Sugar and salt and everything Chilean

Of all the exotic new Chilean customs with which I have become enamored (and a couple other ones I'm not super crazy about), my favorite by far is the apparent Chilean espousal of the idea of meals in bed. As if a sliced hot dog/corn/tomato omelet and rice, or perhaps a heaping mound of noodles and chicken and cream (not sauce... cream. I am going to have a heart attack tomorrow at 5:46:07 EST), or a giant bowl of beans in orange stuff, or toasted allullah and manjar, or any of my other favorite things that my Chilean mama cooks up on a given noche, weren't good enough before... they're like four times better when I get to eat them warm under my many blankets, on a tray with a frilly doily, a big glass of fruit juice, and probably some more rice (just in case).

Other reasons that Chilean cuisine is going to end me include:

-1.5 spoons instant coffee + 1 spoon sugar + 3/4 cup boiling water + 1/4 cup chocolate milk = the best part of waking up.
-Chilean affinity for excessive amounts of sugar and salt. On everything. No seriously. All things.
-Tres leches ice cream.
-¡Empanadas everywhere!
-Avocados. So many avocados. No wonder Chileans are happy people.
-Manjar. Known in Meh-hee-co as "dulce de leche." Known in los Estados Unidos as sweetened condensed milk put in the microwave and then added superfluously to every breakfast food, dessert, ice cream flavor, bread product, fruit... spoonful...
-Allullah/ham/cheese/butter sandwiches.
-Potatoes.
-Hot dogs with guacamole.
-Fascinating milk that does not need to be refrigerated.
-Rice.
-Chileans eat more mayonnaise per capita than people of any other nation in the world. The average Chilean consumes more than 1 kg of mayonnaise per year. I believe it's 1 kg = 270 lbs.

This list is by no means complete. Check back for updates throughout the semester as I experience more and more of the wonder that is Chilean cooking.