Not too far from the city of Miami, lies the erstwhile agricultural district of Redlands. It is such a change in scenery, physical and emotional leaving the cuban-heavy Miami ambiance for a place which might evoke an old Florida feeling.
I enjoy a slow drive through the open fields, neat farms, lots of plants and flowers (commercially grown) as well as a plethora of fruits and vegetables. The demography also changes, more Central Americans and northern south Americans are found here, so dont be surprised to find Mexican or Venezuelan or Colombian cuisine along the trails of the farms.
I had gone to visit a friend, as I had many a times in the past who owns (ed) a Finca in the district and more than once enjoyed staying overnight with only bright stars to lit the night.
with lunchtime approaching, I remembered the Peruvian Restaurant nearby, which I had passed by on numerous occasions.
It was a good feeling to drive into the farm at the top of which was the Peruvian Restaurant. KUSA.
I would say it is a hidden gem, worth the drive from Kendall where I stay in Miami during my visits just 20 minutes away.
The architecture and the set up of the restaurant would not have been out of place on a road to Barranquilla for example, little touches of decoration bordering on the exotic.
I arrived early for Lunch.
I was lucky in that the young lady in attendance, a peruvian-american, university student whose family owns the restaurant, who could explain some of the items in the menu i did not understand.
Causa which I wanted to try is organized like a sandwich but it is sandwiched between maize and I chose the grilled octopus on olive sauce.
It was the perfect size for a bite for me, as I am not used to large american portion sizes of food.
I recommend this place to my friends in Miami, if you do not know Peruvian cuisine or have friends who do not know, take them there and enjoy something very different so close to the concrete jungle that is Miami.
I said good bye to Ms N and the other person and drove into the steamy tropical afternoon of Miami, with an outside temperature of 31 degrees C...
These languorous tropical afternoons always remind me of the distant time, when at the age of 19, armed with a degree from a prestigious college I was visiting Borneo. I had been infatuated with Somerset Maugham and his writing at that time and those afternoons did look never ending . I would leave the house in the heat of the day , to escape from the heat, follow the trail to the river that divided Brunei and Sarawak at Kuala Belait. Perhaps that memory so vivid in my mind I carry to all tropical destinations and I am undoubtedly a tropical person, I feel my best chasing butterflies in a tropical afternoon.
It was many years later that I heard what Anais Nin (born in France to Cuban parents, grew up in France and Spain, lived in USA for many years, her liaison with Henry Miller is well known) had said about tropical nights..
As I was slowly re entering the concrete jungle, the heavens opened up and the typical afternoon downpour graced the earth.
A lazy distant afternoon in Kuala Belait in Borneo and a satisfactory Peruvian lunch in the agricultural district nearby may not have anything to do with each other, but I felt the strange relationship.. at least for me.
I felt happy listening to the heavy rains..
