I have a regrettably low tolerance for alcohol. Typically, I’ll sip a mojito till it’s watered down to nothing or nurse a light Mexican beer most of the night. I’m that girl. So it’s odd that I’ve spent this week spiking sorbet with cava, getting a lobster drunk on rum, and now drizzling lady fingers with vermouth and yet more rum for a Bien Me Sabe, a Venezuelan dessert made of lady fingers layered with coconut cream. Whenever I have people over, I always go to Latin Chic written by my friend Isabel González-Whitaker and co-author Carolina Buia. Living in the neutral territory of New York City where everyone is from somewhere else, it’s full of simple but great ideas to add a cultural twist that’s honest to entertaining in Latin American style. Looking for a dessert to bring to a dinner party, I used their recipe for Bien Me Sabe or “It Tastes Good to Me”. This one in particular comes from Carolina’s great aunt Mercedes Camps. The legend goes that she made it for Venezuela’s future president Rómulo Betancourt when he was hiding from political adversaries in her home. It’s hard not to admire a woman who not only offers refuge and food to those in need but then throws in dessert. After three weeks, she smuggled out the father of Venezuelan democracy disguised in one of her dresses. Continue reading ‘That’s No Lady’
You put about a cup of very hot water in a bowl and then add the P.A.N. harina little by little as you mix it with the water. If you add it all at once it will take longer and be lumpy. Let it sit for five minutes so that it has the consistency of playdough but a bit softer.
