Basque Cheese featured on The Splendid Table/The Perennial Plate

header_logoA colleague sent me this link for The Splendid Table, where they featured a story from The Perennial Plate, which follows Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine as they travel the world to explore how people eat and how their food is made. The most recent episode took them to Spain, where they made a stop in the Basque Country to delve into the world of Basque cheese, specifically Idiazabal (which, incidentally, is not all that far from where my mom’s grandfather grew up in Mutiloa). They encounter a sheepherder and partake of some wonderful cheese. The video has some great shots of food in the Basque Country, from a sagardotegi to pintxos to the cheese. There is also an accompanying blog post by Mirra Fine that describes her experience as a vegetarian at the restaurant Etxebarri — to sum it up, she found what must be one of the few vegetarian oases in the Basque Country (you can just ask my wife, my brother, and his wife, who had a very difficult time eating in the Basque Country — how many times can you eat mushrooms?).

Basque_CheeseThis all brought to mind two anecdotes involving Basque cheese… The first involved my first-ever trip to the Basque Country, when I was about 20. I lived in Donostia for a year and would visit my dad’s family on the weekends. His aunt lives in the mountains above Munitibar, where she and her family still lived in an old caserio and had their own band of sheep. As I was preparing to leave, after a year of learning Euskara (not well) and learning about the Basque Country (hopefully better), to return to the United States, she insisted that I take two wheels of cheese back home. This was in 1991, when it was still very difficult (maybe nearly impossible) to get foods directly from Spain, and this cheese was certainly not pasteurized. I was pretty naive about the ways of Customs and this was also before the days of the TSA, so I dutifully wrapped the cheeses in plastic grocery bags, stuffed them in my suitcase, and away I went. I never mentioned them on the customs form (not even sure if I checked that I’d been on a farm). Through the gates at Customs I went without nary a glance and dutifully delivered the cheeses to my dad. I think the only consequence of my small act of smuggling (does this count as smuggling?) was that my suitcase and the clothes in it smelled pretty badly.

So, now, turn the clock forward about 15 years and it is the first trip to the Basque Country for my brothers and my mother. The whole family is there, including my dad, my future wife, and my brother’s wife. We end up at this same caserio. We walk into the caserio, through the “barn door” into the area where they used to keep animals, and hanging right there is a freshly skinned lamb. Having a contingent of vegetarians, we quickly make our way to the kitchen where there is a humongous fresh wheel of cheese. But the smell from the fresh meet in the “foyer” is pretty strong. As my dad talks with his aunt, we are all watching out the window and see her daughter  bringing up a band of sheep next to the caserio and she begins to milk them. My fiance jumps up and says “I want to try that!” We make our way back outside where she gets a crash course in how to milk sheep (you milk them from behind so you have to be careful they don’t kick). She had to fight off a lamb, who also wanted back there, pushing it away with her knee. When she was done, she licked her finger, saying it was delicious. While she says that she genuinely wanted to try milking the sheep, I suspect that she also wanted to get out into the fresh air. 🙂

A few links to share

logo_bsgOk, so maybe this isn’t a common problem, but if you are hosting a Basque-themed party, you might be at a loss for finding those party favors and decorations that have that Basque touch to them. BSG Baiona has you covered! They have toothpicks with Basque flags, Basque flag banners, and much more. Some nice items for your kitchen table as well. Though, I’m not sure they ship across the ocean…

Screen shot 2013-03-16 at 9.31.15 PMAnother thing that is hard to find is paraphernalia for Euskal Selekzioa — the Basque Selection or the Basque “national” team. Kukuxumusu has some great shirts for supporting the team, including what looks to be the official jersey. Plus, their rendition of the Basque coat-of-arms is simply cool! Something I might have to add to a Christmas wish list…

Here is a nice video that showcases Basque speakers in the United States. It’s about 30 minutes long and consists entirely of Basques talking in Euskara with each other in the United States, along with commentary from a Basque narrator (this is a documentary that is aimed towards Basques in the Basque Country to learn something more about the survival of the Basque culture and language in the United States).

And here is a great video featuring the group Hinka, performing their song Begira. The music features, amongst other things, an alboka. Some great music! I couldn’t find a website for the group itself, but this Youtube clip is just great!

Garbiñe Candina & Lucía Timpanaro are teachers in the Basque Country who are developing materials to help teach Basque. This Youtube clip shows one of their efforts. This might be useful for kids trying to learn some Basque vocabulary?

The Trey McIntyre Project, another serendipitous Basque encounter

arrantza1Santa Fe is certainly not the center of Basque culture. However, it is enough of an art town that one is continuously surprised. We’ve had Basque poets, dancers, txalaparta players, and more grace the area, even though the number of Basques that are truly interested in these things is rather small. And so it was with the Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) performance at the Lensic Theater.

To be fair, the TMP performance was not only Basque related. There were three different acts, with the last being the ballet Arrantza, commissioned in support of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center in Boise. Now, I’ll admit, I’m not much of a dance guy. Ballet of any form doesn’t do much for me, and modern ballet probably even less so. But, it is a rare opportunity to see anything Basque in Santa Fe, so we took advantage.

arrantza2Arrantza was interesting in that the dance wasn’t only to music, but to interviews of Basques of various stripes recounting tales of their lives in the old country. And while there were certainly modern interpretive dance steps, there were enough based on Basque folk dancing that I recognized, and reminded me of friends who spent many more years doing Basque dance than I ever did. It was an emotional performance, evoking both the Basque culture of Idaho but also of Euskal Herria itself. If it comes to your area, I would highly recommend it.

As we were leaving, I recognized Alicia, who had been a co-extra on the Longmire set. In an odd sequence of serendipitous events, her parents were with her, including Dave Lachiondo, the current director of the Basque Studies Program at Boise State University and one of the editors of the new Basque studies journal Boga. Even more amazingly, one of their companions was an old work colleague of my wife’s from her time at Hewlett-Packard, a man who is now on the Board of Directors of TMP. It is truly a very small world! We were able to catch up with all of them and even meet a few of the dancers. It was a very exciting and special night. Sometimes, you never know what will come to town, and what it will bring with it!

 

My Brush with Showbiz

promoLast month, I (through my wife) got an odd phone call. The TV show Longmire was doing an episode that showcased Basques and, since they film the show in New Mexico, they were asking for any Basques or people of Basque descent that might be interested in participating. They contacted us because of our roles in the Basque Club of New Mexico. At first, I wasn’t so interested. It seemed like an odd and difficult thing to pull off, especially because, while there are simply tons of Basque names here in New Mexico, most of them arrived in the area so long ago that their holders don’t really have any connection to Basque culture. If the show wanted authentic Basques, New Mexico is not the place to find so many.

(It seems that the author of the novels that the show is based on, Craig Johnson, has featured the Basques in at least one of his Longmire novels.)

However, I still sent out an announcement to our mailing list and talked with the various representatives of the show, the guy who did extra casting, the guy who did decoration, and the woman who was searching for a Basque for a speaking part. It didn’t seem that many people were responding, and I got the impression that they were pretty disappointed. My wife encouraged me to do it (in no small part because she really likes co-star Katee Sackhoff). That, and the excitement that Alicia, a former Oinkari who is doing a medical residency in Albuquerque, showed for the project made me finally decide to give it a go.

They told us to show up around 10, at least those of us extras that weren’t dancers or musicians. They also told us to bring some Basque costume elements — I had my black beret, red sash and red handkerchief. We all crowded into a small class room in the back of a church in a small town in northern New Mexico (Pecos) where we first picked up paperwork and then snaked around the room to file it. Once our paperwork was filed, we then were directed to costumes. They were happy enough with what I’d brought, so I simply wore that, but they had also literally stitched together dance costumes for the women that looked like the real thing. After a stop at makeup (where I only got some sunscreen), it was down to the set.

The set was in a field behind the church, so looking up from the field the church dominated the view. They had already setup tents and booths that were meant to mimic a Basque festival in Wyoming (the location of the fictional story). Some things were very nice touches, such as the booths of food and drink, though it was also odd to see a big banner proclaiming the fiesta of San Ignatius for a story that was supposed to take place in March. On the other side of the tents were grills that were to prepare a feast for these festival goers.

I was originally tagged as one of the chefs, but they needed more extras in other places, so all of us were bounced around. If, when you see the episode, you see a chef who also seems to be cheering every event and wandering the field drunk, all at seemingly the same time, you’ll understand why.

The whole experience was a bit surreal. I was paired up with a woman who has done quite a bit of extra work, so she showed me the ropes. We were tasked to simply wander in the background as they filmed the main characters in the tent. We were told to cross the field, go from one booth to another, pretend to encounter old friends, and drink up. All of this in complete silence as the cameras were rolling. The director must have done 20 takes of this, so each time we had to retrace, at least roughly, our steps around the field. My veteran partner decided that to make it interesting to us, she would start to play a bit drunk. That gave us a bit of a story to act out on our own in the background. We’ll see what it looks like in the final go (assuming it makes it to the screen).

Then, we went to the grills. I manned the only grill that was actually lit, cooking sausages (that were certainly not chorizo) and pork chops. I’d serve them to people in the line, the director would yell cut, then the food would all be returned to me. The grill was still going. If you see blackened pork chops, really, that is not my fault. There is only so much even the best cook can do when his food is on the grill for several hours!

MVC-848FAnd then we were ushered to cheer on the sporting events. They had a tug of war and a wagon lifting event, one that I have seen before (the contestant lifts one end of the wagon and carries it in a circle, as the other end is pivoting against a support in the ground; called orga jokoa in Basque). However, the event started by one guy “lifting” a 400 lb weight into the wagon, and there is no way any of these guys would be able to do that in real life. So, we are “bouncing around” from one scene to another. For the sporting events, they wanted us to be as loud as possible, as opposed to the miming we’d been doing all day.

This went on for hours, literally. We started at something like 10 on the set and didn’t get off the set until something like 7pm. The more seasoned extras were grumbling because the company is supposed to feed people after 6 hours and there was some thought that they’d send us home without any food (while the stars had a cart of snacks and drinks they were being served). However, at the end of the day, they did feed us dinner.

05-katee-sackhoff-as-vic-morettiWhile I saw the stars and even caught their eye a couple of times (Katee complimented me on my sausage…*) things were pretty segregated. The stars had their chairs with their names (like in the movies) and even for dinner they were in a different room than the rest of us. However, when one of the extras took some of the children to meet the stars, it seems like they were more than gracious. It was just a setting where you can’t really take enough of a break to say hello.

In the end, it was a lot of walking around, so not a lot of effort, but being on our feet all day in the sun and the dust it was tiring. And not very financially rewarding. For a 9 hour day I made maybe $80. I made more renting items to them for decoration. They rented my cesta, my coat-of-arms, some pictures, and a few other items. The seasoned extras told us stories about other shoots and how sometimes they’d be going all night long, or how they got to pretend to use swords and such. There was a little subcommunity of extras that was both very interesting and just a bit odd… It was a cool experience, one that exposed me to a different set of people than I would normally run across. And, as my partner told me, I’ll likely not look at shows like this the same way again. I’ll always be looking for those discontinuities in the set, in the behavior of the extras, in their placement.

One last note: not everything in the set was perfect, from a Basque point of view. But, I have to say, these guys tried hard. The set decoration guy I rented my stuff to couldn’t find someone to make Basque sheepherder bread, so learned to do it himself. Cooking at 7000 ft is non-trivial and the bread looked a little less than stellar, but they sure tried. They made costumes, they translated phrases to Basque, and they did their best to find Basques to participate. It might not be fully authentic, but it certainly gives the flavor.

The episode, entitled “Death Came Like Thunder,” airs on June 10th. Mark your calendars and let me know what you thought!

* In the interest of full disclosure, the actual quote was more along the line of “Those sausages look good.” I think even the stars were starving at that point and 5-hr-old sausages were starting to look appetizing.

Basque culture is everywhere: Jai Alai IPA

webjaialaiI just got back from Florida for a work trip. One night we went to a sushi place (though I’m not a fan of sushi) and, to my surprise, one of the beers on the menu was called “Jai Alai IPA“, brewed by Cigar City Brewing of Tampa. It was a good beer, not disappointing to this fan of IPAs. The back label states:

Jai Alai, the “merry game,” is a game native to the Basque region of Spain. Tampa was once home to this high speed game, but sadly all that remains here is this India Pale Ale that we brewed in tribute to the merry game. Pair Jai Alai India Pale Ale with Empanadas, Deviled Crabs and other spicy dishes.

Just thought I’d share a pretty neat chance encounter with Basque culture.

 

 

Euskoguide: A guide to the Basque Country

eusko_guide_logoPeople fall in love with a place for various reasons. For Jeremy, it started with his love for a Basque woman, who later became his wife. Visiting the Basque Country with her lead to a fascination with her homeland and, ultimately, a new website aimed at introducing the Basque Country to those who have not had the luck to discover it yet.

Euskoguide is, in the words of Jeremy, “a Basque Country travel guide website which covers all of Euskal Herria. My wife and I have travelled around collecting information and photos of the region. Our goal with the site was to create something that would really help people in not only planning their trip but also to convince others of how awesome it is and to go check it out for themselves.”

The website features some beautiful photos of the Basque Country and an introductory guide to the places and sites of the region. It also gives an introduction to the food and drink of the Basque Country, starting with pintxos and sagardotegis. The website is very nicely put together and promises a lot more in the future.

If you are interested in visiting the Basque Country, Euskoguide can serve as an introduction to some of the most popular and intriguing spots.

BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal

Screen shot 2013-03-16 at 8.23.13 PMThe now defunct Journal of Basque Studies in America was a journal published by Society of Basque Studies in America to promote Basque culture by publishing in English articles that would be of interest to a wider American audience. The goal was to essentially disseminate information about Basque culture that otherwise would not make it to an English speaking audience. That journal, which ended publication in 2011, was transferred to Boise State University and its Basque Studies Program.

Fast forward to today and the journal has been reincarnated as BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal. BOGA has the same basic aims as the Journal of Basque Studies in America, but with a bit more rigorous peer review. Those aims are nicely summarized on the BOGA website:

This journal aims to be a part of the long-standing tradition of Basque higher education as symbolized by the Basque Country’s first university built in Oñati, Gipuzkoa in 1548 (incorporated into our website theme). The town of Oñati also holds additional significance for Boise State University’s Basque Studies Program because it served as the first location for the studies abroad program in the Basque Country in the 1970s. This journal is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed academic publication dedicated to the scholarly study of all aspects of Basque culture with the aspiration to foster a better understanding of Basque culture and heritage in its diverse aspects by disseminating original works of interest to an English speaking audience and to encourage interaction–learning links–among academics from various learning traditions; e.g., linguistic, philosophical, anthropological, ethnological, historic, literary, artistic, religious, economic, cultural, international relations, etc. The Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza stated that to move forward, one had to look backward, and that is conceptualized by the rowboat image as the rowers make progress while looking behind. This journal hopes to contribute to the shared “rowing” effort among institutions and individuals to mutually support efforts in Basque Studies.

Many familiar names are associated with the journal, including: John Ysursa, William Douglass, Pedro Oiarzabal, Sam Zengotitabengoa, and Joseba Zulaika, among many more.

The inaugural issue is not online yet, but promises to have very interesting perspectives on a number of Basque topics, if the articles that appeared in the Journal of Basque Studies in America is any indication.

I’m personally very excited to see the launch of this new effort. There are a lot of aspects of Basque culture, history, and linguistics that simply are inaccessible to people who do not speak Basque or Spanish. This journal will provide a vehicle for at least some of those ideas and discoveries to reach an English audience.

Zorionak!

8 Probintziak Elkartea

Picture 2Benoit Etcheverry Macazaga has been a presence the internet, promoting Basque culture, for a number of years now. His newest venture, 8 Probintziak Elkartea, rekindles a theme he initiated a few years back of trying to draw together with stronger ties the Basque Country and the Basque diaspora. Part of his goal is to simply make Basques in the Basque Country more aware of their cousins in the diaspora, and vice versa. The goal of his website it to facilitate this by sharing links and news items that might be of broad interest to Basques, support genealogical research, promote physical exchanges between Basques in the Basque Country and in the diaspora, and exchange business ideas between all Basques to encourage economic development. As part of this, his website lists the feeds from a number of other Basque websites, including this one (thanks Benoit!)

In fact, the name of the site — 8 Probintziak Eklartea — emphasizes this idea of an 8th Basque province, the diaspora, that has it’s own contributions to make to the Basque experience, that the diaspora is a significant part of Basque culture. By promoting these connections and establishing stronger ties between the Basque Country and Basques all around the world, Benoit is trying to strengthen Basque culture world-wide.

Picture 3

A companion project is a radio program, 8HZ Radio. Co-hosted with Robert Acheritogaray and Adelaide Daraspe, the program directly engages the Basque diaspora and brings their views and activities to the Basque Country.

The only thing he is missing is a snappy logo!

Update: Benoit pointed out to me that he does have a snappy logo, on the Facebook page for 8 Probintziak. Sorry Benoit! 

 

An unexpected and delightful discovery: a Basque sideboard in Santa Fe

sideboard-IMG_0180sideboard-IMG_0186The last few weekends, my family and I have been visiting consignment galleries, hoping to put an item up for sale. Usually, we simply hear that they aren’t interested and then we end up wandering the gallery for an hour, looking at all of the memories people are hoping to get a little bit of cash for, most of which don’t really pique our interest. Once in a while, we see something that would look pretty cool in our house, but doesn’t quite fit either our decor or our budget.

Today, however, we stumbled, almost quite literally, on the most amazing piece, not only because of its beauty, but also because the piece was adorned with Euskara.

We were wandering through the gallery, passing various pieces of furniture, most of which didn’t get much of a second glance from us. However, this ornate sideboard did catch my eye, especially when I noticed some writing on the central cabinet and rosettas that were familiar. It took me a second to register what I was seeing. A sideboard, here in Santa Fe, with a phrase in Euskara as the focus? Carved on the central cabinet of the sideboard was the following phrase:

Eskuara eskualdunen hizkuntza da ez da errecha barnan ikhasten ahal da lihenbizikoria behar dena nahikundea da eta gero jarraiki

The piece is also adorned with rosettas similar to what I’ve seen in other pieces in the Basque Country and in drawings. It has shelves for displaying plates and platters, cabinets underneath, and, as I mentioned, that central cabinet with the Euskara on the front, and a lock.

Amazingly, the gallery had only recently received it, only about a week ago, from an estate in Santa Fe.

If anyone might have any answers as to where this sideboard might have been made and when, I’d be greatly interested. Anyone know anything about this?

sideboard-IMG_0184sideboard-IMG_0182

sideboard-IMG_0183While it is a very cool piece, more than wanting it I’m very intrigued by it. Where did it come from? How old might it be? Why did someone in Santa Fe have it? Were they Basque, desiring something from their homeland in their home, or had they simply traveled to the Basque Country, fallen in love with the place, and purchased an admittedly extravagant souvenir? What does the Euskara translate into? I know it has to do with the language and learning, but the full meaning escapes me. It would be great to know more about the history of both the piece and the person who owned it.

The consignment gallery that has this remarkable, at least for Santa Fe, piece is Recollections.

Baking your own Sheepherder’s Bread

My wife’s grandmother’s cookbook had this clipping from a newspaper, probably from Salmon, Idaho. Anyone know roughly when this would be? There was no date in the saved clipping.

Baking your own Sheepherder’s Bread

Many Basques still enjoy baking the dome-shaped loaves of sheepherder’s bread at home, like Anita Mitchell. She gave us her recipe that won the bread-baking championship at the National Basque Festival last year. Her updated method for baking in a conventional oven is more reliable than the old way of baking in a pit that you see at right (picture not included).

You’ll need a 10-inch cast iron or cast aluminum covered Dutch oven (5-quart size); for pit-baking, it should have a bale (wire handle) and be well seasoned.

Sheepherder’s Bread

  • 3 cups very hot tap water
  • 1/2 cup butter, margarine, or shortening
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 packages active dry yeast
  • About 9 1/2 cups all purpose flour, unsifted
  • Salad oil

In a bowl, combine the hot water, butter, sugar, and salt. Stir until butter melts; let cool to warm (110 to 115 degrees). Stir in yeast, cover, and set in a warm place until bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Add 5 cups of the flour and beat with a heavy-duty mixer or wooden spoon to form a thick batter. With a spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour (about 3 1/2 cups) to form a stiff dough. Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Turn dough over in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough and knead on a floured board to form a smooth ball. Cut a circle of foil to cover the bottom of the Dutch oven. Grease the inside of the Dutch oven and the underside of the lid with salad oil.

Place dough in the pot and cover with the lid. Let rise in a warm place until dough pushes up the lid by about 1/2 inch, about 1 hour (watch closely).

Bake, covered with lid, in a 375 degree oven for 12 minutes. Remove lid and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from oven and turn loaf out (you’ll need a helper) onto a rack to cool. Makes 1 very large loaf.

A poignant camp custom: Before serving, a herder would slash the sigh of the cross on top of the loaf, then serve the first piece to his invaluable dog.