Prepping for Peru
We still have ten months before we move to our next post, Lima, but it's kind of hard not to get excited. We've heard great things about Peru, everything from the people to the travel opportunities to the weather. But perhaps the thing I'm most excited about is the food!
It sounds silly, but honestly one of the toughest things about living in Russia was the cuisine. I'm sure in Moscow or St. Petersburg I would have fared better, but in Yekaterinburg, being a vegetarian was incredibly limiting. There are some good restaurants there, but the service was so spotty that John couldn't stand going out to eat anymore (the poor man tried again recently and ended up waiting for 90 minutes, and still never received his meal!). That left us with cooking at home, but between the lack of decent produce (sometimes I'd think it was okay, especially in the summer, but when I compare it to what you can find here, I realize it was pretty bad) and John's dietary restrictions (no sugar, no grains), I was basically starving. So after fifteen years without meat or fish, I started eating fish again.
In a weird way I'm grateful to Russia for forcing me to eat seafood again, because Peru is famous for ceviche and other various delicacies del mar. And the fact that John will have more avocados than he knows what to do with will be awesome. He was always so crestfallen when he'd buy an avocado in Yekat, thinking maybe this would be "the one," only to find it pale, hard, and stringy.
I found this bakery via Trailing Houses (the Facebook group for FS families), which led me to this great blog: perudelights.com. The food looked so delicious I decided to order the cookbook from Amazon. It's called The Everything Peruvian Cookbook and I can't wait to try out some of the recipes. There are a ton of veggie-friendly options, and even quite a few gluten-free dishes. I'm thinking of trying out the yucca cake for John's birthday, if I can find yucca in Montana...
One of the great things about Lima is that I can find this kind of stuff online. There was so little information in English about Yekaterinburg, it was hard to get excited about it. I'm hoping this blog helped at least a few people out on that front. But for now, I'm looking ahead to Lima!
It sounds silly, but honestly one of the toughest things about living in Russia was the cuisine. I'm sure in Moscow or St. Petersburg I would have fared better, but in Yekaterinburg, being a vegetarian was incredibly limiting. There are some good restaurants there, but the service was so spotty that John couldn't stand going out to eat anymore (the poor man tried again recently and ended up waiting for 90 minutes, and still never received his meal!). That left us with cooking at home, but between the lack of decent produce (sometimes I'd think it was okay, especially in the summer, but when I compare it to what you can find here, I realize it was pretty bad) and John's dietary restrictions (no sugar, no grains), I was basically starving. So after fifteen years without meat or fish, I started eating fish again.
In a weird way I'm grateful to Russia for forcing me to eat seafood again, because Peru is famous for ceviche and other various delicacies del mar. And the fact that John will have more avocados than he knows what to do with will be awesome. He was always so crestfallen when he'd buy an avocado in Yekat, thinking maybe this would be "the one," only to find it pale, hard, and stringy.
I found this bakery via Trailing Houses (the Facebook group for FS families), which led me to this great blog: perudelights.com. The food looked so delicious I decided to order the cookbook from Amazon. It's called The Everything Peruvian Cookbook and I can't wait to try out some of the recipes. There are a ton of veggie-friendly options, and even quite a few gluten-free dishes. I'm thinking of trying out the yucca cake for John's birthday, if I can find yucca in Montana...
One of the great things about Lima is that I can find this kind of stuff online. There was so little information in English about Yekaterinburg, it was hard to get excited about it. I'm hoping this blog helped at least a few people out on that front. But for now, I'm looking ahead to Lima!
Love your new look and all your optimism.....wonderful and through such a challenging journey...hey girl, you are inspirational :-)
ReplyDeleteLove your new look and all your optimism.....wonderful and through such a challenging journey...hey girl, you are inspirational :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are in for a real treat-- Peruvian food is delicious! Lima is full of lovely and affordable restaurants. It does help to like seafood (I personally don't), but it is so fresh there that it's hard not to be a fan. I'm jealous!
ReplyDelete