Noe...and empanadas as big as your head!
Sorry I've been posting less frequently, I haven't had much to tell since our beach trip got postponed! Here's what I've been up to for the past few days!
Friday we went to my FAVORITE restaurant in Cumbaya- Noe! (I'm starting to think this blog should be a food review blog, hahaha). It's an excellent sushi restaurant that we make a point of visiting every time we're in Ecuador. However, KFC (yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken) apparently bought out the company recently, so I was worried the quality wasn't going to be what I remembered. I have to say...It was definitely as good as ever! It was a nice dinner date before we went out to see the newest Batman movie in theaters with our friend Vale...which I'll get to in a second.
Here's some pics of our sushi- we shared 3 rolls, one with steak instead of fish, which was, of course, Chino's favorite (no surprise there!), and two others rolls called the Noe special and the Cumbaya. The steak one is on the plate on top, and as the server said, it tasted like a "parrillada que se derrite en la boca" (bbq that melts in your mouth). Well...maybe Ecuadorian parrillada...but not what I was expecting. Not my fave. The Noe special, the roll on the bottom right with the orange caviar on top, was by far my favorite. Absolutely amazing fish flavor...wow.
After dinner we met up with Vale at the theater in the Tumbaco mall to watch The Dark Knight Rises. It was the opening day of the show in Ecuador, so there was quite a line and the theater was completely full. The show was excellent- I really really enjoyed it, but I have to admit, I was scared that what happened in Colorado could happen here too... It was a horrible feeling, and made me wish I had called my family before I went! It made me acutely aware of how far away from my family I was, and I missed them. It made me angry to think that jerk could make me feel so afraid, so I said a prayer for all those affected by that event in Aurora, and made up my mind to forget it for the rest of the movie. And I COMPLETELY enjoyed myself :)
Today was another really fun day! Chino's parents decided they wanted to make a trip to the Historic Center of Quito for lunch! We wandered around for a bit to see some of the sites, and then finally found the restaurant- Hasta La Vuelta- hidden away on the 2nd and 3rd stories of what seemed to be a little mall right next to the Plaza de Independencia. They were unfortunately out of Fritada, an Ecuadorian dish of fried pork, so Chino and I settled on a dish they called El Panecillo, which was breaded steak. It was ok. The best part of the lunch, though, was that Chino's dad ordered an empanada de viento for dessert. Empanadas are a pastry that can be filled with meat or cheese, and an empanada de viento is filled with cheese and, as the name suggests, air! (Viento literally means wind). Empanadas de viento are typically topped with sugar (Ecuadorians love combining cheese and sugar...they often serve hot chocolate with cheese...), and usually the size of a roll. Well, when this empanada arrived at our table, my jaw hit the floor! Take a look at this empanada!!
WOW! They all laughed at my reaction- I had never seen such an empanada in my life! Like I said, though, it's mostly full of air, so when we started to cut it, it deflated pretty quickly. But it was De-licious. We finished the whole thing!
After lunch we went to a park called Itchimbia, which had amazing views of the entire city. It was really incredible. Dozens of people took advantage of the windy Quito weather and were flying "cometas" (kites! Literally- comets). It was so cool to see. Here are some of the views we saw:
With all of the people flying kites, you really had to be careful of where you walked! Kite strings were all over the place!
We got back to Cumbaya too late to make it to our normal 5:00 mass, but made it to the next one at 6:30, which concluded our wonderful, relaxing weekend! I really enjoyed spending the day with Chino and his parents. Chino's parents crack me up and kept me laughing throughout lunch. Towards the end we were talking about when I was leaving (2 weeks from Monday), to which they responded that they could send Chino back to the states, but they didn't want me to leave. Awww... I feel so grateful for their hospitality, and I'm sure I'll be sad to leave.
Tuesday Chino and I have decided to make a trip to the thermal pools of Papallacta, which is about 40 miles from Quito. They have a number of pools of mineral water heated by the volcanic rock underneath them, and are said to have therapeutic and healing effects. I wasn't able to make the trip with my study abroad group 2 years ago, and have been dying to go! I'm so excited!
Hope all is well back home- love and miss you all!
Hasta luego,
xoxo
Friday we went to my FAVORITE restaurant in Cumbaya- Noe! (I'm starting to think this blog should be a food review blog, hahaha). It's an excellent sushi restaurant that we make a point of visiting every time we're in Ecuador. However, KFC (yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken) apparently bought out the company recently, so I was worried the quality wasn't going to be what I remembered. I have to say...It was definitely as good as ever! It was a nice dinner date before we went out to see the newest Batman movie in theaters with our friend Vale...which I'll get to in a second.
Here's some pics of our sushi- we shared 3 rolls, one with steak instead of fish, which was, of course, Chino's favorite (no surprise there!), and two others rolls called the Noe special and the Cumbaya. The steak one is on the plate on top, and as the server said, it tasted like a "parrillada que se derrite en la boca" (bbq that melts in your mouth). Well...maybe Ecuadorian parrillada...but not what I was expecting. Not my fave. The Noe special, the roll on the bottom right with the orange caviar on top, was by far my favorite. Absolutely amazing fish flavor...wow.
After dinner we met up with Vale at the theater in the Tumbaco mall to watch The Dark Knight Rises. It was the opening day of the show in Ecuador, so there was quite a line and the theater was completely full. The show was excellent- I really really enjoyed it, but I have to admit, I was scared that what happened in Colorado could happen here too... It was a horrible feeling, and made me wish I had called my family before I went! It made me acutely aware of how far away from my family I was, and I missed them. It made me angry to think that jerk could make me feel so afraid, so I said a prayer for all those affected by that event in Aurora, and made up my mind to forget it for the rest of the movie. And I COMPLETELY enjoyed myself :)
Today was another really fun day! Chino's parents decided they wanted to make a trip to the Historic Center of Quito for lunch! We wandered around for a bit to see some of the sites, and then finally found the restaurant- Hasta La Vuelta- hidden away on the 2nd and 3rd stories of what seemed to be a little mall right next to the Plaza de Independencia. They were unfortunately out of Fritada, an Ecuadorian dish of fried pork, so Chino and I settled on a dish they called El Panecillo, which was breaded steak. It was ok. The best part of the lunch, though, was that Chino's dad ordered an empanada de viento for dessert. Empanadas are a pastry that can be filled with meat or cheese, and an empanada de viento is filled with cheese and, as the name suggests, air! (Viento literally means wind). Empanadas de viento are typically topped with sugar (Ecuadorians love combining cheese and sugar...they often serve hot chocolate with cheese...), and usually the size of a roll. Well, when this empanada arrived at our table, my jaw hit the floor! Take a look at this empanada!!
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| Chino's parents, and the ENORMOUS empanada!! |
After lunch we went to a park called Itchimbia, which had amazing views of the entire city. It was really incredible. Dozens of people took advantage of the windy Quito weather and were flying "cometas" (kites! Literally- comets). It was so cool to see. Here are some of the views we saw:
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| Panoramic view of the city...can't possibly do this view justice! |
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| You can see the Basilica to the left behind me. |
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| A "cometa" flying with the Basilica in the background. |
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| El Panecillo with the statue of the Virgin. Can you see all the kite strings?? |
With all of the people flying kites, you really had to be careful of where you walked! Kite strings were all over the place!
We got back to Cumbaya too late to make it to our normal 5:00 mass, but made it to the next one at 6:30, which concluded our wonderful, relaxing weekend! I really enjoyed spending the day with Chino and his parents. Chino's parents crack me up and kept me laughing throughout lunch. Towards the end we were talking about when I was leaving (2 weeks from Monday), to which they responded that they could send Chino back to the states, but they didn't want me to leave. Awww... I feel so grateful for their hospitality, and I'm sure I'll be sad to leave.
Tuesday Chino and I have decided to make a trip to the thermal pools of Papallacta, which is about 40 miles from Quito. They have a number of pools of mineral water heated by the volcanic rock underneath them, and are said to have therapeutic and healing effects. I wasn't able to make the trip with my study abroad group 2 years ago, and have been dying to go! I'm so excited!
Hope all is well back home- love and miss you all!
Hasta luego,
xoxo
Great post Kathryn. Thanks for the update. The pictures of the city were beautiful, especially the one of you with the Cathedral in the background (the food pictures were amazing too!). I have never seen a picture of Chino's parents until now. They look pretty young! I hope you enjoy your last two weeks and no, Chino's parents can't keep you. :)
ReplyDeleteLove, Dad