Viva Chile!

I haven’t lived in Chile for 9 years now, but since my Dad is from Chile, I wanted to start a tradition for Aubrey on Chile’s Independence Day. I decided to make a typical Chilean food, empanadas de pino. After browsing a few recipes, I settled on this one and got cooking.

First, I cooked up some onions in extra virgin olive oil and butter.

Then I added cumin, Paprika, garlic powder and a beef bullion cube.

I combined all of this with 2 pounds of ground beef and browned it, then I let it simmer for about 8 minutes.

Afterwards, I started on the dough. If you want to cheat, you can get those refrigerated crescent rolls and use that instead. I combined flour, sugar, salt, shortening, butter and water. I kneaded it by hand for about 10 minutes, then let it sit for 30 minutes. Then I rolled it into golf ball size pieces.

I rolled them out and filled them with the meat, then lined the edges with some water so it would stick when I folded them over. I brushed the top with egg yolk and milk, then put them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

The last two pictures are before and after. 

I’m not that great at making Chilean food, but these turned out really well and now my house smells like Chile! My parents came down from Tulsa tonight and all I have to say is if my Dad was impressed, I succeeded! It was fun and I can’t wait to teach Aubrey how to make these, maybe next year she’ll be able to learn. Feliz Dia de Independencia, Chile! You will always be a part of me.

Volcano´s and shopping and hot springs, oh my

Yesterday was a great day for all of us. The boys had gone white water rafting on Tuesday and were looking for more adventure on Wednesday. The original plan had them doing ziplines in the forest, but the view of the volcano got to their sense of adventure and they left at 7 am yesterday. I wish I had the right cords to download the video for you all, but I think the word “awesome” will suffice. My uncle Pepe didn´t make it to the top, and Ryan and Rodrigo barely did. Apparently it is REALLY REALLY hard. Once they got to the top they could see two other area volcanoes as well as Argentina. When they were done walking around and looking at the top and had enough of the sulphur smell, they slid down the snow top part (about and hour) on small sleds. They got home about 4:30, sunburned and sooo tired.

While the boys were on the mountain, my aunt, Aubrey and I went Christmas shopping. I love Pucon. It is the quaintest, friendliest town. I think I threw people off because I speak spanish, but with a gringa accent and sometimes I look hispanic, sometimes I don´t. But it was fun and I got some great gifts, typical of the south. And if ya´ll don´t like them, I´ll use them! We went to several markets and food shops. The main thing here is woodwork, they have BEAUTIFUL furniture, all handmade and it made me want to redecorate my house. Better yet, it made me want to sell my house and everything in it and buy one down here to decorate. We stopped in a shop to get Aubrey a wooden fish that moves because she kept trying to take them, and a man had a picture of the Mapuche Virgin Mary (Mapuche are the native indians in Chile) on the wall and a block of wood. By the time we left he had her face done, all with a small knife and huge amount of skill.

After shopping we had lunch at a small sidewalk cafe. Aubrey tried the fish and loved it. It is so nice to see her eat so much. Maybe its a growth spurt, maybe its just Chile, but the kid is packing on the rolls. Hurrah! The cafe was cool because in Pucon, especially the summer, there are a ton of tourists. Americans don´t even make up the majority of them- most are from Germany, Brazil and Australia. The smell of wine, cheese and homemade beer fills the air… along with cigarrette smoke, which is not pleasant.

After lunch we went to an artesania chocolate shop, which had a lot of really cool chocolate carvings and fun stuff. I bought some because it looked so good, but apparently they don´t like things too sweet here because it was not chocolatey at all. So I bought some cuchufli´s from a guy on the street and Aubrey ate like 3. All my aspirations of keeping her off sugar and eating only organic food have failed drastically and that´s okay. Maybe its because I am on vacation but I just don´t care We had an hour to kill before the boys were done so I took Aubrey to the pool, which is really really cold but she loved it. I got sunburned and she got tan. Cute little tan.

So, after we picked the boys up we decided that the hot springs would be great for their sore muscles. We drove up into the mountains about 30 minutes and it only increased my desire to live out in the middle of nowhere, raising sheep. What is wrong with me?! The place we went to, Termas de Huife had 3 rock pools, different temps, and right next to them ran the river, which is FREEZING. Ryan and Rodrigo jumped in and squealed like little girls, it was funny. Aubrey loved them too, I think she was expecting it to be super cold like the pool and was surprised that was so warm.

On our way home, we bought empanadas and pan amasado as well as some chicken and rice and ate as soon as we walked in the door. This was at 10 pm which is typical. Chileans have their big meal at 3, then they have tea time at 8 or 9ish. Tea time consists of tea, coffee, bread, avocado, ham, jam, or some sort of sandwich. My favorite is churrasco, which is thin beef, avocado, tomato and mayo on yummy homemade bread. And yes, I will be about 7 pounds fatter when I get home, just fyi

Needless to say, after that long day we all slept good. Aubrey woke up in a pretty bad mood though, so I put her on the bed with me. I turned my head for a second to get her a toy and she fell hea first onto the tile floor. There are no words to describe what a horrible feeling that is. And man, she CRIED. But she is okay, running around outside with daddy now. Still, I hate that feeling. She has gotten hurt a lot here. Maybe its because I don´t see her during the day at home, or maybe its because she plays harder here. In any case, she will not be hanging out on the bed anymore.

So that´s my update. I am going to go take a shower. On the docket for today are the Caburgua Lake, where we will take a boat to see some waterfalls. After that we are going to drive to some more waterfalls, I think, and then come back to the cabin to relax, pack and maybe go to the pool. We leave tomorrow morning. Ryan will head to the north as soon as we get to Santiago to go deep sea fishing with my other uncle and I will hang out with my aunt. We are going to see my grandparent´s grave and then we will head to Las Cruces, where the family has a small cabin at the beach.

Its been a busy vacation but great so far. There is no way we would have been able to do or afford something like this without the help of our family in the states and the generosity of time and planning from our family here. I am so grateful for this experience, and am enjoying every minute of it (except the part where I won worst mother of the year by letting Aubrey fall off the bed).

Fiasco, disaster, robbery and ice cream

If you have read a few of my last posts and facebook updates, you will know that I was really really nervous about my 10 hour plane ride from Dallas to Chile with Aubrey. What I should have been nervous about was just making it to the airplane. We were set to leave yesterday at 6:45 pm, so I took the day off work to get ready, wash and dry my sheets, relax, and get to the airport early.

Well, I should have known that it was going to be a rough day when I woke up with one of the worst sore throats of my life! I decided to go to one of those urgent care places in hopes that they would give me a shot in the hip and be feeling better by the evening. Oh, no, its a virus, nothing I can do but drink tea and pray to God to heal me.

So I go home, do my stuff, and in the process of looking for some medicine to aleviate my pain, I saw something that looked like a plane ticket for Aubrey from American Airlines. Being under the impression that she had no ticket bc she was a lap child, I stuck it back in the drawer. You see where this is going. Our housesitter showed up along with my in-laws, we loaded up the car and after running into the house twice bc I felt like I forgot something, we were off.

Everything is going smoothly at the check in until we weigh our bags. One of them was 20 pounds over the limit with a $50 fee, so we had to open all our suitcases (4) and redistribute everything. But Ryan and I were laughing about it, still having fun and the excitement was building, until the dear man at the ticket counter, bless his heart, says “Oh, were is the infant ticket?”

Blink. Blink. Blink. Freakout, Acevedo-style to commence in 5,4,3,2,1… I was so furious with myself for not realizing that DUH IDIOT, if American Airlines sent you something with Aubrey’s name on it, STICK IT IN YOUR BAG. My mother in law is on the phone with the housesitter trying to find it, Ryan is saying he didn’t know we needed it, I am muttering about what an idiot I am, when it hits me that maybe, just maybe its in a bag. So we dig. The last pocket of the last bag held the winning ticket. It was then that Ryan remembered throwing it in there. Sheesh. Why not just reprint a new one, you ask? Because it would have meant paying for ANOTHER ticket and getting reimbursed minus the fee when we got home. That was $600 we don’t have, hence the freakout.

But that was all good, and I gave God the credit for finding that ticket. Security was not the nightmare it normally is, and it was actually really neat to see the technology they used to make sure Aubrey’s sippy cup was indeed filled with milk and not liquid explosives.

After all that, we get to our gate, nervous that we would be late only to find out that it would be delayed for 45 minutes. Now, I love Aubrey’s babysitter. She was awesome in keeping her awake all day so she would sleep on the plane, and she even gave her a cute Cheerios pillow for Christmas to take on the plane. But by 7 pm with no nap, Aubrey was NOT HAPPY. We distracted her with popcorn chicken and ranch dressing, books and gasp, when I got desperate, my iphone.

Finally seated on the plane, which to my relief was not one of those rinky dinky Eagles, freakout mode was inherited by Aubrey. Takeoff did not go well to say the least, and while I swore not to make eye contact with the other passengers, its kinda hard not to when they keep turning around staring at you. She was so MAD about her ears hurting that she refused to drink her bottle, so her pain was not alleviated. 10 minutes before we landed in Dallas, she fell asleep.

We had oh, about 15 minutes to get from terminal A to terminal D and while sitting on the TRAAM, we resigned ourselves to the fact that our luggage would probably not make it to our next flight. After calling our parents and taking the fastest potty break known to man, we got to our gate just as they were boarding. That flight was PACKED. So, no empty seats for Aubrey, but that was okay. We sort of knew what to expect now. We actually got her to take her bottle before we took off, so there was no meltdown this time, and we played until they served dinner (lasagna, not bad) and as we folded up our trays, the light bulb went off. Diaper change, milk and two blankets laid on our trays later, Aubrey was fast asleep in her makeshift crib and our arms and laps were free. We settled in to watch the cheesiest movie known to mankind, Journey to the Center of the Earth. We didn’t sleep much, but Aubrey did and that was the important part. Landing was fine and we waited til everyone was off the plane to even attempt gathering all our stuff.

After deplaning, we head to pay our “entrance fee” of $390 (GAG. Christmas gifts will be skimpy this year) . Only, uh, we can’t find our envelope of cash. Once again, it had gotten moved from where we thought we put it to the outside pocket of my purse. This we realized after dumping all our crap on the floor with Aubrey in the stroller (that thing is a lifesaver) and taking everything out.

After finding the money, paying the fee, joking with the customs official and finding our luggage (IT MADE IT!!!) we walked out the gate to the smiling faces of our family and ah, yes, a dry 85 degree sunny perfect day. Then we came home to hot panamasado and fresh avocado (there is nothing. nothing. nothing like a Chilean avocado), a nap and going out for ice cream.

So it wasn’t a perfect trip, but now we know what to do and where to put stuff, and the way home should be great. But for now, we are going to eat lots of good food, get a tan, and have a great experience with our family. Aubrey is taking to the family immediately which is rare for her with strangers, and so far I haven’t forgotten about the water situation and brushed my teeth without a bottle of water next to me.

We leave for the south (white water rafting, fishing, shopping, state parks, the lake at the foot of a volcano,and natural hot springs) on Monday so I might not be able to post much, but I will put pics up when I can! Thanks for your prayers, keep them coming!