Meal times and food

It is taking me a while to get used to some of the different customs of Peruvian life, especially meal times. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and teatime could be as late as 9 or half 9 at night. At the weekends, lunch will be later in the afternoon, but because I'm working in a school 5 days a week, lunch is midday. That's a long time to go between meals! It's been throwing my blood sugar scores a bit, and I feel a need to snack more often.

I usually have cereal for breakfast, and anyone who's ever lived with me will know how much of a cereal fan I am! In the supermarkets you can buy many of the same brands of cereals - like Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Special K and Fruit Loops and Nesquik. They're more expensive than the other cereals, of course. I'm trying to make the cereal in the house last, although sometimes I just buy my own box to save Diana from having to restock too often.

But MILK! Ah, milk is an interesting topic here. No joke, there are aisles full of tins of evaporated and condensed milk in the shops! I've never seen so much shelf space given over to tins of evaporated milk! There are also lots of cardboard cartons of UHT or soya milk or other such stuff. In the fridge section, there are a few kinds of bagged milk. Yes, milk in a little plastic bag. (It's awfully messy to pour, believe me!). Fresh milk (something that seems so normal to those of us who live in the UK or USA) is hard to come by. When I first arrived in Peru and moved into Diana's flat, she gave me a tin of evaporated milk for my cereal. I was shocked and horrified. Haha...I had to dilute it with water, and cereal eating was not its usual pleasant experience. Circumstances improved, though, and I got some bagged milk. Yesterday I bought my own fresh milk for the first time! Yippeeee! I'm still using evaporated milk for my tea and coffee, though. It's funny how some little things that would normally not be an issue at home suddenly become so important to you. I'm really looking forward to being able to nip down to Tesco to get my 2 pints of semi-skimmed for 89p when I return to Aberdeen...!

How can I go any further without mentioning rice?! It's eaten with just about everything. I was once given a plate of chicken nuggets and chips...and rice. And dishes with potatoes...have rice. Lots of starchy carbs. If you had a 3 course meal, you could potentially have rice in all 3 courses: rice in the soup, a large portion of rice with the main course, and rice pudding (arroz con leche) for dessert. I have yet to find someone who cooks brown rice or a substitute like cous cous or bulgar wheat; it's all white rice. They have a knack for cooking it well here, and it's a good thing I like rice!

I have had the opportunity to try a few new dishes, especially Peruvian favourites. Pollo a la brasa is just cooked chicken (cooked on one of those sticks that turns around) with chips; MC and Eric took me to a restaurant recently that did absolutely spectacular chicken. Salads are often a few pieces of lettuce, a few pieces of carrot or cucumber (which is much bigger here), and avocado and beetroot. For years Mum has been trying to get me to eat and like avocado, and the good news is, Mum, that I am learning to eat it a little here! Not love it, but eat it. :-) Diana made a Peruvian soup for me once, which had what looked like a chicken drumstick floating in the middle and a few small pieces of veg. It was tasty. I went to a restaurant with Catriona MacD and a few others before going to Cuzco, and I was pretty much forced to try the famous anticucho de corazon (cow's heart). Hm. Yeah. I won't be eating that again. I honestly did try to swallow it, but I was unsuccessful. Someone got a hold of my camera while I was trying it, and you can enjoy the photos below...

There are many other foods that I have tried, and the names are escaping me right now. There are also some things that are just part of a normal diet for me. It's interesting to see how many brands are familiar in the supermarket. Ritz crackers and Oreos are two that immediately come to mind.

Rejoice with me that I found porridge yesterday! Well, it's not proper porridge, but it's close enough. I had it this morning for breakfast, and it cheered me up. :-) This topic of food is one example of how many things we can take for granted at home and how much we have to be thankful for - the Lord provides.

Pollo a la brasa and a salad

Catriona's sister Joan and I with the anticucho

Tentative first bite

Oh dear, I don't think she's too keen on it...

Yep, I'm afraid it's going to have to come out!