A look at local food discoveries, whether it’s a particular dish or an ingredient, often with one or more recipes.
Atlántida – Saturday dawned, the stormclouds, rain, and winds disappeared, no evidence of cyclone alerts. Laura, my companion for the first three days, took a day off to spend with her family, and José Luis, INAVI’s foreign trade director, picked me up at my hotel so that we could head to points east. A bundle… Read More Gods of the Winds
Juanicó – It’s kind of fun to find out little interesting tidbits of history as you travel around. For example, did you know that France was in such bad shape during World War II that they turned to Uruguay for help? At the time, Uruguay was a country that had been built up by many… Read More A Mix of Grapes and Cultures
Colón – Yesterday morning as we passed out of the city of Montevideo and headed north we passed through the port area of the city. An interesting sight met my eyes, as I noted bundles of 15 foot logs, stripped of their bark, roughly 20 to a bundle, piled along the docks. Not just a… Read More 240 Years of Tradition
Colonia del Sacramento – At the port yesterday I was met by my, as I put it, handler, Laura Nervi. She turns out to be a charming and delightful travelling companion, she’s an agronomist for the national institute of wine, INAVI, and handles touring around folk like me in all of her spare time. We… Read More The Hills of San Juan
Buenos Aires – Cinnamon is the bark of a tropical evergreen tree – related to the laurel, or bay tree. There are two main types – Ceylon, more properly these days I suppose it ought to be called Sri Lankan (Cortex Cinnamoni), but then we haven’t changed the name of the tea either; and Chinese,… Read More Cinnamon, Basil, & Pecans
Buenos Aires – Yes indeedy folks, it’s John Frum Day. Forget Valentine’s Day yesterday – the chocolates are eaten, the flowers are wilting, those hopeful “Will You Be My Valentine?” cards are already slated for the circular file. Ignore, if you will, that today is National Gum Drop Day, Candlemas, and Lupercalia all rolled into… Read More Happy John Frum Day!
Buenos Aires – Happy Anniversary to Us! Not the blog, but Henry and I. We met February 12, 2005. We had a bit of a whirlwind romance for the two weeks I was in Buenos Aires after meeting, followed by daily instant messaging chats and at least weekly phone calls. When I first set out… Read More Paper Anniversary
Buenos Aires – It’s my own fault. I admit it. Back before I left New York, in conversations with friends, I said things like “I miss how friends used to drop by my place back home to do things. We didn’t spend hours arranging hanging out, via SMS or e-mail or telephone.” Of course, we… Read More Home Visits