Stuff unrelated to food, wine & spirits that I just feel like posting.
“The 1976 Bicentennial is not going to be invented in Washington, printed in triplicate by the Government Printing Office [and] mailed to you by the United States Postal Service.” – Richard M. Nixon, U.S. President Most folk probably know that yesterday was Argentina’s bicentennial. Well, one of them. It was the 200th anniversary of the… Read More 200 Years, the 2nd Time Around
“By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity.” – Robert A. Heinlein, author Saw several adverts for a big flower show this past weekend and thought it sounded like something different to head off and do. Misread it though, it was… Read More Flower Arrangements
Anyone who has spent time here in Argentina has probably encountered alfajores, the lovely dulce de leche or chocolate or marmalade filled sandwich cookies that are what every Oreo dreams of being when it grows up. I’ve always noted that there were various kinds, particularly marplatenses, santafesinos, and maicenas – i.e., from Mar del Plata,… Read More Pastry Class 9
Picking up where I left off along my Av. Rivadavia wander back at Suipacha and Plaza Arlt… our next segment runs from there to the Plaza de los Dos Congresos, usually just referred to in the singular as Plaza Congreso. As I mentioned in the previous post, much of this section of Rivadavia, because it… Read More Presidential Backbone – 2nd Vertebra
Several people asked about where they could hear the first show I did with retired ambassador turned talk show host Alvin Adams on local radio Urbana FM, talking about the local food scene. You can go to their website and download the show to listen to at your leisure here (10.04.2010), or, you can listen… Read More On the Radio Again
Continuing on to week five of my pastry training, we continued working with puff pastry, both in making different products, but also alternative ways to make the pastry dough itself – who knew there was a difference between “German”, “French” and “Brazilian” puff pastries? Not to mention “Quick”…. Roberto demonstrating how to make Brazilian puff… Read More Pastry Class 5
Having left behind our Supreme Directors with the short-lived 4 day and some hour tenure of Julian Aguirre, the government of Argentina, as a setup of various coalitions, was dissolved. I have to admit to being unclear as to how the country was run for the next six years, and the gap is noticeable in… Read More Presidential Backbone – 1st Vertebra
Playing with desserts is going to get my waistline in trouble if I’m not careful! I had made extra tartlet shells for this weekend’s plum and blackberry tart, had made more mascarpone than I needed, and, had leftover blackberries. How could I not combine them and fill the tartlet shell with the latter two ingredients.… Read More Pastry Class 4