Chili with Cornbread, and Strawberries and Cream.

Eliana and I made lunch today, but not just any lunch. We made my Grandma Essies ¨best ever chili¨and also corn bread. My mom sent me the recipes, and so it was all in english. So all that needed to be translated into spanish. Nobody knew what was corn meal, and really I did not know what that all was in corn meal either. But they did not think we could buy it here, and so Elianas father took some corn, and ground it up into powder. I was impressed at how fine he was able to grind that up. I think he may have used a coffee grinder. We got a lot of the ingredients at a super market, which is similar to any large super market in the U.S. But some stuff we were not able to get there, and also some that we did not want to buy there, because we could buy it at the market near the house for much less. The market is walking distance, and people sell all sorts of food on the sides of the street, and also a lot of small indoor markets there. We bought more than 4 lbs. of hamburger for the chili soup. By the way, one thing that made it difficult is that american recipes are in measurements of ounces, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc. And it is different here. To measure cups, I got a coffee cup that I thought was close to a measuring cup, and used that. Here when they cook, really they do not measure anything. But I tried to measure everything, because I am not very good at guessing. Eliana was able to taste the chili, and say whether it needed more of an ingredient. I am not good at that. Anyways, back to the hamburger. We got all that hamburger at a market, and its not like in the U.S., where everything is prepackaged and ready to sell. We told them what we wanted, and I saw a lady take an ax to a big piece of meat, and cut off a big chunk. And the next thing I knew, we had ground beef. We bought baking powder for the bread, but here it is not really a powder, but reminded me more of play dough. But Eliana said that it is the same stuff, and will work. The kidney beans for the chili we had to buy dry, and so they soaked in cold water all night, and then her sister cook them in the morning while we were at the market. You can buy white sugar here, but really what everyone uses is brown sugar. They use that in their coffee, and to cook with, and everything. But it is a lighter brown and I think has less molasis. Also the grains of sugar are much larger, but they quickly dissolve in water. I was not sure if everyone would like chili soup, because it is something they have never eaten. They have also never eaten corn bread. And when I saw the corn bread in the oven, it looked much different, and I thought maybe something was wrong. But I was wrong, everything was so delicious!!! I worried if everyone would like the meal, but most everyone wanted seconds. I do not know how many compliments we got, but they were many. We were planning on cooking for 10 or 12 people, but when I was making the chili, I realized that I was making a ton, and I thought it was too much, and we would be eating chili for days. But a lot of family and friends showed up, and we fed between 17 to 20. And by the time that everyone was full, we had eaten it all, except for a little chili and bread that we are saving for some people that was not able to be here for lunch. Bread here is very cheap, and Elianas family always buys their bread everyday from a nearby bakery. Elianas mother asked if I would be able to make some more corn bread tomorrow, and I said yes. Really it is easy. All I need is Elianas dad to grind up some corn. I also had all the ingredients for peanut butter cookies, but was not able to buy peanut butter. I think that is hard to find in Peru, and they must not eat much of it here. But Elianas mother said that if I need peanut butter, she can make it for me.
After the chili and corn bread, we had a delicious desert. Eliana and some other woman made a strawberry cream, and then that was served in a cup with whole strawberries and whipped cream. It was so good, I ate 3 cups of it. Elianas dad asked us how much we were charging everyone for this, because it was so good. It was really a very special time. We had a lot of fun making this. And I want to give God credit, because we asked for his help with all of this, and he helped us with everything. Any ideas for what we could make next time?