Christmas Time in Chile

My uncle, who actually can do

a pretty good Santa.

Pretty awesome spread, including

these amazing shrimp cocktails. Here they

don't use cocktail sauce, they use americano,

AKA Thousand Island Dressing

Peruvian pisco sour, complete with sugar-

rimmed glass.

The tannenbaum replete with gifts.

Quick side note. Since everyone was home

on Christmas, wandering musical groups walked down my

street. You had to throw them money. I dropped a few coins from

my 8th floor balcony and nearly killed them.

HO HO HO! FELIZ NAVIDAD.

I hope that all of you gentiles out there had a glorious Christmas. And to all my fellow Jews, I hope that you equally enjoyed your Chinese food (I'm not going to lie, I did miss going to Yen Ching this year) and seeing the newest movies.

I would say that the strangest part about Christmas here in Chile is the absolute lack of snow, or any cold weather for that matter. For the week leading up to Christmas (AKA Hannukah for me and some others), it was not too hot here, only about 75-80 degrees everyday. And then came Christmas Eve and it was 90 degrees. Just awful. Although I love missing out on what has so far been an abysmal winter, something just did not feel right about being hot while all the Christmas trees had fake snow on them. It must be confusing for children to see all this winter imagery in all things holiday related, but to never see snow here in Santiago.

For Christmas this year, I really had two Christmas dinners. Last Monday I was invited over to my mother's best friend's home to have dinner with their family. We're very close so it was not a surprise to be invited. However, they are a very Catholic and conservative family, and I am anything but. It was a very delicious dinner (they served this type of avocado paté and then bacon-wrapped tenderloin) and then we had "secret Santa," where everyone buys one gift for an assigned person. With 7 children, plus either a spouse or significant other for everyone, it would get out of hand buying gifts for all. Afterwards, though, it became uncomfortable as we did this play the youngest daughter put together. In the activity, everyone randomly picked a stick with a Christmas character on it (Mary, Joseph, three kings, goat, star, etc.) and each person had to talk about why that character or virtue was important to them. Of course, as the only Jew there, I ended up picking the baby Jesus and having to explain why he was important to me.

On Christmas Eve, I went to my aunt's and uncle's home to spend Christmas with them. Though we are related, they're actually Catholic, though not religious at all. I got there and was blown away by all the gifts that were laying beneath the elaborate tree. I should note here that not a single person in Santiago has a real evergreen due to so many houses burning down. 

Anyway, we all gather downstairs around 9pm. We had some amazing canapes that my cousin Alejandra made along with some Peruvian pisco sour. I mentioned in the past that Chilean pisco is far superior to Peruvian pisco, however the way in which Peruvian's prepare pisco sour is much better than the Chilean way. After some chatting and what not, we sat down to dinner around 10pm. You know it's a big deal dinner here when you're served turkey due to how rare and difficult it is to get turkey, and that's what we ate. After dinner, we all hung out for a while. As opposed to the US, presents are opened at the stroke of midnight rather than in the morning, which seemed odd to me considering the whole Santa Claus coming in over night down the chimney routine. In any case, after all the presents were opening, some went to sleep, but I stayed up with Hans, my uncle, and my cousin's fiance to have a few scotch's. We stayed up until 4am drinking and chatting, mostly comparing American Christmas and New Year's to the Chilean versions. 

All in all, though I could not be with my family and friends back home, it really was just as fun and special spending the holidays here. I had an amazing time, experienced things in a different way, and felt very much at home and a part of it all.

Hopefully my next post will be later this week with a summary of New Year's Eve events. I wish you all a happy new year full of health and happiness for you and all your loved ones!

Final Chilean Cuisine Post

I know the salad is pretty normal, but

it looks so good and tastes even better.

Tia Jaqui's Pastel de Choclo looks amazing

and was among the best I've ever had.

Well, after several weeks of posting about Chilean cuisine, I'm going to finish off with my favorite Chilean meal, period.

The pastel de choclo that you see above is typically made during the summer months, generally from early December to late March, due to this being the principal growing season of corn here. This casserole-type dish is made up of several layers. The bottom layer is maybe up of meat, either chicken or ground beef, often a combination of both, in a mixture of seasonings and onion. Then a layer of hard-boiled eggs is added, along sometimes with raisins, although I don't like raisins in my food. Finally a thick layer of corn that has been mashed and cooked in cream is added to the top, with olives inside it. They top this off by sprinkling a layer of sugar on top so as to sweeten the corn. The thing that makes this unique to Chile is that the corn here is not sweet corn, like that which we consume in the states. Here you don't eat corn on the cob because it simply would not taste good. Most corn dishes are cooked dishes which have been sweetened. However, this is what makes the recipe difficult to replicate outside of Chile.

In any case, back to the dish. All of this is placed inside an oven-proof ceramic bowl, which is then baked in that bowl and served immediately. If there were a type of Chilean comfort food, this would probably be it. It's always best when homemade (you have to go to a truly excellent restaurant to find a good pastel de choclo in Santiago), and my aunt made me some the other day and it was unbelievably good.

With pastel de choclo, you generally serve it with Chilean salad, which is basically regular salad that has been deconstructed, served with each vegetable individually placed on a large platter. Then you add lemon, oil, and salt instead of dressing. However, that night my aunt and uncle had just recently returned from the extreme South of Chile. There they purchased centolla, which if you recall is Chilean king crab. I find it preferable to Alaskan king crab, and they purchased 2 kilos (about 4 1/2 pounds) of it for approximately $15 a kilo, which is absurdly cheap. My aunt served me a salad with a bed of lettuce, fresh centolla, fresh shrimp, all served under salsa americano, or what we commonly refer to as thousand island.

Here is a recipe for any intrepid chefs that want to attempt to make pastel de choclo. I checked it out and it seems fairly accurate:

Pastel de Choclo Recipe

Thanks for reading my blog. I wish you all the merriest of Christmases or the happiest of Hannukahs. Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year, and I hope to see all of you soon.

Stuff from All Over

Even a crappy golf course is made

scenic by nearby mountains.

Nice view. Notice how dry the grass is on the

left. It must have cost a fortune to irrigate

the course.

Leftover picture of Chanco from my trip

to the South.

Pretty awesome hang-time. This guy won 

the class-3 title.

Before the race we had lunch in the VIP

section, in the middle of the track, with

cars just zooming by, kicking up a ton of dust.

It's been quite a while since I last posted, and I apologize. Trying to stay up to date and faithful to a blog is not very, which is why many people start them up and drop them after just a few weeks.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to summarize what I've been up to this month, so far.

First of all, I'd like to inform everyone that my citizenship finally came through and am now waiting until the 22nd to get my ID and passport, which is pretty cool if you think that I am now a double-citizen with two separate passports. The Chilean passport will be great if I can fulfill my desire to go to Cuba while I'm here, which would be something that most Americans have never done.

As far as work goes, I've been quite busy of late. At the political science department at the Universidad del Desarrollo, I've been working on an integral project focusing on Chinese participation on behalf of Chile in the War of the Pacific in 1880. We're going to examine Chinese migrant worker participation during the war, and then hopefully translate that information into a seminar, a book, a documentary, and a monument in Santiago. It's a huge undertaking that has left me rather overwhelmed, but I'm working through it and hopefully the Chinese government will give us the funds necessary to make the project a reality.

At the University of Chile Law School's Department of Environmental Law, I've been researching a variety of topics. Most notably, I've written a position paper on a large hydroelectric power plant project in the south called Hidroaysen, which has been quite a controversial issue. I've also assisted a group of people who are attempting to rewrite part of the Kyoto Protocols to better assist developing nations in reducing greenhouse emissions.

As for my social life goes, I've continued to have a great time meeting people and going out. My apartment is slowly becoming the default place to go to before the pubs or discos because I am always willing to have people over and everyone else basically still lives at home. I've been all over the place, but still really want to go to the pubs and discos that are in the west side of town. It's hard to convince people to go because they feel unsafe, but I want to see how the average Chilean parties and has fun. I also hear that the discos there are wild.

In addition to going out, I also got my gambling and golf fixes, something I haven't done since leaving the states. A new casino was recently opened to the south of Santiago, and I went with my friend Erik and his girlfriend for his birthday. It was surprisingly nice and slightly reminiscent of Vegas. I won about $500 that night, which was a pretty sweet haul. As for golf, I went with a Canadian friend to the only public course in Chile, which is located near the airport on the "banks" of the Mapocho river. I say "banks" because the river is so low and dry right now. I would say that it's actual composition is 50% water, 20% piss and vomit, 20% battery acid, and 10% left over dead bodies from the various dictatorships. To sum it up, basically it was the most revolting smell I've ever gleaned from a river. The course wasn't too bad though and it was fun to get out and play, albeit that the actual golfing part didn't go quite so well.

Finally, I will be home for about two weeks in exactly one month. I'm excited to go back home for a little while, though I will miss the sun and the warm weather. I'll be coming back to Chile in early February, where I'll have the month off from work to go travel all over. I also recommend that anyone who wants to visit come during that time, seeing as how it's the coldest time in the states, the warmed here, and I'll be free to show you around. Also, tickets right now are the cheapest they've been in six months. 

Above I put some random pictures from RallyMobil (a rally race I was invited to), my golfing trip, and some other stuff.

Stay tuned later this week for my final food posting concerning my favorite meal!

Food and Culture in the the South of Chile

The cordillera in the background of some rice patties.

A beautiful view from Safari Mountain of the Pacific and Pelluhue

from the elevation of Chanco.

Cold mariscal soup.

My mountain of meat and potatoes.

A "normal" lunch spread.

I originally wanted to do this post a week ago so it was still relevant to my trip, but because of work and what not I lost the time and now have it again after handing in a project yesterday.

On my trip to the South two weeks ago, I definitely gained at least 2-3 pounds in about 2 days, though through no fault of my own. You see, the South is very famous for hospitality. For any of you that been to my home, you know that my mother keeps the pantry always fully stocked and constantly offers food. Think of the entire South of Chile as a region inhabited by Jewish-Latina mothers who see all guests as their grandchildren. The hospitality I received from Erik´s parents was unparalleled; considering they had never met me and let me stay in their home, fed me at least 4 times a day, and took time off from work to show me around all day was very kind. 

The main consistency of the diet in the South is generally fish (where Erik lives it's "congrio", also known as Conger Eel) or on special occasions, meat. On Saturday, I returned to Erik's house around 2pm to the largest "asado" (Spanish term for grill out or BBQ) I have ever seen. In addition to the five salads that had been homemade and laid out, there was home-made bread ("pan amasado"), a bunch of homemade drinks and artesian wine, and the most full plate I've ever seen. My plate contained two potatoes, a piece of steak, a home-made sausage, a chicken breast, and a pork loin. Needless to say I was quite overwhelmed. I ate as much as I could, but they just kept giving me more. After about 45 minutes of madness, I rolled out of my chair, stalked over to the couch, and eagerly awaited what I though was to be an impending heart attack followed by at least a double bypass.

The only problem with Southern hospitality is that you can't say no. If you say no, they become very offended. You can be in the poorest of homes, and they will feed you until you burst, because that is what they have to offer you, and that tradition has been passed down. And when I say offended, I mean it. Erik's mother ate like a bird (she was a tiny woman), but watched me and Hans constantly. At one point I didn't take a spoonful of one of the salads, and she looked at me and said that I hadn't tried that salad and then promptly took the spoon and served me some anyway. I was on the verge of bursting into tears.

On Sunday, we sat down to a similar spread, only this time there was a seafood soup at my placing. The soup, known as "mariscal," is a cold soup with a broth made from lemon juice, cilantro, salt, and some of the water used to cook the seafood. In it were mussels, squid, clams, fish, and cochayuyo. Cochayuyo is Chilean seaweed and is often used in stews, soups, and salads. It is one of the healthiest things to eat on Earth, and actually tastes great. In any event, I thought the mariscal was the main course, but then I was served another plate with a mountain of meat and potatoes. Then for dessert, Erik's mom brought out fresh strawberries and cream, and I was thrilled because it was the first relatively light thing I was served. But then she brought out the second dessert which was a giant glass of "mote con huesillo." This common street and home-made drink/dessert is made of sun-dried peaches that are then rehydrated in sweet water for days and then mixed with husked wheat and all served together. It was delicious but I was about to burst and barely dented it half-way.

I loved the time I spent in the South, even though I ate heinous amounts of food and rolled all the way back to Santiago. There is nothing like Southern hospitality or food, you won't find any people more friendly or proud, nor will you find fresher, more delicious food.