Ceviche! Viva Peru

I haven’t eaten out very much since I have been here. I find it hard to motivate myself to dine out when I will be dining alone. Soon a friend will be coming from the States, so I am using saving money for her visit as an excuse not to go out. But one day I had a real craving for Ceviche. I figured I would just go down to a small local place. Well, it looked small when I walked past while walking in the neighborhood.

I was surprised when I got to the restaurant, Purito Limon. What looked like a very small place opened up in th a bright and airy two story dinning room, as soon as I was past the bar. It was an odd time of day, so there were few patrons, most of who were upstairs, so I had the two story downstairs dinning room to myself. The waiter was very attentive and forgiving of my bad Spanish.

I hadn’t been expecting the large bowl of soup before the ceviche, so when I had finished my meal and was heading, out all I wanted to do was head home, to sleep, but I had to go grocery shopping. As I stepped out on the sidewalk a man was standing there looking very expectant. I assumed he was one of the ever present eager taxi drivers. Then I noticed that his polo shirt had the logo of the restaurant on it. I told him that my meal had been very good, and that I would be bring my friend back to eat there. He kissed me on the cheek. Good thing I got used to huggy kissy folks when I lived in Hawaii.

When I got the to grocery store, I was on a Peruvian food high, so I got the fixings for potatoes and eggs with Salsa Ocopa. It didn’t turn out to look very pretty, but it was eatable. Actually I don’t like the brand of Ocopa mix I bought for this dish. Had bought a different brand before, and liked it. I will have to have the dish in a restaurant and see if I like it any better.

When I was at the Monastery, my tour guide told me that the triangular bread rolls were the traditional ones. I picked up a bag of rolls at the Metro’s bakery, then went looking for some cold cuts. I found a package of what looked like pickle loaf on steroids. Sniffing at the package, I discerned that faint whiff of pickle loaf. It is one of those things, which I know isn’t good, but it brings back memories of my Mom. I found some horrible American cheese (called cheddar here, for some strange reason) so I could really have a taste of childhood lunches.

I know it isn’t much of a post, but living here is just so very normal, a lunch out and some quick meals picked up at the market are the usual fare for me. I am also getting over my amazement at how much better and cheaper the food is in South America. I did make a huge pot of osso buco stew, but decided that I have really posted way too many photos of my home made stews. It sure was good, and was very effective at hiding a lot of vegetables. I am currently averaging $5.16 USD for food at the market per day. And you can be sure that I am not losing any weight.