Chili in Chile

Monday, February 16

We had rain again today, so I spent the majority of my time working on the business plan for the magazine. Jimmy gave me some great books that explain the general ins and outs of a magazine start-up. It has been very helpful to get me up to speed on the publishing industry.

My plan for dinner was to try Auntie’s chili recipe for the first time. Before I even got started we hit a snag with the beans. Since we couldn’t find canned beans, we bought a bag of dried beans that require an over night water soak before being ready to use for cooking. We forgot to soak the beans over night. I found a quick fix online that said to bring the beans to a boil and let them sit in the hot water for an hour. I followed the instructions and while the beans were soaking Pearl and I walked into town to pick up Lily from work.

I came home early to start cooking the chili and when I tested the beans, they were still rock hard. It looked as though the chili wasn’t going to happen. My only solution was to boil the beans longer. I boiled them for about 30 minutes before they began to soften. Finally, they were soft enough to eat even though they had lost much of their black color from the boiling. I had just finished putting all of the ingredients together when the girls came home…with canned beans. They found some at another supermarket, and even though the chili was finished, we can use them for next time.

Lily cooked some rice and we opened a bag of tortilla chips to enjoy the chili. It was delicious. Tasted just like Auntie’s. The bean fiasco worked itself out and we chowed down on chili in Chile. For desert I had an ariza cookie, which is one of my favorite Chilean desserts. It is a manjar cookie covered in jimmies that looks like a sea urchin (hence the name ariza). Stuffed to the gills, I made my way to the front desk to have my third lesson with Jaime. He is doing well and I have found that these lessons are a great way for me to practice my Spanish.