 Guatemalan fare is a blend of the Spanish, Indian and European, with such French specialties as mushroom quiche and profiteroles with ice cream and chocolate sauce, alongside such native dishes as Chiles Rellenos and Chicken Pepian, the bird cooked in a pumpkin and sesame seed spicy sauce. Other typical restaurant dishes include shrimp ceviche, red snapper with cashews, and mushrooms with garlic. Flan is a justly famous dessert and hot bananas may come with a chile-spiked chocolate sauce.
Our daily breakfasts featured a sumptuous platter of ultra-sweet pineapple rings, cantaloupe crescents, pink papaya spears and peeled bananas, plus pancakes or eggs any style and toast and marmalade. For lunch, a homemade vegetable soup of carrots, broccoli, spinach, corn, or green beans served as a prelude to a salad platter of sliced tomatoes and red onion rings, sprouts and avocado wedges, with a chicken or ham sandwich alongside. Vegetables starred at dinner -- sugar snaps, long beans, artichokes, and patty pan squash -- with rice and pork chops, chicken with mushrooms, grilled snapper, prawns in tomato sauce, or leg of lamb. Fried plantains, flan and watermelon with liqueur were sweets. The two houses joined for dining occasionally, and our kindly house waiter dressed up to serve to table wearing a colorful native costume of bolero jacket, short embroidered pants and turban hat. |
