Peruvian Food

Still posting my blog ... but some food photos here:

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-8-machu-picchu-after-rain.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-2-afternoon-in-cusco.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-3-more-local-color.html

I have more photos, which I will eventually post in my online gallery ... but that will be a while.

Great pictures eenusa! I love the quinoa souffle with tenderloin and elderberry sauce. I don't remember having that while I was there.

Here's another one ... these are from Cicciolina in Cusco.

(scroll to the end) http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-11-few-more-hours-around-cusco.html

Great pics and blog eenusa! Your blog relives my Peru travel but yours was more colorful though it stopped Day 11. Waiting for Day 12 and on. Btw, what kind of camera do you use? Amazing postcard-like pictures!

Thanks ... I am still posting ... was too busy while we were in Peru to do a decent job of getting it in, so I am posting after the fact. I had hoped to get at least a portion of the 12th done today ... I suppose there's still hope that I will do that, but work commitments keep getting in the way .

As for camera equipment -- I used a Canon 40D DSLR with a 70-200 lens on it (it produces incredibly crisp pictures when I don't do something to mess that up ). I took a Canon G-10 with me for the wide-angle photos rather than trying to switch lenses or carry two SLRs at altitude. It's a great little camera which I consider a P&S on stereoids because it shoots RAW and has capability to shoot in other than auto/scene mode.

Would love to see your blog if you care to share it.

My friend who has a food blog also uses G-10 which takes amazing, vivid pictures. We just came back from Peru last Monday....just like you I thought that country is beautiful. We lived in Metro NY and I am just wondering: is it better to fly DC-Atlanta-Peru than DC-Newark/NYC-Peru? We flew Continental non-stop. I noticed that you also went to Turkey (not once, but twice!). I loved that country also. She has the most beautiful sights and hospitable people. My favorite places are Sirence and Cappadocia. Keep on blogging......you do it very well.

Ahh, you just got back ... so we have trip report to look forward to perhaps .

We considered flying through Newark, but in the end, since we got award tickets on Delta it was easier to just go through Atlanta.

Yes ... lots of trips to Turkey (most before I went digital, hence no photos online) ... DH and I have family back there so if not every year, I go back every other year to see them. The last few trips, I incorporated some sightseeing into the itinerary ... beats sitting around having tea and cake every afternoon, and gives everyone a chance to see some new location they might not have visited yet.

The blogging bug has definitely bit me ... beats writing 200-page journals like I used to. Normally, I'm very good about taking notes and writing about our day everyday, but Peru just kept me so busy, I didn't even do that. Paying for it now ...

I have several food pictures from Peru but I do not know how to post them. Can you help?

mikatsek ... where are your photos now? If you don't have them in an online gallery, then I don't believe there's a way to post them unless you email them to someone who will put them online and then post them on your behalf. (The OP might be interested in doing this for you since this is his thread.) If they are, point me to them, and I'll see if i can help you out.

I am most likely going to Cicciolina when in Cusco. Two questions, It appears to be quite a way from the town square which we are staying near, will all the taxis know where the restaurant is (without driving in circles to up the fare?)

Someone posted that it is 45 dollars/person. Is that accurate?
My wife usu. gets one dish and maybe a side me 1st, 2nd. Generally we don't eat dessert (yes believe it or not I just don't like it!)

(Adding as apparently I can't edit)

It apperas that two locations are mapped for Cicciolina one in San Blas (still giving the 393 calle Trifuno address but not appearing on the map that way) and the other one way south
(about 3 km south of the plaza de Armas).

Since the one in the south appears to be on the correct street I assume that is the proper address?

I'm afraid I don't have specific answers for you; hopefully others will chime in. We walked to Cicciolina from Hotel Los Apus; I didn't think it was that far from Plaza de Armas, but I could be mistaken.

We didn't have advance reservations and just took our chances going there. They had a wait for the dining room, so we opted to sit at a table in the bar area where you can order from both the main menu as well as the tapas menu (the latter not available in the dining room from what I recall). We ordered from the tapas menu, so I know we did not pay anywhere near $45/person. Hopefully someone who has eaten in the dining room can chime in with some idea of the prices for you.

Wow, Looking more carefully and searching it appears that the "A" location on google maps is way off! It now seems like the San Blas location is correct and that is is within 1-2 blocks of the Plaza near the former archbishops residense or
Museo de art religioso. Still wondering on price.

RobertR -- that makes sense to me ... hope someone chimes in with prices. Have you posted your question on TripAdvisor? You may get a quick answer there.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=mikatsek&target=ALBUM&id=5348665531253093873&authkey=Gv1sRgCPrapuvJlYHfIw&invite=CLWTiY4I&feat=email

these are my food pictures from Peru.
Prices are usually good compared to American or European prices.
We ate very well in Larcomar, (Miraflores). In Arequipa there are several good restaurant on Calle San Francisco like El Vinedo and the famous La Tratorria del Monasterio is excellent. In Puno there many small good restaurants on the main street Independencia but the food was quite salty. Best that we know is La Casona.
In Ollantaytambo best is Mayupata restaurant. In Cusco we had a great (on the expensive side for Peru standards) meal at Limo reataurant (above McDonald's) on Plaza de Armas with the view over the square and the BEST limeade ever and a great chocalate tart. Also suspiro de lucuma. Good for lunch so you can enjoy the view.
Best combination of price, quality of food and atmosphere was Pachapapa restaurant in San Blas, in Cusco. The name? a little joke for all the others called pachamama...

A few more - from the Casa Andina Private Collection in Puno. Good food; good service; fantastic view of the lake. Scroll to the last photo in this blog segment.

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-12-relic-of-peruano-naval-history.html

A few more, also from Casa Andina ... Buñuelos -- one of the tastiest desserts we enjoyed during our two weeks in Peru.

Scroll to the end of the post at: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-13-uros-islands-part-2.html

eenusa, we have a quick question for you. First, we loved your blog! Our question is about the gifts you brought. We are using Percy as our guide andhe has two daughters age 16 and 12, and we are having a hard time thinking of something to bring them. We usually bring something for the kids of people we meet on our travels, but have yet to come across girls of this age. We just have a son who is 9, so boys gifts are always easy to pick! Do you have any suggestions about what we could bring? Thanks in advance, Jeffrey and April

Jeffrey and April, glad you enjoyed the blog.

Sorry ... we don't have any kids, so I'm not sure I'll be of much help with your question. The teenagers we saw in Peru in many ways seemed to be typical of teenagers elsewhere.

The gifts that Vidal gave out during our trip were all school-related items with the occasional backpack and shoes - more or less essentials instead of "would be nice to haves". (We've asked him to use our donation similarly either for things the kids need or for a community project).

This was the first time that we've ever hired a guide in the way that we did Vidal, so we've not had previous occasion to consider taking gifts. Our philosophy is that if we're happy with the services we receive, we tip generously to the service provider.

You might want to post a separate thread and ask for suggestions ... if you search on the name "emd" I believe she took some gifts; not sure if it involved any teenagers.

Getting to the end of our trip ... here are some food photos from our dinner at Vivaldino (Larcomar Mall - Lima) ... scroll to the end of the post.

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-14-back-to-lima.html

Hi there, I am emd. Yes, as eenusa said, I took gifts for the teenage girl daughter of my guide, David Choque. She was 13 and she LOVED the American purses I gave to her. One was a gold Kathy Van Zeeland that I got on sale at TJ Maxx, and another was a trendy purse from ebay.

That parilla de mariscos looks...interesting is it served cold? I had a similar dish in Mexico once with lime and it was, but I think it would be much better hot