CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~ Kimber ~
Jaapri, Ultima Esperanza, Chile
Pacific Coast
Dorian sat downat the table with a huge plate of… Well, I didn’t know what it was.
But it smelled divine.
“Again, Dorian?” Aiko’s voice was filled with mirth.
“Clam it.” Dorian grabbed one of the chips piled with what looked like meat, cheese, beans, vegetables, and a thick cream.
“What is that?” I leaned in.
“Nachos,” Aiko said.
“Nachos?”
The sound that Dorian made while chewing with his mouth full was perverse. “Try some,” he spoke around a mouthful of food.
I reached for a chip and made sure it was loaded with all the toppings.
“Watch the green peppers,” Aiko warned. “Jalapeños. They’re incredibly spicy.”
I avoided them for now. Imitating Dorian, I shoved the whole chip in my mouth and started chewing.
“Holy shit,” I said, but it sounded more like “homy shi” because I wasn’t going to pause to speak. The cheese was melty and warm, the beef and beans slightly spicy, the onion and tomato had an amazing flavor with a bit of a kick, and the cream was somewhat sour and cold.
It was heaven on a chip.
“Nachos.” Dorian grinned.
“These are amazing. Where the hell did they come from? What are these chips?”
“It’s an American dish,” Aiko said. “Kimber. The size of the food they serve in this country is astounding. Hamburgers the size of a baby’s head.”
“What’s a hamburger?”
Dorian and Aiko exchanged a look, and Aiko nodded. “I’ll put in a request for ground beef so we can make them.”
Dorian nodded and grabbed another loaded chip. “These are corn chips. It’s a kind of grain. The seeds can be eaten raw, or hulled and eaten, or dried and eaten, dried and popped or ground into flour. They make these chips out of the flour.”
“Popped?”
Dorian let out a sigh of delight as he shoveled more of the nachos into his mouth. “Just enjoy the nachos. I’m sure there’s popcorn around here somewhere. So these are shaped and deep-fried. Then you add all the toppings and melt the cheese under a flame. And then”—he pointed to the white cream—“you put a dollop of sour cream on top.”
“Sour cream. That’s good stuff.”
Aiko nodded. “It is. I caught him eating out of the container before he brought the plate in here.”
“Dorian!”
“What? It’s good. It tastes good. And I wanted some. Try one of the jalapeños on top.”
I looked at my loaded chip and shrugged. I grabbed one of the green rings, dropped it on top, and stuffed everything in my mouth.
