[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Eden Sahle
2 August 2010





Wednesday night, July 28, 2010, was cold and windy. At around 6:30pm in the Saris Abo neighbourhood, the sidewalks were crowded with many people despite the weather conditions.
Most of them were couples holding each other close to keep warm and chewing yetatebese bekolo (fresh roasted corn). Some of them were standing and talking or laughing with each other in front of the coal stoves while waiting for their corn to fully roast. On the side of the street there were drivers sitting inside their cars enjoying the freshly cooked corn. The heat coming from the charcoal stoves added a little warmth to the area.

Aselef Yelikal, 36, a corn seller in Saris Abo, is busy taking orders from her regular as well as new customers, as part of her seventh year in the business.
She sells 80 roasted ears of corn per day from 4:00pm to 8:00pm. Four unroasted ears cost six Birr. The price increases if one wishes to buy one or two ears only. However, roasted ears cost 1.50 Br to three Birr, depending on their size.
"This is what I like about keremt (the rainy season)," she said. "My three children and I always get our fill, because we can eat the corn even if there is nothing to eat at home."
During the corn season, which usually starts in June, she is able to save money which she invests in her daytime retail business selling vegetables. She makes at least 30 Br in profit per day from the sale of corn.
"The corn market is good; even the rich people with cars are among my regular customers," she says. "They buy both roasted and unroasted corn in large quantities and do not argue about the price. This gives me the luxury of bidding for a higher price than the pedestrians who always argue about the price and size of the corn."
One of the beneficiaries of this wet season is the listro, ever present and ever ready to provide his service - for a price and maybe a tip. His profit during this season is the mud that everyone looks down on. "I only made 10 Br on average per day during bega, its sunny months, but now I make at least 30 Br per day," says Tesfaye Teshome.

Yelibe Tilahune, 24, is a seller at Shola Market. He sells four big ears for five Birr, but he does not sell roasted corn. If the buyer wishes to buy smaller ears of corn, the price of each corn increases to one Br. He earns at least 40 Br in profit on a daily basis, he says.
Although selling corn is very profitable, the season is limited. Before the rainy corn season arrives, Yelibe sells contraband clothing on the streets. However, the rainy season is good for him since he does not have to run away when the federal police come to take his contraband clothing.
"It is one of the business areas where you cannot get busted." he says.
Each day he sells at least 300 ears of corn to individual buyers and retailers. He also buys his corn from wholesalers in Merkato. Buying in large quantities enables him to get a discount from wholesalers and resell the corn at a lower price than other retailers who only purchase in small quantities.
"I buy one ear of corn for 50 cents from the wholesalers." he explains.
Zewdinesh Habte, 18, and Hasena Sherif, 22, who sell corn in the Sarbet area, agree with the above sellers on the profitability of the corn market. They usually sell what they have on hand by the end of the day.
They buy 80 ears of corn per day from wholesalers in Merkato at a price of 1.50 Br apiece. In contrast to Aselef and Yelibe, they sell roasted ears for two Birr, irrespective of the size but still only make 25 Br in profits, each, they say.
The rainy season also brings a
Before the rainy season, umbrellas sold for a maximum of 30 Br, but now they sell for 80 Br minimum, and the price goes up from there depending on the quality of the umbrella, according Yesuf Omar, a boutique owner around Mexico Square.
He sells three umbrellas per day during weekdays and as many as seven umbrellas on weekends, he says. He also sells ladies' cotton jackets for 400 Br. The price of the jackets also increases depending on their length and where they are made.
Sales quantities also increase during heavy downpours. However, the price and demand always begins to decrease as the rain subsides, at which time Yesuf will be forced to make discounts to attract the market, he says.
Elias Zeleke (front), 17, works for Bedru Mohamed (rear), who owns the shop where he sells charcoal. He buys the charcoal "wholesale" - the whole sack - and divides it up into small plastic bags - cherecharo - which he sells at a profit. Elias is seen here dividing up the charcoal evenly, taking care to mix in the crushed pieces, which produce more smoke than heat, evenly with the rest.
On the other hand, the price and demand for warm weather clothing has been going down due to the rain. Clothes that used to be sold for 200 Br or above are now being sold for 120 Br. Prices should go back up when the rainy season is over, but it also depends upon the timeliness of the fashion, according to Yesuf.
Mohammed Ahemed is another boutique owner in the Haya-hulet Mazoria area. He sells women's boots at 400 Br to 500 Br depending on quality and country of origin.

Just like the corn market, the boot market is limited to the rainy season.
"Now the market is booming, but this is the only season when boots are needed," he says. "I am taking advantage of the seasonal demand by bringing new styles of boots to my customers."
The rainy season always brings cold weather which forces people to dress up in warm clothes when they go out of the house. Warm clothes are even needed in homes, especially because fireplaces and heaters are not customary in Ethiopia. Most people only use portable charcoal stoves to heat their homes during the rainy season.
Consequently, the charcoal market has shown a 20 Br increase since the rainy season began, says Tadesse Taddele, 50, a charcoal seller in the Meskel Flower area. Although traditional charcoal sellers have been affected by those who now deliver the charcoal directly to people's homes by an Isuzu truck, he still sells five sacks per day, he says.
He buys the 100kg and 50kg charcoal sacks which are brought in from suppliers all the way from Afar Regional State at a price of 100 Br and 75 Br, respectively. He receives up to 20 sacks of charcoal per day from suppliers and claims to sell them for 130 Br and 85 Br, respectively. Even though the charcoal comes in sacks which hold 100kg and 50kg of grain, it doesn not weigh that much. The 100kg sacks hold 13kg of charcoal and the 50kg sacks hold 10kg of charcoal, according to Tadesse.
Previously, when the trucks were not doing direct deliveries, he was able to sell at least nine sacks per day, Tadesse said
Gerum Belete, a charcoal customer who was buying the 100kg sacks, is a regular purchaser of charcoal, even during bega (the dry season), because his rented house is very cold, he says.
He notices the price increments each time the rainy season approaches, but, even though the price is high, he always comes to the shops to purchase rather than buying the charcoal directly from Isuzu trucks making house deliveries, he says. This is because the latter's charcoal is poor in quality and one cannot return it after finding out that it is poor quality, he says.

 

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

 

LA Eastside

Life Beyond The River

Eastside 101: Elotes

by EL CHAVO!

 

Okay kids, lets lower those voices, class is about to begin. Ahem. Thank you all for showing up to yet another lesson in the Eastside 101 lecture series, an online extension program of the UGTWHTUPAY4 university. For those of you that have been taking notes, this series was started some time ago over at blogging.la as a way to shine some light on the life of those on the Eastside, that seemingly invisible place just on the other side of the river. Though the original mission of this series seems to have served its purpose (namely, defending the definition of the term Eastside) I still have a few insights and tips to share with all of you that might be interested. I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t unintentionally give away some secrets!
Oh yeah, the subject this time is Elotes!

 

It’s either bells or horns. When you feel just a bit peckish, you somehow focus on the sounds of an ambulante going by, in this case it was the constant squeezing of a bike horn, which now that I think about it, I haven’t seen on a bike in a long time. I prefer it when they yell out their product (“Paletas, que ricas paletas!” “Tamales! Champurrado!”) but you eventually learn the walking patterns of your preferred vendor. This guy was new to me, but he conveniently showed up at the laundromat when I was needing a bite to eat.
“Que vende?”
“Raspados, Elotes, y Chicharron.” The chicharron was the wheat based fried food (no pork in it) but I went with the elote, the food of my people. And the food of cheapos as well. “Un elote, con todo.”
In the pic above, the elotero is pounding a holding stick into the corn, assuming you can see thru blue coolers like I can.

 

When I was in High School, we used to laugh at these corn concoctions, especially cuz of the mayonesa. Mayonnaise on a corn? That’s disgusting! But eventually, I tried one and it turned out I liked it, I guess my days of snide jokes against these corns were over. I’ll manage. After the holding stick, the next step is a solid layering of that mayonesa. Recoil in disgust. That other dude in the pic was telling the elotero “he’s gonna steal your secret recipe!” Jaja, that was pretty funny.


And then a solid bath of grated queso cotija, aka “queso de pata”. It certainly smells like feet, but that aged cheese is much more delectable than your friends feet. I’m just assuming.


I was talking a bit with the “he’s stealing your recipe” guy and I missed taking the picture of the Parkay margarine pouring, basically about three solid rows of margarine on top of that mayo-cheese layer. And here you can see the expert application of chile powder onto the elote, that last bit of spiciness is what ties the whole thing together. I assume he puts the corn down in that spot just to avoid any wind gusts, chile powder isn’t cheap.
How much did this power cob cost? A simple dollar.


Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh or retch, the idea of this street food is kinda atrocious. But once you bite into the sweet tender corn, slathered in all those oils and chile, the flavor combinations just prove that somebody thought this shit out. It’s not something you’d make at home, but this concoction of taste and sustenance is assuredly worth that lonely dollar you have in the pocket. I was gonna take a picture of the kernel-less cob but I forgot. Please forgive me.
This post is dedicated to Corny Joe, that lover of hot corn that practically begged me to do this review. I hope it’s to his liking. Good luck in Eureka vato

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Addis Ababa and East LA..

sister cities separated at birth.

in either place you can find roosters walking down busy main streets and you can comp so fresh elotes..

what I want to know is do they got Tamales in addis also

[EVOLghost]

Man ihavent had a an elote from the street vendors in ages!! Fuck I kind of missed 'em

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

Man ihavent had a an elote from the street vendors in ages!! Fuck I kind of missed 'em

hijole why the fuck not? Elotes, Raspados and Tamales are our Daily dole of Bread here in Los Angeles..

[!@#$%!]

mayo is a no no, crema is the way to go, and chile piquín

[EVOLghost]

mmmm....well actually some doods around here use that one butter spread..EDIT: PARKAY also that cotija cheese! mmmm

 

I buy tamales from this guy down the street from me work. actually I'm gonna grab some tomorrow. I only buy 'em for my long routes...and tomorrow, Im' goin' to Peoria.

but nothing compares to me mum's tamales. When I'm high, I can seriously down like 6 of 'em. (2 of each hehe)

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

mmmm....well actually some doods around here use that one butter spread..EDIT: PARKAY

 

sweet baby jesus, that is some horrible, horrible, horrible gringo atrocity, an abomination, a crime against nature. i vomit at the mere sight of parkay. the existence of parkay is proof that there is no god. es pura mierda.

crema for the win! or real mantequilla, you know?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

sweet baby jesus, that is some horrible, horrible, horrible gringo atrocity, an abomination, a crime against nature. i vomit at the mere sight of parkay. the existence of parkay is proof that there is no god. es pura mierda.

crema for the win! or real mantequilla, you know?

amen amen!