PASTEL DE CHOCLO: Corn Casserole

This is a dish which is very popular in Perú, and comes from our oldest cooking tradition.It has been modified by me because on these modern days, we need to be more practical. The substitute ingredients don't alter the taste of these wonderful dish, and make its confection a breeze!! Hope you like it!!!
Este es un plato muy popular en el Perú, aunque no creo que sea netamente peruano...He sustituido los ingredientes por razones prácticas, sobretodo, en estas épocas modernas!!!  Creo no alterar el sabor de esta receta  y creo que disfrutarán mucho de este pastel que ha cautivado las papilas gustativas de tantos antiguos y modernos.
Pasta:
4 cans of cream of corn  (if  they are not available, grind  the kernels contained in the 4 cans in the blender) 4 latas de crema de choclo (sino la encuentran, licuar los granos de choclo entero de 4 latas...con agua y todo
some star anisse seeds...algunos granitos de anís estrella o normal.
1 teaspoon of granulated sugar.  Una cucharadita de azucar blanca.
Aproximately one cup of Parmesan Cheese.  I taza de queso parmesano, aproximadamente
1/2 cup of vegetal oil. 1/2 taza de aceite vegetal.
2 tablespoons of MASECA or corn flour. 2 cucharadas de Maseca o harina de maiz.
3 teaspoons of baking powder. 3 cucharaditas de polvo de hornear... Royal, por ejemplo
1 cubito de caldo de gallina; 1 chicken soup cube,
6 eggs; 6 huevos.
1 lata de leche evaporada..One can of evaporated milk.

Cocinar el choclo en una sartén con el aceite, las semillas de anís y el azúcar y cubito de pollo hasta que se espese un poco. In a pan, heat the oil and cook the corn together with the anisse seeds and the chicken soup cube for a while until the mix gets a little thick.
When this is ready, add the parmesan cheese, the corn flour and the evaporated milk, taking care that it doesn't get lumpy. Add salt, pepper, and soup cube.  Make sure to check the salt before you add more.  The cheese and the cube have plenty of it!  Cuando este preparado esté listo, echar el queso parmesano, la Maseca y la leche evaporada, echando de a pocos y mezclando bien para que no se hagan grumos. Agregar un poco de sal, cuidando que no se sale, porque el queso ya tiene este ingrediente...pimienta y el cubito de gallina (también tiene sal)
Remove from the stove.  When the mixture cools, add 6 beat egg whites, meringue style, blending them in and mixing them very well into the preparation.  Add the egg yolks. Mix well and reserve this mix for a while at room temperature.
Remover de la hornilla y cuando la mezcla se enfríe, agregar las claras batidas a punto de nieve y las yemas.  Mezcalr bien y dejar a un costado, a temperatura ambiente, mientras se prepara el relleno.
Relleno:
1 libra de carne molida: 1 pound of ground beef
1 cebolla: one onion
Ajos molidos: grounded  garlic
salt and pepper: sal y pimienta.
2 huevos duros:2 hard boiled eggs
un puñado de pasas: a bunch of raisins
cebolla china picada: some chopped chives
Freir la cebolla y el ajo hasta que se doren ligeramente: Fry the onion and  garlic until they turn golden brown. Sazonar con sal y pimienta. Echar la carne y dorar
Add the ground meat and fry .  Season with salt and pepper.
Add the chives, chopped hard boiled eggs and raisins. Agregar la cebolla china picada, los huevos duros picados y las pasas.
Mezclar bien y reservar.  Mix well and reserve.
In a greased medium sized pyrex or foil,  add half of the corn mixture: Echar en un molde engrasado mediano, la mitad de la mezcla de la crema de choclo. 
On top of it, add the meat preparation, and cover with the rest of the corn mixture. Encima de ella echar la carne y cubrir con el resto de la crema de choclo.
Meter al horno precalentado a 350 grados F y hornear hasta que dore encima e introduciendo la punta de un cuchillo al medio, éste salga limpio.  Servir calientito.  Se puede meter  a la congeladora, si es que hay que guardarlo unos días.
Introduce it in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. and bake until it is golden brown and when you insert a knife, this last one comes out clean.  You can freeze it if you are not going to eat it in the next two coming days.  Voila!! It's sooo good!!! Buenísimo!!!

Astoria, Queens

Yesterday I went to Long Island City to visit my son. I thought it would be important for those who are not familiar with this area to include some facts about this wonderful and colorful neighborhood adjacent to Manhattan.
In 1870, Astoria and other sorrounding villages, were integrated into Long Island City, which remained as an independent municipality until it was incorporated into New York City in 1898.
Astoria, has turned into one of the best places to live in Long Island City and  into the home of many professionals who prefer to reside near, but not inside Manhattan; and as a consequence, the appraisal of its real estate market is improving.  From a neighborhood which was basically Greek during the second half of the nineteenth century, it has transformed into a multiethnic space.  Now we can find, a great variety of people from different nationalities living together and sharing their languages and cultures. We can find along the neighborhod immigrants from Arabic countries,Italy, France, Brazil Ireland, Mexico, Colombia, and many countries of Central America.
Astoria was originally called Hallet's Cove, after his first landowner, William Hallet, who settled there in the 1700's.  It was also home to many wealthy New Yorkers, who built large residences in this area.
Its actual name comes after John Jacob Astor, a very wealthy man who invested in the neighborhood.The Steinway section of Astoria was named after Heinrich Steinweg, who in 1853 established Steinway Village for the workers of his famous piano company, Steinway and Sons.
In Astoria you can fin the best variety of international food I have ever seen.  As you travel through Ditmars St., Broadway or 31st Street and Steinway Street, you cannot decide easily which restaurant are you going to visit.  Mostly young people invade the bars and eateries, especially during the evenings and well into the early morning hours. Whether you choose a french restaurant like Pomme, a Brazilian like Cafe Brasil, a Colombian like the colorful collector's eatery "El Basurero" or an Italian Pizza Place, you can be sure that you are being treated to the best food for much less than what you can spend in a trendy Manhattan restaurant.  The ambiance is superb, and you can be sure that you will dine out in an elegant and welcoming place.
Astoria is also home to the Museum of the Moving Image, which possesses the nation's largest collection of artifacts relating to the art, history and techology of the moving image.
Also, Astoria Park, built by the East River, is the neighborhood's largest park and contains the biggest New York City Public Pool, former site of the 1936 and 1964US Olympic trials.
The Isamu Noguchi Museum exhibits the work of this Japanese-American Sculptor and has an outdoor sculpture garden. It is open year round.
Astoria can also boast of having the oldest beer garden in New York City, the Bohemian Hall, founded in 1910.
The Hell Gate Bridge,originally the East River Arch Bridge, opened in 1916 as a way to connect railroad traffic from Pennsyvania Railroad routes in New Jersey, into New York and New England. It was also going to tie with Long Island Railroad routes, in which the Pennsylvania Railroad had a controlling interest. The architect who designed the bridge was Gustav Lindenthal. When it opened, it was the longest steel-arch bridge in the world; until the construction of the Bayonne Bridge in 1931. It was called like that because it crossed a portion of the East River that had treacherous currents separating Queens from Ward's Island, an Island which housed a large mental hospital. One of the four tracks in the bridge is no longer in use. Its restoration and painting in "Hell Red Color"was completed in 1996. In 2009, another project to refurbish its concrete walls and  painting of the arch span, was completed.
Lets go to Astoria, Queens, a diverse neighborhood with multicultural features and wonderful, wonderful, food!!!

El Libro Total

Amigos, siempre había querido tener una biblioteca de esta clase.  Qué maravilla cibernética!!! Por favor hacer un click al link para poder consultar esta joya.  No dejen de guardarla.


El Libro Total

Earth Song by Michael Jackson

This video is a  testimonial song about what is happening today with the earth in which we live...a friendly awareness of what we are headed to, shall we not take ation.  Michael Jackson's song is superb and beyond his wonderful interpretation, we are once more reminded that the story and conservation of our planet is a preoccupation we should have in our everyday lives. 

YouTube - De Ollas y Sueños - Cooking Up Dreams (trailer)

Tengo en mis manos un libro de cocina dedicado a mi madre por un Sr. Zamudio en Diciembre de 1973, que se llama "¿Qué Cocinaré?" publicado por la fabrica de fideos y pastas Nicolini en el Perú. Esta fábrica fue una de las primeras industrias peruana fundada en el Perú,dentro del marco de la República Aristocrática, en los años 1900 por los hermanos Nicolini. Ellos, vinieron desde Italia y fundaron una fábrica dedicada a la confección de pasta y harinas que funcionó por más de 80 años, integrando la tecnología extranjera que trajeron sus fundadores.
Como parte de la promoción de sus productos, publicaron un famoso librito que se convirtió en una especie de biblia para las amas de casa; especialmente las principiantes. Muchas señoras y gente jóven aprendieron a cocinar con este libro; y es hasta el día de hoy, un instrumento valioso para aquellas personas que quieran preparar nuestros platillos nacionales, pues detalla ingredientes, medidas y consejos para la buena cocina en forma económica y simple En el curso de los años, la fábrica ha sido absorbida por la compañía Alicorp en el año 1996.
La actividad económica de esta última consiste en la fabricación y distribución de aceites y grasas comestibles, fideos, harinas, galletas, jabón para lavar, detergentes, salsas, helados, refrescos instantáneos, alimentos balanceados para consumo animal, productos de cuidado personal y oleína de pescado con alto contenido de Omega 3, así como la distribución de productos fabricados por terceros.
La Compañía efectúa sus ventas principalmente en el mercado nacional, así también exporta sus productos a Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Haití, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Estados Unidos de América, República Dominicana, Nicaragua, Canadá, Panamá, Bélice y Honduras. Al respecto, en los años 2008 y 2007, las exportaciones representaron 17.2% y 10.9% de sus ventas netas, respectivamente.
Alguien tuvo la buena ocurrencia de mandarme una copia electrónica del libro y aquí les mando el link para que se pongan a cocinar y me conviden. Uno de los chefs, que participa en el documental Ollas y Sueños, del cual también les presento un "trailer", nos dice que él aprendió a cocinar en su libro de Nicolini.
Para bajar la copia del libro, referirse a http://www.alicorp.com.pe/espanol/recetas.html# Y para ver un avance de tal película, por favor mirar el link a continuación.

Waris Dirie

This entry refers to some of the atrocities going on around the world in the name of male chauvinism and the use of religion to empower it.  This is also an entry which refers to other references I've made about forms of slavery around the world.  The story of supermodel Waris Dirie, now turned politic activist and fighter for women's rights, is a story of survival, is a story of redemption, is a story of re-evaluation of religious and cultural beliefs.  It is the  story of a brave woman who gave up her own personal gains, to fight for reassessment of women's rights around the world.  Please proceed to read this link and PLEASE offer a comment, initiate a circle of love...a circle of awareness with the rights of oppressed people all over the world!!!  Fight with her for all women that are enslaved in many ways around the world!!!

Waris Dirie Biography - Grew Up in Nomadic Setting, Modeled for Calendar, Published Autobiographical Novel, Selected writings

Manhattan....

Today I went to Manhattan. The city is always moving and it is always wonderful to walk around and find so much culture, so much movement, so much color and so much diversity. It doesn't bother me; maybe because I don;t go over there so often.
This time I think that I have the right and obligation to post this blog and pour down my impressions about this particular day.
I had to take my niece and her baby to the city, because she wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The weather could not have been better, the baby was unusually pleasant (one year olds cry and get upset easily), and the Long Island Railroad trip ran very smoothly, and on time. We had a quick lunch in one of those "delis" that offer all kinds of stuff...sandwiches, salads, wraps, and pastries. Since their opening, it's getting easier to have a nice, inexpensive stroll through Manhattan, because you don't have to spend a fortune to please your visitors ( I have to tell you that I am somewhat thrifty). 
After looking at some art work offered by the street vendors which stand in front of the museum, we carried the stroller up the stairs....so colorful! People are seating on the stairs...some eating, others having intelectual discussions, others taking pictures.  After checking the Egyptian, Chinese, Indian and Japanese art exhibits, getting some souvenirs, and after looking at the wonderful Picasso collection, which made me change my mind about cubism and "modern art", we had to leave, because it was closing time.
Because the baby had been so well behaved today, we decided to take him to one of the playgrounds in Central Park, and that is were our Via Crucis started!!!  He couldn't get enough of the swings and the slides and kids playing around...Two chinese babies looked so cute buckled to the baby swings!  And their moms seemed to be enjoying more than them the slight impulse while they pushed them...
We got a case of ""delirium tremens", but were able to drag him from there.
We decided to get into the bus, to do some real sightseeing as we headed to Penn Station to take the train back home. The stroller was packed with baby needs, some souvenirs and my pocketbook. The lady driver let us in and warned us about keeping the carriage as far away from the aisle as posible.  A big lady frowned her face and started mumbling about her tax money and about the millions that the city spends for a safe environment, and here we are, violating codes and endangering people (maybe she thought we were illegal aliens).  As the bus reached 34th Street and 5th Avenue, we were already exhausted and the baby, sleeping.  We started our way down very carefully, but my inexperienced niece, after asking for help (which was never offered or given to her), lost control of the stroller and the baby fell on his face with her by the side. I got so frightened and couldn't stop thinking about the face of satisfaction of the big lady inside the bus...who now was going to make her point clear!!! Fortunately, nothing more happened, and things did not go further than a big scare for the bus rider, ourselves and the remorseful indifferent "help deniers".  I was thinking about all the ifs of the world and how lucky we were. The little boy was so surprised, that he only cried for a block or so, until we reached the final bus to Penn Station.  We arrived just on time for the 7.08pm train to Long Island.  My feet were pounding and I was extremely tired after all this stair climbing and descending with the heavy carriage. Mommy was carrying her baby this time.
Finally we were in the train.  Baby got impatient and went under the seat. He started shrieking as the train started rolling..you could hear an indistinct "sshhh"from everywhere. He got his security blanket and held to his mom, and that was the end of them for a while.  So I decided to talk to my friend on the phone. Not two minutes had gone by, when the guy who collects the tickets came by and told me at "point blank"" that I had to stop talking on the phone, because everybody was complaining about how loud I was speaking.  Bullshit!!! Everybody was talking with their families on the phone, and everybody was talking to their friends!  And my voice was lower than theirs. I never felt so violated of my rights. and so I informed the guy. 
These incidents: the mean commentary of the big lady in the bus, and this last happening lead  me to think two things: either we live in a very neurotic, intolerant, indifferent society, or we are facing a serious case of disgusting racism, because I was talking in Spanish.  Or could it be, that people tend to eavesdrop and hear each other's conversations, and I guess I was not letting them entertain themselves, because they couldn't understand me?  I think that our society has not changed...that they like to justify and blame their frustrations in minorities, but they don't realize that all of them have been foreigners at some point in their lives; they don't realize that by making these differences, by desintegrating our society, they are caving their way in a hole of deception, hate, and disunion...where they will perish and never surge again!!!  Stop!!!