Thursday: Aruba (the Restaurant, not the Island)

Thursday, August 28

It's a good thing I like Watermelon. And a better thing that it was on sale.

A Bowl of Watermelon. Another Bowl of Watermelon.

A Third Bowl of Watermelon.

We took a client out for Lunch to Aruba Beach Cafe. Everyone I know loves the place. Hell, EVERYONE loves the place. Except me; I can't stand it.

We ordered an appetizer of Ahi Tuna for the table. I had three pieces.

For my Main Course, after they refused to make me a Rare Hamburger, I ordered their Grilled Chicken Wings.

The Food: Average. The prices: high. The service: Abominable. The view of the beach: Wonderful.

One more Bowl of Watermelon at the office.

For Dinner, I heated up and finished the remaining Jerk Pork that I made on Monday.

Later on, one more Bowl of Watermelon.

Here's my steps for the day.

Wednesday: A Trip to The Hot Pot

Wednesday, August 27

It's still Summer. Watermelon's still on sale. I bought one at Alexa Produce.

I cut it up and ate it throughout the day.


At Lunch time, I nuked a bunch of Brussels Sprouts, just adding some pices to them.

They tasted good, but they stunk up the office something awful. That's the last time you'll see them at work.

Lonnise and I had plans to go somewhere for Dinner. It's been a while, so we headed down to The Hot Pot for Soup. I love Soup.

Before the Soup thing happened, I had an order of Mussels Dynamite to start.

OK, the way The Hot Pot works is that you order to different base Broths, and they heat up at your table. You also order Stuff for your Soup a la carte, and add it as you go. The lovely Katerina brought our Stuff.

We had Shrimp, Pork, Chicken, Beef (not shown), Napa Vabbage, Bok Choy, and the Vericelli Noodles that we like in our Pho Soup. The Broths come to a boil, we add the stuff, and then we start ladling it into Bowls.

I wound up having three Bowls. After that, I ordered another bunch of Hot & Spicy Broth, more Noodles, and some more Pork.

I had one more Bowl with the new Broth, and took the rest home for later. Lonnise also took home a container for herself.

Much later that night, I had the rest of my Broth and Pork. I didn't eat the extra Noodles.

Here's my steps for the day. I wish that eating counted towards 'very active minutes.'

Back Home. Land of Turkey and Watermelon.

Monday, August 25

I was in the taxi and heading to the airport at 5:30 am. As if going home isn't bad enough.

After checking in, I always treat myself to some Gelato at Cafeteria 4D. They have an airport branch.

It doesn't make going home any less painless, but at least I have Gelato.

On the plane, they fed us a Sandwich (if you can call it that), and I had a dish of Chicken, Vegetables and Mashed Potatoes. I made a sandwich with the Roll, and didn't even think about the 'cake.'

And this was on Lan, who has better food than the other airlines. What a letdown.

Brent picked me up at the airport, and since traffic was bad, we stayed off of I-95. While heading towards Hollywood, we stopped at Villa Rose Pizza on State Road 7. We ordered a Pie with Sausage, Meatballs, Ham and Bacon. I had just over half.

Brent dropped me off, and that was it for me. Here's my steps.

Tuesday, August 26

It's Summer in Florida... Watermelon is on Sale.

A Bowl of Watermelon.

Another Bowl of Watermelon.

For Lunch, I had some Turkey Roll-Ups.

Just like I remembered.

Another two Bowls of Watermelon.

On the way home, I stopped at Publix and picked up two packages of their ready-o-cook Jerk Pork Shoulder. I trimmed off a lot of the fat and added Garlic, Diced Tomatoes and Salsa, and set it to cook.

45 minutes later, it was ready. I had two Bowls, and put some away for another day.

That was it forthe night. Here's my steps.

Lima Day 11: Final Day - Out of Control

Domingo, 24 Agosto

The last thing that Vivian told me before I left for South America was, "Don't go Crazy." I guess she didn't include Sundays in that.

Kelli and I walked down to Per-Lizza for a quick Breakfast. They don't have Empanadas that early, but they do have Pork Sandwiches on Sundays. I had a Cafe con Leche and a Pork Sandwich; so did Kelly.

Then, at home, I discovered that Packing Makes You Hungry, I also discovered the Tamales that I had been accumulating during my trip, so I popped down to the Supermarket, bought two Rolls, and had two Tamale Sandwiches.

I had plans to meet Garry and Veronika for Lunch today. I suggested that we go to Sabores Peruanos. I passed by the place the other day, and wanted to give it a try.

Fpr APpetizers I had -- what else? -- a Tamale, and Veronika had an order of Cebiche.

I like the Green Tamales the best of all, and you can't get them everywhere, so it was a treat for me.

For my Main Course, I ordered the Sancochado.

As I may have mentioned, I love Soup, and this Soup is so Glorious, they give you the Broth in a Bowl and the Stuff separately.

The 'stuff' is a big hunk of Meat, Corn, Yucca, Cabbage, Potatoes and God knows what else. You chop it up and add it to the Broth.

I was pretty, um, involved at the time, and did not take a photo of the Broth. But it was there, and I ate all the Broth and the Stuff.

Garry had a Filet, and Veronika had another favorite, Rice with Duck.

Everything was excellent. And all gone at the end.

We split up, and I walked home.

Walking is good for you, except that every walk this trip ended at a restaurant. Or in the next case, a Supermarket.

I was totally not hungry, so I went into the Supermarket and bought a big Chocolate Mousse Cake, took it home, and ate half of it.

And I also ate all of the Chocolate pieces from the top of the Cake.

Then I was really full, so I packed some more and went out to play blackjack. While I was changing casinos, I stopped at the Supermarket (a different one this time), and bought a Snack to nibble on, because I was still full of Chocolate Cake and Sancochado. I bought two packages of Dried Sausage.

I nibbled on those while paying cards. When the food and my money were gone, I headed home. Here's my steps for the day.

Lima Day 10: Amoramar and Mucho Mas!!!

Sabado, 23 Agosto

Sorry for the delay in posting. It took me a while to get caught up back home.

This weekend are my final two days here. I've done well, but I'm afraid I got a little out of control Saturday & Sunday.

In the morning, I walked down to the Bioferia to pick up some Olives to bring home for Loretta. There was a lot of Vegetarian/Vegan stuff there as well, some of it prepared foods. They had Vegan Lasagna.

I like Lasagna. I like Vegetables. I can take or leave Cheese, so I had a serving.

It was good. It wasn't Lasagna, but it was good.

Since I was eating, and I was in the neighborhood, I walked over to La Preferida. They have -- aside from their menu -- a 'bar' where you can order small versions of a lot of foods. I like a lot of foods, so I ordered some.

First, I had three mini-sandwiches: A Fish Hamburger, a Shrimp Omelet, and a Fried Fish Sandwich. The bottom photo is the Rocoto Relleno (Stuffed Pepper) that I love so much.

The three Sandwiches were very good, but the Fish Burger was Outstanding. I would have ordered three more, but I had the last one.

After Breakfast, I continued my walk, stopping at Per-Lizza for a Mushroom and Cheese Empanada, and then at a random place for a Coconut Cremolada.

Their Empanadas are the best, and although it was cold out, I like a nice Cremolada. They're kind of like a Slurpee, except better. They have real Fruit, and a better consistency. And no brain freeze.

I barely finished all that in time for Lunch. It's gets a little stressful the last few days.

On my adventure with Javier last week, we passed a place in Barranco called Siwichi Fusion. It was on a dank, crappy street, but it looked shiny, new and inviting. And Surquillo is quickly gentrifying and getting better and better. So I wanted to give them a shot.

The food: Good. The prices: Fair. The service: Crappy.

I started with a Causa.

A Causa is, basically, a Mashed Potato Sandwich. This one was filled with Avocado and Crab Meat.

For my Main Course, I had a Fish Filet Grilled, topped with a Sauce with Shrimp.

Also quite good. How can they screw up bringing me two plates of Food, right off the menu with no modifications? Don't get me started.

Kelly and I had plans for Dinner at Amoramar in Barranco. Cinthya introduced me to this place last trip. It's hidden in the middle of nowhere -- nobody is stumbling on this place by accident -- and every table was full. Both times.

And it is full for a reason. The food: Very Good. The prices: yeah, you're paying for it. The service: Top-notch.

When you are seated, they start you with some Bread and Butter and a mini-Shrimp Cocktail.

Kelly ate some Bread; I just had my Shrimp.

FOr our Appetizers, I had a Fish & Octopus Cebiche, and Kelly ordered the Causa Trio.

Everything was as good as it looked. I made believe that, "How is your Cebiche?" means, "Can I taste some of your Cebiche?," so it was mine, all mine. I had Causa for Lunch.

Our main Dishes were pretty glorious. I had the Rice with Duck (yes!) and Kelly had an order of Cabrito (Goat).

I was very excited. I posed and posed.

I think I like the first one better, but I'm not sure. Kelly was excited, too. We took a team photo.

We both polished off our plates and passed on Dessert. They would have none of that, so they brought us some goodies with the check.

That was it for the day. Here's my steps.