Pho with Fiske!

Saturday, March 29

I ate a lot of times today.

Lonnise & I were going to walk in the morning, but it looked like rain, so we had breakfast instead. We went to Michaels Cafe on US1 and McNab.

It doesn't look like much, but it's really, really good. I had a Vegetable Omelete with dry Wheat Toast and well-done Home Fries. Lonnise had an Egg with Sausage and Grits.

It was delicious. They do a really good job at Breakfast.

After Breakfast, we went to the Pompano Farmer's Market, I dropped Lonnise off and headed to Loretta's house for a while.

For a snack, I had some Jerky that I bought at the Farmer's Market.

I won't be buying it again. After that, I cut up the Zucchini and two Eggplants from the mArket, cooked them up, and went to town at Loretta's house.

It was a lot, but I managed to get it all down.

I hadn't seen my friend Fiske for over 15 years. He moved out of Ft.. Lauderdale, and wound up living in some small town in the Philippines for the last four years. He was back in the USA for a couple of months, and he timed it to come down to South Florida to coincide with my return from Peru.

He was right on time. And didn't look 15 years older.

I had hockey tickets, so we stopped at PhoBrandon for Vietnamese food on the way to the game. We started with a Spring Roll each.

Then it was Soup time. I had Pho with Meatballs and Brisket, and Fiske had a Vegetarian Pho.

Then we went to the hockey game and saw the Panthers lose, of all things.

On the way home, we stopped at Publix to stock up on stuff for the house. I got us some catfish for Second Dinner.

I'm good at this, and it came out as usual. Fiske was thrilled.

We each finished our two Fish. I put the rest away for another day.

That was it for Saturday. We would have eaten more, but the day was over. Fiske is going to hang around for a while, so get used to seeing him in the blog. Here's my steps for the day.

You Can't Spell 'Friday' without F-I-S-H

Friday, March 28

Frozen Grapes. More Frozen Grapes.

A Bowl of Watermelon.

We sent Sergio out to People Choice Restaurant to pick Lunch up for us. He made it back to the office eventually, and Shauna, Cherie, Junior and I dove in.

We all had the whole Snapper and Vegetables, except Shauna. She got the Shrimps in Butter Sauce with Vegetables.

Yes, there's a Fish under there

We all enjoyed our meals. As you can see in the following photo, I finished every bite.

Additionally, Cherie made some other stuff.

I don't remember what they were called, but the triangles were Yucca slices soaked in Milk and then Fried, and the other things were basically Fried Dough. I'm not a big Yucca fan, but this was OK. If I wasn't watching what I was eating, I would have inhaled all of the Dough Sticks.

After work, some more Frozen Grapes.

Later that night, I met up with my friend Ed and we went to Jacks Old Fashion Hamburger House on Federal Highway. Ed got a big greasy Hamburger, but I can't find the photo. Ed loves taking Blog photos... he can't wait for our next trip to Lima.

I had the Sliced Turkey Breast Sandwich with Onions, Peppers and Mushrooms.

It was less horrible than I imagine that the Hamburger would have been, but on the plus side, it was small.

Later at home, more Frozen Grapes. I love when they are on sale.

Here's my steps for the day.

Wednesday/Thursday: Pho! Chicken Parm!

Wednesday, March 26

A bag of String Beans. They were on sale at Albertsons.

Frozen Grapes all day. Lots of them. A whole lot. Many.

Lonnise came and got me after work, and we went to The Noodle House on US441.

To celebrate both of our returns to town (she was in Washington to hang with Joe Biden), we started with the Spring Rolls... one each.

Then the Soup came!

I had my standard Pork and Wonton with Noodles, and Lonnise had her regular Shrimp and Pork. Bth of us with Pork Broth, which we can only seem to find at The Noodle House.

In celebration, I finished all my Soup.

Later, at home, more Frozen Grapes.

Here's my steps for the day.

Thursday, March 27.

It must br Grape Season. They're 99 cents a pound at Save A Lot.

Frozen Grapes.

A Bowl of Watermelon.

Another Bowl of Watermelon.

One last Bowl of Watermelon.

More Frozen Grapes.

I hadn't seen Joe Robert in a while, so I pickd him up and we went on a search for Barbeque.

Two places; no Brisket, no Rib Tips. Screw it.

We wound up at Primavara on Oakland Park Boulevard.

We started by splitting (we thought) an order of Mussels in White Sauce. Well, we were wrong, they insisted that we ordered Mussels with Pasta with Red Sauce.

Yes, no and no. But we were hungry and it was good, so what the hell.

For my Main Course, I had Chicken Parmesan with Pasta with Red Sauce (which is why we DID NOT order it for an Appetizer), and Joe Robert had Chicken Picatta.

That was it. No Dessert or Coffee.

At home, some more Frozen Grapes.

Here's Thursday's steps.

Back Home

Tuesday, March 25

My flight landed at 6:20 am. I went home showered, went to Albertsons, and headed to the office.

A Bowl of Watermelon

Another Bowl of Watermelon

Two more Bowls of Watermelon.

I stopped at Publix on the way hiome and bought a couple of packages of the ready-to-cook Jerk Chicken. (Sorry for the bad photos - I was tired)

After it cooked up, it looked and tasted much better than this photo.

Later, before I passed out, I had some Frozen Grapes.

Here's my steps for the day.

Lima Day 12: Final Peru Post

Monday, March 24

I spent most of the morning on my last day packing. I had Lunch plans with David for 1:00 pm.

Leaving the apartment early allowed me plenty of time to get some eating in on the way to Lunch. I stopped at a random Panaderia (bakery) and started off with a Pastel and an Empanada.

That set me back a whole $2, so I still had some money for the rest of my pre-Lunch.

With time, I stopped at another random tiny eatery, and ordered a Sandwich and a Cremolada.

The sandwich was shredded Chicken with Potato Strips. My Cremolada came -- instead of in a cup -- in a dish with a spoon. Very elegant. And tasty.

Then it was Lunch time. I met David at La Paisana in Magdelana. We'd been there once before and I really liked it, so I asked for a repeat.

We atarted with a Cebiche, mixed Fish and Seafood.

It was wonderful. I've had very few non-wonderful Cebiches in Lima, but I continue to be pleased every time.

Our second dish -- I don't remember the name -- was Rice and Seafood, but instead of the Rice, they used Mashed Plantains.

EDIT: David wrote me and said that the dish is called Majarisco.

I have not seen this anywhere else in my Peruvian travels. David tells me that this is a common dish in the northern city of Piura. We both at as much as we could, and wound up leaving some over.

After that, we headed down the block to the Ice Cream Parlor. I had one scoop; David had two.

David and I said our good-byes, and he promised me a new place for my next visit.

I finished packing, and then I got to meet up with Cinthya one last time before I left. My apartment was just a block away from her school. We went to Starbucks, where I had a Frappuccino Light and she had a Cappuccino. SHe also had a sandwich, of which I had one bite.

That left me an hour to play blackjack one last time. I made enough to cover the taxi fare to the airport, so that worked out pretty well.

At the airport, I checked in and stopped at Cafelederia 4D. It's a branch of a small chain of 'diners' in Lima that also serve Gelato. They may have even started out with the Ice Cream and expanded; I'm not sure.

For my farewell meal, I ordered the 4D Sandwich.

There's Ham, Turkey, Cheese, Fried Egg, topped with Cheese, then baked. It's also got some white, creamy sauce. You need a knife and fork.

I washed it down with some Gelato, and that was it for my Peruvian adventure. Eating will be a lot less exciting for the next couple of months.

Here's my steps for the day.

Lima Day 11: Sunday

Sunday, March 24

I woke up and moped around the apartment a little, wishing I had made 10 reservations for Astrid y Gaston for their free week. But oh, well.

For Breakfast, I decided to take a little walk and headed over to a Miraflores landmark, El Enano.

(I stole this photo from the Internet)

They are on all the 'top' lists for their Juices. Me -- I don't get it. Fruit, water, (maybe) some condensed Milk, (maybe) some Sugar... blend. But what do I know?

I ordered a Pineapple Juice, no Milk, no Sugar, and the Sandwich El Enano. Dude got right to work on the Sandwich.

My Juice was delicious, as was my Sandwich. Nice, soft Bread, German Sausage, Chorizo, Bacon and Cheese. With Mustard. Good thing that points don't translate into the metric system.

Not shockingly, that kept me happy for a while. Later, on the way home, I stopped at Don Belisario and got an order of Fries to go.

They're good Fries, but they're just Fries.

For Dinner, not a lot of places are open on Sunday night, but I walked around a while until I discovered that Antigua Bodega D was open. Empty, but open. I had tried a couple of other places, but they were full and had people waiting. It's both nice and frustrating to be in a place where businesses pass on opportunities to make money, because they value their free time.

They gave me some Bread and Oil to start. I had one of the pieces.

I ordered two items for Dinner: Pastel de Choclo and an Asado Sandwich.

I always have a hard time describing the Pastel de Choclo, but they're really good. If you're ever in Lima, order one. Hell, call me, I will go with you, and we will order two of them. The Asado Sandwich is basically a Roast Beef Sandwich. It had some Au Jus and -- for the second time today -- Mustard. And it was on Rye Bread. I doubled up the Meat and only had half the Bread.

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