>>A special treat is the artichokes,...

>I really don't know what it is. May you explain me a litle more?

Damn if I can remember the name in spanish, but an artichoke is a member of
the thistle family of plants. As one finds it in market, it is about the
size of ones fist, with a single stalk (the size of a thumb) underneath
which blooms out into a thinckening which is covered by point scale-like
leaves pointing towards the tip of the plant. These leaves are yanked of
and the little bit of carrot-like (in texture) edible portion is found at
the inside base of the leaf, which is then scraped off with one's teeth. As
you work your way down the leaves you get to the "heart" of the artichoke,
which after stripped from its roughage, is the shape of a small hockey
puck. This heart is crunchy and edible in the same way as a carrot.
Sometimes you can find only the hearts for sale (in plastic bags) and this
is a good way to save the trouble of the leaves.

La Molina, eh? You don't send your kids to FDR (Roosevelt, The American
School of Lima) do you? My wife and I worked there from 1989-1991.

I imagine those avocado ladies at Monterrico are still there, no? They
taught me much of my lowbrow spanish (I wasn't much of a learner!). The
family who runs one of the first stalls on the right side (if they are
still there) were quite good to me and may remember me. They have two
daughters (probably grown away by now) who helped in the stand. Mention
"Mr. Kirt"--who knows maybe they'll remember me. Indeed, you may have
reminded them (and the palta ladies) of me with your buying habits!

I remember eventually making weekly ventures to the wholesale market and
getting cherimoyas, mangos, and papayas by the case--a great bargain and a
real slice of life (it was in a very poor neighborhood).

You are bringing back lots of memories (riding our bikes thru the ovalo
near Roosevelt! every morning at rush hour, car bombs, apigones, and armed
strikes--mostly failed ones, Aguas Caliantes near Machu Pichu,
Chiclayo--the best pineapples and conchas negras!, trips to Chile, Ecaudor,
Columbia, and La Paz too...)

I have been all-raw for over seven years now and have made every mistake
possible. The veg-raw list is great for getting a variety of feedback on
problems. Keep posting. Your english is very good!

By the way, does your family also eat mostly fruit? If so, _please_ let
your kids eat more than fruit!! They will get deficiencies much faster than
you or I on a fruit-only diet (their teeth with suffer first, probably)...

Cheers,
Kirt