It might help to describe what the term "kitchenette" means when applied to our apartment. Our kitchenette is a reverse "L" shaped room attached to our bedroom/computer room/dressing room/family room/storeroom/etc. At the end of the small part of the "L" is a small sink and counter with a rack to stack washed dishes. The long arm of the "L" has a window, a counter stretching almost the entire length, except for where the refrigerator stands. Sitting on the counter is a three-burner propane stove (the propane tank is under the counter), much like I used to use when I was camping with the Boy Scouts many long years ago. Across from the refrigerator is a three-shelve storage area. Sitting next to the shelving unit is a five-gallon bottle of water with a hand pump we purchased attached to it. There's also a small trash can with a foot operated opener.
We buy our groceries in La Antigua and haul them back to the apartment by chicken bus. Most of the fruits and vegetables come from the mercado and are very expensive. Canned goods, cleaning products, oatmeal, eggs and instant milk come from the Bodegana or Dispensa Familiar. We use instant milk because it is so much lighter than the liquid variety and less likely to spill on the trip home. Eggs are interesting. I have yet to see a dozen eggs for sale. I've seen individual eggs for sale in the mercado or shrink-wrapped trays of 24 (Bodegana) or 30 (Dispensa Familiar). We tend to drink a lot of tea (hot and cold), since Coke Light (Latin American name for Diet Coke) is both hard to find and heavy.
There are a number of minor things that we'd like to find, but haven't yet such as almonds, dark chocolate, and cottage cheese. On the other hand, there are lots of things that we used in Iowa that we haven't tried to find yet.
Without an oven or microwave, we are limited with what we can cook. This last week we kept things simple and cooked two soups (vegetable and vegetable beef), scrambled and boiled eggs and this morning, since we had the time, I made a version of the oatmeal we have eaten for years. Last week we packed out first sack lunch for a trip to Chimaltenango on Friday and will continue to do that on future trips, as it's much cheaper and a time saver.
In short, cooking in our kitchenette is just like cooking on a camping trip. I'm sure that we'll be branching out and trying new recipes in the coming weeks.
