Gaucho Gardening II, Parrilla building basics 101

Hi folks,

Radishes and carrots growing well!

Spring is turning to summer and the weather has begun to cycle between hot dry days shot through with seemingly spontaneous inundating thunder showers. I am enjoying life campesino style but do experience moments of longing, pining perhaps, for el estilo porteño. This is why I have decided to build a parrilla porteño style and have an awesome barbecue for the 4th of July celebrations. 


Now that I've got the garden under control and things are growing I've found a little extra time to devote to the construction of the parrilla. I've already shoveled out the area I'll use--disrupting a large ant colony and transplanting a blueberry bush in the process. The ants attacked me vigorously, scuttling up my shovel and chomping my fingers and toes--yes, I wore chanclas digging : )--with their little pincers. I felt a wave of sadness as I destroyed their little home, removing all the dirt and disrupting their little underground roads, but then I thought of all the meat, yes, todo el carne, that I would cook over that parrilla. How grand it would be. I decided the ants were a small sacrifice to pay for such a succulent reward. 

The herb garden: Mint, cilantro, and basil

Tomato plants!

You can see the area where I'll build the parrilla below. 

Parrilla foundation

Cholao: Postre con anana, banana, kiwi, mango y mas!

I have also found a local area spanish conversation group called Upper Valley Buena Gente. They hold weekly coffee chats and monthly book clubs where the members read a book a month in Spanish and discuss it. We met last Sunday for the first time and I have been asked to help organize a spanish language get-together once a week in the afternoons. The time and date have yet to be hashed out but hopefully we can start the conversations soon. 

In the meantime, the garden is growing, the parrilla is being built, and I'm having cravings for chorizos and El Cuartito's fuggazetta relleno! Ah, que rico! 

Y mira! Which is to say look. I dug up this photo, taken a month ago, of my attempt at making Cholao! That Colombian postre riquisimo!


Cheers y un gran abrazo

Kyle

Mate con vista del jardin!