Ay Platano, ¿a dónde te has ido?

Yesterday I had a dream. In this dream, I was sitting in my house in Zaqatala and was very hungry. I got up to look in my fridge and pantry, but I did not find any food. I went back to sit at my table, sad that I couldn't find any grub. I got up again and walked outside to my kitchen. And there on the counter, staring back up at me with its green little body - was a platano. I jumped for joy and, since it was a dream, a second later I was already eating some tostones.

And then I woke up. Very hungry. Except when I went to find something to eat in my kitchen there was nothing there. Ni un platano. I asked one of my friends here if she had ever heard of a platano, and when she said 'no' I tried to describe the amazingness that is a plantain. But words don't do it justice. Until you have eaten a platano you can't really understand why it is so delicious and wonderful. I mean just look at this face of pure joy:


Esa es la cara de una platanera. (Btdubs - peep the bonus Jessica face on my shirt. Yep, that's me when I was in kindergarten.) Look at all those platanos! I'm making myself hungry just by typing this. Azerbaijan isn't that far from tropical areas, I've seen bananas and pineapples here, can't the bazar help me out and get me some platanos??? If its a supply-and-demand thing, that's fine, I would buy as many crates of platanos as can possibly be supplied. (That's not an exaggeration either, I would eat platanos 24/7. Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner - Snack - I don't discriminate, I regulate every shade of the meal. I never ate mangu in the states but I would definitely throw down on a giant plate of it if I had some over here.)

I realize that I've been writing about food A LOT here, and its probably because I just miss food from home. Don't get me wrong I love (most) Azerbaijani cooking, probably more so than other PCV's (give me some kelem dolmasi any day of the week!), but sometimes you just want to eat a platano.