Chickpea and carrot soup. Ekjakjo and a man of plans

My husband Nick is a man of plans. He organises the weekend according to many family activities including exercise, cafes, visits to the market, museums and, of course, siestas - although he usually forgets to add in the list children's birthday parties, I wonder why.

The good thing is that the kids and I never get bored. There is always something to do during the weekends - and holidays -, even if it is just "reading time" scheduled in the day. By 6pm on Sunday night we are all exhausted in bed, including Nick.

Last Saturday morning, I didn't have a plan. Neither he had. We had a pile of 7 guide books of Peru on one of the bedside tables in our room but we didn't know where to go or what to do, perhaps because Lima is still new to us and we are discovering it little by little each day. We were dressed, inside the car, ready at 7.50 to go...somewhere...waiting for Nick to decide.

And this is what we did...

8am: Visit to the market

Following the directions given by the little Spanish voice of the Waze app, which is a fantastic GPS in the iphone, Nick drove us to the food market because it was open since 6am.

I love markets. My dad used to take me when I was small, teaching me how to buy fresh fish . Sometimes we didn't buy much, or even nothing at all, but we spent two hours walking around, talking to the people behind the stalls who knew my dad well.

I like to maintain that tradition with my kids, wherever we live. I want to teach them that the market is the best cooking school where you delight your five senses. It is like having a playdate with the butcher, the fishmonger or the lovely lady selling seasonal fruits and vegetables, I was trying my best to explain to my second child Gabriel, who seemed curious about our special trip to the market. The more you ask them about the meat, the fish or the tomatoes, the more you learn about food and how to cook it - and if you become their friend, they will always look after you with the best produce...I added excited, talking to myself, really. Obviously, Gabriel wasn't paying attention to my words and kept playing with his cars.

This traditional market is called Zurquillo, Mercado 1, and it was a bit grotty but very authentic. We saw unbelievable vegetables, quite exotic and sometimes hard to find in other countries, like the rocoto, a spicy red pimiento. We also saw more familiar ones, artichokes, chirimoyas, granadinas...Amongst the fish and the meat, there was a glass cage of a Saint, Jesus and the Virgin Mary, a Catholic reminiscence from the Spanish conquers.

Nick and Aurelia had breakfast in a tiny little bar, a piece of the traditional Peruvian keke de higo seco or dried fig cake - which I will make at home soon and post the recipe - from a lovely shop whose owner looked like Nick's grandma. I wish I had tasted the sweet fig cake but my eyes were lost looking at the clay pots with faces in one hidden dark spot of the market. I was fascinated.

I couldn't leave the market without trying a tamal from an old woman outside the market though.

10am: Peruvian Frozen birthday party

After the market, Gab was invited to his first birthday party in Lima by a little girl from his classroom in kinder or el nido . I questioned my stupidity when I offered to go while Nick stayed at home, resting pleasantly. 

The invitation said 10am but Aurelia, Gab and I arrived - sweating like chickens from walking for 45 minutes with the pusher - late, at 10.45. I was embarrassed and wanted to apologise to the mum of the little girl but I couldn't find her. 

I couldn't because the party hadn't even started: the birthday girl just came out to the garden with her pretty Frozen dress when we arrived, while her mum and the helpers were  in the kitchen, preparing the party food and taking it to the tables. I must say, the party food was very healthy.

When we understood that we were actually early, the only ones plus another mum and her son, we were quite surprised, and our faces "frozen" I would say.

Two weekends ago we were invited to a lunch - one hour away by car - with other parents from Aurelia's new school. The meeting time was 12pm, but we didn't sit down to eat until 3pm. Everybody seemed pretty comfortable with the three hours of delay. I was dying of starvation!

There are many lessons to learn  about Peru, a country rich of customs and traditions, some are similar to us but others are unique and different. The discovery of a new culture is the beauty of living in overseas and what keeps us going with the diplomatic life. 

Gab had a blast with the dance, the piñata and the bouncing castle

3pm : Harvest time

After the party, Gab and Aurelia had a rush of sugar with the alfajores and a few lollies, so they went chasing each other in the backyard of our house. 

We have a small vegetable patch looked after by our wonderful gardener Samuel. It has got planted some onions, garlic, beetroots, spinach,  zucchini, herbs, strawberries and carrots.

When I worked for Majura Primary school as a kitchen teacher - I was part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program - I embarked my life on an unthinkable cooking adventure. The children gave me the excitement I needed to go ahead with my cooking experiments in our kitchen and garden. It was such a rewarding job. Of all the most memorable moments we had together I kept a precious one: their smiling face when they pulled out a carrot from the veggie patch. It was beautiful, a gift from the Nature 9and from Stephanie Alexander, who created that amazing program.

My daughter Aurelia was so exalted holding her two fresh carrots that kept looking for more vegetables to harvest - although some were not quite ready! 

5pm: Merienda at the cafe 

If we were in Australia, I would have written dinner, but Lima follows the eating patterns of  Sudamerica and my country, Spain. Big lunch and late dinner, but light.

I took the kids to a close cafe, five cuadras walking distance. It has a kids friendly atmosphere, with wooden toys to keep them amused while the mum and dad actually "enjoy" their coffee. In one of the top shelves, above the green leather sofa, there was a funny little clay man, laughing with bizarre objects attached to it. The nice waitress explained me that it was the ekeko...

According to wikipedia, "The Ekeko is the Tiwanakan (pre Columbian civilization) god of abundance and prosperity in the mythologyand folklore of the people from the Andean Altiplano^[1] Its chief importance in popular culture is as the main figure of the annual Alasitas fair, a cultural event that happens every January 24th in La Paz, Bolivia.^[2] The Ekeko is a traditional god of luck and prosperity, popular in Bolivia, Peru, and neighboring regions, like northern Argentina and northern Chile"

EKEKO: god of luck and prosperity

In Quechua, the language of the Inca empire,  Ekjakjo

8.30pm: Date night

The traditional Peruvian Pisco Sour drink totally "killed" me...Next time I will make sure I order a tapa with it. I think I was talking in Quechua by the end of the night!

10.45pm: dead in bed

I went back today to that kids friendly cafe and had a cup of hot chocolate, in my search of finding the best hot chocolate in Peru during these three years. So far I have tried it with a hint of cinnamon, and other spices, and even with orange rind. Marvellous. 

I was by myself and enjoying my quiet time. I looked up at the Ekeko, and nodded - me, not the Ekeko! - in a sign of respect to that god, although I am Catholic, and of gratitude because my kids have already planted their tiny feet in this land - or should I say its land? - with a positive attitude, making new friends, which makes me very happy. 

And finally settled.

Chickpea and carrot soup

This delicious soup was made with the carrots that Aurelia harvested from our garden. The recipe comes from Fiona Inglish, a primary school teacher from Victoria who worked for the same Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program I did - she was also a former Masterchef Australia contestant.

Diego, the residence's cook, made this soup for our first "informal" dinner party at the residence for Nick's colleagues of the embassy. It was a total success! - the soup and the whole evening.

• 25 g butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut in 4 cm chunks
• 2-3 large carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, ground turmeric, ground coriander
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 400 g chickpeas (tin or cooked at home)
• 60 ml thickened cream
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

1. Heat the butter and oil in a large deep saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion until softened, and add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute. Add the sweet potato and carrots and stir to coat in the onion mixture. Add the spices and cook for 1 minute.
2. Add the stock and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and the chickpeas. Cover the pan and simmer until the vegetables are tender.
3. Remove the soup from the heat and set aside to cool before blending it until smooth with a hand blender (or in the blender) 
4. Return the soup to the heat and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cream (I used greek yogurt to make it healthier) and sprinkle with the coriander.