SaltShaker

 Scoville’s original method for testing hotness was called the Scoville Organoleptic Test, which he developed in 1912. As originally devised, a solution of the pepper extract is diluted in sugar water until the “heat” is no longer detectable to a panel of (usually five) tasters; the degree of dilution gives its measure on the Scoville [...]

 What is sauce for the goose may be sauce for the gander but is not necessarily sauce for the chicken, the duck, the turkey or the guinea hen.
- Alice B. Toklas
Buenos Aires – I’ve been promising on and off since our trip to Perú that I’d share a step-by-step how-to for ají de gallina, or [...]

 Pakistani cuisine is as diverse as it’s people. Most of Pakistani cuisine has Afghan-Turkic-Iranian roots, a legacy of Muslim rule in South Asia, which got ‘Indianized’ due to the greater usage of spices; this is specially true for Pakistani Punjabis, Sindhis and Muhajirs (also Muslims in India); whereas Pakistani Pashtuns and Baluchese have retained their [...]

 In and of itself ritual is meaningless and therefore open to endless interpretation."
- Kenneth Dean, Author, Lord of the Three in One
Buenos Aires – I know you’re all eagerly awaiting the writeup on our two evening exploration of Pakistani food at Casa SaltShaker, but it will keep until, most likely, tomorrow. Instead, a trio of [...]

 Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I’m taking with me when I go.”
- Erma Bombeck, Advice Columnist
Buenos Aires – My instructions were simple – as befits those coming from a group of elementary [...]

 Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.”
- Aristophanes, 4th century BCE Greek comedy writer

Buenos Aires – A bunch of sloshed lookin’ folks, no? My friend Alex proposed we have a wine tasting, we’d had one a few months ago and had great fun, so [...]

 Absurdity, only you are pure.
Absurdity, only before you
is this excess sweated out of golden pleasure.
- César Vallejo, Peruvian poet and writer
Buenos Aires – This last weekend we celebrated the 115th birthday of Peruvian poet César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza. He wasn’t in attendance, having moved on in 1938. But it gave us an excuse to play [...]

 Life is like Sanskrit read to a pony.”
- Lou Reed
Buenos Aires – Ahhh Caballito… the pony… and also the restaurant that until recently I just assumed was a parrilla – the name evoked a sort of cowboy thingie, and it just looked like a steakhouse – but turns out to be a pizza parlor. Located [...]