Pomaire

Again, the kids had off Thursday and Friday for Jewish holidays so we headed off for some day trips from Santiago.

This village about an hour west of Santiago is known for its pottery and its one kilo empanadas (yuck).  One of the first dishes Marcela cooked for us was pastel de choclo - a ground beef casserole with a sweet corn topping.  Traditionally, the pastel de choclo is made in a clay pot most often made in this town although they morph their clay into many interesting forms.  

The classic look of the pottery (a bowl probably used for a cazuela)

They actually had a vegetarian pastel de choclo!  Usually it is with grounded beef,  a hard boiled egg, an olive-with the pit, and onions)

The gang - Rob skipped this one but will join us for Friday's adventure

They are also known for these obscenely huge empanadas billed as 1 kilo. We challenged Jonathan to consume one himself.  Ick.

He got through maybe a fourth

They specialize in three-legged hand-made clay “Chanchitos” or ‘little pigs’ that bring good fortune and good luck. Apparently, you are supposed to give them to friends and family as a token of goodwill and love but the kids just bought some little ones for themselves and we bought some little clay dished for serving pebre (the Chilean salsa) or for butter (my Mom’s thought).

Chanchitos

A school group learning how they make the pottery - foot powered

Renee was more fascinated with cats than pottery...

We headed home for one more gymnastics practice for Renee before a meet on Saturday at Estadio Espanol de Las Condes and then off to explore another synagogue, B'nei Israel, at the invitation of some friends for Simchat Torah (marking the conclusion of the annual reading of the torah and the start of another year and consists of a lot of dancing and singing while carrying all of the torahs and throwing and consuming treats, a lot of treats).