Monday, December 30

I started off with... a Bowl of Watermelon.

For Lunch, I had a package of Sliced Turkey Breast roll-ups with Mustard.

It's good protein, low in points, and I like Turkey and Mustard.

Then, another Bowl of Watermelon.

And another Bowl of Watermelon. I remember that I was supposed to be outraged at the price increase of Bowls of Watermelon, but I guess not so much.

Jeff and I schlepped down to Coral Gables to watch the Hurricanes play basketball against Loyola. We were still hurting from the football beatdown the other day, but we bleed Green and Orange. We got to the arena with an hour to spare, so we went to the Titanic for a bite before the game.

I had an order of Mussels and the Happy Hour order of Wings. Jeff had a Burger.

My friends are remarkably patient with me taking their photos as they are about to eat. I ate the Mussels (no bread) and the Wings (no Bleu Cheese). The food at the Titanic is OK, and the service just a notch below OK. We're going to look for other Coral Gables pre- and post-game eating options.

The 'Canes kicked butt, winning by more than 20 points.

When I got home, I watched the Heat game and chomped down on some Frozen Grapes.

See you next year!

Soup! Soup!

Sunday, December 30

I was in the house and wanted to cook something before I went to the hockey game. A couple of weeks ago, Lonnise and I were in the Asian Market and I stocked up on some of the makings for Pho Soup, like they make in the Vietnamese restaurants.

I went to the supermarket and got some slices of Pork Loin from the Deli, and got home and assessed what I had.

We're looking at Pork Paste, Pho Seasoning, Black Pepper, Pho Noodles, Fried Garlic, Onion Flakes, Sliced Mushrooms and the sliced Pork.

Remember this was my first time trying this. I added a liter and a half of water to two Pho Cubes, half the bag of Noodles, some of the Spices and stuff, about 2/3 of the Mushrooms and all of the Pork. It came out like this.

I either didn't use enough water or I used too much of the Noodles, but it came out thick. I made it spicy, so it tasted ok, but it just wasn't 'real' Pho. But good enough for my first time at home.

Then we went to the Hockey game. The Panthers won, and I posed with a plastic mascot.

After the game, we went to The Noodle House for Real Pho. It wasn't very hard to twist Lonnise's arm. I had the Pho with Pork Broth and Double Pork; she had the same thing, except with Shrimp and Pork.

It was better than the one I made. They had all the ingredients, AND they knew what they were doing. But it won't stop me from trying again.

During the NFL game (the last one of the regular season -- how did that happen so quickly?), I had some Frozen Grapes.

Bowl Day Saturday

The last Hurricanes Game of the season. The way the team played, apparently the last game was back in November.

I drove to Publix this morning and bought some Turkey Breast.

I did Roll-Ups with Mustard.

During the day, I ate a few Bowls of Frozen Grapes. They were on sale.

Joe Robert, Jeff and I watched Hurricanes Bowl the game at CJs Draft House in Deerfield Beach. If you want to confuse our optimisim with psychosis, well, I won't argue with you.

I had the 20 Jerk Grilled Wongs. Joe Robert had a Cheeseburger, and Jeff had the Ahi Tuna.

 

Good thing we ate early in the game, as we lost our appetites later. The 'Canes lost 36-9, and it wasn't that close.

When I got home, I had some more Grapes.

Friday

I woke up this morning with a headache and just didn't feel good. Larry and I decided that it was an allergy. I'm allergic to the USA or something.

Anyway, I started off with a Bowl of Watermelon.

For Lunch, I cut up three Zucchinis and two Yellow Squashes, added some spices and nuked them. Delicious.

When I got home from work, I had some String Beans that I had picked up in Publix yesterday.

Still had the headache. Took a nap. Didn't help.

Lonnise felt bad for me, so she came and picked me up. We went to Basilic Vietnamese Grill. If anything could fix me, it would be Soup, we figured.

She was right. I had the Pho with Roast Beef, Brisket and Meatballs, and Lonnise had the Pho with Shrimp and Meatballs.

In a development that should surprise no one, I finished all of mine, and Lonnise took half of hers home.

In a happier development, my headache went away. All I needed was some Protein, I guess. So now I can enjoy the Heat game without feeling like hell. Tomorrow's the Hurricanes' Bowl Game, so I needed to be in top form.

Thursday. Back to Normal

What could be more normal than a Bowl of Watermelon?

Just the one bowl... they are still expensive.

Pineapples, however, are virtually free this week. I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon eating two Bowls of Chunks,

On the way home from work, I stopped at Publix and picked up some Catfish Nuggets. I assembled the Usual Characters.

There's Broccoli, Sliced Mushrooms, Salsa, Capers, Minced Garlic, the last can of Green Beans , Minced Garlic and some Pearl Onions. I heated them all together, and what came out was delicious, but not all that attractive.

Later that night, while watching the Bowl Games, I had some Pineapple that I had also picked up in Publix.

Lima Day 13: Feliz Navidad!

Wednesday, December 25

It was a Merry Christmas for all. Except those going home today, like me.

Lima is pretty much closed on Christmas Day. They tell me it picks up in the afternoon and evening, but in the morning, not so much.

I woke up early and took a walk. One of the Chicharron places was open, so I got a Sandwich and a Cafe con Leche.

There were quite a few customers in the restaurant, so maybe Chicharron isn't just for weekends, but holidays, too.

Pretty empty was the Mercado in Surquillo. However, you can always count on the Tamale Ladies to be there. I had them make me two Sandwiches from the Pork Tamale.

I don't know who is going to miss who more: Me for their virtually on-demand Tamales, or them for my almost-daily $1.50. It's probably a toss-up.

I was going to give one of the Sandwiches to the doorman in my building, but 'doorman' is a very vague concept in this building, and I couldn't find him, so I took them upstairs and ate one of them. I had half of the second Sandwich before I left for the airport.

The food at the Lima airport is (surprise!) not horrible. For my final farewell meal, I went to Manos Morenos at the food court and had a Tacu Tacu with Lomo Saltado.

That really was all she wrote for my Peruvian Food Intake, as I got on the plane after that.

I like to fly to & from Lima on Copa Airlines. Their times are good for my schedule, I get to change planes halfway through in Panama and stretch my legs, and if you plan in advance, you can request Fruit Platters instead of the normal horror that they call food. And I need to get back to some sane eating plan, so why not start right away?

Here's the platter from each of the flights.

The plane landed at 10:00, and I was back in Ft. Lauderdale by 11:30, and I was hungry. Normally, I would have gone to Albertsons to pick up some Fruit, or stopped *somewhere* to get something to eat, but not on Christmas. Luckily (for me, not for the employees), Subway was open, so I stopped there and goit my standard Sub.

There you go: Wheat Bread, Turkey, lots of Mustard, no Cheese, no Mayo, Spinach, Tomatoes, Banana Peppers, Hot Peppers, Pickles. I ate that, read the mail that had accumulated, and went to bed.

Lima Day 12: Christmas Eve

Tuesday, December 24

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are not your best days for Gastronomic Tourism.

Cimaru and I had Breakfast at the Raddison in Miraflores. It's a Buffet, with hot dishes by request. Since I had to start getting mentally ready for my return home, I started with an assrtment of Fruit.

Since we were indeed in Peru, the hotel had Peruvian choices for Breakfast. Cimaru had the Tamale, and I had the makings of a Chicarron sandwich.

The problem with vacations is: they end. And they end way before you're ready for it to happen. One of the things I do in my travels is mentally keep a list of new places to try out. Time was running short, so I went to Las Conchitas Negras.

I like Cebicherias. I like Conchas Negras. I could walk to the place... the perfect storm. Inside, it is a lot less modest than their website would make me think, but it was pretty good. And the prices were reasonable, too.

I started with a Leche de Pantera.

This is like a regular Leche de Tigre, except it has Conchas Negras (Black Clams) in the mix. I don't think that they see a lot of non-Peruvians in this place; they weren't shy about making htis spicy.

For my Main Course,I ordered one of their combination plates.

This was a trio of (left to right) Cebiche, Rice with Seafood, and Fried Fish Chunks. I washed the whole thing down with some Chicha Morada (Purple Corn Juice). Very good; I will return.

In between Breakfast & Lunch, some things happened. First, I had a bag of Chips left in the apartment, so I ate it.

After the Chips, on the way to the restaurant, I passed a Bread store. Apparently, I was possessed by demons, because I bought two pieces of Olive Bread.

I don't like Olives, and I'm not a big Bread fan either. Two bites of this stuff was enough to remind me that I don't like it.

Later in the afternoon, I was invited to a Chocolatada for Christmas. Unlike what we gave the kids at their Chocolatada (Chocolate Milk and Paneton), we were served Hot Chocolate and Paneton. Very different.

I'm not a big fan of Paneton. Nor Hot Chocolate. But it was a party!!!!

When I got back home, just about everything and everywhere was closed. Things had started shutting down at around noon, but by 7:00, it was pretty much a ghost town, business-wise. It turns out I was lucky that Las Conchas Negras was even open.

One place that was still open was the Grilled Chicken place on the first floor of my building. I went down at around 9:00 pm, and took out a half Chicken with Fries.

The Fries in Peru are delicious (they use different Potatoes than we do back home), and the Chicken was also good. If I had to rough it, this was certainly a good way to go.

After Dinner, I walked around town a little. Church was getting out here and there, so there were some people on the streets. But I was home and in bed pretty early.

Lima Day 11: Porks, Ducks, and Live Turkeys

Monday, December 23

Time is running short this trip. I am conflicted between eating all that I can and slowing down because I don't want to explode.

I started the day with a walk to Surquillo to get a Chicharron Sandwich. I went to the first place (the one I liked the best) of the ones from last week.

They had a sale: Two Sandwiches and a coffee for about $5. So much for slowing down.

Exploding did seem to come into play. I was only able to eat the Pork off of most of the second sandwich.

I wanted to try a couple of new places, so I hit up a Cebicheria that was also in Surquillo, La Granizada. I had peeked in earlier in the week, and the place looked OK.

It was pretty good. I kept it simple, having just a Leche de Tigre, and an order of Tacu Tacu with Duck.

Yeah, I ate it all.

Walking back home from the restaurant, I passed a Turkey tent.

So, you get to pick your own and take it home. Probably not to keep as a pet. I passed.

Amazingly, I was pretty full, so I didn't eat much for Dinner. Cimaru met me at 9:00 pm, and we went to Punto Azul for a bite. We shared an order of Fried Langostinos.

In case you had doubts, we liked them. She ate more than half.

It was still early after we ate, so we stopped at a bar called La Emolienteria. Cimaru had something or other to drink, and I had my first Emoliente.

According to the Internet, Emoliente is Emoliente is kind of an herbal tea. Sold by street vendors around the country at corners, bus stops or parks and plazas, it is part of Peruvian lifestyle and believed to have healing and protective powers. No wonder, because emoliente is made of numerous Peruvian medicinal plants, herbs and seeds.

That's what the internet says. I told Cimaru that I've seen it sold hot on street corners, and it was summer. She had a whole discussion with the waiter, and mine came out cold.

It was tasty, not at all medicinal-seeming. I would have it again, even though I think it might be sugar-laden.

That was it for the day.