Cooking and Shopping

April 23

Lima is known for its gastronomy and from all the restaurant food we've eaten this week, we think it's true.  To have an even better food experience, I found a cooking class excursion, something I’d never done before.  As it turned out, it was a class of one – me.  I had the tour guide and the chef’s undivided attention and also, I made the choice of what we were going to cook.  Appetizer:  ceviche.  Main dish: aji del gallina (chili chicken)

First stop was at the market to find all the ingredients for these dishes:  fresh caught basa fillet, limes, red onions, chicken, potatoes, corn, some pre-made sauces, and more.  We also bought samples of a variety of Peruvian fruit for tasting, things I’ve never seen or tasted before.

From there it was to the kitchen where the food was prepared.  All the cooking was done in clay pots.  My job was chopping the pecans, parsley and cilantro into teeny tiny pieces, while the tour guide was busy mashing the garlic with mortar and pestle.  Meanwhile the chef made all the other magic happen.  The results?  Amazingly delicious! 

Peruvian Fruit Tray

Aji de gallina - Chili chicken on steamed potato with side of rice.

Ceviche served with roasted corn, cooked corn and sweet potato

In the afternoon Dave and I decided it was time to get some souvenir shopping done and we found the Inka Market area of Miraflores.  Wow!  There was an overwhelming number of little shops up and down so many little alleyways.  If we thought we’d come back to the same shop again,  think again.  It was best to make our purchases as we went along.  Our bargaining skills improved as afternoon wore on.  Eventually the wallet was empty and the feet were tired and it was time to find a restaurant for dinner.  As usual, Lima’s food did not disappoint. 

Our Spanish language skills haven’t improved a great deal even though many people do not speak English.  Nevertheless, we were able to get the restaurant manager to call an Uber for us to return us to the hotel safely – in all the crazy evening rush hour traffic.