The Delights of Dulce de Leche

Without a single doubt, the best thing about Chile (but only one of the best things about Argentina, since for that country there are many wonderful things!) is the manjar, called dulce de leche in Argentina, (and I think the rest of the world). It has the same colour as caramel or butterscotch, but it is infinitely infinitely better - better taste, better texture, better richness, and I could go on. I'm lucky that grocery stores (Loblaws in Toronto, Provigo in Montreal) carry it, because it allows me to still have it even when I'm not in South America. The first time I found it at Loblaws, I brought it home and before I had even put it in the cupboard I found myself eating it by the spoonful directly from the jar. After about 4 very big spoonfuls, I managed to put it away. But it was hard!

In Chile and Argentina, desserts (pastries, ice cream) are everywhere, which must be why I came back about fifteen pounds heavier after I studied abroad in Santiago. My sweet toothness goes back a long way. Dulce de leche/manjar features prominently in most pastries sold at bakeries. Within the first few weeks of my six month stay in Santiago I discovered manjar, and then proceeded to spend the following five and a half months eating entirely too much of it. My absolute favourite were mendocinos (called alfajores in Argentina – see picture below, sometimes they put powdered sugar on the outside) which is a two layed cookie with a lot of dulce de leche in the middle. This little café I went to all the time had both big ones and tiny little bite sized ones (called Mendocino chicos, in Argentina called alfajorcitos - also a picture below), of which I used to eat on average four a day telling myself that since they were so small, they really weren’t that bad. At the end of many a long day (or sometimes in the middle of the day) I’d stop on my way home for a little mendocino treat. I may have felt like I didn’t belong in Santiago, and I may have spent far more unhappy days than happy ones there, but when it came to a love of desserts and manjar, I fit right in.

Buenos Aires has the best ice cream of any other city I've ever been to (it also must have one of the highest percentages of ice cream shops per capita of any city in the world), and the main reason I believe that is because of the dulce de leche ice cream. Haagen Dazs also makes a dulce de leche ice cream which consists of a light coloured dulce de leche base with swirls of real dulce de leche mixed in. It's very good, but it doesn't come close to the dulce de leche ice cream in Buenos Aires. For starters, there's the colour. The Buenos Aires dulce de leche is a darker colour (a mix of tan and brown) than the Haagen Dazs, and the colour alone is enough to tell that the ice cream’s flavour is just pouring out. The ice cream is also very rich, but not an overwhelming or too rich rich, instead, it has a richness that is just right. It’s perfectly balanced, and perfectly delicious, and makes a person want to have ice cream every day.

Though I do miss the authentic dulce de leche filled pastries and ice cream of Argentina, fortunately, I have been able to find ways to eat dulce de leche back in North America which do not involve a spoon and a jar. Last year, I began mixing dulce de leche into my buttercream cupcake icing to great success. And for my most recent birthday, I had a dessert party at my apt where by far the most popular dessert I served was a homemade dulce de leche cheesecake. Happily, everyone really enjoyed it and it was the only dessert I didn't have any left overs of (much to my chagrin...) I'm glad it was such a success, and I'm also pleased to have found another way to eat dulce de leche.

Just before I left Berkeley for good, I had a dinner party on the summer solstice at my Hilgard apt where I served (what else??) spaghetti and wine. L. brought dessert and surprised me by baking these wonderful afajores. They were delicious, and such a treat! That was before I really got into baking myself (or rather expanded my baking beyond cake mixes) and writing this has reminded me that I should really either ask L. for the recipe, or search for one online myself. I may not be able to indulge in Argentine alfajores whenever I want, but I can at least try my best to make my own version, and to bring a little bit more dulce de leche into my life.

To Eat In or To Eat Out...

My love of take out food goes way back. During high school on the nights my parents both worked late, they'd leave me money to order pizza, or get Thai food from the little place near our house, or whatever other take out I felt like getting. Looking back now, I realize it never occurred to any of us that I should actually cook something for myself, with some left over for them too when they got home :)

Once I moved to Berkeley, and, after my first year was out of the dorms and in an apt, my cooking forays were very basic: spaghetti and other kinds of pasta, and very occasionally pesto pizza (but on store-bought flat bread). Although, I had had high hopes for my first year living in an apt. Over that summer, L. and I went to this book store near her house in the Beaches and both bought a "How to Cook Everything" cookbook, which I unfortunately lost sometime that year, needless to say before I could cook anything out of it. So other than making spaghetti in Berkeley, I ate out. But luckily, Berkeley had really great places to eat. I wasn't eating gross, unhealthy fast food, I was eating giant salads (yeah Veggie Delight, A. and I's favourite!) at Intermezzo, good Mexican food with the best strawberry juice in the world at Cancun, really great Thai food at Cha Am, gourmet pizza at Cheeseboard, not so gourmet (but still appealing) pizza at Fat Slice, daal or chicken tikka masala and lots of naan (sometimes plain, sometimes aloo) at Naan 'n' Curry, the best aloo gobi at Tandor Kitchen, middle eastern food at La Mediterranee, California rolls at Party Sushi, and the list could go on and on. I often went to these places with friends, or I'd call ahead to order, then go pick it up and bring it back to my apt, or I occasionally ate at the place alone (an art I later perfected in Paris in the winter/spring of 2007). All in all, my eating adventures were really fun! And most importantly, I went to different neighbourhoods, and got to know Berkeley better.

I also very much enjoyed the culinary offerings of Paris when I lived there. Though I probably made my faithful spaghetti a few times a week, I would often just bring home a baguette (or a half baguette depending on how hungry I was) from one of the 3 bakeries on my street, and some comte cheese from the little cheese shop across the street and eat that. Or often I'd get an individual size quiche. They also have a lot of great little Lebanese places in Paris, so I would get falafel sandwiches a lot. I also regularly frequented crepe stands to either get my favourite nutella crepes or, ham and cheese if I wanted a more savoury meal. And of course I ate lemon tarts and chocolate croissants on a multiple times per week basis. And then, as I wrote above, I really perfected going to cafes alone, ordering a salad (most cafes in Paris have decent/good salads) and a kir, and writing letters, or in my diary, or just staring off into space (or discreetly at other people). I went all over Paris eating, and could probably a name a cafe or crepe stand to visit in almost all of the city's 20 arrondissements. In many ways, those days eating (and of course doing other things) in Paris were perfect...

Then suddenly in the fall of 2008, I decided I wanted to cook. Prior to really starting to cook, as I've made clear above, pasta (mostly penne, sometimes rigatoni) and always spaghetti, were the only things I ever made. I've always enjoyed having people over for dinner, but until I was 24, I could only ever serve them one thing: spaghetti. And I got tired of, and embarrassed with, the way I would always almost brag to other people that that was the only thing I could cook. I started fairly slow, but have gradually built up my repertoire of dishes. This past fall especially I got more daring and made many new recipes for the first time, usually to a fair amount of success. All in all, I'm really happy to be regularly cooking and trying out new recipes. It's a lot of fun and gives me a good sense of satisfaction. And I now feel quite confident as a cook, and have hosted many dinner parties with a variety of dishes that are not spaghetti! (Although spaghetti is, and always be, my ultimate favourite food, along with raspberries).

My developing cooking skills and repertoire aside, I firmly believe that a person can really get to know a place through eating out, and consequently I feel like I know Montreal way less than I would if I ate out more. And that's a bit disappointing. Since I came back here after the winter break I have made a point of trying to eat out a bit more, but so far I haven't really succeeded. Although I have been to several new bakeries and have tried their delicious breads, almond, and chocolate croissants. But, I'm still lacking on the restaurant front. When walking to the post office or the grocery store or anywhere really, I always see lots of cute restaurants and cafes which I want to try. My Berkeley/Paris self was the Queen of making sure I tried every restaurant or cafe that caught my eye. I need to get that aspect of myself back clearly! Most people make resolutions to eat out less, but mine is to actually eat out more. I think the key will really be to finding a good balance, and hopefully I can do that in the months ahead, especially once it gets warmer and leaving my apt is more appealing.