We didn't have plans for the day so with a later start and just hanging around the apartment for a while we really didn't go out until it was time to buy something to make for lunch. Donna was going to come over from the office to eat with us. We went shopping at the Vivanda and bought chicken breasts, rice and asparagus mainly. After shopping we went back to the room and I started preparing the chicken and asparagus and Daniela made the rice in the rice cooker. I made the chicken in a lemon, pepper, garlic and oregano presentation in the oven and the asparagus was steamed then finished with a quick saute on the stove in olive oil.
Donna brought her lunch and we heated that up and she had some of our food too. I think the food came out reasonably good. We talked for a little while then did the dishes and Donna went back to the office. We watched a movie Daniela had brought along called What to Expect When You Are Expecting. It had Cameron Diaz as the most notable actress in it. It was cute I guess. Oh yeah, Chris Rock had a bit part in it as did Dennis Quaid. I guess Jennifer Lopez is recognizable too.
After the movie we got ready and took a taxi to Daniela's house where her mother was preparing the birthday cake for Daniela's birthday and Daniela was hoping to get the secret recipe. We managed little traffic fortunately. When we got there Daniela's mom and aunt were already started but just barely. They were creaming the butter and sifting the self rising flour. So the process added 5 cups of sugar to what was called 1 kilo of butter with continual stirring. 9 egg yolks were added. The whites were whipped. 2 caps of vanilla extract and a couple tablespoons of grated orange peel. That was all whipped to a specific consistency with an electric beater. Then the 7 cups of flour were added. She added strained orange juice. It appeared to be a couple of cups though I did not get the measurements. That may have been before the flour. I had to step away for a bit to talk to Daniela's friend Maritza who lives in Vancouver. Some scalded milk was added and the egg whites too. Oh, yes, there was nuts of varying types: almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts, pecans. Also white and black raisins. Those were added with the flour. It was whipped to a consistency then poured into a greased and floured cake pan and baked for quite some time (the cake is huge). It had just finished the first tier by the time we were leaving. The second and smaller one was just going in.
While it was baking we had dinner. Daniela's mom made aji de pollo which is chicken cooked and shredded and served in a pureed chili pepper sauce. Not too spicy. It is a special pepper that is orange but cooks up to yellow apparently. That was served over sliced potatoes. It was good. We had some tea and a bit of some cookie type thing we brought back from Chancay as dessert. After we were done eating we helped clean up then brought her aunt to the bus stop then headed back to the room by taxi ourselves not too much later.
At the apartment we stayed up to past midnight and toasted the arrival of Daniela's birthday with a beer toast. It wasn't much longer after that the both of us passed out for the night.
For some reason I didn't take any pictures at all today.
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