Chile is really carving a niche out for itself with its white wines. Every year, they just get better and better with Sauvignon Blanc blazing the path. Long gone is the style of the over-oaked, caramel-laden Chardonnay. That is so California. So 1990s. Chilean...
Three years ago I said adiós to gluten. At the beginning, it felt like a wake that lasted weeks and months. Good-bye pizza, pasta, sandwiches, pancakes. Don’t even talk about baguette or brioche. The evidence was all too clear. I felt bad, no, make that awful,...
The air is heavy, humid and so full of oxygen it feels weighted. In the distance, bolts of lighting make contact with earth and a stormy breeze ruffles the palms. There's a scent of grilled meat perfuming the air. Next to the river, dozens of street food...
This year I have been a bit of a road warrior. In fact, when I departed on a recent business trip to the US, I calculated that I had actually been home (in Santiago, Chile) about 4.5 months the entire year. Not a bad thing. I totally thrive off of being...
I love bubbly. Any kind. Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Sparkling wines from California, Argentina, Chile, etc. etc. If you asked me what would be my preferred wine to pair with food for the rest of my life it would be (good) bubbly. What never bores me with...
Over the Dieciocho, Chilean Independence, holiday, we traveled to Talca to see my husband’s parents in the countryside. Since it had been quite a while since my last visit, I petitioned a carga, order, of Señora María’s empanadas from the nearby village of San...
After a very long weekend (5 days!) for Chilean Independence holidays, I am getting ready to head north for my third tour in Texas at Central Market’s cooking school in early October. Since many of you reside in the Lone Star state, I wanted to share the...
The starting point of our RTW trip was, fittingly, at a fitness spa in Baja Mexico, Rancho La Puerta, where I was invited to be guest chef on South American cuisine at their cooking school, La Cocina que Canta. To call Rancho La Puerta simply a spa is rather...
In July, my husband and I took off on a 33-day round-the-world trip spanning three continents. One of the big motives of the journey was to go to Asia. I had not yet been, and it has been high on the list for a long time. After much debate as to where,...
If somebody had told me that six weeks ago my life would have been turned upside down, I wouldn’t have believed them. It was not a trip abroad, or even within Chile. No, no, no. It was a journey in my own home, my own being, deep into my soul. Vika was...
CamuCamu: This edible fruit grows in a small, bush-like tree in the Peruvian flooded rainforest and is harvested by canoe. The fruit is a bright reddish-purple color, which imparts an attractive pink tint when juiced. Locals love CamuCamu for its mood...
For a long time, Cusco was regarded as a quick stopping off point en route to the ancient city of the Incas, Machu Picchu. With the thin, 11,000-foot air (drink your coca tea!) and once rampant backpacker scene, Cusco has markedly improved on the hotel...
I recently read a study that Chileans now eat the most ice cream in Latin America at over 6.5 liters (nearly 4 gallons) per year, per capita. That’s around 27 million gallons of ice cream for this smallish nation of 15 million people. Chileans take their...
Love yoga? Love wine? Love Nature? We do. If you find it hard to get back into your fitness and healthy eating routine post holidays, we have some inspiration for you. January may be cold and dreary, but it's summer in Chile! Break out of the winter...
Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon is, quite frankly, a rock star grape here. This late-ripening grape was brought from France in the mid-1800s, and quickly adapted to the Mediterranean climate, flourishing in vineyards in the Central Valley like the Maipo,...
With thousands of miles of coastline and the chilly Humboldt current from Antarctica, Chile is one of the most blessed countries in the world with a plethora of species of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, and sea vegetables. There are literally dozens upon dozens...
I won’t lie. I find (Chilean) pisco not very attractive, for my paladar at least. The smell of it still conjures up drunken memories of piscola (pisco + coke) in the university during my junior year abroad in Santiago. The hangover from those damned drinks...
What makes a stay in a luxury hotel, or any kind of visit for that matter, be the best? What do guests most desire and how can a hotel respond? The answer, I believe, lies in the details of personalized service. For affluent passengers, with routines that never...
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