Los esparragos frescos comprado en el mercado hoy dia. Y todos por solo $500 pesos. Que suerte!

Spring in Santiago - Cementario General de Santiago Spring is here...finally.

Feliz 18! In honour of Fiestas Patrias, and our newly-arrived houseguest from Canada, we decided to decorate the apartment today. We put up some wall decorations and hung a giant Chilean flag in the window, which we bought off a street vendor for $1000CLP. Did you know, in Chile, it's the law to hang a flag on every public building on September 18th and 19th? Chileans, being quite patriotic, often have their flags hung way in advance. Interestingly enough, those who support the Pinochet regime, chose to hang their Chilean flag on September 11th, the anniversary of the 1973 coup d'etat. Historically, September 11th is notorious for being a day of social unrest, speckled with incidents of demonstrations, vandalism and riots in and around the city. The coup is still a very sensitive subject here in Chile. Just to stay on the neutral side of things, and to avoid provoking any kind of vandalism on our downtown apartment, we made sure not to hang our flag on the 11th. Tomorrow, we're gonna check out some fondas in the city. Why not, eh? Food, fun and cueca dancing.

Competencia de Cueca en la Plaza de Armas - 2012 Only 2 more weeks until the Chilean Independence Day. The whole city is already buzzing with energy. Chileans are serious when it comes to celebrating this occasion. This holiday often renders the entire country lethargic and drunk for about a week. What better way to kick off celebrations and the start of spring than a giant, free, cueca competition in the middle of the nation's capital. Competitors of all ages participate. Live music and dancing all day...what a great way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon in Santiago.

Having to work on Saturdays this semester really sucks, But, waking up to having breakfast made for me, well, that kinda makes it a little more bearable. Mmm...breakfast of champions.

Back from Winter Vacation, Back Online. After being away for almost a month on winter vacation, K and I are finally back in Santiago and back online. I’ll write about our winter break adventures soon. Here’s the preview. Stay tuned…

The Gran Torre Santiago - In the Making Once built, this skyscraper will be the tallest in South America.

Hogs - The Place to Eat Completos in Santiago Chileans are obsessed with hotdogs or completos. I'm not just talking about little kids and the college crowd - I mean everyone. I like hotdogs, but I personally don't like the completos here in Chile. It's not so much the condiments or the bread but rather the dog itself. It's bland and it's made with a combination of pork and chicken. The meat in the dogs are so over processed that it gives the dogs a particularly rubbery texture when you bit into them. Coming from Toronto, where basic hotdog stands sell meaty, 'all-beef', jumbo dogs, I suppose I never really learned to appreciate them until I came here. For a country that love hotdogs so much, they sure don't know what a good dog tastes like - or so I thought. Last week, we were on our way to Providencia, the financial district in Santiago. I was in need of a haircut and I had an appointment in the area. On our walk there, we discovered Hogs Salchicheria. We couldn't believe our eyes. A gourmet sausage house in Santiago. What a find! The Hogs menu boasts a selection of all-meat dogs, including pork, turkey, mutton and boar. You can also select your choice bread, toppings and specialty sauce. After my hair appointment, we came here for lunch. We made sure to get here just before the lunch crowd, since the place was small and offered standing-room dining only. Sure enough, just after we finished ordering, the line-up began. The clientele for this place was an interesting mix of suits and university students. With the average price of a dog being just over $2.500 CLP, there weren't many blue-collar workers lining up here. There were so many choices to chose from, but I ordered Boar Alemana (sauerkraut, tomatoes and mayonnaise) with Chimichurri sauce. K ordered the Super Hog Francesa (cheese, sautee mushrooms and caramelized onions) with truffle mayonnaise. We also ordered some refreshing pineapple-ginger lemonade. The food was quick, hot and delicious. The dog were high quality, flavourful and meaty. The sauces were fresh and the bread was crusty. In general, I would not recommend having completos in Chile. But, if you're in Santiago and you get the hankering, this is the place to go. Hogs Salchicheria, Av. Los Leones 40, Providencia www.hogs.cl

Quest for the One Kilo Empanada in Pomaire

Although our spirits were with our friends and family celebrating Canada Day back home, we decided to take our bodies to Pomaire, a small artisanal town just outside Santiago, famous for its clay cookware and its one kilo empanada. No surprise, we left that night with both of these items.

With buses running almost every 20 minutes, it was easy to get to Pomaire. The lady at the ticket booth was really nice and gave us student price tickets, so it only costed us $900 CLP per person. That’s less than $2USD a ticket! For that price, we basically expected an unheated yellow school bus. However, we were pleasantly surprised when we saw a comfortable coach waiting for us.

We missed all the direct buses to Pomaire, which run from 9:30am to 12pm noon, so we had to take a bus to Melipilla. The driver dropped us off on the side of the highway and pointed towards a small side road just beyond the barrier, before peeling off. K and I just gave each other the “Sooo, what now?!” looks. Was he serious? Are we supposed to hitchhike to the town? Just for fun, I made K show some leg and see if anyone would stop for us. Of course, no one did – he wasn’t showing enough skin. Some locals found our posing amusing. They were heading to Pomaire as well, so we decided to follow. In reality, all you have to do is stand at the corner of the road and flag down a local bus, pay $300 CLP and hop on. The bus takes you right into town.

The town of Pomaire wasn't particulary pretty but it did have its charms. For a foodies like K and I, this was an amazing place to be. Everywhere you walked, you could smell wood fire earthen ovens, horno de barros, and coal-fire barbeques, parrilladas, cooking up delicious foods. Think of the smell of heated butter, fresh-baked bread, camp fire and barbeque meats - that’s what the air smelt like.

We ended up having a late lunch of barbequed meats at La Greda Restaurant. Believe it or not, we ordered the Two-Person Parrilladas Special, and the portions they served us could have fed a family of four! No, really – The family of four sitting next to us ordered the same thing to share between all of them. The food was amazing.

After lunch, K and I started hunting for the clay cookware I had been wanting for so long. There were so many stores and so much to choose from. I wanted it all! Everything was really well priced. Small bowls and sauce trays started at $250 CLP ($0.50 USD) each. Pots/casserole dishes were on average $5.000 CLP ($10 USD) each. If cookware isn't you thing, they had a variety of other clay items you could buy, including chanchitos - lucky 3-legged pigs. For a small fee, one of the local artists will make something for you right on the spot!

Many traditional Chilean dishes are cooked in unglazed clay pots and bowls. Cooking in these clay vessels give food a distinctive flavor. In the end, I walked away happy with a set of four clay bowls, for making pastel de choclo, and a clay pot for making cazuela. Eventhough we already had a massive lunch, K wasn't satisfied with leaving without his one kilo empanada. What could I say, the man was on a mission. We ended up taking it to go. It torturously smelt up the entire bus on our way back. We had it for lunch the next day. Totally worth it. Totally.

Lunching at La Vega Went to La Vega for lunch today. This really is one of our favourite places to eat in Santiago. There are so many great choices on the 2nd floor. If you're looking for a fancy restaurant, then this is not the place for you. However, if you're looking for an inexpensive, delicious, filling, home-cooked meal, then you've got to visit La Vega. This place is always busy. The food stalls in La Vega are only opened for lunch service. The ambiance is very laid back and can be describe as to being similar to the dai pai dongs in Hong Kong (if you've ever been). In Chile, typical lunch time is between 1:00pm to 2:30pm and it's the most substantial meal of the day. During the weekdays, the food stalls fill up with both well-dressed office workers and blue collar labourers alike. During the weekends, it's mostly families. So far, we've tried about 4 or 5 stands and they've all been really good. Today, we just felt like having Peruvian fare, especially after speaking with some of our Peruvian neighbours and they couldn't stop raving about how the food stalls here served the best Pervian food in Santiago. No surprise to us, the food was great. I ordered Aji de Gallina (currently my favourite Peruvian dish) and K decided to try the Tallarin Saltado. All dishes come with consomme, bread and pebre (Chilean salsa). The portions they were serving at this stand were enormous! I guess that's why there was a line up for a table, even at 2:30pm. I thought the Chinese made great consomme, but Chileans and Peruvians sure would give them a run for their money. I love soups, especially on cold rainy winter days. Even with a side order of large salad and a small Inca Cola, the total bill for the two of us came to $7.200 pesos, or $15USD. If you're looking for stomach-ache-free cheap eats, La Vega is the place. Most set lunches include consome, your choice of salad, your choice of sides, bread and salsa. Typical set lunch prices range from $1.800 pesos ($3.50 USD) to about $3.500 pesos ($7 USD). There are a few other great places for cheap eat around the city and I'll touch on those in another post soon.

Tour the Presidental Palace at La Moneda

We went to visit the Presidential Palace at La Moneda, or Palacio de La Moneda, today. We’ve walked by it a hundred times, since we live close by, but we’ve never gone inside. We didn’t know that you could! La Moneda is home to the offices of the President of the Republic of Chile. Having been built in the early 1800’s, it has seen its fair share of history, protests and earthquakes. The building is maintained in impeccable shape. Visitors are able to take guided tours of the grounds – and the tours are free! They don’t advertise the tours much. However, if you are in Santiago, I highly recommend that you visit La Moneda. To make reservations, email [email protected] with a request for the tour. Indicate the number of people you have in your party and your preferred date and time. Tours run daily, Mondays through Fridays at 9:30, 10:30, 15:00 and 16:00. Tours last about 45 minutes. Be sure to make your request at least one week in advance. It was a week and a half before we received our final reservation confirmation. Also, I would recommend emailing your request in Spanish or very simple English. Tours are in Spanish. They might have English tours available during the summer months of December to March, but there were definitely no English tours available during the winter months. While waiting for our tour to start, K and I were approached by a group Chilean school children who asked to have their picture taken with us. We happily obliged. Chileans seem to have an infatuation (a good one) with Asians, particularly the Chinese. This curiosity with Asian culture has been furthered by a wildly popular Chilean TV reality show called Mundos Opuestos (Opposite Worlds). A few recent episodes documented the adventures of a couple of Chilean contestants exploring Shanghai, China. I still remember the day when K made a comment about how many of his students suddenly started saying “ni how” to him. I assured him it was due the TV show and not because his students suddenly noticed he was Asian after 3 months. The tour was great. Saw the press release podium where the President shakes hands with other world leaders. We even got a chance to have our pictures taken on the podium with a guard! K tried to convince the guard to do the ‘victory’ hand gesture with him. Not surprisingly, the poker-faced guard refused. It sure would have been funny if he did. We learnt a bit about the architecture and history of the building. K even found a canon in the courtyard. Of course, we had to take one of his K-style photos with it since it was “tradition”. I was just glad we didn’t get kicked out for defiling government property. After the tour, K and I went to visit the Cultural Centre, located just below ground level at La Moneda. The cultural centre was pretty quiet and appeared to be undergoing some construction. I suppose they were probably renovating it in preparation for the summer tourist season. I guess we’ll go back in a few months to check it out then.

Mala cuea.

My favourite Spanish phrase right now. It means 'tough shit'.

Omg, farm fresh free-run egg in Santiago! Bought these from the toastaderia just around the corner from our place in Bellas Artes. The eggs were pricy, costing 220 pesos per egg. Granted, they were probably 50% larger than the regular eggs we buy from the grocery store. Eggs from the grocery store cost about 100 pesos each. Look at the stunning colour of the yolk in comparison to the yolk of the grocery store egg (on the left). When cooked, the yolks of the free-run eggs tasted richer and more flavourful. Mmmm....I love good food.

It's Friday evening in Santiago. Everyone is in a rush to do something - grab some take-out dinner to bring home, pick up the kids, meet friends at the bar after work. In general, we find that Chileans walk at a frustratingly slow pace. But, not on Friday nights - not tonight.

Sunday Cooking Ritual

It’s Sunday. That means, it’s cooking and cleaning day for K and I. On Sundays, I have to cook enough food to last us until Thursday night. This is because we don’t really have any time during the week. We are literally out of the house all day and don’t get home until 10pm. Between our weekly routine of teaching and prepping for classes, taking Spanish classes, salsa lessons, volleyball practice (me) and Tae Kwon Do practice (K), we have absolutely no time to cook. This kind of schedule isn’t out of the ordinary. In fact, it’s normal for Chileans to get home from work at 10pm. Typical Chilean dinner time is between 9pm-11pm.

At the beginning of the semester, I was going into overload trying to balance out my schedule. I was burning out. I was working full days and then trying to cook after I got home. I was mentally and physically exhausted and I had no free time. When I finally confided in a Chilean co-worker of mine, she told me that she had a nana. A nana? What was that? Essentially, a nana is a housekeeper. She cooks, cleans, does your laundry, cares for the kids, pets and elderly. Nanas are extremely common in Santiago and are not a luxury limited to just the wealthy. They are often used by working-class families where both parents work. Depending on what you can afford, a nana can come to your home once a week or 5 days a week. In Chile, the nana is often, but not always, Peruvian. For those who do not have nanas there are two choices: 1) Pre-planned, prepped meals OR 2) go out to eat. Since K and I don’t have a nana, we do a combination of both. Eating out is often expensive and not very healthy, so K and I prefer to cook our own meals during the week. We prefer to reserve ‘going out’ as a luxury rather than having to go out, out of necessity.

So, here I am, preparing to cook. We have to do all of our grocery shopping on Saturdays since many places are not open on Sundays. This week’s menu: • Cream of broccoli soup • Pork bone soup • Beet and Potato Salad with fresh parsley and toasted cumin seeds • Chinese chicken and red pepper Stir-fry • Green beans and ground beef • Spicy Tomato Lentils or Dahl • Cooked salted-shrimp-marinated chicken cubes (for use mid week to make stir-fry rice) • Hot pepper sauce (homemade – freebie peppers from a vendor at the farmer’s market) • 6 cups of rice • Coconut Lemon cake (from scratch)

In addition to this, ever week we consume two family-sized loaves of whole wheat bread, 2 liters of milk, a box of Quaker Oats cereal, half a jar of peanut butter, a dozen eggs and a variety of fresh fruits. Needless to say, we have a pantry. In a 450 square ft apartment, “the pantry” is actually our foyer closet. We found it necessary to stock up on staple foods when they were on sale. The teachers we work with always make comments about how much we eat, “Wow, you guys eat a lot for your size!” - Funny how nothing really changes, whether we’re in Canada or in Chile. Alright, I gotta end this post now. I have a lot more cooking to do.

Views of the Andes from San Cristobal Hill We decided to hike San Cristobal again today. The weather was a bit drizzly, cool but not cold. We also had a bit of a breeze, which is kind of rare here in Santiago, especially in the fall and winter months. We've hiked the hill a number of times already, but today, K made me bring hiking poles. He wanted me to practice using them since I would be using them for Machu Picchu. I felt like such an idiot using the poles on San Cristobal. Boots, Marmot jacket, hiking poles - I looked like I was dressed to hike Everest! All the while, the locals are hiking up in their Sketchers with a plastic grocery bag of water bottles in one hand and a purse in the other. They were probably thinking, "Stupid gringa, this ain't Everest!" Soooo embarrassing! I wanted to get rid of those poles as soon as possible and I ended up picking the shortest, steepest path and didn't take any breaks till we got to the top. Probably the fastest I've ever hiked that hill. By the end, I was sweatin' like a man but at least I got rid of those poles. The views of the city and the surrounding mountain ranges were amazing! Everything was so clear! We could see the Andes to the East and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west. We could even see our apartment building! So cool.

4 Days of Rain in Santiago = Mountain Views It's been raining for about 4 solid days now. This is the most amount of rain we've gotten since K and I arrived in Santiago 3 months ago. Although rain sucks, it does have its advantages: Clean air and mountain views. The smog during the winter can often build up in the city. Rain clears it up. With the rain, students are able to play a little soccer and enjoy some fresh air outside. With the smog temporarily gone, we enjoyed a clear view of the entire mountain range. Check out the views from our school today - Beautiful!