Every fourth Thursday in November in the US, families countrywide join to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, which literally in Spanish is translated to, "The Day of Active Thanks". How cool that this is a holiday!! Thanksgiving transcends racial, ethnic, political,...
On Saturday, I read in the Wall Street Journal Dorothy Jaiter and Josh Breche's thoughts on Chile's unusual wine varietal, now a flagship grape, Carmenere, as being a risky grape for Chile. I think the real issue was that the examples of Carmenere that...
Life looks pretty damn good right now, at least from this chaise lounge where my feet dangle lazily in the private splash pool. It is hot, very hot. The ice cold Torrontes and 50-plus sunblock are my saviors for slumbering on this lazy late March afternoon in...
On my last trip to the States, I was really excited to see how many Latin cocktails have become mainstream in bars, cocktail lounges, and restaurants. You probably already know them: Mojito, Cuba Libre, Caipirinha, Pisco Sour (Peruvian and Chilean...
Recently, I got together with a group of gringa girlfriends in Santiago for girl's night. We decided to scout a Mexican bar in the Plaza Ñuñoa, one of the city's epicenters of bars. The motive? Some girl talk (read: therapy) while throwing down some...
Last week in Chicago was a really good dose of time to get to know the city, especially from a more insider aspect since I was hanging with my brother out on the Northwestern side of the city. I thought I would have some initial issues with the early Mid-western...
I officially feel like a foreigner in my own country. I guess it was in the making. After all, I have now lived abroad over 10 years now. It is funny how I am very connected to US culture from afar but when I jump back in a couple times per year, the daily...
Woohoo!! It's great to be back in the US for the next two weeks. I touched down on Chicago soil yesterday morn on time even after an insanely rerouted and well-timed flight from Santiago, despite some mechanical snafus with American Airlines. Anyway, for the next two...
This weekend, I jet to the US for series of South American-driven events. While many of them are with private chef associations like Les Dames d'Escoffier, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR), New York Women's Culinary Alliance, and universities (including...
If you live in Chile, travel here, or try to google anything about coffee in Chile, you will no doubt come across "Nescafé". Yep, it's rampant. Sure, it seems like an oddity given that we are next door to Colombia, Peru, and Brazil where they grow...
Sunday morning is my favorite day of the week. All the pressure is off wake up up early. There's no traffic honking outside my windows. Even the dog downstairs that barks incessantly is asleep. The city feels so peaceful. I also love that it's perfectly acceptable to...
You know the sensation. You are packed out, weighed within the luggage allowance, and are ready to roll. Then you look at the bed and spot that 2-inch thick, 4-pound monster of a guidebook that you have to schlep with you everywhere on vacation. If you...
Since we moved to our little interim apartment (just the office, a galley kitchen, “meeting” room, and bedroom), life has been crazy busy. Crazy busy as in we have so much work between our growing business, the cookbook we are writing/photographing, and...
I have been in a bit of an introspective mode recently. Perhaps it is the change and growth in our business, living in the new, interim apartment, and the amazing process of watching nature rebirth herself in early Spring. This morning at the gym, as I watched...
A friend, who's the owner of an ultra luxury hotel, once told me, "a bed is no longer just a bed". At first, I didn't quite grasp what she meant. After staying in her hotel on several occasions, I now get it. Today, unique hotels have to bring something more...
What I have most missed since I moved to Chile, now almost nine years ago, are those homey meals; the comfort food I used to eat at my Mom's house, with my grandmother, in diners, and my favorite ethnic dives. When I pine for those flavors, what I am really...
I will never forget my first oyster. Who does? There it was, sitting on the plate, staring intently at me. Bright, fleshy, and gleaming. It smelled of the sea. The idea it was still alive and soon to find its future at the bottom of my stomach was not exactly...
Sorry guys about being MIA since last week. Moving, moving, moving. Life has been in a bit of flux as we changed home and office last week. Boxes. Papers. Stacks of things to be sorted, donated, and sold. A huge lightening of the load. In the midst of all this...
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