I’m only taking the usual four hours of Spanish lessons this week. This means that I have a really long lunch time.
For today’s lunch, my schoolmate N brought me and her teacher to a picanteria (local restaurant) near where I used to stay.
La Capitana, Arequipa, Peru
The picanteria felt like it was a long taxi ride away.
On the taxi, the teacher (who’s my age) told us about a bachelorette party her friend had. The friends were thinking of whether they should hire male strippers because the bride-to-be is religious.
The restaurant was packed with people having lunch. There were a mix of people from all walks of life. People in office wear and people in “dressed down” wear all share tables in this midsized restaurant.
Walls of La Capitana
We shared a jar of chicha, a deep purple drink made of fermented corn. It’s an acquired taste and I prefer Fanta Grape (which I hate) over chicha.
My meal was chicharron which reminded me a lot of 烧肉 which is Chinese roasted pork.
Pork at La Capitana
After lunch, we walked back to the city center. I dropped off my laundry at one of the laundry places. I have to admit that I have not used a washing machine for the past 3 months. I’ve always washed my laundry by hand.
Laundry here is quite cheap. The place I went to charges 3 soles (S$1.50) per kilogram. My bag of dirty clothes were 2kg.
Visiting the Confucius Institute in Arequipa
I also headed to the Confucius Institute which is just down the road from the hostel.
They had a small museum with very Chinese things.
Small museum at Confucius Institute in Arequipa
My favorite display was the little porcelain figurines of past emperors and empress. I looked among the mini men to find the only female emperor in Chinese history.
Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday. The day of the week when I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling.
Today we’re sipping some unique tea in Turkey.
Apple tea served in traditional glass
When I was in Turkey, my most memorable drink was apple tea. The drink is served in a small traditional glass and is usually pale yellow in color although there are florescent green ones too.
At first I tried to guess how they make apple tea. Do they boil the apples and serve the liquid or do they first dry the apples and then boil them?
I had guessed that real apples were involved because I sometimes see bits of solid things inside.
Size of a Turkish glass
Then one day, at one of the hostels, mom and I discovered that apple tea is made from powder. Just add hot water to taste.
At the weekly markets in Ephesus, mom bargained with a tea powder seller and bought half a kilo of apple tea solution.
Powders sold in a Turkish market
However, I was more interested in the “Sex Tea”.
Where to buy your sex tea? Turkey.
PS Apple tea seemed more like a tourist-thing than a local-thing. Locals drinks loads of black tea.
[The internet at my homestay couldn’t connect last evening so I couldn’t upload this post until today!]
Although today’s main event was my 5-hour long Spanish classes (with breaks in between), I thought you would be more interested in reading about eating alpacas for lunch. I’ll get to school talk soon.
After class, I headed to a restaurant which my teacher recommended. The place didn’t have the Menu of the Day at 2:30pm so I chose something a la carte.
The most interesting items seemed to involve alpaca so I ordered one that was drenched in sweet pepper sauce with some ravioli.
Alpaca steak tastes like gamey beef steak
The texture of alpaca is a bit like beef–slightly tough. However, the taste is very different from beef.
My dish of alpaca tasted a little like not-so-well prepared mutton. Or as someone on Facebook corrected me, it tasted “gamey” not “smelly”.
Alpaca is definitely not on my list of Best Meats to Eat (TM) and is probably down at the bottom somewhere with crocodile meat.
After my meal, as I walked back to my home stay, I saw two alpacas grazing casually by the roadside. That’s insane!
Cute alapacas grazing
Back to school!
I’m taking Spanish classes again in Arequipa. Lessons and accommodation here is definitely cheaper than Buenos Aires. Plus, I get to have one-to-one lessons instead of group lessons.
I was supposed to walk to school (2 freaking miles!) today but the school coordinator and her husband picked me up from my homestay place instead. The morning traffic in Arequipa looked horrible from my view in the car.
I had two different teachers for my lessons. For the first 2 hours, I had Senorita R, the next 2 with Senor J and the last 1 hour with R again.
I think I spoke more broken Spanish in these 5 hours than the whole 1 month and a week that I’ve been in South America. Most of the time, I spoke like this: “I loves to eats Japan food.” “I have a journalist.” or something grammatically, vocabularly incorrect.
Of course it’s all about learning and I’m learning a lot. In fact, I felt like I was learning too much after 2 hours but got into the groove by the 5th hour. I hope that by the end of the week, I’ll be rather good at Spanish. Hopefully.
Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday–the day of the week when I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling.
Today’s post is not a food but a drink. Salud!
I used to be allergic to alcohol. I would break out in angry rashes whenever I drink wine or anything with more than 5% alcohol.
However, I treated this allergy by introducing a bit of wine into my body slowly. Now, I don’t break out when I drink glasses of sparkling wine but I still cannot drink too much alcohol.
Piscola–Pisco and coke
While I do not drink during meals, I discovered the very delicious Piscola (pisco with Coca Cola) which I do not mind having with my food.
I’ve heard alcohol drinkers call this combination “like rum with Coke”. I don’t know what rum tastes like so I’ll take their word for it.
Besides Piscola, I like Pisco Sour a lot. It’s pisco with lemond and limes (some of my favorite fruits!) and egg white. It’s sour but sweet.
I always finish drinking it before I can take a photo. Drats.
Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday–the day of the week when I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling.
Today’s post is a special feature where I give you tips on how to cook yummy steak in a hostel. Let’s eat!
When travelling, eating out at restaurants is a good treat. But if you need to save a few pesos/dollars, cooking will save you more money.
Since I’ve been in Argentina, I’ve cooked steak in my hostel kitchen for about 5 times. My hostel-cooked steak usually costs around 25 peso (S$6) while eating out costs a minimum of 45 pesos (S$11) to more than 100 pesos (S$25).
For this recipe, you will need…
Salt and oil, the only other things you need besides the meatMeet the type of Argentine meat I like.
Steak: Preferably Argentine steak. I choose mine base on how pretty it looks.
Coarse salt: Larger grains of salt make it easier to see
Oil
Frying pan/ Grill
Watch
Plates to dirty and plates to serve
Step 1: Season the meat
Rinse the meat and pat dry with kitchen towel (the paper kind, not the cloth).
Pour some oil into the plate and lay the meat on it. Pour more oil on the meat. Sprinkle the oiled meat liberally with salt so that it looks like it’s Edward Cullen under the sun.
Salt the meat
If the meat was refrigerated, this is a good time to allow it to be less cold and more room temperature.
I’m not very sure how long the salt should be on but I give it at least 10 minutes.
Step 2: Heat up the pan
If you are using an iron grill, make sure it heats up nicely before you start. I like frying pans too and these don’t take long to heat so I wait about 30 seconds before I cook to heat it up.
Step 3: Cook one side of the meat
Cook that meat
Lay the meat in the middle where the fire is. Afterwards DO NOT TOUCH the meat or it will turn out burnt in strange places.
I usually wait about 6 minutes for my one side to be done. The meat usually turns out well done if I do 6 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other.
Step 4: Check if your meat bleeds
Let it bleed a little
If your meat starts to ooze blood from the part that is exposed to the air, you are doing a good job.
Step 5: Flip the meat and cook more
Now to cook the other side
When the 6 minutes is up, flip the meat to the other side. The cooked part of the steak should be easily separated from the grill/pan.
Wait another 4 minutes for this side to be done. Then take out the steak.
Step 6: Leave the steak
Let the meat rest before your devour it
This is the most difficult part of this meal. After cooking, leave the steak for about 4 to 6 minutes. I read that this allows the juices in the meat to redistribute evenly so the steak is tastier.
I usually distract myself by cooking the other piece of steak because it’s hard not to swallow the hot steak whole when it comes out of the pan.
Step 7: Eat, drink and be merry
Fruit of your labor
After the waiting period is over, it’s time to dig into your meal.
Red wines supposedly go well with steak but it’s your meal so drink whatever your want.
Is someone judging your rose? Tell them to buy their own drink.
Do you have other hostel recipes to share? Share them in the comments.
Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday–the day of the week when I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling.
Today we’re visiting Buenos Aires for some deep fried South American curry puffs.
I have been talking about empanadas for far too many times without showing you what it actually is.
Mouth watering empanada
For those of you in Malaysia and Singapore, I imagine a curry puff that is 2 times bigger than the regular puff you have. Now imagine that the skin is not rock hard but baked to just the right texture.
Now imagine that this curry puff does not have lame potatos but meat with a few vegetables. Take a bite of your imaginary curry puff and you have just eaten an empanada.
Food for the eyes
By the way, the guy who’s in charge of the empanada area at the restaurant downstairs looks very much like Thomas in Downton Abbey but with green eyes.
However, take my words with a pinch of salt. A schoolmate indignantly told me that the guy DOES NOT look like Thomas.
Well, he looks like a chubbier version of Thomas. Who can blame him, with all these yummy empanadas around.
Vote: Thomas or not Thomas
Have you ever had an empanada? What’s your favorite filling?
Is it still Friday at where you are living? Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday. The day I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling. Today we’re going to Pamukkale in Turkey for some Japanese food. Itadakimasu!
While in Pamukkale, I found out through Foursquare that there was Japanese restaurant–Lamuko no Lokanta–near the hotel which we were staying at.
My mom who was not used to Turkish food said we must visit the place so we had dinner one night. The food was so good that we went on the second day just for its desserts.
Lamuko no Lokanta
Lamuko’s Lokanta in Pamukkale
Lamuko no Lokanta, or Lamuko’s Lokata, is run by a Japanese lady. From my eavesdropping, I found out that her name wasn’t Lamuko as the shop name suggests but was Noriko.
Outside of the shop, you will see a banner with photos of different Japanese food. The sign in Japanese advises people who are not customers not to take photo of the banner, but why it was in Japanese was a mystery.
The restaurant looks like the front yard of someone’s house but with a few tables out for guests. The eating space is cosy with about 6 tables that can sit about 4 to 6 people each.
There is also a small section of Turkish seats.
Turkish seats at Lamuko’s Lokanta
What’s most amazing about the setting is the grape vine ceiling.
When we were there in end-May, the grapes were just growing. It would be amazing if the grapes were ripe and everyone could pick them off their vines.
Grape vinesUnripe grapes
Lamuko no Lokanta’s menu
Since this is not a post about the setting of Lamuko, I’ll get on talking about the food.
The restaurant’s menu is decorated in the Japanese-cute style with little speech bubbles above hand drawn animals.
Lamuko’s Lokanta cute menu
Apart from Japanese meals, the menu includes Turkish food and simple western dishes such as spaghetti.
The pasta section warned that spaghetti is a dish everyone must avoid in Turkey, but it’s ok to order it at Lamuko’s because they cook it nicely. (Mom did order a spaghetti Bolognese at another place. It was too squish and quite gross.)
On the menu, the ginger chicken rice bowl is the most popular dish. Mom got this for dinner.
The chicken was fragrant and did taste of ginger. Mom even felt that the rice serving was too much.
The omurice was alright at Lamuko. The egg omelette blanketed the tomato sauce rice, instead of the usual egg wrapping. It was tasty enough that I finished the whole thing.
Omurice <3 <3Cherries
While we were eating, the owner brought over a plate of dark cherries. This turns out to be a complimentary dessert. Yums.
After our meal, we ordered Today’s Desserts. It was a banana cake. Mom’s favorite cake is banana cake so she happily ate it.
When we went back the next day, Today’s Desserts was still banana cake but we ordered it anyway because we loved it so much.
Banana cake
We sipped apple tea at the restaurant. It was 1.50 lira each, a reasonable price compared with other restaurants.
Apple tea
Modelling Clay, the dog
When we were dining at night, a large golden lab came in. It picked up a squished mineral water bottle and brought it to me and my mom.
Even though it showed big puppy dog eyes, mom and I were not dog people so we only gave it sad glances and ignored the bottle.
The owner called the dog “Nendou”, which means “modelling clay” in Japanese. That is just the most adorable name for a dog.
Nendou
Where was the strangest place you have eaten Japanese food?
Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday. The day of the week when I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling.
Today we’re going to heading to Greece for some happy glutton time.
Before I went to Greece, I had no idea what the people ate. I know from the myths that the gods eat ambrosia and nectar but I was pretty much clueless about what the mortals ate.
I imagine they ate a lot of olives since Athena gave the Athenians the olive tree. Is Greek yogurt really greek or is it just a marketing label?
I do like yogurt but I’ve never a fan of olives. It’s just too salty and tiny to be satisfying.
Fortunately when I reached Athens, I found out that Greek food wasn’t all about olives. I even had meals that were so good that I was willing to stay and eat that for the rest of my life.
Pita gyro
Pita gyro
After I took a bite of my first pita gyro (pork), I knew I could stay in Athens forever and not get bored with the food.
A gyros is a bit like shawarma in Dubai but there is a choice of pork. For the people living in Malaysia and Singapore, a pork pita gyro is a bit like eating Chinese roasted pork wrapped in a roti canai/prata.
The first place I had a gyro was at one of the shops opposite the central market. The dish came hot. Pita wrapped the roasted meat, french fries and salad so snuggly that I didn’t mind I was eating raw vegetable.
Frappé
Greek Frappé
I love drinking coffee. When I found out that it was a Greek who invented frappé, I knew what my default drink in Greek would be.
The Greek frappé is unlike anything I’ve ever drank. The coffee powder, milk powder and syrup are all whisked by a machine with water added in later.
A thick firm foam appears at the top and would not dissolve even after a very long while. If you taste the foam, it is sour but the drink itself is sweet.
What usually happens is that I finish all the liquid and have remaining foam and ice cubes. I wait for these to dissolve or melt before I sip on the sour remains.
[A side note, if I have to drink either only coffee or only tea for the rest of my life, I would choose tea because it is comforting and makes me less jittery than coffee.]
Traditional breakfast
Greek breakfast
Can you believe it? I only had one traditional Greek breakfast. I didn’t pay 5 euro extra for breakfast in Athens and I could only have one meal at my hotel on Mykonos because my ferry was leaving way earlier than breakfast time. :(
Greek yogurt with honey
Greek salad and feta cheese
Greek salad and feta cheese
I hate eating raw vegetable. When I saw the salad that came to me, I almost pushed it away. Then I spotted a white chunk of something that looked curiously like tofu.
I nibbled on it and found out that it was salty and tasty. Using that unknown white block, I covered the taste of raw vegetable and finished all my bowl. Thank goodness a Greek salad didn’t have a lot of raw greens.
Later I read that the tofu-like food was feta cheese. Clever old me went to Carrefour and bought a pack of feta cheese.
Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that feta cheese on its own is too salty to be consumed as a main meal.
Souvlaki
Greek souvlaki
The Greek version of satay has a lot more meat on a thicker stick but is also more expensive than a regular stick of satay.
Compared with gyro, I didn’t eat that many souvlaki when in Greece. I like it but it’s not as satisfying as roasted pork. Yum yum.
Moussaka
Greek Moussaka
When I had the moussaka, I thought it was like lasagna but parts of the pasta replaced by eggplant.
The large rectangle contained layers of eggplant, minced meat, cheese and pasta. it was as rich as a lasagna that by the time there was only 3 bites left, I had to stuff the rest into my mouth reluctantly.
Greek pies and pastries
At the little cafes, there was always loads of pastries on display. I usually randomly choose any one of them and nod as if I knew what they were.
Greek pastries on displaySpinach pie
I’ve never really been a savory pastry person so all the pies just tasted normal to me.
Sugared orange
Sugared orange
At one of the cafes, they served a sugared orange slice. It was delicious! The tangy and bitter orange peel mixes well with the sugar coating.
Coca Cola in Greek
Coca Cola in Greek
Even though I want to drink something local with my meal, I always ended up with a Coca Cola because it was the easiest thing to choose.
I spent 2 days in Egypt with a tour group, visiting Giza and Cairo. Unlike Chinese tour groups, we were brought to local restaurants for our lunches (dinner was not included in the package).
I fell in love with Egyptian food when I took the first bite of a well seasoned barbeque meat at our first restaurant.
BBQ meat with bread and rice
Egyptian bread is fluffy and has an empty air pocket in the middle. I love tearing off bits of bread and stuff them in my mouth. Mmmm.
At one of the stops, we had vine leaves with something inside. I couldn’t remember what it was, it could have been meat but it might have been something else.
i also ate falafel for the first time in Eypt (yep, I didn’t have any in Paris or Dubai). It was nice but I do prefer my balls of food to contain meat.
The honeydew that we were served at lunch was pure sugar.
Honeydew
The roast chicken that we had was delicious. Even though I was stuffed with bread and falafel, I tore through the well-seasoned poultry and gobbled its tender meat. (I’m very hungry just remembering it.)
Roast chicken in Egypt
Hibiscus tea
I first heard about this exotic drink on a Jamie Oliver cooking show. He was preparing a meal in under 20 minutes or so and whipped up a batch of bright red hibiscus tea from tea bags.
I bought a box of hibiscus tea when I found it on the shelves of an Egyptian Carrefour. The drink I made was really sour and I didn’t have that great of an impression.
Hibiscus tea
When I was on the tour, I found out that hibiscus tea is served cold and sweetened. I love this formula.
The taste is a mix of sweet and sour. I overheard someone describe it as “cranberry juice” so you can imagine what it tastes like.
Other interesting observations
The two of the restaurants that we went to were open air. Even though this made the location even more exotic, it’s kind of crazy sitting in the hot open air under the desert sun.
While meals were included in our package, we had to paid extra for drinks. (This was the same in Jordan.)
Bread ladies
The two places that we went to had a section where ladies made bread. It was quite fun to watch them pound dough and bake bread but it felt more like a zoo which made me uncomfortable.
Coca Cola in Arabic
Not actually something very interesting but here’s a can of Coke in Arabic.
What is your favorite Egyptian food? Share them in the comments below!
Today, I want to show you the other food I ate while in Italy. Before I went to Italy, the only Italian food I know of was pasta, pizza and Italian-named coffees. I never ate much gelato back home because it’s always more expensive than ice creams.
Italian coffees
Italian breakfast of cappucino and cornetto
Italians don’t seem to drink bad coffee–the coffee at the breakfast buffet of my mid-priced hotel in Pisa was rather good and even the cappucino served at IKEA (famous for its burnt coffee) was excellent.
IKEA Italy’s coffee bar. How awesome is that?
While in Florence, I had a favorite coffee shop right at the Palazza Duomo. The place serves good coffee and has a view of one of the walls of the very beautiful Duomo.
In Italy, coffee is usually drank at the bar. It seems to me that only tourists sit at tables, and are charged more for it.
Gelato
Pistachio and vanilla gelato
I have to confess. I cannot actually tell the difference between gelatos of different shops. Apart from the flavors, they all taste the same to me: milky and cold.
I did have an extra nice pistachio-flavored gelato while in Rome. It really tasted of green pistachios.
Strawberries
Strawberries do not taste of straw
Strawberries were in season when I was in Italy. For my first two nights, I ate only strawberries for dinner because I was too tired of going out and deciphering menus.
Pizza
Pizza used to be my favorite western dish back when I was growing up. We only had Pizza Hut but I loved it anyway.
I had the most amazing pizzas when I was in Rome. I was walking around the neighborhood of my AirBnb place, trying to look for the restaurant recommended by the houseowner. I didn’t find the restaurant but I found a pizzeria.
Tasty mushroom pizza and salami pizza
Pizza there sold by weight, not slice as I was used to. On the first day, I ordered a small slice. But the next day, I ordered double the volume because it was just too tasty.
Special dishes in Florence
I spent 5 night in Florence, making it the city I spend the most time in. The Chinese hostel owner brought me to the streets on the day I arrived, even before I put my bags in the hostel, and showed me a Florence street food.
Lampredotto
Lampredotto
The lampredotto is made from the fourth stomach of a cow. It’s cooked in a sauce and served either on its own or squished between a hard bun.
The taste was alright but I always appreciate entrails (even though my cholesterol is on the higher side). The bread that came along was a tougher challenge and made me feel like a cow that have grazed too long and hurt my jaw.
Porchetta sandwich
Porchetta at Florence’s Tuesday Market
At the Tuesday Market, there were food trucks selling lampredotto and porchetta. How do you know if the truck sells porchetta? It’s easy. They have a whole roasted pig on display.
The porchetta sandwich I ate had a hard bread. The meat wasn’t moist so it felt like I was gnawing through tough cardboard.
Florentine steak
Florentine steak
I had this special dish in Florence one rainy evening. It’s less of a steak and more of a great slab of meat cooked crispy on the outside and bloody in the inside.
Even though I was feeling melancholic during that meal, I must say that the meat meat tasted great. However I wasn’t able to finish my 700gm slab of steak so I took it back to my hostel where the hostel mates polished it off.
That’s what I call team work!
Odd one out: Chinese dumplings
Chinese dumplings at Chinese-run hostel
This is a rather odd entry in my Italian food list. Since I was staying in a Chinese-run hostel, I had the chance to have dinner there for an extra 5 euro.
One night, the owner served Chinese dumpling but it had a strange filling. There didn’t seem to be any meat and had glass noodles and cabbage instead.
YQtravelling 