foreign cuisine

I had planned all along to make empanadas for Thanksgiving (but our stuff arrived from the US the day before, so that didn't happen), then it got moved to Christmas. And now the season of noel is upon us, and yet our home is not filled with the savory scent of baking empanadas. Por que? Porque yo estoy sick of trying to cook here!!!

It started with the idea of giving people fudge for Christmas. My mom created the world's easiest fudge recipe-you use 5 ingredients and cook it in the microwave. It's very tasty as well, but...nothing can be that easy in Chile. First I couldn't find baking chocolate, but I did find marshmallows (though flavored with vanilla), and what I thought was canned milk. I also got a bit confused about the difference between butter (manteca in my book), margarine (margarina), and shortening (which is apparently also sometimes called manteca, as I found out after I bought some).

So I tried to use the manteca (which was shortening, not butter) because I have always preferred the taste of things made with butter over margarine. And I used chopped up Hershey's chocolate bars, because chocolate chips don't exist here. And the vanilla marshmallows, and "probably" canned milk. Really, the sugar was the only thing I was certain of.

The first batch came out very goopy, like it didn't have enough marshmallows. So I made another batch, but with more marshmallows. The consistency was better, but it didn't really taste chocolaty enough. So I figured maybe the chocolate was wrong, and I decided to look harder for baker's chocolate with less milk in it. I also looked for non-flavored marshmallows, because the vanilla didn't seem like a good addition.

After a trip to the market, I was re-energized and ready to try again. So I did, with my bowls, and big wooden spoon, but to no avail. The third batch was also goopy, though more chocolaty. I decided the marshmallows must be the offending culprite, because though the recipe calls for marshmallow fluff (and I have a better chance of finding Diet Dr. Pepper than that), I was melting down marshmallows instead. Batch number 4 was given extra marshmallows, and I used the good chocolate, and it tasted good, but basically like very chocolaty flavored marshmallow.

So I gave up. We did figure out, though, that everyone here gives the security people Christmas gifts, so I felt compelled to make something for them. I tried to make some cookies, but overbaked them so they are unfit for gifting.

I did manage to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning, and a nice shrimp dish for dinner last night, with coconut milk and ginger, but my chef's hat has been deflated enough by the fudge-making experience that I just don't feel up to trying with the empanadas right now. Maybe for New Year's, or Valentine's, or Easter. But not today.