Archive for wine
Maid #4 (continued)
Posted by: | Comments(continued from Maid #4)
One such surprise happened about a week ago when I offered Maid #4 some wine with her dinner. She responded in the affirmative and then began to tell me that her daytime employer had not been paying her recently, and instead was giving her food and even bottles of wine. She was rather pitiful as she said it, so I assumed she was fishing for help.
I offered to buy the wine from her, assuming she would much prefer cash to wine bottles. She said “No, gracias”, and we left it at that. However, the next day she arrived with a bottle of wine. I asked her how much she wanted for it, and she said “nada”. I asked again, and she insisted on giving it to me. I didn’t recognize the brand-Santo Pecado-and determined to look it up. I had a hard time finding it, but learned that it was an Argentine brand and had been endorsed by a popular entertainer.
The bottle in my possession was a 2004 Malbec. The closest I could find of this brand was a listing on a wine forum that indicated the bottles sold for about $29 a bottle. I couldn’t believe it-surely this woman’s employer wouldn’t give away an expensive bottle of wine. I resolved to find out for sure, so I talked to the bar manager at JP’s RumBar and sure enough, there was Santo Pecado listed, for $20 a bottle wholesale. What I had in my home was a 2004, surely worth more.
I struggled with what to do with the bottle. As I’ve worked to become more frugal here, I rarely spend more than $5 on a bottle of wine, since for that price I can get great stuff from Chile, Argentina and occasionally France. I thought about selling it and giving her the money. For days that bottle sat on the shelf, taunting me. I hadn’t had a great bottle of wine in a while, and after all, it was a gift. I didn’t want to be uncharitable.
Eventually the decision was forced on me by circumstances. A few nights ago I was making Mark’s Special Spaghetti and discovered, to my horror, that I was out of red wine. The only remaining bottle was the Santo Pecado, courtesy of Maid #4. I instantly recognized that fate had brought this about and I would be a fool not to capitalize on it. I opened up the bottle and poured a small glass to taste.
It was indeed wonderful wine. The Malbec is a smooth wine, without the boldness of Cabernet. It had a great aftertaste. Once dinner was ready, I poured a nice big glass for Maid #4 and put the bottle on the table in front of her. If she realized it was her bottle, she didn’t give any indication of it. She drank the glass with her dinner, asked permission to take some spaghetti home with her (as she does after every dinner), cleaned up and left.
It took a great effort by yours truly, but I managed to finish that bottle of wine all by myself that night. (It goes well with pseudo-cheddar cheese, by the way.)
This is GuateLiving.
Guatemalan Father’s Day
Posted by: | CommentsToday is Guatemalan Father’s Day. I know this because Maid #4 brought me a bottle of wine yesterday and explained it to me. (The boombas at 6am this morning also reminded us that something was being celebrated). Of course, this was a very generous act on her part, the bottle of wine representing a day’s wages for her.
I wondered later whether I qualify for Guatemalan Father’s Day because my daughter was born here, and thus is an Antigueno, or whether I qualify merely because I’m a father. Do Gringo children count? Oh well. I’m going to see if Guatemalan Father’s Day entitles me to any special treatment today. Perhaps the bars in town will have happy hour all day?
Mark’s Special Spaghetti Recipe
Posted by: | CommentsIn addition to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and soup from a can, I can make really good spaghetti. Since all the other expat bloggers post their recipes, I thought I would share mine. This works great if you’re a vegetarian, love tomatoes, onions and garlic, don’t have anything else, or don’t know how to make anything else.
Mark’s Special Spaghetti Recipe
- Fill up a pot with small tomatoes (3Q per lb), add water and boil.
- Get a kid who has earned a punishment and have them peel and chop a red, white and yellow onion (2.5Q per lb) and a bunch of garlic (1Q per head).
- Have a glass of wine (Chilean, 30Q per bottle).
- Once the tomatoes split open, dump them into the plastic green thing with holes in it and let them cool off.
- Have a glass of wine.
- Find a kid to peel the tomatoes and mash them.
- Dump the mashed tomatoes into a pot and bring to a boil.
- Add in chopped onions and garlic and stir occasionally. Add salt and pepper.
- Boil water, then add noodles (3Q for 7 oz bag).
- Have a glass of wine.
- Turn the heat off the spaghetti sauce and let the stuff sit. Add salt.
- Have a glass of wine.
- Dump the contents into a blender and blend for 10 seconds.
- Dump the contents back into a pot. Add salt (2Q for 400g).
- Drain spaghetti from boiling water, but not before reserving some of the water in a separate cup.
- Put spaghetti in a bowl, add the water you reserved, and toss with some olive oil (86Q for 2L).
- Serve with generous portions of Parmesan cheese (65Q for 1lb).
Sorry, no picture. Remind me to tell you the story about buying batteries.
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