ProChef Certification

Just want to keep a running log of all the stuff that I am doing to get ready for Pro Chef Level 3 Certification. This one has been pretty tough and we are down to the last 5 weeks before I head out to CIA again. Doing all of this practice and studying along with work has been a challenge. I am glad that I am doing it with a couple of trusted chefs so that we can help each other through the whole process. I am going to start with all the info and photos shortly so stay tuned. You will see first hand how tough this is to get through and the sense of accomplishment once we get there.

Iowa and Arizona

Ok well it has been quite some time since my last post. I said that I would keep this thing going so now I am trying to get back on track. I have been traveling a bit but have not hit any really new places. There are a couple though that I want to mention. The first one is a restaurant called Timmerman's outside of Dubuque, Iowa. I was recently there for work and a friend of mine took us there for dinner. It was a throw back to the 70's steakhouse, not sure how many of you remember them but just go along with me on that one. The view from the dining room is great as the restaurant sits on a hill overlooking the river. It was good food and the company that I was with made it even better. We had fun, even though our driver decided to leave us sitting outside as a joke. So since we had time we took a couple of photos and waited for them to come back for us and laughed all the way home.

My next trip found me in Missouri, I know, more exciting by the minute. Anyway we were doing a new bid proposal for a school and working out of a campus kitchen about 1 1/2 hours from the site. The menus were fairly simple and easy to prepare. We just had to make sure that the plates looked great and were fresh and flavorful. No problem. The catch was that we did not have any kitchen space at the site. So we rented a Uhaul and made sure that the menu items would be safe to serve at room temp. We did a Japanese style bento box the first day because the group had already had lunch. This was just a creative way to serve a snack in very tight corners with almost no time for service. It worked out great. The temp outside was cold so that aided in refrigeration. The staff swept in, set the boxes down with a glass of water and a place mat and then left the room. The boxes looked pretty cool. The following day we had a little more time to set up but the same tight room. I was the lucky one that stayed in the room and had a little speaking/demo time. For this we served a Fresh Tomato & Onion Salad topped with Grilled Flank Steak. Again, simple and easy to drop and serve but still offering a fresh and colorful, healthy lunch option. The truck was fun and working in the limited prep area that we had made it more fun and exciting. We had a great time doing it and also got some pretty impressed reviews.

Finally my last stop in this three week trek found me in Arizona. Always a great place to head when it is February in Chicago. There are two spots that I want to mention from this last trip. One is a restaurant called Digestiv, I really like this place. Local foods, nice presentations, great wines by the glass(although they were changing out the wine list so it took a while to get what we wanted) and a whole list of after dinner drinks organized by the countries that they are from. Pretty cool stuff and worth a visit if you are ever in Scottsdale. My other favorite stop in Scottsdale is Grimaldi's Pizza, coal oven, new York style super thin pizza. I go here almost every time I am in Arizona. Great pizza and another spot that has nice wines by the glass. If you are in the area be sure to stop on by.

Ok that wraps it up for now but I will be back a little more often with fun times and great pictures.

Ciao

Well I do need to mention the final dinner that I had in Santiago. It was in the Marriott Hotel at the Latin Grille Restaurant. A couple of my friends had been in there a couple of times already and were very friendly with the Host. The place did not open until 6:30 pm and we had a van to the airport to catch at 7:30 pm but this guy opened the place up for the three of us at 6 pm which was super nice of him. We told them that we were in a bit of a rush and they accommodated us.

I started off with the Ostrich Carpaccio, it was served with some mixed greens and a Cilantro & Lime Vinaigrette. It was excellent. Very light and fresh, the meat was sliced super thin and just melted in your mouth. Nick got the mussels that the host had been pushing on him all week. Those came out in a huge pot with plenty of dipping sauce to go with them. Also a bowl of fresh cut fries, sliced lemons and a lemon water dish for washing your hands. All done very well and before you knew it Nick had a plate of shells piled high.

For the main course I opted for roasted chicken pasta, nothing too heavy for the long flight back. Nick went for the lamb ribs and Jamie got the Wagyu Ribeye Steak which was presented beautifully over a bed of fresh vegetables. What would dinner be without wine, we ended the trip as we started it with a bottle of Casa Silva Carmenere. It was a perfect finish to a great trip.

I have to say that my trip down to Chile was a great one. We were able to see a ton of the culture through the foods that they prepare. All chefs love to eat and I think that is one of the best ways to learn as well. Seeing how people interact with food and the whole meal really give you a clue as to what the culture is all about. As I stated in my first post, Chile is not a place that I would have come up with to go and visit but now it is a place that I would highly recommend to anyone that loves food, wine and adventures. There is still more of this country that I would love to see some day. If you get the chance, don’t pass it up.

So that wraps up this culinary travel blog but keep an eye on the site cause I am going to use it as a way to track the places that I go and the foods that I eat. From Chile to Italy to Iowa, it is never a dull moment when you have food & wine involved.

Ciao

Casa Silva Wine Tour, Yeah baby!!!

Well we are finally at the most interesting trip of the week. Today we are going to Casa Silva for a tour of the winery and then lunch in the restaurant. This has been anticipated for a while since we never did get to go to the winery that we thought we were going to on Monday. We decided on Casa Silva because of how good the wines that we have tasted from there have been. I had my first glass the day we arrived and loved it right away, so that sold e on this trip. Besides we had nothing planned for the day and a trip out into the vineyards on a bright sunny day is always a great idea.

The van came and picked us up for what was basically a two hour drive. Once you get past the edges of Santiago you run right into the fields that grow things like corn, grapes and apples. It is a pretty scenic ride and one the winds through the hills that surround the city. At one toll plaza we saw these people selling the bags of what we thought was beef jerky or something similar. Turns out after asking our driver that it was actually dried horse meat. Obviously we passed on that one.

We arrived at the winery at about 11am and went straight to the tour office. That also doubled as the wine shop so we knew that we would be making another visit to that place before our trip back. They told us that we would be able to catch the 11:30 tour and to just feel free to walk around until then. The views were beautiful and the gardens that surrounded us were in full bloom. Our guide showed up and we were off on the tour. It turns out the winery was founded by some French settlers way back when. They started growing grapes back around the turn of the century. The first grapes that they brought to Chile were the Cabernet Gris. A white varietal that was expected to hold up well in this area. As of today they are one of two wineries that produce the wine in Chile. They have stuck to the traditional ways of making wine and it has paid off for them.

We got to see the production site where all of the grapes get sorted and crushed. Right now they are about a month or so away from harvesting and pressing grapes so it all looked pretty empty. Right out side of that was a small collection of classic cars that the owner dabbles in. I can’t really tell you what each one was but they were pretty cool and all operational. We even saw a couple of them driving around. Next we walked over to the large fermentation vats that have been around since the 1930’s. We even got to see the original plaques that were on them. These were huge and made of ceramic; they also had the newer stainless steal ones that you see at most vineyards.

Then we were led into the barrel rooms and they were beautiful. Clean and so organized, it looked like we were standing in the storage level of an old wooden ship or something. It was really cool. There were stairs that led down and took us to other rooms some with barrels and finally one that held the top wine of the vineyard. This was called Altura, the best wine available from Casa Silva. This wine has such high standard that if they are not met in a certain year, then production of that wine is simply not done. Even in the good years only around 6,000 bottles are produced. Once the wine is bottled it is kept in the cellars fro 4 additional years before being released. The bottles are stored with no lead or foil tops, then when the wine is ready for sale the bottles are hand dipped in was to cover the cork and hand numbered before they go out the door. Very few of these bottles make their way to the states and they sell for quite a bit if they do. I have not tasted it but you know that I bought a couple of those for later!!

They have this Great Hall type room that usually houses the car collection but also doubles as a banquet facility. In fact that evening they were getting ready for a wedding that was to be held on site. They said that the room could seat 350 for a served dinner and they have used the grounds for a reception for over 700 people. We all agreed that it would be a perfect venue for a party and all wanted a chance to do an event at a site like this.

After that we got a tour of the hotel that is on site here at the winery. It only has 7 rooms but it is very beautiful. The lobby is so simple and elegant; there is a small pool in the back next to a very nice garden. The restaurant has a great patio for dining al fresco and if you sit inside you have a view into the cask room of Altura. Very cool! We opted for the outdoor seating as it was nice a breezy outside. The menu was very nice and we all found something that we wanted to try.

We started out with some appetizers for the table, some Asian beef, fried calamari and an assorted cheese platter. They were both well displayed and tasted great. For lunch I opted for the Lomo of Beef which comes out to be a ribeye steak. It was served with a Potato Pave, a Poached Egg and a Demi Glace. To go along with lunch we has a bottle of the sauvignon blanc for the white drinkers and the red drinkers opted for the Microterroir, 100% Carmenere and one of the best wines of the week. This one received a 93 from wine spectator and was amazing. Casa Silva is in the Colchagua Valley which is the premier region in Chile for Carmenere. The wine is a limited edition production and all of the grapes come from a small parcel of land in the Los Lingues Estate.

After lunch it was a quick trip to the wine shop. They did not ship wine for you so what you bought you had to carry home with you. Keeping that in mind I tried to pick the best bottles that I could. That meant a couple bottles of the Altura, a coup of the Microterroir and two other grand reserves from the winery, a Shiraz and a petite verdot. After boxing that up and handing over a couple hundred bucks we were on our way back to the hotel for a little down time. It was a great trip to the winery and we enjoyed the views, the food and for sure the wine.

That evening we were all a bit tired out but a few of us decided to head on out for a little dinner around 9:30. We went to this little Spanish place in downtown. Very small and quaint. I think we were all tired because we ordered a Pisco sour and some appetizers and were pretty full. We did manage to order one entrée to split, a Pequillo pepper stuffed with Ox Tail and a local carmenere to go with it. A nice coffee ended the night for me. We have a full day left before our 10:30 pm flight tomorrow but I think that will be saved for a bit of packing and pool time. We will see how that goes.

Ciao

Santiago Food Market and Dinner at Noble!

So today we are back in Santiago and have a trip to the central market planned. They say that this is one of the biggest markets in South America so we are all interested to see what it is all about. The have produce, meats and poultry, seafood and anything in between. I will be on the look out for a spice blend known as Merquen, it is a blend of spices and smoked chili peppers. We have had it at just about every stop on this trip and it is really good, not too spicy but with a really rich Smokey flavor. It has been served as a sauce or as something that you just sprinkle over your food. The best I have had was at OX, the restaurant, and it was a thin sauce that they served with grilled steaks. Who knows what else we will find.

Well as we were getting into our bus our guide from ARAMARK Chile mentioned to us that we needed to remove any jewelry and phones for our walk through the market. He said that it is an area that is high in theft and a great place to find pick pockets. This had everyone a little concerned to say the least but once we got into the market we were feeling much better. After all, put a bunch of chefs into a maze filled with amazing produce and odd ingredients and we will find a way to have fun. I am sure that you can tell by the photos that the folks that worked in the market were having fun with us as well.

Right off the bat we noticed the wide variety of produce available. Some of it was quite unusual to us; giant ears of corn that they use to make a local dish called Pastel de Choclo were everywhere. Ready for this one, fresh eggs were stacked 5 feet high right out in the middle of the market, no refrigeration at all. There were the great smells of fresh fruit, especially the peaches. We bought a few peaches and they were delicious, someone else bought cherries and they were sweet and ripe as can be. Won’t be seeing those in Chicago any time soon. It seemed like much of the produce was just a larger version of the stuff we get at home. Celery bunches were double the size, heads of cabbage as big as a large bowling ball and so on. We were all amazed by this and asked a ton of questions. Maybe the large veggies are due to the fact that the sun does not set here until 9:30 or so at night. That has been a little weird, it makes the day seem so much longer or time goes by slower, I’m not really sure.

Anyway, we saw some crazy fish vendor that had what looked like a stingray sitting below a moon fish. The moon fish looked like he had seen better days, that is for sure. The new came upon the spice vendors and we all had to make some purchases thee to bring back home. I quickly grabbed a pound and a half or the merquen as well as 2 pounds of course sea salt collected from the coast here in Chile. They were all in big barrels and you just told the guy what you wanted and he filled the bags. Pretty cool and very cheap. A kilo of sea salt was about .75 cents. The stuff was super tasty and full of flavor. We all started commenting on how we were going to use it at home. Man we would have loved to had the chance to take this stuff into a kitchen and start playing with, that is for sure.

We came upon the butcher section and quickly ran into a couple of guys who wanted to be on film. These two butchers were posing and laughing and having a great time. Finally one of them pulled his “hermano” from the table and held it up for a great photo op. It was hilarious and I made sure to get a good shot. All in all we had a great time here and spent a good couple of hours wandering the stands, asking questions in broken spanglish and tasting some pretty neat stuff.

Then it was off to the seafood market which was a few streets over. Here is where the fish trade has been done for years in Santiago. As soon as you walk in, you know it by the smells and sounds of the fish mongers. There were all kinds of fish available and many of then we did not recognize. The cost of the fish was super low; you would never see these types of prices in the USA. They even had a table full of barnacles that were edible. The crustaceans were still alive peaking in and out of the outer shell that housed them. They were kind of creepy and there is no way I would really care to try them. We saw tons of fresh Corvina, a wild sea bass local to the area, giant sized mussels, plenty of octopus and even some baby eels. All of this stuff was for sale and it was a busy market. In the center of the market is a restaurant called Donde Augusto, which is where we stopped for lunch. To tell you the truth, after seeing all of that fish laying there with very little ice on it, I was not much in the mood for seafood. The others were good with it and they ordered away. I tried for the ribs but they were out so I settled on the local favorite, Pastel de Choclo. It was good but a bit heavy. I did taste the fried baby eels that one guy had and they were quite tasty, tossed with roasted garlic, very nice.

Once lunch was over we were left to our own so we made a stop at the local artisan market to walk around and shop. Here we found jewelry and gifts that were produced by locals. The stone lapis Lazuli, which is only found in Chile and Afghanistan, was everywhere. There were also leather goods, wool items and of course the touristy glasses and postcards too. It was getting hot too so we did not last too long. I think the whole week of travel is catching up to me, that is for sure. I headed back to the hotel to sit by the pool that only has sun until noon and worked on a blog. That is the funny thing; I was looking forward to some pool time and getting a little sun, nope not happening. As I said the pool only has sun until noon and then it is on the other side of the building. The folks here say that is the way they planned it because the sun here is so intense and dangerous. Oh well it was nice and breezy by the pool and I got to relax. After that it was back to the room for a little down time.

We met for dinner at 9 pm in the lobby. Tonight we were going to try a place called Noble; it was over near the restaurant that we went to on Monday night so we knew how to get there. We walked in and it was very cool, hip and trendy. It was Thursday night and only 9 pm so there were not many folks there yet. They usually start showing up for dinner around 10. We sat outside in this funky lounge with some jazz guitar guys playing. I ordered some type of Mojito that they made with Rum, Grapefruit, Soda water and Fresh Basil. It was delicious and perfect for a warm night. We went in to our table for dinner and they sat us by a window that looked right into the kitchen, perfect for a few chefs. The place was all based around food coming off the giant grill they had in the kitchen. And we got to see all of that first hand.

We ordered a bottle of Morande’ Cab Franc 2004 which was awesome. To start we picked two appetizers, one was a Wild Boar Carpaccio and the other was Grilled Short Ribs. They both were excellent. The boar Carpaccio was served with minced red and green onions, capers and grated cheese. The cheese was like parmesan but not quite as strong. Grilled crostini were served as well. The short ribs were simply grilled, salted and served to us. Again, simple but very special. Next came the salad course, we each choose one and shared. A Chilean salad which is fresh tomatoes, onions and cilantro tossed with red wine vinaigrette. The curious thing was that the tomatoes were peeled first, it seems that is the way it is done in Chile, and every salad that is based on tomatoes has them peeled. Then a green salad wit goat cheese and prosciutto, nothing special on this one, the prosciutto was actually just boiled ham and finally a salad with hearts of palm, tomatoes and avocado. The really nice touch that we received was that the salads were all made table side. Very nice indeed. Then we moved on to dinner. I had ordered a grilled duck breast; the other two had grilled Wild Boar Ribs and a Wagyu Ribeye steak. They all came with sides so we had a mushroom and blue cheese gratin that was ridiculously great, a baked and stuffed baby potato with sour cream and bacon and fried mashed potato that was pretty good. The main courses were wonderful and we ordered a second bottle of wine with them that blew us away. It was called Errazuriz – The Blend 2005 limited edition. This was a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Petite Verdot and Cab Franc. It was amazing, now I know we the name THE BLEND, it really was a great bottle of wine and I need to try and find it back home. We were stuffed but managed to find a way to order three desserts. First was a Fig compote with Fig Ice Cream, then a squash puree with caramel and with a walnut ice cream and I ordered a crepe with apples and vanilla ice cream. Little did we know that the simple crepe and apples was going to steal the show for the entire evening. It was about 10 – 12 inches in diameter, had a crispy ring around the edges and the apples were perfectly cooked. I kid you not; we all took turn stabbing at it for more. It was so good that we asked the pastry chef to come out and tell us how to make it. Turns out that as with most things, simplicity shined through. A crepe pan is started with sugar and butter, the crepe added, topped with thinly sliced apples and a sprinkle of sugar. Once the edges begin to brown the whole thing is flipped, a bit of amaretto is added around the sides and flamed. Once the flame is out the crepe is turned out onto a plate and topped by a nice scoop of home made vanilla ice cream. It was soft and crunchy with great apple flavor and a hint of almonds. It was great and coming from a guy that is not that much of a dessert person, that says a lot. Oh yeah we also ordered a half bottle of Montes Botrytised 2006 dessert wine to go with it. Might as well go all the way. We contemplated another cigar but it was late and we had a big day of winery tours the next day so we called it a night. A great meal that is for sure.

Ciao

The Bluebery Farm and Luch at 605 Imperial

So today starts out with the clouds covering the bay and the wind was blowing a cool air through the town. We boarded a bus and headed out for the blueberry fields that were about an hour ride to the north. We met up with the folks that were taking us before we got on the bus. Two gentlemen from Hortifruit of Chile, Gustavo and Ramiro. As we rode you could see the sun trying to burn through the clouds, we kept our fingers crossed. When we arrived we were taken into a small meeting room were the guys gave us a quick run through on the company. Turns out that they are the number 1 provider of berries to the world. They have a partnership with two other companies and are distributed in the USA under the name Naturipe Farms, maybe you have seen them in the local stores. It is pretty amazing the volume of berries that they produce. Along with Blueberries they grow blackberries, red currants, raspberries and strawberries. These are the bulk of the business with a few other specialty items as well. The grow in Chile, The US, Mexico and Argentina and their mission is to provide high quality berries to the market year round. It was actually a great presentation and gave us a good education on some of the products that we use most.

By the time that the presentation ended the sun was out and only a few clouds remained. This was perfect because we now were headed out to the fields to see the berries and most of all, eat them. We were shown three varieties of blueberries that were growing in the same field and were let loose on them. They were amazing, I have never seen berries this big, I kid you not some of them were as big as a quarter with the majority being as big as nickels. The difference in flavors between the three was so noticeable as well. One more acidic, one more sweet and one that was very floral in flavor. They all packed a great punch and were delicious. We continued through the vast fields picking away at the berries as needed. We got to see how they are harvested and the folks that do all of that. Everything is picked by hand and then sorted by hand and then finally boxed into the clamshells by hand. It was really unbelievable. There were a ton of workers in the field just picking and boxing the berries. They all loved getting their pictures taken and many even struck a pose for us.

Next were the red currant fields, these were great. I love red currants and you don’t often get to see them on the vine in huge rows. They were a bit tart but very juicy and beautiful in color. These are even more labor intensive as the workers have to snip the individual branches that they are on off with a pair of scissors and then place them right into the clamshell. It looked like not so much fun picking these and getting them ready for market. Most of the berries on the farms are for fresh delivery, that is, they are not used for jams, juice or frozen products. They do have some fields that they plant for frozen products but not much. We continued to stroll through the fields enjoying the sun and the berries every chance we got. It was really interesting to learn that 70% of the berries that this company produces are organic. Since this is the trend that is dominating our markets these days, it great knowing that these guys have been doing it for a long time.

Finally we boarded out bus and headed back to Puerto Varas where we were scheduled to have lunch. The folks from Hortifruit had made special arrangements at a great local restaurant. We arrived and the place was really cool and had views looking down into the lake down below. The house that had been converted into a restaurant was well appointed. We were led into a bar area by the owner and then they brought out some cocktails and appetizers. These were very cool; the traditional Pisco Sour came out along with a house special called the Imperial Sour. Imperial was the name of the restaurant. All we could find out was that it had raspberry in it; the rest of the recipe was a house special. Also brought out was deep purple liquid that we learned to be straight blackberry juice. They had made it for us in the back as we were sitting there and it tasted great, really light and not sour at all. To go with the drinks we had a shrimp ceviche that came out on Asian spoons and a smoked salmon with a honey and mustard seed sauce. These were both delicious and a nice start to the meal. When it was time for lunch we headed to the dining room and found a plated salad waiting for us. It was a local crab salad with some fresh greens and a dab of fresh raspberry sauce. The crab and raspberries went surprisingly well together and made for a nice light start to the meal. We had that paired with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, which down here are much more grassy and crisp than the ones that I am used to back home. It was really nice. The main course was roasted pork tenderloin that was served with a mushroom and fava bean risotto; a mixed berry mélange accompanied the pork and went really well with it. The wine for this course was a Chilean Carmenere, now on of my favorites. For dessert there was a crème brulee that was made with a local fruit and was quite sweet, so for me that was enough, too sweet. A nice espresso to finish off the lunch was perfect. Gustavo and Ramiro then presented us each with this beautiful book on blueberries. It was a really nice gesture and we all loved them, so much so that we had both of them sign copies for us all. Too funny. Then it was time to get back on the bus and head for the airport in Puerto Montt. Our flight back to Santiago was set for 5:45 pm and we made it with plenty of time. Here was said good bye to two folks from our group, John Hawkins and his wife. The decided to take a couple of extra days in the region and were driving for Patagonia and Chiloe. That was one place that I wanted to see too but just could not get it in this time, maybe next time. I can’t wait to see the pictures that they bring back on Saturday when we all meet up for our trip back home. Getting back to the hotel in Santiago around 8:30 pm was the limit for me. I was done, hot, tired and just worn down a bit. So for me the rest of the night was spent relaxing in the room and calling it an early night. Some of the other went out for dinner but I had enough. Dinner around here does not start until 9 pm or so and that is quite late for Americans. Maybe tomorrow night. We are scheduled to see the outdoor markets tomorrow in Santiago so that should be fun.

This two day trip down to the southern part of Chile was really interesting and fun. I am really glad that we were able to see that side of the culture and countryside. Most of the population of the country is centered around the larger cities like Santiago so seeing the smaller more removed parts of the country were a real treat. Eating things like Conger Eel that came right out of the water and berries right of the vines are some things most people don’t get the opportunity to do, so it is important to appreciate it and enjoy it to the fullest. I am back in Santiago and have fallen a bit behind on the blog; I am sitting by the pool trying to catch up a little so that when I get back in a couple of days I will have it all done.

Until the next time.

Puerto Mont Fish Market and Puerto Varas

So this is the third day of our trip and we are on our way back to the airport so that we can fly to a town called Puerto Montt. This is almost two hours by air further south from Santiago. It is in the middle of the Lake District, home to some great outdoor adventures, many Volcanoes and also the best Salmon Farming in the world. We will get to go and see the plant for one of the larger salmon producers in Chile, AuquaChile. While we are there we plan to make a stop at the famous Angelmo fish market. Here I expect to see and taste some local items that I have never tried before. So here goes.

Our flight was delayed so we got in about and hour behind schedule. After a quick stop at out hotel we loaded back into the bus and headed to the fish market at Angelmo for a stroll amongst the fish stalls as well as a little lunch. We were not disappointed; the fish was cool, fresh and some varieties that I have never seen. There was the famous Conger eel, smoked mussels and clams, salmon and sea bass. There were a couple of stands that had produce as well but fish dominated. It was really cool walking though the stalls and just checking out what was fresh today. We made out way to the restaurant and it just got better.

We finally got seated in a private little room, I mean little. There were 11 of us and this room was probably meant for 8 comfortably. The real kicker was that there was a little kitchenette attached to the room where a few women cooked your food as you ordered it. It was wild and I have a photo below. Our host, Andreas did the ordering selecting the local favorites. We had fresh Razor Clams with Parmesan, Local King Crab with Mayonnaise, crab cake (this actually was more like crab dip in a clay pot) super tasty. They also prepared fresh abalone the same way as the crab. And then finally came the fresh fried Conger Eel. Wait till you see what it looks like, there is not doubt that you would not want to taste something that looks like that. But we did and it was amazing. So fresh and flavorful, not fishy at all and super moist. This was served with some chilled poached potatoes, fresh mayo and fresh lemon. It was really good, I have to admit it. Of course we had to start the meal in the traditional manner and toast with a Pisco Sour, then we ordered a little white wine to wash down all that great seafood.

Next it was off to the salmon processing plant. We all boarded the bus and headed out. For some reason I was looking for one of our crew and low and behold he was not on the bus. Fortunately we were only a couple of blocks away, a quick turn around and sure enough there he was looking for the bus. Ok loaded up now, we headed for AquaChile for our tour. We walk in and the smell of fresh salmon filled the air, really, it filled the whole place. We went into a room where we signed waivers and put on knee high white rubber boots and then headed off to finish off the new wardrobe. A white smock, hairnet, hat and facemask finished it off. After scrubbing our boots and hand and putting on gloves we went into the processing rooms. This was really cool, everywhere you looked people were working with fresh salmon. Putting them in to sorting bins, setting them up for filleting or getting them ready to be shipped out. It was production on a massive scale. The salmon come from ocean farms that are anywhere from 4 to 12 hours away and are processed here for shipment all over the world. All kinds of salmon are sent all over. My favorite machine was the one that removed the skin from the fresh filets. It did its job with no effort it seemed and each filet looked exactly the same. The tour was very informative and also showed us ho great the Chilean Salmon Farming really is. That night we were going to be given a first hand tasting of the products at the local culinary school. So off we went back to the hotel.

We had some time to kill before dinner so Andreas offered to take us for a little tour of the Lake District. Some of use went and others just hung out in Puerto Montt. For those of us that went it was awesome, they took us to a cool little town called Puerto Varas about 15 kilometers away. It is a small town on a huge lake that looks like you are stepping into a German or Belgium village. It was like we just arrived in another country. The German influence that settled here long ago still showed through in the architecture and restaurants. We walked through a small craft market and then went down to the lake. The beach had dark sand on it which was the result of all the volcanic presence in the region. The water was super clean and the view of Osorno, the dormant volcano, was amazing. We took a ton of photos and then headed to the local pub for a German style beer. It was quite refreshing on a nice hot day. Then it was back on the bus for the trip back to the hotel and then dinner.

We were loaded back onto the bus and then headed to Santo Tomas University where the have a new Culinary program. There a couple of the directors of the program hosted us to a demonstration and tasting of Chilean Salmon. Starting off with several different types of sushi and then heading into the kitchen for a more in depth demo. The chefs were great and showed us a few different ways to prepare salmon. One was crusted with Hazelnuts, another topped with pineapple chutney and one that was wrapped in Phyllo. They were all tasty. They mixed in a couple sorbets mixed from local fruits as well. It was a cool time but I think some of us were salmoned out, we got back to the hotel and went out for a burger at a place called the OK Corral, the place was interesting and the burgers were not very good, oh well. Time for rest as tomorrow is a big day in the blueberry fields to the north.

See ya