Lunch at Fina Estampa – by Gary Smolker

Dessert

During lunch today (April 26,2107), at the Fina Estampa Restaurant in Chatsworth, California, the owner of the restaurant (Kathy Schultz) came to my table and asked me how my daughter Leah and I were enjoying our lunch.

I replied:

“I am so happy that I hope you have a jail cell you can lock me up in until I settle down enough to go outside.”

To this Kathy replied:

“You must try our desserts.”

At the end of our meal, Kathy brought  two desserts (pictured above) to our table: a Leche Asada and Hellado de Lucuma.

When I told Kathy we were too full to eat any dessert, Kathy packed up the desserts and told me to take them home immediately to put them in my refrigerator before the ice cream melted and the Leche Asada (which has egg in it) spoiled.

I did as I was instructed.

That is why I did not go back to my office to work this afternoon.

Picante de Mariscos

For lunch, Leah had Picante de Mariscos.

See photo above of Leah’s lunch.

Picante de Mariscos is a seafood stew simmered in red wine with onions, tomatoes served over boiled potatoes.

The Picante de Mariscos  served at Fina Estampa is a world-class dish.

Peruvian Cuisine

Fina Estampa serves Peruvian cuisine.

Peruvian cuisine is rich in ingredients, influences and nuances.

Its influences are varied and historical –

There are 84 different ecological zones in Peru, each with its own species of plants and animals.

Ancient Peruvians

• cultivated potatoes and corn in the Andes;
• pumpkins and Lima beans on the coast;
• they discovered and used aromatic herbs and Chile peppers as well as fruits of the Amazon region;
• they also ate fish and mollusks and Llama meat and poultry.

The Spaniards who conquered Peru followed by the Viceroyalty brought with them

• rice, onions, citrus fruits, wheat, vineyards, olives, pigs, cows and hens;
• Arab-Moorish  and African touches introduced by workers who arrived to toil on ranches and farms.

Chinese “”coolies” arrived in Peru as migrant workers in the nineteenth century bringing their customs and recipes with them.  They also introduced techniques such as sautéing over a high flame, splashing soy sauce into beef stir-fries, and the tradition of eating white rice.

Japanese immigrants arriving at the end of the nineteenth century, introduced the Japanese love of seafood, subtley of flavoea, and care in haddling ingredients.

Another important influence on Peruvian cuisine is Italian immigrants.

Peruvian cuisine has many influences, including the fusion of influences from distant foreign lands, unique exquisite dishes in each region of Peru based on local customs traditions, ingredients and recipes passed from generation to generation.

By the way, Peru is the gastronomical capital of South America and Lima is the culinary capital of Latin America – a city that journalists, chefs, and visitors from all over the world travel to in search of new dishes and chic places to dine.

In Lima, food is religion.

Cooking professionally has become something to aspire to, and about 80,000 young people are currently studying to be chefs, in schools scattered across Lima.

Travel

During lunch Leah and I discussed why we like to travel.

Leah and travel together because we like to see beauty, we like to see history, and we like to eat some of the best food in the world.

For lunch today, I had Sopa Wantan.

Sopa Wantan is a Peruvian version of Chinese Won Ton soup.

See photo below of the Sopa Wantan that I ate for lunch today.

Next

Leah and I believe that the benefits to us of traveling are

• traveling allows us to see how beautiful the world is; and
• traveling enables us to feel more strongly connected to the beauty of the world.

Next, Leah and I will be going to Sicily together.

We will arrive in Sicily on May 21 and return back to California on June 4, 2017

Below is a photograph of an Itinerary for our upcoming trip to Sicily Leah which jotted down while we were eating lunch today.

Leah and I discussed that Itinerary in great detail while we were eating lunch.

By the way,

• Sicily has better preserved and more spectacular Greek ruins then Greece.
• The Norman Palace in Palermo (Palazzo Reale) with the Palatine Chapel is fantastic – a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The island of Ortygia is an ancient district of Siracusa (Syracuse). In the the city’s Jewish quarter until 1493 (in the Giudecca) is the oldest Mikvah known to survive in Europe.
• Judaism was present in Sicily way before the arrival of Christianity on Sicilian shores.
• It is thought that while in Syracuse (AD (CE) 59, Paul of Tarsus preached to Jews as well as to Greeks.
• The Mikvah in Siracusa dates from the Byzantine period following the fall of the “western” Roman empire to invading forces (in Italy mostly Vandals and Visigoths) in the fifth century.

Leah and I will be flying out of LAX (departing from Los Angeles) on May 20, 2017.

It will be a long flight.

We will not land in Sicily until May 21, 2017.

 

Copyright © 2017 Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved

 

Real Beauty – by Gary Smolker

Sunday Morning, March 12, 2017

Sunday morning I went to Noah’s Bagel (on Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks, California)  to get a cup of coffee.

After getting my cup of coffee I sat at a big table.

Soon after I sat down a little girl and her young brother sat down at the same table with their grandmother.

The little girl ran away, disappeared for a moment.

Then she came back a few minutes later with a bottle of chocolate milk for herself and a bottle of chocolate milk for her little brother.

She was so cute I couldn’t resist taking a picture of her.  See picture below.

I recommend Noah’s Bagel on Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks as a delightful place to meet families with children.

What Does It Mean To Be Beautiful?

The little girl in the photo above is self-confident and comfortable with herself.

I think that is what real beauty is.

Sunday afternoon, March 12, 2017

Sunday afternoon I went to Fina Estampa (on Winnetka Avenue in Chatsworth, California) to get a bowl of soup.

The soup smelled so good and looked so delicious I took a picture of it and asked a waitress to take a picture of me eating it.  See collage below.

The name of the soup is Parihuela.

Parihuela consists of an array of seafood simmered in a flavorful soup including fish, shrimp, squid, & crab legs.

Smell the cilantro.

I recommend Fina Estampa as a perfect place to sample a variety of authentic Peruvian cuisine.

Not only is the food good, the service staff is friendly, helpful and pleasantly outgoing.

Beauty Everywhere

I am surrounded by beauty everywhere I go.

I discovered Fina Estampa on Wednesday (March 8, 2017) when I met my daughter Leah at a restaurant next door to Fina Estampa.

The next day (Thursday, March 9, 2017), I enjoyed eating and drinking the most wonderful milkshake I have ever eaten or seen.

When I stopped at Le Mervetty (on Cannon Drive in Beverly Hills, California) to meet my lady friend Alanna,  Alanna insisted that I try an Oreo Milkshake.

The master-pastry-chef-owner insisted that it be her treat.

See photos below.

First photo is a collage of three photos showing the milkshake before I ate it, me eating the meringue that came with the milkshake, and showing the frosted glass the milkshake came in after I finished eating and drinking the milkshake.

That is chocolate you see on the edge of the frosted mug the milkshake is served in.

When you are done eating/drinking the milkshake you can eat the chocolate that remains on the outside of the frosted mug is is served in.

Below is a close-up photo of the milkshake.

This milkshake is called an Oreo milkshake.

You are looking at Oreo cookies on the outside of the mug and Oreo crumbles on top of the whipped cream.

“Inside” the milkshake mug is ice cream and chocolate covered coffee beans.

I recommend Le Mervetty as a place to give your sweet tooth the perfect gastronomical treat.

Everything at Le Mervetty is high quality but not stuffy.

The staff is not stuffy.  You can practice your French with them, if you care to do so.

The confections at Le Mervetty are lavish and creative.

Thank Heavens for Little Girls

Life is about being comfortable in your own skin.

Little girls remind me of that.

Thank heavens for little girls.

Every girl, woman and lady in my life is beautiful.

Thank heavens for that blessing.

Gary

Copyright © 2017 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved