Eating Out in Peru (part 2)

Eating Out in Peru (part 2)
Since I couldn't get all the pictures all to post in one post, I had to split up our dinner. I wanted to order something different from hubby so I ordered the Avocado Salad. I am a sucker for anything that has avocado on it. I was first introduced to Avocados when I was in my early 20s. I know, you are saying.."but you are a Texan and you should have eaten gallons upon gallons of guacamole by then". Well, I did eat some but had never had avocados on a sandwich. While land locked in Texas I met a "surfer dude" who made me an avocado sandwich. I was hooked. Any time I go out to eat Mexican food, I can't have anything without some guacamole on it, thus the eager ordering of the Avocado Salad.

Avocado Salad-Sliced avocado, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers with house vinaigrette sauce. This salad was pretty straight forward and really yummy. I don't often eat iceburg lettuce anymore, but this was really refreshing.





For my entree I ordered Arroz Con Pollo. I thought for sure I was going to be short changed with this when I saw the piece of chicken was a drumstick. Wrong! After eating this I was thinking I should have worn stretch pants because I was more full than I thought I would be. The Arroz Con Pollo consisted of rice with chicken in cilantro sauce served with Salsa Cirolla.

The drumstick was so tender that it almost fell off the bone when I tried to pick it up and eat it. A knife would have been a total waste of time. The rice had some vegetables diced up in it and it was fluffy. I didn't eat much of the onion and tomato salad (Salsa Criolla) because I was getting full. But not too full to think about dessert.

Before I talk about dessert, I wanted to talk about the most unique "starter" I have ever had. This one really stumped me. After we got our drinks the waiter brought this little plate out to us. When I first looked at it, I thought those things were Corn nuts. They aren't. They seem to be really large kernals of corn that have been fried in a little oil and then sprinkled with some salt. I wish I had taken a picture of the inside. It was very starchy and totally while inside like an almost popped kernal of popcorn. It was soft and really strange. I loved them. Such an odd texture in the middle and in my mouth. The green sauce, was a bit spicy. You really had to grip that little kernal to get it dipped in the cup, but I managed to get some on there. It was tasty. I have never had anything like that before.

Since I a dessert person, I could not resist this part of the meal. Churros seem to be a standard on a lot of menus for latino restuarants. I love them because they remind me of an apple pie rolled into a stick. With this order you got a very small (too small for me) cup of caramel and one of chocolate syrup. We poured it all over the fried tubes and went to town.

I have to say that hubby and I both agreed that we would come back here and eat another time. We want to try everything on the menu. It was a find for us and the whole meal only cost us $10 a head excluding the drinks, dessert and of course the lovely food sales tax here and the tip so a hard working waiter. I was pleased that we tried something knew from a country we know nothing about (well, I know they have fabulous wool that comes from there) and we want to learn more. It was a good experiment!

If you have a chance to eat Peruvian food, it will be well worth your time and money.

Eating Out in Peru (part 1)
Every year the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach have a special event that features different restaurants in the area. Some have lunch menus to offer, some dinner menus and some do both. I have seen this event advertised on TV for years but really never did care anything about going out to do this thinking it would be a stampede. I was sure wrong about my impression.

I asked hubby if he would be interested in going. He said sure and headed for the internet to get the list. When presented with the list, I circled the places that I thought I might like to eat. We had eaten at many places on the list already, but I wanted to try something new. Hubby gave me his list and I showed him mine and we did have one in common. So off we went on a Saturday for the lunch menu sampling.

We ended up here... and we loved it. We will be going back in the near future. Hubby and decided when we got the menus that we would each pick something different from the menu so we could taste everything.

Here is what hubby ordered: Papa A La Huancaina:
It is boiled sliced potatoes covered with a Peruvian yellow pepper cream. The dish was simple as you can see but it really tasted good. There is a slice of a hard boiled egg on top of one of the potatoes. Then the black dot in the middle is a black olive. I didn't get a close look at it. By the time I asked what kind of olive that was, I was looking at the pit in hubby's hand. Too late...

Then he ordered Jalea De Pescado:
Deep fried fish served with lime marinated onions and tomatoes and Yucca


Since I got to taste this dish I can say it was pretty good. The fish was fried but not like any kind of fried fish I have ever eaten. It wasn't all greasy. The Yucca was good, according to hubby. I thought it was plantain and I passed. I am not found of food that looks like something that I really like and tastes like something else. Tonight when going over the menu, both of us realized it was Yucca. I am kicking myself for not tasting it.

I can't seem to get blogger to post anymore pictures so I will try and post what I ate in a few days. We had a wonderfully relaxing lunch on a very cold and windy day. Okay stay tuned for part 2

Parmesan Worms
I am probably why manufacturers put warning labels on things. Having to idiot proof everything knowm to man is because there are folks like me who open up a box and skip the directions. I am just so excited to get the gift that I want to set it up or try it RIGHT NOW.

A nice, nice person that I used to work with gave me the loviest gift for Christmas. She and I have had endless conversations about how much we love our red Kitchen Aid mixers. I have had mine for years and it's still chugging along. Much to my total surprise, Becky gave me a gift for my mixer. I got a grinder. So cool. I decided today that I wanted to use it.

I really didn't have meat to grind, only a huge chunk of Parmesan cheese.
So, I cut the chunk down to a smaller size in order to get it in the grinding shoot. I have done this many times with food processors. No big deal... right? I started up the mixer and then I was horrified. I never counted on what happened next. It wasn't what I expected and certainly wasn't very pretty. I felt like a doofus. See below...

I got Parmesan worms. Okay now...if I had read this...
I would know that the two discs that came with the grinder, weren't meant for grating cheese. This is why if all else fails, read the directions. Lesson learned.

Happy New Year!
I know it's been nearly a month since I have last posted, but the month of December was a very busy month for me. I got two new clients and worked extra hours at work. I didn't do any Christmas baking or send out any Christmas cards. I am working on a letter for '07. It's slow but like everything else lately, it takes a back seat to working both jobs and knitting. I have been cooking but nothing so exciting to write about. Things have been so busy, my sourdough starter died. I forgot to feed it as it got scooted further and further to the back of the refrigerator. Such is life!

I did do one more bread from the sourdough starter that I tried to post a million times but just could not get it to post. I will post it, I promise. I just wanted to stop by and let everyone who breezes by that I am still alive. I know my mother-in-law said I needed to post something so this one is for family.

I have been making this really unhealthy thing for years and my youngest son loves this stuff. It was after we opened presents that I got this shot. He is skinny as a rail, and still can pack away nearly half of this thing in one sitting.

This is called Monkey Bread. I have seen a billion different recipes for this but I keep it simple. It's four cans of cheap biscuits, 1 stick of butter, 1 cup or either light or dark brown sugar, a few cups of granulated sugar and about 1 TBS of cinnamon. The granulated sugar and cinnamon are combined in a large bowl and the biscuits are torn up into either three or four pieces and then dropped in the sugar mixture, rolled around and dropped into a bundt pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. You do all four cans that way. Then you melt the stick of butter and dump the brown sugar in the pot with the butter. Stir to combine. Then pour that mixture over the biscuits in the bundt pan. That's baked at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes. After you are sure the biscuits are baked, flip over the bundt pan over a plate and start eating. It's the best when it's warm. I have been recipes with raisins and nuts combined in with the raw biscuits but we just love the simple way best.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I will try to be more regular at blogging since work has gone back to the same hours from before the holidays. Everyone be safe out there.