EAT WINE

After my long-lived blog hiatus, we are getting this back and running. We will soon be moving the blog to a new address (as soon as my husband/graphic designer gives the green light) but in the mean time, I feel compelled to add this new section.

I spent over five weeks in the US from late June to the end of July. It is the longest stint back Stateside since I relocated to Chile in early 2001. Now that I am back, I am missing some of those items that Americans have incorporated into their diet and can get with such ease and convenience. The list is long but here's what comes off the top of my head: canned beans of all sorts, hummus, English muffins, natural peanut butter, ready-made chicken stock (boxed or canned), paneer cheese, greek yogurt, healthy granola sans trans fat, good quality pasta sauce, veggie burgers, etc. etc.

So I have decided to stop my bellyaching and accept my culinary, whole foods destiny here in Chile. I think it may just be a blessing in disguise. We have mostly whole foods here and even more so since I have ditched the supermarket and go only to fresh produce markets, the fish market, my cheese guy, the butcher, my free range egg lady, etc. This section is an exploration of learning to make these things I loved and took for granted while in the US. They are convenient--in their absence, I will just have to make the time to make them.

I kicked this off this weekend by making English muffins. Read on--in this exploration, I am seeing that beyond the final result, it's about the process and connection with my food. It tastes SO much better than pulling anything off the shelf at Safeway or Trader Joe's. Enjoy--and I hope this serves as inspiration to all you cooks too!