A non-ode to sopaipillas pasadas, tales of failed expat experimentation in Chilean food
Every rainy day in winter, Chileans coo, "que rico," and head to the closest supermarket, casino (cafeteria) or grandmother's house to get their sopaipillas pasadas on. Sopaipillas, which you might know from other Latin American cuisines, are round disks of dough,...
Feria Report, Montreal Version (Sami Fruits), with bonus text
Some dear friends of mine moved to Montreal last year. It was a big loss for me, they were some of my closest neighbors, and good friends, one of them someone who I often refer to as my cousin. We've lived in a bunch of the same places, had many same experiences, but...
Skies of yestercity
There's a certain kind of broken sky we never get in Santiago. A weak northeastern sun that fractures the space above into clumps and sheep and defrocked pillows. This sky whispers directly into my head. It says you are waiting for the B49 bus on Ocean Avenue, your...
What’s in a feria? The Valdivia feria report
On a recent trip I took to research two different stories, one short and one long, I knew that one of my hotspots would be the diminutive feria fluvial or riverside market in Valdivia. Valdivia is lucky enough, or smart enough or pretty enough (not sure which) to be...
The things you learn about dogs and cats in the supermarket (in Chile)
How do you call a cat? In the United States, we make kind of a psss psss psss psss sound. I often make a more of a clicking sound, which one time in Cuernavaca, in Mexico, I was told by a groundskeeper, is how you call a rabbit. Which seems odd, because though cats...
January Feria Report, nightshades and salad greens, and an almond milk obsession
Salad is upon us. With the Peruvian stalls having well-priced berros (watercress) and rúcula (arugula), and the new hydroponic lettuces leafy and light, it's a fairly amazing time for salad in this world. Tomatoes are good, as are eggplant, and the mangos (imported, a...
So you think you want to be a guidebook writer?
Ever since I started writing about travel, there are a couple of things that seemed holy grailish. National Geographic. Conde Nast. Guidebooks. I was 0 for 3 for a long time there, working on what I normally work on, regular contracts that pay well enough, that I...
A new kind of feria report, December version and a Boladero cheese dato
How many times can you look at photos of food arranged on my living room table (yes, you read that right), coffee table or balcony table? Many, judging by how long I've been at this. Thought I'd do something a little different today, details to follow. But first I...
Do you think in English or Spanish?
Do you think in English or Spanish? This is a question I am frequently asked. To be honest, I don't know how to answer. If I'm having a conversation in Spanish, it stands to reason that I must be thinking in Spanish. If I weren't, then I would be translating...
Entre Tongoy y Los Vilos
As in English, where there's an expression, "in the middle of nowhere," Chile has its version. A place of minimal interest, or where there is nothing going on, is often said to be "entre Tongoy y Los Vilos (between Tongoy and Los Vilos), two towns on the coast roughly...
