Food Glorious Food

Well, recently I have taken it upon myself to make Canadian food. I am enjoying Peruvian, it is different but flavorful, but some days I just want something familiar. We rejoiced when we found some imported meals. We gorged ourselves in Macaroni and Cheese and Mr. Noodles, you know, the healthy stuff. I also found snickers! Unfortunately, they were so expensive that I didn´t bother to buy them. I did by the Oreos though... yummm.

In Peru the main meal of the day is Lunch. When you go to the restaurant you order something called Menu. Menu includes a soup, segundos ( seconds) and a drink. The drink is usually Chicha Morada (a purple corn drink)

Because the water needs to be boiled the drinks are usually warm. The segundos always, and a I mean ALWAYS includes rice AND potatoes. Today I ate a nice flat chewy piece of beef mounted on a bed of rice and fries. (chose the fries as I wasn`t going to have boiled potatoes). They don´t have real ketchup here but instead they use mayo and mustard for the fries, or at least a watery version of Mayo. Mayo is always the Peruvian sauce of choice. If something doesn´t taste just right, add mayo. If you have a sore throat, drink Mayo - just kidding. For the throat you drink Coca Cola or drink Coca tea. Food is definitely an adventure. It is also the one thing that makes me homesick (besides family and friends). Some days, I bypass the soup because I am tired of picking out the floating chicken feet. I have yet to try the famous CUY  - also known as Guinea Pig. 

For dinner at the orphanage the kids are served a tea (herbal, called "mate" here) and two buns. Some nights I am soo hungry I munch on crackers after my ration of bread. Well last night I had had it and decided I would make pancakes for the kidos. They cheered in anticipation, two of them hung out in the kitchen just to watch us make food. There was a pile of pancakes at the end, I think we, Anastasia and I, made close to 80. Anastasia had never made them before. The first thing Dante, one of the older boys, said was, "I want to learn."   They were all so excited, I even made a syrup as you can`t buy it here. Their thank yous were music so my ears, one boy said I was his super friend. I guess I`ll be making more! Next time I will teach them how. 

Also, last night Jon and I went into the younger boys room to read them stories. The boys usually go to bed quietly without fuss but last night they were jumping up and down on their beds with excitement because we were there. I read a story to two boys and Jon read to the other two. After being drowned in hugs and kisses, we crashed onto our bed and watched movie we bought at the market.