A Day of Firsts

Yesterday I woke up on my day off at 7am so I could get on a bus to Lago Verde, which is a town about two hours from here, a few miles from the Argentine border. Lillian invited me along, and said a bunch of folks were going to play some soccer and hang out. Someone asked me if I wanted to play and I asked if it was like a town against town kind of thing, whether La Junta would be playing against Lago Verde, because although I don’t mind me some soccer, I’m pretty bad so I didn’t want to get into that. I was assured that it wasn’t like that. So I said sure, I’ll play some soccer and come along.

A few hours later, after some tea and sandwiches at the (no joke) sheriff’s house, I was invited to see the lake and visit one of my coworker’s family’s farm. As we walked by, they said, oh, why don’t you just ride the horses down there? Then a broken dialogue ensued, wherein I tried to explain that I had never ridden a horse and had no idea how to do that, I didn’t even know how to get on. So they laughed at me (people laugh at me a lot) and then told me to get on the horse. I discovered that riding a horse is not that hard, although if I made him go more than approximately 2 miles per hour, it kind of hurt the ‘undercarriage’ pretty bad (and for some reason in my subconscious I kept thinking that I should be wearing a seatbelt).

Right, so then we got back to the gym and it was soccer time. I was kind of nervous after I saw the younger kids play, because they could have smoked me and were wearing fancy La Junta jerseys. I was not exactly prepared to challenge the next town over on behalf of La Junta. But there was no getting out of it, and so they gave me the uniform and I ran around and I only hit the ball with my hand twice, which I think was two more times than everyone else combined. I could hear the whole crowd laugh every time I did something wrong (I think I may have told them that we don’t have soccer in the US to make up for my total lack of talent in that department). Later, I tried to challenge everyone there to table tennis (which I’m way better at than soccer).

To wrap up the day, we went to a hostel-type place and had a huge feast–tomato and onion salad, cucumbers, potatoes, then a true Chilean asado. They came around with a tray of beef, hot dogs, and sausage. Then they came around with the lamb. One of the guys there was pouring himself a glass of orange soda and beer, so in the spirit of trying new things, I gave that a shot too (it was not good at all). Quite a day.

Apricot Almond Danish

First Week

I spent Christmas with a family in La Junta. Lillian, the woman who keeps everything running smoothly around here by cleaning and helping in the kitchen, felt bad that I had nobody to spend Christmas with, so she invited me over to have dinner with her family. Since last year I had a Christmas dinner and we ate at about 2:30PM, I was a little worried when at around 8:30 she still hadn’t picked me up. I thought that maybe I had said that I was going to walk to their house, which would be bad since I didn’t know where it was. Lillian (at the head of the table in the pic below) came and picked me up, and then I sat around in their living room, since we didn’t start eating dinner until 10!

Dinner was delicious, there was a lot of great food including a salad that was a cross between coleslaw and guacamole, different kinds of salsa, and some meat. I made a lemon-poppy seed pound cake that was a hit.

A few hours and many glasses of wine later, I was surprised when they started to open presents, but I guess that’s how they do it down here. Many items were received, and one of the kids got an “MP34″ player. I was stoked when Lillian handed me a beautiful handmade basket. I thought it was awesome that she even thought to get me anything, let alone spend time to make something handmade. At this point we had moved on to scotch and, my first real day of work being tomorrow, decided I had to go to bed. I got to sleep around 2, and the next day I heard they all went out dancing and didn’t get in until 4:30! It’s hard for me to picture where they would do that, in this town of 500 people, but hopefully there will be another holiday sometime and I’ll be able to go with them.

Then, of course, the guests arrived the next afternoon. I had been cooking and baking a lot, trying to stock up the kitchen before everyone arrived. We cooked up a storm this week and the days were long, but fun. We make breakfast, lunch, and dinner so I’m up at 6 and working until the kitchen is clean, which can be as late as 10. For breakfast there’s always a sweet dish, like coffeecake, as well as a hot dish, like pancakes or waffles. We also do eggs to order, bacon, and sausage. So for about an hour the kitchen turns into a short-order restaurant. Then we make and pack lunches that the guests eat on the river, and either take a break or start right into prepping dinner or things for tomorrow. For dinner, we’ve made some great stuff. One night we made homemade cheese-filled ravioli, which was delicious. We also served a fish of the region called Congrio with risotto and a roasted tomato sauce.

Last night was the Lamb Asado that some of you have heard about. It’s the guests’ last night, so it’s kind of a celebration. For appetizers I made thin-crust pizzas that were excellent. 1. Roasted tomato, spinach, and parmesan. 2. Salami, onion, and green olive. 3. Bacon, blue cheese and carmelized onion. 4. Green Pepper, red pepper, and onion. It was fun throwing around some pizzas and I’m looking forward to improving my pizza game over the next few months. The oven here has a stone bottom, so we roll the pizzas on Silpats and then cook them right on the stone, so the cheese browns on top and the crust gets crispy on the bottom.

Then we move down to the barbecue house, which is down a hill closer to the river, where Christian, the main administrator and manager after Frans and Anna, has been barbecuing a whole lamb and slowly basting it with Chimichurri sauce for the last several hours. There are plenty of salads on the table, grilled potatoes, fresh bread, and plenty of wine. And Crepes Suzette for dessert. All in all, a delicious end to the week.

Now I have a few days off before it all starts again next week…

Mi Casa

Here’s a picture of the house I live in now. It’s across a field from the La Junta lodge and about a 15 minute walk from town. There are two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

“Home” at last

Well, I finally made it to La Junta lodge, where I’ll be for the next five months.  All the wine for both lodges was dropped off here, so we had to split it evenly and then pack half of it away here, and move the other half into a trailer to go back to Puerto Cardenas lodge, and I am exhausted.

This lodge is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places I’ve ever been, and I’m excited to live here.  It’s right on the river, of course, and there are all sorts of birds around (there’s a pair of binoculars and a bird guide to the area in the lodge that I hope to use if I have time).  Right behind the lodge are some rolling hills where cows are grazing, and a few miles behind those hills are more snow-capped mountains.

A few nights ago at the other lodge, the meat and fish order showed up, at around 6PM.  So we had to put all the meat away, and filet the fish and split it into nice little portions.  I had never filleted a whole fish before and I think I did pretty good considering.

Tomorrow we’re going to spend stocking up the kitchen here.  There’s still a week or so before the guests arrive here, but I’ll try to post some pictures of anything good we make and the area around La Junta.  The internet connection here is only dialup, but I shall do my best.

Mountains and Rivers

I haven’t had much time to write or do anything.  We’re making all sorts of pastry doughs, stocking up for when the guests arrive.  So far we’ve made croissants, danish, puff pastry, whole wheat bread, white bread, challah, and some pie dough.  Later today we’ll make some cookies.  I don’t have any pictures of food, but here are some pictures of the area around Chaiten.

Not a bad view from the back porch…

Greetings From Santiago

So, I made it Santiago.  Of course, the hard part actually begins tomorrow, when I get on two more planes to get to Chaiten, and (in theory) start working. 

 Today I tried to do some exploring and walking that I thought would get rid of the jetlag.  I´ve never flown directly south before, and even though the plane ride was about 9 hours long, it´s only two hours later here.  I think the weird feeling you get after being on a plane for that long is just from being stuck on the plane for that long instead of the change in time zones.  For me, what´s weirder than the fact that it´s summer here is that all of a sudden it´s light out until 9PM again. 

Well, I went out to get some lunch and email and then realized I was totally exhausted and took a long nap.  When I woke up, I was hungry again (no surprise there) and in dire need of coffee.  So I decided to make things really complicated and get on a subway to explore a different neighborhood (Bellavista for those of you into details).  My guidebook said it was ¨hip¨and ¨bohemian¨so I figured there would be some good coffee there. However, what I found instead was about a mile of outdoor cafes with Chilean hipsters of all sorts drinking beer.  I did finally find the most touristy place and spent about 4$ on a couple of coffees.  Ordering coffee in a foreign country, you never know what you´re going to get, but I asked for ¨mas fuerte¨and I was rewarded for my persistence.

The hostel where I´m staying for the night is located in the Historic District and I did some walking around there afterwards.  I will describe what you see in the image below:

This man was singing to a large crowd as people got their hair cut in front of them.  I´m not sure what the connection was, but I do know that I´ve never seen anyone get their hair cut in public before. It definitely made me want to try it though, at least once. 

However, little did he know that this small group of teenage carnies was about to steal the show:

Here´s a picture of the ensuing mayhem:

I pretty much took off after that, and I have spent the last forty minutes uploading and formatting these pictures, and guess what, I am hungry again. 

Defend Catherine Wilkerson

Catherine Wilkerson’s trial began today in Ann Arbor. Michelle Kinnucan wrote an article for Critical Moment (Dr. Wilkerson Fights Political Repression, Issue 22) a while back laying out this case.

It was at this time that she was physically assaulted by Ann Arbor police and detained. To this day, Wilkerson still requires physical therapy for the shoulder injury she suffered at the hands of Officer Warner. Wilkerson was never handcuffed or even required to produce identification because she had committed no crime in advocating for a patient in her care. However, nearly two months after the incident and just seven days after she filed a police brutality complaint, she was charged by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie’s office, at the request of the UM police, with two attempted felonies—one against Officer Warner and one against the EMS personnel.

Alexander Cockburn also wrote this article in Counterpunch.org. It contains a background of the events that led to the court case but also some more recent information. I found this quote from the defense lawyer particularly interesting:

Her attorney, civil rights lawyer Buck Davis, tells me that that county judge Elizabeth Pollard Hines recently threw out two subsequent charges, claiming that Wilkerson had tried to interfere with the campus police as well as the police officer.

Buck Davis tells me that “ten or fifteen years ago this case would have been a slam dunk, on First Amendment and medical privilege arguments, with no physical contact with the cops, all in liberal Ann Arbor.” Wilkerson would have been swiftly acquitted.

“But now people are scared to death. They know the social system is falling apart. They no longer have a generous spirit. I’ve learned that the erosion of the economic and social fabric means people want to believe the cops. They’re frightened. So I’m not as arrogant about ’slam dunk’ cases as I once was.”

The Huron Valley Greens have called for supporters to pack the courtroom:

*1. Trial Starts Monday–Pack the Courtroom*
The first day of trial is Monday, November 26th, starting at 1 PM. Jury selection is scheduled to continue on this day. The trial continues on the 27th, 28th and 30th at 8:30 AM every day. All events take place in the courtroom of 15th District Court Judge Elizabeth Pollard-Hines. The court is located at 101 E. Huron St. (corner of Main St.) in downtown Ann Arbor [directions].

The court phone number is (734) 222-3380. We’ll try to keep you apprised of scheduling changes but if you’re coming in from out-of-town then you may want to call first

Brines Farm Open House

Today, Kate, Eitan, some other people without blogs and I went to Brines Farm. Shannon Brines has a passive solar greenhouse and has been growing organic greens and other produce through the winter for the last couple years. Lately I’ve been having lots of conversations with friends about local produce and what it would mean to eat seasonally in an area when it’s really really cold for about half the year.

I was surprised to learn that you could grow produce during the coldest winter months in Michigan. It seems that the biggest obstacle to eating local (our relatively short growing season) is really (mostly) an illusion. Brines’ greenhouse was big, since he started it as a commercial venture and is selling at the Farmers’ Market in Ann Arbor. But you can do this in your backyard, and even if your plants stop growing in January or February, you can still increase your personal growing season by 3-4 months at least. It really doesn’t have to do with the temperature so much as the daylight hours.

Another thing was that there was minimal energy input–heat and electricity. During the hottest part of the summer they use some fans for circulation but that’s about it. In other words, there’s no cost beyond maintenance once it’s set up. It’s really underwhelming once you realize how simple the model is–just build a structure and drape some plastic over it. If you want to make a solar greenhouse, there’s lots of links and resources at the Brines Farm website.

More of my pictures.

Two Food Blogs

I found two blogs the other day that deal with food and food politics, The Ethicurean and Chews Wise. I’ve become interested in the relationship and contrast between different food ideologies, including organic, local, sustainable, grass-fed, etc. I don’t think that just because something is organic or even local means it’s necessarily better for the world. It’s a lot more complicated than that. I’m glad I found some sites that seem to agree with me on that. I liked this post critiquing Alice Water’s involvement in a gated community development. I also found about this documentary “King Corn,” about agriculture and related issues, through the lens of  through about two friends who decide to start farming cor.

Do you know of any good political food blogs? Post ‘em here.