September 15, 2012 · 5:30 pm

Best Peru restaurants and a Boston-led food tour of Peru!

Pachacamac.jpg the temple of Pachacamac

I met the head chef at Taranta, a wonderful Peruvian restaurant in Boston’s North End and he had lots of suggestions for our upcoming trip to Peru, in part because he leads what looks like  fantastic food tour of Peru. (for more info see: http://www.tarantarist.com/adventures/)

At his restaurant I had some Cusqueña beer (brewed near Cusco, I believe) which was excellent.

These are the restaurants he recommended (and I’ve made reservations at several!)

Lima:
– Mercado
– Central
– FIESTA
– Cala
– La Mar
– Las Brujas de Cachiche
– Malabar
– Astrid y Gaston
Cusco
– La Cicciolina
– Pacha Papa
– Limo
Ollantaytambo
– El Huacatay

– In Arequipa, we need to try these dishes: Rocoto Pelleno (stuffed red peppers made with a fiery hot pepper called rocoto – not the bland red bell pepper) and Chupe de Camarones (Shrimp and Potato Chowder.)

– In Cusco, he said we’ll receive coca leaves when we arrive on the plane and should use them right away to try to avoid altitude sickness. It’s a big no-no to spit out the leaf onto the ground but okay to spit it out discretely into your hand.

– In Urubamba in the Sacred Vally, at El Huacatay  restaurant he said we should say hi to the chef Pio who is his friend.

– He recommended the north of Peru including Trujillo area.

– A good day trip from Lima: the temple of Pachacamac, an archaeological site 40 km southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. Wikipedia reports that most of the common buildings and temples were built c. 800-1450 CE, shortly before the arrival and conquest by the Inca Empire.

–  For info on Inca terracing (a farming method) he suggested looking up a National Geographic on the topic. The technology is called Borai (?)

– He also recommended a Peruvian restaurant in London – Lima London!

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September 14, 2012 · 9:31 pm

Highlights in Salem, Marblehead, and Boston Mass.

The lovely view from my relatives’ house in Swampscott, Mass.

I was so consumed by the drama of losing and finding my wallet after a day wandering around Salem last Saturday that I didn’t get a chance to write about all the cool things I found while wandering. So here are a few:

– Peabody Essex Museum and House of Seven Gables are the big attractions and both looked well worth a visit but it was so nice out that I didn’t want to stay inside or commit to one attraction alone.

– Chestnut Street, lovely old street lined with beautiful mansions. And nearby on Essex Street I didn’t visit the Ropes Mansion but I walked around its lovely (free-to-the-public) little landscaped flower garden with gorgeous dahlias (my favorite) and lots of other varieties.

– I ate at Life Alive, a vegetarian restaurant on Essex Street that reminded me of the ones I used to go to in Ithaca during college (albeit a little more upscale). It’s also in Cambridge’s Central Square and Lowell’s Historic Arts District. ( After much pondering of the extensive menu, I went with The Swami – a half bowl for $5.55. It was a mix of brown rice, curry miso, tamari almonds, carrots, corn, broccoli, kale, raisins, onions, and a “sprinkle of nutritional yeast” (which is tastier than it sounds.)

– Re-find was among several alluring consignment stores in town. (I bought a pair of jeans and a top for $20 at the women’s Re-find on Washington Street…there’s a men’s Re-find around the block.

– Gothic-celt-witchy-new england fop vibe: All day I kept walking past one or two people decked out in eye-popping costumes – and not just the girls hawking various Witch attractions. There were people dressed in black corsets and flowing black shirts with crosses and tattoos; guys dressed in top hats and tails and women in Victorian riding gear or some such. Never did figure out what was going on but at one point they did all gather outside a former  bank on the Walking & Shopping Mall (Essex Street) that sold their kind of clothes at makeshift stalls inside.

– I also enjoyed sitting on a park bench on the lovely Salem Common and near Pickering Wharf and the tall ship the Friendship (although that will forever be remembered as the-place-I-lost-my-wallet.

Coast Guard Air Station Salem patch

– I tagged along with my sister-in-law when she went to the Saturday farmer’s market in Marblehead – smaller than Des Moines but more high-end and high dollar (some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and dahlias stuck out.) I also went her to the seafood shack by the water to pick up some lobsters for fabulous lobster bolognaise that she made later for dinner.

– In Boston’s Back Bay, I had coffee at a cute place, the Wired Puppy on Newbury Street and visited The College Club of Boston on Commonwealth Avenue, the nation’s oldest women’s college club (founded in 1890 and host to the likes of Mark Twain),  which my friend PJ belongs to and which has lovely old rooms.


The College Club of Boston

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September 12, 2012 · 3:35 am

Spectacle island, north end, beacon hill, back bay…Boston!

Fun day with my pal from high school PJ who has a beautiful contemporary apt on comm ave in Back Bay with a spectacular view of the Charles river, the MIT  campus and downtown from her terrace. on a perfect fall day, we took a short boat ride to spectacle island, one of the many harbour islands and walked around forawhile and sat on a bench looking out across the water at the Boston skyline and talked about our lives and gave each other confidence, like old friends do.

We wandered over to the north end and into an italian specialty store, Salumeria Italia, that turned out to be where my sister-in-law works and she was there! The in house expert on olive oils and vinegars gave us a tutorial a d tasting. I may never look at that stuff the same way again. We had excellent half orders of pasta – I had the red sauce with lamb Ragu; PJ had gluten free pasta with ariabiatta sauce – at trattoria il panini. Excellent. We poked in a few little boutiques and consignment shops on Hanover street then walked back to P’s apt through beacon hill, stopping at a nice little market with fresh meat and fish Savenor’s market. Boston looked lovely

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September 11, 2012 · 1:14 am

Exploring downtown Art district in providence

I never spent time downtown when I last visited providence but this time I did and it was interesting. I stayed at the Hampton suites which is unlike other Hampton suites i’ve seen. It’s in a lovely 1920s building that began as a bank and late became a catholic church.  Surpringly charming and very nice staff who took good care of me. I wandered down Westminster AndWashington streets which has some spectacular old buildings that have been well restored, including some terra cotta beauties. There are some interesting boutiques and gift shops and a good independent bookstore and some restaurants that look great. Many were closed on sun and Monday when I visited. Next time. Here’ a few places that caught my eye: trinity rep, Gracie’s restaurant, acc(o) food, local 121 restaurant, craft, modern love (where I bought shoe stylish shoes I hope will prove moderately comfortable), Cuban revolution, another restaurant. I also had a meeting at the hoteprovidence, ananother charming old hotel downtown.

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September 9, 2012 · 11:50 pm

Walking for miles in providence, r.i. But still have wallet!

As I did yesterday in Salem, mass, i did again today in providence rhode island, I walked for miles exploring the city…except this time I held onto my wallet, checking several times during the trip. A few highlights/observations:

– the train from Boston to providence was easy andfast. Only 40 minutes or so. Hardestpart is figuring out the Amtrak schedule which is confusing. And it’s important to check out the train priceswhich vary, from $54 to$14

– the city is sleepy on aSunday and many of the good restaurants are closed. I am staying at the Hampton suites downtown. So far so good. It is in a surprisinglylovely 1920s building with a high ceilinged ornate lobby/breakfast area.

– I walked all the way from the hotel to ears providence and black stone walking path along the river. The path wasn’t impressive but I walked thu many lovely oldneighborhoods.Ended up at India point park which was pretty at sunset although the water view was more industrial thanexpected. I liked the bohemian neighborhood. Along wickenden street and saw severaltechnic restaurants that looked promising but I wasn’t hungry (I ate a late lunch – a falafel wrap – at a middle eastern deli in the brown university college town I have been to before.

– one of the prettier streets I wa

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September 9, 2012 · 3:59 am

A good citizen saves my day in Salem Massachusetts

The first indication I had that my trip east  was about to go horribly wrong came early this evening after I had spent much of the day wandering all over Salem, Massachusetts. My husband called to ask if I had lost my credit card. He had tried to use the card, which is in both of our names, at the grocery store in des Moines and couldn’t so he called the credit card company and was told that someone had called in to say they found it so the company cancelled it. I looked in my purse and not only was my credit card missing. My entire wallet was gone. No license, debit card, money, or…credit card. And this on the first day of a five day trip where I need to travel  by train and stay in a hotel and eat out.

I had a terrible sinking feeling. Retracing my steps wouldn’t really  work because there had been so many of them. I had wandered up and down those pretty narrow new England streets that I love …which does not lend itself to finding a lost wallet. But someone had called the credit card company about my card so it must have been found by someone who was honest and trying to find me. Now how could I find him. Or her?

I called the credit card company and they had a name but no phone number for my good citizen. And his name was very common. Then I thought if he had my license he could find my phone number in Iowa. But my husband found  no message on our home phone. Then i remembered my phone listing is for my office phone. My husband walked into my office while my heart beat like a tomtom and there was one message and it was from my good citizen. He had left his phone number, which I called and he picked up right away. Turns out he is the dock master for the marina where I had stopped to sit on a bench and admire the view. Somehow my wallet fell out of my purse, someone found it and gave it to him…I think. We drove back to Salem from my relatives house in swampscott and we used cellphones to find each other and now I have my wallet back. The guy could not have been nicer, even apologizing for getting my credit card cancelled but if he hadn’t done that I probably wouldn’t have known until tomorrow when I was leaving that my wallet was missing because no one would have  noticed the message on my office phone while I was away. I do plan to write my cellphone number on my wallet. I think that makes sense. Or maybe my email address. Live and learn. I got lucky. And this was a good reminder that there are some good people out there. I tried to give him some money but he wouldn’t take anything. He did let me shake his hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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September 7, 2012 · 2:35 pm

My recent travel story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune – The High Trestle Trail in Iowa

I forgot to mention that a story of mine about riding bikes on central Iowa’s The High Trestle Trail at night ran a few weeks ago in The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune – for more details see: http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=165756086

Night riding on The High Trestle Trail in central Iowa

Fresh air, exercise and an art bridge

  • Article by: BETSY RUBINER
  • Special to the Star Tribune
  • August 13, 2012 – 2:41 PM

The other night, I did something new and possibly stupid: I rode my bike on an unlit trail through rural Iowa. It was dark, except for the dim beam from the cheap flashlight I jury-rigged to my handlebars and the occasional flickering light of passing bikes. It was quiet, except for the periodic rustling, croaks and calls of who-knows-what. It was spooky.

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September 4, 2012 · 7:08 pm

photos of the eccentric sculptures in Mullinville Kansas!

The folk art sculptor I wrote about yesterday is M.T. Liggett and there’s a great article about him, plus a slide show, in the Wall Street Journal from 2010.

a small sampling of the sculptures along the Highway in Mullinville, Ks.

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703630404575053632726040838.html#slide/1 (slide 3 is a photo of M.T.) and http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703894304575047461204497670.html.

Here’s some photos we took yesterday when we passed through Mullinville and

The view from the road in Mullinville Kansas – lots of strange sculptures

met Mr. Liggett.

Art installation along Highway 400 as you enter Mullinville, Kansas

Angry art in Mullinville Kansas (yes, those are swastikas

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September 3, 2012 · 3:00 pm

Meeting the local eccentric scuptor in mullinville kansas

For years, the speck of a town on the map in western Kansas, mullinville, has been a highlight of our nine hour drive from des Moines to wright,Kansas (another speck) thanks to the ever-growing collection of nine foot high whirligigs and metal sculptures lining two-lane highway 400. Many are labeled with familiar names – apparently a commentary on the likes of al gore, Janet Reno, Ted Kennedy, hillary(of course) and even Laura bush (we noticed laura this morning when we parked alongside the near deserted highway to take a closer look and some photos. As we were getting back in the car, a dusty pickup truck came driving towards us and I half expected to need to run for cover. The truck pulled up next to us and an old Guy with a toupee, craggy face, overalls adorned with strange large round plastic buttons and two splotches of blue paint on his knuckles looked at us with piercing eyes and said “you like my stuff?”
He and my husband chatted for a bit – he knew of my husband’s family “good Catholics from Spearville.” He mentioned he was indeed “in a fight with the city council” aka “nazi goose steppers”. Which we we gleaned from one installation along the highway in town which included a toilet bowl (a popular element in his art, several swastikas, and some angry references to things like the Gestapo. (look here for photos tomorrow!)
We did drive down the narrow dirt road lined with more curious sculptures past his studio to see what pissed off the city council and found several homemade private property-keep out signs in the middle of the road, which he appeared to claim as his property. We are guessing that’s the issue – or one of the issues – with the powers that be in mullinville. I wanted to ask him a bit about his politics but conversation didn’t move in that direction. We’re guessing he’s somewhere between a libertarian and an anarchist.

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September 3, 2012 · 2:58 am

Boot Hill, Jalisco, bella Italia…dodge city,kansas

i made a rare visit to the boot hill museum in dodge city this morning to pick up some souvenirs for a Peruvian man my son is living with in Lima. Turns out he is a big fan of westerns so figured he’d like some dodge city stuff. Not sure his wife will. I was surprised by how busy the gift shop was. I didn’t stick around for the midday gunfight. Too much of that going on in the real world these days. Tonight we returned to our favorite Mexican restaurant in dodge, tacos Jalisco, where I tried the garlic shrimp rather than my usual carne asana (we had had steak for Sunday lunch…this being Kansas). Shrimp was good and always an interesting scene, full of Hispanic families and even some african Muslims. That’s dodge these days, with lots of immigrants working in the meat packing plant. We also went last night to Bella Italia, Italian food but everyone we saw working there was mexican. Very sweet people. Food, not great. We hit the road for nine hour drive back to Iowa. Word has it Obama will be back in Iowa again this week (and I will be away again during his visit.)

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