I enjoy a good laugh just as much as the next person, but nothing is quite as funny as the dark humor served up at many a local restaurants trying to produce exotic sounding dishes to create an air of sophistication. Think of that “lobster cappucino with white truffle foam” or “apple wood smoked bacon” new century farm eggs and other linguistic concoctions that try to make people think that they’re eating rare cuisine once reserved for Louis the Sixteenth.

I still reel when I think of going into a prestigious Buenos Aires Restaurant called Moshi Moshi - an overpriced restaurant that grew more on a reputation of pretentiousness by people who don’t know sushi rather than quality of food. For dessert, I just had to know what the “Sopa de banana” (banana soup) could be - and upon receiving a half cup of very milky banana milkshake in a shallow bowl with a spoon - I felt like the last laugh was on me. I was served the Banana Fool.

But this seems to be the trend of what people want - the exotic foods (or at least exotic sounding foods) that give people the idea that they are cultured and exotic themselves. You are what you eat, right? To think, when people engage in tourism nowadays, itsn’t the majority of time spent on vacation going out to eat?

Maybe what they really want is to be confused and pretentious at the same time - just to be able to say, “I couldn’t decide between the Boca Negra Cake Affogato and the Asbolt elderflower jelly, “strawberry nage mallow’, white chocolate and Tonka bean parfait!” when they could have easily just said, “I can’t decide between the chocolate volcano cake and the ice cream sundae”. Really, we all have to justify our choices and particularily now in an economic crisis, a two scoop ice cream sundae just isn’t worth $17 if it doesn’t have a rare and exotic name.

It’s getting popular too, to name brands on a menu - from the Sonoma duck to the Harmony Valley Cipollinis & Crosnes to the Primrose Brussels Sprouts and Driftless Organics Mashed Potatoes - nobody will guarantee great food, but surely we’re all impressed by the chef’s extraordinary ability to go out everyday to handpick our food. Certainly you must be getting your money’s worth since YOU won’t be able to make a salad like this at home - piled with so many ingreditents that the menu item begins to look like a supermarket label.

Let’s take a cue from the humble Raymond Blanc, who when talking about his upbringing, “…[I] had the archetypal French bucolic upbringing, in a peasant village in deepest Burgundy”. Also I’m glad to see that he learned his English from leprachauns and fairies. This explains why he is one of the pioneers of rediculous food names. So the next time you order a “Carpaccio” of blood orange with its own sorbet, remember that you could probably feed a starving child for a week for the same amount of money.

About a month ago, I went with my friend Louise to Natural Deli.  We both had some free time scheduled around our lunch hours - so we decided to head out for a quick stroll and grab something to eat at a neighboring cafe. When we arrived, it was almost 1pm, so the lunch crowd really hadn’t arrived yet.  I just loved the atmosphere with lots of light, tables, a really nice setup around the cash register that really showcased some of their muffins, cookies and dessert cakes that were displayed in a glass refrigerator. It’s a good thing, too that there was a glass separating me and those desserts, or I would have had to try one of each and that would have been disasterous for my spring/summer figure!

It just so happened that two of my friends, Kate and Annette dropped in for brunch at the same time as Louise and I, so I got to see not only how lunch tooked, but breakfast too!  Anyway, Louise and I wanted some of those fresh fruit shakes and their wraps.  Just everything looked so good on the whole menu, I wish I could have ordered one of each!  I finally decided on the Mexican Wrap, which to be honest, was one of the tastiest wraps I have ever had in my entire life (and I know wraps! I used to go to Camille’s in Chicago all the time for lunch!).  The guacamole had just the right amount of spice and zing! Louise ordered a beautifully prepared salad with peppers and mushrooms - just divine looking!  Each plate came piled up so high with salad and a lovely dressing that was not too heavy nor too salty or spiced, it was - in so many words, just right!

Kate and Annette had gone a little traditional with breakfast - and I completely understand why.  Just look at that picture! Big coffees, homemade toasts… yummy!

After lunch, we decided to take a look around the store.  There were all kinds of organic foods, spices, shampoos and cleansers, and much much more imported and local goods.  I was totally impressed.

So when my friends Rebecca and Mojgan wanted to meet for lunch a few weeks ago, I immediately suggested the Natural Deli.  They live a little closer to the ND location in Las Canitas, so we went there instead.  We got there right in the middle of the lunch hour, so our wait was somewhere around 45 minutes to be seated.  There certainly weren’t as many seats, but it is understandable as the whole locale is a lot smaller than its Barrio Norte counterpart.  When we were finally seated, I was so hungry for good food, I could hardly speak.  We each immediately ordered a different shake and unfortunately, only two of the six listed on the menu were available.   Then as we were going to order a variety of wraps, they let us know that not everything we wanted was available - again.  Rebecca couldn’t add chicken to the wrap that she wanted either, nor could she ask for a different kind of wrap without a certain ingredient that her food allergy wouldn’t tolerate.  Oh well, I still promised them good food, and we figured whatever we ordered would be good anyway.

When we finally got our food, I was a little disappointed to say the least.  Yes, the Mexican wrap had the same great flavors, but it was a lot smaller than the one that I got when I was in the Barrio Norte Natural Deli.  And the side salad was pretty skimpy,  with a skimpy dash of oil on top.  I thought that they had run out of lettuce until the couple next to me received their beautiful fresh salads piled high on their plates about 40 minutes later.

So I left thinking, probably the Barrio Norte Natural Deli was much much better.  I had the opportunity to introduce an Argentine friend of mine to my favorite Natural Deli.  She had only been to the local in Las Canitas and had a good experience there so I was excited to be able to show her the locale which I thought was much more light and impressive.  Everything was good - the service, the salads, the fresh bread - everything except the fact that the menu had changed.  I was truly dissappointed to see that some of the interesting shakes had dissappeared along with my favorite Mexican wrap.

We instead tried a wrap with some beef, eggs and mustard that had an exquisite flavor and a salad - one of those piled so high with lettuce, you can’t see the plate - I loved it.  I hope the menu change is something that happens seasonally - as I wasn’t as inspired by the new menu as the old one.

But if that Mexican wrap doesn’t come back, I will have to try my hand at making wraps at home.

bring it back.

I’m catching up on things that I’ve baked recently as well - a few weeks ago, when I went to Pura Vida to meet up with Marty and Andrea and was inspired by my berry berry shake.  When I got home that afternoon, I had a deadline to meet and Javier’s mom called me up to say that her friend, “The Spaniard” was in town and that he would be joining us for dinner that evening.  She asked me if I could make a dessert.

Of course I could!

So being that it was rather warm outside, I decided to make my favorite little tart.  I happened to miraculously find blackberries and blueberries at the Disco in my neighborhood, so just bought some strawberries to go along with it as well. I picked up my Dorie Greenspan book and peruuused until I found the perfect treat.

So here’s the recipe:

1.5 cups Pastry Cream, cooled
1 - 9″ tart shell fully baked and cooled
2 pints fresh berries
1/3 c raspberry jelly mixed with a tsp of water for glazing

Please email me privately if you need to know how to make the cream or tart shell.

Smooth the pastry cream by giving it a couple of strong turns with a whisk.  Spoon enough of the pastry cream into the tart crust to come almost to the rum, then even the surface with a rubber spatula. Carefully lay the berries on the cream, arranging them in any pattern that pleases you.  If you are using strawberries, either halve them from top to bottom or slice them, depending on the size of the berries and your whim.

Bring the jelly and water to a boil in a microwave oven or on the stovetop.  Working with a pastry brush or pastry feather, dab eat berry with a spot of jelly. Or if you’d like, you can glaze the entire surface of the tart, including the bit of pastry cream that peeks through the berries.

Et voila! yummy in your tummy!

For those people who associate the trendy city of Buenos Aires with slender, good looking people - it must seem pretty confusing to see the locals overindulging on steaks, fried foods and lots of carbonated drinks.

Here in what is arguably South America’s most cosmopolitan city - where the body-obsessed come for plastic surgery and body treakments; where a size 1 is “average” - it’s surprising that there aren’t more places dedicated to eating and drinking for health.

Just two years ago, then life insurance salesman Marty Hanna came to visit Buenos Aires from Miami.  He and his friend Juan Dulanto noticed the same thing - a lack of healthy alternatives to the charming cafes that line the sidewalks of this city.  Needless to say, their lives turned a new direction when they decided to open Pura Vida Juice Bar that year.  It was the beginning of an uphill climb to get the portenos to ditch their cafe con leches for tropical smoothies and a shot of wheatgrass -but it’s a move that has resonated well with the locals and tourists alike.

I went to their original locale in the Recoleta (just a few blocks from the famous cemetery) last Thursday with my friend Bruno, a native of Rio de Janeiro who is undoubtedly used to the juice stands lining the beaches in his native Brasil.

As we walked in, we were shocked at the amount of customers in this small room - which was literally the juice bar and a few stools around it - but the line moved rapidly and everyone seemed to be in a good mood.  I approached the counter to see everyone behind the bar working furiously, yet the strangest thing occurred to me - everyone was smiling, laughing and getting their jobs done super fast!

We had a chance to sit down with Marty Hanna and Andrea Wiholm and talk a little bit about living in Argentina as foreigners, but somehow, every few minutes the conversation got directed back to the food that we were eating - mostly by me, and mostly because my body was in shock and so happy to be consuming delicious organic food.

Everything they serve at Pura Vida is organic and healthy - there are no sodas or sugary drinks and no alcohol nor coffee. This made the choice so hard because I literally wanted everything on the menu - luckily, Andrea suggested a Mediteranean Salad that included fresh greens, salmon and hummus and a “Berry Berry Good” Smoothie of mixed berries.  The combos and flavors were exciting and the dressing (made with soy) was absolutely DIVINE.  Bruno had a wrap with all sorts of greens and bulgur wheat topped off by a  “Maracuya Madness” smoothie - filled with passion fruit and banana flavors - what a combo! As Marty sat by watching us scarf down our food, he savored the moment that he could take his daily wheatgrass shot.

I have never tried wheatgrass, but I didn’t realize just how good it is for us until now. Aside from bringing the body’s PH levels down and flushing out bad cells and acting as a blood transfusion (yes! you read that right!) it holds all the nutrients that we can live by.  I’m not going to spoil any of Marty’s ideas, but he’s got some plans in the works that go above and beyond his company’s philosophy of education and will be working to help poor communities here in Argentina where children die of starvation and suffer malnutrition.

After our fabulous time, Bruno and I hiked off with renewed energy to the Recoleta cemetery and Design Buenos Aires.  I must say, I really liked being able to properly power up before going to do some touristy stuff, so the location is fab - but I fear that not enough tourists know about its proximity to that touristy area - especially if they’re coming from the group of hotels on the other side of the cemetery and park.

There are two locations for Pura Vida - the original (and smaller of the two) in the Recoleta and the other in the downtown area of the city.  Rumor has it that the Recoleta stand will be moving to Palermo (pre-emtpive hip hip hurrah!) so that us shop-a-holics can also get our daily fixes of healthy so that we can continue to look beautiful in whatever we choose to buy.

For some unadulterated YUMMY-ness, Pura Vida is located:

Recoleta
Uriburu 1489 (between French and Pena, just three blocks from the Recoleta Cemetery)
Tel. 4806-0017
Open Monday to Saturday: 10:30am - 9:00pm

Microcentro
Reconquista 516 (between Lavalle and Tucuman)
Tel. 4393-0093
Open Monday to Friday: 9:00am - 6:00pm

Delivery Hours: 11:00am - 5:00pm

Also check out their website for updates, menus, delivery maps and more information. http://www.puravidabuenosaires.com

Last night, Martin and I headed out to the second meeting of “Start-ups Buenos Aires” event organized by Jonathan Harada and Eric Northam.  It was held at the bar Carnal - which is close to home and gave me some extra added incentive to get the word out about this great project that I’m working on creating a classified real estate website. All in all, it was a nice time - meeting new and interesting people who came together to share their entrepeneurial experiences, network and understand more about growing businesses in Buenos Aires.

There were a lot of expats, and Martin and I basically found ourselves at a cozy table with a norwegian and two women originally from Iran who currently reside in Norway and are here trying to promote their new NGO.

One of these women, Rebecca, got a little hungry and ordered some food. Now she’s been travelling back and forth to Argentina for more than a year now, so everyone at the table pretty much assumed that she knew what she was doing when she ordered the Cesar Salad, but apparently, we were wrong.  See in Buenos Aires, it’s really hard to find a good Cesar Salad.  Probably the best one that I’ve ever tasted here was at the American-themed restaurant, Kansas on Libertador.

This one from Bar Carnal was pretty sad, though, and even though she complained, there was really no getting around the fact that it was lettuce, cheese, processed chicken and bread with a dollop of mayonaise and salt. All that for 30 pesos. Total rip off.  Pretty disgusting - as evidenced by the horrified look on Rebeccas face.

Oh yeah - it’s that time of the week again!  It’s Tuesday and I’m baking with Dorie!  Here in Argentina, there’s a tradition of eating fruitcakes - called “Pan Dulce” and some can be downright offensively too sweet. I really liked this recipe from Dorie Greenspan.  It was chosen by Yolanda of All-Purpose Girl - and she has graciously posted the recipe on her site as well.

I think a lot of participants from TWD had some problems making this cake.  There were problems rising - but it seemed like the most patient of these people really managed to produce a lovely cakebread.  I think that even though this is more of a winter dish, it lended itself to being baked here in this tropical climate - the dough had no problem rising, but then again, I didn’t have to search for a place to put the dough to rise - my whole house is warm, warm, warm.

Biting into it was like biting into a beautifully large croissant - that was also made of brioche. Yummmyyyy!

Sorry that this is such a short post, but it’s hot here - the kitchen is hot, and I just finished baking merlusa and potatoes. It was great, but now I’m all sweaty and want to hit the shower.. uuufff!

almost all gone…

Summer is in full swing which is starting to make it a bit of a pain when I think about cooking.  You see, it’s about 90 degrees Farenheit outside (30 degrees Celcius) and I have no air conditioning.  To think about turning on the oven is like considering taking a skinny dip in molten lava - in other words, not so tempting!

But as it is, I love to cook.  It gives me a balance that I had when living in Chicago - that same balance and happiness that I got while in my darkroom printing photos.  It’s a zen experience.  So I suck it up.

Friday we ended up going to our friend Ali’s birthday - and I wanted to try to do something that I had never done before - a flourless birthday cake.

So for this particular indulgence, I scoured the web and found just the right recipe that stood raised it’s hand screaming, “Bake me! Bake me!”.  This particular recipe is from Tish Boyle’s The Cake Book.  The recipe is supposed to be for one 9″ round pan, however I used an 8″ springform pan and was really pleased because when the cake is warm, it’s extra extra jiggly.

The title of the cake is called “Chocolate Intensity” and really is an understatement because the cake itself is this dark, rich, fudge-like, solid pudding that uses almost an entire pound of chocolate between the cake and the smooth glaze.  Javier thought of putting the shredded coconut on top of everything, just as a decorative addition, but it really made a lovely contrast in flavor as well.

The recipe is as follows:

Chocolate Intensity
from Tish Boyle’s The Cake Book
(makes one 9-inch cake or a slightly thicker 8-inch cake)

8 ounces (1 cup) bittersweet chocolate (preferably 62% cocoa), finely chopped
12 ounces (3 sticks, 339 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brewed coffee
6 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake or spring form pan. Line the bottom with a parchment round and butter the parchment. (If you’re using a pan with a removable bottom like a springform, make sure to wrap the pan with 2 or 3 layers of foil.)

Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir butter, sugar and coffee until the butter is melted and mixture is boiling. Pour the hot mixture over your chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously until blended. Whisk in the vanilla and salt. Slowly add about 3/4 cup hot chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. (Tempering the eggs with a little bit of the hot chocolate mixture will prevent “scrambled eggs” when combining the two mixtures.) Add the egg mixture to the hot chocolate mixture and whisk to combine well.

Strain the batter through a sieve (to catch any cooked egg bits) and then pour batter into prepared pan. Set cake pan in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the center is shiny and set but still a bit jiggly. Transfer cake pan to a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes.

Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a cardboard round on top of the pan and invert the cake onto it. Remove pan and carefully remove the parchment paper. Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours before glazing with chocolate glaze or before serving unglazed with crème anglaise.

Chocolate Glaze

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Gently stir in the vanilla. Transfer glaze to a small bowl and cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap and let cool for 5 minutes at room temperature before using.

To glaze the cake:

Place the chilled cake, still on the cake round, on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly pour the hot glaze onto the center of the cake. Smooth the glaze over the top and sides, letting the excess drip onto the baking sheet.

Scrape the extra glaze from the baking sheet and put it in a small ziploc bag. Seal the bag and cut a tiny hole in one of the bottom corners. Gently squeeze the bag over the top of the cake to drizzle the glaze in a decorative pattern. Refrigerate the cake at least one hour before serving.

Crème Anglaise
(makes about 2 1/4 cups)

2 cups whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split
6 tbsp granulated sugar
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks

Pour milk into a heavy saucepan. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into milk and add the pod, sugar and salt. Heat the milk mixture until warm but not simmering.

Prepare an ice bath (a bowl nested in a larger bowl filled with ice water).

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks lightly. Slowly add about 3/4 cup of the warm milk to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Strain custard into the bowl set in the ice water. Stir the crème anglaise to cool it down. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.