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 be in PJs until noon. But the best part? Hands down, brunch.
Living in New York before I relocated to Chile, brunch was a weekly tradition with friends of mulling over the weekend’s gossip, parties, and usually downing alcohol in some form or another–preferably as Bloody Mary’s or Mimosas. The flexibility of brunch always amazes me. It can be as changing as my food moods: one weekend oatmeal pancakes, another veggie omelettes, maybe some chocolate croissants, or how about French toast with maple syrup, bagels and cream cheese, or English muffins with eggs benedict.
When I moved to Chile, the brunch ritual came to a grinding halt. It was just not a tradition that existed here–at least in the same form. Sunday family luncheons seemed to dominate the day’s plans starting at 2pm and spanning the rest of the afternoon. However, after meeting my husband (then boyfriend), that started to change. One Sunday, he rolled up with a package of warm empanadas, a bottle of Carmenere, and the Sunday paper.
“Brunch”, he announced with a cute smile. I was intrigued.
We spread a veritable picnic across the bed. I grabbed the Sunday paper travel magazine and he read Arts & letters. We read, we commented, and we chomped away on the most delicious, tender beef empanadas and popped open the earthy red to accompany it. Yes, yes, yes! It so worked. The Chilean equivalent had all the brunch requisites: 1. alcohol in some form 2. carbs and protein 3. reading material and 4. (most important) good company.
So if you are up north, try swapping the bagels for empanadas next Sunday morning, and the coffee for some Cab. You won’t regret it. And if you’re in Santiago, get to the empanada factory, Giberto Monti, on the corner of Manuel Montt/Santa Isabel early. By noon, the line will be 2 blocks deep.
