Presépio goes Argie in a sip!

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A few days ago my friend Sandra (author of the blog, "Presépio com Vista para o Canal") came to Zwolle for a visit. The plan was to have a lazy lunch and walk around town a little. Since we were having a spell of nice weather with lots of sun and clear sky, I thought it would be a good idea to sit somewhere nice near the water in the city centre and have a bit of a picnic.

Sandra is always very receptive and enthusiastic about discovering traditions and habits from other parts of the world, so I came up with a little surprise for her. Before leaving the house, I boiled some water and poured it into a thermos flask I brought from Argentina. What surprise did I have in mind? Well, pouring Sandra some mates, of course!

Pouring "mates" for friends.

Mate (pronounced MAH-teh, stressing the first syllable, not the last as I see it written everywhere)  is Argentina's national drink, but it is not just any drink, something you pour when you are thirsty and then forget about. Mate is for an Argentine his or her best friend when he or she is at home alone studying, working or relaxing. Preparing the mate, pouring it, holding the gourd in your hand, sipping it slowly - the whole ritual is comforting and it gives an immediate sense of well being that, originating in your brain, spreads then through your body.

My collection of mate gourds from Argentina.

But mate is the drink you serve when you are entertaining at home, always the first thing you offer and is accepted by your guests. Also, if you are off to spend the day at the beach or by the pool, the mate gear is the first thing that you want to pack and God may help you if, upon arriving at your destination, you discover you have forgotten to take it with you! You will be despised and blamed by your companions relentlessly - for about five whole minutes!

Because mate is such an important part of our everyday lives back in Argentina, I thought that Sandra would be interested in tasting it and hearing all about it. In order to  prepare and pour this infusion you need a bit of equipment: the thermos flask for the hot water, the yerba mate or dry leaves to be brewed, some sugar, the gourd to pour it in (also called mate) and the metal filter straw. You can also add other herbs to the mate or even orange or lemon peel to give it a citrus flavour.

The raw gourds waiting to be carved and polished to be used to pour mates.

The metal straws wih filters, used to sip the mates from the gourd.

Once I had collected and prepared all these elements, I had to put them somewhere to transport them safely. And that is when my mysterious magic leather case came  in handy. In Argentina you can find special cases made for the sole purpose of carrying the mate implements, and last year during my holiday in Argentina, I bought a very nice one made from carpincho or capibara skin.

My carpincho leather case to transport the mate equipment. Photo by Sandra.

When Sandra saw my fancy case, she immediately got curious but I was determined not to give away what was in it until the moment was right. After lunch in "La Meridiana", an Italian restaurant on the Melkmarkt, opposite the Grote Kerk (Big Church), we took a walk around and I took her to see the Zwolse Balletjeshuis, where they sell these special, old fashioned sweets typical of Zwolle. Unfortunately it was closed, but we managed to find some balletjes at the Tourist Information Office or VVV right next to the Grote Kerk.

Finally, the moment to open the mysterious leather case arrived. We sat by the canal, I opened the case, took the thermos out -nothing odd there, maybe it was coffee? tea? spirits?- and then out came the tumbler containing the dried leaves of yerba mate and I started preparing the drink. First I took the gourd, filled 3/4 of it with the yerba, then shook it a bit to make the loose powder to go to the surface and avoid them from going through the sieve and drinking them. Then I placed the metal filter straw to one side and I also added a pinch of peppermint leaves to give it more taste. Instead of sugar I normally use sweetener so I added some of that and then poured the hot water. The first mate is always for the cebador (the person pouring it) to make sure it is prepared correctly, so I had the first one and I made sure it was ok. Then, I poured again and passed it to Sandra. What did Sandra think of it?

Well, I am sure that it tasted quite strange to her, probably! Drinking mate is an acquired taste and the first few sips or the first few rounds of mate will definitely taste a bit too strong and probably bitter, We, Argentines, drink it normally from an early age and some of us don't even get to really like it, but because it is usually done socially, we always join in the mate circles while spending time with friends or family.

Rosario, a friend's daughter, is not yet 3 years old and she already drinks mates as an expert!

I can go on and on talking about mate drinking since the ritual has its own etiquette and the manner of preparing and pouring it varies from region to region. It also has a number of health benefits, since it is an excellent anti-oxidant, protects the inmune system and is an energy booster.

I am not sure what Sandra thought of those first sips of mate, but I do know that she was rather impressed with the ritual and the health benefits that yerba mate offers. So, guess what I am giving her for her birthday?

Packets of different types of yerba mate.

Thank you, Sandra, for posting this article about mate and your visit in your blog and for letting me use your photo of the "magic case"!

Elena's Carbonada criolla (pumpkin beef stew)

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In my last blog entry I presented a ritual that my Argentinean friends Elena, Mónica and I started a while ago: all three families spending a day together, cooking and eating Argentinean food. Today, Elena is sharing with us her recipe for one of the dishes that she prepared for our first Argies in Dutchland party: the carbonada criolla, or pumpkin beef stew.

Elena pouring mates (the Argentinean national drink) for her guests.

 While I was doing some research about this traditional Argentinean dish, I was surprised to know that its origin is in fact, Belgian. I had always thought that carbonada criolla was one of the dishes that could be traced back to the colonial times of our history, a dish Spanish in origin that had been adopted by the criollos (the people of Spanish descent who were born in the colony) and changed to include some of the local ingredients available.

Instead, it seems that the carbonada criolla hails originally from Belgium where it is known as carbonade or more specifically, carbonade flamande which is, "a sweet-sour beef and onion stew made with beer and seasoned with thyme and bay." (source, Wikipedia) Interesting how this dish started its journey not too far from where we, the argies in the team, are living right now!

 Besides this unexpected discovery, I found that the name carbonada refers to the cooking method: the stew was or is cooked traditionally on a pot over the flame very slowly until all the logs in the open stove are reduced to ashes, which in Spanish is carbonizados. Then the criolla part of the name, refers to the indigenous ingredients that were added by the locals -the criollos- like the corn on the cob, the pumpkin and the fruit. The pumpkin shell is sometimes used to serve the dish.

Carbonada criolla served in the pumpkin shell. Photo courtesy of Recetario Cocina

Here is the recipe of this hearty traditional Argentinean dish. If you are now located in the northern hemisphere you might want to wait until the autumn or winter to try it since it is a rather hearty dish; but trust me, you will love it! 

Carbonada Criolla for the Argies in Dutchland, by Elena:

Heat some oil in a pan and brown two cloves of garlic and a finely chopped onion for a few minutes until soft. Add a pound (1/2 kg.) of steweing beef cut in small cubes and seal it in the garlic and onion before adding two peeled tomatoes chopped, 100g. of butter and a bunch of fresh herbs, one potato, a chunk of pumpkin, and another of sweet potato, all cubed; then some pieces of corn still on the cob, three ladelfulls of stock. Season with salt and pepper.
Put the lid on the pan and let it boil  until everything is tender. Add then 250g of rice, one peeled apple cubed, three peeled peaches also cubed (it can also be whole small peaches, always peeled). Cook on a low flame until the rice is cooked, which should be about 20 minutes.
Add more stock if necessary, but bear in mind that the carbonada should have the consistency of a broth.
This dish tastes better when its made on the same day, since it will get too mushy if you prepare it the day before.

Elena's delicious carbonada, served on the beautiful dishes she brought over from Argentina.

The recipe was taken from El Libro de Doña Petrona, a book containing the recipes of the "guru" of Argentinean cooking: Petrona C. de Gandulfo.

Argies in Dutchland: doing what we know best

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And what is that Argies do best, you may ask? Play football, dance the tango, run a country efficiently? (Allow me a little sarcasm here!) Well no, I was rather talking about having a good time with friends around food - good food and a lot of it, to be more exact.

I am sure that in many cultures and many countries people enjoy getting together, having a good time and eating good food. Inviting people over and treating guests to a home-cooked meal is not a habit exclusively practiced by us, Argies. While abroad, I have been to the homes of many people od different nationalities where I have been made to feel at home, served excellent food and been treated like royalty.

However, if you are an expat, I am sure you will agree with me that one sometimes yearns for the company of people who are just like you, who enjoy the same things, share your background, speak the same language in the same way and, most of all, miss the same things from back home, especially food. This is why with my Argentinean expat friends Mónica and Elena, we get together a couple of times a year to enjoy a true Argie feast which normally involves a lot of cooking, a lot of eating and a lot of talking and relaxing, too.

The Argie "team": Elena, Mónica and myself.

From the moment we mention a possible date for the meet-up, we start making suggestions of dishes from back home which we would like to see on the menu of the day. Because Argentina is mainly a country of immigrants, our favourite dishes normally include not only traditional dishes which originated in colonial times or with a more native Latin American flavour, like the locro Mónica made the last time or the carbonada criolla that Elena made for our first Argies in Holland party; but also dishes that were brought over from Europe by our grandparents or parents, dishes that we regularly cook at home on weekends for the family or friends -like Monica's delicious canelones or the ravioles I made when I hosted the meeting in my house last year.

Since many of the regulars here on this blog are interested in food, I thought it was a good idea to share some of the recipes of the Argentinean classics that we have cooked so far for our parties. Mónica and Elena have both kindly agreed to provide the recipes and if you have any questions about the dishes or Argentinean food in general, we will be very happy to answer them.

A word of warning though: our dishes normally include meat, so those of you who are vegetarians can skip the main dishes or try to adapt them to your taste (like the locro) or wait for the recipes of our desserts and pastry.

For our first "Argies in Dutchland" party the menu included:

Elena's Carbonada Criolla

(beef stew with pumpkin, veggies and fruit)

Mónica's Cazuela de Pollo

(chicken casserole)

Aledys' Budín de Pan al Caramelo

(bread pudding with caramel sauce)

Elena's Alfajores de Maicena

( dulce de leche sandwich shortbread biscuits)

Mónica's torta rápida de chocolate

(fast chocolate cake)

In the next blog post Elena will share with us her recipes for the carbonada criolla - a hearty country dish with an interesting background -  and the alfajores de maicena, the delicious sandwich biscuits filled with the ever-present dulce de leche... Now go and work up some appetite for the next blog entry!

The Netherlands and its canals: Appingedam

"Honey, I hung the kitchen!"

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If you have never been to The Netherlands, it is very well possible that you think that you can only find canals in Amsterdam. It is true that Amsterdam is known around the world as "The Venice of the North" and that the grachtengordel (the Dutch word for "canal ring") has recenly been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list. But canals are not exclusively found in Amsterdam - there are also beautiful canals in other big cities in the country, such as Delft or Utrecht or small towns like Valkenburg or IJlst, and in some cases these canals have unique characteristics. Take a look at this photo I took in the province of Groningen:

These are the (not so) famous hanging kitchens (hangende keukens, in Dutch) of Appingedam, a city in the northern province of Groningen.

Some of the 16th century houses along the Solwerderstraat in the city of Appingedam have kitchens overlooking the canal, the Damsterdiep. They were originally warehouses that were later converted into private residences in the 17th century. Due to the lack of space, they built the kitchens "hanging" over the Damsterdiep canal - a practical solution which also allowed the housewives back then, to collect the water for cooking directly from the canal and after the washing up, to throw the water out the kitchen window back into the canal.
Many of these houses were restored in the 1980s and they are still used as private residences. From the Vrouwenbrug (Women's bridge) you can get a nice view of the hanging kitchens:

Vrouwenbrug over the Damsterdiep in Appingedam.

A nice little terrace over the canal and one of the hanging kitchens.

But the hanging kitchens are not the only places of interest in Appingedam. The town also has a marina that attracts yacht owners and where you can rent pedal boats or canoes to sail around. Through the Damsterdiep you can actually sail for 40 km pass very picturesque dorpjes or villages in Groningen.


Just walking around Appingedam you can spot charming scenes like these:

Parking your boat in front of your house - how cool is that?

I wonder if the police hand out parking tickets along the canal, too?

Neighbours having a chat - how often do you see scenes like this in your neighbourhood?

In the summer, no need to put up your plastic paddle pool in your garden; in the winter, you have a natural ice-skating ring for free!

Modern houses by the marina in Appingedam.

Nice old houses on the Solwerderstraat.

Someone was watching me!

Appingedam is a charming town to visit for a day especially during the spring/summer months, when you can enjoy the activities around the marina and, for example, rent a boat or explore the area by bike. It is also good to combine with a visit to the city of Groningen which is about 30 km southwest of Appingedam.

Córdoba - the heart of the city

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A view of Plaza San Martín, the cathedral and the cabildo in Córdoba. Photo by Roberto Bowyer.

For quite some time now I've been wanting to show you around my hometown in Argentina: Córdoba. It has taken me this long because I couldn't really make up my mind as to where to start - there is so much to see, so many stories to tell about it! I finally decided that I would start by showing you the very heart of the city - the kilómetro 0 or starting point from where the Spanish colonists started to build the city after its foundation in 1573.

The kilómetro 0 is the very heart of a city that perfectly combines modernity with history and tradition. While walking around the historic city centre, you will discover - among noisy avenues and crowded pedestrian streets - the founders' chessboard design of perfect squares with the Plaza Mayor (today Plaza San Martín), the cathedral and the Cabildo or City Hall in the middle.

First city plan of Córdoba as designed by the Spanish founders in 1577.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Today's Plaza San Martín (dating from 1577) was first conceived as a dry square where military parades and official ceremonies (religious and secular) were held. Much later, in the XIX century, the landscaping of the plaza took place and in the centre, a statue of General José de San Martín -one of the main figures of the South American independence movement- was erected.

Another angle of Plaza San Martín.

Official ceremonies and popular festivals are still held at the plaza to this day. Every 24 May in the evening, for example, the Town Hall organises a festival with popular or folk music as a prelude to the new day, the veinticinco de mayo or 25th May when we commemorate the establishment of the first local governement back in 1810. At the strike of midnight fireworks are set off and the people gathered in the plaza welcome el veinticinco at the cry of Viva la Patria! (long live the Fatherland!)

The sculpture of General San Martin was built and donated by sculptors Fontana and Locatti in 1946. The fountain is made of Carrara marble by José Allio.

La catedral (the cathedral) was erected on the west side of the plaza.This imposing building merges different architectural styles - neoclassical vault and portico, romanesque dome, baroque towers, even some mudéjar details - since though works started back in 1580, the church was not finished until 1784.

A night view of the Cathedral as seen from the Plaza San Martín.

In my opinion, one of the most interesting details in the façade of the cathedral are the musical angels sculpted in the towers. These were built by the local indians (or should I better say, indigenous people) and on closer inspection one can see that the angel sculptures bear the faces of the people that actually built them.
A cast iron sculputre of Christ the Redeemer was erected on top of the portico at the beginning of the 20th century.

A frontal view of the cathedral. Notice the indian angels on the towers by clicking on the photo to enlarge.

Sculpture of Christ the Redeemer - Photo by Claudia Gibson.

If from the outside la catedral (the cathedral) looks imposing, its interior is lavish and dazzling. The vault of the cathedral's nave is decorated with frescos and murals painted at the beginning of the 20th century by Argentinean artists Emilio Caraffa, Carlos Camilloni and Manuel Cardeñosa. Also noteworthy is the main altar, of embossed sterling silver built in Alto Perú.
The cathedral also has a very vast and rich collection of votive offerings donated by religious parishoners or wealthy citizens along the centuries. These offerings include many gifts of gold and silver, jewels, crowns of pearls and other precious stones to "dress" the image of the Virgin Mary as well as silk and brocade garments.

The beautiful and lavish interior of the cathedral - Photo by Roberto Bowyer

Another angle of the interior of the cathedral - Photo by Gustavo Alterio

The Cabildo, that is the historical Town Hall, is also located opposite the main square or plaza. Originally, the cabildo was a rather humble construction made of adobe (sand, clay and water) and with a thatched roof, but in 1783 the then governor of Córdoba, the Marquis of Sobremonte, set to finish the job.
The Cabildo's mains features are the archway of fifteen columns  and the covered arcade on the second floor along the façade - a combination of colonial and classic architecture.

The Cabildo in Córdoba, viewed from the Plaza San Martín. Photo by Roberto Bowyer

The archway of the Cabildo - Photo by Claudia Gibson

Inside the Cabildo - Photo by Gustavo Alterio.

Inside the building, you can visit the patios, the undergroud cells and a number of rooms that exhibit archeological finds and relics from various historical periods as well as temporal arts exhibitions. You can also visit el Salón Rojo (the Red Room)where the city's mayor receives important visitors or you can attend one of the many concerts that are held in this historic building.

To the north of the Plaza San Martín, a bit lost between rather not too pleasant looking shops, you will find the Bishop Mercadillo's Chapel or oratorio. The former chapel is just a small part of the once important colonial residence that the bishop of Córdoba had built in the late 18th century after the consecration of the cathedal and the establishment of the diocese of Córdoba.
The most outstanding feature in this building is the intricate wrought-iron balcony on the second floor of the chapel. The Centro Obispo Mercadillo behind the oratorio is a modern structure with red brick steps that form a sort of pyramid. In this centre the Town Hall usually organises exhibitions and other cultural activities.

Oratorio Obispo Mercadillo in Córdoba.

The kilómetro cero is the very heart of the city, but not just because this is where the first Spanish settlers started to plan and build Córdoba and where you can find some of the most important historic buildings but also, because it is the place where locals -the cordobeses- bustle about during the week, either on the way to the many banks that are located on the east side of the plaza, to or from work and school, or the shopping pedestrian area that spreads mostly to the north. Simply take a break between visits to the catedral or the cabildo, sit down on one of the benches and watch them move around, interact and go about their daily business only then  will you be able to say that you have seen Córdoba.


Thanks to Claudia Gibson, Roberto Bowyer and Gustavo Alterio for letting me share their photos here.

Song at sunset

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A glorious sunset over the winter dike looking towards Zalk (Overijssel)

A couple of Sundays ago we decided to pay a visit to an old favourite spot in our former neighbourhood in Zwolle: Westenholte. Situated in the outskirts, Westenholte is a village that became part of Zwolle in 1967, but it still keeps the charm of a typical Dutch dorpje (village) with beautiful farm houses, green fields with sheep and cows grazing and the winter dike, a haven for dozens of different bird species.
The afternoon was very cold and the sky didn't say much, being the usual dull grey that we very often see in these parts during the winter months. But as the day was coming to a close, the sky opened a tiny bit and we witnessed a glorious sunset. Hundreds of birds were flying off in groups and then settling down again on the water and the racket they were all making was almost overwhelming... At that moment I thought of a poem, Song at sunset, by Whalt Whitman:

Splendor of ended day floating and filling me,
Hour prophetic, hour resuming the past,
Inflating my throat, you divine average,
You earth and life till the last ray gleams I sing...

Another sunset, another Sunday - this time in Flevoland, near Dronte.

I didn't sing, but I felt as if I were at the opera watching the drama of the day reaching its climax to then end, and I immediately remembered something that I had read years ago about Catalonian artist Santiago Rusiñol.

Santiago Rusiñol, a Spanish painter, playwright and poet, apparently used to climb up a hill near his house every afternoon, and sit there as if at the theatre, waiting for the sunset to start. He would watch the sun begin to go down as if it were an actor  or an opera singer performing his part at the thetre. As the sun touched the horizon, Rusiñol would cheer, clap his hands and even ask for an encore if the sunset had been sublime. Instead, if he hadn't been moved at all by the spectacle of the day coming to an end, he would boo, hoot at the sun and walk away in disgust as a disappointed theatre goer who walks straight back to the box office to ask for his money back.

I glimpsed the sun setting down behind he row of houses in my neighbourhood.

With this in mind, I thought I would show you here some sunset photos taken by friends and share with you a few more verses Walt Whitman's poem, Song at Sunset. Feel free to cheer as much as you like, for they are all fantastic shots of beautiful sunsets in different places around the world:

(click on the images to see a large version of the photos)

Nighfall in Madrid (Spain) - by Artigazo (David)

Open mouth of my soul uttering gladness,
Eyes of my soul seeing perfection,
Natural life of me faithfully praising things,
Corroborating forever the triumph of things.

Taking off to a warmer place (Hoofddorp, NL) - by Agnes Lapin

Wonderful how I celebrate you and myself
How my thoughts play subtly at the spectacles around!
How the clouds pass silently overhead!
How the earth darts on and on! and how the sun, moon, stars, dart on and on!

Mirrors (Coral Gables, Fl., USA) - by Roberto Bowyer

How the water sports and sings! (surely it is alive!)
How the trees rise and stand up, with strong trunks, with branches
and leaves!
(Surely there is something more in each of the trees, some living soul.)

Alley of ghosts (Rota, Spain) - by Artigazo (David)

O amazement of things--even the least particle!
O spirituality of things!
O strain musical flowing through ages and continents, now reaching
me and America!
I take your strong chords, intersperse them, and cheerfully pass
them forward.

Flames 2 (Philadelphia, USA) - by Roberto Bowyer

I too carol the sun, usher'd or at noon, or as now, setting,
I too throb to the brain and beauty of the earth and of all the
growths of the earth,
I too have felt the resistless call of myself.

Cuando el ocaso se acaba (when the day comes to an end) Gijón, Spain - by Urugallu (José Rodríguez)

I sing to the last the equalities modern or old,
I sing the endless finales of things,
I say Nature continues, glory continues,
I praise with electric voice,
For I do not see one imperfection in the universe,
And I do not see one cause or result lamentable at last in the universe.

On fire (Conrwall, UK) - by Agnes Lapin

Oh setting sun! Though the time has come, 

I still warble under you, if no one else does, unmitigated adoration.

Ocaso en Peñas (sunset in Peñas) - Asturias, Spain - by Urugallu (José Rodríguez)

I want to thank Agnès, David (Artigazo), Roberto and José (Urugallu) for letting me show their beautiful photos here. It was hard to pick just a few to post since they all have amazing images - the real deal, as I often refer to their photos. You can see more of their work by visiting their fantastic Flickr galleries:

Agnès Lapin
Artigazo (David)
Roberto Bowyer
Urugallu (José Rodríguez)