Lunch at the Lumber yard -

Several weeks ago, we noticed an event on the Stake calendar called a "Mixtura", scheduled for Saturday, November 29. "Mixtura" means mixture so we were puzzled as to what this could mean. When we asked some of the members, they said it is sort of a personal fund raiser in which various families bring traditional food dishes and sell them to raise some funds for their family. This sounded interesting since it is not something that is done in the U.S., nor are we familiar with it in Mexico or Guatemala. To further add to our curiosity, we were told it would be held in the lumber yard of one of the members.

It turns out that the lumber yard is only 4 blocks from our apartment and since the event was scheduled for Saturday near lunch time, we decided to make it our dining-out experience for the weekend. The following pictures tell the story.

The view as you enter the large double doors from the street. Not too many had arrived at this point. They weren't kidding when they said it would be held in a lumber yard. This location is one of two lumber yards that the bishop of the Centenario Ward owns.

More people began arriving.  Notice that the "tables"are just pieces of wood stacked together.

The only pricing sign we saw, which was near the entrance. "Chocho", very popular here, is a cold salad made with a variety of small white cooked beans, tomato, purple onions and seasoning. The prices indicated are one sol and one sol .50 céntimos. About US$.36 and $.54 respectively. We are not sure what "conchita" is. "Chicha Morada" is a tasty purple drink made from boiling black corn. The price was US$ .18 per cup.

This table caught our attention right away. Baked chicken with hominy. A bargain at 4 soles (US $1.45). Also, we wondered what the "Tacucho" sign was about. We soon found out.

This is the preparation of "tacucho", a traditional food of the jungle area of Peru. This sister moved to Huaraz about 4 years ago from Iquitos in Loreto province of Peru and on the headwaters of the Amazon River. She cooks the green bananas (actually plantain - seen on the shelf to the left) over the coals, along with the pork rind on the skewers. The pork rind is then cut into small squares and placed in the pot where the fat boils out to form a brown liquid and the rind becomes very soft. The cooked banana and the pork rind with the oil are mashed together to form a ball for serving.

Well, I couldn't resist. It was actually very good, a little bland, so I added some "aji", the Peruvian equivalent to chili or salsa, to spice it up a bit.

A great photo! Four of our good friends seated at their "stand". They were selling chocho for one sol per bowl. It was really good. From the left, Pilar, the ward RS president, Maria Louisa, the wife of the Stake President, Monica and Sharon, two young adults who are also Marilyn's piano students.  They were also selling cake by the slice which was very plain but tasty.

The back view of their "stand" with a creative seating idea.  A great example of the build-it-yourself stools and table.  Every time they moved, the stools fell over and had to be re-built.

This stand had meat and salad. We were already full of chicken, chocho, and hominy by the time we got to her location. We did buy a frozen popsicle for dessert--which were really just skinny little bags filled with fruit juice or milk with a little chocolate added

This sister brought cooked cuy (guinea pig), a big favorite here. We passed on this one.  We get teased a lot about not eating cuy.

Happy diners!

Other seating options. You had to be careful where you sat or the boards flipped up.

As the crowd increased, one had to find any seating available.

Brother Jamanca, the high councilor over family history, and his children.

Mother and daughter.  The children here are just beautiful.

So where do you find a bed for a siesta in a lumber yard? Put it together out of  pieces of plywood of course. Older sister keeping an eye on the baby.

The Sunday following this Saturday lunch, we went to Caraz to provide FH training. When we didn't show up in our regular ward, several members  asked us at a Stake fireside later that evening if the food from the Mixtura had made us sick. We assured them that it was delicious and had not harmed us in the least.