Asado de Compleaños

Saturday, February 7

Lily and I hopped on our bikes and hit the road along the lake heading north to Playa Hermosa. We were on our way to my first “all-day” asado that was being held as a birthday celebration for Lily’s friend Sebastian. Our 30 minute bike ride was the perfect wake-up call to prepare us for the party festivities. The sunny was shining brightly and a cool breeze played with the wheat fields as we sped by. The weather couldn’t have been better.

Playa Hermosa was beautiful. The beach was situated on a small cove tucked into the forest surrounding the lake. Directly behind the beach was a large camp ground with BBQ pits and picnic tables and our friends set up the asado directly overlooking the beach revelers. We started with drinks of Pisco sours, Piscolas, wine, and beer and I got to know this new group of Chilean friends with whom Lily had gotten to know over the past 6 months. No surprises, they were extremely nice, well traveled, some spoke English, but I also got to practice some Spanish.

For the meal we started with a yogurt & veggie cake on layers of panqueque. It looked weird but was scrumtrelescent. Very light, but packed with taste…a great antipasto. Soon the antecucho’s were unveiled. Antecucho is the Chilean version of shish-kabobs. They are extremely popular down here and they are amazing. The meat is such good quality and the antecucho is a great way to enjoy grilled meats without the mess of having to use plates & utencils.

Before I knew it, we had been there for 7 hours and I probably crushed about 8 antecuchos not to mention the endless supply of drinks. The sun was starting to set and Lily and I still had a long bike ride home, so we said hour good byes and made our way back to Puerto Varas.

Upon arriving home we remember the Kuchen Fest in town! We continued into the town center and caught the last bit of the festivities, but missed the all important offerings of Kuchen. The dessert dishes in Chile are outstanding and omnipresent and Kuchen is right at the top of the list for both me and Lily. Luckily we found a local vendor who hadn’t closed up shop yet, and enjoyed a slice of Kuchen together in one of the public parks. Nothing beats Kuchen under a full moon with my Lily.

Chile Trivia: 80% of Chile is covered by mountainous terrain