A Peruvian Thanksgiving

It's amazing how work really affects your perception of holidays. If the world around you continues to work without acknowledging that a special day is, well, special, then the importance of it all disappears quite easily. As you all know, Thanksgiving is not an international holiday and although many expats take time to celebrate it here, when you have to go into work on Thursday AND Friday, it's easy to forget about. Mark, Jamie and I made what we could of it by getting together for dinner at a Peruvian restaurant. You're probably thinking "huh?? Peruvian isn't Thanksgiving-appropriate food!" but it is when you're in Korea and the only thing you don't want in your Thanksgiving meal is kimchi.

I finished my radio segment at 8 and met up with Jamie half an hour later at the Hapjeong subway station (which is very close to Hongik University and the Hongdae area). Mark was originally going to stay in (bah humbug!) but he suddenly had a festive change of heart to join us. So together, we walked into this Peruvian abyss called Cusco, where I heard Spanish music for the first time in months. The walls were covered in vibrant colors and various cultural ornaments clustered around the tables and chairs. The servers even wore Peruvian vests :)

The food was such a nice change to the usual Korean food that we eat day and night (not that I'm complaining; in all honesty, I don't think it's remotely possible for me to get tired of Korean food, it's in my blood). I ordered some kind of chicken dish that was stir fried with onions, peppers and garlic. Mark had a fantastic arroz con pollo--the rice and chicken were so moist and done so right! And Jamie had this baked potato thing that had spicy ground meat in it. "Peru" was even written on the potato with ketchup and mayo!

[Our appetizer: potatoes with some mustard/peanut sauce]

[Obviously we liked it!]


[Jamie's "Peru"vian potato]

After dinner, we all headed home since Mark and Jamie had work bright and early the next morning. Although it was short and not as festive as most Thanksgivings, it was still nice to spend the evening with the people I love. After all, they're my family out here...

Anyway, if you want to check out Cusco, take line 2 to Hapjeong. Walk out of exit 6, turn left and at the corner of the street, turn left again. Cusco will be on your left.

Thanksiving part II is on Sunday. My friends Kenny and Jeena are hosting a small Thanksgiving dinner with all the traditional foods. I'm looking forward to it and you bet there will be pics :)

Meanwhile, I'd like to say "thank you" to everyone for your continuous love, support and prayers. I feel so blessed and thankful to have such wonderful people in my life. You guys rock!

Hope you all had a splendid Thanksgiving and a delicious meal. Make sure to tell your family how much you love them and how thankful you are to spend the holidays with them ;) I know I would if I could!

Until next time, bisous xoxo

PS- I forgot to provide you with a link in my last post to the rest of my autumn pictures. You can find them here.