hungry sofia

Apr 1

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 23

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Harina con Cangrejo

Despite a lifetime of research, I’m always discovering something new in Cuban food. While it reminds me not to take anything for granted, less pleasant is knowing that my nearest and dearest have been holding out on me. That’s how I felt when I discovered that harina – cornmeal simmered to a creamy state and topped with peppery sofritos and poached or fried eggs, ham or chorizo, shimp or crab – was a Cuban comfort food staple that everyone was having but no one was talking about. I’d enjoyed Italian polenta prepared this way, but I hadn’t realized there was a take on it that was much closer to home – just not my home. 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 14

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Cascos de Guayaba en Almíbar

It’s not really news that you should see what tops the ingredients list of certain foods and rule out anything lab born. Still, we all have our blind spots and for me its guava in all its forms. Easy enough for most to avoid, except for Cubans to whom its practically a food group, I get as far as seeing red color #20 and think better of it. When I’m in Miami, this isn’t a problem. I can always find freshly made poached guavas, pastes and jellies in local markets. Visting Jamaica this past November, my suitcase was weighted down with jarred preserves where the most intense add-in was clove and maybe a dash of nutmeg. In New York, I have fewer options. 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

Feb 24

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Ajiaco Bogotano

It seems that every time I look for a Colombian recipe, I fall into a soup bowl. With winter going fast and a long weekend to seek out hard to find ingredients, I was finally ready to attempt ajiaco Bogotano. Until recently, I’d only know the Cuban version – a heavy blend of root vegetables, plantains, pork and beef. In Bogota, ajiaco is a chicken only affair, thickened with three kinds of potatoes and flavored with cilantro, scallions and guascas, a pre-Columbian herb with medicinal properties and daisy relatives. When I tried it for the first time last year, I loved the ritual of adding your own dollop of thick cream, briny capotes, sliced avocado and even more cilantro from the garnishes brought to the table. Looking for a recipe, my friend Carolina’s mother, Mari Ines, tried to walk me through it on the phone but I wasn’t quite getting it. I knew I’d be home for a few days so I more or less invited myself over see it done first hand. Read more

Feb 17

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Flan de Coco

It’s always strange to me when I see flan listed as special on a dessert menu. Far from specialized in Cuban restaurants, it’s not rare to find an all-flan menu – de leche, de queso, de calabaza, de mamey and of course – de coco. Yet somehow I never get tired of it. If it hadn’t been brought to the New World via Spain, Cubans would have had to invent it. Most Latin American countries have their own version of this dessert and, while I can’t pretend to be neutral, in the case of flan I think it has to go to Cuba. For me it’s about the caramel. Made directly in the mold, the sugar cooked long enough to go dark amber without becoming bitter (though personally I like it a little bitter). I love the ritual of holding it just over the flame and watching it go clear then dark. It can get away from you easily but it’s always fun to see how far you can take it. Read more

Feb 7

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Arroz Blanco

Just back from Miami where I spent the last week running for a great cause that was covered here and here, I’m still playing catch up. Fueled by countless cortaditos, I took advantage of my time there to start research on an upcoming project I’m really excited about, see friends, laugh with my family, and well eat…a lot. Heading to the gate, I had the disorienting feeling that I was leaving home to go home that always comes over me after a long visit. So while I get my bearings, I wanted to keep it simple with this repost of arroz blanco, including the plaintive email in the comments from my sister who inspired it.

Brought to the table in perfectly rounded mounds with an order of black beans, served in heavy chafing dishes on buffet tables, or ladled out of giant cookers from the kitchen counter, white rice hides in plain sight. Though a staple throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, white rice specifically anchors every Cuban meal. Its primacy partly due to large waves of Chinese immigration, I can’t imagine a better blank slate for beans, shredded beef stews, picadillos and plantains. I probably end almost every post with the words “serve over fluffy white rice” but had yet to include a recipe. When my sister texted me to find out how to make it. Rushed and reluctant to text back, I wondered why she didn’t just look it up here, then I checked and realized it wasn’t on my site. Oops. 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