Pastel de Choclo and Pomaire

Last weekend, Maritza and I took a bus ride to a small outlying town about an hour or two south of Santiago called Pomaire. I have little knowledge of its history, but as far as I can tell, the town was created in the same kind of sense as an Indian Reservation in the US. Pomaire has made a name for itself with its pottery. The town at first glance consists entirely of a main road lined with potter shop after pottery shop with a few restaurants mixed with some other types of artisanal craft shops. The pottery is simple but distinctive, with a dark smoke stain, but no glaze or designs. The most common, and as far as I can tell, most traditional piece is the small bowl in which personal pastel de choclo dishes are baked. Pastel de choclo is a bit like a Chilean version of chicken pot pie, where the top is a soft, moist, semi-sweet corn crust. Underneath that is the leg of a chicken. It is baked and served in the same type of bowl all over Chile, and this is the type of bowl for sale in Chile. Maritza and I each got one for lunch (I thought it only had little pieces of chicken at the bottom, based on some bad advice from the waitress, and so I only ate the top part, which was a decent amount of food on its own). Then, we each bought one of the bowls after wandering around the town some more, among some other dishes that I hope will not push my suitcase over the weight limit coming home. That night, when we returned, we made a veggie version of pastel de choclo, but we made it in the bigger casserole dish (shown in the pictures, which will come soon; I don't have my camera with me right now and they're not on my computer) since we were cooking for five. Ours had different veggies as the bottom layer and wasn't quite pastel de choclo (mostly because we used frozen corn when it's supposed to be grated directly off the cob. (From what I can figure, 'choclo' technically means corn-on-the-cob, but it's the only word for corn commonly used here in Chile. Pastel means pie—not sweet—or cake.) It was good, though, and I want to try making it again, upon returning to summer, and corn.

Radio Star

I'm going to be on a radio show at a station at the University here. The show is called "English by the Slice" and it'll be on at 8:00pm Wednesday (8 Aug). You can listen to it from anywhere at Radio USACH's website. Click on "Señal On Line Radio FM" and you can listen to us be interviewed. Enjoy!

UPDATE:
If you missed it, you can try downloading it from here:

https://webshare.uchicago.edu/users/leewalsh/English%20by%20the%20Slice-08-08-2007.mp3?uniq=-ncdwzj

Because who doesn't love quotes?

It’s time for us to say au revoir to Pierre. Where did he come from? Where is he going? I guess we could all ask the same questions of ourselves. We’ll let a fellow Frenchman here have the last words.

“When from a long distant past nothing persists, after the people are dead, after things are broken and scattered, still alone, more persistent, more faithful, the smell and taste of things remain poised a long, long time like souls, ready to remind us, waiting, hoping for their moment amid the ruins of all the rest, and bear unfaltering in the tiny, almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.
(Marcel Proust, A Remembrance of Things Past)

¡Viernes Libre!

Okay, I'll refrain from the temptation to write in Spanish. That'll make this post go faster at any rate.

So today was a good day at school. I didn't have any caffeine in the morning and I was still good to go! Probably because I let myself sleep in an extra 40 minutes because someone was in the shower when I intended to get up. So I went to school dirty and [stupid old] Neil got to have his freakout. I should mention that it's not that he's old that I dislike him - rather, it's his sense of entitlement and disposition to watching movies really loudly in the fairly small common room that I find annoying. And to be fair, those may or may not have anything to do with the fact that he is aged. But back to fun things!

Today was Mike's last day (he came for 2 weeks as a vacation) so during the pausa we all got cookies and there was a impromptu graduationish ceremony in which they gave him a diploma and Paola told me and the German student who speaks almost no English that they only give diplomas to students they like, which I thought was hilarious. So Mike's deal is that he is a number-cruncher econ dude at a small firm in NYC and this was one of his vacations for the year. He has apparently done this is a variety of locations - it's how he travels solo, always taking Spanish classes in the mornings. I find this very interesting, since on one hand you improve your Spanish (always awesome) and maybe meet people in the classes (good when you're alone), but on the other your mornings are sucked up by class and he couldn't visit anything in Chile except for Valparaíso because he had class all the weekdays. Anyone have an opinion about this? I can see why backpackers and richer folks would do it at the start of a vacation, but not for its entirety - I think it's too restricting. So post a comment and let me know what you think!

I came home in the afternoon and had PBJ before heading out to one (or many?) of the schools I rejected to register for the DELE (Diploma of Spanish as a Foreign Lanugage) exam which is on August 24. Then I was going to walk down to the area around where I work and check out restaurants (write down URLs, not be nerdy at all, etc.) and maybe shop a little and maybe go to the Tosteria which has several fun food staples at lower prices than the Jumbo. Then, literally a crossroads and realized I was wearing leather-uppers instead of sneakers, I decided to go back to the apartment, change my shoes, and head for Barrio Patronato, which Paola had told me was full of cheap clothing and Kanika had mentioned had at least 3 oriental food stores. So off I went.

On the way I walked through the park by the river instead of by the street, and it was so neat!
I have never been there right after school got out, and it was gorgeous out (I had a t-shirt on until around 6pm) and the playgrounds were FULL of kids playing and there were a couple of carts selling popcorn and cotton candy, and the edges of the park were full of young lovers canoodling, and it was all very sweet. Then I crossed over into Patronato and saw nothing but clothing for several minutes, haha. It wasn't like the bazaar where Mike got super cheap sweaters, I don't think, because the prices weren't actually much better than the US for fairly cheap things. Actually, it looked a lot like the clothes you pick up at Forever 21/Wet Seal/Charlotte Russe/etc. so nothing particularly grabbed my attention. This is either sad or good, depending your love of owning things from other lands and your recognition of the fact that you have plenty of clothes, thanks. If I could find a snuggly sweater I'd get it, or fun jeans, but I have promised not to spent more than CLP$6000 at the very most on anything that isn't amazing or extremely good quality.

So I somehow managed to remember Kanika's email about the food stores enough to turn on the right street and then I found all three of them! They were amazing! I'm sure I looked silly, walking through there smiling stupidly when I saw spring roll wrappers or sushi rice or wasabi or vegetarian oyster sauce or the rows and rows of different fun noodles. I looked at everything in all the stores, then continued on my way. I got tired though, and all the stores were clothes and I wasn't coming upon any interesting restaurants (Oh! Except for "El Gringo" which has FALAFAL for CLP$120 each, or in sandwiches and other forms, and shwarma, and probably other delicious things. The falafal looked good. I should have tried one.) and I was worried the stores would close, so I headed back and bought soy sauce (which I later realized was overpriced, but oh well, now there's enough for both apartments for the rest of the summer), GREEN CHILE PASTE (omg so excited) and vegetarian dumplings. I am looking forward to everything. I think it was probably all overpriced but hey, it's cheaper than a restaurant and better than the same old almost-teriyaki sauce every night. Should give Lee and I some fun times.

On my way back south I also spotted a thin-crust pizza place which used real tomato sauce and has some deal specials so that might be worth looking into later, though I remain more excited to go to the NYC-style pizza place near Geomás which smells so delicious every time I walk by. Anyway, I crossed the river again, visited a Santa Isabel grocery store, figured out where I was (2 blocks from the Plaza de Armas) and decided to take the metro home and I wasn't looking foward to the 45 minute walk home. It was surprisingly short, haha. Between the station and home I passed a popcorn vendor and bought a package of crispy kettle korn for $300 which was delightful and I'm still not hungry. I'll probably eat a big breakfast tomorrow to tide me over for as long as possible in Valpo/Viña, since I'm not sure how it'll all go down tomorrow.

So I'll officially try to get into the habit of posting starting now! Except I probably won't post tomorrow since I'll be gone all day. Oh well!

Be well!

All I Want is a Nice Roommate...

I have really bad luck with roommates. I don't know why. It is not always true, I have had absolutely wonderful roommate experiences, with Alex from Spain being probably the best ever. But I seem locked into a now well-over-one-year stretch of frustrating living situations. I know this is my first post in FOREVER, so I'm going to rant and then make another post that's about something more fun, but I need to blow off steam and I don't have anyone to talk to right now.

So I've been living in my new apartment for about a week now, been eating meals and everything, and this morning I started out not running late and then time got away from me, so I didn't do my dishes before I left. As I was walking out the door my 60 or 70-something year old roommate Neil from England asked if they were my dishes. I said that some of them were and that I'd wash them at lunchtime, which I did. Then this evening I heard Branton and Marisol get home so I went over there to pay rent for this month, which I'd neglected to do (I gave the security deposit a while back so they had forgotten too.), and Branton says, "Oh, Neil came and talked to me and I'm supposed to chastise you for not washing the dishes because he wanted to cook this morning and couldn't." I was surprised because there are 2 other frying pans, but I accepted what he said. Back in the apartment, I approached Neil because I figured he's old and a guy and probably doesn't know about looking for things, so I asked what had been the problem that he needed to cook and couldn't use the other frying pans we had and he looks at me smugly and says, "Oh, I don't use frying pans." So I said well what's the problem, and after at least five more minutes of him being cryptic and I was able to discern that the problem was not that I had used anything that he wanted to use, but simply that he had had to look at dirty dishes in the morning, which he is not accustomed to doing.

Now at this point I am thinking back to living with Heather: we let dirty dishes accumulate until there were many of them and then we washed them. Sometimes we washed them for each other. Then I think back to living in the house in St. Paul, where we had a 24-hour rule, which I feel is the ideal limit. Still, many times I came home to dirty dishes that I needed (i.e. no other option) in the sink so I just washed them and used them, occasionally leaving my mess in the sink if it was comparable or less, which was usually was cleaned by the first person. And this didn't even have to be worked out verbally. Meanwhile the Nepali woman continually used all of the mugs, one pot for milk, and the pressure cooker. By continually used I mean if they weren't used they were always left dirty and if clean typically hidden in their room before I would ever have the chance to use them. Then I think back to living with Lily and Jen and the messes that lingered for up to a week rarely, but every so often after a dinner party or cooking spree. I relaxed the 24-hour rule for myself on occasion living with them, but I tried my best, and never left huge messes, or if I did I left a note, and all was understood, and I put up with messes being there when I didn't want them because, well, that's what you do when you live with other people. Flexibility (thanks, Bonnie!). Then I think of Lee's apartment and how there were usually someone's dirty dishes in the sink, and it wasn't a big deal for anyone, as long as they eventually got cleaned, even if it was somewhat inconvenient once in a while.

So I say to Neil, well I'm sorry that you were inconvienced this morning when I was late. I'd like you to remember that this has only happened once and while I would certainly take into account the fact that he doesn't want to ever have to look at dirty dishes, and make a serious effort to try and clean things up right after I use them, I want him to understand that sometimes something will happen that will result in me not cleaning the dishes for a few hours.

His response was essentially, "I want you to wash everything right away," which he said in different ways and then accused me of not being respectful of the way he lives his life, etc. I reiterated that I would sincerely make an effort but could not promise I would never not clean my dishes immediately after finishing a meal (Because, frankly, not his call. I'm paying rent too.). Then he stared at me. Without blinking. I stared back for approximately 10 seconds, just to make sure he was actually acting like a 10-year-old, then said, "Are we seriously having a staring contest?" In the most condescending, patronizing tone I've heard in a while (well, since Ernie in the Jumbo), he replies "Well, I would like you to respect how I feel." I asked him to please not speak to me in a condescending manner, he said it wasn't, I explained that that's how it sounded, and his next move? "I think we should go get Branton." At this point I am in shock that he not only went to Branton first to complain about one thing I did that bothered him immediately after it happened ONCE, but was now going to get him again after a few minutes of disagreements.

When Branton came in Neil said hardly anything so I explained about him being offended by merely the dirty dishes and said that I was willing to make an effort to change my habits but would appreciate some flexibility on his part. So Branton talked for a while about the need for understanding and I said that I understood Neil and was waiting to hear that he understood me, and that actually meant something. Then Neil launched into I'm older and wiser and holier than thou mode, and I realized that this is all actually underlaid by him being older and probably him being male and me being young (and female) and thinking that because of this what he says goes. So I expressed that worry, but Neil was, as he had been since about minute 2 of the conversation, staring at his computer, so basically Branton (poor guy, trying not to take sides) and I had a conversation while Neil rudely ignored us.

I'm fairly disgusted right now. In my opinion adults are respected because they are more mature than children, but this means that they ought to display that maturity. It is not my responsibility to bend over backwards to please anyone for the sole reason that they older than me, especially not a roommate who I don't want anymore than he wants me. There are many ways in which someone earns respect, and being some old jerk from England who moved in first is not one of them. Really I just have a hard time doing nice things for anyone who feels entitled, whether it be because they are richer than someone else, better looking than someone else, or whatever. I do, actually, a lot of the time, treat people as I would have them treat me. And the rest of the time I'm trying. Boo on people who don't even try.

I'm a guest!

Check me out at http://nlplab.usach.cl/guests.html

Vive los sabores de U.S.A.

Maritza and I were walking through the Jumbo, which is a grocery store the size of Costco and as crowded as ... well very crowded. And everybody has an enormous shopping cart to boot. Anyway, we're pushing our way through this zoo, and Maritza sees ramen, but it's not that cheap (like 350 pesos or something per pack—60 cents). Then we notice granola bars, and some other American looking food. We finally look up and there's this ridiculous deccoration of Red , White and Blue and a sign that says, basically, "Long live the flavors of the USA." We thought it was pretty funny, especially because the flavors of the USA were exemplefied by ramen and granola bars. We looked around a little more and realized that the seemingly most celebrated food was ketchup, of which they had a very large stock.

¡Empanadas verdes!

Maritza and I made empanadas verdes tonight! Empanadas are like miniature simple calzones, stuffed with cheese, mushrooms or meat and they are very popular all over South and Central America. Maritza saw lots of them last fall in Panamá, and I saw lots in while I was in Ecuador. You can buy them on the street and in cafés all over here in Chile. They differ in the way they're made but the overall effect is similar. In Chile they are made of flour, but in Ecuador the shell is made from mashed green (not ripe) plaintains, hence the name "verde." So what we made isn't actually a Chilean dish at all but we thought it would be fun, and it was! They were also very yummy! Maritza made the dough in the afternoon while I was still at work. She boiled the plantain briefly then mashed it together with an egg and some butter. It then sat for a while to cool off and I came over to help her. She rolled out the dough and cut nice little circles out of it as in the picture on the right. Then I put little pre-cut slices of gauda cheese (not gouda), which is a mild cheese used a lot in Chile. Most empanadas de queso around here seem to be stuffed with it. We also added peas because Maritza had some, and we didn't feel like cutting onions (which is what the recipe called for). So then I folded it over like a taco and squished the edges together using a fork (see photo to left). All ready to be fried! Hooray! Deep-frying the empanadas stiffens the dough and melts the cheese. Mmmm. All ready to eat, warm and all melty!

Yes I know there are other entries....

Hello all,

Well, today was a pretty good day! I've been putting off writing this playing Snood and Enigma because I am the biggest dork ever, but I beat the puzzle game on Snood (so WHAT if I used the save game feature?) so that should help somewhat. Also Lee was sick last week and then I was sick this weekend and I didn't want to update when all I would do is complain, so I will say instead that when I got out of the metro on my way home from school and looked southeast I was thrilled to see the Andes clearly, the white snow on top sharp against the clear blue sky, no smog, no clouds. That's how I knew it would be a good day. The other exciting thing actually happened this morning.

I'm seeing Ani Difranco in concert this September! I was thinking about not getting tickets because she's playing in the same theater I saw her in 1st year, which is the Auditorium Theater which is gigantic and is more appropriate for an opera with its gold-covered ceilings and fancy everything and 50ft high stage opening, but whatever. The point is that it holds like 4000 people and when I saw her I was in the second balcony and I couldn't see her in good focus and I was just sitting in a chair and I said I'd never see her in a huge venue like that again. However, I'm on the mailing list for her label (email) and so knew about the presale which began today and the password to get presale tickets and all that, so during the break at shool, which was right after 11 (when the tickets went onsale), I went online to get them and I scored AMAZING seats for lee and I. Which is why it's worth it even in this ridiculous venue because we are in the FOURTH row, center section, 5 and 6 seats from the aisle (see right). CRAZY.

The other day Elliot, another guy on the program, saw a street named 10 de julio and so decided to have a dinner party tonight in order to avoid any possible insult to Chile for forgetting an important holiday. People asked around all day about what the holiday was for (I didn't think to ask my Spanish professor.) to no avail. Finally, one of my two Chilean roommates told me that he thought it had to do with a battle in Concepción, which is a port city several hours south of Santiago (it is, I believe, Chile's third largest city). With some help from Google it appears that the 10th was the second and final day of an important battle in the War of the Pacific between Chilean and Peruvian/indigenous troops. 77 Chileans prevailed against an enemy force of around 2000. By the way, the Battle of the Pacific was initiated by the Chileans against Bolivia and Peru in order to take control of the area now known as Regions I and II. My Spanish professor compared it to the War in Iraq, saying that the rationale for war differed greatly from its more directly economic true but unspoken motives. I thought that was interesting. :)

Lee's cell phone

I bought a cell phone today! It's free for me for you to call me :) If you use skype, it's pretty cheap to call it. My number is 56 09 7718 6598. Have fun! Or, you can just call me on skype, too. My skype name is leewalsh.

¡Sigue la Corriente!

I found this billboard in a metro station, and I thought it was very cute. There's a lot of electricity savings propoganda here, but not to save us from global warming. Santiago, and I imagine much of the surrounding region, is facing an energy crisis. Most of their electricity comes from hydro electric, but they've been having less rain and snow than normal so their not producing up to par. Meanwhile, the city is growing and electricity use is way up and the system isn't able to handle it all. The water thing refers to the fact that they all have electric kettles to heat water for their tea or instant coffee. I think people tend to fill it much of the way up (two or three liters) and heat all that water, then only pour a cup or two and let the rest cool off. Anyway, here's a translation:

USE LOW CONSUMPTION LIGHT BULBS. DON'T WAIT FOR OTHERS TO DO IT FOR YOU.
USE ENERGY WISELY. KEEP THE CURRENT FLOWING.
Unplug things that you're not using, like your cell phone charger, that continue
to use consume electricity even while their not in use. When you heat water,
store it in a thermos. Do your laundry in full loads. Choose refigerators and
lightbulbs with the Energy Efficient Label. Follow this advice and save money.
www.siguelacorriente.cl