we receive produce donations from one of our local grocery stores to supplement our food budget. This can lead to piles and piles of a particular type of seasonal produce, so much that we don't know what to do with it all! It's up to the interns' ingenuity and creativity with food to make the monotonous piles of produce into fun and interesting meals. With that in mind, the chimpanzees also have their own ideas on what they would like to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Combining available produce with chimpanzee wishes can be both a challenge and a reward. This afternoon, while on an interaction with the chimpanzees, Tatu requested cereal for dinner, a chimpanzee favorite. Since I was scheduled to make dinner, I decided to see what seasonal produce we had that I could use with the desired cereal. This week's grocery run produced a large pile of avocadoes (which Dar and Loulis in particular enjoy), bell peppers in four exciting colors, and onions (which everyone in particular enjoy). I decided to make farina for Tatu, and began digging around in the refrigerator for something to put in it. I found some string cheese in the door, along with a large pile of tomatoes. I grabbed both, along with an onion, and a pepper of each color, and began chopping. Soon I had a large bowl full of colorful pico de gallo, and four avocadoes on the cutting board. I halved the avocadoes, and mashed them up into a thick, green paste, then I mixed a little of the pico de gallo into the mashed avocadoes, and voila! Guacamole! Next I prepared the farina and, while it was sitting, cut up three sticks of string cheese. I mixed the string cheese into the farina, making a very sticky, gloppy, white mess. In went the pico de gallo to make it bright and colorful. Mexican Farina! Serve immediately to keep veggies crisp, with guacamole on the side.