Happy New Year's Eve! And other stuff!

Hola! I promised myself that I'd write another post within the week, so here I am!  This week has been pretty lazy.  We have done some wandering around, some shopping, and I've been keeping up with cooking. Though I hate to admit it, since it's been warmer this week, and because I have been sleeping in later, I failed to run on Friday and on Monday.  Admitting it here is the first step to motivating myself to get out there today! I am beginning to think that perhaps I should give up my aspirations of ever being a morning person and instead commit to running in the evenings.  Hopefully that will also discourage overeating at dinner and excess dessert/wine consumption... :-)  Aside from exercise, below are some topics that have been on my mind!

Spanish

I did well this week using Duolingo (username jenkc04 if you want to add me!).  I would say that Spanish (language in general probably) has actually been the most difficult subject I have tried to learn.  I took four years in high school and a semester in college, but it was always a struggle. In fact, come to think about it, the only class I ever dropped in college was intermediate Spanish II.  I'm pretty sure I chickened out after the first week.  That being said, I am living in a country where only 9.5% of the population (as of their 2012 census) speak English, and so I am going to do my best to be able to fumble my way through some Spanish by the time I leave!  Duolingo is a great start/refresher for me, but it's not great for stuff that is actually useful immediately.  One example:  El perro negro bebe vino en los sabados (The black dog drinks wine on Saturdays). This is not yet helping me at the market or grocery store.

Data Science

Next Monday I will be starting back up with my Coursera Data Science specialization.  I'm glad that I took a break with the holidays and moving, but I have to say, I'm also glad I will be getting back into it.  This was a project that I finished for the last course I took, Reproducible Research.  I looked at the health and economic impact of US weather events between 1996 and 2011.  Nothing too sophisticated stats-wise, but I am definitely becoming more comfortable with R.  It is a bit overwhelming knowing how much room there is too grow though!  I've been meaning to go back and try a few different projects with that dataset (like looking at tornado deaths over time).  Next week I'll be back at it! Statistical Inference here I come.

Reading

So in a desperate attempt to meet my GoodReads yearly goal of 50 books, I have been doing quite a bit of reading since arriving in Santiago.  It looks like I will fall 5 books shy of my goal (so close!).  While I think the goal should totally be total pages or words (the Wheel of Time series really put me behind), I am glad that I spent more time reading this year than I had the previous year.  I'm also glad I read some books that I had really been meaning to (looking at you Wheel of Time).  The worst of the year goes to Divergent.  I did not enjoy that book... the second two in the series were redeeming, but I would not put myself through that again.  My favorite reads of the year were Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fears by Patrick Rothfuss (respectively #1 and #2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles).  They hooked me right away and I am very eagerly awaiting the third in the series!  I am super excited about the Barnes & Noble gift cards that I received for Christmas!  I have big plans for this year... I promise to post my "To Read in 2015" list as soon as I finish it!

Cooking
 
It has been tricky adjusting to frugality, availability of ingredients, and not having a stocked pantry.  A few of my favorite homemade items (my "birdfood bread" and granola for instance) won't be happening because the ingredients will be expensive if I can even find them all.  Also the kitchen is not super well stocked... I am going to be seriously excited when I finally get back to my kitchen items!  I think I will be working on recipes that include more beans and lentils, which I had never worked with much from dried. We will also undoubtedly eat plenty simple meat and veggie dishes, which are always easy!  Some meals I made this week and other photos:

Christmas dinner:  Pork (cerdo) tenderloin medallions with brown rice (arroz integral), and onions (cebollas), green peppers (pimientos verdes), carrots (zanahorias), and pineapple (piña)

Leftovers from the vegetarian tacos!  Black beans (frijoles negros), lentils (lentejas), and brown rice (arroz integral) with avocado (palta), tomato (tomate) and cilantro (cilantro!)

Mooore leftovers - similar to above but with lettuce (lechuga)

Providencia’s Santa Maria Market - Where we go on Sundays (los domingos) for fruits (frutas) and veggies (vegetales)!

As mentioned previously, some streets are closed on Sundays for pedestrians and cyclists. Super awesome!

Spaghetti (espaquetis) with homemade green pepper and tomato pasta sauce and chicken (pollo) and zucchini (calabacín)

Well, that's all for now.  I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve!  We hope to be in bed before midnight so that we wake up early for hiking tomorrow... Since South Korea rang in the New Year about an hour prior to me posting this, I'll just pretend I'm with Missy... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Does that mean I can have a glass of wine now?

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas!  In keeping with the norm so far, I've taken longer between post creations than I intended.  Oooops :-)  Well here goes:  The Wine Tour! Kylie at Chile Wine Trails is awesome and the day was great.  I definitely recommend doing a tour organized by her if you are ever in the area!


We left Santiago around 10 am and headed to Casablanca Valley.  The plan for the day was to visit Emiliana Organic Vineyards, Casa Botha Restaurant and Wine Shop, and then end the day at Bodegas RE Winery and Vineyard.  I did not add info on specific wines we tried, buuuut you can see which wines I have tried in Chile so far through my vivino profile.  Vivino is a neat app which can be used to track wines tried!  I'm by no means a wine connoisseur, so you may want to completely disregard my ratings, but I would definitely recommend the app!

So first stop was Emiliana!

Emiliana!  Very enjoyable tour!

Emiliana is an organic and biodynamic vineyard.  The tour we went on there was absolutely fascinating.  The idea is that the vineyard should basically be a closed environment, so they do not have to bring in any outside resources for wine production and they do not use any synthetic chemicals.  They use the animals and plants on site, and even the moon cycle, to give the grapes the nutrients needed.  Interestingly, they have found that this also creates a much heartier crop.  A few years ago there was a very bad frost, and it cost them either 40% or 60% (I can't quite remember) of their crop, but other vineyards in the region lost everything, including the vineyard that was just across the road.  

Chickens help minimize pest damage to the grape vines.

Alpacas! Their manure is used in the compost for the grapes.  They keep alpacas instead of llamas because they are less cantankerous.

Rows of vines are alternated with compost rows and rows of flowers.  The flowers provide extra nitrogen to the soil.

The buildings on the site.  It would be a beautiful place for a fancy function!

Certain herbs are also used to supplement the compost and animal diets.

Finally!  The wine and cheese!

Now for the wine story.  So, I'm not exactly graceful, but this was particularly terrible. The chairs at the table were very close together, and there was a step down behind them, so just getting front of the seat was awkward.  While worrying about not tripping, I managed to forget that my camera was hanging around my neck.  So when I finally got in front of the seat, I bent to sit down, and my camera swung forward knocking down not one, not two, not even three, but all four of the wine glasses in front of me, as well as the glass of water (you know, for good measure). Miraculously no glass was broken, and only my place setting and the one across from me was affected, but it was super embarrassing.  I managed to set a record for most glasses knocked over and without a drop of wine in my system.  Everyone was very nice about it, but I will not be living it down any time soon (ever).  Hopefully that was my clumsy moment for the entire stay in Chile... but then again, I am related to Jimmy :-)

Moving on. My favorite part of the day was the visit to Casa Botha!  I loved pretty much everything about it.  The food was awesome, the wine was my favorite of the day, and we even got to see the kitchen!  The owner David is an expat from South Africa.  He retired to Chile, built his workshop and house, and then decided to build the restaurant.  He used all reclaimed materials (everything had a previous life), and it was easy to see how passionate he is about the restaurant.  The restaurant doesn't have a specific menu; the menu is set each day based on what is in season and good.  So the "menu" just basically says "meat", "fish", etc.  His relationship with the local vineyards and wineries ensures that he gets the good stuff on the wine front too!  Missy, I am going to do my best to make sure we go here when you visit!  

Lovely building!

David, the owner, actually built the restaurant himself using all reclaimed materials!

Meet Jude... super cute!  Very interested in food also...

Four cheese gnocchi! Super tasty!  This was part of the main course... I failed to take a picture of the appetizer course, but it was great!

I was too excited to take a before picture... There was a fish that is only found in the southern hemisphere (yes I should have remembered the name), gnocchi, a super tasty lasagne, and some delightful sirloin steak served with mushrooms and potatoes.

Cheesecake, passion fruit-lime mousse, ice cream

Apple tart/pie, panna cotta, and more ice cream

Finally, we ended the day at Bodgas RE.  They produce wine, liqueurs, and balsamic vinegar.  It was raining just a bit by the time we arrived, so we did not get to see the fields, but the tour guide assured us that the storage and fermentation processes are the interesting parts of what they do anyhow!  The wine production was in the cellar of the building, which was also where the tasting was.  It was nice and cool, and also super neat!

The RE is for Revelation, Recreation, and Revolution.

They make fruit liqueurs:  Strawberry, Blueberry, Peach, Grape and others.  Very strong and meant as a digestive. Aged for 4 months (I believe).

Strawberry!

They make balsamic vinegar.. We were able to smell these... very vinegary (shocking!).  Each barrel is a different type of wood, which imparts its flavor.  Aged for about 4 years (I think..).

A unique aspect of this winery is the way that they create their wine... the wine is first allowed to ferment in the large clay containers on the right, and then further aged in the barrels on the left. Super neat.

mmmmm cheese and olives!

This was part of my treat from Bodegas RE.  Olive oil and balsamic vinegar!  Aren't these bottles beautiful?  We also purchased a bottle of the 2013 Syragnan, which we enjoyed on Christmas eve!

Since the wine tour on Saturday, we haven't done very much.  It was overcast here on Saturday and Sunday, but when it cleared on Monday we were treated to some extra snow in the mountains!  The cooler weather on Monday was awesome for running!  It warmed up the rest of the week, but it has still been cool in the mornings.  I finished up Christmas shopping on Monday and Tuesday and yesterday George and I had a lazy TV day and I baked some cookies. Below are a few more pictures! 

Not a great shot, but this is as white of a Christmas as we will see!

Lentil and black bean tacos with veggies! Also some Chilean beer!

Adult playgrounds:  They have these "playgrounds" of exercise equipment throughout the park that I run in!  Very cool!

Settling In

 We have been in Santiago for a week and a half now, and I'm really starting to feel settled in.  I've resumed running (yay!) and eating well (or better). I love living just a short walk from the river park where I can run in the shade.  I'll be honest, the river is no Clark Fork (more a dirty run-off river), but the park is very nice!  The weather has been absolutely lovely - mid 80s during day and upper 40s at night.  I have been trying to run in the mornings when it's still cool out, but fortunately, there is very little humidity, so even when it's hot in the sun, it's not bad in the shade.

 Yesterday Amelia and I went to meet George and Will for lunch at a hole-in-the-wall place near their co-working space.  It was neat!  The lady(ies) running it just have 7-8 main course dishes, 3-4 sides, and then 5-6 salad/veggie items set out. They are all pre-prepared, and you just pick which ones you want and they reheat them. George and Will have been there a few times now, but this was Amelia's and my first time. 

Comfort Food!

 The food was very good.  Very simple flavors, but tasty.  I would love to tell you what the meatball thing I selected is called, but without being able to look at the name printed I failed to commit it to memory.  I do remember pepino (cucumber), tomate (tomato), and arroz (rice). This was mostly because they are kind enough to have several magnets on the wall behind the dishes with pictures of various vegetables used and the names in English and Spanish. I should probably take the post-it's that I brought and walk around the apartment labelling everything... it seems to work for me!

 My running days are MWF, so even though I woke up early today (ok, before 9 at least), I just took some time to relax, drink some tea, and finish some last minute Christmas shopping on the interwebs.  After a short walk, I decided I was ready to treat myself to some lunch:  Chicken (pollo), asparagus (espárragos), tomato (tomate), and cucumber (pepino).  Have I mentioned that I love second summer?

Nom Nom Nom

Goal before next time: Take some photos of something other than my meals and the view from the balcony!  Especially while on the wine tour this weekend!  Stay tuned!

Arrival in Santiago, Chile

Well, it took me almost a week to do this blog post, but here I am!  Our flight left Sunday night and we arrived Monday morning. Really, even though it was a long flight, it was a pleasant flight for me.  I slept most of the night and during the brief bouts of wakefulness, I made it partway through Frozen and Across the Universe (I might have a thing for musicals...).  During our arrival, we found out that we were on the inaugural United flight from Houston to Santiago.  What does that mean?  A water salute! Cool.

After making it through immigration, we took a transfer (ride-share van) from the airport to the apartment.  The drive was very cool.  I knew the mountains here were big, but I really did not have a grasp of how big.  Views of palm trees with snow capped mountains in the background really drove it home! Our apartment is small, but in a great location with very nice city and mountain views.  Will and Amelia welcomed us to the apartment and then after we rested for a bit, they walked us to the large mall that is near by.  Getting out and walking around a bit, picking up some home goods, and even some groceries (there's something similar to a super Walmart in the mall) was about the extent of our productivity.  We came home and both napped (oops!). 

On Tuesday we went to the PDI for part of the process to get our ID cards.  I am doing my best to forget about the experience (tears were very nearly shed), but you can read about it in George's post.  Wednesday was a continuation of the ID card process (George's other post).  Finally though, by mid-afternoon on Wednesday, I could relax and George could get to work (yeah, I think he's got the short end of the deal, but he was excited!).  During the rest of the week, I have visited the grocery stores several times, wandered about the mall, checked out the river park that is near by, and I managed to acquaint myself with Netflix Latin America (insert sheepish grin here).

From the apartment balcony

Another

It so happens that today is my Dad's birthday.  I miss him tons, and I can't help but wonder what he would have thought of all of the traveling his kids have done! I don't think he could have imagined that in such a short span, one would be in living in Bahrain, one would be living in South Korea, and one would be living in Chile. Very surreal.  I sincerely doubt I will be able to find an Old Style here, but I will certainly be having a glass of Chilean wine in my Dad's memory tonight. Salud!

Miss you dad!