We’re spending the day at Mapuyampay Lodge enjoying the gardens, checking out the neighboring farms, and participating in a cooking class with Ruth.
The lodge is in a remote location near the small village of Teno. Our casita is great – very comfortable. I’ve forgotten how lively life is in farmland, especially at night. An overachieving rooster kicked into gear about 3:30 in the morning and crowed non-stop until almost noon. Sheesh.
We took a morning walk along the dirt road that leads to the lodge. There are small farms nearby mostly growing nuts and avocado. We came across a group of horsemen in traditional ‘gaucho’ garb practicing for an upcoming rodeo. No camera with us! Drat.
The cooking class is good fun. It’s just Mary and I so the session is quite intimate. Ruth’s kitchen is great – loaded with interesting cooking relics from Chilean & other travels. My favorite is a Mapuche vessel made from a cow’s udder. Very cool! We prepared a range of dishes & Ruth’s husband Vicente grilled a pork tenderloin to add to the feast.
D.
Cooking Class Day! We been looking forward to this for quite some time. Generally, Ruth hosts a Gastronomic Weekend package, but we were not going to be here on a weekend. So, we asked her if she would be willing to do this for the two of us during our stay here and she said yes. After we have breakfast and a walk around the grounds, we meet her in the kitchen.
She goes over the menu we are preparing, and we head out to the herb garden to pick what we need. We start by making the dessert which is a crème brulee with a Chilean twist flavored with a paste from a strange fruit. The eggs are fresh from the chickens. We are also making a chimichurri sauce and an Asian inspired marinade for the pork tenderloin that Vicente will be grilling. Finally, an appetizer with a tuna and shrimp ceviche in a cucumber roll.
We spent about 3.5 hours putting this feast together and then share the fruit of our labor among the four of us with wines to go with each course sitting outside amongst the flowers. A nice way to spend the afternoon. The class was very relaxing with a mix of techniques and discussions of other things you can do with the same recipes. Ruth is very big on presentation and shares some of her expertise along the way. Luna (one of the dogs) comes to join us on the porch of our casita while we digest our enormous lunch.
Dinner later is intentionally light, just soup and salad.
M
