Stumble Upon

Last semester I stumbled upon this literature class where a lot of the emphasis was on technology and social networking. Someone in the class stumbled upon this website where you can stumble upon all kinds of interesting things. You just make a profile by choosing all the interests you have stumbled upon in your life, and start stumbling. I have stumbled upon new ways to find music, job interview techniques, funny videos, eye-opening pictures, studies in psychology, and the many surprising uses for baking soda. You can even limit what you stumble and only find learn more about Shakespeare or boating or cats. It is a great way to stumble upon some creativity or just learn something new. Stumble. stumble....stumble.

What's a salteña?

That is exactly what I asked after hearing Caden, Casey's brother, rave about his favorite Bolivian mid morning meal. Turns out they are a type of Bolivian baked empañada that he bought off the streets on his mission. Impossible to make? Ridiculously delicious? Sounds like something we needed melting in our mouths. With a little bit of making-do-with-what-we've-got, we found a recipe and the three of us rolled up our sleeves, flowered our hands, and tried our luck at Bolivian cuisine. A-bit-too-much-chili-pepper later, the smell of sweet stew filled the room, but we only got a small taste before putting it in the fridge to solidify over night. Day two was all about rollin' out the dough and piecing everything together. Which might seem easy, but you will have to give us some creativity points of using a Nalgene bottle filled with water as our rolling pin. Getting the salteñas to stick together also took some pretty determined hands and lots of pinching - but they closed up in to perfect little pastries - more or less. I wish I could say a beautiful, crafted, South American mid-morning snack came out of the oven, but whatever we did make, did taste pretty out-of-this-country good. Step two: travel to Bolivia for a taste test.