Wanna hear what I did this weekend? I worked 16 hours a day for 3 days, I squeezed the work of a week in those hours. It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, but trust me, I loved it. If you do what you love for a living, you’ll be on vacation all your
carrots
A bunch of years ago, about 10, I think, I was a regular in a news and travel website about the Dominican Republic. Through the forum I got in touch with somebody who also lived in Santo Domingo and who, coincidentally, picked up her groceries every week at a business very close to where I
I love soups. There is something comforting, soothing, heart-warming in a bowl of warm soup. Frankly, few foods have this effect on me. When I am sad, down, when life seems to be going in the wrong direction, I drown my sorrows in a bowl of soup. When I don’t feel well, when my body resents
My husband and I spent our first years together, more than a decade and a half ago, wandering the country. For me sometimes revisiting places I had been to, for him learning what this land of ours has to offer: From pristine white sand beaches to the highest mountains in the region, from tropical deserts to
School summer break is almost here. My daughter finishes school in a week or so, and with it comes the good and the bad of having a 6 year old who requires supervision and entertaining. For the time being I am concentrating on the fact that I will no longer have to get up very
Quick, summer is coming soon! It’s barely May and round here the heat gives us little respite these days. Luckily it has been raining heavily for the last two days, which brings the heat and humidity down a few notches to more bearable levels. Cool enough to eat soup without melting into a puddle of sweat, and
There is a question I have been asked many times in these ten years: What makes a dish “Dominican”? The answer escapes me. And since Aunt Ilana is the anthropologist here I have put off coming up with my own definition. The fact is that I doubt there will ever be a consensus on the
The good thing about this season’s celebrations is that it spares no segment of our country. At least everyone celebrates New Year’s Eve with a feast fitting their budget. But let’s not forget those with alimentary restrictions, be them because of religious, ethical or health reasons. A good thing about our moving our sites to
Every nation has its rules about what goes and what doesn’t when it comes to gastronomy. Coffee here as we know is drunk sweeter than sweet. Those of us who decline any sugar at all are considered eccentric at best. In the same way as Italians who react with horror at ignorant foreigners who flout
Sometimes feedback is a strange thing. I was pretty sure that this was going to be one of those recipes that people take a look at, shrug and quickly forget. While cocido de paticas (Pig trotters stew) is a popular dish in the Dominican Republic (although not a common one, it takes time to prepare it, so it’s
Ginger is used in Dominican cooking in desserts and the ever-welcome ginger tea. It is not a traditional part of our savory cuisine. I’ve set out to change that. OK, that would be a bit too ambitious. But in the meantime let me share with you the many ways in which we use ginger at
Confession time: I was sorely tempted to start this post with a tawdry joke about a butcher, a housewife and beef tongue. For this I have nobody to blame but Aunt Ilana’s husband, Pedro. Luckily, and for the sake of the children who visit our site, the joke would be lost in translation. Phew! Will
Today is our last day in Denmark, tomorrow we start the long trip home, and even though I miss my country’s food it is not less true that one of the reasons why I enjoy my visits to Denmark has to do with food. Good food. My in-laws are restauranteurs and hoteliers, which means that
Having moved from a large city (Santo Domingo) a few years back, one of the things that I like the most about PuntaCana is the sense of old-time community. It helps that none of us is from here, we all have to build support networks and lean on friends for help once in a while.
Carne ripiada (shredded beef), with some variations, is known throughout Latin America with many different names. The base is an inexpensive cut of beef (flank, for example), cooked over low heat for a long time until it becomes very tender. Some vegetables are also added to the mix. The Dominican carne ripiada is pretty close
Practically every country on earth has a version of potato salad, but did you know where “our” Russian salad originated? I bet you won’t guess in a million years. Well, what do you know, it did come from Russia after all! The original “Russian salad” was created by the chef Laurence Olivier who worked at
Let me tell you my story on ensalada de coditos. When you are a kid you tend to believe everything you read: I thought that all English ladies went picnicking once or twice a week and that they all wore long flowery dresses and big floppy hats or fascinators, sat on red and white-checkered tablecloths and
Speaking of locrio de Pollo (Dominican rice and chicken), let me tell you a story… There are some cooking disasters that nobody but us knows, secrets that we keep as if they were bedroom secrets. Others, well, those others nobody seems to forget. My most infamous ones you ask? They seem to all involve rice.
A few weeks ago we had a poll to determine how good our readers were in the kitchen. From this we learnt that 44% of our visitors were good cooks, 33% were ok cooks and 21% were a hazard in the kitchen. If I am surprised by the result it is because there weren’t more
As we all know, a new age of airport security is upon us, as we adjust to the various new stringent measures in place: profiling, nosy questions, long line-ups, and the meat & veggie frisks. The meat & veggie frisks, you ask? Yes, it’s true! 600 kilos of meat are confiscated weekly at DR airports,
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican and Dominican-inspired recipes, home ideas, crafts, and the chronicles of Aunt Clara and Aunt Ilana's adventures.
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