I Love Food

As you all know I love food. Which is great because my host mom is a great cook and loves to talk about food. Food words are often the hardest - so I only know what ingredients she's using half the time, but I'm learning. She also has wonderful herb garden that she harvests. She walked me through it the other day pointing out different things she's used to cook and having me smell them. Here's some of the stuff I've gotten to eat:

Watia - For father's day we make a traditional Andean meal called Watia or Pachamanka depending on what you're cooking. It's essentially the creation of an stone/earth oven by building a dome of stones over a fire. You heat  the stones for an hour or so until they're good and hot, then you throw potatoes inside and slowly collaps the stones, adding food layered as you go.  Then the whole thing is covered with Paja - or straw, then a sheet of plastic, then covered in dirt. It sits there for another half an hour to an hour, then the whole thing is covered, the food removed, and you eat (you always peal the potatoes by hand after they cook). Best sweet potatoes I've ever had. For us it was served with Cuy - stuffed with something essentially like spinach. along with a sauce called aji. It was incredible!!!

Palta - So much Avocado. I'm in heaven

Patita de Paula - Paula is my family's old cow. I ate her feet - or hooves I guess. Some piece still had hair on them. It was weird, but hey -  I'll try anything once. I know Lengua de Paula is gonna show up sometime…

Mazamora - Often for dinner I get essentially rice pudding. Sometimes it's made with ground corn and it is SOOO GOOD. But it's like dessert for dinner. And I can't say no when they ask if I want more. So I might have diabetes when I get home. Holy Carbohydrates!

Grenadilla - this is a strange fruit that has a hard shell you have to hit agains the table or something hard to crack, then pick it away piece by piece. then you see the fruit inside that looks kind of like frog eggs. And you slurp out these little juice packets and their seeds to eat them. So sweet and tasty.

Vicera de Cuy -  yup. Guinnea pig innards: heart, liver, intestines, the whole gammet.  Fried up and served withe peas, carrots, fava beans, corn, and french fries on rice. Awesom

Boiled Banana -  has a special name that I forget already. But really sweet and yummy. Bananas will never be the same in the states

Jugo - I recently discovered the juice lady in the market. For 4 soles (less than $2) you get a small pitcher of any juice combination you want. Today: beets, carrots, orange and ginger; then round two was beets, carrots, pinneapple, papaya, orange, banana and ALOE. Not to mention the fresh orange, banana, and papaya juice my host mom makes for breakfast almost every day...

I'm hoping to bring some of these recipes home (except all things cuy related) for whoever wants to try them ...