From the monthly archives:

December 2008

Original Fusion?

2008.Dec.14 Sunday

 Filipino cuisine could easily be the original fusion cuisine. After all, more than 400 years of Chinese, Hispanic, American and various other influences have blended together in perfect harmony for a very individual, very unique cuisine that is simply ‘sarap’ (delicious).” – Datin Hjh Zainah Bujang, General Manager of the Sheraton Utama Hotel. Buenos Aires [...]

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Wide Open Spaces

2008.Dec.12 Friday

 A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me. I’m afraid of widths.” – Stephen Wright, comedian Buenos Aires – While it may not be the most commonly asked question in Buenos Aires, which is probably “Where do I get the best steak?” (an unanswerable query if ever there was one), it certainly comes [...]

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Magic and Pasta

2008.Dec.10 Wednesday

 Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” – Federico Fellini, film director Buenos Aires – Session two of our Color Palate of Italy course went off with no major hitches yesterday – a bit of carbo-loading as we made four different kinds of fresh pasta – semolina pici, egg-based baked agnolotti, whole wheat langanelli, [...]

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Long Live the King!

2008.Dec.08 Monday

 We shall reign with righteousness, for the benefits and happiness of the Siamese people.” – Oath of Accession for the Thai king Buenos Aires – Look, he wasn’t feeling well, wasn’t even able to deliver his annual birthday address to the nation the night before his birthday festivities, so we didn’t count on him to [...]

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On the Side

2008.Dec.06 Saturday

 The potato takes little care of lung and heart. It reaches the head, but only, as I said, the lower head, not the upper head. It does go into the lower head, where one thinks and exercises critical faculties. Therefore, you can see, in earlier times there were fewer journalists. There was no printing industry [...]

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Food Porn Friday

2008.Dec.05 Friday

 Porn? I’m not doing porn! What the hell are people talking about? The way we shot close-ups, I just wanted the food to look beautiful. I thought that’s what Americans loved about Italy — that it’s so sensual and romantic. [It’s not] PBS-style cooking. Lidia Bastianich, sorry, but [she’s] kind of boring. I mean, I [...]

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French Africa

2008.Dec.02 Tuesday

 French speaking countries in Africa have always enjoyed a special relationship with their former colonial master. French influence in those countries remained strong even after independence, with currencies tied by a fixed exchange rate to the French franc, military agreements allowing the stationing of French intervention forces in Africa, and a strong presence of French [...]

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Entrevista

2008.Dec.01 Monday

 Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.” – Oscar Wilde, author Buenos Aires – A couple of months ago I received a note from a charming young man in the San Francisco area who writes a blog called Cooking With The Single Guy. He wanted to reserve a spot at Casa SaltShaker, but in addition, [...]

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