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Ronald and Maricarmen Lemley are bilingual teachers who have worked for decades teaching English in California, New Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Lima before settling in their home in Cajamarca, Peru. Maricarmen and Ronald have been married for 35 years and have written and illustrated five bilingual children’s books with the help of Floricanto Press.

 During their five years in New Mexico, the Lemleys lived in a farming area where thousands of acres of red and green chile surrounded the countryside. In that southwestern culture, they would frequent the chile roasteries and learned to barbecue and peel enough green and red chile to last them through the cold winters. They also learned where to buy freshly ground chile powder, sopaipillas, enchiladas suizas, green chile stew, pozole, bizcochitos, and blue corn pancakes. They learned the secret of cooking and blending dried chiles to make a creamy salsa.

They are well-known by the fruit and vegetable vendors in the colorful Mercado Municipal de Magdalena del Mar as well as the Mercado Central in Cajamarca. They have traveled to the Cusco and Macchu Pichu and the Amazonian jungle areas of Iquitos and Madre de Dios. After much practice, they can find and prepare a wide variety of fresh herbs, fruit vegetables, meat products, and spices that can be used for cooking Peruvian food.

A whole spectrum of Andean, coastal and Amazonian ingredients are available in Cajamarca due to its unique geographical location. One can buy the tiny bananas called plátanos-manzanos, yucca, red, yellow purple and white potatoes, giant papayas, mangoes, passion fruit, five different kinds of avocados, and numerous other ingredients.

While this is their first cookbook, Ronald`s work history includes several years as a cook in French/Vietnamese restaurant where he learned to make Creme Brule, Coc au Vin, Ratatouille, traditional and sourdough French bread and Crevettes Cognac au Beurre.

The couple spent their free time in both Northern California and New Mexico, growing extensive gardens with a variety of Peruvian yellow chiles, black corn, tomatoes, and Peruvian purple potatoes.

Peruvians become experimental when living in the US, and Maricarmen would often buy Peruvian ingredients at a Latin market to make flan, aji de gallina, carpulcra, and other dishes.

In Lima, the couple earned certificates of achievement after attending professional cooking classes and often experiment with their newly learned recipes.

Please don’t be afraid to shop the Latin American markets and try out the recipes in this book that offers many unique and easy to prepare Peruvian recipes.