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

I'd blog more often....

...if getting the pictures from my camera onto my computer didn't seem like such a big deal. I don't know what my issue is, but this has always seemed to be a formidable task. I'm honestly impressed by my friends and family that are able to upload pictures onto facebook multiple times a week. Where do they find the time to plug the camera into the computer??? Ok, I'll stop now.

Last Friday was September 18th. It's not Chile's Independence Day, but it's the closest thing they have to one. I've been told that it celebrates the anniversary of the decision to fight for independence from Spain. Last year I asked a bunch of Chileans what it stood for and no one was able to give me an accurate answer. Historically this holiday might be to celebrate a move towards independence, but in modern day Chile, it's a day to have barbecues, to celebrate all things Chilean, to dance, to drink, to eat eat eat, and to have tons of fun.

Last year in Valparaiso I was invited to quite a few barbecues the week before the 18th. By the day of the holiday itself, I couldn't bare to look at a piece of meat. This year had a more relaxed feel. We only recently moved to Santa Cruz so we weren't invited to any barbecues. Let me tell you people, this was a bit of a relief. We did hit up a Ramada for some empanadas and skewers of fresh local spring lamb, though. It was just the right amount of artery clogging festivity for me. A Ramada is like a fair made up almost entirely of stalls selling empanadas, choripan (sausage sandwiches), anticuchos (meat on a stick), and alcoholic beverages.

We also went to the parade, which consisted entirely of students marching with their school flags and folks of all ages on horseback dressed in tradition Chilean cowboy garb.

Here are some pictures of them waiting to parade:



My favorite thing about this holiday is the little kids dressed up in their cute little costumes. I also like how they set five year old boys free on fully grown horses in the middle of town:



Now for some gratuitous cute puppy shots:






Don't let these pictures fool you. Bella is still my one and only.

Besos,
Allie

When life gives you lemons, make....????

It has come to my attention that I will soon be bestowed a reasonably large amount of lemons. What should I do with them?!?!? Preferably, I'd like to do something healthy and steer away from the dessert category, but all suggestions are welcome!

Where will these lemons be coming from you might ask? Ahhh, it's a surprise which will be revealed in a few days.

Besos,
Allie

Spicy Cilantro Pesto

It's strange. Some produce in Chile is available year round, while other items are only available for the short time out of the year when they are in season. It doesn't make much sense that cilantro is available (and cheap as heck) year round, while basil only floods the markets during the summer. Wouldn't you think they would have the same growing season and conditions?

Yesterday I wanted pesto. Since basil hasn't hit the streets yet, I decided to give cilantro pesto a try. I personally loved it. The boyfriend was okay with it. I think he would have liked it better with some cheese. We had it over pasta and honestly, it was a bit spicy for a pasta sauce. I think it might be better suited as a sauce for something that you expect to be spicy, like a burrito. Next time I make this for pasta, I will decrease the amount of chili pepper. I'm looking forward to making it as written as an accompaniment for steamed veggies.

Spicy Cilantro Pesto

1/2 of a small white onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 of a small aji (chili pepper)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tablespoons cream
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cilantro leaves and stems
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add more olive oil if needed to achieve the desired consistency.



One more note about pesto, be creative. I think "pesto purists" who feel that nothing should enter a pesto besides basil, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil are out of their minds and missing out on a lot.

I've been known to add any of the following items to pesto: raw sunflower seeds, roasted red peppers, olives, chipotle peppers, tofu, white beans, goat cheese, spinach, fresh rosemary, green onions, parsley, Thai basil....

If you think certain foods with taste good with each other, you are probably right! Pesto can be a lot of fun.

What do you like in your pesto?

Besos,
Allie

This is what my life looks like.

We are experiencing the last of the wood burning stove weather for the season. As much as I am looking forward to wearing summer dresses and flip flops again, I think I might miss curling up in front of the fire at the end of the day.


This is my classroom! I love it! Visit www.inglessantacruz.com for more information about my English classes in Chile's Colchagua Valley.


The puppies!!!!!!! Some days it feels like I live in a zoo. Some days it feels like I live in heaven. A heaven full of cute little cuddly puppies!!!



You can see Bella sleeping in the background. In the foreground you will notice puppy number 2. This is Matt's puppy. I finally let him get one after months of him whining and making puppy faces at me. A girl can only resist so much. Now I have an actual puppy whining at me. Improvement? Yes. You would not believe how soft and cuddly this thing is. (Much softer than Matt.)

His name is Sasha. He is a border collie. He's two months old. He learned how to sit on command after less than 24 hours in our house, but we are still facing the challenge of house training. Grrr, house training...


Kitties!!! They are not new, but they certainly add to the zoo like quality of our home. A few days ago, Kitty somehow managed to get into the crawl space between the ceiling and the roof of our house. She was stuck roaming around up there for a day and a half before we figured out how to get her out. She's doing fine now. Adventures!!



Besos,

Allie