Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What am I thankful for? Internet news sources. Nothing in history has kept us more informed on global happenings than the internet and for that I am THANKFUL!!

To celebrate, take a gander at this graphic at the NY Times that gives us some insight on what kinds of Thanksgiving dishes are served regionally throughout the United States.

Alright, it's time for me to head to the kitchen and start prepping for my Thanksgiving feast which will be held tomorrow evening.

Much love!!!!
Allie

America. F*** yeah!

I know I disappeared for awhile, but I'm still alive!

What's new?

I have lots of students! I'm making more than twice as much than I used to make in Valparaiso! Great, huh? It's keeping me busy. I like to be busy.

But, what is this post really about?

America. (Don't you make us press more buttons!!)



America. Land of scary birds of prey. And God.



America, where all your (corporately sponsored) dreams can come true.


America. We got pride. (Wait, is that guy an immigrant?!?)



As I am sure you are all aware, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I am the only American that I know of in Santa Cruz, so my original Thanksgiving plans looked something like me making a pumpkin pie (and possibly some stuffing) and eating in my PJs by myself in front of the TV (okay, maybe with boyfriend). Can you think of anything more American than binging on junk food alone in (Chinese made) sweat pants in front of a (Chinese made) TV?!? I think not. (Okay, fine. Maybe I could also complain about the gays, or the evils of providing access to health care to all, or I could speculate over where the next shooting massacre will take place...)

There is, however, an American woman who lives in Santiago that is opening a restaurant/building a house in Santa Cruz and therefore spends a lot of time in the area. She, being the sweetheart that she is, asked if I wanted company for the holiday. What an idea! I thought about inviting her over to partake in a pie/Law and Order SVU/sweatpants marathon, but then I realized the opportunity at hand. What a great excuse to make a big ridiculous meal for a bunch of people!!! What a great opportunity to cook with ingredients like cinnamon, nutmeg, celery and mushrooms!! (All foods which the boyfriend doesn't like. Sure, I can cook with them whenever I want, but then I'd have to eat by myself.)

So, I'm going all out. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, veggies, and pumpkin pie.

Does anyone have ideas for veggie side dishes? We don't have sweet potatoes or squash. No green beans. It's not brussel sprout season here. I was thinking about roasted asparagus and/or maybe something with carrots?

I just want to say that I love Thanksgiving. It's a holiday with no real (at least no good) reason behind it. It's like our second Independence Day. Only this one is during fall, where big family sit down dinners are preferable to outdoor barbecues. It's cozy. I get to make/eat lots of pie. I like it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans! To everyone else, if you come over next week, I'll share my pie with you! :)

Besos,
Allie

Corn Fritters

Yes, corn fritters.

Corn fritters are basically deep fried balls of corn bread. How could anyone not love them? That's what I was thinking as I was pondering a way to alter a pakora recipe into something boyfriend friendly. Boyfriend friendly recipes often resemble kid friendly recipes in that they can't be too spicy, occasionally hide certain vegetables with a yummy sauce, and are always made more palatable by the addition of ketchup and/or cheese (but not strong tasting aged cheese... or goat cheese!).

I recently found garbanzo flour at the local produce market and instantly had pakoras on my mind. As soon as I arrived home, I shot into the kitchen in hopes of bringing a bit of Indian wonderment into our lives. The boyfriend was excited for lunch. His excitement dulled a bit when he realized that it contained cauliflower (instant boyfriend friendly fail ingredient). It dulled even more when he tasted the pakoras.

"They taste like Indian."

"You like Indian food," I replied.

"....Yeeeeaaaaaah..... but these just have a generic Indian food flavor that I don't like. Mlech, and the texture is weird. I'm going to back to bed. Sorryyyyyy! I wuv you!"

It was unfortunate, because I really liked them. Garbanzo flour is so good for you and there are so few recipes that call for it. I was determined to cross pakoras with a guaranteed boyfriend friendly food in order to satisfy the both of us.

Then it came to me. Corn fritters. Not often the answer to life's little dilemmas, but this time they did the trick.

The recipe below is a highly altered version of this recipe for corn fritters from allrecipes.com. (A great website, by the way.) You could substitute any vegetable or mix of vegetables that strikes your fancy for the corn. You can also use white flour, whole wheat flour, or corn meal in place of the garbanzo flour if you don't have it on hand. I'm planning on doing some additional tweaking in order to squeeze more garbanzo flour in. Shhhh, don't tell!

Allie Loves Her Boyfriend Fritters aka Spiced Corn Fritters

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup garbanzo flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 - 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels, defrosted if frozen
1/2 small onion, diced
oil for frying (I used sunflower oil)


Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the corn and onion, stir until combined. Beat the egg with 1/2 cup milk. Add the liquid to the batter and stir well. Add additional milk, one tablespoon at a time, if needed in order to reach the desired consistency. You want a batter about the thickness of muffin batter.

Drop tablespoons of batter into hot oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until evenly browned. Drain on paper towels. Keep in a warm oven until all fritters are done.

Serve with sweet chili sauce or ketchup for extra boyfriend/kid friendly bonus points!

Lemon Marmalade!

You may be wondering what I've been doing with all those lemons.



I made lemon marmalade using this recipe.



I was quite happy with the way it turned out.

To be honest, marmalade making isn't something that had ever even entered my mind, until I was faced with the bounty delivered by two lemon trees that is. Even then, it still seemed like a task better left to grandmothers with secret recipes handed down through generations and people like this guy.

I'm glad I gave it a try. But, let me be honest. I thought I was failing miserably until about the last 10-15 minutes of the marmalade making process. While boiling, this looked like the failed kitchen experiment of a couple of 8 year old girls. Hot lemonade anyone? In the end it all worked out, and was actually pretty easy, if you don't count all the unwarranted ulcer aggravating stress I put myself under.

I stupidly didn't reread the recipe after the 24 hours of soaking time and added the sugar at the start of the boiling process rather than 45 minutes into simmering. I had to let the mixture simmer for an hour and twenty minutes rather than the one hour stated in the recipe in order to achieve the right consistency, possibly because of that initial error.

If you have a lemon tree, I suggest trying this. If you don't have a lemon tree, I suggest buying marmalade.

Also, the only recipes I could find for lemon marmalade called for meyer lemons, which are a cross between a lemon and a tangerine. Many recipes claimed that you could not under any circumstances substitute normal lemons for meyer lemons. They were wrong.

Now I just need the perfect scone recipe. Suggestions?

I've also used the lemons to make hummus, Greek egg lemon soup, and a lemon cream cheese tart. So far, the lemon marmalade has been the star of the show.

Besos,
Allie

The joys of pet ownership.

I fully intended on getting Bella spayed before she came into heat again. Honestly, I did.

We heard a horror story about a local vet who our friends used to spay their dog. He must have left an ovary or two in her because even though she can't get pregnant, she still goes into heat. Bahhhh, who wants that? Not I. We put off getting her spayed as we were looking into our options. Traveling to Santiago or Valparaiso didn't seem like a good idea, but did we have another choice?

Well, long story short, Bella is in heat and acting super needy and dripping blood on the floor. Bahhhh! I can't believe that I let this happen!

To add insult to injury, the last few days we've had the most beautiful weather and we can't take her out for walks. (This hurts me as much as it hurts her.) Why you might ask? Well, after scouring the internet for information on bitches in heat, I am now an expert. Bitches in heat pee a lot in order to spread their scent and tell near by dogs that they are ready for mating. Therefore, if you walk your dog in your neighborhood, she will leave a nice little scent trail back to your home for all the male doggies roaming the streets. Anyone who has ever been to Chile will know that there are LOTS OF DOGS. Lots of dogs that I don't want scrambling to get into my yard to impregnate my dog, thank you very much.

We could throw her in the car and take her for walks some place else but that brings unwanted obstacles as well. First of all, she is bleeding. Secondly, we couldn't let her off the leash, as I have read that even the best trained dog is likely to run off in search of a mate while in heat. Also, Chile is like a dog mine field. You are almost guaranteed to run into big, un-neutered, untrained male dogs everywhere you go. I don't feel like acting as a human shield between one of those creatures and my bitch in heat.

To make this matter even worse, this last for THREE WEEKS. That's right. THREE WEEKS.

We called the local vet. This just wouldn't do. Poor Bella is closed up in the parking area behind the house, as we can't have her out front peeing to attract all the dogs in the neighborhood and trying to escape through the fence. We also can't really have her wandering around the house and dripping blood on the floors all day.

Luckily, the vet was able to give us some doggy contraceptive pills which will put this to an end within three to five days. Yayy!!

Yes, my dog is on the pill.

And it get's even better. The pills are called Nonpet. That's right. No more pets! Bella, you will be nonpeted ASAP!!

Look at the concerned face of the dog on the box. Bahahaha! We're going to nonpet you!



Bella's pretty happy about taking them. It means that she will be able to leave the walled in parking space in only a few days rather than in a few weeks.

Nonpet. It's a bitch's best friend.



Mmmmmm, Nonpet.



Gimme gimme gimme!



So, after Bella is no longer in heat, we are going to have this very nice local vet spay her. Nope, he's not the one that likes to leave ovaries in as we originally suspected! What's even better is that I'm going to pay for the operation through English classes for the vet. Small town business transactions. Oh, how I love them.

Besos,
Allie

Allie makes pretty good Singapore Style Noodles for a white girl living in a small town in Chile.

I wanted Chinese take out... again. Needless to say, I couldn't have it.... again.

While thinking about my favorite Asian takeout foods, I had an inkling that Singapore Noodles couldn't be that hard to make. It turns out I was right.

I was going to write a schpeel about how this recipe isn't traditional because it's vegetarian rather than including roast pork and shrimp and it uses angel hair pasta instead of vermicelli rice noodles, blah blah blah. Then, I did some research and learned that this dish isn't even from Singapore. It started out in European Chinese restaurants and made its way around the world. Why? Because it's really good.

That said, even though Singapore Noodles isn't traditional Singapore fare, it still has a traditional ingredient list widely utilized in Chinese restaurants around the globe- vermicelli rice noodles, Chinese roast pork, shrimp, onions, bell peppers, bean sprouts, curry powder. I had it this way in what seemed to be a very authentic Chinese restaurant (assortment of Chinese roast animal parts hanging in window, menu in Chinese, lots of Chinese people) in San Francisco's China Town. It was quite good. I've also had many vegetarian versions, my favorite of which was at Pacific Rim in Burlington Vermont, but that could just be out of nostalgia.

Regardless, I really really liked the way these turned out! They make me feel like I am capable of cooking great Asian inspired food anywhere, even in a Chilean cow town.

Don't be intimidated by the long ingredient list. You can leave out, substitute, or add any veggies you would like. You can also add meat or tofu. (Okay, you can't add tofu if you live in a Chilean cow town, but you can in most other places.) This recipe makes 3-4 servings.


Vegetarian Singapore Style Noodles

200 grams angel hair pasta (1/2 normal size package)

Sauce
1/2 cup vegetable stock (homemade or low sodium)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (vinegre de manzana in Spanish)
1/2 teaspoon corn starch (optional)
hot sauce of choice to your taste (I used about 1 teaspoon aji chileno)

3 eggs
1 small carrot, julienned
1 large green onion (cebollin in Spanish) or leek, roughly chopped
1/2 large or 1 small bell pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped red cabbage
1 small tomato, seeded and sliced into thin strips
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh grated or finely chopped ginger
1/2 small mild chili pepper (aji verde in Spanish), finely chopped
1-2 teaspoons (or more!) curry powder
1/4 cup (or more) chopped fresh cilantro

a few tablespoons of olive oil (or whatever oil you prefer)


Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain, toss with a bit of olive oil and keep covered in cooking pot until needed.

Mix sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. I used homemade unsalted vegetable stock. If you are using stock that contains salt, you may want to decrease the amount of soy sauce. You can always add more later! Set sauce aside until needed.

Whisk eggs in a small bowl. Heat about one tablespoon of olive oil in a large wok or frying pan. Pour the eggs into the wok and let cook until almost cooked through, about 3 minutes. Fold the egg pancake in half in order to make a plain egg omelette. Cook for about one more minute and remove from heat. Cut the omelette into strips or squares. Set aside.

Add an additional splash of oil to the wok and saute the carrots for about 2 minutes. Add the green onion and bell pepper and continue to cook for another 2 minutes. Add the cooked egg, zucchini, garlic, ginger, and aji. Stir until fragrant. Add the cabbage, tomato, and sauce mixture. Let bubble for about one minute and add the pasta.

Add one teaspoon of curry powder and mix well. Add additional curry powder as needed. ( I added an additional teaspoon.) You want this mixture to be very yellow and quite dry- not at all saucy. Believe me, you want to add more curry powder than what feels logical. Ignore your gut instinct. The strangely excessive amount of curry powder in this surprisingly dry pasta dish is what gives it character and what makes it truly unique.

Serve garnished with chopped fresh cilantro.

Regardless if you are in Chile, the US, a Chinese restaurant in Europe, San Fransisco China town, or Singapore itself, enjoy!!!

Lemons!!!!!

We moved to Santa Cruz a few weeks ago into a cute little rental house in the center of town.

If you know anything about boyfriend, you'd know that he seems to be unable to live in a city without owning a property there. Unsurprisingly, last week he bought a house! My mother is constantly amazed by his ability to just buy and sell property in relatively short periods of time. I sharred her feelings at first. Now I'm getting used to it.



I love this house. I love it a lot. My favorite thing about it is the large walled in garden which nearly all of the rooms open out to.



Yeah, right now it looks like a mess, but wait wait wait. It's a mess filled with FOOD! Tell me, if you pick food out of an untended garden that you technically own, is that considered foraging? I hope so. I've always wanted to forage....

Eeee! Look what we found!!

Spring onions!!!



We found quite a few of these. So far I've used them in gazpacho, salads, bean soup, and other stuff.


Lemon balm!!!



Lemon balm is really nice in Thai curries! Good idea, boyfriend! You can also make a nice herb tea by placing a few fresh leaves in boiling water. It's a lovely pale green color. I'm looking forward to trying it iced with a bit of honey. Any more lemon balm ideas out there? We are going to replant some of it in a pot, but there is more than we need. Maybe I can dry it?


Lemons!!!! Lemons! Lemons! Lemons!!!



We have lots of lemons. The yard has two big lemon trees. One which is currently FULL of lemons. The other is just budding. Hopefully I'll have more fresh lemons by the time I have used the ones we already have.

So, what should I do with these? To be honest, I'm very excited to be faced with this challenge. Lydia's suggestion of lemonade was genius in it's simplicity. For years I've wanted to make preserved lemons, as Mo suggested, but I'm having trouble finding recipes that call for preserved lemons. I'm afraid that I would make them and then have nothing to do with them. I think that I am going to give lemon poppy seed muffins and lemon chutney a try. A pitcher of lemonade is in order as well. Even though I said that I didn't want to make any super sugary desserts, I might HAVE TO give lemon meringue pie a go. At the very least, a lemon curd... maybe lemon marmalade? I might not have enough lemons!

The yard is also sheltered by a trellis covered in some serious grape vines. We don't know what kind of grape they are yet, but boyfriend thinks they are probably a variety called "pais," in his words, a "bog standard" variety. (Whatever that means...) At the very least we should be able to juice them, and maybe make some grape jelly? I'm also thinking about giving dolmas a try with the grape leaves.

Doggies napping in their new stomping ground:



Happy!!!

Besos,
Allie