Concerning Food

Tonight's post is on food, because I love food and so should you.

Seriously though, the food here is amazing. Chilean food doesn't rely on a lot of spices, so by our standards it is fairly plain -- but all of the ingredients are SO fresh, it all tastes a thousand times better than what we have in the US. Nothing needs to be coated in spices. I am going to be so spoiled by the time I get home!

During orientation we mostly eat at restaurants. Our first night, we ate at a ridiculously fancy restaurant. One of the CIEE staff, Alejandra, suggested that we climb the stairs up to the restaurant. "It's only on the 16th floor," she said. Some of us thought she was joking; some of us only heard the "seis" in "diez y seis". Some of us didn't hear anything at all and just climbed the stairs with the rest of the group. Whatever the excuse was, Alejandra wasn't kidding. It really was on the 16th floor, and we really did climb the stairs. Not all of us, mind -- just those of us crazy enough to agree with her. We felt we were more deserving of dinner than anyone else, and we told them so.

The dinner at this place was amazing, to say the least. I won't spell it all out, because it would take up the whole page on its own (believe me, I checked) and I don't want to bore you. Suffice to say, it was a full 5 course meal stuffed with deliciousness.

Last night, Rosita and I ate with Brooke and Patti downstairs. Patti made salmon, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I was really impressed by the potatoes, of all things! I am not sure what she put in them, but they were spicy and creamy and all kinds of delicious. I would like to ask her at some point, to see if I can replicate it.

When Rosita and I were at the grocery store this afternoon, she bought me something called manjar, which needs to become available immediately at every supermarket in the United States. Seriously, can we get a petition going? Manjar is like a yummier version of caramel, the liquidy kind people put on ice cream. You can put manjar on bread, crackers, ice cream, apples, or just spoon it out of the jar like I do. I have every intention of filling my checked bag with manjar when I come home. Because who needs clothing when you could sit around in your underwear eating manjar?

Important Note

I don't actually sit around in my underwear eating manjar.

But trust me.

It's hot enough in the apartment that I think I could get away with it.

On a completely different note, I'm pretty sure my host mama thinks I'm crazy. She's convinced I don't eat enough. This morning, I had toast with quesilla, and then enjoyed a huge lunch with the rest of the CIEE group. After I got home, I ate a power bar leftover from my plane ride. When Rosita came home around 6:30, she was hungry and so sat down to eat dinner (she had forgotten her lunch, and so hadn't eaten all day). She asked if I wanted anything.

"No, thanks, I'm not hungry right now."
"....are you sure?"
"Yup, I'm sure!"
"Here, I brought out a plate of grapes for you. You eat these while I eat my pollo."

Around 9:30 this evening, I still hadn't eaten dinner (except for the grapes and some manjar-laden crackers).

"You haven't eaten anything yet!"
"Yeah, I'm just not that hungry tonight, I've had a lot of snacks to eat."
"Well do you want to eat now?"
"Nope, I'm ok!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm good, thank you!"

She turned to leave, and then came back half a second later, still looking concerned.

"You're positive you don't want anything?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"You know you can eat whenever you want, whenever you are hungry eat something! The kitchen is all yours!"
"Yes, I know! Thank you, I will take advantage of that."
"Are you sure you don't want something else to eat?"

I sometimes fear that my eating habits are going to worry her to death.