adventures with the family

1. a dog show at Quinta Vergara-quite the experience! i could not believe the care some of those dogs were getting, i mean honestly...BLOW DRYING AND CURLING A DOG'S HAIR??! the most impressive dogs were the german shepards which Chileans call vacas (cows)...they were freaking huge.

2. my mom and i took a day trip to Villa Alemania where her sister lives and Andrea grew up. i actually saw the house she was born in! her sister's house was gorgeous. it was in the campo and had such a cozy feeling. she cooked us a wonderful almuerzo: three different ensaladas, pescado, and fresh mote con huesillo for dessert. her husband Lucho served us first a delicious red wine and then a more delicious white wine. the ladies took a lovely walk afterwards. the smell of the eucalyptus trees was particularly memorable.

3. Las Pascuas de la Resurección (Easter)-i went to church with a friend of mine. it was a fun service with lots of live music and young people. i later found out it was evangelico...when i received their book as a welcome gift. when i came back, Cami had made us all Easter baskets and Andrea had hid chocolate for all the "kids." we had a great taco lunch where I explained that Methodist (my religious denomination) was not the same as Mormon...nor Jehova Witness. and that even though we don't have Saints...I still believe in Jesus and celebrate Christmas. I also went to the Via Crucis with Paulette the Friday before Easter which was interesting-really long and quite depressing. We ended up walking around Cerro Alegre y Concepción for a while.

4. One almuerzo with our abuela (grandmother) we had a discussion about cookies. I explained to them that Chilean cookies were a little boring and dry compared to the ones in the US. I decided to make some for them to show the difference. However, it was QUITE the process finding all the ingredients I needed (which was not a lot but Chileans don't keep their kitchens stocked like we do...they just buy for the following day's meals). I had the most trouble finding Baking Soda, which they do not use here to bake with...I found it at a pharmacy...I decided to go with Oatmeal Raisin cookies because I found out they don't have chocolate chips here (a sin). When I finally had everything together and went to measure the first ingredient I couldn't find a single measuring cup or spoon...crap! anyways, with the help of Cami, we made some rocking cookies that they SWORE were undercooked but I reassured them that cookies were supposed to be squishy...not hard.

5. Chileans are not real savvy with food safety. One day i went to grab the milk from the fridge for my cereal, only to find it in the cupboard. gross. I often find meat both raw and cooked just chilling on the counter and so one day I brought up the fact that in my nutrition class I was taught that it is a bad idea to leave meat out. My mother's response was "yes I know, that's why I do it at night...when there is no sun..." double gross. im still working on that. in the meantime, i wake up at night...sneak to the kitchen...and stick the meat back in the fridge.

6. Andrea, Fabiola (our nana), and I went to Reñaca and Concón (two very nice beaches) for the afternoon. we walked along the beach in Reñaca which was lovely and then went to a famous empanada place in Concón (Las Deliciosas). I tried a Camarón (shrimp) y Queso (cheese). It was pretty good. On our way back we saw the most magnificent sunset. what a fun day!