in lima

well, it has been about two months since i last updated this blog, but now's a good of time as any to give you loyal readers (ha) an update on my whereabouts.

currently in lima, peru this week for work. as this is my first time in peru, i don't have much of an idea what to expect. lima is ok - today was the exception, but it seems to be always so grey. no rain, no sun, just grey. it is in the 60s, so considering it is their winter, all is not bad. last night i survived my first seismic activity if you don't count the lancaster experience when i was younger. according to the news, it was 5.8 on the richter scale! i thought i was just having a crazy dream, like falling or something.

so far, the food has been great. i've not been as creative as i'd hoped with the choices (a lot of meals at the hotel), but lots of seafood. fish in a sauce of tomatoes and onions, ceviche, lentils, and sopa criolla (a peruvian soup with potato, cilantro, chiles, and a fried egg on top - which i didn't touch) have been some highlights so far. it sounds like a lot of food for 3 days, but it is not that much. as for the libations, i've been drinking chamomille tea like it's my job. perhaps tomorrow i will cash in my coupon for a free pisco sour.

what strikes me most about peru, or perhaps more accurately lima, is how many american brands set up shop here. like act ii popcorn. i don't know anyone that is an act ii fan in the states, yet here it is popular. or colgate (said with a spanish accent - col-gat-eh). one of the most famous spots in lima is a shopping mall overlooking the pacific, with such stores as starbucks, hooters, etc. and don't even ask how many kfc/pizza hut's i've seen so far.

i'll try to keep this blog updated daily during my two week tour of south america. for now, abrazos.

friday's lunch - java joe's

i have been really bad with friday's lunches lately, so maybe it is time to pick a new day or something!

today's lunch is from java joe's, a local coffee and sandwich shop in baltimore. i had the calvert (all sandwiches are named after baltimore streets or neighborhoods), which is chicken salad, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and mustard in a wrap. a generous portion size and very tasty; however, i love cheese, but it had a little too much cheese for me or it should have been spread out better. for $6.25 it also came with a pickle spear. i also splurged on their craveworthy drink, the peanut butter mocha cappucino. total for the two with tax was $10 and change... the drink is kind of pricey but so so good.

verdict: java joe's is pretty convenient from the office, so i'm sure i'll be back. plus, i like that they give you a side (pickle), i just wished the freebie was chips. next time, i plan on trying out another one of their many sandwich offerings.

updates

a few days have gone by since my last update, due to a number of quasi-exciting things that happened last week.

on thursday, in an act of pure klutziness, i busted my big toe open after slipping on some water in our kitchen. luckily, the puddles of blood did not require stitches, but it did mean i got to work from home on friday during the torrential downpour. perfect timing! as such, the blood loss caused me to forget to write up my lunch (leftover eggplant parmesan with bucatini, my absolute favorite pasta shape ever - yay for trader joe's stocking it!).

on saturday, we were supposed to head to assateague state park for a camping weekend with the wild ponies, but the aforementioned rain forced us to change plans friday. instead, after dropping off the dogs we headed to philadelphia, with a quick stop in atlantic city on the way. that is, after braving two hours of traffic for four miles in delaware. it was my first time visiting ac and while it has its advantages over its counterpart-in-sin, las vegas (namely the beach), visiting on a cold, rainy day with a bunch of shadesters/panhandlers did not give me the greatest impression of the area. however, it was awesome to see the monopoly board come to life, even if i never made it to baltic avenue.

we got into philly around 6:30 and stayed at the loews hotel, which comes highly recommended. it's in a great location (you can walk to almost anything) and has super comfortable and modern rooms in a converted bank. for dinner we had hoped to try el vez, one of stephen starr's hip restaurants near the hotel, but arriving at 8:00pm on a saturday without reservations left us with an "hour and 45 minutes" wait time. um, no thanks. everything was packed that night, we walked around in circles until finally stumbling upon the italian bistro. we had a four-course prix-fixe dinner, which was ginormous and overall quite tasty. the tiramisu was by far the best dish and j even got a surprise suppli on his entree plate!

after a lazy start the next morning, we headed to another one of stephen starr's restaurants, jones. this was our second time there, and i have to say it is one of my favorite restaurants in the world. nothing fancy, but an eclectic atmosphere and really tasty food for a good price. we got there at the perfect time, as we were leaving the place was packed. we split an order of the monkey bread (sugary diabetic goodness) and i had a breakfast sandwich with tater tots. j had their protein plate and we left stuffed.

we walked for a bit longer until reaching independence hall / the liberty bell. after a few pictures (and scary nps guards that whistled at anyone that dared to step off the curb towards independence hall without a ticket), we walked towards the philadelphia academy of natural sciences, maybe a 20 minute walk away. we passed a lot of people that must have just completed the race/walk for the cure, since they still had on their racing shirts. coincidentally, mother's day was founded in philadelphia 100 years ago, so it was fitting that we spent the day there. anyway, it was my first visit to the pans since first grade, but it was not how i remembered it (smaller)! the butterfly exhibit was really great though, and i would definitely recommend the two extra bucks for the admission.

on the way back to the hotel (in order to make it back in time for the late check-out), we stopped and took some photos of the castle-like city hall and the famous love statue.

until next time, philly! when we got home it was great to spend time with the pets, but my allergies returned hardcore. funny how crossing the city line does that to a person....

the extra rebate is here! and cinco de mayo ramblings

happy cinco de mayo to me! when checking our bank account online this morning i noticed the account summary was noticeably higher. last night little gop stimulus fairies deposited our $1200. sadly, it will pay off our 12 months no interest/no payments card balance that comes due in june for the carpet.

in related news, i'm never a big fan of the "ethnic" holidays that give the average folk one more excuse to act like a collective gaggle of obnoxious morons (i'm thinking of you, st. patrick's day), however i have to say that estoy super feliz to have a reason to cook mexican food tonight. i do so often, so it is nothing out of the ordinary, but our fridge was bare for a while now until we finally restocked it this weekend. yum!

friday's lunch - potbelly

i was so hungry i forgot to take a picture of today's lunch: a "wreck" sandwich from potbelly sandwich works. it is probably for the best, as it was a mess of disgusting goodness and would have scared the average reader away.

verdict: at under $5 with tax, potbelly offers a good sandwich at a good price. since it is convenient to both work and the gym, i'll be back. the wreck is definitely not the healthiest thing on the menu, but the salty-hot combination is divine (i get mine with extra pickled hot peppers) and because i just worked out, those extra calories don't matter. :)

charm city cakes

i had the good fortune of trying baltimore's famous charm city cakes yesterday evening (of food network's ace of cakes fame). j had a ccc cake during a work party and managed to steal me a hearty piece.

let's just say that you don't pay for the taste.... to give them the benefit of the doubt, the cake was at least a day old and refrigerated (and possibly comped by ccc so the quality of ingredients may have been slightly compromised). that said, i've had better cakes from costco. the cake was plain chocolate with layers of vanilla buttercream and a chocolate fudge covered with a fondant. considering their laundry list of flavors on the website, this most basic cake (which you would think would be the easiest to get right) was a bit bland and certainly not moist. i did like the sugary fondant though.

ccc is an innovative bakery, but need to invest more into the flavor of the cakes or they won't get many repeat customers, at least those interested in combining art with taste. a few years back (before the tv show), i called to ask for a quote for a small birthday cake. i wanted nothing too fancy, and to serve about 15 people for j's surprise party. i was quoted at least $120 for the smallest cake they did. looking back, it was a bargain. they are now booked through november and the prices start at $500!!

restaurant review: the helmand

on saturday evening, the gang (minus j, who was plagued by baltimore's horrible allergies) and i went to helmand for dinner. the helmand is an afghani restaurant in the mount vernon neighborhood. surprisingly, it was my first time there... this was one of the places on my "try" list since i moved to baltimore three years ago as it is considered one of bmore's best restaurants and i tend to love central asian food.

luckily, i had made a reservation - the place was packed! after being told to wait by the bar, we were seated quickly in the main dining room, which appeared to be a converted rowhouse. we split a portion of the kaddo borwani, which is baby pumpkin in a garlicky yogurt sauce. i am no pumpkin fan, but this was very good - the garlic really helped combat the sweetness of the pumpkin. my only complaint would be the texture; the dish was served on a plate, but had the consistency of baby food. but alas, that is pumpkin for you.

we also got bread, which was delicious, but not sure if it is worth the $4.50 per basket price (unadvertised). everything else in the restaurant was fairly priced, so seeing this on the bill (times two) was quite a shock. $2 seems more fair.

for the main dish, we all stuck with the vegetarian specials. b and i got the vegetarian mantwo and the rest of the table had the vegetarian platter. the mantwo was amazing, very hard to describe, but was kind of like a cross between ravioli and samosas. it sat atop a yogurt sauce and was covered with dal and a sun-dried tomatoes/carrot sauce. it was served with a cinnamon infused rice (challow) on the side.

verdict: we were all very pleased with our choices. it was quite unfortunate about the bread, since the surprise $9 soured an otherwise great meal. the service seemed a bit rushed, but for us it was not a problem. i'll definitely be back with j.

friday's lunch - cafe hon

today's lunch comes from the famous baltimore institution, cafe hon, in the hampden neighborhood. this place is straight out of a john walters' baltimore dream, and features lots of kitsch devoted to baltimore's hon culture (beehives, beehives, beehives). 

i had the crab cake sandwich with hand-cut fries and cole slaw for $12.99 plus tax. the crab cake was delicate, yet well-seasoned, and sat atop a kaiser roll. (look for a future post regarding my picks for the best crab cake sandwich in baltimore.) the fries were delicious, but unsalted. i suppose that is healthier. i did not try the cole slaw, since i'm not a fan.  

verdict: i'll be back. hampden is not super convenient from downtown, but was easy enough to get to and they had free parking in the rear. plus, it is a great place to take out of town guests! 

drink of the week: meta

last night i went out for ethiopian at dukem with the girls and we tried their local beer, meta. i had ethiopian beer once before, hakim stout, and thought it was fine. meta had a nice touch of sweetness to it and paired really well with the food. too bad it cost $5.50 a bottle! (unbeknownst to us, our alcohol total came to $33 for six beers among the three of us.)

verdict: i really liked meta, but since it is only available at dukem/ethiopian restaurants/ethiopia (to my knowledge - the internet didn't have much on the beers of ethiopia) and rather expensive, i won't be having it often.

friday's lunch - chipotle

this friday's lunch is a vegetarian burrito, procured at the chipotle baltimore, located in the inner harbor. it cost me $5.57 with tax and is massive!

the line was ridiculous, but moved quickly. the toppings guy was a little heavy handed on the spicy salsa, but overall a very good lunch.

verdict: of course i'll be back, it's chipotle.

some things i learned

while mobile blogging didn't exactly go as planned (too busy and too tired), i have compiled a few nuggets of wisdom i picked up during my trip.

-ikea manages to trick you every time with their horrible directions. label each piece or add some words, for christ's sake!

-chipotle raises their prices according to the market. a vegetarian burrito cost $7.71 plus tax!

-apparently it is possible to house two insanely large dogs in an insanely small nyc apartment (speculation; saw two dogs on the street and am assuming their owner is not crazy rich with their own townhouse).

-avoid the checkout line on a saturday afternoon at manhattan's only tj maxx.

-although there are explicit signs stating that honking will come with a $350 fine, it appears as if they are just for decoration or to appease some crazy community activist.

so long, ny

last night and this morning i felt crappy but really enjoyed breakfast - a parfait (not really pictured) at big daddy's on the ues. i am now on the road again headed back to bmore. ciao!

my indian dinner

this dosa was massive and delicious!

who still eats cracker jack?

today marks the unofficial first day of spring in baltimore, also known as opening day of baseball. too bad the weather is an absolutely disgusting mix of clouds, cold and perpetual drizzle, combined with an equally bad baseball team and fans that seem not to care after today. i generally like baseball season because it adds an interesting dynamic to my walks (i walk past the stadium), if not more people (usually coming in to support the visiting team, wearing obnoxious fan gear, taking up sidewalk space and generally being some of the most annoying tourists that could possibly visit a town). plus, i know that within a few short weeks, the weather will dramatically change from the freezing cold of today to crazy, climate change, hot and humid, which is always fun for the first few days; after that the walks can get really annoying and i long for the fall again (or at least some sort of misting/shower stations, but then you have to factor in the homeless/junkies that may choose to camp out there...).

furthermore, who still eats cracker jack? do they even make it anymore? during my formative years growing up in amish country, boscovs department store would have a yearly promotion with a discount stuffed inside cracker jack boxes, which i suppose they viewed as a win-win situation for the customer - a free snack and a chance to get up to 50% off the bill (everyone won some sort of discount, though). i hate the stuff, so after i redeemed the discount (it generally was really low), i would try to pawn the snack off on someone else.

on that note, here's to a not horrible spring/summer! go team!

just maybe the best foodstuff ever

god's gift to the brazilian people comes in the form of a small piece of cheesy dough, otherwise known as the pão de queijo (cheese bread). this snack is unavoidable in brasil and when i returned from a trip in 2006 i sort of developed withdrawal symptoms since i was used to eating it once a day, sometimes more. lucky for me, j and i kicked off our weekly dining out series today with a trip to the brazilian all-you-can-eat, fogo de chão. while my vegetarian friends may cringe, this non-stop eating bonanza consists of a superb salad bar, three side dishes ("brazilian" mashed potatoes, if there is such a thing, polenta and fried bananas), a zillion types of expertly prepared meat constantly brought to your plate until you yell uncle (or flip over your disc to red to signal stop), and lastly these little golden gems of goodness. now that i am stuffed beyond recognition and feel a bit like a pão de queijo myself, i bid adieu. until next time, my little friends, until next time.