General | hungry sofia

Apr 8

Tarta Pascualina

I hadn’t planned on a traditional Good Friday. I was supposed to meet my friend Carolina, who was visiting, at the Met but was falling behind. I’d spent the day making a tarta Pascualina or Easter pie to write about this weekend when the day got away from me when another friend who was moving to Chicago stopped by in the afternoon to say goodbye. For the past few weeks, Aaron and I had done a lot of before-you-go things in the neighborhood but helping me finish the pie was the absolute last. The pascualina done, I changed to plan to a low-key night at home with Carol and my sister Cami – the better to catch-up on the bear of a week we’d all had. We were about to sit down when we heard the procession outside the window. Read more

Apr 1

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Catching Up in March/Springing Ahead to April

I think the early spring thaw has gone straight to my head. For weeks now I’ve had Astrud Gilberto’s Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness) playing on a loop. Suddenly, everything seems so easy – seeing friends, making plans, getting around the city. Even though winter has snapped back just a little, no one can take away the feeling that only light layer, ballet flat days are ahead of us. But before I can get to the chicks and bunnies, I need to catch up on March. Read more

Mar 21

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Hungry in Edible Manhattan

I always love coming across a copy of Edible Manhattan so I was thrilled when they asked me to contribute two pieces to their first ever dairy issue (March/April 2012). Tasked with finding the city’s best tres leches, all signs pointed to Daisy Lebron at Bizcocho de Colores in Upper Manhattan. On what seemed like the only cold day this past winter, I made the treck to the opposite side of the island and was rewarded with an amazing tres leches (or two). It was a treasure in a plastic clam shell. Click here to read Uptown, a Dominican Confection Makes Life Three Times Sweeter which includes an extended photo gallery by Elizabeth Leitzell. Read more

Mar 5

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Introducing La Filosofia

We’d been expecting her for a long time but were still a little surprised when she finally showed up at our door – a little black peacock named La Filosofia. Months before, my sister Carmen and I were looking for a project we could develop together. I wanted it to be kitchen related since I live in there, and my sister thought of an apron with a laminated pattern just at the splash spot, where the torso meets the counter. Practical yes, but when we found a collection of canvas in woodland prints, we knew they could be lovely to look at too. Read more

Feb 29

Catching Up in February

Since this is my first real catching up post this year, I had to find the right image to illustrate the month. It’s been such a mild winter that February didn’t really look like February, so I thought of valentines instead. My absolute favorite came in the form of Fernando Trueba’s Chico & Rita, set largely in 1940’s Havana, Paris and New York and scored by Bebo Valdes. Lovely from the first note, I can only say that the film is una joyita. Though it inexplicably lost the Academy Award to a movie about a lizard (full disclosure I’m both biased and haven’t actually seen Rango), there were some inspiring wins at this year’s Oscars like Christopher Plummer for Beginners and Octavia Spencer for The Help. On her fantastic new blog The Peacock Chronicles, my sister Carmen used a recent experience filming a commercial to write up her own take on the Help controversy in To Maid, Or Not To Maid. Read more

Jan 31

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Catching Up in January

I know these round-up posts should come just before or just after the New Year, but I wouldn’t feel like I’d given 2011 it’s due if I didn’t round up some of my favorite posts last year. Filled with ups, downs and in betweens, I was in great company Vista and iVillage, visited a new Food Republic, and had a regular place to visit on Devour: the Blog. I can see now that it was actually very sweet year. Here are a few more reasons why in case you missed them… Read more

Jan 25

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Llapingachos con Salsa de Maní

Since I’m heading to Miami ING half marathon in a few days, I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to post. Snow-bound this weekend, Iwas looking for a project when I turned to Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz’s The Book of Latin American Cooking and found a great pre-run option that I could just about get in. I’ve always had a weakness for around the world books and this one’s been a resource for awhile though I haven’t included it until now. I’ve rarely see Ecuadorian recipes so I decided to make Llapingachos. Read more

Jan 13

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One Girl Cookies

I was excited but not surprised when I heard that Dawn and Dave of One Girl Cookies would be publishing their their first cookbook. Walking into their Cobble Hill cafe and bakery is something like walking into a story so it was only a matter of time before it was bound between two covers.

Rosca de Reyes

I haven’t brought myself to take down the tree just yet. It was love at first sight when I spotted it early December – shivering and cold on the corner of my block. A little plumper then the elegant, well-shaped trees on either side, I realized something about myself that morning, namely that I like a fat tree. Since I was staying home this year, I gave myself the luxury of a full-sized tree knowing I wouldn’t have to go away for the holidays and come back to find it dry and sinking on the stand. For once, I was able to use all of my ornaments big and small and it couldn’t get enough. No matter how many decorations I put on the tree, the branches just seemed to swallow them whole until we had to literally trim them down. If they made spanx for trees, I would have used them. On Christmas Eve, my favorite gift was a vintage Angel topper my sister hunted down for me so the tree was finally complete. In some countries, the night of January 5 that precedes it, also known as twelfth night or the 12th day of Christmas, is considered the end of the season when decorations should be taken down (don’t worry about looking it up – it’s 12 drummers drumming). I wanted to keep it up at least until Three Kings Day or Epiphany. Sadly, the time has come. Read more

Dec 30

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Catching Up and Getting it Right in December

After 364 days of playing catch-up, there is still a list of things I’d like to accomplish before 2011 escapes me. Though I won’t give up until the last grape is eaten tomorrow at midnight, at this point, I may have to consider, the somewhat likely possiblity, that there’s a chance, that I might not get it all in. Maybe. If that does happen, at least I’ll have a brand new year with a whole extra day to get it right.

Not to knock 2011, but it was a difficult year for many of us. As challenging as these economic times are for individuals just getting by, it can be devastating to non-profits that depend on all of us to have just a little extra to give. With the end of the tax year fast approaching, I thought it was a good time to highlight some of the organizations whose work has inspired me in the past for those who don’t want to wait till next year to get it right, or at the very least, need one more tax deduction… Read more