You can find me here: http://elgringomasperuanodelmundo.wordpress.com/

So if you had me bookmarked or had been reading my posts please continue to read at my new page. I will be transferring my old posts into the new blog and then after that everything is a new start! See you all there. Thanks for reading!

Matthew

Now fast forward to August. I dug up the last of my purple potatoes this weekend. The first plant I dug up about two weeks ago had many more potatoes. However I was still proud about these ones. Besides being purple the skins on mine varied between smooth and being very beautiful with almost an iridescence while others had an ugly skin which i brushed off while cleaning.

Now for the problems. What do people make with a purple potato? I suppose this all comes down to creativity. I wanted to see if there was anything specifically Peruvian to make. None of my friends really knew much about the purple potato being used in their dishes so I decided to make my favorite dish with them. Lomo Saltado. The dish itself turned out nice however the potatoes lost a bit of colour. The skin stayed a nice purple hue but the insides turned a bit greyish as like I’ve read. I left some smaller potatoes for my mother to boil as they were too small to cut for fries. She boiled them and they kept a better purple colour. I think she over boiled them though. They fell apart a bit and she said they had a weird texture. I blame this on over cooking. However, the potatoes seem harder to cut than an average potato.

The taste of the potato was no different. The lomo saltado was delicious like always!

Why use a purple potato? For nutritional benefits of course! One potatoes are good for you and as we all know anything with storng pigments is usually a good source of antioxidants.

I received my luggage and thank god I didn’t have two wait 2 hours for it like the last time I had been to Lima.  My friends were waiting for me and we drove to a certain point until which we left the one friend to go to her house and we took a taxi to where I would stay in San Borja.

Needless to say things didn’t work out in that moment. While I had found some jobs. And I worked teaching English I just wasn’t making enough to pay rent and my credit cards. I knew that in January I would have to begin paying my student loans too.

So I returned home. Unfortunately, I arrived home just few sweet days after the stock market crash. The economy was in shambles. It really still is. I tried looking for a job. A college graduate, I couldn’t get hired anywhere. I mean maybe it’s because i’m overqualified to be a restaurant server? I mean I am a college graduate and I have worked in food service all my life. So maybe a college degree put gave me more than what they were looking for.

Unfortunate for me my degree is in geology. The field I want to enter is food service and hospitality. I have experience in a major hotel chain and also in many fast food chains, a full service restaurant and I also have experience working out of the country in a second language in telemarketing and English instruction.

Well after about 7 weeks looking for a job my old employer took me in. They were likely to hire someone anyways. My former boss told me that I could work under the condition of a paycut. FINE! I was employed. FINALLY!

I have continued to look for jobs. Continue to have interviews. Continue not to impress and continue at my current job. I did have one succesful interview it landed me a part-time seasonal job as a beer vendor. It called for me to be available every day game thus taking away hours from my main job for weeks at a time. Also looking at the Indians season I dont think I would have received much money out of this season anyways.

The last meeting for vendors was just a week before opening day and it was the meeting we receieved our uniforms and were also informed they would cost 100$. 100$ for 2 neon yellow plain, no embroidery or nothing plain jane polos, a server apron, and a New Era Indians Cap. The two polos and server apron shouldn’t have cost more than 5$ a piece. Server aprons are cheap, about 8 inch deep fabric that only covers the front of your waste. Bulk polos like the ones received shouldn’t cost more than 5$ a piece either. Especially since the more you order the cheaper they are. New Era Baseball cap is about 25$ depending on the style. Ours were likely the cheapest style they could find. So by employing me they were really making money from me. I found it shady that they didn’t tell us until receiving the uniform they would cost 100$.

I received my uniform and went home. All this boiled around in my head for the next week. I decided I wasn’t going to work for someone that treats employees like that. I don’t like secrets. I didn’t show up for opening day. Then after opening day my boss called to say that because of low attendende I wouldn’t be needed for the whole weekend homestand. GREAT!!! Just in opening weekend alone I had to make my availability at my first job 0% and Progressive Field 100% only to get called off.

At this point my boss at job 1 was notified I’m 100% available from that point forward and that I’m not working for anyone else until further notice.

Funny thing is that two weeks later after the team arrived in town from a road trip my boss called to see if I was available for the homestand. I told her I turned in my uniform already and signed papers that I had done so already. She had no clue. I had a boss that didn’t realize I hadn’t showed up for the first two weeks and even turned in my uniform already.

Looking at the Indians season now and the ineptness of the people there I’m very glad I didn’t continue employment there.

It wasn’t a professional way to leave them, but their actions were not very professional either.

I still look for more positions as I would like a second job. However not currently having a car limits everything as public transportation only has certain routes and really to make travel easy it would be best for me to have a job close to home or my other job. So until I get a car my job options are limited.

looking to get a car very soon though. I must call my credit card ppl and see if they can put me in a program which will lower my interest rate. A 9 or every 10% interest rate would be so much better than what I have now. It would make my monthly payments considerably less and allow me to pay off that debt faster while also perhaps affording a car.

Time will tell how that pans out.

So with all these trades and (expletive) and Cleveland not looking to be decent for at least 4 years, assuming “prospects” pan out. Who should I cheer for in the meantime? Personally i’d like a Rays/Phillies rematch. I like the trades the Giants have made recently I could see the going places and STL has made some neat moves. While I don’t care for Boston Because of the 2007 season I could go for them to top the Yanks again.

So. I’m gunna have at it.

National League.

East- Phillies while they didnt land the big fish they didn’t land a flounder either.
Central- toughie but I think a change of scenery will do Gorzelanny good. Expect a turnaround and a boost on the North Side
West- Another toughie but i must go with the Offensive additions of SF and
Wild Card- I go with Colorado. Some reason I see Sherrill hampering the team as he will change roles with his new team. He’s a semi-established closer in a new role. I feel Sherill doesnt always have the best control although he’s settled in better this year. I just really see the new scenery and new role affecting him alot. Also he’s been an east coast guy. Born in tennesee, played in Maryland. I see too much bad here.

American League.
East- Boston, without a doubt. I can see them landing Martinez or Gonzalez. Big upgrades.
Central- Indians. PSYCHE! Gotta go with the South Side of Chicago rising up. They seem like the healthier team to me. Im not sure that anyone in the central has much depth but the Tribe and Royals are competing for the basement while the top three of American Central Idol will be a showdown.
West- I gotta hand it up to the rangers. I see dog days of summer and the offense finally mashing. While that also may affect their pitching, Millwood is putting up stats similar to his season with the Indians and Braves. And if the Rangers do acquire Halladay then I will be left without doubt.

Wildcard- gotta go with the yanks here. While i dont care for the team, the schedule doesnt look very difficult while they hace some games against boston They’ll be second in the east and second in wild card. The Yanks always find cards to play so do be surprised if boston and the yanks flip flop.

Please comment this at the sportingnews blog. Comments appreciated here too.Serious? I\’m Switching teams.

So for Independence Day I ordered some products from http://www.labodegaperuana.com/ on the 21st and they shipped them out the same day and i received my package saturday. I was really impressed with them and will be sure to order from them the next time.

Getting more to Independence day I wanted to do something new. However I didn’t want to mess up anything. I decided to cook lomo saltado as its probably what I do best. I wanted a variation though. So I decided I that I would make lomo and for the most part cook everything the same. I had onions, garlic and tomato and of course the steak. I also had some pepper, salt and cumin set aside. All these would be cooked together at some point. Then for the lomo I had a small amount of soy sauce (sillao) and about 3 ounces vinagre. I divided the cooked steak in half along with the onions and tomato in half.

Things became interesting as in one pan i continued with the lomo and in the other I added al dente spaghetti and finished preparing tallarines saltado!

Those two things came out nice I think. Earlier in the day I prepared papa huancaina but from a provenzal mix. I botched it a little as my potatoes were a little undercooked. Nothing fatal.

I also had an idea in my head after craving a Sin Parar that I would make a giant one!

So with lucuma powder I had ordered I made a lucuma Blizzard (I work at Dairy queen) and also a chocochip blizzard. Chocochip went on the bottom and with a frosting bag I did dispensed the lucuma ice cream on top. After I let this freeze a bit in the freezer i put the chocolate sauce in the crevices.

These combined with my best friend and some beers made for a nice evening. Since I spent part of July 4th working and the other half I spent playing a competetive “sport” I was fully able to enjoy my second Peruvian independence day.

The end of this blog I will post the link to a public foto album on facebook to show my creations. Not all of these are from the 28th. You will see other lomos, ceviche and some things and then look for pics from the 28th. Pics of my papa huancaina, lomo, tallarines and the “el gigante” sin parar are available

hope the link works.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2126514&id=39102272