LIMA DAY 8: Four Dates for Dinner

Friday, August 18, 2017

It's all about the []_[]! Just 14 days until kickoff! :)

Lonnise and I went next door for Breakfast and we ran into Manuel, the man who owns the apartments we rent. So we ate with him.

I had a Latte and Ham & Cheese Sandwich, Lonnise had Tea and Apple Pie, and Manuel had Coffee with the Ham & Cheese.

For Lunch, we took a cab over to Chorrillos and ate at El Marati.

This Cevicheria is far from where we live, but I like the food, and the service is good, and... I just like it.

We kept it simple. Lonnise had Chupe de Camarones (a Shrimp Soup, but that understates it), We shared a Rice with Shrimp plate, and I had the Ceviche El Marati, which is this huge Martini Glass filled with Ceviche, Fish on a Stick, Shrimp on a Stick, Leche de Tigre (Ceviche Juice), and other stuff. Not only is it delicious, it offers 9862376342763298 photo opportunities.

That was plenty for lunch.

Later in the day, we were walking the Central Park in Miraflores. Because this is Peru, you can't go 10 feet without finding something to eat. Well, we walked ten feet and wound up at the Rice Pudding Stand.

Every year, I go with some friends out of Lima and we bring a Christmas Party to some really poor kids who wouldn't otherwise get to celebrate. You can read about last year's party by CLICKING HERE. Anyway, the group has a lot of ugly guys and three pretty girls, so I hang out with the pretty girls. We met for Dinner this time at Wallqa, which is the restaurant run by the graduate students at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School here in Lima.

After catching up a little, we order our Appetizers...

Thises girls really know how to model their food. From the top: Ceviche for Deisi, Paste de Choclo for Lonnise (very different than what we had at Panchita), a Causa with Scallops for Bertha, and Parihuela (Seafood Soup) for Lucia and me.

I really liked my Soup, Bertha and Lonnise were very happy with their Appetizers, Deisi said that the Ceviche wasn't spicy enough and I think that Lucia like here, but she speaks so softly that I am not sure what she said.

Then our Main Courses arrived:

You have Lonnise with a Lomo Saltado, Bertha with Rice with Duck, Lucia with Paiche (a Fish that is only found in the Amazon), what appears to be a Filet for Deisi and Rice with Duck for me. Everyone was a member of the Clean Plate Club, so there you have it.

We all had Dessert. And I have no clue what we had. But here they are:

We told them that it was Lonnise's birthday last week, so they did up a plate for her with all the Bells and Whistles.

That was it for the day. While I have you, did you remember to CLICK HERE and look at last year's Kids' Christmas Party? It's really rewarding. If you want to come, write me, and you can get on a plane and play with the kids. If you can't make it, well, this takes money to put on this event, and if you would like to donate some, drop me a line or leave a comment here and we can work something out.

LIMA DAY 7: Another Day in Paradise

Thursday, August 17, 2017

If we were members of the Peruvian Senate, we would be really safe.

I only had Coffee at the Coffee Shop today, and then had leftovers from Panchita for the rest of my Breakfast. And two mini-Bananas.

Re-Heated Lomo Saltado is almost as good as Original Lomo Saltado.

For Lunch, Lonnise and I walked  just a few blocks to a new (to me) place called El Bodegon.

It's new, but the place is set up to look like an old school Peruvian Bar (they refer to them here as a Taberna) where people would sit around, hang out for hours and eat, drink and talk the evening away. I've been in 'real' Tabernas, and this is pretty realistic, with a little better food and excellent service.

After yesterday's Foodfest, we decided to step down our games, just a little. We shared a Rocoto Relleno (Stuffed Pepper) for our Appetizer.

This was excellent, as was the Pastel de Papa (Potatoes) that came with it.

For our Main Courses, I had Estafado de Lengua (Tongue) and Lonnise had a dish called Aueropuerto.

The Tongue was in a Stew with Carrots, Potatoes and Raisins, with an obligatory Olive hiding in there. It was really good, but I was hoping for something that looked more Tongue-like, just for the photo op. Lonnise's dish is a fancy version of Fried Rice, with lots of stuff in it, and topped with a Fried Egg and a Fried Pork Cutlet. You can't see the Cutlet because it was on the side of the plate facing her. She polished off the Cutlet and a lot of the Rice (there was a ton). I tasted some of her Rice, and it was excellent. I will go back for that dish.

After some tourist excursions and some resting, we went to Jose Antonio for Dinner.

We were still taking it easy. Lonnise easier than I was.She had a Shrimp Causa, and I had Sopa Criolla and Tacu Tacu with Shrimp Sauce.

A Causa is Mashed Yellow Potatoes stuffed (in this case) with what we would call Shrimp Salad. Sort of like a soft Shrimp Salad Sandwich. My Soup was Beef-Based, with Noodles and Ground Beef. The Tacu Tacu is the same Rice & Bean Patty that I had yesterday, but this time covered in a creamy Sauce and Shrimp.

They had no Chocolate Ice Cream, so we passed on Dessert at the restaurant.

LIMA DAY 6: A Trip to the Mercado. And Panchita

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Rosa, The Seafood Lady is hard at work.

For Breakfast, Lonnise and I headed next door for Lattes and Ham & Cheese Sandwiches.

It turns out that two of the three people who work at Estacion 329 speak passable English... they just never bothered letting me in on the secret. Lonnise, sure. But me, never.

We took a walk through downtown Miraflores. While we were sitting near Parque Central, two girls came up to us brandishing Tupperware. They offered to sell us whatever it was that they had for one Sol each (about 30 cents).

Who are we to say no?

Apparently, they were selling under-cooked (or possibly uncooked) Cookie Dough. I don't know what they thought they were selling, but a hunk of Cookie Dough is worth thirty cents in mine and Lonnise's books, so we were all OK with the deal.

One of the next stops on out tour was the Mercado in Surquillo (Surquillo is one of the neighborhoods next to where we live). This market has everything, ranging from clothes to household goods to pirated DVDs to all types of Meat, Cheese, Vegetables, Seafood. Just about anything you want is there.

Photo Credit: Lonnise

Photo Credit: Lonnise

After getting an eyeful of everything going on, we arrived at Rosa, The Seafood Lady.

Lonnise vs. Crab

After catching up for a bit, we placed our orders; Fried Shrimp for Lonnise and Ceviche with Scallops, Fish, Calamari and Shrimp for me. But first, we each had a Bowl of Chilcano (Fish Stock Soup).

Then our food arrived, and the photos do not do these plates half the justice that eating them did.

We did a little more shopping after that, and managed not to eat anything else until Dinner.

Except for an Empanada each. I just remembered that. Sorry, no photos.

At Dinner time, Lonnise and I walked over to Panchita. Yes, I eat here a lot, but the food is super-great, they have everything, and of  course Carlos waits on me hand and foot.

We started with Bread and I ordered three Appetizers:

From the top, we have Pastel de Choclo, a Corn-thingamajig on top of Ground Beef, a skewer of Octopus (sorry about the photo quality - I was excited) and a Tamalito Verde - a green Tamale.

I was pretty much in heaven. Lonnise bravely tried her first bite of Octopus... it turns out that she is not a fan. Give her time; that's what I say.

For our Main Courses, I ordered the Tacu Tacu with Lomo Saltado and Lonnise ordered her favorite Peruvian Dish, Aji de Gallina.

Both of these dishes are killer. Lonnise has had Aji de Gallina (Shredded Hen in a slightly spicy Sauce) many times in the US and liked it. She said this was much, much better than the American versions.

Neither of us finished even half of our plates. We had to leave room for Dessert.

After a few minutes to recover, Carlos comes out with the all-time best Dessert: Queso Helado.

This is an Ice Cream-like concoction with a flavor that is pretty difficult to describe. Despite that, we almost polished off the entire vat of the stuff.

We left with enough leftovers to feed an army. I was going to go to a casino and make a donation afterwards, but once I got back to the apartment, I wasn't leaving.