3/20-3/30 FOOD FROM AYACUCHO, CUSCO, AND LIMA! INCLUDING MY “LAST MEAL”!

AMAZING TACU TACU FROM PUNTA AZUL

Great group shot at AlmaZen for my last meal!

3/20

Iara and I went for lunch at Via Via, a “gringo” restaurant that is run by Pauline, the woman who helped me translate with Julia yesterday evening . I had a nice vegetarian Causa and a passion fruit juice and orange fresca.

View from Via Via

My Causa!

mmmmm canchita

Iara's Chicken

In the evening I got a vegetarian Pizza from a small pizzeria that wasn’t too bad at all! I brought it back to the room and ate it with the basil I brought from Lima.

Personal veggie pizza

3/21

Today Iara and I went to have lunch at a vegetarian place that was pretty decent. I had Lorco de Zapallo (Squash stew with rice), salad, yogurt, and a minty drink.

Salad, yogurt, and my mostly finished Lorco de Zapallo

Yogurt looks good!

Iara's Egg on rice

3/22

At 1 Anita and I went to meet Renee, Carey (Renee’s Father), and Cassie (Renee’s Room mate) to go to lunch at Aioli to try to the Lomo Saltado (Peruvian beef stir fry) that our friend Jose raved about. It was pretty good Lomo Saltado I guess… but a little too salty and the steak was a little over cooked.

Aioli's Lomo Saltado (typically you will have this with Tacu Tacu or potatoes... but they were out of Tacu Tacu so I got a salad instead!)

Renee and her fish!

Renee, Cassie, Me, Anita, and Carey!

In the evening Renee, Anita, Carey, and I had two for one Pisco Sours at the Thunderbird Hotel’s Sky Las Americas Restaurant and Cocktail lounge on the 21st floor with a view of the sun setting over Lima. It was very pleasant had good conversations. We convinced Carey to come to Cusco with us! We then continued on to Ono Sushi (where they also had a two for one deal on Sushi) . We got SO MUCH sushi. It was fairly yummy and not too expensive (which is always nice).

View from Sky las Americas on top of the Thunderbird Hotel in Miraflores!

Another view

Setting sun

Pisco Sours

Locuma sours!

Anita and Carey!

Renee and Me!

Well... we destroyed that sushi!

3/23/10

Breakfast: fruit and yogurt. Here you can see papaya, mango, Island bananas, grapes, watermelon, and prunes. (no I didn't eat all of them at once).

check out those island bananas!

Today I finally was able to go out for lunch with Karina! I met her in Park Kennedy (in Miraflores) and we walked to the Pardo’s Chicken in Larcomar (the huge tourist mall on a cliff overlooking the sea in Miraflores). Pardo’s Chicken is a chain chicken restaurant that has locations all over Lima. It is very popular and they serve HUGE portions of chicken. I am happy to say that the chicken was actually pretty delicious and I was impressed! (I got this) It was very moist and affordable (excellent combination). It was also great to see Karina again and I hope I get to see her again before I leave Peru next week!

View from the Pardo's Chicken in Larcomar

Hey shadowy Karina!

Chicken, fries, salad, and chicha. Looks good to me!

3/24

Erin and I went for dinner at the restaurant Aldea Yanapay Restaurant and Café (which is a restaurant associated with the Hostel I am staying in. It is a charitable restaurant that gives its proceeds to orphanages). We had falafel, tuquitos, and salad that we shared. It was decent food! The restaurant itself has some pretty eccentric decor. There are stuffed animals and things hanging from the ceiling and all sorts of bright colors all over. It definitely has the feeling of a kid’s room (fitting with the charitable cause of the restaurant).

The Aldea Yanapay Restaurant decor

another view

HEY ERIN!

Erin and Me waiting for our meal in Aldea Yanapay Restaurant

Grub

decor by night!

Weird box for our check

3/25/10

This evening Erin, Renee, Anita, Carey, and I went to dinner at Sara’s Organic Bistro (I went here with Brian last time I was here). I got a salad and mushroom ceviche. They were both DELICIOUS but I don’t think everyone else was as pleased with their meals as I was. Renee got Alpaca steak which was also pretty tasty… so at least we were both happy! We followed this with a dessert at Jack’s Cafe, a VERY popular restaurant here in Cusco which is ALWAYS busy and filled with people from all over the world. The desserts were excellent. I just had a chocolate chip cookie but we all ended up sharing our desserts which included brownies, chocolate cake, and carrot cake. This was followed by some drinks at Bullfrogs Bar where there was a band playing pretty good covers of rock and reggae songs.

Window display at Sara's Organic Bistro

Honestly pretty darn good Caesar Salad

Erin's pasta salad

mushroom ceviche... YUM

Renee's Alpaca

CARROT CAKE SO GOOD

RENEE LOVES HER CHOCOLATE CAKE

ERIN LOVES HER COFFEE (and brownie)

Renee, Gloria, and friends at Bullfrogs Bar (where they have decent Mojitos)

Band playing at Bullfrogs

The gang at Bullfrogs

3/26/10

Today I followed Erin to the main market in Cusco so she could eat some local grub on the cheap (super cheap.. like $1 cheap). Erin had her Quinoa soup and egg with rice. We walked around the crowded and bustling food portion of the market and saw all sorts of fun/gross/interesting things. In the evening Erin and I returned to Jack’s Café for dinner. I had Bean and Cheese Tortillas (pretty damn good) and Erin had French Toast ( absolutely amazing).  This was followed by a fun evening in the bars of Cusco (we joined a pub crawl).

Market: Bread section

Erin enjoying eating like a local

Bean and cheese dish at Jack's

Erin's AMAZING French Toast

She's happy!

Pub Crawl group.

3/27/10

We enjoyed lunch at El Encuentro, a partner to the restaurant of the same name that Brian and I enjoyed in my last visit to Cusco. Here I had some excellent quinoa soup.  In the evening Erin and I had dinner with a few friends we met in Cusco: Jonny (British) and Felix (Peruvian). We tried out an Indian restaurant called Maikana. It was ok. I shouldn’t expect too much from INDIAN FOOD in PERU though. After dinner I ended up returning to Jack’s Cafe YET AGAIN for desserts with Renee, Gloria, and Leander.

Leander, Me, Gloria, and Renee at Jack's!

3/30 LAST GREAT MEALS OF PERU!

Today I had lunch with Anita at Punto Azul where we split some good ceviche with some EXCELLENT tacu tacu made with black beans and shell fish (see photo at the top of the post).

Punta Azul Ceviche

In the evening I went out with Renee, Gloria, and Albeto for a Farewell dinner! We went to AlmaZen (My favorite!!!) and had some delicious stuffed tomatoes, artichoke soufflés, lentil curries, and risottos. Unfortunately we didn’t have an incredibly finale dessert like the one Brian and I shared at Astrid y Gaston but the meal I shared with my Peruvian buddies was excellent none-the-less. I am so happy that I could have this final meal with them! I have had a wonderful time in Peru because of all the great friends I have made here! I CAN’T BELIEVE MY TIME IN PERU AND MY GELMAN ARE ABOUT TO END!!!!! Wow. Has it really been 9 months already?

Last Meal at AlmaZen!

Yessss! Feast!

Lentil Curry

Artichoke Souffle with mushrooms and salad (the winner of the dishes!)

Stuffed tomato

Our desserts: curry chocolate cake.

Group Shot! I'll miss you guys!!!