La versión español está después de la versión inglés.
WE HAD AN early Christmas dinner Friday night with our dear friends Elena and Tynan, and their dear kids (19 and 17), Alexander and Paula. A perfect meal at their home that started with chistorra, a fast-cure pork sausage flavored with garlic, salt, and paprika — from Aragon, the Basque Country (where Elena is from), and Navarra, all in northern Spain. That was followed by cinta de lomo (pork filet) roasted for hours with vegetables (and wine), and perfect roasted potatoes.
The wonderful company and conversation was capped off by two of San Geraldo’s specialty desserts, lemon-raspberry bars and Beacon Hill brownies. SG makes these look so easy. When the brownies were plated up, he told me they were “a piece of cake” to make. After he readied the lemon bars, he said “They’re easy as pie.” He’s told me in the past that producing one of his to-die-for chocolate cakes is also “[as] easy as pie.” I wonder how he would describe baking a pie. Well, I suppose that’s obvious: a piece of cake.
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TUVIMOS UNA CENA de Navidad temprana la noche del viernes con nuestras queridas amigas Elena y Tynan, y sus queridos hijos (19 y 17), Alexander y Paula. Una comida perfecta en su hogar que comenzó con chistorra, una salchicha de cerdo de cura rápida con sabor a ajo, sal y pimentón — de Aragón, País Vasco (de donde es Elena), y Navarra, todo en el norte de España. Esto fue seguido por cinta de lomo asado durante horas con verduras (y vino), y papas asadas perfectas.
La maravillosa compañía y conversación culminaron con dos de los postres especiales de San Geraldo, las barras de limón y frambuesa y los brownies de Beacon Hill (nuestro barrio en Boston). SG hace que estos se vean tan fáciles. Cuando los brownies estaban cubiertos, me dijo que eran “un pedazo de pastel” (una expression inglés que significa “muy fácil”) para hacer. Después de preparar las barras de limón, dijo: “Son fáciles como una tarta” (otra expresión inglés similar). Me dijo en el pasado que producir uno de sus pasteles de chocolate para morirse es tambien “[tan] fácil como un pastel”. Me pregunto cómo describiría hacer una tarta. Bueno, supongo que es obvio: un pedazo de pastel.
Do the brownies travel well from say Fuengirola, Spain to Livermore, California? Asking for a friend who no longer bakes 🙂
Deedles:
I’m not sure. Although if I’m the one doing the mailing, the box wouldn’t even make it to the post office!
Oh man, these look so good. Am saving both recipes for future reference . . . .
Debra:
SO worth making. The lemon bars actually DO look unbelievably easy to make.
drooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!
anne marie:
I know! And there’s none left!
I have a party to go to tonight, and my waistline just got bigger looking at all this.
Mistress Maddie:
Hope the party was good, although I doubt they had desserts like these two!
You two make a great pair, the baker and the eater! My Grandfather was Basque and from France near the Spanish border. He’s been passed for many years now but one day I hope to get to that region of Spain and France.
Cheapchick:
I’m the eater and the cleaner-upper. Even better! We have still never been up north. Would so love to see Basque Country (and Bilbao!!!).
I love your observation of the various similes (or cliches.) People, including myself, say things like easy as pie or piece of cake without really knowing why things should be described that way.
Kirk:
Well, some time back, Jerry baked a phenomenal cake and he DID say it was as easy as pie. He didn’t get the irony. But, at the same time, my response was “Easy as pie? Have you ever seen me make a pie?!?”
Those cakes looks dangerous good 😊
Elin:
I’m sure if you were to visit, Jerry would bake for you!
What could be better than a Christmas-celebrating-meal with friends?? Nothin better, except if you can add treats baked up by San Geraldo… fantastic! Thanks for including the recipes!
Judy:
That brownie recipe came off a box of Baker’s chocolate in 1981. It never fails (but he now uses the best quality chocolate he can find in the supermarket).
What a wonderful dinner with friend and such deserts !
parsnip
Parsnip:
Always a pleasure. And I think he needs to do more baking this month.
Those look very doable, and very yummy. I love his notes for weights added over the years. I have started baking by weight, it is a fun conversion.
David:
He had to make adjustments since our move to Spain, so any of his old recipes are now annotated. I even made a small chart for the kitchen with oven temperatures.
You guys sure do eat some beautiful looking stuff! Enjoy!
Walt the Fourth
I wish I had taken pictures of dinner. Elena is an excellent traditional cook.
YUM and YUM!
Yes…..a perfect match-up you two are!
Does SG like his baking results as much as everyone else?
Jim:
He can be more critical than the rest of us, but this time he did. And he often can appreciate his own productions!
I brought Carlos by to show him the sweets and now he’s in Masterbaking™ mode.
Have a Merry Merry, and Happy Happy, Mitch, for you and SG!
Bob:
Ooooooh. I can’t wait to see what Carlos bakes up!
Easy as pie and piece of cake were never ‘good’ for me as both always seemed not easy indeed.
Urspo:
Exactly. When I praised SG’s baking some time recently he told me it was easy as pie (he didn’t get the pun). My response was, “Have you ever seen me bake a pie?!?”