"Pine nuts", I think, is what our eastern kindred call 'em.
Pinones is the plural form of pinon. And yes, I know they're called pine nuts, but I didn't learn this until a couple years ago when at a restaurant I asked, "What are pine nuts?"
No, I know piņones is the plural -- we grow tons of them here -- the joke was there was actually another word for them? _________________ An apple a day....
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 10:56 pm Post subject:
The first foreign word I learned for pine nuts was pignoli. But that makes sense, since, in the 1950s, San Francisco still had a thriving Italian district (North Beach).
French and Spanish food don't seem to be nearly as good as Italian.
The strange thing about Italian food is when I dined in Italian restaurants in Milan, Florence, and Rome, and ordered food that I was familiar with back home, they all seemed to be lacking in flavor and I was shocked at the scant ingredients they put in their pizzas and pastas! I've had better food at the Olive Garden! It wasn't until I got to Venice that I had a seafood feast that satiated my deprived palate. Dining in France, however, was an entirely different experience. Everywhere I ate was like a celebration of the senses!
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:19 am Post subject:
Julian wrote:
The strange thing about Italian food is when I dined in Italian restaurants in Milan, Florence, and Rome, and ordered food that I was familiar with back home, they all seemed to be lacking in flavor and I was shocked at the scant ingredients they put in their pizzas and pastas! I've had better food at the Olive Garden!
I agree about the pizza and pasta, but then they they don't play nearly as important a role in Italian meals as they do in restaurants in the US.
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Dining in France, however, was an entirely different experience. Everywhere I ate was like a celebration of the senses!
True. And on that trip in 1970, we were eating at the cheapest places, or at least the cheapest ones that my mother thought looked appropriate for a family to eat in. In those days, the exchange rate was 5 francs to a dollar. Somewhere en route from Paris to the Mediterranean, we had an excellent prix fixe meal at a roadside restaurant for 4 francs.
Somewhere en route from Paris to the Mediterranean, we had an excellent prix fixe meal at a roadside restaurant for 4 francs.
Times seems to have changed !! For 4francs (about 0,7 Euros) you can eat nothing. Even croissant and pain au chocolat are about 1 Euro at least...
A meal is a minimum of about 8 Euros (50 Francs)
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And I don't know much about Spanish or French food, but from what I do know of it, I gather that it's very different from Italian cuisine. French and Spanish food don't seem to be nearly as good as Italian.
Spanish food is very good and varied too, in the different region. concerning Spanish popular food you canno't forget tapas, which, more than a specific kind of food are a specific way to eat.
Tapas are often made with the tipical best Spanish products:
mainly sea fruits, ham, moutain cheeses, potatoes, olive oil and wine.
Jamon serrano :
Queso manchego :
Tortilla (nothing to see with what is called tortilla in Mexico)
Julian, it's funny, but everyone I know who's been to Italy, including my parents, seems to agree that the place with the absolute worst Italian food is ... Italy itself! (And it's not just Americans -- a shopkeeper in Mexico was telling me all about her trip to Italy and how she could wait to get back home and have a decent Pizza Hut pizza! )
Five francs to the dollar? It was seven when I was there -- the year before they switched to the euro. I knew it was coming, so I collected every coin I could from every country I went to. Suckers -- you'll want those back someday!
Tapas is not well known in most of the US. I guess they're trendy in some of the more cosmopolitan places, I mean, if you're a snooty eater or like to think you're a bit of a gourmet you'll know the term, but myself, I've only eaten them once -- and that was in England! They were all right, but nothing to write home about. Although I love calamari -- I just never thought of it as particularly Spanish. You're right about the Spanish tortilla being nothing like the "real" thing -- and those pimientos rellenos are nothing like the chile rellenos I'm used to (which I'm personally not all that fond of).
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:23 am Post subject:
Uriel wrote:
Tapas is not well known in most of the US. I guess they're trendy in some of the more cosmopolitan places, I mean, if you're a snooty eater or like to think you're a bit of a gourmet you'll know the term,
Or if you just happen to live in a neighborhood that has some Spanish restaurants where they serve tapas...
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They were all right, but nothing to write home about.
I've had some pretty good stuff.
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You're right about the Spanish tortilla being nothing like the "real" thing
My mother had a friend who kept her supplied with excellent homemade Spanish tortillas, and since she lived with me...
Tapas is not well known in most of the US. I guess they're trendy in some of the more cosmopolitan places, I mean, if you're a snooty eater or like to think you're a bit of a gourmet you'll know the term
Tapas a absolutly nothing lake a a "trendy" thing. they are popular simple pieces of food - the English equivalent word could be "snack"... it not not "high gastronomy".
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Although I love calamari -- I just never thought of it as particularly Spanish.
well, it is. you find them (and sepias too) everywhere in Spain, not only on the coasts.
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You're right about the Spanish tortilla being nothing like the "real" thing
the only common thing is to use a similar name. Spanish tortilla is an omelette - with ognions and potatoes, while Mexican tortilla is probablay having some indigenous origins.
I remember having seen a group of Canadians and American to who I was discussing in the youth hostel in Madrid. They were talking about how dissapointed they were, first by the temperature (it was freezing as it is usually in winter), and by the food, some of them were expecting to eat somethings like tacos and enchilladas... which for a spanish is something complelty exotic and unknown (they are very few mexican restaurants in Spain, they are not popular at all)
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:19 am Post subject:
fab wrote:
Spanish tortilla is an omelette - with ognions and potatoes, while Mexican tortilla is probablay having some indigenous origins.
Here's the main ingredient -- it's definitely indigenous:
Freshly made tortillas are the best!
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(they are very few mexican restaurants in Spain, they are not popular at all)
Still? My mother lived in Madrid for a couple of years in the early '70s. She was very happy to discover that there was a Mexican restaurant...that is, until she tried the food, which she said was the worst Mexican food she'd ever tasted.
Even in northern New Mexico, the "Mexican" food is nothing like the real thing, and my friends and family who live up there love to come down here for it!
When I said tapas were trendy, I meant only in the US market. And by the way, the reverse of your comment about the attitude of the Spanish toward Mexican food is true here -- Spanish food is unknown, and you will find no Spanish restaurants anywhere in the area!
Mexican tortillas are definitely related to Indian versions like Navajo flatbread and frybread and Hopi piki, which is a crispy, paper-thin creation made by spreading cornmeal batter on a hot rock with the fingers, and then peeling it off carefully (it's common to burn your fingers until you get used to it, according to Hopi women).
These are made from blue corn, hence the odd color. Tastes just like regular corn, though. Corn comes in white, yellow, red, and blue varieties, as well as ornamentals that are multicolored on the same ear. They make festive chips, too.
Speaking of colors, I didn't understand what you meant by sepias, fab, since sepia in English is a shade of brown.
It would be "con papas" here, but what I'm used to seeing as guisada sauce is a lot thicker and darker, and nasty, too -- chock full of some spice I don't like. Cumin, I think. _________________ An apple a day....
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It wasn't until I got to Venice that I had a seafood feast that satiated my deprived palate. Dining in France, however, was an entirely different experience. Everywhere I ate was like a celebration of the senses! 
-- and those pimientos rellenos are nothing like the chile rellenos I'm used to (which I'm personally not all that fond of).
