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Order Me a Vacation
Here I am sitting, indecisive, paralyzed. How can something as fun as planning a vacation be so difficult? How the heck did my calendar get blocked for the next year already? You would think that since we’re in the business of planning other people’s vacations, it...
Spicy: South American Style
There’s a term that I really love here for describing spicy food. Let me qualify spicy first. The kind of delicious spicy that makes your taste buds stand at attention but does not scorch your palate nor have you downing liters of water (or milk) for relief. It’s that...
South American Velvet
Horses and horseback riding are a huge part of South American culture. From the Chilean huasos, cowboys, in the Central Valley to the baqueanos down in Patagonia, the horse is revered, respected, and loved from north to south in Chile and beyond. In...
Culinary Icons: Coyam & Chilean Corn Pie (Video)
Corn Pie from Eatwine TV on Vimeo. Oh sigh. Summer nostalgia has officially hit. I know many of you are indulging in the sweet tastes of summer. Nothing says summer for me like sweet corn. Growing up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I remember pulling off the road...
Peru’s Tempting Tacu Tacu
Rice, beans, and chili come together to form a one-dish comfort meal Tacu Tacu is my current food obsession. It drives me crazy as it combines my two favorite carbs (beans and rice) into one chili-laden savory "tamale". I used to only order it when we went out for...
Gardenia: Montevideo’s Foodie Spot
Photo: www.robertoseba.com I am at the end of what can only be described as one of those spectacular meals. You know … where you stop to take copious notes and numerous pictures (some call it food porn, I call it memories). The flavors, textures, sensations, all meld...
Happy Fourth of July!
To all fellow Americans out there, I want to wish you all a very Happy Fourth of July. Honestly it didn’t really occur to me until this weekend that it was Independence Day on Monday. Even after more than a decade here, I still forget as the winter...
Pairing People & Wine
I love discovering the nuances of how food and wine pair, tango and play together. However, one topic I rarely talk about (publicly at least), is the concern of entertaining and pairing wine with our guests. I suppose it is a theme few people discuss, as...
Ashes Over Buenos Aires
June 7, 2011. I wake up and peer through the heavy, draped, velvet curtains of our hotel room overlooking the roof tops of Palermo Viejo. Darn, it’s one of those icky winter days when the clouds descend and shroud the city in a bone-chilling fog. Thick,...
Argentina’s “White” Grape: Torrontés
I spent much of last week traveling in vast, northwestern Argentina in the region of Salta. Amid beguiling landscapes, I saw the vegetation-dense hills outside Salta (city), the high altiplano plains of Cachi and experienced the constant backdrop of the...
Scenes from a Recent Trip to Buenos Aires & Carmelo, Uruguay
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Making a Comeback: Uva País
Never heard of the grape called país in Chile? You’re not alone. This grape goes back to the times of colonization in Chile by the Spanish. It’s not considered a fine wine that any self-respecting wine writer would evaluate (until now, hmm). It is a rustic wine used...
Top Ten Reasons We Love Chile
1. Wild Geography: Let’s face it, Chile has wild geography. It lays like a noodle along South America’s southern Pacific coast spanning over 39 latitudes. If you were to fly from Arica to Punta Arenas, that’s akin to going from Boston to LA in the US. However,...
Knack South American Cooking: Cheese Bread Bites
These gluten-free cheese bread puffs are delicious and fast to make! Hailing from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, these cheese breads, known as pão de queijo, are extremely popular throughout Brazil and are gaining popularity abroad. Brazilians use polvilho, a...
Wines to Watch
A lot of you have been asking about the wines used during our events and tastings on my US road show in May. This post is going to profile a couple of those select producers that are boutique in size but high in quality and uniqueness. You can find these in the US now...
Chilean Papayas & Sea Bass, Featuring a delicious Chardonnay
Today’s video uses indigenous Chilean ingredients now being exported to the US. Chilean papayas are known as “carica candamarcensis,” or Mountain papayas, and have no resemblance to their tropical cousins. Similar in shape to a starfruit with a thin,...
The State of The Union
May was a whirlwind month with three weeks on the ground in the US from Pennsylvania, to the nation's capital, up to New York City and out to the windy city, Chicago. The trip was long and intense and I confess that the first few days I went through a bit of reverse...
Where Are You From?
I feel somebody studying my face; it feels like a test. I feel them examining me, not so subtlely, every angle and pore on my body. I sense him waiting for me to say a couple words to jump out and say what he cannot apparently control…; I feel it coming. It...
and the meaningful
