From the monthly archives:

January 2007

North by Northwest

2007.Jan.30 Tuesday

 The first cultivated potato was grown in what is now Peru, researchers say, and it originated only once, not several times, as some experts propose. The genetic study shows the first potato known to have been farmed is genetically closest to a species now found only in southern Peru, the US and UK researchers write [...]

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Lost in Traducción

2007.Jan.29 Monday

 The best translations cannot convey to us the strength and exquisite delicacy of thought in its native garb, and he to whom such books are shut flounders about in outer darkness.” – Edwin Booth, Actor Buenos Aires – There are myriad internet sites out there that talk about the world of mistranslation. In the food [...]

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Gone Troppo

2007.Jan.28 Sunday

 Bugs Bunny: [to a little fawn] Hey, scram. Go on, beat it. the Tasmanian Devil’s liable to get you. He’s a mean, vicious, nasty, no-good, baggy-eyed, marble-headed ignoramorus. He’s a stupid… Tasmanian Devil: Flattery will get you nowhere. Buenos Aires – I’d barely posted the theme of “Australia Day” for this weekend’s Casa S dinner [...]

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New Shopping Page

2007.Jan.26 Friday

I was reminded this morning by an e-mail from a local friend looking for a good fruit & vegetable stand that I get these sorts of request all the time. While I’ve had a page up for a long time that covers quite a few specialty shops around the city that I use regularly, I [...]

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How the Hell Did I End Up Here?

2007.Jan.26 Friday

 Whoever has the luck to be born a character can laugh even at death. Because a character will never die! A man will die, a writer, the instrument of creation: but what he has created will never die! ” – Luigi Pirandello, Playwright, Poet, Author Buenos Aires – I know little to nothing about Luigi [...]

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Get Up and Go

2007.Jan.24 Wednesday

 Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.” – Lillian Ruth Dickson, Missionary Buenos Aires – Sometimes, it’s just time to get up and go. “Staying the course” as our current president has put it in the past is not the best option. There [...]

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À Votre Santé!

2007.Jan.23 Tuesday

 Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.” – William Temple, Sr. Buenos Aires – There used to be a nice little coffee shop at the corner of Peña and Azcuénaga, called BN Cafe. I liked it, it was relaxed, comfortable, loungy, even if they [...]

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The Grapes of (No) Wrath

2007.Jan.21 Sunday

Takes no nerve to do something, ain’t nothin’ else you can do.” – Tom, The Grapes of Wrath Buenos Aires – As many of you have noted, sometimes my “themes” for Casa SaltShaker menus seem to have little to do with food. But come on, the movie Grapes of Wrath… that’s food, right? Grapes! Just [...]

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The True Flavors of Japan?

2007.Jan.19 Friday

 Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively, I hear them all at once. What a delight this is! All this inventing, this producing, takes place in a pleasing, lively dream.” -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Buenos Aires – The spot was busy, bustling, loud. Not a soft surface in the room and packed with [...]

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