Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 10:00AM 
The best book in English about the Basque culinary tradition. It has recipes, but it has more in common with a novel. From the port to the caserío, María Jose Sevilla recounts for the English speaking world the soul of Basque Country: the products and the food.
Part of the 365cities project.
Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 04:18PM Summer is threatening here in Donosti, with the ever steady influx of Australians and oh-so-slightly higher temperatures.
But this summer will be different...
Because July 1, The Loaf (in a box) opens in Donosti. The Loaf is a very special project: a three-month pop-up bakery, located in premium real estate on the Urumea in front of the train station. The star of the bread is Dan Lepard, master baker and author. The architect of the containers is Javier Bueno. And the evil geniuses behind it all are my friends and fellow salseras at La Salsera.
The excitement has been brewing for months, with our Alex doggedly pursuing bureaucrats and Andoni complaining of stomach problems. Hard at work.
Just to bring good bread to the citizens of Donosti. Crispy crusts, a beautiful crumb, masterful artisan creations. La Salsera does everything they do for the good of humankind.
Don't miss the opening on July 1, or my baking classes each Wednesday in July. You can buy tickets for these and more here.
donosti, gastronomy, news, san sebastian, the glutton club, the loaf Friday, June 8, 2012 at 04:45AM A couple weeks ago, I posted a happy post about my delicious meal in a month or so ago in Arzak. Playful amuse bouches, impeccable fish, and flavors from across the world.
This is part two of that post. Also known as the part where I complain a little.
The desserts were NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
This is cute. This is the Peine de los Vientos, a popular sculpture in Donosti, by Edward Chillida. It's really beautiful, but reduced to the size of a soup spoon on my plate at the number eight restaurant in the world, it was just....cute. And I expect more than cuteness from a restaurant of this level. It's got to be delicous. And this dessert was...okay.
Moving on to a dessert that I did not like AT ALL, and that for some reason unknown to me remains on the menu, it's The Balls.
There's a lot of them. They're cold, hard, and when you break them in your teeth cold, gelled liquid gushes everywhere. Gross. Reaching for the napkin to spit some out gross. I want to love you, Arzak desserts, I really do!
***positive insert***
The ice creams were truly delicious. Great flavors, such as basil, and just the right texture.
***back to that weird crunchy stuff***
As if to taunt me, the balls re-appeared in square form. Citrus flavored. Enough already. Three desserts that are basically the same? No.
And...more cuteness, this time in the form of a footprint and shoelaces. Better tasting than the sculpture plate, but with too many unecessary elements.
But, I want to end this post on a high note, because it truly was a great meal. This was a dessert that I also had the first time I went to Arzak: the fractal fluid. It appears before you, tracing lines as you watch, then you mix and spoon over another plate. For me, it's beautiful, clean, simple, and delicious. So, a success.
Have YOU eaten at Arzak? I want to hear what you think about your meal and the desserts.
arzak, dessert, elena arzak, gastronomy, restaurant, top ten Friday, December 9, 2011 at 03:12AM 
Recently we returned to Alameda, Hondarribi restaurant that is a hallmark of the region for its calidad-precio ratio. Here's some shots of the food, delicious as always, to serve as a glimpse into the way a local menu, basado en el producto, goes changing through the seasons.
Above is the huevo termal, a sous-vide egg with a cream of squash served in a rich, thick broth. Dotted with buttery bread bits.
Then there's the bacalao, ever-present and as good as the last time we ordered it. Updated with a few drizzles of reduced wine syrup (arrope de barrica, or syrup from the barrel).
The slow-cooked meat, which I was very happy to see unchanged. They bring it out and your mind goes, "buah, I can't eat all that". But then you can't NOT eat all that.
The dessert was nice, although I am forever ruined torrija-cally speaking, thanks to Ni Neu's addictive version. Cheese ice cream is never a bad thing, though.
Another more than adequate meal at Alameda. Which may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but it so is.
Sunday, December 4, 2011 at 01:47PM So, you already know what a three-year-old Basque child's birthday party looks like. Well, here's a peek into a slightly different celebration.
What happens when you have friends who are so donostiarra, so basque and so...hungry? You have a birthday party in the batzoki, or meeting place in Euskara, which in this case is a txoko (Basque) or sociedad gastronómica (Spanish) or gastronomic society (bad English) or dining club (more English). The batzoki that just happens to be the Basque Nationalist Party's.
And, by the way, it's not just a birthday. It's a pintxo competition. *Bam*.
So back to the kitchen of the sociedad, to try to hold my own in the kitchen against this born-and-bred die by food folks. There were twenty-something guys lovingly spooning squash sauce over battered and fried white asparagus, girls flipping croquetas, and a certain lovely birthday lady running around in a sparkling black dress, opening bottles of txakoli.
That's my plate. Morcilla balls stuffed arancini style with Ossau-Iraty cheese, with guindilla mayonnaise and a guindilla-pepper relish. Delicious. Recipe coming soon....mysterious mission to complete before I hand it over.
Competition was stiff, however. It wasn't just the melons stuffed with candy brochettes. I knew the most menacing threat would be the plate below, chicken skewers with pomegranate and peanut sauce, made by a very special Donostiarra.
Sure enough, during the voting/awards ceremony, the birthday girl announced the winner...the exotic chicken skewers. Maybe next time...until then, ZORIONAK, ANE!
