The Secret Starbucks

Another Starbucks quietly opened recently in Rosario - so quietly, in fact, that the address isn't even listed on their website yet and I've seen no advertising for it. It's a big, sunny store on Tucuman (and almost Mitre). Let's meet for coffee soon!

According to this article, they're also opening one on Cordoba and Oroño soon. None of the stores are selling iced coffee (as in cold drip coffee) but said they might if enough people ask for it. Go! Ask! I can't afford to keep getting those damn frappuccinos!

Better World Books

This post is a shout out to my favorite online bookstore - Better World Books. You may have already heard about my love for this great organization, but it's worth saying it one more time because not only is it a literacy charity, it's an amazing resource for expats. Because it's hard to buy affordable English books down here, and if you order them from Amazon you'll end up paying bundles on customs charges and shipping. But BWB offers free worldwide shipping, and customs isn't a problem since it's a charity. I ordered 4 books and it took a while - over 6 six weeks - but I have them here now :)

They (the books) even sent me a lovely little message to confirm my order:

Holy canasta! It's me... it's me! I can't believe it is actually me! You could have picked any of over 2 million books but you picked me! I've got to get packed! How is the weather where you live? Will I need a dust jacket? I can't believe I'm leaving Mishawaka, Indiana already - the friendly people, the Hummer plant, the Linebacker Lounge - so many memories. I don't have much time to say goodbye to everyone, but it's time to see the world! I can't wait to meet you! You sound like such a well read person.

I know the trip to meet you will be long and fraught with peril, but after the close calls I've had, I'm ready for anything (besides, some of my best friends are suspense novels). Just five months ago, I thought I was a goner. My owner was moving and couldn't take me with her. I was sure I was landfill bait until I ended up in a Better World Books book drive bin. Thanks to your socially conscious book shopping, I've found a new home. Even better, your book buying dollars are helping kids read from Brazil to Botswana. Eagerly awaiting our meeting...

Since they finally arrived, I thought I would post this message to let all the expats out there know about such a terrific find. And ps - I'm not being paid or anything to say this, I just really appreciate the reading material. 

Photo from Better World Books

Happy Birthday Bucket!

My little boy turned one. That means that he's roughly the equivalent of a 15 year old human (according to Cesar), I think. With him around, time goes by so fast and for a while I could measure it by his growth -- by marking it on the wall. But he's all grown-up and now I measure it by how many pairs of Havianas he's eaten (always the right one). So, for his birthday I gave him something else to eat. A birthday cake!

He wasn't too sure about it at first, 

but then he realized he could eat it, too. 

Bucket's 1st Peanut Butter Carrot Cake

from Brown Eyed Baker

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 egg

Whisk together flour and baking soda. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour batter into greased pan and bake at 350F/180C for 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. I used a small loaf pan along with 4 cupcakes which took about 25 minutes. 

Let cool and ice with your choice of doggie frosting. For this one, I combined peanut butter with a little light cream cheese and honey, though it wasn't easily spreadable - peanut butter would work great!

And now, a look back to when he was just a teensy playful puppy...

Green Bean Casserole Do-Over

A few Thanksgivings ago I made a simple (basically prefabricated) green bean casserole. This year, I took a little extra time to make one from scratch using fresh ingredients, and it paid off. I followed this Alton Brown recipe, replacing the chicken broth with veggie broth. To save a little time on the big day, I went ahead and cooked the beans a day ahead - then put them in the refrigerator in the dish I planned to use. 

Green Bean Casserole
Adapted from food network
Beans

• 1 lb / 500 grams fresh green beans, trimmed and rinsed
• 1 gallon water
• 2 Tablespoons kosher salt

Bring water and salt to a boil. If you're using table salt, you'll want to use less than this! (oops.) Cook beans to your preference (Alton blanches for 5 minutes, I boil for 8-10), drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. 

Onion Topping

• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 Tablespoons bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or about 1/2 t. table salt)
• Nonstick spray

Preheat oven to 475F / 245C. Combine onions, flour, breadcrumbs and salt (may want to use seasoning salt) and toss to combine. Coat a sheet pan with nonstick spray and evenly spread onions on pan. I sprayed a light layer of oil on top of the onions also. Bake until golden brown, tossing every 10 minutes, for about 30 minutes. 

Mushroom Sauce

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 12 ounces / 350 grams mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or less table salt!)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 cup half and half (or combination of half milk, half cream)

Saute mushrooms in butter with salt and pepper until they begin to lose some liquid, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and nutmeg and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and simmer for 1 minute. Add half and half and cook until mixture thickens - 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 of the onions and all of the beans. Pour into casserole dish (I used a deep round one - I thought 9x13 would be too big), top with remaining onions and bake at 400F / 200C until bubbly, about 15 minutes. 

Many commenters had issues with the onions burning, but I didn't have any problems. Just keep an eye on them in that hot oven and flip them whenever they're looking browned on bottom. I think this version is better than the one I grew up with and I'll never have to open a can of congealed cream of mushroom soup again...woohoo!

Last year I made a cherry chutney that a lot of people liked, but I hated it after pitting all those cherries and cooking them in vinegar for an hour. Ugh, the smell of warm vinegar! For those of you who enjoyed it, here's the recipe.

A Very Modern Art Halloween

Can you guess what we were last year for Halloween? Does this help?

From MoMA

 The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí! I'm even signed!

Because I'm a sucker for details I added a pocket watch with ants, an ant ring, one false eyelash and another melting clock hanging over a stick in my hair. Guille, as Dalí, made himself an evil eye cane and funky mustache and then practiced his crazy face.

This year, we reversed roles...

from akgmag

I was Andy Warhol, Bucket was Edie Sedgwick...

...and Guille got to be pop art. Here's The Factory family:

From Art.com

Can you see the resemblance?

They don't exactly look thrilled but I had a blast!

Happy Halloween!

My Occupy Wall Street Rant

from here  

My anti-corporation rant focuses on the blatant use of toxic chemicals in health and beauty products. I'm also highly concerned about the same for food, but there's already a documentary about that. In fact, I'm surprised that there wasn't a revolution and mass protests when Food, Inc. came out. I mean, didn't that just make you so mad?

Anyway, I'm super upset about corporations getting away with killing us slowly. I feel that science and the government has failed us here. Just because a chemical is perceived (and given legality) to be safe in low doses and hasn't YET been proven to cause cancer, doesn't mean that it's ok to put them in products that I put on my body every day. Products that are absorbed by my skin - the largest body organ. Once you think about it, it really just comes down to common sense.

I don't know if this fits in with the Occupy Wall Street revolution. Honestly, the movement is disjointed and difficult to understand. I assume that it's largely fueled by anger over financial institutions and government complacency, but it also seems to be an outlet for expressing disapproval of corporate irresponsibility. So, I thought I would do that and invite you to join me.

From Crain's New York

Here's what I'm mad about. I recently came across GoodGuide, a consumer informational website that lets me determine how safe a product is for health, and how good or bad a company is in terms of environmental and community impact. You search for a product and view it's rating for each of these 3 elements on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best, 1 being the worst). Sadly, I found out that my favorite hair gel (Biolage) received a 4 health rating for its use of propylene glycol - suspected of causing immunotoxicity, respiratory toxicity, and skin or sense organ toxicity. Aw boo. Worse yet, my favorite hair cream (John Frieda Frizz-Ease Secret Weapon) received a 3 health rating for propylene glycol, triethanolamine, phenoxyethanol, and propyl paraben (the latter two being of low concern).  And you don't even want to know the rating for Kiehl's Creme de Corps (ok, I'll tell you - it's a 1!). Holy crap, corporations, why are you doing this to me? With all of the advances in science (particularly biology) and technology, and increasing consumer support for green products, how can you still be using questionable chemicals? So, I asked some of them. Frizz-Ease was nice enough to respond and here's their main point:

In summary, our marketed products meet the safety expectations outlined by the European Union, US Food and Drug Administration, and Health Canada legislation as well as other country regulations.


Hmm, wait a minute. The same government that is currently being protested for lack of corporate oversight? Uh-oh. Your response doesn't make me feel any better and, frankly, I'm afraid of using your product and I'm also concerned about how to properly dispose of it! In a world with a finite water supply, I'm surely not satisfied to wash my hands of this situation, lest I later drink in this toxic waste.

I'm not trying to single these companies out - it's just that I researched them because I've been using their products the longest. And the original Frizz-Ease serum actually has a 10 health rating - so good for them for that. Too bad I didn't know to stock up on that product instead of the nasty one I brought with me. And too bad that crappy products are on the market. It seems that it's up to the consumer to research every product we buy and make safe choices.

Yes, I know that I should have realized this years ago. But I grew up in a consumer society that was content to ignore confusing, lengthy ingredients and just assume that all products for sale in the US are safe. I know that for the baby boomer generation, these products offered a convenience and experience that had never been offered before. But today's corporations must now deal with a consumer group that grew up watching FernGully and Captain Planet. So watch your backs, health and beauty corporations trying to overload me with toxins to placate my ego. Sure, I want to be beautiful and you've made enough money playing off of that vulnerability. But now I want to live. And I've got my eye on you.

from The Captain Planet Foundation

Sweet Noodle Kugel with Membrillo Jam

Whenever I describe my husband's Jewishness (or lack thereof) I say that he's Jewish, but the wrong half. This is incorrect, of course, because you're either in or you're out - based on your mother. My mother-in-law is not Jewish (well, actually, she is in the same 'wrong-half' way, as her father was Jewish) but my father-in-law is. This means that there is a long history of Jewish culture in the family, but no Jewish mothers with sacred recipes. Too bad, but at least Smitten Kitchen features an array of Jewish food. Celebrating the New Year with my great-uncle-in-law inspired me to figure something out so I cooked up a proper feast for Rosh Hashanah, I think.

There was challah, zucchini latkes, two kugels and an apple cake (and a chicken - not of my doing). Having no real experiences to go off of, I'd say it featured some traditional dishes but I have no idea how they compare amongst many other versions. It was mostly Smitten Kitchen recipes, since I trust her and I don't think she's trying to trick me. ahem.

So here's the most interesting part of it all - sweet noodle kugel (which my autocorrect seems to want to change to bugle). Really, I think this is a brunch food. It's super sweet and soufflé-like but it has freaking noodles in it. Still, it's almost like eating cake. I can't explain it, as it confuses me, but I keep eating it just to see if I can figure it out. I can't, but that's alright.

I replaced the cottage cheese with ricotta (based on availability) and I subbed-in some casan crem (sour cream). My recipe is also for half a batch - which was plenty because everyone else at dinner was just as confused as I was and ate small pieces of this sweet casserole. I added membrillo because our uncle remembered long ago eating a kugel his mother would make with layers of membrillo. I had no idea how to do that, so I swirled in some jam.

Sweet Noodle Kugel with Membrillo Jam
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 225 grams (1/2 pound) wide egg noodles
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar (I would probably reduce this by a Tablespoon or 2)
• 300 grams ricotta cheese
• 150 grams sour cream
• 85 grams (or 1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• dash of salt
• 1/4 cup membrillo jam

Cook the noodles al dente, drain. In a large bowl, beat eggs until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, then the ricotta cheese, sour cream, butter, vanilla and salt. Stir in the drained noodles. Drop blobs of jam into the mixture and swirl with a knife. Pour into a greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350F/180C until kugel is set - mine took about 50 minutes but my oven runs hot.