Arequipeno Thanksgiving dinner

 We had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner today, even though it was on Saturday because we all had to work Thursday evening.

Ellen and David

Thanks to our host, Ellen and David, for opening up their home and baking an amazing turkey. And I don't know if it's common, but this was the first time I ever had stuffing made with apples and it was really good (and she used the herbs I gave her from my roof top garden :). I have to find out her recipe! Ellen and David moved here for David's job and Ellen just showed up one day looking to see if we needed teachers because she was a teacher for many years back in the States. Well, I'm so glad she did walk in because she's so fun and positive and because of all her experience she's been practically mentoring me in managing a school. I'm so thankful for her.

John and Lorenzo

John and Lorenzo are two new teachers this month. One thing about being the Academic Coordinator is that I get to know all of the teachers very well. And with so many new teachers coming and the old teachers leaving the dynamics of the school are always changing.

Elena and her husband

Ellen's friend Elena and her husband also joined us for dinner. It's always fun to celebrate these 'American' holidays that they don't have here with some locals.

Cheesy scones and dinner rolls

Me and Micah

Everyone brought something, so there was tons of food. There was the turkey, stuffing and gravy (of course), beet salad, Elena's quinoa salad, Lorenzo's sweet potato casserole and baked chicken dish, and then Micah and I made dinner rolls, scones and green bean casserole. To drink, we had a sweet sangria with fresh fruit. For dessert John brought a beautiful strawberry cheesecake and Ellen made a pumpkin pie out of the giant calabash-pumpkin looking thing they have here. Yumm yumm, great food, great company, a great night and great way to end this week and month.

Strawberry cheesecake

Homemade Hummus and Tahini

In bulk

Last weekend while I was shopping in Avelino (this is now my favorite place to shop :) I came across the bulk grains stands and saw that they had garbanzo beans. So I decided I would try to make homemade hummus. Haha, then I realized good hummus is made with tahini and I can't buy it here.

Tahini dip, raw tahini paste, soaking garbanzo beans

I decided this is a good time to learn to make my own tahini. The recipe looks simple enough:
Grind up a few cups of toasted sesame seeds and less olive oil... I think.


So I toasted up the sesame seeds first and then threw them in the blender. When it turned into some kind of dry paste I started to add the olive oil until it had the consistency I wanted. When it was finished I tested some by making a tahini dip (I added water, salt, lime juice-they don't have lemons here, and at the end some of my reserve za'atar). It turned out much better than I expected.

I saved the reserve paste in a jar.

 

Final hummus

Then I made the hummus. I soaked the garbanzo beans for 2 days then ground them in the blender by adding some of the water they were soaking in for consistency. I added salt, black pepper, cumin, lime juice and some olive oil until it tasted alright. I think it's a little bitter and I don't know why. Maybe I should add more salt or not grind the beans with the left over water but should use fresh water instead. Next time I'll look up a recipe for the hummus. After I added the tahini dip it tasted a lot better, but still not the best.  

Great place to live

After living in China I've learned to value the days that the sun shines. And here in Arequipa the sun shines almost every day. When I first got here in August the skies were perfectly clear blue everyday until early October, then a few clouds appeared and we started the season of beautiful sunsets. 
I also got so lucky with my housing. It's pretty cheap, I have a big room upstairs away from the rest of the commotion in the house, I don't have to share my bathroom except when the other room upstairs is rented out, and the best part is that I have a door leading onto the roof next to my bed. The roof is great for drying laundry, hanging out and keeping a rooftop garden. It's so great to step out into the cool morning air at 6:30am and feel the sun to wake up a little. I never thought I'd say that I like having to be at work at 7 am everyday.
I starting this rooftop garden a few weeks ago with a small oregano and rosemary plant. From there I went to a nursery and picked up a strawberry plant, a couple more herbs and a grape vine. When I saw how well the strawberry plant was doing every time I went to the markets I was on the lookout for more plants.
And now here I am, with 6 strawberry plants, 4 different flowers, 1 grape vine, 2 tomatoes, 2 peppers, and lots of herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, rue, peppermint, lemon mint, lemon verbena, huaycatay). They're all doing really well, except for the basil- I don't know what's wrong with it.

Take me wherever the combi's going

I wanted to take a day trip to a small village outside of Arequipa just to explore around. So I choose any little village that was supposed to be interesting, Yarabamba. I vaguely knew the street where I was supposed to catch a combi out of town. So I went to this street and asked around until some security guards told me I need to take a different combi to Characato and from Characato transfer to a combi going to Yarabamba. 30 mins later I was crammed into a combi and 20 mins after that at the impromptu bus stop, cruce de Characato. Luckily, there was a line of combis there and the first one in the line was going to Yarabamba. On the way we passed a sprawling shanty town, one room brick houses with tin roofs held down by rocks. Most of the people got off here in what looked like deserted housing set up in the middle of the desert and I ended up the last person riding in the combi trying desperately to keep up with all the questions the driver was asking me about where I was going and what food we eat in Washington D.C.

In Yarabamba, there was a somewhat more permanent looking town center with a small square and church but I decided not to get off there because I had no idea what I would do there for more that 10 minutes. I told the driver I was going up the road. I figured to just ride it out until there was a place that I wanted to see. The driver said I must be going to Sogay, and so that was how I ended up in Sogay. I got ripped off and paid s/2.5 to get there. But then I ended up taking the same combi back and told the guy that I had already paid him since the s/2.5 was more than twice the price. He smiled at me and told me I'm a smart tourist. HA.

In Sogay, I walked up the street leading into the village. At the top of the hill I followed the road to the left, around the village, following the green fields in the valley below you. I kept walking until I got to the end of the road. From there I weaved my way around the fields and eventually made my way down to the creek. I didn't find a path down but it seems like it's a pretty touristy place and there should probably have been one.  

Looking back at the church of Sogay.

I didn't really find 'waterfalls' but the stream running down between the mountains was a perfect place to end up, especially since the weather is always beautiful here. 

I waited for a long time in the afternoon for a combi to come back and then I ended up walking to another town to try to catch a bus, because the sun was setting. That day the combi only went to Sogay at 4:30 and 6 in the evening, so I should have just waited. And then when I left Sogay we passed through a very cute town, Quequeña, with a small plaza de Armas and old church. I thought next time I go back I'll walk to this place and the catch the combi from there.