DINNER AT A BED AND BREAKFAST
In Santiago, I stayed at Marilu’s Bed and Breakfast in Providencia, an area convenient to restaurants, markets, shops and the subway. It was quiet and comfortable there and so homey that a hot water bottle was tucked into my bed every night.
Technically, breakfast was the only meal to which I was entitled, and it was a good one, composed of fresh rolls from a nearby bakery, assorted jams, manjar (dulce de leche), cereals, cookies, yogurt, cheese, juice, tea and coffee. But often I joined Marilu Cerda and her husband, Miguel Galarce, for dinner.
A woman named Pina came once a week to prepare enough food for several days. She would fill the refrigerator with delicious dishes such as razor clam lasagna, chicken with mushrooms and bean sprouts, mussel salad, beet salad and chupe de jibia, a casserole prepared with an enormous sea creature that is plentiful along the Chilean coast. The large white slabs of firm-textured jibia reminded me of squid, but I’ve seen it defined as cuttlefish.
Sometimes I would bring back empanadas, cookies and fruit for dinner. Once Marilu drove to the coast and returned with delicious avocados. Often we shared a bottle of Santa Emiliana Cabernet Sauvignon, the household favorite. Or I contributed a bottle from my wine tours, such as a Santa Carolina Cabernet Rose or a Santa Rita Merlot.
One morning when Pina was due, I accompanied Marilu to Lider Megamercado, a huge supermarket where seafood was spread out on iced counters and attendants offered tastes of European-style cheeses made in Chile.
While Marilu picked up ingredients from Pina’s list, I bought cherimoya cookies and a cup of lucuma pudding. Chileans dote on lucuma, a round green fruit with bright orange flesh that tastes a little like an American yam. Unpalatable when raw, it makes sumptuous puddings, ice creams and cakes.
Along with pasta, seafood, vegetables and other staples, Marilu bought a white cheese called quesillo, which is as soft as a gelatin dessert. She set out quesillo for breakfast, but Pina sliced it onto a salad of lettuce, mushrooms, olives, sweet peppers and sliced eggs.
It had rained the night before, and behind the tall buildings of the financial district, the Andes loomed thick with snow. Sparkling clear days were rare during my stay, and by the time we left the market, clouds had covered the peaks. I didn’t see them again until the evening I left for the airport, when the last rosy reflections of sunset made them even more beautiful.
Marilu’s Bed and Breakfast, 246 Rafael Canas Street, Providencia, Santiago, Chile. Tel: (56-2) 235-5302. Go to www.bedandbreakfast.cl or email [email protected]
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