Colombia | hungry sofia

Dec 6

Figure Eights

There’s always a point when I finish a post and choose a country category that feels a little dishonest. Well not so much dishonest but not the whole elephant either. When I decided to write about Latin food, I knew that it would be a fuzzy focus and difficult to define. Buñuelos, fritters popular throughout Spain and Latin America, are a good example. Originally from the Iberian penninsula, they’re either Arabic or Sephardic, or maybe both. Typically made from a wheat-based dough that’s flavored with anise, they’re rolled into balls or discs and deep fried then topped with a syrup or honey. Read more

Oct 30

New Map

I’ve been going through this week’s New York Times travel section featuring Latin America, specifically an awakened Chile, colonial Colombia, 36 Hours in Montevideo, Rio hot spots, Peruvian restaurants, and rejuvenated Mazatlán. Travel exhausts me but its a fun read.

Oct 4

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Cold Nights

He turned round, and leaning upon his elbow, began to sip his chocolate. The mellow November sun came streaming into the room. The sky was bright, and there was a genial warmth in the air. It was almost like a morning in May.

– Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

There are always a few weeks in early Fall where it is colder in my apartment then it is outside. I leave the house ready to face a brisk New York, early frost and find a mild northern California day instead. While the season makes up it’s mind, I’ll just live in a bowl of hot chocolate. Read more

May 29

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Art Break

The first year I moved to New York the central medians along Park Avenue were lined with enormous bronze statues by Fernando Botero. Not really knowing a Park Avenue without them, I thought the full bodied sculptures had always been there and always would be. It turned out to be a temporary installation sponsored by the Public Art Fund, and they were gone after a couple months. Park Avenue has always seemed empty without them. Today, my mother and I were running to meet my sister when we came across this Botero in a walkway along 57th Street. I don’t know how much longer it will be there, but it’s wonderful to come across his public installations unexpectedly and know his figures are still roaming the City.

Fernando Botero, Rape of Europa, 2007

Apr 23

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Lost in Translation

Finding Latin American staples in New York is harder than you’d think. A little spoiled, I expect everything to eventually make it’s way here though the trick is finding where its landed. Divided by a common language, a dominican grocer will give you a noncommittal shrug when asked whether the mountain of batatas he’s standing in front is not actually the cuban boniatos that you’re looking for. Although I’m fluent in Spanish, I have a second-generation-american’s insecurity when faced with a native speaker and assume the miscommunication is on my end. That’s how I ended up lost in Jackson Heights buying a colombian arepa griddle which is actually a mexican comal for making tortillas, or maybe it’s both?