SPECIAL EDITION: Kids' Christmas Party Update!

Hello all. As many of you might remember, I am part of a group that takes a Christmas Party with a show and candy and cake and books and gifts and smiles to poor kids in Peru every year. A lot of my friends have been generous enough over the years to send some money and love towards these kids. Here's a couple of pictures of happy kids from last year, and you can read about it here if you want.

 

 

 

Here's your update... the people who organized this years' party run something called "Vaso de Leche." Basically, it is a food bank for their neighborhood, and they feed people year-round, and have a party at Christmas.

After everything was paid for, there was about US$230 left of the donations. I gave it to them and told them to do whatever they thought was best with the money. They indicated that they would probably put it towards repairing their building.

And repairs it needed. This one-room building had the Drywall rotting in many places (if there even was Drywall), no floor, and the tin roof had gaping holes in it.

 

 

 

Well, things are looking up. The tin roof has been completely re-done, and they have stripped away and replaced some of the drywall. They have made fantastic progress.

 

 

These photos were just sent to me today.

I wanted to share this with everyone, so you can see the positive results of your donations.

Once again, on behalf of the kids who have benefited from your generosity, I wanted to again say, GRACIAS.

Have a great day! 🙌

LIMA DAY 9: St. Patrick's Day... Pizza & Octopus

Legend has it that Octopuses overran Ireland in the 1400s

Saturday, March 17, 2018

With nothing scheduled for the morning, I put on a green t-shirt, bought a newspaper, and headed over to 1972 Coffee.

They have comfy chairs, they have Decaf Coffee, they have large-ish cups, and they open at a normal time for a Coffee place. If only they were closer to the apartment...

Ed and I planned to meet up for Dinner, so I was on my own for Lunch. I walked right down the street to El Verdicio de Fidel, a Cevicheria.

It's pretty popular. Unlike Saint Tropez Restaurante, these people actually have customers and apparently run their restaurant to make a profit. The place is large, clean, and as you can see in this video, full of customers.

I started with a Crabmeat-filled Causa and a plate of Mixed Fish and Seafood Ceviche.

 

  

The Causa was as delicious as it was beautiful. The Ceviche was a mix of Fish, Calamari, Octopus, Shrimp, Scallops, and maybe a Snail or two. The red stuff on top is cut up Hot Pepper. I had been here for ten days now, so I pretty much told them to 'bring it on' when they asked about spice levels.

I asked the waiter if they had any Octopus laying around, waiting to get grilled, and he recommended one of their preparations.

I wasn't paying full attention to his description, but he seemed very enthused about this one, so I went with it. Good choice; the flavoring was excellent. It wasn't as tender as the one you get at Panchita, but I think that Panchita does a multi-day Marinade on theirs.

Later in the afternoon, I bought a Coconut-flavored Marciano from a random Bakery.

They are like Ice Pops, but better.

For Dinner, Ed and I had no specific plans. We gambled a bit, then headed over to Antica Pizza in Barranco.

We were not on top of our game at Dinner, so I didn't adjust for lighting, and A couple of times, I didn't get a photo before Ed dove into the food.

We shared some Garlic & Cheese Bread, a small Pizza, and then Raviolis for Ed and a Calzone for me.

 

 

 

 

 

None if it is the greatest ever, but the Pizza was pretty good, Ed enjoyed his Ravioli, and everything else was fine enough. We had spent a few days in a row going gourmet-crazy, so this was perfect for us tonight.

After that, we returned to a casino and took some of their money.

LIMA DAY 8: Just What We Needed... A Buffet!

Desserts - Take Your Pick!

Friday, March 16, 2018

I was going to go to Breakfast, but then something happened and it was Lunch time all of a sudden. So I met Ed, and we we went to Tramontana, a mid-priced Peruvian Buffet joint.

They're not too fancy. I've never been, but have seen their ads and figured it was worth a try.

We got there just as they opened; not everything was out on the Buffet.

 

 

 

There were cold dishes, like Ceviche, Causas and Sushi Rolls. On the steam tables, was un poco te dodo (a little of everything): Chicken Wings (?), Pasta, Stuffed Artichoke Hearts, Lomo Saltad, Duck (!!!!), Fried Calamari, Fish, Yucca, Aji de Gallina, and plenty of other stuff.

Everything was OK; nothing was great. I had three plates. Plus some Rice Pudding for Dessert.

 

All of this, for the two of us, including drinks, was less than $30. I wouldn't do this every day, but it was worth it.

Ed & I met up in Kennedy Park to start our evening's activities. This is a really big and  popular park right in the middle of Miraflores. It has activities almost every day, and families come and there are just lots of goings-on. But what it is most famous for are the cats. There are a lot that hang out there, and the animal rescue group sets up a stand for collections and adoptions and such. So, while I was walking to the meeting point, who did I see but an Ernie-alike!

I miss the little guy!


For Dinner, Ed and I met Fernando at Saint Tropez Restaurante. It's on the other side of town (near where Fernando lives), and with traffic, what should have been a 20-minute taxi ride took an hour.

The Food there is extra-fabulous, the waiters are extra-annoying (they were told that they work in a fancy, expensive restaurant so they have to give good service, but nobody told them HOW TO DO THAT. So they spend the whole night interrupting conversations to ask if everything is OK), and the prices are high but not out of line when you look at the Food quality. They do freshly squeeze the Oranges when you order a Vodka and Orange Juice... Ed says that they are the best Screwdrivers anywhere.

The building is Huge. The main dining room must have over 100 seats. There's a second dining room below that has the same capacity, and there are at least three (that I know of) private rooms scattered about. I have been there five times, including a Sunday afternoon, which is prime Peruvian dining time, and there has never been more than four tables with people. Bertha thinks that they launder money there; I have no idea, but the air conditioning alone has to cost more then they make every night, so who knows.

This was Friday night, maybe it would be packed.

Or not. We were the only customers when we got there at 8 pm. Two more tables came during our meal. There were only four Waiters working, plus the Bartender, plus the Hostess, plus a Boss, plus whoever was in the Kitchen, so I don't know what they would do if everyone in Lima said, "Hey! Let's go to Saint Tropez for Dinner tonight!"

For our Appetizers, we shared four dishes: Ceviceh, Chicharron de Pescado (Fried Fish Chunks), a Shrimp Causa and an order of Beef Carpaccio.

 

 

 

The plates are white; the tablecloth is white... sometimes it is hard to get a good color balance on the photos here.

All four Dishes were wonderful. I was trying to think which one I could describe as 'especially good,' but no -- they all were especially good. The Fish Chunks were fresh, very lightly Breaded, and fabulous. The topping on the Causa made me think that i should just order it, bring two slices of Bread, and make a Shrimp Salad Sandwich. And the Carpaccio was topped with a really tasty Mustard-based sauce, so I'm a big fan.

For our Main Courses, I ordered the Lenguado (Flounder) Saltado with Spaghetti instead of Potatoes and Rice, both Fernando and Ed chose the Grilled Tuna.

 

 

 

 

Swapping in the Spaghetti (Tallarin is what they call it here) is a fairly standard thing. The Fish here was excellent, as is the flavor of the Sauce on the Pasta. Both Fernando and Ed didn't say much while they were eating their Tuna, so I am guessing that it went well for them, too.

All three of us ordered the Chocolate Souffle for Dessert. In a Meal full of great things, this might well have been the VIP.

It was warm, fluffy, delicious, and full of Chocolate Sauce on the inside. If only it photographed better. Well, if you want a better look, you have a link for the restaurant above.

Here's a Bonus Video. The people at one of the other two tables ordered a whole Fish. The was this one was cooked included wrapping it in aluminum foil and baking it. For either cooking or presentation purposes (or both), it was brought to their table in a blaze of fire.

That was enough for the day. More than enough.

LIMA DAY 7: Rice and Duck. And More Duck.

Finally, some Waffles that you could, er, sink your teeth into!

Thursday, March 15, 2018

I went back to Estacion 329 to see if they would keep their word on the whole Waffle issue from yesterday. They did the right thing.

I kept busy during the day. At around 2 pm, I realized that Ed and I were going to a restaurant tonight where I was more than likely to order Duck, and I remembered that I still had leftover Arroz con Pato from Panchita the other day.

It would have been blatantly unfair to eat new Duck when I still had old Duck, so I fixed that situation as quickly as I could.

Our Dinner plans were to go to Fiesta Gourmet restaurant. They specialize in Northern Peruvian food. The place is Uber-expensive, they take themselves super-seriously (all the dudes are wearing suits), but the Food is outrageously wonderful, the service is over-the-top great, and they don't fancy it up - just really, really good versions of Northern Peruvian Food. They could use some help with the translations on the English menu, but oh well.

After we were seated, they brought us both a piece of Cheese Bread. On a really fancy plate.

Ed always gets the same thing here. I usually get the same thing here. We like what we like - don't hate!

We started with Cream of Asparagus Soup for Ed and a Tortilla de Erizo - a Sea Urchin Omelet - for me.

 

At first, it seemed odd to me that they make Omelets for Dinner, but I have had the Duck Omelet previously, so I tried the Erizo. The waiter downsold me into the smaller portion.

The Omelet was on a bed of Crunchy Rice, and topped with both Fresh and Fried Sea Urchins. I like them, but the Fried ones seemed to be a waste - they are small, so the breading overtook the flavor. All in all, it was great, and I was kind of sad that I let him sell me the smaller one.

For our Main Courses, Ed had a Lomo Saltado and I had the house specialty: Rice and Duck.

I will wait while you recover from the surprise.

 

Ed's Lomo was wonderful... he gave me one hunk of his Meat to taste. Fiesta Gourmet is famous for their Rice and Duck, and with good reason. The Duck was perfectly cooked, tender as all get out, and ridiculously delicious. The Rice alone would be good enough for Dinner.

The waiter shot up 300% in my eyes for downselling the Omelet. It was all I could do to eat the Duck. I sadly waved good-bye to the Rice as it left the table.

We both passed on Dessert and headed out for our evening's adventures after that.