Blogs from Lima, Lima, Peru, South America

From Giangi's Kitchen: Origins of tomato soup. It originated in the region of Andalucia in southern Spain. Gazpacho is widely consumed in Spanish cuisine as well as in Portugal. In 1897, Joseph Campbell came out with condensed tomato soup by reducing water in the tin, making it easy and lowering storage and shipping costs. Where did grilled cheese and tomato soup originate? The combination of tomato soup and grilled cheese has been around since WWII when feeding hungry seamen. School lunch programs, after WWII, were added to the menu because of the added vitamin C that it provides. They are flavorful and a great source of vitamin C, potassium, folate, vitamin K, fiber, beta-carotene, and antioxidants. In a nutshell: a very healthy recipe for all of us. Secret ingredients: Saffron: I added saffron to give it ... read more

On our last day in Peru, we had another early morning start. We had to ride from Urubamba to Cuzco for a morning flight to Lima. But that meant we had some additional time to do some exploring around Lima. Our hotel in the Miraflores area was the same hotel we'd had before and we were treated to the beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean on our drive along the Malecon. After checking in, we decided to explore the Parque Kennedy area this time. The avenue where the park is located was a typical business center type street lined with shops and businesses for the most part but, at one end of it, we came across El Parquetito, a cute Café with outdoor sitting where we decided to have lunch. The essential Pisco Sour accompanied a ... read more

We went straight from Medellin to Barranco, the area in Lima that was recommended to us, the colonial barrio with the hipster flavour. Tired from 5 weeks in Colombia Daria needed a rest, we get a room on airbnb in a pretty house hosted by Peruvian descendants from Tuscany; a house with a lot of 60’s design taste, nice sofas, pretty textiles and art books for flicking through, the predominant colour is brick red. The guy that runs the bed and breakfast is called Juan Carlo - he lived 8 years in Florence and speaks good Italian with funny Tuscan dialetc, very helpful guy, he told us places to go, little restaurants in the area and enjoyed a lot to chat in Italian with us. Daria loved the house and found every possible excuse to stay ... read more

We've had a fabulous day in Lima today, thanks to our friend and Debbie Wiener's cousin, Perla. She gave us a real insider's view of the city. She started but driving us around the better residential neighbourhoods where grand neo-colonoal buildings have been restored, mostly as office buildings, and mix with new housing and apartment buildings. There are lots of pleasant small parks, including one which is an olive grove, rthe emnants of an olive farm that previously occupied the entire area. We had coffee and a traditional Peruvian caramel cookie at Perla's local cafe. Then we went to Museo Larco, a beautiful private collection of ceramics, tapestries and metal craft from pre-Columbian Peru, set in an elegant mansion draped in multicolour bouganvillia. The museum is particularly known for an entire room of erotic ceramics, which ... read more

This morning we left Refugio Amazonas early and spotted an aguti just as we were leaving. They are rodents, about the size of a domestic cat, and are very important to Brazil nut production because they have very sharp teeth and are the only animals that can open the big nuts that hold the seeds we call Brazil nuts. They eat them but, like squirrels, like to save some for later so they bury them in individual holes. They frequently forget where they have buried them, thereby planting more Brazil nut trees. Actually I think they should be called Bolivian nuts as 60% of the production is in Bolivia but Brazil nuts are a very important part of the local economy in Brazil and Peru too. In Puerto Maldonado, the Brazil nut industry is second only ... read more