This one maybe goes in the “if” category. La Côte Basque has been in the news a lot lately. La Côte Basque is a chapter in an unfinished novel by Truman Capote named after a famed New York restaurant – it is about New York socialites and is being brought to the small screen as […]
About the time I went off to college, my dad started making his own chorizo. He’d send me off with packages of frozen sausage – at the time, he’d pack them in a cut up milk jug filled with water and freeze them. So, I’d have rows and rows of chorizo that I’d broken free […]
A random article I stumbled across describes a Basque twist on a classic cocktail. The Bamboo, created by German bartender Louis Eppinger possibly in the mid-1800s in San Francisco if not a bit later in Japan, consists of “equal measures of dry vermouth and dry sherry, plus a couple dashes of bitters.” Brooklyn’s Bar Vinazo has […]
One of the unique pleasures of the Basque Country is all of the wonderful tastes it has to offer. I’ve written about some of the unique drinks you can find only in the Basque Country. Txakolin, or txakoli as it is more commonly known, is perhaps the most well known, having found its way across […]
Our night in the Parte Vieja started off at a cocktail bar, Arraun, where everyone else (I’m a beer and kalimotxo drinker) had some of the fanciest drinks I’ve seen in quite a while. It was cool to find such a non-traditional spot in the heart of all of these pintxo bars. But, really, those […]
There are over 16,000 species of bees in the world and humans have had a long association with them. Of course, humans have exploited bees to produce honey and wax, but they have had a more intimate relationship with bees as well, telling them of important events in their lives. The Basques have their own […]
There was a time when salt was the most cherished commodity. Wars were fought over control for salt and economies depended on the production of salt. Salt was so important to economic activity that the word salary comes from the Latin word for salt. The oldest city in Europe, Solnitsata in Bulgaria, means salt works […]
By Lisa Van De Graaff Burnt Basque cheesecake has become a family favorite for us, especially for Blas who has requested it for his birthday cake three years in a row. It is an unusual and oh-so-rewarding experience to smell the burnt top and savor the texture combination of paper thin crunchy char and thick […]
When I lived in the Basque Country, from the fall of 1991 to the summer of 1992, I spent more than my fair share of time in the ubiquitous bars and taverns. But, for all of those hours, I drank maybe three different beers: San Miguel, Fosters, and Heineken. Once in a while, we got […]
The holidays are upon us. Time to gather with family and friends, to take a break from all of the worries and responsibilities of work and school. And to eat! There always seem to be tables full of food everywhere we go, especially desserts! My mom always has a flan and often rice pudding on […]
