Fall in Santiago

Hola amigos! It's been awhile! I swear I have been busy, but I'm still not sure where the time has gone. This is going to be a very photo heavy (and food photo heavy) blog post because that's what I seem to take pictures of when I'm hanging around... so here we go!

After returning from Patagonia, George and I celebrated my birthday.  I think he missed me because he bought me some lovely knitting gear and made a very tasty dinner! I've been learning to knit! It's seriously nothing impressive so far, and I haven't spent as much time on it as I would like, but it's still pretty neat!  My first project was a neckwarmer for Missy. I don't have a picture of the completed project, but the start of the project is below (blue). After that, I made George a "laptop sweater".  He looked at cases, but wasn't thrilled with his options, and so he requested that I make him one!  I'm sure it could be prettier, but considering it was my second project and I made it up a bit as I went, I was pleased (and he loves it!).

First project!

George's Laptop sweater

George made me chicken with mango salsa for my birthday!

Though I hate to admit it, I did go through a rather serious Netflix Buffy-binge at the end of March. Partly because I was bummed to be back in the city after being in Patagonia, but also partly because I believed it was going to expire at the end of March.  Turns out, it didn't end up expiring, but I did finish about 4 seasons over the course of a week.  Do I regret it?  Nope.  But after that bout of extreme inactivity, I was determined to be more active in April! I mostly did a lot of walking and listening to audiobooks, but I also got into a yoga kick. I just am happier when I'm very active! I even stopped biting my nails... and you guys know me... that's crazy!  It's been over a month now, and I've clipped them short twice!

Another fun end-of-March thing was our La Vega-Colombian food feast.  From January through March we had been having twice weekly Spanish lessons with Nany, who is from Colombia. One special lesson that we had was a trip to La Vega, and then we made some traditional Colombian food at her apartment. We picked up some Colombian-style empanadas, which are different from Chilean empanadas. Chilean empanadas tend to be baked with a pie-type crust (fried ones are also a thing here, but in Santiago baked seem to be more common). The Colombian ones are fried and have a mesa dough. The filings for both vary, but beef, corn, onions, etc., are common. After the empanada starter, we had a soup, salad and main course. Pictures and description below!

A stand at little vega (the smaller market next to La Vega)

Colombian empanadas

They had shredded beef and onion and the sauce was a bit spicy!

Sancocho - Chicken, potato, plantain, yuca, and usually corn, but we forgot to add it!

Beef, fried plantains, beans and rice. Very tasty!

At the end of March and during April, the weather really started to cool off.  George and I were thrilled!  We even had a few days where it sprinkled and were treated to snowy mountains!  Also during April George and Will's other co-founder, visited for a few weeks. I enjoyed having another person around to chit-chat with, and it was also a nice excuse to check out a few restaurants.  We finally made it to one of the restaurants in Little Vega (above the markets), and had some traditional chilean food.  The night before he left, we went out to Tiramisú and had the best pizza we've had in Chile (pretty decent pizza). I failed to take a photo of the pizza, but did get a photo of the dessert!

Clouds rolling in over the mountains

Snowy-sunsety mountains!

Lomo a lo pobre (or similar) from little vega

Dessert at Tiramisú

George and I have done a pretty good job at taking advantage of the cooler weather. Mostly we've just walked about, but we also have been eating out a bit more.  My waistline is not thrilled, but it has been great!  The other week I talked George into going to an Ed Sheeran concert with me. The show was really great (though I could do without the young girls screaming) and the opener, Antonio Lulic, was awesome too!

An evening walk in Parque Bicentario

A pint at an Irish Pub

Overcast = cool weather for hiking!

I talked George into attending an Ed Sheeran concert!

So that's mostly what we were up to! This week we've been up north in the Atacama Desert.  It has been incredible, and I promise to work through my photos and get a blog post together in a week or two. I'll leave you with some more food photos.

I was in a use-up-what's-left mood:  lentils, quinoa, grapes, peppers, tomatos, and avocado... super tasty!

BBQ chicken and roasted veggies... basic but tasty!

A waffle from Tea Connection... the first waffle George and I had in months!

Pastel de choclo: a layered pie, with chopped beef at the bottom prepared “al pino” (a thick stew of minced or chopped beef, chopped onions and seasoning), chicken, olives and a hard-boiled egg, topped with a mixture of ground fresh corn, and baked in the oven

Cazuela de Ave (Pollo): There was a whole potato, a hunk of corn, and other veggies and rice... in addition to that huge chicken breast.  I did not come close to finishing it, but it was a good chicken noodle soup craving fix.