The Earthquake.... what a reason to start blogging again!

I kind of let this blog go.... which is silly, because it's been very therapeutic for me during my (gasp!) 2 years of living away from my family, friends and culture in Chile.

Well, "therapeutic" is something in desperate need of right now, so I'm going to give this blogging thing another go.

Matt and I had a fight last Friday night on how to best parent the dogs. I set up the extra bedroom for myself, got Bella settled into her bed next to mine, popped in some ear plugs to block out the Friday night street noise, and went to sleep.

I was woken by my bed shaking, and for some reason I thought in was Bella trying to climb in with me. I yelled at her incoherently and waved my arms around for a few seconds, and the shaking just got stronger. I took out my (amazing) earplugs and realized that we were right in the middle of an earthquake. This was a REAL earthquake, not like those wimpy little rumbles I freaked out over before.

Everyone has been told that the safest place to be in an earthquake is in a door way, right? So, I ran to the door, trying to put on my sweatpants so that if my body was pulled from the rubble, at least I'd be decent. I reached for the door handle, and the earthquake became so strong that I couldn't believe that the house- any house - was still standing. I was literally bouncing off the wall. I knew that standing in the door way would lead to major injury, as the door would be swinging back and forth with incredible force. (Who came up with this door way thing??? Why didn't I think of the threat of swinging doors before???) I wanted to go outside, but I knew that I wouldn't make it. So, I just stayed there, trying futilely to stay upright while bouncing off the wall and thinking that it had lasted so long. It had to stop. Any second, it had to stop.

And it didn't stop.

Ever.

And then it stopped. The house felt like a boat, gently bobbing in the water.

Every car alarm in the universe was going off and it seemed like there were thousands of dogs barking right outside our door. People were screaming in the streets, and I was really scared. Where was Matt?? Why wasn't he yelling for me???

I ran to our room and opened the door, every piece of furniture in that room had fallen over, and Matt was in bed, sending text messages. (It's best to do these things right away, before cell service goes down.) The puppy was under a few overturned wardrobes, but he was in his cage and completely fine. If Bella had been sleeping in her normal spot, she would have been under this pile of furniture. (Therefore, our fight about Bella saved her. Yay, Bella!!)



We didn't know what to do. We didn't know what had happened. Neither of us had been in a major earthquake before, so we had no idea how strong it actually was, and we were fine.... so, how bad could it have been? We had no idea. We just didn't know anything.

At 8:00am we ventured out to see what had happened. There was a lot of damage in our neighborhood. We started talking to our neighbors and realized for the first time what a bid deal this was, and how truly lucky we were.



As we got closer to the plaza, the scene only became worse.



Nearly a whole block right off the plaza was destroyed.



Almost all of the buildings on the plaza, including the church, have suffered severe damage or have collapsed.



The earthquake measured 8.8 on the Richter scale and lasted 3 minutes. This was the 7th strongest earthquake ever recorded. It was 1,000 times stronger than the recent earthquake in Haiti. At least 723 people have died, and hundreds more are still considered missing. Santa Cruz is located just about on the first ring around the center dot. I can't imagine what it would have been like in the many harder hit towns and cities, or those that experienced a tsunami in addition to the quake.



In Santa Cruz, we were without reliable cell phone service until Monday, without water until Tuesday, and without electricity until Wednesday. Many areas of the country still do not have these services restored, while many had them back on Saturday morning.

That said, the Chilean people have handled this catastrophe with incredible poise, composure, and optimism. When we first ventured out at 8:00am, the morning after the quake, our neighbors were already picking up the pieces of their homes. No one was crying, no one panicked. Everyone we spoke to was quietly grateful. They were grateful for what didn't happen to them. Thankful that they still had their families. The local fire station immediately started distributing water and taking donations of food and other supplies which were available to those in need. Everyone was so calm.

I know that this isn't what has been shown on international news. Looting and washed away beach towns make much better stories. I just want the world to know that looting, desperation, and violence, have not been the reality of this tragedy for many Chileans. Most Chileans are helping their compatriots, and they are doing so with grace in the face of incredible hardship.

I've gained so much respect for this country over the past few days. I can't even put it into words.

I know that everyone is all donated out from the disaster in Haiti, but I ask that you please consider contributing to the efforts to rebuild Chile as well. Please contact me if you are interested. I promise that I will put any donations directly into the hands of someone who needs it.

Check this out for an excellent collection of photographs from all over the country.

That's all for now.

Much love,
Allie

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!!!