Culinary Delight...


Graffiti
“The ocean threw your veins, the salt that’s in your teeth…” as the Phish lyrics are in my head bright thing this morning.  I’m back at sea level.  There’s something being so close to the sea when it’s been in your blood since birth.  A fogy mist was over the South Pacific today as I walked to the “lovers park” first thing morning after I finished reading Steinbeck’s “Log from the Sea of Cortez”.  Just roamed threw the streets first thing looking for that thing that captures my eye threw the lens.  It was one of those mornings for sure.  Working on some travel/street photography.  I also had Shelter from the Storm in my head today, especially:
“Well, I’m livin’ in a foreign country but I’m bound to cross the line
Grim Reaper Big ?
Beauty walks a razor’s edge, someday I’ll make it mine”
Those Dylan lyrics were in my head walking for some reason that only I could understand. 
Another one of my favorite things to do is cooking.  I actually am self taught & I think that the first thing I learned how to cook was lobster as a kid.  The influence came early on with those family excursions to Boston to get good “Italian & Chinese food because you can’t get it in Maine” as both of my parents claims. I guess my love for food had to do with those numerous days walking around Haymarket or the North End going into every local shop on Hanover Street.  Well, a friend of mine, an executive chef, was also able to pull my culinary skills out of me in Panama too.  Since Lima is know as the “food city of South America” I decided what better way to experience it than take a cooking class. I spend numerous long hours searching on Google for the perfect school.  It wasn’t easy to find a course in English, but I did.  I ended up emailing Yurac, the Peruvian chef  & Christian, the German translator, from Sky Kitchen Sky Kitchen Cooking Course in Milraflores about the course.  I decided to do the lunch option which included three dishes, papa a la huanciana, a potato dish with a chili sauce, ceviche, which is the “National Dish of Peru” and aji de gallina, a Peruvian curry stew, I modified it with mahi mahi which was something new for Yurac to try cos he never had made the recipe that way before only the traditional way with chicken or tuna.  I had a lovely time chatting with Yurac & Christian with food & cultural.  I learned quite a lot & made some very yummy food at their home. It was nice to do something non traditional as one would say & embraced myself in part of the cultural that I wouldn’t else do if I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.
Ceviche I Made
Fresh Local Ingredients
After my own private cooking class I decided to walk around Milraflores where I stumbled upon some ancient ruins, Huanc Pucllana, that are in the heart of the district. Funny to see a great adobe & clay pyramid built from seven staggering platforms back somewhere between 200-700 AD, surrounded by modern houses that remind me of being back in Melbourne or Vancouver’s beach side districts.  I walked around the charming streets to catch a glimpse of the cultural of the district.  However, when I went to take a peak into the department store they were blasting a Britney Spears album the one with “Crazy” on it.  Funny, I have notice that the Peruvians love American music & tend to blast 80’s music from their cars & not to forget ABBA too. Also, instrumental music is big here too; I’ve been hearing a lot of it with the traditional music of the Andes too. Overall it’s been just another relaxing day in Lima with something new around every corner.
Bug in front of Huanc Pucllana





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