How to make cauliflower cheese in Santiago

Paul and I became godparents today (Monday 23rd). Woo!

Separately, we also made Paul's mum's cauliflower cheese (as opposed to plain old cauliflower cheese) with ingredients procured at La Vega, the big fruit and veg market here in Santiago.  We initially went along just to see what all the fuss was about.  Apparently it's the cheapest place to get fresh produce and was rammed before last week's holiday.  Today it wasn't too busy, which was probably a good thing for us.  We went at around 2pm when things were winding down but there was still lots on sale, Including some unusual things:

Chirimoya or custard apple

Black corn

Black avocados

The dried peaches or huesillos (H) used in mote con huesillos 

The market was also randomly littered with arcade games (so people could have a game break in between haggling?)

Paul's mum's cauliflower cheese is made with the green parts of the cauliflower as well as the florets and we decided we were going to cook it before we realised that at La Vega they tend to chop off all the green bits to display them.

We only found one that had enough green bits left!

When we got back to the flat, we realised Javier didn't have any baking dishes, so we went back out to buy one.  It was a bit of a mission - there are loads of market-type places in central Santiago but they all seem to sell either phone accessories, clothes or medicines.  We walked so far we had to have a break at Domino for a hot dog :o)  This was also an educational pit-stop as I had one with barbecued bacon bits, which taught us the word for bacon (tocino).

We eventually found a department store with a homeware section and got some Pyrex dishes.

When we got back we realised why Javier had no baking dishes.

His oven door doesn't open fully because the washing machine is in the way!  Oh my god!  Making cauliflower cheese has never been such an ordeal before!  Thank god Eddie, the Chinese salsa teacher, lives upstairs and was in and allowed us to use his oven!  Cue several trips up to the 26th floor.

Paul got pretty sick of being followed by a paparazzo.

I was so happy we finally had a cooked cauliflower cheese that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product in its entirety. Here's how much of mine was left when I realised this.

Javier, Jason and their friend Victor cleared their plates :o)  Neither of them had had the green parts of a cauliflower before.  Maybe we can start a revolution in Santiago.

On the campervan front, Mario called a few people today and we are going to see a couple tomorrow - fingers crossed!!!!  I really want to get this show on the road!!!!

Chinese food in Chile

Today (Sunday 22nd) we went for Chinese food!  Not traditional Sunday dim sum cos they don't really do that here, but we did get char siu buns.  Eddie, the salsa teacher from China, seems to have tried a few places and said this restaurant was the only one that served real Chinese food.

Eddie did all the ordering, speaking Mandarin to the staff.  But I later heard the waitresses speaking Hakkah, my mother tongue, which was really weird!  All the little colloquialisms all the way in South America!  I felt like going over and slapping their backs and joining in!  But there was food to be eaten. Here are some of the dishes we had:

Shanghai noodles

Yow Zhar Gui (no congee though)

Black pepper beef

Ribs

A new one for me - 'fragrant dried tofu' with preserved belly pork (aka Chinese bacon)

Aubergine with pork and salt fish

Custard buns

It was yummy!  Eddie done good.  He's so funny.  He describes himself as typical Chinese: he cooks for himself every night and can't go without rice for more than a week.  A while ago I asked him if it was easy to find the ingredients he needed for his usual Chinese cookery.  He said "No! Everywhere sells MSG!"

Radio Workers' Day (Dia Del Trabajador Radial)

Yesterday (Saturday 21st) we went with Mario to Chile's Radio Workers' Union's annual celebration.  It was an opportunity to meet his family and visit the greener suburbs of Santiago.  Plus no one there spoke English so we really had to try hard with our Spanish!  We spent most of the day with Mario's girlfriend Paula and her daughter Masiel. 

Paula was really patient with us and we managed to chat through the day and learn new words.  Masiel is your typical excitable 8-year-old and speaks really quickly, so she was really hard to understand (we did catch that she has a dog who is 21 in dog years).  Later in the day when she realised I wasn't really understanding much of what she said, she tried to teach me Spanish words, such as 'flora' for flower, when we were picking daisies to make daisy chains (and Paul's earring)

The event itself involved a lot of people speaking Spanish on stage and awards being handed out (including one for Mario's dad, Mario Snr, which Paul later pretended to win)

There was also some impressive singing (and some cringeworthy...)

Oh, and a presidential candidate dropped by to give a speech (Marco Enrique-Ominami)

Some of the speakers were really important radio people and Paula said it was weird seeing their faces having only ever heard their voices.  There was also a famous voiceover dude who dubs for Hollywood actors for Universal Studios in Chile.  No idea which one he was.  I half-wished I was Chilean so I could appreciate all the talent!

One of Mario's friends, Jonathan who's a mime artist, went around entertaining the punters too.

And there was food!

Steak AND chicken with potatoes and avocado & tomato salad)

Mote con huesillos - less sweet and with a more fermented taste than the one we had on San Cristobal Hill.  Paul preferred it.

And then 2 hours after steak and chicken, there was more food!

Pork bun with avocado and mayo and peach cake.

After that, there was dancing! We danced with Mario's parents - they are so much fun!  These are photos that Mario took for the union's Facebook page:

There are loads more photos at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1418528955027856.1073741830.1405231696357582&type=1 including one of Paul on which someone has commented "Brad Pitt?" LOL!

The event ended shortly after our dancing!  Mario drove me, Paul and his mum & dad to nearby Maipu - his mum with a full bottle of red under her arm.  At the gate to their house, it took her so long to find her keys that we all cheered when they finally got it open!  It was wicked meeting Mario's family.  They were typical of the reception we've received here so far - very warm and welcoming and genuinely pleased to meet us.

Paul and I got the metro back from Maipu.  Outside our metro station, there's a square (Plaza de Armas) where people were playing speed chess.  Apparently you're not meant to giggle even if you find their speed hilarious.

Anyone selling a campervan in Santiago?

Today (Friday 20th) was our second day of actually going to see campervans.  Mario, now recovered from his illness, had spotted a camper in the industrial area he'd taken us to on Monday.  He'd tracked down the owner and arranged a viewing for this morning.  This is what we saw when we arrived:

My camera was on the wrong setting, but it's basically a big campervan in what appeared to be a car graveyard.  The owner, Carlos, had told Mario on the phone that it was in good condition and within our budget, so we waited patiently.  Carlos eventually arrived an hour late.  And pretty much straight away, he said he thought Mario had been talking about another camper that he'd had, but had sold already, and this one was suddenly more expensive.  Turns out it's too big for us anyway (for 8 people) and would cost us a fortune in fuel.

So then Carlos told Mario he had another camper at his house nearby, and he was in the process of fitting cupboards.  So we agreed to follow him to his house (which was NOT nearby!)  Waste of time really...

It had no kitchen. And the whole thing was just grubby.  Fine if we had time to refurbish it, but we don't.

My wide photo of the exterior is really dark, but this is the back:

It's been a little bit disheartening.  We would have loved for one of these to have been the one! Especially because many of the classified ads are turning out to be scams.  Mario contacted the owner of a Fiat van we were interested in.  The guy replied saying he and the van were in Denmark, but if we transferred him the money, he would ship it to us.  (Yeah ok!  What are your account details?)

We've decided against that Kia conversion we saw on Monday because we will probably have to do a lot of work to it (bigger water tank, water proofing, sound system in the cabin etc).  We never did check the engine out because Mario was ill on Tuesday.

Anyway, we are going to try and arrange some viewings for Monday.  Hopefully, once the Independence Week holiday is over, we'll be able to see more.