Category Archives: eliz-a-trip

Packaged, bottled, pisco-ified, or plucked from a tree, we ate and drank well, and I’ve decided to close out Chile week with a few of our favorite noshes. We saw lots of seafood and ceviche, steak and fresh veggies on the menu, all kicked off with housemade bread served with butter and salsas. Here are just a few highlights, including tasty traditional eats like humitas and empanadas. Check the blog later this afternoon when a random photo Friday post will feature a few non-food-related shots I took. Next week, we’re back to cold (but still delicious) Chicago.

I hate olives, but these looked freaking ridiculous

A typical appetizer plate of cheeses, meats and nuts, Kuchen Haus, Santiago

Shellfish with melted Parmesan, Kuchen Haus, Chile

Another fried seafood appetizer platter

Traditional humitas, similar to a tamale and made with fresh corn, onion, basil and butter and served here with sauteed shrimp; Chef Pilar Rodriguez, Santiago

Lucuma (similar to fig) and carica floating island with berries, Chef Pilar Rodriguez, Santiago

A serious empanada, meat, eggs, potatoes, delicious

One of my favorite things to do in foreign countries (or anywhere in the US for that matter) is to peruse the truck stops, grocery stores and markets for interesting local packaged goods you won’t find at home. We hit up all three during the week, and discovered some pretty interesting eats, from intense miel du ulmo honey made from the bees that pollinate an evergreen native to the Chilean rain forests to Serrano ham potato chips from Lay’s “Mediterraneas” collection. The dusting of rust-hued powder immediately kicked in our Pavlovian response to BBQ potato chips, but the actual ham flavor convinced our taste buds otherwise. The oregano chips were good, but we couldn’t shake our sour cream and onion instincts. Either way, we polished off both bags and then moved onto some paper-thin lemon cookies one of my travel companions picked up at a random art gallery in Valparaíso, spiced things up with merquen dried chile powder, sweetened things up with dried blueberries and cherries and finished it all off with some Big Time gum…loved the name, font and flavor, which sort of reminded me of Gator Gum..yum!

Miel de ulmo honey

Local chips

Addictive lemon wafer cookies courtesy of Stacey

Dried fruit

Merquen spice

Besides cute, I'm still not sure what these were

We're on our way, we're making it..

So, we didn’t only down stiff Pisco Sours on the trip, thanks to the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association, we were lucky enough to tour the fresh fruit orchards and vineyards of Chile. Most were 1-2 hours from Santiago by bus, surrounded by lush green hills, a back drop of the Andes and a constant stream of warm sunlight. We were able to see everything from where the fruits are grown, packed and then eventually shipped from the port city of Valparaiso. It was a fascinating look at how fresh Chilean fruit including blueberries, avocados, table grapes, apples and pears make it to the grocery store looking lovely, even in the dead of winter.

Red table grapes, Copiapo Valley, Chile

Red table grapes, Copiapo Valley, Chile

Green table grapes, Copiapo Valley

Organic apple orchard, Placilla, Chile

Handmade birdhouses are a haven for insect-eating birds in the organic orchards

Blueberry orchard, Lampa, Chile

Blueberries ready for shipping, Vitalberry, Lampa, Chile

Pears being sorted, Placilla, Chile

Sauvignon Blanc Grapes, Viu Mament Winery

Vineyards, Viu Mament, Chile

Colorful crates stacked up at Greenvic Organic Orchards, Placilla, Chile

Valparaiso, the main port for exporting Chilean fruit

Lemme tell you, it wasn’t easy to leave 85-degree temps for the Chicago tundra that awaited, but I returned from my week long visit to Chile over the weekend. I have lots to report, from the green chile-spiked Pisco Sours to my visits to organic apple orchards, blueberry fields, vineyards and more. We ate awesome seafood, steak and empanadas, drank Chilean wines including Carmenère, and tried local delicacies like miel de ulmo honey, lucuma fruit jam and Serrano ham potato chips! I’ll be posting stories and pics from my visit all week, finishing up on Friday with some of my favorite non-food related photos I captured in and around Santiago as well as the historic port city of Valparaiso and more. Enjoy.

Elizabites is on the move again, this time to South America. I’m heading there for work this week, and will be exploring everything from the avocado orchards to the vineyards. Needless to say, I am more than just pretty psyched. There won’t be much posting, but check back for updates if I can swing ’em. If not, regular blogging and trip coverage will return in about a week!

A good corned beef sandwich is hard to find, so I had to check out Jake’s Deli in Milwaukee when a foodie tipster told me about the place. First off, I love the history of the deli, which has been in the same location on North Avenue and 17th Street since the 1930s. It’s just as no-frills as it was when it first opened, complete with wooden booths (with defunct buzzers once used to summon servers), a great neon sign, a Berkel bread slicer, and a slew of guys behind the counter seasoning corned beef with paprika before hand-slicing it to order for each sandwich (which is the secret to killer corned beef). The house matzo ball soup is fantastic and the corned beef is super-tender, buttery and moist, with the paprika adding just the right kick. Fresh-sliced bread from Milwaukee-based Miller bakery is perfectly soft and doesn’t get soggy from the meat and spicy mustard. It took a good 20 minutes to place our order, as the place stays busy from open to close, complete with a line before they open around 10AM, but it’s worth the drive up from Chicago for a slice of Brewtown history, a damn good corned beef sandwich and did I mention the true sign of a great deli? House-made pickles. 1634 W. North Ave., 414.562.1272

The neon sign above the bustling deli counter

Extra-lean corned beef on rye