The Best Thing About America is Pound Cake?

I'll skip the school part because that just keeps happening everyday. We'll pick things up at UNIFE. We got to the school and sat in on a lecture by David Carreño Farfán. He's a well known chef in Lima and he spoke to us about Peruvian food. There are three different regions of the country-the coast, the Sierra, the jungle-and all three have unique dishes. Most of the presentation involved Farfán showing pictures of food and explaining the dishes. One interesting aspect of Peruvian cuisine is called Chifa. There is a strong Asian influence, and therefore, Peruvians have developed their own food style that's a fusion of Peruvian and Asian food. They call it Chifa. I haven't had it yet, but my students say I have to try it at least once. Another thing to note about Peruvian food is that they are one of the Gastronomy capitals of the world. You wouldn't think Lima would be the place for gourmet food, but it really is. (Although I can't eat most of it). My host mom does her best to adapt typical Peruvian dishes to my vegetarian needs. Tonight we had Lomo Saltado. It's one of the most famous dishes here. It's a beef, onion, tomato and french fry stir fry served over rice. My mom makes it with soy beef instead and it's my favorite thing she's made me!

Chef David Carreño Farfán

Anna Maria's Vegetarian Lomo Salato

After our food lecture, we had an hour to talk to the students. We were supposed to talk about education and the differences in the United States and Peru, which we did for like 10-ish minutes. But then the conversation shifted to more fun topics. (like boyfriends and dancing) Being the nosy journalist that I am, I had to get all the gossip. Plus it was good practice for my Spanish.

Our day at UNIFE ended with salsa lessons. Probably the best part of the day was letting loose and dancing. I definitely need to work on my moves, but I'm better than when I started. And it's all about improving, right?

I came home, went running and ate dinner with my host father. He is the happiest man on the planet. Anytime I ask how is is, his response is (in Spanish) "I'm happy! All the time I'm happy! Whenever you ask, I will be happy!" What a guy! Anyway, I was interested to see what his favorite things were about the United States since he's been there quite a few times. I'll list them.

Diego's Favorite American Things

1. Sara Lee poundcake
2. Chicago
3. Costco/BJs
4. iHOP
5. The museums (all of them. in the whole country)
6. Christmas Tree Shops
7. Iced tea
8. Congress (the building)
   
9. Big screen TVs (and the fact that you can buy them at Costco)
10. Miami