Chilean Food

I want to share with you some of the traditional foods we have found in Chile. I love good breads and the marraqueta is my favorite bread here in Chile.

The basis of the chilean diet is not tortillas, as many assume, but bread. The one shown above is the marraqueta. This is the most delicious of them all. They are fairly large, each half about the size of a bagle, but lighter. Don't buy them while they are still hot because you end up eating the whole bag!

The most common bread is the one above, the hallulla, pronounced eye-you-yah.

These are good, but I am now sick to death of them! Chileans, however, never tire of them. They are life and breath to them! Give me a marraqueta any day.

Chile has a lot of “dichos,” popular sayings that enrich the language. I came across a new one today: “Nació con la marraqueta bajo el brazo” (Born with a hard roll under his/her arm). Excuse me?

This curious expression is used in the same way English speakers would refer to someone being born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth. In other words, they are born into a family without economic concerns.

A marraqueta (mah-rrah-KET-ta-and don’t forget to roll those r’s!) is a favorite type of Chilean bread made from French baguette dough, but with its own very specific shape. It can be divided into 4 parts (which I would call rolls), although for some reason that I’ve never been able to figure out, 1 unit is actually 2 marraquetas and each has 2 parts to it.

Like French bread, marraquetas are crunchy on the outside and very light and airy on the inside. They are often used for sandwiches, such as the very typical ham & cheese sandwich served for breakfast (yes… breakfast).

So what’s the relationship between bread and wealth? I’m speculating, but my guess is that it has to do with bread representing abundance, references to “give us this day our daily bread” and, of course, as good descendents of the bread-loving Spaniards, for many Chileans, bread is a must at every meal, so having that problem resolved at birth is a very good start indeed!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

We had a fun Father's Day Party in the branch. We served Mexican food of tacos, black beans, and Spanish rice with flan for dessert. We ate popcorn and decorated the table paper while we waited for everyone to arrive. Then we played table games after dinner. We gave the fathers a checker game that we made using silver peso coins and gold 5 peso coins for the markers.
Isn't the little girl in the top picture adorable? Their family just moved into our branch.

In the Land of the Media Agua

The last several months we have been in the construction business. We have been helping our branch members to build two room structures called "media aguas". They are a two room wooden structure that can be improved by adding foam "insulation" and electricity. Running water for a bathroom is a luxury that needs to be found in a nearby structure or home.

SNUGGLE BLANKETS

It is getting colder here now that it is fall and May corresponds with November in the Northern Hemisphere. Since there is no central heating or insulation in the houses, we are adapting some new "styles". We had some polar blankets, so I created "snuggles" out of them. Howard took a picture of me wearing mine while working on the computer. (You'll also notice my gloves with the fingers cut short.)I'm including the instructions for making a snuggle in my post for those of you who would like to make one, if you remember next fall.
Here's How to Make a Snuggie Type Blanket
1. You will be cutting the sleeve portion from the three-yard length of fabric 60 inches wide. About two feet should do it. Now you have two pieces of fabric.
2. On the large piece, make two evenly spaced holes (for the sleeves) about a foot from one of the cut ends of the fabric.
3. Folding the material in half from selvage to selvage, not the cut end, will guide you on where to make the cuts from side to side. Allow enough room in the center for the width of your body. Measure the width of your body, add a few inches, cut the number in half and use that to measure the distance from the fold to the center of the oval hole you plan to cut. You can even cut both layers of fabric at one time. The oval should be longer top to bottom. Measure the width of your arms to get an idea of how big you want to make the cuts, but keep in mind that you're going to add a seam that'll take up some room too.
4. Now, cut the sleeve piece of fabric in half and sew each half on the long side. You'll end up with two tubes. These are the sleeves that you'll connect to the holes.

Santa Cruz Fountain

This is a fountain in the middle of the town of Santa Cruz. Since this is wine country, it represents the young maidens from the village stomping the grapes. The process isn't nearly so picturesque now (since it is all done by machine)but the memory of days gone by are captured in this fountain.

Terremoto Fotos

Terremoto 27 Feb 2010

Life in Chile changed drastically this morning at 3:34 AM. We had an 8.8 earthquake with the center less than a hundred miles from where we live in Santa Cruz. We had several families in our branch who lost their homes. There was an apartment complex with 12 buildings of 12 apartments each that collapsed. We had 27 families that lived there. We had one sister, who worked in an old hospital who died when a wall fell on her. Now, two weeks later, we are still in the clean up phase and are helping families with food and clothing and tents. We have begun rebuilding a home for one sister. We are happy to be safe. We had part of our house fall down, but it fell to the outside. The rest of the house is strong and repaired now.