Some Thoughts for Tuesday

August is already going by just as quickly as June and July did! To make matters crazier, AJ and I only have 3 weeks left in CT before moving on up to Boston. Time flies, right?

Some early bridal shower presents are starting to pop up at the front door. I keep telling myself to wait for AJ to open them but that only lasts a few minutes. Luckily, he doesn't mind because he knows how I am with surprises and presents.

Speaking of the groom, we got to try on our wedding bands last night! My future in laws offered to get us wedding bands from Peru and AJ's grandmother brought them with her when she arrived last week. They are both beautiful, yellow gold bands that are engraved. Mine has AJ's first and middle names along with our wedding date. His has my first and middle names and date, too. The gold in Peru is different, it's 18K rather than 14, so the color is different and so pretty! I like that my band is the same color and from the same place as AJ's mother, aunts, and grandmothers. I'll be like all the other Mrs. Cabreras before me!

My sister came home from NYC this weekend, she had been in Egypt forever. It was so nice seeing her and spending time with her. Next weekend I'm going to stay with her in the city.

We celebrated my grandfather's 85th birthday with pizza and trifle made by my grandmother. I've never tasted her trifle even though she makes if often—the combo of weird ingredients and textures always turned me off but I tried it this time and it was pretty good!

My amazing godmother, Net-net, spent the majority of the weekend at our dining room table, addressing our wedding invitations in her perfect script. She was loving it and is so meticulous about every letter, number, and punctuation. I'm so lucky to be having so much help from family members with all the wedding plans, it makes everything a bit more meaningful!

Babysitting got messy today. We constructed and painted a doll house for the girls' Barbies and now my arms are dotted with white and blue paint.

Exciting Things to Come

July is almost over, but there are still a lot of things that are happening before month's end!

This Friday, the 25th, is mine and AJ's four year anniversary! I'm excited to celebrate with him and I have some fun things planned!

The following night, some of AJ's family from Peru is coming for a visit. His grandmother is coming and staying through until after our wedding. Also coming are AJ's aunt, uncle, and two younger cousins who will be here for 3 weeks. The Cabreras don't get to see their extended family very often so it's so nice when they get to visit! Every night feels like a party when everyone gets together and I'm sure this visit will be no different. AJ's aunt, uncle, and cousins that are coming are some of his family members that I haven't met yet and I'm looking forward to getting to know them!

On Sunday, AJ's sister is celebrating her 15th birthday. Her real birthday was at the beginning of the month but since more family will be in town, they were waiting to have an all out celebration! If you already read about my future mother-in-law's cakes, you'll know that the party will include a delicious cake, lots of food, and surely some dancing.

Obviously, I'm looking forward to this weekend and I hope you are too! What are your plans?

A Bit on Peruvian Food

AJ is Peruvian and it was not until he introduced me to the cuisine of his fine country that I realized just how delicious Peruvian food is. I grew up in Minnesota so I was never introduced to exotic cuisines. Italian food was the usual in our house because we are Italian. Now, I can't get enough Peruvian food and I love eating at AJ's when his parents cook. When we first started dating, I was obsessed with the rice his mother makes. It's just regular white rice, but she uses the perfect amount of oil, salt, and garlic. I think she thought I was a little odd because for a while, all I wanted was rice!

So, AJ also introduced me to what is now one of my favorite restaurants, Fiesta Limeña, a Peruvian place near his house. The food is consistently delicious, the portions are almost too generous, and it's a nice, simple place that is no fuss and so easy to go to. A few years ago we were going too often and AJ had to impose a once-a-month rule on how often we could frequent Fiesta!

The food is the real deal, Peruvian food and I always have AJ order for me since the staff speaks Spanish. We always get anticuchos for our appetizer (beef hearts) and we either order a chaufa or lomo saltado for our entrees. Sometimes we'll get this drink called chicha morada that is made from purple corn!

There are three different Fiesta restaurants in Fairfield County, and I bought us a Groupon to one in Stamford. We went the other night and were so disappointed by the terrible service and waist staff that the moment we sat down, it was clear we will never again stray from our Fiesta restaurant.

But just to give you an idea of how delicious Peruvian food is and how big the servings are, here's a photo from our dinner the other night:

Huge, right?! AJ got the chaufa de mariscos, it's the Peruvian version of fried rice made with seafood. You can also order it with just shrimp, chicken, or beef. 

I got a dish I had never tried before called tallarines verdes because AJ's sister gets it all the time and loves it. It's the Peruvian version of pasta with pesto sauce but you can taste there's a difference between their pesto and Italian pesto. It was so tasty! And it also came with a huge portion of pepper steak which I had to share with AJ. I didn't finish all of my pasta either so I left it in the fridge at AJ's house—hopefully his sister will find it and eat it!

And because I can't resist, this is AJ's 'don't take a photo of me' face. Dinner was a disaster but the food was perfect and that is what matters the most. Also, we were both able to laugh off the ridiculousness of the experience and have fun anyway and I'm so glad we could do that. 

Plus! We also ended up ordering dessert which we never do at our Fiesta. We got a big slice of flan and an alfajor, which I still can't say correctly. 

Because Peruvian food is so delicious and there are so many different types of dishes—all of which I have loved so far—I'm sure I'll be posting about it many more times to share all of the interesting, yummy foods from AJ's home country!