Allie does stuff.

Silly hats only.

2011-04-03T04:15:00.002-03:00

We had a SILLY HAT PARTY at Bob's place...

The Bavarian Town of Leavenworth!

2011-03-27T03:33:00.003-03:00

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

22.5 Hours in Portland and a Trip to the Arboretum

2011-03-20T00:32:00.005-03:00

Ms. Meredith was in Portland this week.

I was able to switch around my schedule a bit in order to spend 22.5 hours in Portland with her and lovely Elisa!

And, Cinco...

On my way back to Seattle I took my time and explored some little towns and antique stores.

It was such a nice and well needed mini vacation. The only thing missing was the small town bakeries. Why is it that, in my head, small towns ALWAYS have a cute little bakery? I've been shown time and time again that this is not true. Still, I hold out hope...

On Saturday Drew and I took some pictures at the Arboretum.

The day was beyond beautiful.

You can see the rest of my Arboretum pictures here.

Un beso,

Allie

Allie likes visitors.

2011-03-15T00:32:00.000-03:00

Last week I had a visitor.

No, it wasn't a "special kid" from some sort of organization that plans urban excursions for the developmentally disabled. He just seems to make faces like that whenever I pick up my camera. Don't worry, he's a lot more personable than he looks.

Visitors are a great excuse to do all those touristy things in your own city that you never find the time to do, like wander around downtown and take the time to get some pictures of all those cool details you've been meaning to shoot for, oh.... years. If Chile taught me one thing, it is to not procrastinate in taking pictures of the beautiful place in which you live. You never know when an earthquake will come and knock it all down. Oh, and it taught me Spanish, too. Whatever...

And we visited Pike Place Market...

And took a little ferry adventure.....

To Whidbey Island.....

Why do beautiful sunsets over water always remind me of Vermont?....

Besitos,

Allie

Pineapple Banana Upside Down Cake

2011-03-13T01:29:00.006-03:00

I have fond memories of my Grandmother's pineapple banana upside down cake. It's a genius combination of banana bread and buttery, caramely, ooey, gooey, upside down goodness. I remember that she would make it around Christmas time as a holiday gift for the staff in the doctor's offices that she frequented with my Grandfather. She would send a few pieces home with my father for my family as well. It was the moistest, gooiest banana bread I've ever had. Yes. I remember this cake in so much detail. Strangely, I'm the only one...

A few years ago, while I was still living in Chile, I asked my Dad to get the recipe from Grandma for me. I was living with a banana bread lover at the time and was getting sick of it myself. I thought that adding some banana pineapple upside down action might jazz it up a bit, giving me a slightly different way to put those over ripe bananas that we always seemed to have lying around to use. Also, it seemed like something Chileans would love. Dad didn't remember the cake but asked Grandma anyway. Grandma didn't remember the cake either. I asked Mom. She also had no recollection of this culinary masterpiece. Could I have possibly made it up? But I remember it in so much detail....

Mom had Dad e-mail me a plain old pineapple upside down cake recipe that she found in a children's book. It was a nice gesture, but it simply was not what I was looking for.

My quest for this (imagined?) taste of childhood was put on hold as I created other banana confectionery delights, such as banana chocolate chip oat bread and chocolate banana death pie, which certainly deserves the honor of its own blog post. Someday...

For our open house after the boy's graduation party over the summer, I decided to give the cake a shot. I settled on this recipe, as it received rave reviews all over the Internet. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but I thought it was too sweet. And, it's a low fat recipe. Even though it didn't taste that way, I can't help but to distrust any low fat cake... I was not impressed.

Then, of course, I promptly forgot about my quest for this cake again, as my summer cooking exploits turned mainly to pizza bake offs with the boy, and anything that could use up the excessive amount of zucchini that was bestowed upon us by friends, neighbors, and our own silly purchases at excessively cheap farm stands.

For some reason, the cake crept back into my mind last week as I pondered what would become of the sad bunch of bananas in my fruit basket. I decided that this time, I would go with my gut. I'd find a banana cake recipe, omit some of the sugar, and add it back in the form of a buttery, pineappley, upside downy caramel coating.

I can't believe that I waited so long to make this cake a part of my life again, and I can't wait to make it for Grandma next time I'm home...

Grandma's (I swear!!) Pineapple Banana Upside Down Cake

Heavily adapted from this recipe

1 can pineapple rings (7 of the 9 rings)

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

7 slices of banana

6 tablespoons butter (room temperature)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg (room temperature)

1/3 cup milk + 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup mashed ripe banana

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the 2 tablespoons butter in a 9 inch round cake pan and place in the preheating oven until the butter is melted. Remove from the oven and use a pastry brush to spread the butter over the entire interior of the pan, making sure to completely coat the sides. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of brown sugar over the bottom of the pan and arrange 7 pineapple rings in the bottom of the pan. Push the 7 banana slices into the holes in the pineapple rings. Place the pan back into the oven while preparing the cake so that the ingredients can begin to caramelize.

Use an electric hand mixer to blend the remaining butter, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg together in a large bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk (or sift) the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together.

Add the milk/vinegar and flour mixtures to the butter a little at a time, alternating between the two, and mix until well combined. Fold the mashed bananas into the batter.

Remove the pan from the oven. Pour the batter over the pineapple slices and return to the oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes after removed from the oven. To remove cake from pan, place a plate/serving platter on top of the pan. Using oven mitts to hold the plate and pan together, flip the two over in one quick motion so that the pan ends up upside down over the plate. Carefully remove the pan. Share with people that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Besitos,

Allie

Hello, February!

2011-02-05T20:36:00.006-03:00

Whenever I leave Seattle and tell people where I live, they without fail make a comment about Seattle's reputation for being grey and rainy. They ask how bad it really is. They ask how I handle it. They ask why I didn't just stay in Chile, or chose someplace in California as my west coast relocation destination.

Most of these people don't understand that I grew up in Binghamton, NY, which I am convinced is the greyest place on earth. According to the Farmer's Almanac, Binghamton is the 6th worst weather city in the US. Seattle doesn't even make the list, although cities relatively close by are mentioned. Point being, pretty much any weather outside of Binghamton is a step up in my book.

But, this is not the point that I wanted to make. What I wanted to say is that February is Seattle's best kept secret. Yes, February!

When I lived on the east coast, February was the low point of the year. It was the time when hearing the words "wintery mix" nearly brought me to tears, to tantrums, to quitting it all and running off to a beach as close to the equator as I could calculate where I would lay wearing a black pants suit until my bones were sufficiently warmed. In February, you know that March is just around the corner, and that with March technically comes the first day of spring. I however, have seen too many March snow storms to believe, in February, that there is an end in sight. I've seen too many grey, crusty snow banks in April to see February as anything but a yearly torture that must be endured. February can be a sad, dreary place of which it seems like there is no foreseeable escape.

Not in Seattle, my friends. Look what I saw in my courtyard on February 1st!!

In Seattle, February marks the start of SPRING!

I know!!!

Can you imagine anything more fabulous?? I certainly can't. My first February in Seattle secured this city a special place in my heart. Just another reason to love the city that took me in and became my home, the wonderful beyond words Seattle, Washington.

Bob and I took a little wander through Discovery Park on Friday.

We had a few sunny days during the week, but weren't so lucky on Friday....

But... swamp flowers!

And highs in the 50s!

I certainly can't complain about the weather.

Besitos,

Allie

Skill Share Weekend!

2011-02-01T04:09:00.007-03:00

A few months ago, I spent a lovely afternoon foraging for mushrooms in the woods with two of my favorite pals, Ms. Megan and Ms. Nell. While expressing our deepest gratitude to Megan for sharing this useful and rewarding skill with us, we started realizing how truly lucky we are that we have such a talented, interesting, and diverse friend base. Nelly thought it would be a great idea to get our multi-talented loved ones together once a month so that one of us could teach the others a valuable skill. Then, Nelly did the most amazing thing. She took this little idea that was fluttering about and made it into a reality.

It's really taken off. January was Britt's month and she took the opportunity to plan an entire weekend retreat. She put so much work and love into planning this event, and you could feel it with every word she spoke.

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people all the time!!!

Here are some of their pretty faces.

And here are some other images that I gathered over the course of the weekend...

Click here to see more photos of the weekend.

Besitos,

Allie

Baby!

2011-01-23T22:54:00.006-03:00

Brenna had a baby!

Okay, I guess this is old news.... He's a year and a half old.

They came over this weekend and said baby tried to eat everything in my apartment.

And then we cuddled.

Isn't he the cuuuuuuutest?

Besitos,

Allie

Friends

2011-01-17T03:13:00.003-03:00

It's good to have friends, hot toddies, and a banjo in your life. It's especially good to have them in your very own apartment all at the same time. And it's good to feed them zucchini bread, errhhh, the friends at least.

Besitos,

Allie

Khin Shwe gets married!

2011-01-09T23:58:00.004-03:00

Khin Shwe's family was my first official case when I worked at the IRC. I can't describe how compassionate, hardworking, and genuine this family is. They kept in touch with me the whole time I was in Chile, e-mailing pictures along with little updates on how they were doing.

I was very honored to be invited to Khin Shwe's wedding this past Saturday. It was great to see her, her family, and many of the other Burmese I worked with at the IRC.

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries right after the ceremony, so I don't have as many pictures to share with you as I would have liked. Here are a few...

This picture sums up the scene pretty well. It was definitely a tradition American style Christian wedding, but a little off. For example, when the ceremony started, the room was only about half full. People kept trickling in and finding seats during the ceremony until there was standing room only. And yet more people found a way to sneak in. Kids were running around and there was a mob of people taking pictures with cell phone cameras at the podium throughout most of the proceedings. It was relaxed. The music cues were all off. There was much giggling. It was truly a lovely and joyous affair.

And then there was lots of meat. Meat cooked a million ways. I tried to try a tiny piece of every one and became too full to go on well before I had tried them all.

Then we all hugged and went home. What a day!!

Besitos,

Allie

NYE in NYC

2011-01-04T16:02:00.008-03:00

I debated heavily over whether or not I should bring the fancy pants camera out on New Years Eve. I went for it, which turned out to be the first astoundingly great decision of the new year.

But first thing's first, a photo shoot of some of my favorite people on earth getting alllllll dressed up and ready to go out.

Crazy magic ghost hand...

Els must be the most beautiful woman on earth...

Proof:

Then we went to a party where I continued to accost friends and strangers alike with portrait taking sessions...

My favorite...

Colors! French people!!

Tis the season...

2010-12-26T10:35:00.003-03:00

This year Hannukah took place December 1st-8th. That's painfully early if you ask me. I was in the holiday spirit when I got back to Binghamton this week, and we had all these presents to open.... some pomp and circumstance needed to be mustered. Sooooo, I forced my family to fake another night of Hannukah with me complete with latkes, menorah lighting, presents, and good cheer! Thanks, for humoring me, family!!

Laktes frying....

Mom and Dad light the menorah...

Besitos,

Allie

Road trip and oh so much more!

2010-12-21T00:57:00.010-03:00

Last Monday I left Denver and partook in an epic ROAD TRIP adventure with good friend and fellow gnocchi enthusiast, Al.

I took lots of pictures. See?

I went to a family Christmas party in Long Island...

And I visited the Boy's apartment in the city for the first time!

Here is his street...

Boy walking down his hall.... How did he get so grown up?

The view...

Click on the links for more pictures of the road trip, the family party, and the boy's apartment.

Un beso,

Allie

Fun in Denver with Ms. Catie-cat and Company!

2010-12-13T00:15:00.005-03:00

I've been hanging out in Denver with Ms. Catie-cat for the last few days...

We've been taking walks and testing out all the fun kitchen gadgets she got for her wedding. What a lovely way to spend a weekend.

I love this pretty family oh so much.

Starting to drive east tomorrow morning!

Besitos,

Allie

Busy bee.

2010-12-07T04:20:00.005-03:00

Anyone who knows me well is probably acutely aware that I have a fear of having nothing to do. I was trying not to dread this week. All of the courses I'm both taking and teaching ending one by one... leaving me with a few days of NOTHING before I take a (arguably insane) cross country air/road trip journey back east. (You've got to fill your time somehow, right?)

Okay, the NOTHING has not come. Little thing after little thing has kept my days so jam packed that I can't even keep up with the basic housework tasks needed to keep a 300 square foot apartment clean. Yay?

So, here are some pictures of the last days of class of all three of the ESL classes I had the pleasure to work in this fall.

Class 1: Burien Library

At our end of the semester party we played games...

And ate tamales....

And chit chatted....

Class Two: Student teaching in a Bellevue elementary school ESL class

Unfortunately I can't post pictures of these darling little faces without parental consent... so here are some pictures of darling little hands.

Class 3: Other Burien Class

We had a party (yes, more delicious tamales)....

And I finally remembered to get a class photo! Yayyy!

Besitos,

Allie

This is it!!

2010-11-30T14:48:00.002-03:00

This is it!! The American solution to the food dilemma I was pondering while munching on street food in Bolivia!

It's trendy to a fault and still not accessible to every socio-economic strata of society, but it's a start! Cut down on variety! Do ONE THING well! Use sustainably produced and not overly processed raw ingredients! Go, America! Go!

Mwa,

Allie

Snowpocalypse and other adventures!

2010-11-29T03:37:00.005-03:00

This week Seattle had it's annual SNOWPOCALYPSE in which a few inches of snow falls and the buses go flying off the streets (seriously, you tube it) and everything shuts down and we all just stay at home and watch movies and drink whatever we have lying around. It's nice.

When I woke up on Monday morning, I saw this outside my window...

My goodness, you would have thought there was 3 feet of snow out there with how giddy I was! I got right out the door to take some pictures...

It kept snowing lightly throughout the day and by the time I went to bed the snow had stopped and it looked like this outside.

I know, still not that exciting if you are from a place where it actually snows, which... urhm, I guess I am. But, whatever. I was EXCITED. And, get this, that was enough snow to keep the city pretty much paralyzed for the next 24 hours. It was awesome. All my classes were canceled. I went for a walk in volunteer park with the lovely Ms. Nico.

We wandered through the conservatory...

It was so weird to be in the hot, dry cactus room and to be able to look out the window at snow.

We climbed the water tower....

And looked down at our snowy city...

And I did other stuff too! Like, Thanksgiving, my most favorite of holidays. You've got to love a holiday that requires no more from you than to cook and eat a feast with the ones you love...

Today I taught a pie making class! Pear red wine and apple pies were lovingly crafted and consumed at the end of a week that was in no way in need of more pie....

Lovelovelove,

Allie

Weekend in Portlaaaand.

2010-11-21T21:00:00.000-03:00

Went to Portland for the weekend. Stayed with lovely Elisa in her Portland cottage.

Funky Asian stuff...

Love this one...

The lovely Elisa...

Calories were consumed en mas. Fried tomato BLT amazingness that someone ordered at Tasty n Sons, one of the most magical places on earth...

Mr. Domonic...

Bloody mary with tonsssss of pickled stuff. New project.... pickling everything I can get my hands on...

What's this? Oh, only a vintage dress store in a double decker bus from Liverpool...

Lala...

Lalala...

La La Love it. Bought a frilly vintage love nest of a dress to wear to next summer's multitude of weddings. All of them. Oh yeah.

Besitos,

Allie

Clap your hands if you're working too hard...

2010-11-14T06:22:00.007-03:00

This is a pretty accurate depiction of my life. Homemade cheese is the focus, and there is a bunch of crap I have to do looming in the background.

I made ricotta this week, which marks both the milestone of me using a candy thermometer and cheese cloth for the first time. Oh, and making cheese. I feel invincible. Dare I say that I am moving on to mozzarella next? I should probably look into how involved it is first...

Scout hung out with me for the cheese making process. Every time I checked on her she was doing something hysterical, like sleeping perched on the top of this chair.

Making a sour face, from atop of the chair, of course.

Or making her way inside my folded blanket, without unfolding it at all, mind you, to take a little cat nap.

Miss Nell and I foraged for nettles in Discovery Park on Wednesday morning.

It was fall at its finest.... even though nettles are kind of a spring thing. Whatever. Look at this excitement!

Lovely Nell looks kind of like a melancholy clown juggling leaves, doesn't she?

What a wonderful week....

mwamwa,

Allie

A few pictures per week...

2010-11-07T21:47:00.003-03:00

Heyyyyyy everyone. I'm going to try out a new blogging format. Just a few pictures per week. Maybe some weeks I'll include a little explanation of the photos, but I probably won't for the most part. Just a few pictures per week... let's give this a go...

Meet Scout. She's my neighbor's cat, but she hangs out with me a few times a week. She appeared right when I was in greatest need for something cuddly to curl up on my lap, and cuddle she does with great gusto... I'm very thankful for her (mostly) quiet company.

Freshly baked acorn squash and apple muffins, nestled in a basket, awaiting their journey to a dear friend's home, where they were lovingly gobbled by a gaggle of costumed Seattle transplants...

Days 7, 8, and more...

2010-08-30T23:56:00.006-04:00

I'm having trouble writing a blog post right now. I just don't feel like writing.

It's times like this that I'm glad I got a good camera.

Frozen waffle made into french toast dipped in pancake batter and fried again, anyone? Alfred's culinary prowess amazes me.

And this is his Mom's recipe for fluffy egg nests. Awwwww! Best couch surfing host ever!!

Mount Rushmore!!!

It was pretty amazing, actually. I really enjoyed South Dakota.

Cemetery in Wyoming!! Yes!!

Devil's Tower in Wyoming.... Creepy. Ominous. Yes.

Sooooo, now I'm in Denver. I'll be hanging out here for a week, so don't expect too much doing of stuff. That is, until next weekend when Catie and Derek get married!! Eeeee!

Besitos,

Allie

Day 6: South Dakota

2010-08-29T12:07:00.007-04:00

Ohmygoodness, I just loved this day.

Mitchell South Dakota boasts the title of being the home to the world's only Corn Palace. Ta da!

And we just happened to arrive during the annual Corn Palace festival.

We marveled at the palace, which is redecorated every year with new murals made out of various varieties of corn and other grains.

We sampled the local delicacies. Meredith went for a hot dog.

And I gave deep fried pickles a try. They were alright, but I won't be having them again. It seems like the local philosophy on food is to do as much to it as humanly possible before putting it in your mouth. When faced with a cucumber: pickle, batter, fry, dip in ranch dressing. Yes.

Then we stumbled upon a MASSIVE antique store. I staggered around, overwhelmed beyond words, for about an hour. I wanted to buy EVERYTHING. I just couldn't decide. It was so good that it became torturous... does that make any sense? Probably not. Anyway, I picked up some kitchen gadgets and a book that none of you would even believe. Ask to see it when (yes, WHEN) you come visit.

Then we hit the Badlands.

Pretty!

We ended the day in Rapid City at the home of Alfred, our couch surfing host. We hit it off right away and soon found ourselves chatting into the night about our own respective Long Island Italian American families and Jewish grandmothers. (Yes, we both have those!) Stay tuned for more about Alfred and his culinary genius in day 7's wrap up!

Besitos,
Allie

Days 4 and 5 in pictures

2010-08-27T10:34:00.010-04:00

DAY 4: INDIANA, ILLINOIS, IOWA

Corn!!

Food made from corn!!

Iowa!!

Meredith lost 5 baht trying to get her country singles fix. According to the maintenance guy at the truck stop, the machines are a scam and don't work, so there was no way that Meredith could have scammed them by using Thai money in place of a quarter anyway. Direct quote: "How could this be happening to me? It's really sad..."

Ames, Iowa! We visited the lovey Carla and Todd there. Carla was our Spanish teacher and Todd was our co-worker in Chile. They were also fabulous friends. I missed them a ton after they moved to the US. It was really great to see them!

Downtown Ames....

More downtown Ames...

DAY 5: IOWA, SOUTH DAKOTA

Saying goodbye to Carla... :(
The open road...

Colors!!!

Antique shop!! Yes!!!

Hello.

Aaaaaaaand, on day 5 we stayed with some really great Couchsurfing hosts in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Matt and Pam were very generously willing to take us into their home with only a few hours notice. Before Pam even got home from work, Matt took us around town and gave us a great tour of the city. We had no idea what an interesting place this is and we are really glad we came. Did you know that Sioux Falls actually has a waterfall in the middle of the city??? It has 77 parks and is the 6th most bike friendly city in the country. Sculptures cover the downtown area and each year they are auctioned off and replaced with new works of art from artists from around the world. Without Matt and Pam we would have never learned so much about this gem of a city. Thanks, Matt and Pam!!!

Besitos,
Allie

Road trip: Days 2 and 3

2010-08-25T01:16:00.006-04:00

DAY 2: PAUSE IN PITTSBURGH

We were planning on spending this day in Pittsburgh with some of Meredith's friends from college. Of course, we were planning on doing all sorts of fun stuff with them, like visiting museums, checking out the budding artist communities just outside of town, exploring downtown, and eating ethnic food. Well, as stated yesterday, Meredith drank some bad gas station milk on DAY 1. Instead of being tourists, we took her to the hospital. Luckily, Pittsburgh is full of them! I'm very happy to say that she received a very favorable prognosis and will be back to 100% very soon. Still, DAY 2 was spent nursing this lovely lady back to health. You know, iconic 80s movie, chicken broth, the works. To be honest, I needed a day to relax too. I wandered around the hood and took some pictures....

Urban blight is so photogenic!! Swoon...

Ms. M.'s friends live in the loveliest little post-industrial working class neighborhood....

...and they only pay $900/month for an ENTIRE HOUSE. I'm about to pay that for a shoe box in Seattle. The house from the backyard with Kate, one of Meredith's friends.

The house was so cozy and filled with all sorts of vintage furniture and fun randomness.

Berry making dinner for those of us that could hold down solid food... fresh basil from their garden!

Oh, and they live on Gangwish Street....

DAY 3: PITTSBURGH, OHIO, INDIANA, OH MY!

This morning we got off to a slow start. The lovely Ms. M. was feeling decidedly more chipper so we got some Ethiopian food and checked out the Andy Warhol museum before hitting the road.

(Aaaaand, now the internet is failing me so I can't upload more pictures.... Soon there will be more!!)

We drove through the entire state of Ohio and it was pretty uneventful. I didn't even take one picture.

Then we hit Indiana and realized that we are totally not on the east coast anymore. People talk funny and they sell Jesus license plate holders at the gas stations.

We stopped to spend the night in South Bend, home of Notre Dame University, really wide streets, and apparently not much else. There were about a million hotels right off the highway and we stopped into the first off-brand one we saw to check out the price. Even with a discount, the place was still out of our price range. I asked the receptionist if there was anything more economical nearby. He winced, sucking a hissing breath of air through his teeth. Then, fear entered his eyes...

"Not one that I can recommend" he said.

"Urhhmmm, okeyyy." I replied. "Well, this is a little more than I can afford, so..."

"Most of the hotels around here aren't safe. Definitely not the Howard Johnson.... The only one that isn't completely completely dangerous is the Motel 6."

We thanked the guy and left a little confused, wondering what completely completely dangerous actually meant and wondering if we should go back and ask him exactly what kind of danger we're talking about...

We found the Motel 6 and checked in through the bullet proof glass of the "night counter." There were a few people in the parking lot, and we were looked at very suspiciously by all of them. I think there was one guy with a prostitute in his car, a harmless looking guy walking his dogs, and a few college aged looking kids seemingly on a road trip. We got to our room and I wondered why I was so afraid of everyone. Surely we've both been in much more dangerous environments. We met in Valparaiso, for goodness sake. Ask most Chileans what they think of that and they will likely express their surprise that we weren't robbed in the process of having our first cafecito.

Meredith had a good insight when she said that her street smarts don't work here. I know that we are still in our own country, just a few hundred miles from where we grew up, but it is very different here, in both tangible and squishy, uncertain sort of ways.

Anyway, we're still kicking. Here's to hoping that we make it through the night!

Besitos,
Allie

On the road again. (And Day One of Allie's Newest Adventure!)

2010-08-23T21:18:00.008-04:00

Sooooooooooo, I kind of disappeared from the blog after I left Chile. (You've all heard this story before...)

I kept feeling like I had to write some sort of conclusion of my experience in Chile. I just couldn't. I needed more time to process. Time to figure out what I felt, where I was going, where I even was and why...

And, yeah. I still don't know anything. I was a little concerned about reverse culture shock, but I experienced next to nothing. The closest near traumatic cultural disaster was my first trip to the grocery store. I just wanted everything, but I couldn't decide what I should actually purchase. All the options were overwhelming. Even more so was that I knew I'd be able to find all these interesting and diverse items again. If the store sold out of coconut milk, they would restock. In Chile I had been known to buy 10 cans of coconut milk at a time because I knew that once they ran out, it would most likely been gone forever. Sooooo, I ended up going home with canned chickpeas, feta, and plain yogurt. Nothing that you could really make a meal from, and I don't even like yogurt.... Hmmph. Anyway....

I spent the summer in the US working as a Youth Specialist at the Broome Country Urban League's Summer Enrichment program. It had its ups and downs, to put it lightly, but it turned out be a very valuable experience. If I could live through that and still want to be a teacher, I feel confident that this desire is not just a whim. This reassurance is exactly what I wanted to get out of a summer job. So, yay!!

Some of the little angels:

The building:

The logo is actually an equal sign in a circle. As you can see, the building is in pretty bad shape. The organization is actually in such financial distress that they are in danger of having to close down.

More pictures of my summer with the little snuggle-muffins can be found here.

Well, now I'm on my way back to Seattle. I started the cross country drive yesterday with the lovely Ms. Meredith, former Chile roommate, by my side. We had a turbulent first day, as Meredith managed to consume some questionable chocolate milk from a roadside gas station. She's almost better now, after a quick spin by the hospital this morning, and we'll be ready to hit the road again tomorrow afternoon.

I'd like to document this trip on the blog. I hope to post pictures, and maybe even a little commentary, every day or so. Aaaaaand, I'll start with that right NOW.

Day one: Binghamton, NY to Pittsburgh, PA

The weather sucked...

Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that I found a produce store while stopping for gas. TURKS TURKS TURKS! No Turks in sight. Meredith was perplexed.

Pretty dill fireworks...

Pumpkins?!?! It's Fall?!? Already????

Ugh, I can't stop taking pictures of produce. Please forgive me.

More to come....

Besitos,
Allie

Despedida... Chau, Chile!!

2010-06-08T16:49:00.004-04:00

My goodbye party!

Okay, I generally hate goodbye parties, at least goodbye parties for myself. In the days leading up to the party, all I can think of is that I will have to say goodbye to.... everyone, urgghhh. For someone who moves a lot, I'm pretty crap at saying goodbye.

But, a goodbye party is still a party, and parties are fun. We had fun.

Matt and Matt... I've yet to see what was captured by this camera...

Matt and I....

Hanging out with my darling little Bella...

Cesar, one of my favorite students, and Andrea, a friend from Santa Cruz....

Sophie, Olivier, Ed, and Mike came up from Valpo to say goodbye! And here they are sitting around A LOT of wine bottles. Carl, Grant, Veronica, and Brendan came too! Thanks guys!

Eventually everyone broke into song. And that was fun.

So, tomorrow I leave Santa Cruz for Santiago. I fly out on Friday.

Must finish packing...

To my family and friends in the US, this is my plan for the next few months:

On Saturday I arrive in NYC and head straight up to Binghamton. I'll be spending the summer living with my parents and (hopefully!!) working in a summer school program. I'm planning to take lots and lots of weekend trips to visit all the people I love and miss on the east coast. If you are one of those people, get in touch and let's make plans to see each other!

At the end of August I am going to take a cross country road trip with Ms. Meredith, great friend and wonderful former roommate from Chile! We're going to start on the east coast and work our way over to Colorado for lovely Catie and Derek's wedding. Then we will work our way north, up through the Pacific Northwest, until we reach Seattle! So, if you want a visit and are someplace between the east coast, Colorado, and Seattle, let me know. I'll do my best to show up at your door!

I should be settled back into Seattle by mid September. So, see you soon, Seattle people!!

Besitos,
Allie

Journey complete.

2010-06-04T22:18:00.006-04:00

Argentina is pretty, huh?

Since I last posted I've traveled all around the north of Argentina, returned to Chile, and took a five day trip to the south of Chile with Matt and dogs. Today is my goodbye party and I just spent all morning making stew and macaroni and cheese for the estimated 30 people that should be arriving in... less than an hour?

Wow, I'm exhausted. I spent nearly six weeks traveling, and they were some of the most amazing six weeks of my life. Strangely, I'm not sure why. Did I see some of the most amazing things I've ever seen? Well, probably. But mostly I'm just proud of myself. I'm not very good at new things, and for six weeks straight I did different stuff every day. I woke up in different beds, ate different foods, learned new words, and talked to new people with new and exciting accents.... After awhile, it started to feel alright. Still, I'm looking forward to having a job again, a routine... living normal life. It was good for me to press my boundaries, to remind myself that I am capable of more than I give myself credit for.

And now I have to say goodbye to... everyone? Oh my.

Anyway, Argentina.

Good friend Diego met up with me in the north of Argentina for a little jaunt around. It was amazing to see him. By that point in my trip I was really ready to see a familiar face. And who wouldn't be excited to see a face like this?

We started in Salta:

We chased goats.

GOATS!!

We went on an amazing hike through a rain forest.... and discovered the "OH MY GOD THAT'S SUCH A BIG SPIDER" spider. These spiders were everywhere. EVERYWHERE. (photo stolen from someplace on the internet)

SO BIG. Like 10 centimeters in diameter big. Like haunt your dreams for weeks at the very least (probably years) big. BIG. (this photo stolen too)

So, yeah. The spiders have been plaguing my dreams ever since.... which is pretty much normal for me anyway. It didn't help that yesterday I spent about an hour trying to identify my new little friend. This just gave me more images of scary spiders to fill my dreams, and they all managed to make some sort of appearance last night.... Why do I do this to myself?

Anyway, we took some pretty pictures of the forest with Diego's fancy pants camera...

oooooo.... mushrooms....

ahhh.... lichen...

Must buy fancy pants camera on return to the US...

We had to escape from the woods, but we couldn't find a way out. I was starting to lose it. So, we broke into a hotel...

Hardcore, huh?

Needless to say, we survived to tell the tale... And then we found this funky cemetery in the middle of the desert.

And strange little houses in the middle of nowhere...

Okay okay okay, time for me to shower off the stew residue and get ready for my despedita.... sigh.

Besitos,
Allie

Allie loves food.

2010-05-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

You all probably figured that out already...

Salteña:

I don´t know why we don´t have more breakfast food like this in the US. Cheap ubiquitous, handheld real food for breakfast. Or anytime really. What more could you want??

Salteñas are like little empanadas stuffed with mostly potatoes but also a little ground meat and a piece of a hard boiled egg swimming in a slightly spicy sauce. The spice combination is amazing. I must figure it out. I haven´t been able to find a cook book with a recipe for them here so far. Also, they are a perfect example of the way I prefer to eat and cook with meat. There is such a small amount of it that it´s almost as though it´s just a seasoning. If Americans learned to use meat as a compliment to vegetables and grains rather than the main thing on the plate, we´d have a lot less obesity and heart disease. Grocery bills would be a lot lower. I´m not going to even go into what it could do for global warming...

Anyway...

I love food. I love everything about it. This has been my first big trip where I have not been a vegetarian, meaning that besides things containing nuts, I can try whatever I want. It´s been so much fun!!

I enjoy nothing more than wandering a market. I´ve actually found that I don´t eat too much while doing it either. I mostly observe, ask questions, take in the smells, watch how it´s done. Then I stop for lunch.

The US is missing out on a market culture. I´m not talking about farmers´markets full of local, organic produce that is simply unaffordable to most, we have that. I´ve referring to markets of the people. Accessible markets for normal, average, everyday people to buy affordable raw imgredients and to eat.

As far as I´ve seen in Bolivia, the cheapest place to get a meal in any city is at the local central market, not at McDonald´s. And this is a real meal. Freshly prepared unprocessed food from all the food groups. A menu completo at one of the market food stands costs between 10 and 13 Bolivianos ($1.50-$2 ish) and includes a soup, main course, and sometimes a fresh juice (which will probably give you as a foreigner food poisoning, but that´s another story...). You can order just a main course for less than 10 Bolivianos. Even though there is a huge income difference between Bolivians and Americans, I think that this type of meal is still affordable to most.

So, my question is how do they do it? And how can we do this in the US?

One thing I´ve certainly noticed is that sanitation regulations do not exist (or they aren´t enforced, at all). I´m sure that this cuts down on the cost a bit. It also allows entrepreneurs to enter the market with no qualifications or experience. Many producers and few barriers to entering the market keep prices low. I´m not saying that we should go in this direction, but it is something to think about.

Second, the food stalls aren´t necessarily pretty or very comfortable. You go to them for food, and that´s what you get. You might be sitting on an awkwardly low wooden bench, at a packed table full of strangers, or even standing at a counter, but you came to be fed and that´s what will happen.

Third, I don´t know how, but these talented food stall ladies are able to cook in the tinniest of spaces. Ingenuity, creativity, adaptability. We need more of this.

Fourth, there isn´t much variety at each stall. Each person makes a few dishes per day from the standard repertoire and that´s all there is at this kind of joint. I think that in the US, we´ve gotten a little too used to 5 page menus. How can a restaurant possibly make 100 or more menu items from scratch every day? They can´t, and they don´t. Much of that food you are paying tons of money for was frozen, canned, or processed in some other way. Why not just microwave it yourself for a fraction of the price??

When you go to a restaurant in the US, much of what you are paying for is comfort, ambiance, cleanliness, choice, and service. But what about the food???

That´s what I want to know.

Fruit...

Veg...

Love it.

Besitos,
Allie

The most interesting bus ride of my life! Sucre to Tarija, Bolivia.

2010-05-14T12:03:00.004-04:00

I arrived frantically to the ticket office to check my bag 30 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave. It turns out I was the first one there. The ticket office is located directly above the bus departure gate. You check your luggage at the office and they lower it down by a rope with a hook to a gang of cackling children waiting below.

The little boys grab the bags, like a bunch of ants over taking a fallen crumb, and carry/drag them to the bus, where a mammoth señora tells them where to place them in the luggage compartment of the bus. The little girls giggle and yell taunts in Quechua and Spanish as the boys struggle with giant backpacks twice their weight. I giggle along with them and they seem to notice, as a few of them make eye contact with me every time a little boy lets out a particularly strained grunt or struggles to push and awkwardly shaped item wrapped in an old blanket or plastic sheeting.

I board the bus. Miguel sits next to me and starts talking immediately. He is embarrassed because he thought I was Argentine. You could tell that he never would have dreamed of starting a conversation with an American girl. He starts to blush and apologize. Once he realizes that we can communicate, conversation really takes off. I like Miguel. We talk about everything from nutrition to the Davinci Code, to cars made in Asia, to our philosophical beliefs regarding if "madre tiera" causes earthquakes when she is mad at us for polluting too much (he thinks so). We talk for 3 hours or so, until my ability to hold conversations in Spanish is completely drained and I find myself asking him to repeat nearly everything he says. I swear he starts slipping some Quechua in... I´m getting lost.... he keeps talking....faster.

Did I mention that this bus has no bathroom? Yes, this 16 hour bus ride has NO BATHROOM. When we make a 10 minute stop in Potosi to let Miguel and others off, I make a bee line for the bathroom, even though I don´t need to go yet. I didn´t drink much of anything for most of the day before in anticipation of this bathroomless journey.

I get back on the bus and a tiny young woman with an adorable two and a half year old and two reasonably sized suitcases follows me. I don´t know how she is holding all that stuff. When I reach my seat, I realize that she, the child, and the two suitcases are meant to fit in the seat next to me for the next... how many hours? I look at my watch and realize that it has stopped. For the next who knows how many hours, I am stuck here between the bus window and a pile of luggage, a baby, and a young woman.

I´m impressed how she is able to slide the bags under the seat and her legs. She reclines the seat and lays the baby on her stomach. The kid instantly falls asleep. She is clearly super woman, and she has obviously done this before. She even looks comfortable. Before not too long, she falls asleep as well. I am amazed.

When we pull out from Potosi, the lights are turned off in the bus and our individual reading lights don´t work. It´s pretty much pitch dark and it´s only... I can´t tell the time anymore, maybe 7:30? Cumbia music starts blasting through the darkness and I begin to laugh. There is nothing to do but put my seat back and look out the window at the amazing display of stars and the faint silhouettes of the mountains. I smile and curl up in my sleeping bag as if I´m camping under the open sky.

Lights on. Fifteen minute bathroom/dinner stop. I go into the restaurant and ask where the bathroom is, a far greater concern to me than food. He says "outside." I wander around outside. No bathroom in sight. I ask someone else. He says "mas abajito." Ok. I wander in the dark down the hill until I reach a store front blocked off by a picket fence. I peek my head in and yell "alo!!" until an old woman with grey braids down to her knees saunters in. I ask for the bathroom. She says there isn´t one. I whimper a bit and she sends me across the street to a nearly identical little store front. I say "excuse me" to the old man whose back is turned to me. He looks at me as if he´s seen a ghost, as if he has no idea how this foreign girl got out here to his humble little store in the middle of nowhere. I ask for the bathroom and he does that thing where he doesn´t understand me just because he thinks he won´t be able to, but I am determined. I ask and ask and ask until he gets it. And then he tells me he doesn´t know. I look at him pleadingly, and he points "over there." I walk in that direction, stumbling in the dark, until I reach what looks like a shed with half a door. It´s so dark that I can´t see inside, but I know that whatever it is, it will have to pass for a bathroom.

I can´t do it.

It´s so dark.

I go back to the bus, sit for a few minutes, and manage to work up the courage to go back over there and try to pee over a hole in the dark. I go back and pee, but who knows if I made it into the hole...

Back on the bus. Lights are instantly turned out again and the Cumbia CD is replaced by Disco. Blaring Disco. I´m talking the Bee Gees and ABBA. I´m talking horrible songs that I didn´t know even existed. Then, we turn onto a dirt track and the sound of the windows, seats, luggage, EVERYTHING rattling is almost loud enough to drown out the music. I am thankful.

I´m also thankful that I brought ear plugs. I put them in, and although I can still hear the music, and the rattling, it´s softer now. Against all odds, I fall asleep.

Did I mention that the recline function on my seat is kind of broken? Of course it would be, right? It reclines, and it goes back quite far, but after a few minutes of bumping along dirt roads, it slowly but surely returns to its upright position. Amazingly, with my whole body buried in my sleeping bag, I am still able to sleep. And it´s not that bad.

I´m woken by a tap tap tap on my shoulder. I pull the sleeping bag and eye mask from over my face to see a police man standing over me and shinning a flash light into my eyes, even though the lights in the bus are on (???). I pull out my ear plugs. He asks for my passport. I pull a wad of documents from the pouch around my waist and he takes them all before I can sort through them and hand him my passport. He asks me a series of yes or no questions, based on the documents I am carrying. I ask the woman next to me if this is normal. I think she pretends that she doesn´t understand, as it seemed that she didn´t want to say anything in front of the police officer. The police woman harassing the drowsy people in the row in front of us tells me that we are at a check point, this is normal, and we will be arriving in Tarija shortly. Ok.

Out the window I see a city in the valley below us, lighting up the vast Bolivian emptiness. It must be Tarija. I decide to stay awake and watch our barely lit surroundings turn from rural to urban as we snake into the valley.

What an interesting bus ride. It wasn´t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Besitos,
Allie

Bolivia.

2010-05-11T11:14:00.008-04:00

Since I´ve last posted I went on a three day tour through the Salar de Uyuni, stayed a night in the town of Uyuni, spent a few days in Potosi, and now I am in Sucre.

My trip so far in Bolivia has felt like an upside down bell curve. It went from "ohmygodfantastic" to "eh," to "I´d pay anything to be teleported out of this place," to "mehh?", to "ohmygodfantastic" again.

This country is beautiful beyond words, and that´s where I started.

See???

And look at this!!

Amazing, huh??

And ohmygodfantastic can you even believe this???

Okay, maybe you had to be there. Regardless, the tour of the salt flat and nearby lagunas was a high point of my trip so far. That region must be one of the most naturally beautiful places on earth. Just. Stunning.

It was cold, though. I spent a night in Uyuni and bought so much woolen gear that I almost couldn´t shut my suitcase by the time I was leaving. Uyuni has a great outdoor market that sells everything from fried fish to motorcycles. Lots and lots of knit stuff too. It´s also the cheapest market that I´ve been to so far... and Bolivia is really really cheap.

Potisi was lovely. It reminded me of Valpariaso a lot.

See???

And look at this?!?

And this??

There are lots of churches...

Soooo Valpo, huh?

I´m actually 100% sure that this one done by one of the same artists that has painted the streets of Valpo. (All you porteños know what I´m talking about...)

It also incited similar feelings of rage/peace/idealism/frustration/joy/depair in me. Those were a draining few days. Ugh, I think I´ll leave it there for now.

Sucre, where I am now, is so "ohmygodfantastic" that at some moments I think I´ll never leave. It´s a lovely colonial city, and it for some reason, feels very safe and peaceful to me. I´m staying in the most adorable quiet little hostel I have ever seen. My room is well worn for sure, but has amazing vintage accents, like simple yet beautiful plaster cieling mouldings, and 50´s style bedspreads that I will have to use all my restraint to not shove into my suitcase when I leave. I have a little breakfast nook by the window, with a handstitched tablecloth and a set of chrome and brown velor chairs that could easily fetch a few hundred dollars at a vintage store in Brooklyn. It opens into a lovely little courtyard, bursting with rose bushes and all sorts of potted ferns and delicate green vines. And, amazingly, the shared bathroom is clean. All this for under $6 a night. Why am I going back to Seattle again???

All I´ve really done so far, besides enjoy my room to the fullest possible extent, is spend hours wandering the central market. I know that I rave about every market I go to, but believe me, this is a good one.

At one point in this breathtaking maze, the market building opens into a courtyard of potato venders and fruit juice stalls.

Papas.....

Besitos,
Allie

San Pedro de blahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

2010-05-02T10:53:00.005-04:00

Third stop on THE JOURNEY: San Pedro de Atacama.

Everyone in Chile talks about how amazing San Pedro is. The Lonely Planet clearly loves this place too (and I read the thing cover to cover on the 20 hour bus ride). It was pretty hyped up in my eyes and I´ve sadly been rather disappointed.

The whole town of San Pedro is basically a backpacker´s resort. Every store front is a touristy restaurant, souvenir shop, internet cafe, tour agency, or hostel entrance. No one lives here. Everything is expensive, especially the fruit and veg. Cheap fruit and veg is probably my favorite thing about Chile. So, urhhhm, I´m a little sad. I just don´t feel like I´m in Chile here. I don´t even feel like I´m in South America. This whole little town could have been constructed in any tourist destination, anywhere in the world.

But, people don´t come to San Pedro for the town, they come for the excursions. I did a few, and they were pretty fun. There is some amazing scenery here.

El Valle de la Luna or Moon Valley was given it´s name because it is said to look like a moonscape. It kind of does, and it´s very pretty.

Here I am in el valle with Yayone, a fellow New York gringa who I´ve been traveling with for a few days.

El valle....

We thought it all looked very Dali-esque... and we do silly things and make ourselves laugh a lot....

The next day we got up at 3:45am to see some geysers at sunrise, the highest geyser field in the world, in fact.

Here´s a crazy Chilean, still drunk from the night before, and REALLY EXCITED about the geysers!

And here are some even crazier tourists that decided to strip down and swim in the moderately warm hot springs.

Tours aren´t my favorite way to travel, but they are really the only thing to do here. That said, I head out tomorrow for a 3 day tour through the Bolivian salt flat, the largest in the world!

Besitos,
Allie

Photos of la lovely La Serena....

2010-05-02T10:23:00.004-04:00

I liked La Serena. Here are some of my pictures.

View from the bus on the way to La Serena. Wind power?!?! Yay!!

Favorite antique shop in Chile...

Favorite cafe in Chile...

La plaza...

La feria...

Darling, huh?

Besitos,
Allie

La La La La Serena!

2010-04-28T22:30:00.003-04:00

First stop on THE JOURNEY: Santiago. I finally got the yellow fever vaccination that took me six days to track down and obtain. Ughhhhhhhh.

Second stop on THE JOURNEY: La Serena.....

Last time I visited La Serena I fell ill with the flu. That certainly colored my view of this little town. I remembered La Serena as a dreary little place with a moderately cheesy downtown and not much going on. As you can imagine, I wasn't very excited to go back, but it seemed to be the only logical stop on my way to San Pedro de Atacama...

Luckily, the lovely Allison and Ryan found my blog and invited me to stay with them for a few nights. They are a couple of American Astronomers that work at an American observatory in the area. The Elqui Valley, a stones throw from La Serena, is known around the world for it's incredibly clear skies.

It's been really interesting to hear about their expat experiences and to learn about all the wonderful cooking adventures they've undertaken with the limited supply of ingredients available in Chile. These people are hardcore. They often make their own bread, and it's GOOD. They make yogurt and they even strain it through cheese cloth like cotton (which they painstakingly sought out!) to make it thick and lovely like the yogurt we all know and love. They make amazing curry too, and attempt things like a new nan recipe on a weeknight. Did I mention that Allison made her own wedding cakes??? I love these people.

Anyway, back to La Serena. It's simply a lovely town! No, there's not much to do, but as the Lonely Planet says "La Serena boasts an architectural harmony and beauty noticeably lacking in most Chilean cities."

Also, there is a cafe of the Plaza de Armas right across the street from La Iglesia Catedral (the main church) called Cafe Centenario. Go there. It's the cutest cafe I've been to in Chile. It's like Paris. It's like Buenos Aires. It's such a lovely surprise. They even have cafe cortado submarinos!!!- A little latte with a piece of chocolate dropped in that when stirred turns into melty coffee chocolate milky goodness. Best mocha ever, or maybe the atmosphere just made me woozy with bliss....

Bliss!

And the antique shop down the street? Ahh! It's just as all antique shops should be, labyrinthine and creepy. It's full of chandeliers, broken dolls, religious icons, dainty tea cups, and display cases of jewelry that they had lost the keys for. (They could tell me the prices but I couldn't buy anything because they couldn't get inside until they got someone to come with bolt cutters and cut off the locks!) The old man who owned the place was friendly and confused looking, he rambled, paced with a limp, and was whittling a little tiny chair out of an avocado pit. It made me feel warm inside, like I'd just taken a shot of whiskey. It made me feel surrounded by mysterious, yet important historical relics, as I'd just walked into the New York City Natural History Museum and had seen the tyrannosaurus rex looming precariously over my head. It was what every good antique shop should be.

Bliss...

The day only got better, but I'll stop there. The only unfortunate occurrence is that I don't have the cord for my camera nor can I find a memory card reader so I cannot bless you with the sight of creepy dolls, an art deco cafe, and the sunny skies of a lovely coastal town. Soon, my friends, soon.....

Besos,
Allie

Travel Fear #19839

2010-04-21T09:17:00.006-04:00

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

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Grease an 8x12 or 9x13 inch baking dish (both work, I've tried) with ample butter.
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.
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.
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.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until light golden brown.
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.
Once mostly cool, place in the freezer for about one hour. (This will make them easier to cut into tidy little squares)
Cut into squares.
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

If you want to make people happy....

2010-04-16T18:55:00.003-04:00

... learn how to cook.

Chocolate truffles are a good place to start.

Chocolate Truffles

8 oz. chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa solids)
2/3 cup heavy cream
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Finely chop chocolate.
Bring cream to a low boil in a small sauce pan and remove from heat.
Add the chocolate and whisk lightly until smooth, trying not in incorporate air bubbles.
Let stand at room temperature for about an hour, or until thick enough to hold a shape.
Spoon the mixture into a plastic sandwich bag. Cut about a quarter inch off the corner of the bag.
Line a try with parchment paper. Pipe into mounds about 3/4 inch high and 1 inch wide.
Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
Toss the truffles in cocoa powder. A fork is the best tool for this.
Shake truffles in a sieve to remove excess cocoa powder, or don't.
Store in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Saving Poblacion! We're doing it!!

2010-04-15T10:59:00.003-04:00

Thanks again to everyone who has made a donation to support our effort to rebuild the town of Poblacion. As of today, we have raised US $39,022!!! And more donations are still coming in!

Amazing!

You can see a record of all donations received and funds spent here. All monetary amounts are in Chilean pesos.

Many media aguas have been completed, but there is still a lot of work to be done. If you are in Chile and interested in volunteering, please contact us at info @ savingpoblacion.org .

Here is a picture of Seth and Lee, two of the many wonderful volunteers who have been working on the media aguas.

A few weeks ago the lovely Kyle and her husband Seba, a gringa/chileno couple and photography mogul team, came to Poblacion to document some of the work we have been doing. This is the beautiful video that they made:

Santa Cruz Earthquake from Kyle Hepp on Vimeo.

Thank you again to Kyle, Seba, and everyone else who has contributed through time or monetary donations!

Besos,
Allie

The Journey

2010-04-11T01:26:00.001-04:00

Two years and two months ago I gave away/sold/packed everything up, left my lovely little Seattle studio apartment, and got on a plane heading for Chile.

I've learned a lot about myself over the past two years.

I get jealous of other people. I get quietly competitive. I want to prove that I can do what they do, even if it's something I'm not interested in. I want to be better, more capable than capable. I get overwhelmed in the face of big projects and challenges. Sometimes it's too much and I let fear paralyze me. I don't like to admit what I don't know and I get offended too easily.

Matt has probably received the brunt of this over the past two years, and for that I am sorry.

I've learned that moving every few years, as I've taken to doing since I left home at 18, gives very specific opportunities to reflect on oneself, to ask how you have changed, to contemplate what you want to change. I like that.

Along with these realizations of some of my negative qualities, I also see that I am much stronger than I was two years ago. Much more composed and level headed. I was faced with a new situation unlike any I had ever known, and I rose to the challenge. I'm so proud of myself for moving to South America, which was a goal I had set for myself several years ago. It was a goal that I kind of thought was unattainable.

For about a month before I left Seattle, I had a sign tapped on the wall next to my bed that read "YOU CAN DO THIS!!" I'd look at that sign every night in disbelief. Could I do it? Did I even want to do it? Wouldn't it be nicer to just stick with what I knew? To come home to the same bed every night in the same little apartment that I loved so much?

I'm so glad that I jumped out of that comfort zone. Looking back, I can't imagine making a different decision. I can't imagine what I would be like if I stayed.

Now, I have a silly confession to make. I was able to move across the world on my own, but I've been afraid to travel on my own. I'm still afraid to travel on my own.

Well, now I speak Spanish. Chile has become my home. I've traveled with others and lived to tell the tale....

I'm very excited to say that I am planning a trip to the north of Chile- and maybe beyond. And, I am doing it on my own. I now realize that this was an unconscious goal that I've had for a long time. Now, I'm going to achieve it.

I feel confident. I feel like the knowledge I have gained over the past two years will not lead me astray. I know that I can handle this, and that feels so GOOD. I am so EXCITED!

I'll probably travel during the month of May, as I'm scheduled to return to the US mid June. This will be a great send off present to myself. Of course, the journey will be documented here, so stay tuned.

Besos,
Allie

Buenos Aires. Ahhhhhhhh.

2010-04-09T16:48:00.006-04:00

I just got back from a trip to "the other side," as a friend of mine called it yesterday, meaning the other side of the Andes.... meaning Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires!!! It was so much fun! As you may remember, I have visited Buenos Aires before. This trip had a little more relaxed feel to it. Exactly what my earthquake rattled nerves were in need of. Ahhhhhhhh.

Leaving Santiago was a bit of a challenge, as the airport was still in pretty bad shape after the earthquake, even though it was more than a month after it had happened. For example, the ONLY working bathroom in the airport was after security in the international terminal. And it wasn't even signed. Most of the plasma screens that give information about flights and gates had fallen, and there was no attempt to provide the information they usually provide to passengers through another medium. The staff seemed really cranky when you asked them questions, which was kind of funny because the only option was to ask them questions or stay lost in the international terminal for all eternity.

Most of the floating ceilings and much of the duct work fell as well. As far as I can tell, not much has been repaired yet. Although, more bathrooms were open when I arrived back yesterday. This is one of the first things you see after you land in Chile.

The ceilings that have fallen over the lines you wait in at immigration. I spent awhile looking around, looking for a safe place to take cover in the airport during an earthquake. I really couldn't find one. Once again, I realized we were very lucky that this earthquake happened at 3:30am, when most buildings like this were empty. No wonder Chileans have such a fatalistic outlook!

Anyway, I arrived in Buenos Aires to an airport that was completely intact! I really enjoyed the cab ride into town. All those buildings standing! The hustle and bustle of city life when I've grown so used to the country! A taxi driver that sounded like an old Italian man from NYC, only speaking Spanish! What fun!

I relaxed a lot. Read a lot. Wandered a lot.

There was a crazy birthday party for a four year old at the apartment I was staying in. It looked a little somethin' like this. I made cupcakes (not pictured.). The cute little kid on the right helped me decorate them.

This is Parque Centenario, probably one of my favorite parks on earth.

Oh, and I visited the Natural History Museum! Natural History Museums are one of my favorite things. Chile's been pretty disappointing on that level, so I was really excited to give the one in Buenos Aires a try. Because, you know, Argentines make everything look awesome... right?

Doesn't this look awesome??

Okay, so it was pretty disappointing as well. Oh, I'm not being fair. It wasn't that bad. It just wasn't that great.

But.... how could there be world without frogs?!?

Oh, I'm not sure, they never actually answered this question that they posed to all of us...

Okay, okay, I'll stop.

Still, Diego and I had a pretty good time with our new found museum friends.

Now I''m home and refreshed and ready to take on the next adventure.

Ahhhh.

Besos,
Allie

Allie loves the ferias!

2010-03-24T14:52:00.006-03:00

Wednesday and Saturday are feria days in Santa Cruz, making them my favorite days of the week! A feria is like a wonderfully cheap and not at all pretentious farmers' market. While this might not be true for Valparaiso, or any of the larger Chilean cities, the vendors here in Santa Cruz are incredibly friendly and honest. A few of them know me by name (La Senorita Allie!) and one even has his own nickname for me (Mi Riena, or My Queen! I love it!) Ferias are by far my favorite thing about Chile.

Look what I got today for less than $10 US!

That's right. Avocados, spinach, arugula, carrots, corn, bell peppers, chili peppers, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, chives, squash, and a dozen of the best free range eggs I've ever had. The amazing deal of the day was 4 little red bell peppers for 100 pesos or 20 cents! Wow!

Chile has better and cheaper food than any place I've ever been. The food culture and cuisine on the other hand.... well, they leave something to be desired. But the raw ingredients! Oh, the raw ingredients! And for these prices? Incredible.

I've taken my stay in Chile as an opportunity to cook with ingredients that are pricey in the states and experiment like I've never been able to afford to before. For example, cold peach ginger soup, gazpacho, blackberry bars, fresh tomato sauce, blueberry pie, strawberry corn muffins....

In the US I would never throw a perfect fresh peach into a blender. Here, at about 20 cents per pound, I can afford to do whatever I'd like with them. This has been great because I've been able to figure out which recipes will really be worth mangling my $5/pound fruit when I get back to the US, and which yield a result no more pleasurable than eating the fruit on its own. (Cold peach ginger soup is a keeper, my friends!)

Not pictured in the above photo of my bounty is one ear of corn that was already given to this floppy tongued little monster to mangle till his heart's content:

Take me seriously when I tell you that a full ear of corn is the best and cheapest dog toy ever. There are just so many different layers to enjoy! It takes the dogs literally days to work through one of these. At 100 pesos (20 cents) each, they are quite a deal.

Oh, and Bella likes fruit and veg too! I think that she is the only dog I've ever known that could happily be a vegetarian. You don't even want to know how many peaches and avocados she ate one day when we stupidly left her home alone with easy access to the fruit basket... And then the puppy ate all the pits! And.... messiness ensued. End of story.

Besos,
Allie

Saving Poblacion! Earthquake angst!

2010-03-22T22:52:00.006-03:00

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our effort to provide every family in the town of Poblacion with a roof over their heads before the winter rains arrive!

We've created a blog to give donors project updates, family stories, and information about donations received and how funds have been spent. On the blog you will find a link to a spreadsheet where you can confirm that your donation has been received. Donations from the US haven't made it into Chile yet due to some difficulties I'm having with Paypal. I should have it worked out by the end of this week.

With donations received so far, we've already purchased enough materials to build 65 shelters! Your donations will help us purchase the materials needed for the remaining 35+ needed. Yayy!! I've been so amazed by how the families and friends of all the foreigners I know in Chile have come together to fund some truly amazing and urgently needed projects. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I just can't thank you all enough.

Last week Matt and I went to Poblacion to do some family interviews to put on the blog. I kind of assumed Matt would do all the talking, since his Spanish is much better than mine and I think he is just better at this type of thing in general. Well, when we showed up at the first family's house, Matt said hello and then kind of walked off with the volunteer construction crew to look at piles of wood and stuff, leaving me with the Senora.

Senora Onafra is a lovely woman. She was all smiles as she showed me around a covered patio behind what was left of their house. There they had made a little bedroom with blankets hanging on clothes lines as walls. The bed was there, neatly made, with a beautiful antique wardrobe sitting beside it. She invited me to sit down and started to tell me how it really wasn't that bad to sleep in the garden. She thought she would be cold, but she wasn't at all! This lady is a serious trooper.

Then, she started telling me about what the earthquake was like for her and for her children living in various other cities. I realized at this point that I was doing the interview, not Matt. Surprisingly, it went okay.

See, here's the proof. It's a crappy picture, but proof none the less.

We moved on to the next house. Actually, it was no longer a house. It was an empty lot. This family's home collapsed completely during the earthquake. By the time we had arrived to interview them, all the rubble had been hauled away. All that was left was a pile of wood they had manged to salvage to use as cooking fuel.

Of course, Matt disappeared again to chat with the builders about material costs and to take pictures of piles of wood. I was left once again to do the interviewing.

There were 10 people living in the Gomez Lorca home, all of whom were miraculously able to escape from their collapsing house without injury. Included in this family are a seven year old girl and a newborn baby, only about two weeks old at the time of the earthquake. They showed me where they are all sleeping now, a tiny shack, neatly outfitted with three beds, rugs, and pictures on the walls. I shyly asked if I could take a picture to show to our donors abroad, feeling my insides drop to my knees. Amazingly, this family was all smiles as well, even as they were telling me how difficult the soon approaching winter would be for them.

As we drove back to Santa Cruz, I felt awful. I felt worse than awful. I couldn't believe that I had a house to return to, to spend the night in, and that many of my neighbors don't. I have indoor plumbing, electricity, and many of my neighbors don't. During the mere three minutes that the earthquake shook much of Chile, so many people were thrust back into extreme poverty which took years for their elders to rise out of. All of that work, gone in three minutes. And whose fault is it? Who is there to blame? No one? That just can't be right. It doesn't feel right that the earth can just shake and knock down your home, leaving you with nothing.

Just as I wrote that, the earth started to make that unsettling light roar that accompanied the earthquake and many of the aftershocks. The house shook a little and I just couldn't help but wonder why the earth was so mad at us. Totally irrational, I know, but homes falling down out of nowhere in the middle of the night seems pretty irrational too. The earth growling at you while you sit in your bed at night? That's just not supposed to happen.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this, can you tell?

I promise that my next post will have nothing to do with earthquakes. (Ok, unless something crazy happens again...) I've been meaning to write about my garden, the amazing ferias, or farmers' markets, in town, and my (drum role please) planned return to my homeland, the good ol' US of A! There's lots of fun not seismically related stuff in my life, honest!

Besos,
Allie

Life must go on.

2010-03-11T13:52:00.007-03:00

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

How to Donate

2010-03-10T17:06:00.004-03:00

First of all, I'd like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has offered to help us rebuild the town of Poblacion, financially and through volunteer work. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We are building a blog so that you as donors and concerned citizens can track our progress, see that your donations have been received and see exactly what we have purchased with received funds. We will also be posting photos of the town, family stories/interviews, and (hopefully) video interviews and/or tours of destroyed homes and the residents' current living situations. The blog doesn't have much information on it now, but we hope that by Sunday we will have some more stuff up. Check it out!!

Many people have asked how they can get money to us from the United States. The best way is to transfer funds into my Bank of America account, which I will then transfer to Chile. I've set up a paypal account by which I can also accept donations. Please note that paypal charges 2.9% + 30 cents for each credit card transaction. There is also the option to make a bank transfer via paypal, which I believe is a free transaction.

Please click on the button below to donate via paypal or e-mail me at aazersky AT gmail.com for my account information so that you can make a bank transfer.

If you'd rather donate to a registered non profit, please consider Un Techo Para Chile, an organization that is also building emergency homes for earthquake victims.

Thank you again!

Much love,
Allie

Please help us rebuild Chile! The first step is a roof over every person's head!

2010-03-07T17:55:00.005-03:00

I still can't put into words how impressed I've been with the Chilean people.

Please humor me while I try again.

On the one week anniversary of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami that destroyed entire city blocks, crippled transportation networks, and washed away entire seaside towns, a 24 hour domestically televised telethon style fund raising event was held. The goal of "Chile Ayuda Chile" (Chile Helps Chile) was to raise 15 billion pesos, or $30 million US to build 30,000 emergency homes, an aim which I found impossibly high for a country of 16 million people, 70-80% of which were just affected one week earlier by the 7th largest earthquake ever recorded.

I was wrong. I was so wrong that my eyes welled up with tears of pride when I heard the total. Somehow, through personal and corporate donations, 3o,212,775,555 pesos were gathered. That's over US$58 million. That's almost twice the original goal. That's simply unbelievable.

Unfortunately, this amount won't be enough. Unfortunately, many will be sleeping without roofs over their heads tonight, and for many nights to come. This is especially true in my community.

Chile lost an estimated 500 thousand homes to the earthquake and resulting tsunami, a staggering blow to a country of 16 million people. Even though Chile Ayuda Chile nearly doubled their goal, this only amounts to 60,000 emergency homes. That leaves 440 thousand to go.

Winter rains could arrive as early as one month from now. This situation has reached a critical level of urgency.

Poblacion, a small rural town near Santa Cruz was especially affected.

Many of the homes destroyed in this town were owned or lived in by low income agricultural workers.

Aid has arrived slowest to rural areas. These are also the last people to have their basic infrastructure, like water and electricity, restored.

A group of residents has taken it upon themselves to start providing the most critically affected victims in this town with materials to construct emergency shelters. We are funding this effort through private donations from our friends and family and we are starting NOW.

These homes, or "media aquas," are single room structure of 18 square meters (about 160 square feet). They are little more than a shed with windows, but they will give families shelter, and a place to start from in order to rebuild their lives. The materials for each home cost 300,000 Chilean pesos or US$580. They will be built mainly by the people who will be living in them, although construction assistance will be provided to those who need it.

Poblacion's local government has estimated that 100 homes are needed. As the volunteer disaster relief information organizer, I think the total will end up being higher. I'll post updates on the statistics as the information gets... erhh, organized. (Tomorrow's project! And what a project it is!) Even though there was no information on how many houses were in the town before the earthquake, it is clear that a large percentage of homes in the community were destroyed.

To my friends and family: Please help me rebuild the community in which I live. Contributions of any amount are helpful and can make a direct and immediate impact on a family that is living in the open air or under a tent with the shock and fear associated with becoming homeless overnight. Many of these families have small children and/or elderly members.

As one of the coordinators of this program told me, the media aquas are just the first step. She said that priority number one was assuring that every little old lady, every family, had a roof to sleep under. Next, she said, we are going to rebuild Poblacion to be more beautiful than before. You should have seen her eyes glow with pride when she said that.

Many town residents see this as an opportunity. To see them speak, to see them work voluntarily around the clock, while they have their own homes to repair, their own jobs, lives, and families to attend to, it's an incredible thing.

Please contact me if you are able to contribute.

For those of you who aren't my family or friends (or if you are uncomfortable with the idea of sending me your contribution), I don't expect you to just randomly send me money. I ask that you please consider donating to Un Techo Para Chile (A Roof for Chile), which works in a similar area.

We are trying to set up a google group or something similar so that donors can see a record that their contributions have been received and can also see updates as houses are built and progress in the town is made.

Please watch this National Geographic video that details the earthquake aftermath in the region of Santa Cruz and Poblacion.

Take care,
Allie

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

2010-03-04T14:59:00.007-03:00

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!!!

2009-11-26T10:35:00.002-03:00

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!

2009-11-20T11:37:00.005-03:00

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

2009-10-15T11:37:00.000-03:00

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!

2009-10-10T14:51:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-10-09T08:47:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-10-07T12:48:00.008-04:00

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!!!!!

2009-09-23T18:20:00.000-04:00

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....

2009-09-22T15:16:00.007-04:00

...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....????

2009-09-14T16:25:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-09T19:06:00.004-04:00

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.

2009-09-08T16:43:00.004-04:00

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

Xec + Pebre

2009-08-30T21:50:00.009-04:00

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.

I have the cutest dog ever.

2009-08-27T21:33:00.004-04:00

Don't even try to dispute me on this one.

See. So cute.

Let me bring your attention to what she looked like when we adopted her. After only about a week in our home she has transformed from a scrappy little pile of bones into a REAL DOG. The secret is her ultra high calorie diet which includes lots of cooking oil, hard boiled eggs and Allie's homemade dog food, a.k.a. chicken livers and rice. REAL dog food for a REAL DOG! Believe it or not, down here homemade dog food is actually cheaper than that gross store bought stuff.

Well, we now live in Santa Cruz and I would like to say that so far my life here has been fabulous. Let's take today for example. This morning I got up and put my dog out in the front yard. I watched her run back and forth, throwing her squeezey ball up in the air and then chasing it while I planned an English class. I then taught the English class in MY OWN CLASSROOM that happens to be IN MY OWN HOME and made about the same amount of money in an hour and a half that I had become accustomed to making in an average day in Valparaiso. After that I took the dog for a walk, in which we took our time strolling through a quiet little plaza in my neighborhood. I admired the blooming cherry blossoms. She sniffed stuff. I had lunch, quiche I made last night with fresh free range eggs that I bought at the market only a few blocks from my home. I took a nap on the couch. Then we took the dog for a nice walk on a friend's farm with a fantastic view of the Andes. We came home. I made penne a la vodka from scratch and now I am just hanging out until bedtime. Not too bad, huh?

I'm creating quite a repertoire of "Chile friendly" recipes and I've been striving to add vodka sauce to the list. The catch is that most recipes call for canned tomatoes, which are available here, but so much more expensive than fresh tomatoes that it physically hurts me to use them. I'll post the recipe once it has reached the highest levels of vodka sauce bliss. I'll probably be sick of it by then, but hopefully you will be able to enjoy it.

Much love,
Allie

Allie is back!!

2009-08-17T19:56:00.008-04:00

Hi, loyal readers!!!

Sorry I disappeared for awhile. A lot of my posts weren't showing up properly a few months ago. Since I didn't have the time (ok, motivation) to figure it out at the time, I just got around to fixing it a few days ago. Now I am back!!

So, here is the update. I spent the month of July in the United States visiting friends, family and Asian restaurants.

First we went to New York, where we attended my cousin Jeff's wedding to lovely Nicole...

And Matt picked up Lyme disease from a tick in the Hamptons. Behold, tick in a bottle...

Then we went to Seattle where I met up with a lot of my lovely and well missed friends....

And Brenna had a BABY while we were there!! I don't have a picture of the baby because I was too awestruck just looking at the darling little thing to take out a camera. I did dream of him wearing a hot dog costume though. It went kind of like this...

Then we went to California.... and didn't take many pictures...

What a fantastic month!!! Thanks to everyone who met up, helped us out and put us up throughout our travels! Please come visit in Chile so that I can return the favor!

Now I am back in Chile and TOMORROW we move to Santa Cruz. Yayyy! Pretty countryside! Dogs! Garden! Teaching English!!

In our new house we have reserved a room for me to use for classes. I am so excited to have my own classroom! I hope to start teaching next week, as I already have two students lined up and friends tell me that there are many more people who have shown interest in having me as an English teacher. I'm calling this little operation Ingles Santa Cruz. Click on the link to see my website!

Wish me luck on the move!

Besos,
Allie

How I went to Santa Cruz to look for a house and ended up acquiring a dog too.

2009-06-06T17:10:00.001-04:00

Well, we actually found the dog first.

We have stayed at the same hotel, Casa de Campo, every time we've visited Santa Cruz. The owners have been fantastic, the rooms are amazingly comfortable, and the breakfast is incredible. We've actually taken to calling the place "home" and have considered how much it would cost if we rented out a room for oh, maybe a year or so.

I digress.

On Friday when we arrived at the hotel, a very skinny black dog came right up to me and placed her head on my stomach so she was looking vertically up at my face as we were both standing. She was very cute. Then she started "hugging" me. You know wrapping her legs around me, but very gentle. Very sweet.

Boyfriend asked the hotel owner who the dog belonged to. He said "to you." We looked at each other, shrugged our heads and said ok, as long as he could care for her until August when we move. He said it wouldn't be a problem.

There is no way to know if the dog will actually be there and/or alive by the time we arrive in August, but if she is, she is totally ours.

So, we went to Santa Cruz to find a house and we found a dog first. Isn't she cute though? I named her Bella.

Ok, in this picture she looks a little scraggly. We have some fattening up and cleaning to do.

Brace yourself. This story has an even happier ending.

We also found a house!!! We would have preferred something more in the country with a little more land and maybe a little more space, but this house is going to be a fantastic place to live. It's in a very cute neighborhood only a few blocks from the center of Santa Cruz. It has a small yard, a parking area, access to Internet, and parquet wood floors! It has a great location for me to teach from as well and a room that I can use as a classroom. The owners are an old couple who are incredibly nice and seemed very happy to have us as renters.

Exhibit A:

Nice old lady: Do you like the house?
Allie: Yes, I like it very much.
Nice old lady: Ohhh! We like you too!!! (said as she squeezed Allie's arm with a big smile on her face)

(This dialog was then repeated about 2 minutes later)

Having chickens there might be a challenge, especially considering that we now have a dog and already had two cats, but if we are creative we may be able to work something out. If not, my long time dream of having a few chickens of my own will have to wait. At least I have a dog!

Besitos,
Allie

When the weather outside is frightful...

2009-06-03T11:04:00.005-04:00

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

Big! Exciting! Shocking! News!!!! Moving! Santa Cruz!!! Ahhh!!!!

2009-05-29T17:17:00.001-04:00

(Warning: This post takes stream of consciousness blog writing to a new level.)

That's right. Boyfriend and I are packing up and moving to Santa Cruz, a small town about two and a half hours south of Santiago.

First, though, we'll be spending July in the United States. Here are the dates of our trip, just in case any of you want to meet up, put us up, or rent us a place to stay or something...... (hint hint help hint hint)

July 4-5 - NYC
July 5-9 - Binghamton, NY
July 10-12 - Seattle, WA
July 13-19 - NYC (and maybe a night or two on Long Island)
July 19-26 - Seattle, WA
July 26-2 - San Francisco/Napa Valley

Right now you might be thinking to yourself, "Wow, those dates are psychotic!" Let me explain..... Oh, never mind. I don't really want to explain. Let's just say we bought some cheap flights without thinking very hard about the dates and had some changes in our plans.

Speaking of "plans" and the "Unites States" and "Santa Cruz" is reminding me of this very long and ulcer provoking list of things I have to do which has been sitting next to me for the past week and has only had one item checked off thus far. Just some of the fun fun activities included are finding a house to rent in Santa Cruz, renewing my visa, applying for grad school, starting up an English teaching business...

Yeah, that's right. I'm going to start up my own little school in Santa Cruz. (Note: Please don't take this blog as a sample of my ability to communicate in the English language. This is what I like to call "mind vomit." I swear that I am capable of preforming better than this... just too lazy to do it when I'm not being paid for it.) Once I make the website, I'll post a link here and you can all be amazed by how difficult I am making my life.

Difficult? Yeah, that's right. I had a perfectly good job in Valpo with which I was able to cover a modest level of living expenses (unless I got sick and had to see a doctor which, yes, predictably has happened). Not only that, but it was a job that I (mostly) liked. Why would I leave that?!?

Urk, uhm. erhm. I don't know. Oh, that's right. I do. I'm ready for something else. Valparaiso has been fantastic, but it has really crushed me into the ground, and I have both the figurative and literal scars to show from it. Also, after living here for over a year, I find myself without really any friends. Acquaintances, yes. I have quite a few of those. However, all of the real friends I have made have left or have plans to leave in the coming months. After living in Seattle for a year, I really felt like it was my home. I had a great social network, a job that I loved, and I had the basic logistics of living in the city pretty much figured out. After a year in Valpo, I felt as though I was still trying to stay afloat, and getting really very tired doing so. Valpo and I, we just don't have long term potential.

I know, moving to a different city in your home country is very different to moving to a new city in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, don't have any contacts and don't know the culture. Still, I thought at least by now I would have a social network I could rely on, and all I really have is the boyfriend. The boyfriend is great, but you know, a girl needs more than that to feel truly fulfilled with her home.

A few months ago when the boyfriend's friends in Santa Cruz suggested that we move to the area, boyfriend and I looked at each other and decided without much hesitation that we should go for it. Why not?

So, Santa Cruz. August. That's the plan.

Why am I excited to move specifically to Santa Cruz, you might ask?

Well, for one, research tells me that my earning potential is a lot higher there. I'll be one of two native English speaking teachers in an area with a budding tourism industry and many wineries that predominantly export their products. Also, I'm excited to live in a small town. In Valpo I feel like I am seen as "just another weirdo gringa who is probably studying abroad." I'm hoping that in a smaller community I'll be seen as "that lovable gringa that I have heard so much about from my gossiping neighbors and her wildly satisfied students." Last but not least, I want to raise chickens for eggs. For years, I've been dreaming of owning my own mini flock of chickens. I think that they are the most fantastic little creatures, but more on that in another post.

Chickens. Yay. :)

Nos vamos.

Besos,
Allie

Comfort Food

2009-05-19T10:02:00.005-04:00

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

Apocalyptic (in a good way) Sunset

2009-05-16T19:09:00.004-04:00

Pretty and kind of scary, huh?

Rabia!!

2009-05-14T16:37:00.003-04:00

Today is a beautiful day. When Valparaiso is sunny, it's one of the most lovely places on earth.

See?

I finished work at 2:30 and decided to go to the near by mercado central to pick up some fresh goat cheese and olives before going home.

And... what did I find?

Pomegranates! Really cheap! 500 pesos/kilo! (That's less than 25 cents per pound!) I don't know how this insanely-cheap-pomegranates-in-chile season passed by unnoticed last year, but now that I know it exists, I'm pretty pumped about it.

Wow! What a great day!

I remembered that new only friend, Kacy, called me just as I was arriving to my last class and I had promised to return her call after I was finished. I took out my cell phone from the highly secured secret pocket of my backpack and gave her a ring. She didn't pick up. I put the phone in my jacket pocket and paused, noticing a woman selling REALLY CHEAP cilantro. Then, a man behind me wrapped his arm around my body, holding my arms down and pressing me into his chest. I started screaming at the top of my lungs and then he was gone, at which point I continued to stand on the street and scream at the top of my lungs.

Cilantro lady started asking me "what did he take? what did he take? what did he take?!?!" because I was making a racket akin to a woman who had just lost her first born child. At this point, I stopped screaming and realized what he was doing. He wasn't trying to drag me off somewhere to rape/murder me, he was just stealing my cell phone. I was visibly relieved. She seemed to think it was strange that I calmed down and started smiling AFTER I realized that I had just been robbed. I bought some of her cilantro as she shook her head and hissed disapprovingly at the man's actions and then I took the bus home.

My first South American mugging was pretty anti-climactic, I guess. That is, of course, the way I prefer it. Strangely, it left me really wanting to come home to someone cooking me chicken soup...

Strange day!!! And I was just talking yesterday about how I have nothing to blog about!

Que lata.

Besos,
Allie

Thingo.

2009-05-07T14:19:00.000-04:00

This thingo is pretty cool.

Porotos Granados.

2009-04-23T15:45:00.003-04:00

My favorite Chilean food.

Also, the only vegetarian Chilean dish that I know of, besides cheese empanadas and "vegetarian plates" that consist only of chopped cold veggies and queso fresco (fresh cheese). Right, so it's the only warm vegetarian dish I know that can be considered a well rounded meal.

I always order this when it is available in restaurants, and I am usually a little disappointed. It often seems almost perfect but lacking a little in flavor. My recipe adds white wine, an aji (chili pepper) and copious amounts of basil. Just enough flavor to complement the natural yummyness of all the fresh veggies.

Although porotos granados is a dense vegetable and bean stew, it falls under the category of summer food, as that is when the fresh beans are available at the market. Fresh beans, by the way, are fantastic. They are firm, yet creamy, and they have a subtle flavor unlike anything you will ever find in dried or canned beans. Granados are relatively large and white, and they come in delightful pink pods.

Another main ingredient is zapallo (or zapallo camote... anyone know what the difference is?), a large pumpkin like squash bought in chunks at the market or grocery store.

My recipe for porotos granados is an altered version of this recipe, which is in Spanish. For those not in Chile, or those craving this dish out of season, canned or dried beans could probably also be used, although I've never tried. Below I have posted two recipes, one for how I currently make the dish, and another for how I would try to make the dish with ingredients I know are available in the United States.

Porotos Granados de la Allie

Ingredients:

1 kilo porotos granados, shelled
1 chunk of zapallo, skinned and cut into large chunks
1 vegetable stock cube
splash of olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
1 large aji (chili) pepper
2-3 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 large carrot, grated
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/4 cup or so of cheap white wine
1 small bunch (or half of a large bunch) fresh basil, washed and coarsely chopped

Put the shelled granados, stock cube, and zapallo in a pot with enough water to cover. Start them cooking on a low boil while you prepare the other ingredients.

Saute onion, garlic and aji pepper in olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the carrot, tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, keep cooking. Add the zapallo when soft, but continue to cook the beans separately. Mash the zapallo and tomatoes into the mixture by pressing them against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. When the beans are soft and creamy, add them and about a cup and a half of the cooking liquid to the vegetable mixture and continue to cook for about 15 minutes. You can add more cooking liquid if you want a soupier result, less if you want more of a paste. Add basil and cook for a few more minutes.

Toast some pan batido and enjoy! Think of how proud your Chilean grandmother would be!

Porotos Granados, North American Style

Ingredients:

2 cans white beans
1/2 butternut or buttercup squash, or a large chunk of pumpkin, cut into big chunks (... or even a can of pumpkin could work)
1 vegetable stock cube (if using fresh, not canned, squash/pumpkin)
a splash of olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
1 mild chili pepper (optional)
1 large carrot, grated
2-3 tomatoes, chopped... or even 3-4 whole canned plum tomatoes without the juice
1/4 cup or so cheap white wine
1 bunch fresh basil (yes, the fresh part is important for this ingredient)
1/2-1 tsp salt (may need less if canned ingredients are used)
pepper to taste

If using fresh squash/pumpkin, cover with water, throw in a stock cube, and boil until soft.

Saute onions, garlic, and optional chili pepper until onions are soft. Add carrot, tomatoes, wine, salt and pepper. Cook until tomatoes start to break down. Add squash/pumpkin and press the tomatoes and squash against the side of the pot until you have a creamy yet still a little chunky consistency. Add the cans of beans and about 1 cup of the squash cooking liquid/vegetable stock, adding more liquid if a soupier result is desired. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add the basil and cook for a few more minutes.

Serve with corn bread, biscuits, or a fresh loaf of crusty seeded whole wheat bread. Enjoy!

(Did anyone else notice that the Chile version of this recipe calls for mostly fresh ingredients while in the North American one, three of the ingredients could be canned? )

Look, it is favorite cat!

Look, it is a beautiful day!

I was just hanging out on the terrace, trying to absorb all the sun I can before it goes away again...

Besos,
Allie

In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe.

2009-04-20T13:59:00.007-04:00

Not really. But, I guess I'm back to blogging.

So, yeah, I've been doing a lot of stuff. So much stuff that I couldn't find time to blog about it, which I suppose is a good thing, because I originally started this blog to keep from going bored out of my mind.

I've been in Chile for about a year and two months now, and things seem to be going pretty well. My Spanish isn't as good as I hoped it would be, but after a year of language teaching I have learned that a person's performance in a second language is rarely at their desired level. You know that famous study where people are asked how much money they would need to really feel secure and happy and nearly everyone, regardless of current income or background, responds that they would need 25% more that what they currently have? It's like that. You'll never be satisfied. I won't be at least. That, at least for language learning, is a healthy thing. The most important thing I've learned from teaching English is that there is so much that I don't know. That, and I that I love teaching, and want to continue doing it for a long time.

Today has been a great day. It's only 2:13, and I already feel confident saying that. I woke up early and it wasn't too cold, wasn't too warm. I started a new class at the port management company, only a 15 minute walk from my house. Small class of beginning level students, my favorite. I came home to my fantastic boyfriend cooking us a full English breakfast, complete with meat products illegally smuggled into the country from England. (I never thought that bacon could bring me so much happiness... or be so addictive.) Then, I found to my delight, that I had absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day. It's been so long since I've had that feeling, and wow, it was spectacular. I got right down to one of my all time favorite activities, baking while listening to This American Life. (I'm probably the oldest 24 year old on earth.) I still have the rest of the day to do whatever I want, so so so so nice. I think I'll read, maybe get some exercise, maybe get some sun....

I'm probably relishing in this to such an excessive degree because last night I finished a semester of on-line classes that had been looming over my head since January. I hate on-line classes, which unfortunately I didn't realize until about 3 days into the courses. Regardless, I'm now a few steps closer to that Advanced Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and the ESL Endorsement needed to teach ESL in Washington State schools. I'm getting there, and it feels quite good. Now all I need are two more classes and that pesky Masters in Education....

I love how summers here slowly fade out. It seems like no one does any work over the summer, except for those who work in tourism. As a teacher, my class schedule basically fell to nothing at the end of December and stayed that way until last week. Summer theoretically ends on the first day of March when all the kids go back to school, but the weather is still nice, and the business culture is pretty strange and disorganized, so business as usual doesn't really get going again until now, the end of April. Things will start to fade out again in September, springtime, leading up to Chile's Independence Day on September 18th. The whole month of September is a great excuse to eat nothing but meat, bread, and pebre, all using only your hands, if you are into that sort of thing. I was for the first few weeks of the celebration, as a show of solidarity, trying to be a true participant in the cultural experience. By the actual day of the holiday, three weeks into September, I couldn't even bare to look at any food besides steamed broccoli. I don't know why I am writing about this. I guess it says something about my experience here. Gringas really are funny to watch. I guess I now understand why everyone thinks it's so cute when I say "mish!," or when I argue in bad Spanish with the colectivo driver for being over charged by 50 pesos (a few cents).

Being away from the United States has made me miss it tremendously. Mostly, I miss blending in. I miss being boring and normal. I miss having the option to leave my home and talk to new people without them asking why I am living in their country, what I am doing, and what I think of it. I miss being able to speak without being concerned about my grammar. I miss being able to make jokes. I miss being able to buy any kind of tea from any place in the world and lots of other silly little things like Chinese food delivery, the “free stuff” section on Craigslist, and the Weather Channel.

Still, my life here is pretty good, and I'm finally not so overcome with desire for cheap, well made socks to realize that. I'm not making very much money, partially because I'm a push over, but I make enough to get by. I absolutely love the Central Market, a grimy produce market with screaming vendors that most people I know can't stand. I love the public transportation system. Buses are incredibly frequent and cheap. They even run from the bus station to Santiago every 15 minutes during peak hours. The fare for local buses, or "micros” also frequently comes with a complementary adrenalin rush, either from a death defying overtake (my god, British English), an elbow in the face, or a near death incident with a pedestrian. They also provide me with my daily dose of reggaeton and an update on the latest pokemon fashion trends. I use them to perfect my disguise. At this point I think I could completely pass for a disenfranchised 16 year old, only if I didn't have to speak, though.

I really do love the micros. They remind me that I am alive. They remind me that I am living someplace very different than where I came from. Although sometimes I miss having a car, I definitely prefer micros as my main mode of transport.

Another thing, I also love that I can eat manjar (dulce de leche) for breakfast if I want to, and it's not even considered excessively decedent. I've only done it a few times, but it is nice to have the option. I love the beaches. I love the view from nearly every spot in Valparaiso. I love Chilean Spanish with all its weird eccentricities, and I love how much Chileans love it too (po).

So yeah. My life here is good.

Chile, I'm not done with you yet.

Besos,
Allicita

These are a few of my favorite things....

2009-03-20T22:41:00.002-04:00

My favorite thing in the US. This stuff must contain at least trace amounts of crack. I. CAN'T. STOP.

My favorite thing in Chile. Also, could there be crack in this?

Back to Chile soooooooon....

Besos,
Allie

I'm so glad I've missed this!!!

2009-03-18T13:46:00.002-04:00

So, I'm back in the US for a visit that has so far been fantastic. I needed a break. I'm a pretty uhmmm, high pressure person that wants to do her best all the time. When you are living in a foreign country where you are learning the language, as well as how to do literally everything else, you are not going to succeed all the time. The fact that you have tried your hardest might not always show through. Some days you don't know what has happened to you, or why. Moving to Chile on my own was by far the most difficult thing I have ever done. If I had known before what I would have to go through, I don't know if I would have gone through with it, at least not on my own without some sort of sponsoring program. Anyway, it's been tough, but I will be heading back at the end of March for round 2. One more year, kind of a new start. Wish me luck.

One great thing about being out of the US for the past year was missing the introduction of reality shows about child beauty pagents such as Little Beauties and Toddlers & Tiaras. I just spent 30 minutes watching Little Beautities which has single handedly made me want to pack my bags and get on the first flight out of the country. I love how TV has the power to reafirm my life decisions. Yay VH1.

Now, to the dentist. Ack.

Besos,
Allie

Allie is a bad blogger part 67

2009-03-12T22:14:00.003-03:00

Here is a blog post about my opinion that Chile wants to be Florida and an experience I had in a cab in Santiago. Since I am obviously too lazy/busy/bad at blogging/inarticulate to write myself, someone else took this stellar blog worthy material and posted it on their own quite spectacular blog. Enjoy a taste of me mixed with a taste of someone else.

Love,
Your laziest blogger friend

ps- Real post soon.... I promise... maybe.

I'm a dork

2009-03-04T10:17:00.002-03:00

So I like this type of thing. Not the recension, just the graphic.

More on Chile later. I'm going home for a few weeks. I'll post sometime next week.

Today....

2009-02-19T08:20:00.001-03:00

Today marks my one year anniversary of living in Chile....

And I'm leaving the country!

Don't worry, it's just a short trip to Argentina. I'll be back on Monday with a full one year blog report.

Yayyyy, South America!

Besos,
Allie