Sorry, I’ve been a little busy lately. You know, doing important things. Like drinking jugo de piña (freshly blended pineapple juice) and pisco sours (national drink of Peru.)

Last night, a friend asked me what I liked about being in Peru. This is how I responded:

This isn’t what I like about Peru (that’s another post), but what I like about being here.

The other morning, I had a meeting at Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, my first time at this major referral hospital in Lima. All hospitals are large, confusing, and designed to stymie visitors. Dos de Mayo was no exception. Not only was I running late since I had gotten into an argument about the fare with a taxi driver, I had never been there before and didn’t actually know the name of the department to which I was going.

Dos de Mayo is a surprisingly pretty complex, set around a giant sunburst of a building with far-flung, pastel plastered outbuildings clustered in every direction. I know, because I walked the whole property. Twice. Arriving 40 minutes late to my meeting, the doctor informed me that the nurse I needed to see wasn’t there and then asked me to wait. So I did. For 4 hours. I learned how to play Snake on my phone. Also something called Riches. I think they’re games from the early 90s since they were the only ones preloaded on my super-cheap Peruvian phone.

When I eventually got home, I was bored, starving, and ready to speak any language but Spanish, so I made salad.

From HKWF

This is a super light, delightfully festive dinner. The dressing is tart and puckery, so use a sweet assortment of fruits and make sure to include some cheese or cured meats to provide a balance to the lime and greens. The limes here are the small, slightly bitter, aromatic limon sutil but any lime will give you an approximation of the flavor.

Salad with Lime Dressing
Allow 15 minutes. Serves 2 for dinner. 

Dressing
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped white onion
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Salad
1 head of lettuce
1/2 cup each chopped papaya, starfruit, avocado & pepino melon
2 tablespoons passionfruit seeds
2 tablespoons goat cheese
2 slices of jamon serrano or prosciutto
Lime wedges for serving

Dressing
In a blender, combine all the dressing ingredients except the olive oil and pulse until well blended, with just a little bit of chunkiness from the onions still remaining. With the blender on low, drizzle in the olive oil. Taste, and adjust with honey, salt, or lime juice as needed.

Salad
Tear up the head of lettuce and divide between two plates. Evenly divide the fruits, cheese, ham, and passionfruit seeds over the lettuce and drizzle with the salad dressing. Serve with lime wedges at the table.

My daddy taught me how to shake hands.

Today, the web is littered with articles titled “How to Give an Impressive Handshake” and “The Perfect Business Handshake: How to Shake Hands Well & Why It’s So Important” – vital information in a digital era. My daddy taught me the correct handshake nearly twenty years ago, back when you still waited for a dial-up tone from your modem and pantsuits were not symbols of power, but worn only be secretaries.

He told me, “Taryn, a handshake is your introduction to the world. Make it count.” Then he took me to his high-powered office in a tall, shiny building and had me meet his colleagues. I learned how to shake hands correctly. It served me well in later years – when I met the judges of competitions, interviewers for med school, patients and expensively dressed Wall Streeters. Sometimes, I got compliments on my handshake, as if the other person couldn’t believe that I was a skinny, blonde girl. Usually, though, I just smiled to myself when I remembered my dad’s admonitions. “Grip firm, shake briefly, make eye contact, be friendly.”

How many people go around teaching their eight-year-old daughters a business greeting? I’m pretty sure that I was incredibly blessed to be given my particular dad. I know most parents grapple with how to raise their children, and I’m sure my dad did, as well, but I never saw it. All I remember, from my entire childhood, is my dad treating me like a person. I hesitate to say he treated me like an adult, because it was more than that. No matter how old I was, he always listened to me. He had me make my own decisions. He supported me in my choices (even when those choices included some atrociously bad fashion combinations.) When I had doubts about my faith, he sat down with me and we academically studied contentious issues. When I had to choose a high school, he told me it was my life and I better figure out what I wanted from it. He had a knack of knowing what I wanted to do and then insinuating that ‘of course’ things should be done that way. I wanted to take a year off from med school but was afraid of the delay in graduation and the expense? Before I even voiced those fears, he commented, “Take a year off. Best plan I’ve heard all day.” And that settled that. I only remember him telling me I couldn’t do something once, and that was because we happened to be in the middle of a blizzard.

I don’t know if my daddy consciously set out to treat his children like people, but I do know that his instructions to a little pip of a daughter in a red plaid dress have stayed with her. “Taryn, a handshake is your introduction to the world. Make it count.”

Daddy, you were my introduction to the world. You made it count.

Although I will not be baking bread anytime soon (why would I when the mercado has such gorgeous selections of fresh-from-the-oven pans), I recognize that some people are stuck in the frozen wasteland better known as “most of the US in the winter.” I can’t tell you how alternatively disappointed and relieved I am to have missed Nemo. My thought process goes something like this:

Hot chocolate! Slush. Snow angels! New York sidewalks. Central Park! Wet socks. Massive snow wars! Faulty radiator. Pretty pictures! Empty grocery stores. Buttered rum! No snow days at my hospital. Ever.

So while the Northeast is digging out, I’m busy working on my gorgeous and completely awkward runner’s tan. However, Sister of Mine recently asked for an easy bread recipe to go with her pot roast. During that phone call, I told her to buy a loaf, but she really wanted to make it herself. I think I talked her into the supermarket route that night, since it was already pushing midnight, but for next time, here’s an easy-peasy and relatively fast yeast loaf.

From HKWF

Notes: This bread fairly quick for a yeast bread and turns out a moist, fine grained, and somewhat dense loaf which is perfect for accompanying a savory main dish. It’s best eaten fresh, but fares pretty well with a turn in a toaster or microwave followed by a schmear of butter and your favorite jam. If you’re going to keep it overnight, wrap well in plastic wrap or store in a Tupperware.

Place the warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the water. Allow the yeast to dissolve for about five minutes.  Add the oil, sugar, salt, and two cups of the flour to the yeast and water, and stir well to combine. (You can stir by hand or use an electric mixer for one to two minutes.) Add the last cup of flour and stir until smooth. The dough will be very sticky.

Cover the bowl with a towel and allow the dough to rise for 1/2 hour (the dough should double in size.) Preheat the oven to 375F. Stir the dough down a few times, until the dough is smooth again, the spread the dough evenly in a greased loaf pan.

Bake the bread for 45 minutes at 375F, until the loaf is lightly golden on top and the crust is firm when tapped with a finger. Allow to set for 15 minutes, then slice and enjoy warm.