Poor little Leyna got her first bath this morning. She cried the whole time. Then afterward, before I could dry her, she got her puppy energy and was zooming around the house, and of course her favorite hiding place is under the xmas tree. We are teaching her not to hide under the tree, but it’s just so cute! Soon, she won’t even fit, she’s getting so big!
This weekend, Steve and I put up our xmas decorations. The house looks wonderful. It basically feels like xmas, except it’s in the 70s-80s. I can’t complain though, I love it. Steve and I ended up hosting a mexican themed birthday party on Saturday. We had about 15 people, and had a great time. It ended in a poker game, that, of course, I went out first, but Steve made it to 2nd place. He won 8,000 pesos. Which is around $15.
Today, Steve came back from Arizona with lots of presents for us!! Most importantly, a new camera. Now I can start updating the blog more often. We even got some early xmas presents from his parents. Leyna’s favorite thing by far, is a ball type contraption. We brought her to the park and she chased it for an hour. Tomorrow night we’re going over to a friends house for a mexican party, and a night of poker. Wish me luck, maybe i’ll win!!
On to other matters…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY JAY!!!! (Soon to be a mommy!!!!)
and
Happy Anniversary Jan and Al!!!!
I know many of you have been wondering about my “Consuela” situation. I’m happy to report that Lorena’s first day of work was today. For those of you that don’t know what I’m babbling about, Steve and I now have a cleaning lady who come twice a week, for 5 hours at a time. She does a wonderful job. Though I do have to admit, we had to go shopping to buy cleaning supplies this morning. I feel kinda odd having a cleaning lady and all since I’m not working, but hey, you know the saying when in Rome…
I have decided that once a week, I’m going to try to make a chilean dish for dinner. Last night, was my first attempt. On Friday, on our way home from Chapilca, we stopped in the town of Vicuna for lunch. Vicuna is a neat little town in the valley Elqui, that has a beautiful square, and some nice artisan shops around the square. It also has an interesting bug museum, I am told. At the restaurant, one of the women ordered Pastel de Choclo, which is corn and meat pie, a traditional chilean dish served at most restaurants. It looked and smelled amazing, and I decided that I should make it for Steve. It was easy to make, and tasted very good. It’s a little sweet (because of the confectioner sugar sprinkled on top), but all the tastes blend together well. In Chile, when you order this dish, they give you a side of sugar to sprinkle over the pastel as it is eaten.
Pastel de Choclo
6 large ears corn, grate the kernels
4 fresh basil leaves chopped
1 t salt
1/2 – 1 cup milk
3 large onions chopped
3 T oil
1 lb ground beef
salt and pepper to taste
1t ground cumin
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 c. black olives
1 c. raisins
12 pieces chicken, browned in hot oil with salt, pepper and cumin. I used a package of chicken breasts, I think around a pound and a half and cubed and browned them
2 T confectioner sugar
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. In a med. pot, heat the grated corn, chopped basil, salt, and butter. Add the milk little by little stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Cook over low heat for 5 min. Leave to side, while preparing meat mixture
3. Fry onions in oil until transparent, add ground beef, brown meat, season with salt, pepper, and cumin.
4. Brown chicken in oil and season with salt, pepper and cumin
5. To prepare pie use over proof dish that you can take to table ( I used a 9×13 dish) spread bottom of dish with beef and onions, then place sliced egg, olives and raisins (I omitted olives). Put the chicken on top (I think traditionally, Chileans use chicken on the bone, brown it, and pull the meat off).
6. Cover with corn mixture. Sprinkle with confectioner sugar.
7. Bake at 400 for 30-35 min, until crust is golden brown.
8. Eat and enjoy!!!!
So, on Oct 31, I experienced my first chilean despedida de soltera, otherwise known as a bachelorette party. My friend Jaime is getting married at the end of November to Marcel (who works with Steve). Here’s a picture of Jaime, who is also known as, the african dance teacher…
It was a fun and very crazy night, I didn’t get home until around 430, but you don’t want to hear all about that, I’m sure you want to see a picture. However, I wouldn’t want any of you getting in trouble at work, so I censored anything that might be deemed as inappropriate, when I say might be, I mean it was…
Today is my dad’s birthday. We should all take a minute and wish him a happy birthday, and thank him for creating such a beautiful, wonderful, awesome daughter!!!! Happy birthday dad!! I hope you have a wonderful day, and that you get a big piece of angel food cake with chocolate frosting. YUMMY!!! Love you!!!!
Look what we got today, a super cool ride. We can now go off-roading all we want. No more green beast for us!! Hooray!!! The real kicker is, that the Jeep is fully loaded, basically has everything the beast didn’t, and thanks to the wonders of governmental thinking it’s all for the same price.
