Market in Cusco, Peru 2012
Sacred Valley, Peru with Noah, 2012
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Well that was fun! We had an excellent dinner at Panka, the new (and we gather first) Peruvian Restaurant in Des Moines, almost hidden along Ingersoll Avenue, sandwiched between two chain restaurants in a strip mall. But the small 43-seat place has a real verve and vibe, with sleek modern furnishings, an open kitchen and brightly colored photos of Peru on the walls. The place was packed last Saturday at 7 p.m. on a bitter cold February night and for good reason. The food was outstanding — and reminded us fondly of when we ate our way through Peru – – which has one of the world’s best food cultures — several years ago when our son was studying abroad during college in Lima.
We tried several of the many Peruvian dishes that we loved when in-country and they tasted very similar to what we once ate, sometimes even better. The lomo saltado, a beef stir fry with thick slices of onion and tomatoes, in particular, was better than I remembered it in Peru, maybe because the beef was so tender and flavorful. The aji di gallina, a creole chicken stew in a thick creamy yellow sauce with sliced potatoes, did not disappoint. Nor did the ceviche — there were several kinds. We went with the Peruano, which an English guy sitting next to us recommended. The chicharron de cerdo (crunchy porkbelly chunks) were maybe the one weak link — a little dry and not as crispy as I’d like.
Cusco, 2012The place felt South American lively, with the two enthusiastic welcoming owners — both women originally from Peru — helping out the servers and the chefs in the open kitchen. There are some kinks to work out, as is the case with any new restaurant. Our five shared dishes including a delicious Aguadito soup (light cilantro-laden broth with chunks of chicken) arrived after a considerable wait and all at once which meant that once we finished the soup (which could have been warmer) the other dishes were cold. The kitchen also ran out of desserts, all homemade including a chocolate cake that several of our neighbors had (and looked great). No liquor license yet so no pisco sours but we thought to bring wine and I don’t believe there was a corkage fee.
We can’t wait to return!! Next time, we will make a reservation. We got in without one this trip but just barely…
Shockingly bad performance by the Kansas Jayhawks (our in-house favorite) at Iowa State University’s cavernous Hilton Auditorium in Ames – the Jayhawks lost by 17 points. But it was fun to go to a game at Hilton for the first time. We sat high in the nosebleed section so the noise from the increasingly joyful ISU near-capacity crowd was slightly less deafening and we had a good vantage point to see all the flashing lights, arm- waving fan cheers, perky pom-poming cheerleaders and the amusing half-time show with little kids doing somersaults while spinning basketballs.
Millie did well last night at the comfort inn although as we expected, she slept with us, which didn’t help my ability to sleep. she only barked a few times, when other people were coming into mearby rooms. She ate her dinner but was too distracted this morning to eat again. We saw two other dogs in another room. One little one yapped a little. We are not sure we were charged for me, although we were told it was an extra $10.
It only took about 30 years but last night, friends dragged me over to Carl’s, the famed dive bar in Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood. From the outside, the worn wood building looks like it’s about to collapse. Inside, the place was bigger and brighter than I expected, with a lively and diverse crowd enjoying Tuesday night live music by local musicians. I’m not big on bars – I don’t drink much – but I get the draw of this place and see why people (including many a visiting Democratic operative) love it. It feels “authentic.”
I got a chance to do what I love to do most in NYC (besides seeing old friends and family): Wandering around interesting pockets of the city.
The second day, I started at the Spring Street station and wandered south into Little Italy and Chinatown, then a little west to Soho (western section is still charming, along Thompson and Sullivan/Spring and Prince Streets) and then up to Greenwich Village/NYC, stopping for a nutritious lunch (not) of a chocolate chip cookie and coffee at the wonderful old Vesuvio bakery storefront on Prince Street (now technically the Birdbath Bakery despite the iconic storefront from the 1920s) and admiring a gated mews lined with pretty old carriage houses, MacDougal Alley, just north of Washington Square Park. Reminded me, fondly, of London. I lingered in front of 1 Fifth Avenue, an elegant old building where my parents got married (when it was a hotel, I believe). Then I ended up at The Strand bookstore and at Union Square where I caught the #6 subway back to the Upper East Side.
Thanks to the Krause Corporation (owner of the Kum & Go convenience store chain) for opening its fantastic new headquarters downtown for a day of public tours. So many people wanted to walk around the five-story Krause Gateway Center, designed by Italian architect 
The building is unlike any other in Des Moines — or elsewhere that I’ve visited–with its massive scale and sculptural look including high glass walls separated by four overhanging white horizontal planes. The glass walls on the main floor are 29 feet high — higher than any other such walls in North America except for an Apple store in New York City. The space is very light (naturally) and the building almost translucent. From the building’s south side, you have a fantastic view of the sculpture park below and if you look north, down a long hall, you can gaze through another window at a street leading up to the Sherman Hill neighborhood.
The interior design is sparse and clean with immaculate desks – in various configurations and groupings. There are high top tables, lower top desks, sitting spaces in an upholstered nook that felt a bit like a padded cell (except one side is open.) Most people don’t have assigned desks. Employees do get their own locker, to store their stuff, which they remove and place wherever they plant themselves during a given day. I gather this is au currant office design (and supposedly spurs more collaboration) but also takes some getting used to for employees accustomed to the creature comforts of their very own cubicle, slathered with family photos, gag bobble-heads and stacks of yellowing paper, yes, paper.
None of that to be found at the Krause Gateway Center, where the furniture is clean and contemporary, popping with color including orange and red Swan chairs, the famous chairs designed in 1958 by Arne Jacobsen for a Copenhagen hotel (I grew up with white Swan chairs in our ancestral home) as well as deep blue, orange and green high-backed chairs and couches. Big dramatic pieces of contemporary art also pop off the white walls and blond wood paneling –and there’s even a second floor art gallery, open to employees only.
The roof has vegetation that apparently will grow — and features stupendous views of the city, although I worry that the fencing at the edges isn’t high enough.
