La Trieja

I spent two of my nights in Medellín with a wonderful trio of men who call themselves "la trieja." They are whatever you call a couple when there are three people in it, and they're absolutely wonderful people. They live in a neighborhood high above Medellín, with astonishing views, in a small apartment they've ingeniously renovated to maximize every inch of space. I spent my evenings with them in lively brouhaha with a rotating cast of their neighbors. The general din made it hard to understand much of the conversation, but the mood was so fun that it hardly mattered. On the first night I spent a couple of hours with the 4- and 5-year-old kids pictured below, talking about dinosaurs and making up silly jokes about each others' moms (they started it). The second night I cooked rice with toasted sesame seeds and soy sauce, and an odd variety of big-leafed kale with garlic and ginger, which may not be typical American foods, but are typical Gabriel foods. They assured me it was delicious, although they were amazed that I didn't add oil to the rice in the rice cooker.