Our latest guest blogger is Kimberly Henricks, who is currently Secretary/Treasurer of I-Squared, the Young Friends Network of the International Institute. She has her own blog called Everybody Loves Cheese, where she discusses her culinary adventures.

¡Provecho! 

Each month, the i-Squared Dinner Club makes a pilgrimage to an international restaurant in St. Louis to experience cuisines and cultures from around the world, educate ourselves about the happenings of the International Institute, and serve by making a small donation to help welcome new Americans to our fair city.   

We recently visited Mango, a very lovely Peruvian restaurant in Shrewsbury. Awaiting us on the table were “cancha & chifles.” We learned that cancha are salty, fried corn kernels, and chifles are salty chips made from plantain. They were served with a very tasty creamy pesto and spinach dipping sauce. Everyone enjoyed them and wished we could have eaten them all night.  From there, many interesting and tasty Peruvian dishes were ordered, and everyone agreed that the food — all made from fresh ingredients and served with spicy, sweet, and imaginative sauces — was excellent. Of course, a Peruvian meal isn’t complete without a Pisco Sour, a popular drink in Peru, made with pisco (a liquor distilled from grapes), sugar, syrup, key lime juice, and a whipped egg white. Many of us were a bit leery of the egg white, but it worked very well … we all agreed that this was a great cocktail!   

Aside from learning about (and enjoying!) Peruvian cuisine, the i-Squared Dinner Clubbers also learned about the new International Institute community garden from Paul Costigan, Vice President and Director of Employment at the Institute. This new project aims to promote self-sufficiency, build community, and promote healthy eating among the refugees and their families. A select group of refugees from various nations will be responsible for the maintenance and growth of the garden, but of course, volunteers are always needed to help ensure that this project succeeds. 

All in all, it was a great meal, and any time you’re with the i-Squared Dinner Club, you’ll learn something new. Maybe you can join us next month?

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Celebrating Diversity, Get Involved. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.