Always Hungry

If I have talked to you while down here there is a good chance you've heard me both complain and rave about Chilean food.  One of the things I am most looking forward to about going home is to eliminate from my diet mayonnaise, white bread, ketchup as an acceptable topping on white rice and overcooked pasta, low quality vegetables, ceylon tea, nescafé, the "juice", boiled hot dogs, boiled vegetables, soup from mix, ham, shellfish, and eating meat every day.  I am a girl that loves a rare steak but this is excessive:  

 If you were thinking that four people would have a hard time eating all this, you were mistaken.  Welcome to Sunday in Chile.  In the words of Big Joe: "Full is a state of mind."

But what Chile lacks in healthy food, it makes up for in fried things, meat and fried things with meat in them.  And for every minute I spend complaining about Chilean food, I could easily (and do) spend twice that talking about how good the good stuff is.  For example, I simply don't know what I'm going to do when I can't get empanadas at any time of day or night, probably cry.

  They really are that good. 

Other Chilean staples that I love: 

Choripan

Choripan is chorizo in pan (bread).  Chorizo is a DElicious South American sausage that is usually grilled.  It isn't a hot dog, don't even.  You nestle that sucker in a little french bread roll that you heated up on the grill and open yourself a beer and you've got a classic Chilean appetizer at the asado (bbq).  The first time I had this, I thought it was lunch, so I had two.  Then I was served the steak and potatoes...

Just call me a Pavlov Dog. (That was so lame)

The Completo
I complained about them earlier, and I still think that boiled hot dogs, especially when served next to a pile of white rice with ketchup, are GROSS.  But did you know that when you put a small hot dog in a huge bun and top tomato, avocado, mayo and saurkraut on it, it is actually heaven?  I don't even like saurkraut!  Hello Completo.

Hot dogs are awesome when the hot dog is not the main event.

Once (pronounced on-say)

 Since we eat a big, meat heavy lunch every day, dinner is a much smaller affair and I really really like it.  It's called once and it is usually toast (made from hayullah, basically a Chilean bagel, sort of) with a bunch of different stuff to put on it.  Jams, butter, ham, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and whatever is in the fridge--it all goes great on toast.  And it does!  It's a really nice way to eat something a little lighter before bed.  Best when accompanied by tea or coffee.

The weird things in the upper left are potato pancakes.

Put an Egg on It
Not sure how to round out that meal of...absolutely anything?  Put-An-Egg-On-It.  (Sunny side up)

 

Egg & Lentils, one of my favorite lunches.  Really.

Other Culinary Treasures:

Trufas

Jac (via her blog) when she first discovered Trufas: "Oh golly, trufas.   They’re like balls of mellow, approachable, chocolate dough covered in more chocolate.  I just learned about them and there’s this cute little place called Café Donde La Negra that has been my dealer."

Berlines

Jac (via above blog) when she first discovered Berlines: "...those caramel filled doughnut things.  They’re probably the answer to everything."

Manjar

Jac on manjar: "Manjar = this extremely popular dulce de leche/caramelly business.  (One might ask, “what ISN’T filled with manjar here?”)"

Sopaipillas

Fried dough heaven.  Just found out my host mom fries them with...lard.  Heart, I am so sorry for choosing Chile.

This post is long.  As you may know, I could dedicate a whole blog to food.  Thanks for hanging in there, dear (and by now I imagine hungry) reader.  See you in just over a month!  (WHAT?!)