sushi

This past weekend: Good Sushi and Good Conversation.

I don't eat sushi that often anymore so I do often forget how much I love it. Although I'm not too much of a fan of how much they love to put sweet potato in it here. Or dunk it in some kind of flavored mayo. But hey you can't win them all. 

Conversation: win. I met up with a friend that is one of those kind of people that you can spend 4 hours talking to and not realize that so much time has passed, look down at your phone and realize you have lots of missed calls from a worried husband. :/ oops. 

But we've always got lots to share. My friend is Peruvian and her husband is Columbian. I love to listen to their experiences living in Peru and as a mixed culture/country marriage. It's fun to see what we have in common and what is different. Often there is more in common than we expect. 

bananas tiny peppers and ants, oh my!

I have been learning a lot this year about how to use a big wooden bowl and a palm - sized rock correctly. And also not come away from it eating dinner with a throbbing palm. It takes skill, or maybe just repetition until you can't tell that it hurts anymore. Yep, maybe that's it. 

Upon my mother-in-law's second visit to stay at our place, she presented me with the rock telling me that she noticed that I didn't have one. I thought it was a curious thing. 

Then she showed me how to use it. 

We've made tacacho, fried plantains mashed (with said rock) with pork fat. I never imagined myself intentionally putting pork fat into my food to make it tasty. But I do now. 

Then I figured out that I could make hummus, which I don't have a food processor for and my blender is not up to. That was very difficult and I'm pretty sure Julton's mom that I was crazy. But she liked it!

Also, those little peppers are THE best. I usually don't like spicy things, but their flavor is magical. Just magical.

A 'typical' dinner around our house recently. 

It's ant season! Yes, ant - season. 

Our friend Kenedy explained to me that for this kind of ant they wait until night time, out at the farm, and go out and make a fire near the ant hill. Then the ants come pouring out and they scoop them up by the bagfuls. 

Julton's parents have come for a visit this week, which means... more and more jungle food. When they come to visit bananas, different kinds dried meats, juanes (banana leaf wrapped packages of green rice and meat), peppers and different kinds of sweets ... are all guaranteed to be lunch. 

media agresiva

Bit by little bit Peru, or grocery shopping experiences in Peru rather, have been turning me from my passive ways and a little more aggressive each day. I haven't figured out yet if that is a good thing. 


I'm really not a pushy person, and I am quite content waiting for what I want/need. Until it comes to the 3rd person in a row pushing in front of me to get in their order to the guy at the fish counter, then I start to get impatient. 


The first year I quietly looked on in shock. The second year I turned to giving the person dirty looks. This year... I've started speaking up.


And I have been surprised over and over again at how many people just look at me as though they haven't done anything wrong. Or like today when I told the impatient woman behind me in the check-out line that she was stepping on my foot and could she stop? She didn't say "sorry" she said... oh... "y como cocinas esa zapallito??" I started to get agitated and I caught myself catching her use the form "tu" instead of "usted" with me and all I could think was... excuse me? you don't know me and you've been stepping on my foot? what makes you think we are buddies? show some respect! 


I think it is time for me to spend some time in the jungle now, and get away from the city.