A cooking experiment

Like I have said in the past chorros a la chalaca (clams) have become one of my favorite dishes here in Peru. I searched the internet and I found a recipe so I gave it a shot. I chopped, squeezed, boiled, and shucked and I did it, chorros a la chalaca. They turned out good. I took them to Sr. Juan and Sra. Sonia's house for lunch with Tia Chela and Tia Esther and they were a hit. The only thing I needed to add was more salt but that was an easy fix. The best thing about doing this myself was the price. In a restaurant in Tampa one dozen of these little gems is about $15.00 and here in a restaurant they are about S/.12.00 ($3.80) but if you buy them in the store they cost me S/.2.00 ($0.65). Now that is a deal.

On that same topic, price, Johanna and I had lunch today at a restaurant that the locals frequent. We had a three course meal and could barely walk when we were finished because we were so full. The bill came to a whopping S/.10.00, which is about $1.50 each. The waitress was surprised when we left a tip because tipping is almost unheard of here, but we had to because the service was excellent. Our waitress was literally running around the restaurant to help her customers. It was a great lunch not just because the food was good but because the total was less than the smallest value meal at McDonald’s. Peru is awesome.