FOODNOTE - At El Sanjuanino, in Buenos Aires

The house red immediately suffused warmth in my chest (it´s slightly cool outside after the rain, fall is coming). The wine is not bad (El vino es no mal) - it´s a house ¨blend¨ thick with tradition. The condiment on the table - a main stay - before my empanadas came, is hot chili oil - tasting it,...

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ALMOST ARGENTINA

This is, "technically," a cabbage torta - again, a Melissa Clark-inspired dinner I made last night. Why I titled this blog "Almost Argentina" is because I'm going there next month to train with a local chef. That country's staple is empanada. I've been really wanting to make empanadas since my travel...

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"NEWSpieces"

I'm talking about the diced grapefruit rinds - my new herb. To make sense of it, meet my flour-less vegan cookie flavored with it, on top left. I toasted raw oats with diced ginger and grapefruit rinds until granola-golden. I would've used flour for this recipe, but I didn't have it. Warm cookie is a cozy feeling, I'd do it anytime, and what I have in the moment would suffice:

• 3/4 cup toasted oats-ginger-grapefruit (3:1 ratio oats-grapefruit, and just a tad of ginger)
• 1 cup cooked oatmeal porridge (just in water, but spiced with juniper berries until clumpy thick)
• 1 tbsp orange zest
•  2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in a little soy milk
• 2 pinches fine salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup prunes-dates combo (macerated in a little olive oil)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until mixed through completely and adhere like a muddy ball. Before baking, grate around with nutmeg and cinnamon. On a baking sheet lined with parchment, spoon off unformed clumps of cookie mixture one at a time spaced evenly. Stick sheet in the oven that had been 375 - and in about 30 minutes (a little more not less), Spring will come. Check the bottom of the cookie - the "top soil"; it should be "earthy." Welcome home.

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HEIRLOOM ORANGE MARMALADE MINT CAKE

Winter in the city, and baking, have a natural loveliness together - because the fruits and gardens are inside your home, for the time being. I bake with a farm on mind. I make hot Grecian mountain flower Chai tea, and I slice up my cake. The recipe is exactly the same as the lemon cake two recipes...

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SALT: MINE

This "canary" is baked fries - potatoes and carrots - with a "Colombian" touch, seasoned with malty vinegar and oil. All you have to do to start "digging" is, once you've cut up the pieces, season well with salt and pepper, oil and vinegar (a Spanish sweet vinegar would be great), plus a dusting of...

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