Papas y Arroz Todos los Dias

I have to say that I probably haven´t eaten this well since I lived at home with mom and dad. No more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for me! It´s only been fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats since the second I got here and everything´s delicious!

Breakfast is always very simple... perhaps some bread and fruit. I usually drink tea or the lovely yoghurt drink that is oh so popular if France as well. Over the past few days I´ve had the opportunity to try countless new fruits. I´m positive that this small city has more varieties of produce than all of the United States and probably Europe combined.

Around 2:00 Victor comes home for lunch and Iris takes a break from work. Lunch seems to be the big meal of the day and is usually served in courses. First course tends to be soup (so far I´ve had chiken noodle... with a few feathers still stuck to the chicken and some sort of squash soup), salad or ceviche. I´m usually stuffed after that but then Vicki delivers the second course tht will undoubtingly include a huge helping potatoes and rice. Meat is also served but almost seems to be a side dish to everybody´s favorite potatoes and rice. I´ve eaten quite a bit of fish to my surprise, that´s been caught in one of the rivers close by. The fish is always great. Chicken is served every once in a while as well and this afternoon I was given my first taste of Peruvian steak.

Once work ends, usually around 8:00 we sit down for dinner. This is somewhat late for me but I really don´t mind as I´m usually still digesting all the starch from lunch. Dinner is slightly smaller than lunch and we´ll usually have leftovers or a simple bowl of soup. Last night I was served rice with milk straight from the cow. The dish was sweetened with a bit of sugar and raisons. Yummy! Deseret is rarely had here. Besides all the fruit and last nights rice milk I´ve only had one dessert... homemade flan. Very different from the quart of icecream that I used to call my dinner.

I´m really enjoying this new, maybe healthier (depending on what you think of all the starchy rice and potatoes and the benefits of all that calcium in my icecream) lifestyle. Perhaps, I´ll make notes on some recipes and bring them back with me when I come home.