Wine and Cheese Party

Posted by Lisa on January 28th, 2006 — Posted in Activities

Last night, Steve and I threw our first big party here in La Serena. Of course, it was a wine and cheese party, 2 of my favorite things, it was also a despedida for our friends Del and Gary, who will be leaving us next week. Del and I went to the wine shop in town and picked out 3 reds and 3 whites for our blind tasting- 2 carmeneres and a cab sav, and 2 chardonnays and a semillon. We then covered the labels and numbered them, and Del made up questions for everyone to answer. We had a ton of cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, nuts, pretzels, choripan and homemade cookies. Most people brought a bottle of their favorite wine to share with everyone. I was expecting about 20 people, and of course had bought way too much cheese, and in reality we had about 60 or more people at the party. We ended up polishing off about 30 bottle’s of wine in all and some beer. People brought their kids which ranged from infant to 13, and I ended up setting up the kids in our bedroom, pulled out the futon gave them soda, popcorn and candy and they watched movies. We were a little worried about how Leyna would behave, but she did awesome. She played a little with the kids, but mostly hung out with the adults. Everyone was amazed at how well she did, she hardly ever jumped up on people, preferring to snuggle with them on the couch. All in all it was a very successful party, of course, what else would you expect from me?

Juego, set y partido

Posted by Lisa on January 28th, 2006 — Posted in Misc

I finally decided what to do with the room in the back of the house, it is now officially the game room. I bought a ping pong table yesterday from a family that will soon be moving to the states. It was the “hot” item at the yard sale, and everyone was jealous that I got it! It was only 30000 pesos, which is under $60. Leyna loves watching Steve and I play ping pong, she’s our line judge. actually she loves trying to get the ball and eat it. I’m practicing for North Carolina, get ready guys!! (Last year Jerry made a makeshift ping pong table on the dining room table, which we played incessantly during the hurricane). I will be ping pong champion!!

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El Molle

Posted by Lisa on January 28th, 2006 — Posted in Travel

On Tuesday I went to El Molle with some friends. El Molle is about 20 min away in the Valley Elqui. It’s a tiny little town with a church, a couple hotels and a wonderful restaurant, which is where we were headed. We went to Los Hornitos del Molle for parrilla- which is a bunch of grilled meat served to the table in a clay oven type thing with hot coals in it. It was wonderful. We sat outside in the gardens that surround the pool that you can use after eating for an additional 1000 pesos. We opted not to go swimming, but had great food and wine. Afterwards we went on a walk around town and stopped at this little building that was having an art show. They had these beautiful diaguita influenced paintings done by a local artist from La Serena. My parents are coming next Sunday, and I think I’ll take them here for some great chilean barbecue!

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I love the meat!!!!
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Hanging over someone’s fence we found grapes and bougainvillea, I only wish I could have seen their whole garden…
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A map painted on one of the sides of a hotel. Thought you might enjoy it.
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The church, it’s the first thing you see entering town.
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