Think it’s possible to overdose on caffeine? It is. Especially when you’re slipped it, unknowingly.

Most serious coffee drinkers, like myself back in the day, scoffed at the decaf crowd. A bunch of wimps and health freaks that were missing the whole point of drinking coffee in the first place. In fact, I was such a caffeine fiend, I not only would do morning coffee, but also pop a couple guaraná pills and head to the gym to work out to burn off the effect—and more calories.

Then something happened last year. Coffee began to make me anxious. Antsy. Nervous. Accelerated. I knew I had to ditch it. Fully aware of the pending migraine that stood between me and freedom from caffeine dependency, I decided to quit cold turkey over a weekend. I confronted, head on, the dreaded coffee “crash” and horrendous headache, the reason most coffee drinkers cite for never kicking the habit.

My withdrawal weekend lingers in my memory like a smoky haze in a milonga. Besides the sensation of my brain colliding abruptly against my skull, as if it could explode with any slight movement, my energy was zapped. Yes, an invisible Mac truck had run me over and left me strewn on the bed. Under the dense brain fog, I went into survival mode, napping on and off for nearly two days straight. I woke to eat and ingest undisclosed amounts of ibuprofen. Monday morning, something funny happened. I woke up on my own. No iPhone alarm. No coffee to get the gears moving. The brain fog had lifted. I felt light, almost reborn. Woohoo, I was officially caffeine free.

And so that was the end of caffeine for me. Until yesterday morning.

After a week on the road in Mendoza and Uruguay with our Southern Cone Sampler tour, I decompressed in Buenos Aires at the palacial Alvear Palace. I awoke early Sunday morning to their succulent buffet breakfast after a comforting night’s sleep. I settled into a quiet corner of the luminous, plant-covered L’Orangerie to write. I asked the hostess for a double decaf espresso. After several days of instant decaf coffee hell, I basked in the delight of a good decaf espresso. I ordered a second.

Halfway through the cup, I felt unusually awake. Jittery. Weird. A couple more sips and I made a joke to my mozo, Diego, as he refreshed my OJ about the sugar in the dulce de leche giving me a rush. He laughed and said, “More likely is all that espresso.” Say what?!  Upon further investigation, there was effectively a mix up at the espresso bar and I had been served the high-test stuff, not decaf. That’s right, four shots of espresso. I had been “caffed”. This was going to get interesting.

If there was any shadow of a doubt about the mood-altering effects of caffeine, this unexpected experiment proved it. I, literally, was bouncing off the walls of my suite at the Alvear. Instead of getting anxious, I had to figure out how to “dump” this excess energy and get the drug out of my system as quickly as possible.

I jammed to Phoenix in my room for a while until breakfast had settled. I had to move to physically burn up this energy. I contemplated cartwheels or doing burpees. Nah, my neighbors would not love me for that at 9:30am Sunday morning. I opted for the fitness center. I pushed myself hard for 45 minutes of intense cardio while watching TV Monde. I was still revved. The trainer intervened and asked me to down a liter of water, and sent me to sweat it out in the Turkish Steam bath for 45 minutes in intervals.

Three hours later, after the sauna, I started to come down. As I boarded the plane home from Aeroparque, I felt almost normal. While the whole situation now seems comical, it has recommitted me to staying decaffeinated on a permanent basis. I really don’t need the drug (coffee for flavor is another story).

Oh, and note to self–always triple check that the coffee’s decaf with the waiter. Live and learn.

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One of the things that I most love about living in South America is the street food. Those roadside stands, the market tables, and the hawkers are such a huge part of the eating experience here.  Here’s my short list of my favorite street foods from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.  Go to a place recommended by someone’s who food opinion you trust, or use common sense as to the cleanliness of the vendor and freshness of the food, which can never hide. Just writing this post is making me hungry.

Chile

On any given morning at La Vega you’ll see a crowd of people gathered around stands where short women, roll out orange-colored dough into disks. Tossed into hot oil, they float to the top in the bubbling oil and handed to you on a skewer. This, my friends, is Chile’s favorite street food called sopaipillas. Fleshy orange pumpkin (always savory, never sweet) is cooked, mashed, and needed into the dough for a delicious, fluffy, savory taste. How do they like it? Laced with racy pebre, chili sauce tinged with cilantro and onions.

Many corners are makeshift restaurants pumping out colossial sandwiches and the ubiquitous completos, hot dogs with the works. Take one skinny hot dog, plus a bun, and see how much chopped tomato (1/2 cup), mashed avocado (2/3 cup), and mayo (1/4 cup) it can possibly hold without falling apart under its own weight. Then, try to eat it—gracefully. These babies are, for a reason, the much-beloved post-partying food.

During warm weather, Chileans have an internal thermometer that soars with the mercury in the afternoon. They don’t reach for Iced Tea or Lemonade here. No, no, no. Head out into the downtown area and carritos hawking mote con huesillo are on just about every corner. It’s the ice cold juice made from sundried peaches that make this drink magic.

Peru

Peruvian street food always feels like a party since there’s so much flavor happening in every bite.  Anticuchos are arguably a gastronomic subculture throughout the country where people line up in the early evening to sink their teeth into tender, rich beef heart marinated in the most umami-licious concoction of flavors your palate could every imagine. And grilled over open flames. So. Damn. Good. If you’re a vegetarian, I am really sorry because this is one of those food rites of passage in Peru where there’s a clear before and after.

A close second favorite of mine are tamales. Always made fresh in the morning, the vendors (usually women) sit tucked away in corners selling these steamed, hot treasures (all made with fresh, non GMO Peruvian corn). They sell out like hot cakes. There are two types—salado or dulce. The savory version has chili, onions, a bit of meat, and an olive while the sweet one has raisins. Why they don’t have whole bakeries making these abroad yet is beyond me. I am totally addicted to them.

While I could go on about ceviche, a given in Lima and most of the country, most curious is that in the highlands, or La Sierra, locals l-o-v-e to snack on hard-boiled quail’s eggs. It’s not uncommon in the Sacred Valley to see vendors shelling quail’s eggs and selling six of them for a sole (about US$.30).

Brazil

 The last time I spent a day on Ipanema beach in Río de Janeiro, many moons ago, I marveled at how everything I needed in life magically appeared on my canga, Brazilian beach towel. Forget your SPF? No problem. Stepped on your sunnies (shitttt!)? Check out 100 designer knock-offs. Hungry? Why, yes. Very. How about some skewers of juicy, just-off-the-grill camarão (shrimp) with an ice-cold beer and touch of lime. Now these guys are really reading my mind.

Beyond the beaches, I became enchanted by pastéis, a form of the empanada brought to Brazil by the Portugese. I have brilliant memories of walking through the Saturday market in Jardins (São Paulo) to stop at a stand pumping out the crunchiest, most delicious ones ever I have had tasted. The secret? The fry-master swore that the touch of cachaça, a local firewater, in the dough made it crisp–it does, tested in our cookbook. The crunchy outside encased dynamo fillings like shredded chicken breast with gooey catupiry cheese, or prawns with a touch of spice and chunks of tender palm hearts.

In northern Brazil, particularly the state of Bahia, aracajé was brought by with the slaves from Western Africa, sold on the streets of Bahia by freed female slaves. This bean cake is a mixture of mashed black-eyed beans, onions and shrimp fried in dendê (palm oil). Palm oil, amigos, is not for the faint of heart. It’s incredibly aromatic, heavy on your stomach, and artery blocking. Let’s suppose you’ve thrown health precautions to the wind and want to eat it following local custom. Have the baiana de aracajé dress your bean cake with spicy, shrimpy  pastes, like vatapá and caruru, after it’s been halved. Top it off with a crunchy, fresh salad.

Uruguay

Wandering the streets of Montevideo (and in all fairness, other South American capitals), you suddenly sense a perfume of nutty, caramel-laden goodness. Where is that coming from?? On the corner, you see a guy doing magic in a copper pot as sugar is transformed into caramel. Roasted peanuts are gently coated as he tosses them with a mesmerizing, efficient movement. Once cooled, garrapiñada turns into little bites of love. They really hit all the right notes you crave in a snack: crunchy, toasty, sweet, salty in each tiny bite.

Also inherited from the Spanish is the love for churros, the European equivalent of a long, tubular doughnut. Churros wagons show up in many parks (where there are kids, of course), typically stuffed with dulce de leche or dusted with cinnamon-sugar. Or take them home and try dipping them in your hot chocolate.

Empanadas may not be original to Montevideo, they’re prolific throughout South America, but there’s one stop that’s a must when you’re in Cuidad Vieja. El Rincón, on the corner of Rincón and Zabala, specializes in 15 flavors of empanadas with decidedly Uruguayan flavors. Try the ham with hearts of palm and salsa golf (mayo with ketchup), this unusual sauce that people go crazy over. How about the capresse with artisan mozzarella, fresh tomato and albahaca, a nod to the heavy Italian heritage? All baked, by the way.

Argentina

Argentina and Uruguay have a lot of overlap in some street foods like the above-said garrapiñada and empanadas. However, when in Argentina, meat is king. Understandably, there are stands offering a parrilla, full grill, for the working folks of the city who don’t have time to stop for lunch or go light up the grill. Porteños love to down choripan (sausage sandwich) and vacipan (flank steak sandwich) straight off the flames. Or try an on-the-go, milanesa, a bread-coated, crunchy steak stuffed in a roll. Dose any of the above options with copious amounts of chimichurri and salsa criolla to hit multiple pleasure centers.

Often, while not technically street food since sold in joints, a slice of Buenos Aires-style pizza like fugazza, a type of pizza made without tomato sauce and topped with onions; or fainá, a flat bread made with garbanzo flour are favorite snacks.

Have fun exploring!

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This past weekend I finally saw the movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I had been holding out until I finished, and digested, the book. It’s been a while since I have read a novel that has captivated my imagination so vividly. The main character, Lisbeth Salander, is so intriguing and the plot is so twisted, I couldn’t put it down (I am now half way through the second book, The Girl that Kicked the Hornet’s Nest). That being said, I am glad I saw the movie after the book. It deviated from the book in several instances and the ending was slightly changed. However, the casting was phenomenal, the imagery of Sweden really brought the story to life, and it ended up being less graphic than what I had expected. After being a non-fiction reader for so long, I am back into the world of novels.

On totally different another note, Peru has me super excited about its culinary scene. It is truly on the up and gaining momentum. In fact, the first dates for our Signature Journeys in Peru this June are already filled. We have just opened dates for September 29-October 6, 2012 and next year, May 11-18, 2013. The Wall Street Journal proclaimed Peru the “Next Big Thing” in food for 2012. Certainly, its cuisine is on the lips of every top chef in the world at this moment. Why? Vibrancy, freshness, and diverse flavors. It is a cuisine that is driven by its regions while also expressing five centuries of Spanish, West African, Japanese, Chinese, and the indigenous influence.

With 84 microclimates, from the Pacific Ocean to Amazon, desert, Andes Mountains, and Altiplano, just about everything grows somewhere in Peru: rice, coffee, cocoa beans, quinoa, thousands of tubers, tropical fruit, organic vegetables, chilies, grapes for the brandy Pisco, and more. The cuisine’s key ingredients are the floral, piquant Chile called Ají Amarillo (yellow chili), perhaps the soul of Peruvian dishes, along with the tongue-tingling rocoto pepper slivered on ceviche .

Peru is also a nation of foodies from humble huariques (joints) to ceviche stalls to top restaurants. Peruvians love food, know how to cook, and have an opinion about it. They see it as a fundamental part of their national identity, regional pride, and a common denominator that all share. Look at the success of Mistura, one of the largest food festivals in the world that takes place in Lima every September.

One of the trends that separates Peruvian food from its other Latin cousins, particularly in the capital of Lima, is the hefty Asian immigration that left a stamp on the country in the late 1800s. The immigrants brought their vision of cooking with stir-frying, dumplings, skewers, raw seafood dishes, sushi rolls with toppings, and fused them with the local ingredients on hand. The other big differentiator is the seafood. Peruvian food is a seafood lover’s dream, often prepared raw or “cured” with high acid from key lime juice. For those unfamiliar with Peruvian food, this bridge in the form of the Japanese influence, makes it easy to start exploring. For example, many of the best-loved national dishes like tiraditos (slices of raw fish, dressed in sweet-and-sour sauces, sound like dressed up sashimi?) are reminiscent of Japanese dishes–with a twist. Nobu actually got his ideas for his restaurant in Peru.

As a destination, Lima has long been overlooked by many travelers as an overnight stopover en route to Cuzco and the Machu Picchu. That is a big, big mistake in my book. For foodies, Lima is akin to other specific gastronomic destinations like New Orleans or Hong Kong. In fact, many Chileans are now doing “foodie weekends” in Lima given the fervent dining scene. Lima’s restaurants can change regularly so my favorites list can be a moving target. Here is a short list of my favorite spots. If you want to dig deeper, join me on a Signature Journey of Peru, or plan your own private itinerary any time of the year. We’ll take you to discover the markets, chefs, joints, and culture behind the delicious dishes and ingredients.

Madam Tusan (Chifa): Gastón Acurio is a living culinary legend in Peru and commonly revered with the popularity of a celebrity like Brad Pitt or Barack Obama. Chifa cuisine is so common in Lima that many neighborhoods have their own restaurant. However, Madam Tusan breaks away from the typical offerings with a stylish, fashionable spot and more refined takes on the classics. Open and airy, complete with a red dragon, musts on the menu are the plump Siu Mai (steamed dumplings) and crispy wantans to start. For mains, share family-style some of the saltados, stir fries, or succulent duck.

Tía Grima (Street Food): You cannot step foot in Lima without seeing Grima at least one evening in Miraflores. Antecuchos, ox heart skewers, are a beloved tradition that are hawked from street carts. Folks will line up for these after 7pm and the line can get long (or the food runs out…). Marinated chunks of beef heart are grilled to tender, moist perfection. Don’t turn your nose up at these if you haven’t tried. The first time I ate them, I assumed I was given steak. I declared the skewers the best meat I had ever tasted. Then the truth was revealed—it was beef heart. I never looked back. Trust me, these antecuchos are near obsession among limeños for a reason.

El Mercado (Ceviche): Rafael Osterling is one of Lima’s reference chefs and this casual yet swish lunch spot is perfect to indulge in the capital’s favorite dish: ceviche. Here, you can knock yourself out trying several different varieties, including their signature dish Ceviche Mercado, that has fried pejerrey and calamari for a nice crunchy texture and contrast to the high acid of the key limes. Beyond that, the extensive menu has lovely causas (mashed potato terrines), tacu tacu (bean tamale) and other classic dishes like butifarra sandwiches. Order a pisco sour and listo.

Maido (Nikkei): Nikkei cuisine is a fascinating blend of Peruvian-Japanese fusion that takes a twist on traditional sushi and Japanese dishes. This is the new-ish restaurant of chef Mitsuharu Tsumura in Miraflores. The service is amazing. By far the best we had in Lima. The excellent wine list carries many great Chilean whites (Amayna Sauvignon Blanc made for sushi) and the fish is varied and fresh, fresh, fresh. The inventive rolls are little explosions of taste and texture. While you could order gyozas, stir fries and more off the menu, we didn’t make it off the sushi list.

Malabar (Amazonian): Pedro Miguel Schiaffino is today one of Peru’s most important chefs who has pioneered Amazonian cuisine in his Lima restaurant, and on board the luxe Aqua Expeditions in Iquitos. Located in an understated building in San Isidro, the interior has clean lines, warm colors and texture to set the stage for the parade of unusual flavors, creatures, fruits, and vegetables that hail from the jungle. Order a pink camu camu sour and nosh on the delicious amuses. Try the chona, fresh heart of palm, often in a soufflé or served fresh like thin fettucine. Fish like paiche are grilled to juicy perfection and paired with purees and vinaigrettes of acidic fruits like cocona. Flawless execution and fun cocktails make for an adventure into the jungle.

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This Saturday, my husband and I went out to the tapas bar at the Ritz Carlton Santiago called Arola. Arola is the new-ish project of Spanish Michelin-starred chef, Sergi Arola, from Barcelona. The new debut has gone hand-in-hand with an unveiling of the Ritz’s new modern, stylish look and total betterment on the food/wine front.

As we sipped this fizzy, dark red called Lambrusco from Italy with our tapas, I excused myself to the ladies room (really an excuse to put on lipstick). About 45 minutes later, wanting to take a picture with my iPhone, I fumbled for it in my purse. Not there. Ok…I look in the cushions of the couch. The floor. No sign of it. I tried to keep my composure and decided to retrace my steps back to the bathroom, the last place I remembered fishing it out of my purse (full disclosure: amount of wine not helping at this point). Nothing. I come back, annoyed with myself, that I officially lost my iPhone. Gone. Tchau. Adios. And so stupidly.

A security guard approached me and asked if I had left it in the bathroom about 45 minutes ago. Yeah…He says, “no worries, we have it”. There it was. Somebody turned it in to lost and found. I could hardly believe it. In that moment, my faith in people genuinely being honest was restored (especially in this country where you put it down and it’s gone). I have had this happen with flowers at La Vega but never an expensive IT item like an iPhone. I felt grateful my luck of being at the Ritz when this happened. The experience trailed on their superb service the entire evening.  I had learned my lesson and considered myself one lucky gal.

I want to share with you guys a piece I wrote for Placeres Magazine on why Santiago is a total foodie destination now in Latin America. Get out and enjoy the city. We’re lucky to live in a place that’s blossoming and having new, top notch varied restaurants open all the time. Enjoy–and hang onto your iPhones.

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So many flowers get thrown by international press at the restaurant scene in Buenos Aires, Lima, Sao Paulo, and even Bogotá. Sure, they are great. But what about Santiago? Today, there’s an effervescent food culture, restaurant happening, people that “go out”. Santiago is a foodie destination.

I have some criteria as to what constitutes a foodie destination and the attributes a city of this nature is. As I will prove below, Santiago fills all the requisites.

Markets Galore: In Chile, we are truly blessed to have the most amazing fresh, seasonal products. From fruit and vegetables to fish and seafood. We eat with the seasons here. Who in their right mind would ever try to make a pastel de choclo, corn pie, in the July, the depths of winter when corn season is long gone? Err, no Chilean would! That’s majorly important. Chileans eat according to nature’s bounty and follows its fruits during the year. Many of the typically Chilean dishes reflect that seasonality–and that’s key. This does not happen everywhere, especially in the US, where you can get melon in January and blueberries or halibut year round. For me, it’s daily or weekly inspiration. This is a fundamental pillar in what Chilean cuisine is. The same seasonality translates for the sea, too. Fishermen respect the natural cycles of spawning, reproduction and growth so you eat different seafood at different times of the year. Now, the big challenge, let’s get into this idea of everything a punto–perfectly cooked and al dente. Good-bye charred steak, dry fish, and mushy veggies that in the past plagued many kitchens.

Dedicated Artisans: The definition of an artisan is a worked in a skill trade, often making something by hand. I would add that artisans are often masters and dedicate their lives to the pursuit of perfection in their art. I am talking about perfection made by hand, procuring and using the best ingredients to fulfill its full potential. Not everything has to look perfect. This searching, if you will, is injected with a huge dosis of passion and love. In Santiago, we now have great artisan products, made by locals and resident foreigners, with specialized stores. The same as chefs and skilled cooks in restaurantes, these folks are pivotal in the development of the local gastronomy. Some references here are:  Belgian chocolate maker Damian Mercer and his dangerously delectable chocolates; Las Violetas guardians of colonial pastries and the best huevo mol desserts in town; Pichasca with their suave cheeses and tangy yogurt made from goat’s milk on the hills of  Ovalle; Le Ciccoline for its old school French bread when you really just need some brioche; textbook perfect espresso shots from Café Lama at Espresso Bar. Shops like Coquinaria have done a noteworthy job in bringing together artisan olive oil like Zeitun, pink rock salt from Los Andes, and the addicitive cured game prosciutto (Llama, deer, wild board) from La Unión. These are the people bringing the products to the population and increasing the foodie interest in the capital.

Wine Scene: Finally. Finally! The wine scene is moving here and it’s showing on wine lists in many great restaurants. I hope to see the culture of drinking good wine grow even more. It’s so awesome though to go out to eat and see wine lists, by the bottle and the glass, put together with creativity, good taste, and thought. And even a sommelier is now standard in many top restaurants to help guide diners. The only thing I think needs to grow is the wines-by-the-glass concept of higher calibur in more bars and ethnic joints, bistros, etc. Drinking fine wine doesn’t need to be a gourmet extravaganza and sometimes, while friends are downing their pisco sours, I would go for a nice glass of champagne.  Good wines by the glass gets people experimenting and moving beyond Cabernet to try a Carignan, Syrah, Merlot, maybe a Viognier. Open their palates. And please restaurant managers, don’t charge 3-4 times retail. In Chile, 2 times retail mark-up is standard. Marking up wines, WON’T get people to drink better, and more, wine! If we are judging restaurants by their wine lists, here’s my short list: Baco, Astrid & Gastón, Tierra Noble, Cuerovaca, Ox & Opera.

Chefs & Cooks: The tendency on a worldwide level has been, for some time, that people want to be closer to the kitchen and its preparations. They are stepping away from abstact, high-concept food experiments like molecular and want honest food that is recognizable, well prepared and familiar. Regional. Local. Authentic. The chefs are the major catalysts of our experience at the table. In picadas, joints, there’s a direct relationship between the diners and the owner (nearly always on site and often cooking). The focus is on that empathy, relationship, and a familiar flavor done well. Parallel to this, you have a trend in Santiago of young chefs that are pushing limits as to the interpretation of Chilean ingredients and fusing them with more sophisticated techniques learned in culinary school (often French) to play with flavors and sensations. There are various names, I won’t mention any (hehe), and certainly there’s a current list of “culinary rock stars” that are putting together their own signature touches on Chilean nouveau cuisine.

Destination Restaurants: If there’s a joint that serves amazing food, wouldn’t you be willing to cross the entire city to eat there? Rhetorical question. That’s gastronomic culture. Restaurants that have been around for generations, where the family still receives you are the soul of local cuisine, in my humble opinion. Any culinary scene has to be a balance of what people eat and crave to eat on a day-to-day basis and a more “produced” version which is theatrical. To name some old school places that really specialize and rock certain dishes, here’s a few I love: Fuente Alemana to devour a Lomito Italiano; Galindo to slurp up their brothy Chicken cazuela; Carne Mechada (tomatoy-wine-pot roast) at Liguria; or Plateada (marinated beef brisket) or Porotos Granados (Cranberry bean stew with pumpkin) at Bar Nacional. Or how about the ethnic haunts for traditional Japanese utilizing Chile’s brilliant seafood like Kintaro and Japón for sushi, the insane falafel from Asly Falafel. Obviously there are gastronomic temples like Astrid & Gastón, the brand new Arola tapas bar in the Ritz (Michelin-star chef from Barcelona), and Opera for delicate French food and a festival of foie gras.

The best thing happening? People are going out to eat. Even in February when half of Santiago relocates to the coast an hour of way, the restaurants are full. As long as the food is consistent, the service professional and friendly and makes everyone feel at home in their restaurant. That people want to return. The only thing left is to share, enjoy, and be part of this growing foodie culture that’s blossoming in Santiago on all levels. 

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I have been holding out on you guys a little. I took off on a trip to Uruguay without a peep. Sorry about that. We got wrapped up in the beach, grape harvest, scouting new artisan cheese makers near Colonia for our tours. Every time I visit Uruguay, I come home with the sensation this is the most under-discovered destination in South America. Probably not for long. There’s too much effervescence there to contain it.

We spent four days at quite possibly my favorite beach town in these latitudes called José Ignacio. It’s not really even a town, more like a village. While it’s relatively close to the high rises and glitz of Punta del Este, José Ignacio is its own world entirely. The best comparison is to the Hamptons in New York although José Ignacio’s origins were as a humble fishing village, where the boats still come and go every morning. It’s a blissful world where the day starts with a walk on the beaches, La Mansa or La Brava, stopping to gaze at the postcard-perfect lighthouse on the rocky point. Maybe after go for a bike ride up to the hamlet of Manantiales with its chic antique shops, peddling along the azure coast with the constant breeze. After, wiggle my toes in the sand and devour the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson on the Kindle. Lunch is never before 3or 4pm. Sunning at the beach is after 5pm when the sun’s harsh rays have subsided (ask my red butt about not respecting that rule the one day!) We linger until sunset as the sun sinks into the Western horizon as the sky turns pink and the ocean a deep blue. As a peninsula, José Ignacio has gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. We dine under the stars at 11pm where the Milky Way is visible with the naked eye. The next day, repeat. Oh, and I almost neglected to mention, there’s a fair amount of white wine sipping in between. We were particularly enamored with Bodega Garzón’s Albariño.  Dream land? Yes. And however long I stay, it still never feels like enough. Maybe that’s summer’s spell though.

While José Ignacio’s geography is gorgeous, it’s the vibe surrounding it that makes it so attractive. In a word? C-H-I-L-L. Low key, laid back. Luxurious and generous with nature and services, but not pretentious. Amazing restaurants in town abound like Jean Paul Bondoux’s new relaxed Palomar or Isla de Flores with its view of the lighthouse; the José Ignacio institution/meeting spot La Huella to suck down clericó and sushi; or a quick drive out to Marismo to dine in a sandy cove under the stars with dangerously delicious caipirinhas. Exquisite hotels like Playa Vik (photo below) made it really, REALLY hard to even leave the property with that sparkling view of the Uruguayan coast overlooking Playa Mansa I could eat up all day. Perhaps I could be convinced for a late morning romp in town for a coffee at Café de la Place.

I LOVE that there’s not a single ad or logo in site. Anywhere. That’s right, no beach umbrellas sporting Coca-Cola, local beers, awnings, signs. Nada. That’s this classy little town’s no-advertising policy. It’s so refreshing. All the houses are a maximum of two stories and tastefully meld into the landscape, many secluded by the rolling dunes and grasses typical of this part of the Uruguayan coast. While it has attracted an affluent crowd from Argentina, the US and beyond, celebrities roll up incognito in their beach pull over and shades to buy wine at Vinos del Mundo and eat up the chipirones (seared baby squid) and addictive Capresse salad at La Huella, just like everybody else. That’s the vibe. Simple luxury for everyone. I cannot wait until next summer.

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Yesterday I turned 35. For many years, I always felt I had to do something to celebrate my birthday. Trips to Buenos Aires, the beaches of Uruguay, parties on terraces, etc. etc.  Perhaps it was because for most of my life before I moved to South America, my birthday always fell smack in the middle of winter. In fact, I was born during a blizzard. The novelty of having a summer birthday has not worn off and I usually feel the need to “maximize” it.

Perhaps it’s maturity, or maybe a heavy travel schedule (most likely the latter!), but I was perfectly content with not doing anything for my birthday this year. At first, my husband eyed me with concern as it was so unlike me. Birthdays are about doing what you want, and this year I had zero anxiety about laying low. I didn’t feel like producing a dinner party to surround myself with friends…and then have to shop, cook, and clean it all up. Too big of a project. I didn’t need to get on a plane, in a car, a train, or any mode of transportation to go anywhere other than my own feet. After moving around so much in Peru for two weeks and our next trip closing in quickly (10 days in Uruguay), the idea of being at home seemed like the biggest luxury of all.

So my birthday theme evolved into “chilling at home”. A mini-staycation if you will. I had an amazing facial and manicure this weekend at Ambar Spa, 1.5 blocks from my front door (facial seriously did wonders for my skin). We ordered my favorite sushi from Kintaro, and kicked a great bottle of Cariblanco Sauvignon Blanc from Kingston Vineyards. A girlfriend unexpectedly came over for a Happy Birthday visit (what a great gift). I talked to family and felt the love on Facebook from everyone with the birthday greetings. Late afternoon, we went on a long walk through Parque Forestal and meandered the side streets of Lastarria. We climbed Santa Lucía for stunning views of Santiago and sunbathed on the terraces as a strong, balmy breeze enveloped us and we could see up to the ski resorts with a naked eye. No cake for this birthday girl, I had my eye on one (big) scoop of mocha ice cream from Café del Opera, laced with cinnamon. With the mercury near 88F, it was the perfect ice cream afternoon. So I have arrived to the second half of my 30s. It’s a good place to be, honestly.

We are in the middle of summer and I have decreased my consumption of red wine ten-fold. A big, heavy Malbec with this heat? Pass. That being said, Chilean Sauvignon Blanc is so crisp and delicious it makes for the perfect aperitif any time of the year. One of the classic pairing is Sauvignon Blanc and goat cheese. If you have not tried this, you really need to try this reference. There’s a reason it works. The tang in the cheese and the acidity in the wine make it “pop”, which creates momentary bliss in your mouth. Yay.

Goat cheese in Chile hails predominantly from the Northern semi-arid region known as Ovalle where goats graze free range on the short grasses of steep hill sides peppered by cacti. Only partially pasteurized, this cheese has a tangy flavor that can range from soft to hard in texture depending on the time of year and aging. In this video, I pair Emiliana Organico’s zingy Sauvignon Blanc with a zesty chevre-style goat cheese is a natural partner for this Sauvignon Blanc. The acidities of the cheese and wine gently coax out the cheeses’ creaminess while capitalizing on the wine’s juicy fruit. A crunchy topping of sweet cherry tomatoes that are in season (these are as sweet as candy!) and a touch of green herbs make the flavors grow in-crescendo. It’s an easy way to start any meal. You’re in winter? No worries, just add these toasty croutons to a steaming soup like pumpkin, lentil, or roasted tomato. Works like a charm.

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Summer is the best. I wait all year for this season in Chile. Hot, dry sunshine-filled days that feel like a loving hug. The nights still dip into the mid-50s and there’s light until 9pm. At 4pm, it can feel hot but find a shady tree, and that balmy summer breeze blows. It is when you want to be outdoors all day, forget the A/C.

Summer has something that’s eternal, nostalgic, full of fresh, vibrant flavors. It connects us with other periods of life like childhood when we were free to roam, play, and forget about all our worries. Summer does coincide with a mental attitude of relaxing, seeing friends, getting out of the house, enjoying. Stress would seem to have taken a vacation and let’s us all breathe a little easier than the rest of the year.

For me, summer time is synonymous with intense food flavors, provoked by the heat. These are the tastes that I yearn for in rainy, cold July when I am glued to our central heating. While many of these flavors may be enjoyed around the world, in every country, region, home, and cook, they express themselves differently. Summer is about abundance, sharing.

These are the flavors that dominated my childhood in Pennsylvania; memories of sticky nights with little gnats and fun thunder storms. In contrast, my summer “reality” is now Chile. I love both.

Corn
Then: I was raised on some of the best sweetcorn in the US–Silver Queen. The Amish farms near our house would put up stands by the road and we’d load freshly cut ears into paper bags. Poached for 4 minutes and eaten on the cob, with melted butter and sea salt, it was truly heaven.
Now: Corn is the king (of starches) in Chile during summer and I love, love, LOVE  humitas, fresh tamales, my obsession at this time of year. This could be my year to learn how to make them from scratch. Then again…

Berries
Then: My family always called me “Strawberry Girl” since I would run out to the garden to pick our homegrown strawberries. With those, my grandmother would put together her deliciously famous “Strawberry Shortcake”. That spongy cake absorbed the juice of the strawberries and with homemade whipped cream, divine simplicity.
Now: I really adore living in a country where there are more blueberries than I know what to do with. Seriously. Right not, La Vega appears to be a berry festival and the head-lining act is the blueberries. Well, maybe the plump, juicy blackberries too. My breakfast. Every. Single. Day.

Tomatoes
Then: Until I turned 24, I couldn’t deal with raw tomatoes. It was the seeds. Slimy, acidic, unwieldly things. Trying to eat a Capresse Salad was a scandal, complication, disgust. Tomato at our house was typically in the form of ketchup on a hamburger or hot dog off the grill. Am I proud of this? No. But, it’s the truth.

Now: Yes, I have gotten over the tomato issue. It didn’t take hypnosis, just the same attitude as learning to eat oysters, sushi, and tartare. Result? Gazpacho fiend. Love tomato salads. Pop cherry tomatoes like they are candy.  But let’s get back to that gazpacho. Eating a soup that’s a liquid salad never bores me. Tomatoes must be good for me since I feel a zip when I eat them. Vitamins!! And of course, since I have professed undying allegiance to humitas, their companion is the ensalada chilena, Chilean Tomato Salad.

Fish & Shellfish

Then: We lived only an hour from the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, famous for its crabs. In summer, crab season, we’d head down to Baltimore or the Eastern Shore to the crab shacks where the boats would roll in to pick up buckets of crabs steamed with Old Bay. On picnic tables, with only a bib and hammer, we’d dissect the crabs, sucking out the sweet and salty meat. Dirty fingers? You bet. That was half the fun.

Now: Ceviche, in any form with any fish: Peruvian, Chilean, Nikkei, or my own invention. Invigorating, flavorful, and fresh thanks to the mighty Pacific lapping at our feet in Chile, it’s the perfect high protein, zero carb meal. With a chilled Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. Always.

Ice Cream
Then: I swam competitively in the summer and after the races, my parents would often reward us with a sundae at our favorite spot in the forested area of Mount Gretna known as the “Jigger Shop”. Part of the fun was the excursion in our convertible as we zipped through the fragrant Pennsylvania pine forest and ate colossal sundaes on the wooden deck.

Now: I am not really a dessert person at this point in my life. If I am having a rare “sugar moment”, I would usually go for a handful of cherries over ice cream, maybe a piece of dark chocolate. However, if you invite me to Café del Opera nearby, I probably will reconsider for their Mocha gelato.

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I have been hard at work on holiday season gift for you all (no Santa nor magic elves involved though). In fact, you’ll find a couple goodies in this post.

Let’s start with the one that is most time sensitive

Eat Wine Santiago 2012 is LIVE

That’s right, Eat Wine Santiago’s latest annual edition is now on sale. Woohoo!

It’s been a while in coming but it’s ready to roll. Here are the specs on the update of Santiago’s premier English-language guide to food, drink & travel:

• Dozens of new restaurants: the culinary scene is seeing boom times and we have updated from new Korean barbeque joints to Peruvian Chifa and the hottest bars

• New neighborhoods: There’s a renaissance happening in the barrios of the city and this guide is a low down to navigating these areas like Yungay and Italia

• Primers on where to eat: Only in town a few days? Look at my personal recs on setting up your restaurants, thematically. Dive into a lesson on Chilean colloquial eats, Ethnic haunts, or farm-to-table.

• Expanded wine list: need I say more? Every year I rack my brain and put my liver in danger to taste hundreds of wines. This is my short list of what you should be drinking in Chile.

• New hotels and travel suggestions: Boutique hotels are on everybody lips and tourism is on fire in these latitudes. We’ll keep you plugged into that juice.

• Sync to your device: As an e-book in PDF format, keep it on your iPad, Kindle, iPhone, or smart device to have it with you wherever you go.

For a limited time to celebrate the announcement, you can pre-order Eat Wine Santiago 2012 for 50% off the normal price. Instead of US$27, you pay US$13. The offer expires on December 31, 2011 at 11:59pm. You have read it. No exceptions. So pre-order your copy now or you’ll have to deal with paying full price. Your decision.

To celebrate the arrival of 2012, we’ll be sending out Eat Wine Santiago on New Year’s Day, that is, January 1, 2012 for all those pre-orders.

You can cancel anytime up to the ship date so there is no downside, only locked-in savings—and lots of yummy meals and wines in your very near future.

Why buy the new edition of Eat Wine Santiago? Four reasons:

• You’re sick of getting stuck in mediocre restaurants: For less than one main course or bad bottle of wine, here’s your ticket to foodie bliss.

• You actually want to cook at home: Where to get the goods? Though. Here you’ll find just about anything and everything—that’s not illegal.

• You’re visiting Santiago: Cannot bare the thought of sacrificing a meal to a bad recommendation from a colleague? Now you know where to go. We are your local source.

• You’re a wine buff abroad: You’re so over the big brands dominating everything and think Parker’s ratings are for the birds. Here’s your chance for comprehensive on-the-ground wine recs on the best Chilean juice out there.

So want your free copy of Eat Wine Santiago? We’re having a holiday contest to give away three free copies in honor of the announcement. Here’s what you need to do to be entered:

1)   Get in the Holiday Spirit and Spread the word in next 72 hours: Send people to this blog post and get the word out. Facebook like, Facebook sharing, retweets, Tweets, e-mail everybody you know, e-mail signature. Get creative.

2)   By 5pm EST on December 24th, leave a comment on this post telling me what you did. Please quantify the impact (clicks, page views, tweets, etc.) and follow these rules to be considered:

• Tell me why you want Eat Wine Santiago and how it would be of use to you.
• Entire comment of 200 words or less.

We’ll consider all the submissions and be choosing the folks who did the best job.

Happy Holidays to all!

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Editor’s Note: I am so honored to have my colleague, Robin Asbell, based in Minneapolis, joining us to share a delectable vegan recipe with y’all “Eat Winers” this week. Robin is a chef, cookbook writer and master of natural foods: grains, vegetarian meals, and now her latest book is Big Vegan, which came out this fall with Chronicle Books and has now made many a top list. 

As many of you know, while I am far from ever being a true vegetarian, I am totally obsessed with vegetables and health food. I try to eat vegan 70% of the day. For me, it’s about kicking up the amount of vegetables, nutrients, and variety in my diet. Don’t look at this book as just a “vegetarian” cookbook. Robin, who is also a culinary instructor giving classes across the US, will share tons of tips on how to utilize whole grains, beans, tofu, and even make delicious cheese out of nuts –delicious as cheese and healthier– with a Global perspective (Asian, Indian, American classic, French, etc.) Honestly, this is a great addition to any cookbook collection, especially if your New Year’s resolution is losing those extra pounds, upping your vitality (eat veggies!), or getting in the best shape of your life in 2012. Big Vegan HAS to be part of that strategy. Thank you Robin for sharing your passion with us!

I’ve been knocking around the whole-foods cooking world for my entire adult life, and have cooked in restaurants and delis where we catered to vegetarians and vegans most of that time. I also cook omnivorous food, and I now work as a private chef, while writing books, and I really believe that it makes me a better vegan chef, as odd as that sounds. People often hire me to cook special diets, which run the gamut from gluten free to Paleo, and I develop recipes for magazines of all sorts. I know how to cook, work with flavors, and make things work. It’s all food.

These quesadillas feature a really fun transformation, and that is a nut-based cheese. For folks avoiding dairy, most of the alternatives are very processed and not all that great. Homemade nut cheese is a far better alternative, made from a nutritious, natural whole food that tastes great. When working without cheese, I look for other ways to get the same qualities-richness, creaminess, tanginess and saltiness, with a touch of umami. Toward that end, raw nuts are a perfect and simple solution.

You can give vegan a try, and you don’t have to commit to anything. Just enjoy some delicious plant-based cuisine, and see how you feel. Every vegan meal is better for you and better for the planet, so if you find something that you like, enjoy it.

Three-Nut “Cheese” Quesadillas with Fresh Mango Salsa

Ingredients:

• Nut “Cheese”:
  1/3 cup/40 g macadamia nuts
  1/3 cup/40 g raw cashews
  1/3 cup/40 g slivered/flaked almonds
  1 acidophilus capsule (make sure it´s dairy free)
  1 tbsp cold-press corn oil
  1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  1/2 tsp salt
• Salsa:
  1 large mango, diced
  1 large jalapeño, chopped
  3 tbsp chopped red onion
  3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
  2 tbsp chopped fresh mint or cilantro/fresh coriander
  1/4 tsp salt
• Others:
  2 scallions/spring onions, chopped
  1/4 cup/7 g cilantro/fresh coriander
  1/2 tsp chili powder
  Eight 6-in/15-cm whole-wheat/wholemeal tortillas

SERVES 4

1. TO MAKE THE NUT “CHEESE”: Put the nuts in a bowl, cover them with cold water, and refrigerate overnight. The next day, drain the nuts, then puree them with 1/2 cup/120 ml fresh water in a blender or food processor. It may take some scraping down and repeating to get it smooth. Add the contents of the acidophilus capsule and puree to mix. Transfer the mixture to a glass or ceramic bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap/cling film, and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. It should form some bubbles and smell cheese-like.
2. The next day, stir in the oil, lemon juice, and salt, then refrigerate.
3. TO MAKE THE SALSA: Put the mango in a medium bowl and add the jalapeño, onion, lime juice, mint, and salt. Toss to mix and refrigerate until needed.
4. When the nut “cheese” is cold, mix in the scallions/spring onions, cilantro/fresh coriander, and chili powder. Divide the mixture among four of the tortillas and top them with the remaining tortillas.
5. To cook, preheat a large cast-iron frying pan on high heat. When it is hot, put one quesadilla in the pan, and cook it for about 2 minutes per side, until it is dappled with brown spots and the “cheese” is heated through. Transfer it to a cutting board and slice the quesadilla into six wedges. Repeat with the other quesadillas. Serve hot with the mango salsa.

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Forget it in the freezer: I know that many a sommelier will cringe to hear this, but it’s the truth, and come on, we all do this in a pinch. Stick a bubbly or white wine in the freezer for 15-30 minutes to get it ice cold. It works like a charm, but only if you don’t forget it. Case in point—hosting clients last month we served espumoso right off the bat and had my assistant put another bottle in the freezer. The night got busy, we were tired at the end, and the next morning, I opened the freezer in search of ice cubes for my smoothie and found a frozen wine mess. I was ticked at myself for sacrificing a great bottle of Cruzat for no good reason and had to defrost the whole freezer to clean. Duh!!

Heat it up: I had never seen this costumbre, habit, until living in Chile. One chilly winter night, my husband’s uncle went to fetch a nice Cab. He pronounced the wine too cold and he wanted to “warm it up” by the roaring fire place. That was like a scratching a record with a needle to my ears. Fingernails on a chalk board. Don’t do that, you’ll ruin the wine and it will taste like wine-flavored scotch. Repeat after me. Thou shalt not heat up red wine with any form of heat.

Omit drinking water after several bottles: We’ve all been there, no? The night gets fun, the buzz is long, and the wine keeps flowing. At some point, you get bleary eyed and can only dream of your pillow. Hit the sack though without some precious, life-quenching H20 and you’ll pay hell the next day. Did we really need to kill 3 bottles among 4 people? Maybe or maybe not, but try to balance out your wine with a big glass of water per glass of wine. Your head will thank you.

Label it after a tasting: This latest mishap happened last night while shooting a new wine video for this blog (coming soon!). After filming some b-roll of pouring and swirling, we had a mélange of glasses whose order I remembered—on the table. I moved them to the kitchen and arranged them next to the corresponding bottles, or so I thought. I started to funnel the undrunken wine back into the bottle. At one point, I realized the Cab was low and then, s-h-i-t, I had done the unthinkable and funneled my Chilean Cab into the Uruguayan Tannat. One whiff and my suspicion was confirmed. In all fairness, the result was passable, although it was far from my intention to start my own international wine blending experiment. Do yourself a favor and use a sticky note to avoid confusion.

Label your wine that’s destined for vinegar: This sounds really obvious but on a couple occasions now, my mother-in-law who was house and cat-sitting for us, had consumed some leftover wine I had designated for homemade vinegar (couple weeks into the process actually). In fact, I was so stumped the last time as to where the heck the vinegar bottle had gone I called her. She confessed to drinking it and that explained why it was so nice and añejado, oxidized (which some people like here in South America).

Drive with a decanter on your front seat: This sounds really obvious but by far, this was the funniest wine mishap I encountered. In Houston back in October, I was invited to a blind tasting among some wine buff clients called “Bad Judgment Night” (everybody pulls a bottle from their cellar that pains them to open). Everybody arrived early at the host’s home to decant their wines and assign a sticky note letter on the decanter for the blind tasting later. One of the participants rings the host’s doorbell and is covered in red wine. He’s flustered and announces, “We’ve had a bad judgment accident”. Apparently he had decanted the wine at home to avoid any evidence of the wine’s origin, strapped the decanter in the front seat and headed out to drop if off at the host’s home. En route, he got cut off in traffic, slammed on the brakes, and the better part of his wine (which we later discovered was a 2002 Chateau Margaux, gasp!) ended up on the console, floor of car, and part of his white shirt. How would you explain that one to your spouse? Oh honey, I stained the car with wine. At least it was “baptized” with a premier grand cru.

So what wine mishaps have you guys had? Feel free to share in the comments some of your tips of what NOT to do with wine. Have a good weekend and see you next week.

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