Travel Fear #19839

For 12 of my 25 years on this little green earth I was vegetarian. For two of those years I was vegan.

Can you guess what my travel fear is.....

It's not having anything to eat, or more specifically, not having anything healthy to eat.

Sure, you can always find a bag of potato chips on the road, but I've learned from many pit stops at road side diners that considering fried potatoes as a meal, especially for days in a row, leaves me feeling like crap.

Since my travel plans are starting to include a disturbing amount of 10ish hour bus rides, I'm starting to get a little concerned.... Long distance bus rides tend to leave me feeling like crap. Subsiding off of processed potato products also has this effect on me. The results of combining these two variables could be.... DISASTROUS?!?

It's a good thing I've come up with a plan....



Homemade granola bars! Not only will they provide backup sustenance, peace of mind, but they've also helped me use up some pantry items that Matt wouldn't touch after I'm gone.



These 19 little life saving gems won't last me the whole trip. I know that. But at least I've got a trick up my sleeve. (And how I managed to cut a rectangle into 19 pieces, I do not know...)



These granola bars aren't too sweet, are full of whole grains and seeds, and are very versatile and easy to make. They are Chile friendly too, and they make a much healthier breakfast than a pancito. Come on, ex-pats! Add some whole grain to your diet!



Allie's "I will not die of malnutrition on a bus in Bolivia" Granola Bars

recipe adapted from here

• 2 1/2 cups oats

• 1/2 cup sesame seeds

• 1 1/2 cups coconut (I used a mixture of the finely shredded stuff and the larger dried flakes, "coco slice" en Chile)

• 1/2 cup wheat germ (germen de trigo)

• 1/2 - 2/3 cup honey (I used 1/2 and they are barely sweet, which I like)

• 1 egg

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt (because the salty and sweet combination is so good)

• 1 - 1 1/2 cups dried fruit of choice, chopped into small bits (I used raisins, apricots, and cranberries)

• butter for greasing the pan

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Grease an 8x12 or 9x13 inch baking dish (both work, I've tried) with ample butter.
   
2. Combine oats, sesame seeds, wheat germ, and coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. When everything looks toasty (but not burnt!) it is done.
   
3. Reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees C. Pour the mixture into a bowl, and while it is still warm, stir in the honey and vanilla until well combined. Add the egg and mix well. Add the dried fruit and mix well.
   
4. Pour the mixture into your well greased baking dish. Press it into the pan with the back of a spoon. Place a piece of parchment paper (papel mantequilla) or foil over the pan. Using your hands, press press press the mixture into the pan so that it is packed as tightly as possible. (This is important if you want to end up with granola bars rather than just granola.) Save the parchment paper/foil, you're not done pressing.
   
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until light golden brown.
   
6. Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Place the parchment paper/foil over the bars and press press press again. (Yes, they are hot... be careful.) You can use the back of a spoon for this if you have wimpy fingers.
   
7. Once mostly cool, place in the freezer for about one hour. (This will make them easier to cut into tidy little squares)
   
8. Cut into squares.
   
9. Store in an airtight container. They keep longer/stay crisper when stored in the freezer.

You can make these many days in advance of your trip and store them in the freezer until you go. That's what I'm doing!

So, if this is my biggest travel fear, I think I'll be okay.

I leave on Sunday! So so so excited!

Besos,
Allie

Life must go on.

Yes, life must go on.

I cannot let my life become completely enveloped by earthquake madness. I need to continue to do normal things, like sleeping, tidying up the house, and cooking fantastic healthy food that makes me feel good.

To that end, this morning I made a batch of homemade veggie stock and decided that I would use some of it to make a lovely squash soup for lunch, and the rest to restock my freezer.

(Note: Matt and I are very good at keeping a well stocked freezer full of fruit, homemade stock, homemade soups, and sauces. We lost tons of food after the earthquake related power cut that lasted 5 days.)

I didn't want to use a recipe for this soup, because I already knew exactly what flavors I had in mind, roasted squash and caramelized onions. I had this fantastic idea. I would create this amazing recipe and blog about it. So normal! So good!

I tidied up the kitchen, and it felt nice. Then I started cutting the squash. Ah, what a pleasure it was to get back to normal life! To start cooking again! To put all things earthquake behind me!

Then, we had another earthquake. A 7.2 earthquake.

I ran outside with the dogs. The puppy sat under the outside table with the most terrified puppy expression I have ever seen. Bella did her best to get in my lap. (I was standing. It was awkward.)

After the earthquake, I just sat on the ground for awhile with Bella in my lap, feeling like this would never end. After ten minutes or so of moping, I just decided to go on with my day as planned. What else can you do?

I went back inside. I noticed that the power had gone out, which means that we also had no water (electric water pump). I didn't let this get me down. I continued preparing the squash for my soon to be beautiful and healthy lunch.

Then, we had another earthquake. A 6.9 this time.

I ran outside, blah, blah, blah. Dogs flipped out, blah, blah, blah. Seriously, I was starting to get hungry now. This whole "getting back to normal life" thing wasn't working as planned and I was getting annoyed.

At this point, most people would probably just decide to have a sandwich for lunch. Or really anything that doesn't involve you standing over a stove during the impending threat of an earthquake. Even most people who would insist on forging ahead with the soup might scale it back a bit, thinking that maybe the onions don't really need to be caramelized, or maybe the squash doesn't have to be roasted first...

For better or worse, I am not most people. I was determined to continue making my soup EXACTLY as planned. This involved me standing literally right over the stove for the entire process, as in the event of another earthquake I would have had to quickly turn off the gas to the oven and run outside.

Well, that only happened once during the cooking process, but it was only a 6.0, so nothing to freak out about. Right?

In the end, the soup was totally worth it. It made me feel good, healthy, and normal... even though we had another aftershock while I was eating it (Only a 5.4! I didn't even get up from the table! Normalcy, you will be mine!!)

And without further ado, I present to you Earthquake Soup. Make it. Eat it. Continue to live your life throughout the little rumbles. Feel healthy. Feel good.


Earthquake Soup (Roasted Squash and Caramelized Onion Soup)

4 cups peeled and chopped squash (In Chile, that means zapallo. To those of you that have more than one kind of squash to choose from, it could mean butternut, acorn, pumpkin... anything orange really)
olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced into thin half circles
butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cups of veggie stock
1 cup whole milk
grated parmesan cheese for serving (some creamy goat cheese or blue cheese would be better, but I didn't have any)


1. Place the squash in a large baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with saly and pepper. Stir to coat evenly. Roast the squash in a very hot oven until soft, turning occasionally so that it browns evenly. (I turned my oven up to literally the hottest that it goes. I wanted to expedite this because of, you know... the earthquake thing. It worked great!)
2. While the squash is a'roasting, saute the onions in your soup pot over low heat in a little bit of butter, salt and pepper, until they begin to turn brown and start to caramelize (about 15 minutes?). Add the garlic and balsamic vinegar and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
3. Add the roasted squash to the onion mixture and stir in 2 cups of veggie stock. Simmer for a few minutes and remove from heat.
4. Blend soup with milk in a blender in two batches (or use an immersion blender). Reheat blended soup until it reaches a low simmer. Taste for seasonings. Add additional salt and pepper as needed.


Note: Aaaaand I only had to run outside three times during the writing of the blog post! For a 4.9, 5.0, and 5.0, respectfully.


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

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!!!

Xec + Pebre

Recently, a few fellow gringas in Chile requested that I share more of my Chile friendly recipes. I'm going to try to post at least one per week on the blog. I'll tag all posts containing recipes as "Chile friendly recipe." Of course, these delights can be enjoyed in other countries as well. I'll make note of any changes I would make if cooking in North America when necessary for those of you following in the United States (or elsewhere!).

Right. Let's get to it.

I have one main issue with Chilean food-- lack of creativity. Chile is a country with a variety of abundant, cheap, and fresh ingredients. It's also a country that has some pretty good, yet standard, traditional dishes. There is cazuela (meat and veggie stew), porotos granados, pastel de choclo (shepard's pie like thing), empanadas, and pebre (cilantro and tomato based salsa), just to name a few. What gets to me is that this country has such a fantastic place to start from, yet you still see the same main dishes in every restaurant with the same three identical choices of boring side dishes, rice, mashed potatoes, or french fries. Oh my god after a year and a half of this I am losing my mind!! Tastes buds want to die!! Pleeeasse, could someone give porotos granados a little kick? Maybe occasionally change the veggies in cazuela? Possibly a new side dish every once and awhile?? And don't even get me started on the desserts...

So, that's why I cook at home. I cook a lot.

Today I had some fresh fish on hand from Saturday's feria trip and I wanted to do something light, healthy, and full of flavor with it. I instantly thought of xec, a Mexican citrus salsa I learned about from one of my culinary gurus, Mark Bittman. However, after such a fantastic Chilean market experience yesterday, I felt like using my Chilean ingredients to make a truly Chilean dish. And then it hit me. Xec + pebre = the perfect topping for fish. Flavorful. Light. Salsa-ish. Citrus-ish. All ingredients already in my refrigerator. Yes.

Here is the recipe for my Citrus Pebre. It's wonderful on fish and would probably be quite good on other meats, beans, rice, or with tortilla chips.

1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 lemon, sectioned (like you would do with a grapefruit) with juice
2 clementines, sectioned with juice
1 small bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/2 aji (medium heat chili pepper), finely chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients. Serve over fish. Simple as that.

When the weather outside is frightful...

What do you do?

That's right. You light a fire in your fantastic wood burning stove and make some soup (and maybe some muffins, a few fruit tarts and a curry too.)

Boyfriend's house has a fantastic wood burning stove which I am infinitely grateful for.

Yesterday I got down to the soup making and had a fantastic result. I tried to take a picture but the camera I have just isn't capable of capturing the soup's true loveliness. New camera, I should work on that...

I decided to post this recipe for three reasons. Primarily, I just made it up and I don't want to forget it. I'm kind of tossing around the idea of writing a cookbook someday, but more on that later. Secondly, cubes of polenta floating around in creamy, spicy soup has proved to be such a fantastic idea that I felt compelled to share it with the world, especially the people I love. And lastly, I've been following the "How Low Can You Go" Family Supper Challenge on NPR in which listeners and chefs are encouraged to share tasty and satisfying recipes that could be made for under $10 and feed a family of four. Well, I think this soup, paired with salad, fits quite nicely into those parameters. I'd submit it, but I don't think they would chose me, as they just featured a recipe from a gringa living in Chile last week.

Creamy Curry Carrot and Polenta Soup

Polenta
2 cups water
1/2 vegetable stock cube
1/2 cup polenta
lots of fresh ground pepper

Soup
1 onion
a splash of white wine (or water, or oil)
3-4 cloves garlic
about 2 cups chopped carrots
1 corsely chopped tomato
1 vegetable stock cube
water to cover
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cardamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste


Polenta:
Boil the water. Mix in the stock cube. Pour the polenta into the boiling water in a thin stream while constantly stirring the mixture with a wisk. Turn down the heat and cook for 5-10 minutes, stiring with a wisk very often. Pour polenta into a baking dish. Use a spoon to spread it into a thin layer. Set aside to set. (Hint 1: Clean the pot and whisk imediately. Polenta is very easy to clean off when hot and soft but when allowed to completely dry it becomes a crusty material that can be very difficult to remove. Hint 2: Make a double batch of polenta and save it to use in other tastey dishes! There are a million things you can do with leftover polenta. If you want ideas, just ask.)

Soup:
Saute the onions in a splash of white wine (or water, or oil) until soft. Add spices, carrots, and tomato. Simmer until the carrots are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Taste the broth and add salt, pepper, or additional spices as needed. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked vegetables into a blender. Add one cup of whole milk and blend until smooth. Pour the blended mixture back into the pot with the broth. Reheat over low heat for a few minutes and taste. Add more seasonings as needed.

To serve, cut polenta into cubes and divide amoung four large soup bowls. Top polenta with spoonfuls of warm creamy soup. Sit by the fire and enjoy with people you love.


I also recently made a Tart Tatin for a little lunch date with friends. Isn't it pretty? This dessert seems to make people very happy, so I like making it. I was just barely able to take some decent photos.



Besos,
Allie

Comfort Food

I don't know why, but comfort food seems to have some crazy unnatural uplifting effect on me when things just aren't going my way. This is a good thing. It's much better to turn to macaroni and cheese than to the bottle or something. It does lead me to do strange things like accidentally spending whole days in the kitchen and then collapsing from fatigue. I still think it's a healthy thing.

Example 1: Last week's mugging incident. Strangely, at the end of it, all I wanted was homemade chicken soup. I reaaaallllly wanted homemade chicken soup. I settled for an egg sandwich. At least it comes from a chicken. It certainly helped, but honestly, the soup craving lasted for days.

Example 2: Yesterday I was feeling pretty crummy for no reason. I had an ice cream cone and WOW I felt fantastic again. Ice cream was something that I was pretty ambivalent about until I came to Chile. For some reason watching every third person on the street carrying around an ice cream cone made me want to eat it all the time. From exquisite quality gelato to the soft serve at McDonalds, I love it. (Yesterday was a soft serve at McDonalds day.)

Example 3: Today I had a new class scheduled to start at 8:00am. I wanted to be there nice and early so I was rushing, nearly running down the hill to the bus stop. When I say hill, I really mean extremely steep and poorly paved and maintained partially cobblestone street/sidewalk. (On my way down I passed a young man peeing while his friend was laughing at him and two stray dogs copulating.) As I was nearing the bottom, I slowed from my light jog to a fast paced walk and at this point inexplicably fell over and tumbled down the street for a bit. I stood up, assessed the damage and decided that the two inch diameter scrape on my knee and my torn and bloody stockings wouldn't make a good first impression. Crap! And those were my last pair of stockings! Then I noticed the cuts on my hands and determined that I probably couldn't hold a white board marker. Also, even if I did arrive to class, they'd probably make me clean up the dripping blood before stepping into the classroom, meaning that we probably wouldn't start on time and that I might traumatize my student. I decided that going home and postponing the class would be best. Anyway, I went home and woke up the completely confused and disoriented boyfriend. He did a great job of cleaning out my wounds and holding me down as he poured vodka all over them. Yes, vodka is the closest thing to an antiseptic that we have in this house. Ironically, this house has EVERYTHING from mini whisks to an elliptical machine to multiple woks, various sizes of mortar and pestles, a barometer, industrial juice machine, designer pencils, construction equipment, but no. We have nothing to treat minor cuts.

Well, at the end of that debacle I really wanted some comfort food. It was of course, only about 9am, so I didn't really feel able to justify eating anything, let alone junk food. I just had breakfast and we don't really have any ready made comfort food in the house. I started rummaging in the pantry and what did I find? Only the best hot chocolate in the universe. Mom brought this as a holiday present when she came to visit in December. While December is a perfect time for hot chocolate in the Northern Hemisphere, it was pretty summery down south. I was more in the mood for lemonade. I had forgotten about it until today. I made myself a warm steamy mug and I must say, best comfort food ever, and it doesn't even leave you feeling that guilty. My belly is so happy right now. Mommy, I love you.

Buy this:



Now.

By the way. I have the best boyfriend ever. He just returned from the shops with about a million pesos worth of overpriced first aid supplies. Now, he is going to hold me down and pour alcohol all over my gaping wounds, again. Yay?...

Besos,
Allie

This is becoming a food blog, isn't it?

Chinese food in Chile. I've heard that it is pretty bad. On Sundays, nothing in Chile is open. Last Sunday there was no food in the house. Out I went in a desperate search for sustenance. All I wanted was an empanada. You'd think that wouldn't be too hard to find. Wrong. Everything was closed... except for a Chinese restaurant. In the US, you can always count on finding an open Chinese take out place when everything else is closed, like on Christmas day or in the middle of a deathly ice storm. Sundays in Chile have a similar post-apocalyptic feel and apparently, Chinese restaurants are into that kind of thing. So, I ate there and it was ok.

Sometimes wontons look like this....



or this....



but in Chile they look like this.



I have been told that this is the universal Chilean interpretation of a wanton. See that little folded over corner at the top? There is actually a tiny piece of meat in there! For as strange as they appear, they are actually not that bad. Unfortunately, the soy sauce on the table must have been watered down because it tasted like.... well, water. They would have been better with some condiments. For a Sunday, not that bad.

Besos,
Allie

Allie+food processor=true looooooove

My love for my food processor goes beyond the affection that many people feel for their pets. I freaking love my food processor. I bought it for $3 at a garage sale when I was in high school and it has served me faithfully ever since.

When I was packing for Chile, I only took a backpack and a small rolling suitcase. This was a bad idea since I had to re-buy many things I already had in the states, like say most basic items of clothing. Even with this limited packing space, my food processor made it into the "maybe pile" on a few occasions. I just LOVE my food processor. I left it in Bob's hands and I hope that he is caring for it well.

After talking about all the fabulous things I could do with said food processor for months to one of my friends, he suggested that I buy one here in Chile. Genius! Then, I looked at the prices and was appalled. Considering that I've had pretty crap luck with the quality of items I've bought here, I was even more appalled. Then I was sad.

Months later, I was still sad. I had a dream about making hummus and decided that on that very day, I must go out and spend money that I didn't have on a food processor. Lack of patience coupled with lack of selection led me to buy a strange hand held kitchen multi-tool which included an attachment that vaguely looked like a small food processor. I made pesto once, was moderately pleased with it's performance and promptly forgot about the hummus, until today!

Yes! This thing makes hummus and it makes it well! But wait.... it is sweet. Strangely, the tahini that I have been buying here for months now has sugar.... a lot of sugar. So, I have sweet hummus, but it is hummus none the less. Garlicy, smooth, sweet, sweet hummus. And, it's not that bad.

After I finished the hummus, this conversation took place with my friend referred to above. I wont mention names in order to protect his privacy.

"Hey, do you want to try some hummus? It's sweet!"

"No!"

"Have you ever had hummus?"

"Hummus is for jews and gay people."

"... and vegetarians?"

"No difference, you are all evil! ...and the same!"


Isn't he sweet?

Hummus makes me evil and I love it.

Besos,
Allie

Finding a little taste of home in far away Limache...

My French friend mentioned casually one day that his wife buys much of their fresh produce at an organic market in Limache. While the produce in Chile is fantastic, fresh and cheap beyond reason, it is by no means organic. Usually, I'm happy enough with fantastic, fresh and cheap, but lets face it. All I do in Chile is cook, and I'm probably ingesting a lot of fresh cheap fantastic chemicals, and well, I could use an adventure. So, I conned British friend with car, who misses the British affinity for organic food and fresh milk, into driving me to Limache to check out the market.

All I knew about Limache was that there is a variety of tomatoes named after the place that are fantastic and often sold at the market.... either that or tomatoes that are grown in these parts are some how magically delicous and it is worth advertising. (quiniento pesos por kilo limachitos!!!! quiniento pesos limanchitos duritossss!!!!)

What I didn't know was that there is a Waldorf school In Limache! And that's (unsurprisingly) where the organic market was!

Fresh organic locally produced fruit and veg:

School grounds:


Rabbits!


Cows!!


Waldorf!!

Besos,
Allie

Make the pies, spread the love...

Due to popular demand (ok... request by Kathryn...), here are two pie recipes.

For both pies I use this crust recipe. The secret ingredient is vodka, but I've been using pisco here due to its staggering availability and cultural significance. I assume that any liquor with the same proof as vodka would yield the same results. Although the recipe claims that both a food processor and rolling pin are required equipment, they are not necessary (but they do make the process easier). The food processor can be replaced by a pastry cutter or a potato masher and the rolling pin can be substituted by a clean wine bottle covered in plastic wrap.

Please note that I kind of made up both of these recipes and therefore the measurements are estimates.

Pear Red Wine Infused Pie

4 heaping cups sliced pear

3/4 cup cheap red wine

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

zest from half an orange

1 tablespoon butter

pie crust recipe from above

Simmer the first four ingredients until the pears are half cooked (5 minutes or so?). Drain off all liquid and place the pear mixture in a prepared pie crust. Dot the mixture with little pieces of butter. Finish the pie with a lattice top. Check out this blog for a frightening Christian mother's lattice pie top making instructions. (Am not turning into this woman, am I?... Please intervene if I start turning into this woman....) Bake on 410 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 400 degrees and bake for another 40-50 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned.

Apple Raspberry Pie

3 heaping cups sliced apple

1/2 cup frozen (or fresh if cheap/available) raspberries

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup sugar

a good squeeze of lemon juice (2 teaspoons maybe?)

1 tablespoon butter

pie crust recipe as above

Stir the first 5 ingredients together. Prepare your pie crust. Remove any excess liquid and place the fruit mixture in the pie crust. Dab with butter. Finish with a lattice top as explained above.

Pie. Make it. Eat it. Love it.

Besos,
Allie

Papapleto: a guaranteed way to lower your life expectancy.

So the city of Valparaiso has a new website, and its pretty good. Those of you who have mentioned the desire to come visit me should check it out. Its in Spanish and English.

So, I was looking it over when I stumbled upon yet another dictionary of chilenismos. Word on the street is that Spanish in Chile is totally different than any place else, and everyone wants to talk about it, all the time. According to the internet, the Spanish is Valparaiso is even MORE bastardized than in other Chilean cities, so its not surprising that the tourism website would have its own little Spanish to Spanish translation guide. I was reading through it when I stumbled upon this:

Papapleto: sándwich preparado con pan de mesa, palta, tomate y mayonesa que, en lugar de llevar una vienesa -como el completo- se rellena con papas fritas

And here is my rough translation:

Papapleto: a sandwich made with bread, avocado, tomato, mayonnaise, and in place of a hot dog -like in a completo- it is filled with french fries.


I almost spit out my tea when I read that. Like a completo isn't bad enough.... actually, what is worse for you? A mayonnaise smothered hot dog or french fries?

Ewwwwwwww. Ew. Ew. Ew.

Besos,
Allie

Nuez: Danger!!! (Mom, don't FREAK OUT!)

Most of you know that I'm highly allergic to nuts. In Chile, this, as well as countless other topics, can be linguistically complicated. See the Dictionary.com Spanish word of the day for more information:

Spanish Word of the Day
Sunday, August 17, 2008

nuez, noun
walnut

English has a general word - nuts - to cover hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, and so forth. There is no such general word in Spanish, and each kind of nut has a specific name, as with las nueces, walnuts. In cookery, the oil from walnuts is sometimes used instead of olive oil.

el aceite de nuez
walnut oil

Another very common ingredient in cooking is la nuez moscada, nutmeg.

Espolvorearlos con un poquito de nuez moscada.
Sprinkle them with a little nutmeg.

La nuez is also used in a surprising way to replace a different fruit in English:

la nuez de Adán
Adam’s apple

Right. So, there is no word in Spanish that equates to the English word nut. Strangely, nuez has served me fine in Central America. But here, yeah, it really only means walnut. Chilean host Mom suggested that I use the term frutas secas, or dried fruit, which kind of over encompasses what I want to say, but has worked so far to keep me alive. What also helps is taking out my epipen while I explain how allergic I am. I should really do this when I am in the US too, since most of the reactions I've had were when someone had told me that there weren't nuts in something when there actually were. Pulling out the epipen adds a little element of "I'm going to have to stab myself in the leg... in front of you... if you are wrong about this..."

In general, my tactics here are the same as my tactics in the US. Carry an epipen at all times, don't completely trust anyone, and avoid foods that are likely to contain nuts, especially in establishments which are likely to be creative with ingredient choices or where there is a language barrier.

And look, Mom! I'm still alive!!!

Besos,
Allie

Produce passion.

A few days ago, I discovered the best salad in the universe. When you read what it is, you will probably doubt me. Many of you will probably say "But wait, Allie. What about that salad you make with the roasted beets and goat cheese and fresh berries that you've been going on and on about for what seems like a million years." I must say that my beloved beet salad is decisively Pacific Northwest while this baby digs its roots deep into Chilean soil. Maybe someday I'll write a salad cookbook which documents my travels. Anyway, the recipe and a haiku that I was inspired to make up on my walk home from the produce stand are posted below.

Green and Green Salad

about 1 1/2 cups of shredded cabbage
one medium avocado, cubbed
about 1/4 cup shredded carrots
lemon juice
olive oil
salt
pepper
fresh chopped cilantro
a few thick slices of queso fresco, optional (fresh cheese... we don't really have an equivalent to it in the U.S., but feta would be an astounding addition)

Mix veggies together. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and cilantro to taste. Top with queso, if desired. Serves one as a nice lunch or two to three as a side dish.

cabbage crackles, crunch
add ripe, round avocado
green and green and green

I'm such a vegetable nerd...

Besos,
Allie

First Chilean Cooking Adventure

I signed up for more Spanish classes because I had a bit more time than expected before work starts and my Spanish still sucks. While I was in the office getting that all squared away, Luciano asked me if I liked cooking. All of you of course know that I do. When I told him that my specialty is "comida vegetariana," he laughed, as I had expected. I then explained to him that I had been vegetarian for 12 years in the U.S., but in Chile I gave that up in order to really embrace the culture blah blah, what I really meant was not starve to death. Well, it turns out that Luciano had the perfect fish market and recipe in mind for my first Chilean non-vegetarian cooking adventure, and Luciano never disappoints. Yesterday afternoon, only friend and I set off to try it out.

This is the fish market on the boarder of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. Julie and I, being the geniuses we are , decided to go at 3:00 in the afternoon when most of the vendors were gone for the day. Luckily, one was still open and graciously overcharged us for our fish of choice, which he also deheaded and definned and degutted and stuff. Reineta is what the recipe called for, so thats what we got. You can see them there on the table and appetizingly sitting there it the red plastic crate. I looked reineta up on the internet and couldn't find out much about it. Apparently they only exist in this area??
This is a picture of lovely Julie with the finished product. Below that is a picture of the enormous quantity of fish and potatoes that Owen, her roommate, proceeded to consume. MMMmmmm....


It was so easy and turned out so yummy that I want to give you all the recipe as well. Unfortunately, I doubt that you will find reineta outside of Chile and I don't have enough experience cooking fish to offer a suggestion for a substitution. Halibut maybe?

Pescado de Luciano

1 large reineta (this is lots and lots of fish)
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 liter white wine
aji de color (I have no idea what this is, but its not spicy. My best guess is paprika.)
salt and pepper

Lightly oil a large baking dish. Sprinkle the onions and garlic evenly in the dish. Place the fish on top and sprinkle that liberally with salt and pepper. Pour half a liter or so of white wine over the whole mix and sprinkle with a little more salt and some aji de color (paprika). Bake in a 350 degree oven (this is a guess, the oven temperatures here range from 1-10) for 15-20 minutes. Eat it. Love it.

Besos,
Allie