February is vacation month in Chile. Half of Santiago seems to relocate to the coast, only about an hour or so away. While many are clustering on the petit stretches of sandy beaches on those rocky shores, we have been revisiting the port of “Valpo”. Ahem, I...
I have been laying low on the blog in the past few months. Work has been busy coupled with a business trip to Lima and preparation to escape winter in Santiago during July and August. We decided to go mostly to Europe and a side trip to the US. We went to soak...
Today marks two weeks since Micaela Lauren Ramírez Caskey arrived in our lives on July 22, 2014 at 12:50pm. It’s been simultaneously the fastest and longest two weeks of my life filled with more adrenaline, love, and emotions than I have ever experienced. How...
Peruvian chocolate may not be overly mainstream yet but it’s exotic cacao, especially the white variety, is becoming highly appreciated by leading chocolatiers around the world like Pierre Marcolini, Pierrick Chouard, Jean Paul Hevin, Philippe Bernachon,...
If you drink alcohol while pregnant, people often feel free to judge you. This topic has become a very relevant theme for me now that I am 24 weeks (six months) pregnant, given that my profession revolves around travel, food, and wine in South America. The...
Well, amigos, I have to confess that we have been harboring a little secret from you all for nearly the past 20 weeks. Yep, we’ve got some exciting plans brewing for later this year in 2014… Our first little world traveler is due to arrive in July 2014—and we could...
Here we are again. Valentine’s Day. Some people love this day, other people hate it, but why does it even exist? There are several theories over its origin but many point to the third century during the Roman empire. A saint, called Valentine, was about to be...
Water. The vital liquid that is abundant in nature, falling freely from the sky, belongs to everyone. Or it should be that way. We hope that some day that’s the case because at this time in Chile, it is apparently not at all. Actually, the water rights in this country...
Every January, I mark off another year on my expat calendar calling Chile, and South America, home. While I certainly am fortunate to spend a lot of time throughout the year in Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay, for thirteen years (yes that’s 1-3), Chile has been...
When I first heard about the project in Chilean congress known as the “Ley Monsanto/Monsanto Law”, technically in Chile called Derechos de Obtentores de Nuevas Variedades Vegetales, I could hardly believe it. With all the energy and dedication that Chile has invested...
Until this year, I had never been to Mistura, a culinary mega-event, and festival, held in Lima, Peru to celebrate Peruvian cuisine. It had been on my bucket list for years but the dates never coincided. Luckily, this year an invitation from Chowzter materialized for...
Not too long ago, I found a map in our library entitled, “La carte gastronomique de la France” by Andre Bourguignon. It was forgotten among old Martha Stewart Living magazines. I have no idea how I got a hold of this map, but a probable lead is from my mother...
Every morning for the past month, I have been waking up early to meditate. It’s become a sacred space to quiet my mind, focus on all the positive things I want to do/be/have/achieve in the day. By the time the dawn is starting to peak over the Andes I...
There’s a popular saying that “red wine goes with meat and white wine goes with fish, or white meats”. Although this may be very overly generic, what happens when you take a break from meat and focus on vegetables; or are vegetarian? What happens to the...
It is totally possible to make a whole meal out of only vegetables. However, less than a year ago, I never would have believed that. This is now my “baseline” diet when eating at home. After changing my diet dramatically y cutting out gluten/wheat and all meat...
Imagine this. Twelve dramatically different wine valleys packed into a 1,000 mile north to south mid-section of the country, no more than 100 miles or so wide at any point. Vineyards sit in the piedmont with jagged, snowcapped peaks cutting into the sky. Others...
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,...
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