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One Day Café

~ good eats from a small kitchen

One Day Café

Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

Giving Thanks for Pumpkin Rolls

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by Anonymous in desserts, recipes

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

dessert, dinner party, expat life, mashed potatoes, pumpkin roll, sweet potato casserole, Thanksgiving

Gaspar and I once again hosted a Thanksgiving feast to share the best of our culture with our friends here in Buenos Aires. This time around, planning was a breeze. Amazing what a difference language skills and a bit of experience can make. Having nailed the acrobatics involved in cooking for 15 people with one tiny stove last year, I had all the “make-ahead” recipes lined up. And after frantically scouring the city last year for Thanksgiving staples like pumpkin, turkey and pecans that don’t seem to be embraced in Argentine cuisine, I knew where to find what I needed. A quick rundown for any newcomers: small frozen turkeys (pavitos) can be found at Jumbo, pecans (nueces – yes, I know that just translates to “nuts” but I don’t make the rules) at Mercado de San Telmo or Barrio Chino, sweet potatoes (batatas) are everywhere, the best brown sugar substitute is azucar negra, and things like cranberries, marshmallows and canned pumpkin do not exist here so “import” them if you can.

I’d had big plans for featuring all the various dishes and recipes I used, but as I should have known, by the time everything was ready and guests were arriving, the last thing on my mind was taking photos. But trust me, if you’re ever looking for a super tasty mashed potato recipe that can be made ahead, this is the one. And this sweet potato casserole got non-stop rave reviews from everyone. I use evaporated milk instead of regular, double the vanilla, and triple the amount of the pecan topping. I love me some crispy pecan topping, what can I say?

At least I got some good pics of the pumpkin roll. I use the recipe from Libby’s without much modification. Pumpkin rolls can take some practice, and are rarely “perfect” but the taste is what counts, right? My advice would be: 1.)  do not overmix when adding the flour. 2.) Make sure you spread the batter as evenly as possible in the pan. 3.) Thoroughly cover your tea towel with powdered sugar (there’s no such thing as too much, really) and 4.) When spreading the cream cheese filling onto the cake, go heaviest on the end that will be the center of the roll and make sure you’re not skimping on the edges.

If you live in Buenos Aires, good news! Pumpkin rolls are now available for special order. Just contact me here.

LIBBY’S PUMPKIN ROLL

For the cake:

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin

For the filling:

  • 1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Powdered sugar (for decoration)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.) Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

For filling, beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. You can also freeze the pumpkin roll if making in advance. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Photo credit for this one goes to one of my favorite dinner guests, Marina Coser

Hosting a Dinner Party, Buenos Aires Style

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by Anonymous in buenos aires, etiquette

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Buenos Aires, dinner party etiquette, Thanksgiving

Hosting our first Yanqui Thanksgiving in Buenos Aires. Yes, that’s a tuxedo t-shirt.

There’s not a whole lot I love more than hosting a dinner party. I’ve been playing hostess since grade school, so by now I can cook Thanksgiving dinner for 15 without breaking a sweat. Unless there’s a spring heatwave in Buenos Aires and the oven’s going all day…but even then, I prefer to see it as more of a glow.

Whether we were sitting on the floor eating out of our laps in Philadelphia, or seated around the dining room table in Chicago (like grown-ups, finally!), the dinner party protocol’s proven pretty standard over the years and miles. Plan a menu, invite people, they offer to bring a dish/dessert/wine, adjust the menu accordingly (or if you’re a menu control freak like me, just tell them to bring wine) and so it goes.

But then we moved to Buenos Aires. In addition to the fact that people in our beloved adopted country eat at an hour that most yanquis would consider freakishly late (most restaurants don’t even open until 8pm or later) I quickly learned that expectations may be a bit different here.

We were lucky enough to be invited to have dinner at the home of one of my husband’s co-workers before a night of salsa dancing, and she was kind enough to send me an email explaining in great detail how the night would go down. Seriously, she even advised me on proper footwear. LOVE HER!

She also let me know that there was no need to bring anything. Instead, the standard practice is for the host to take care of everything, advise the guests how much it cost, and we’d each be responsible for paying the host for our portion after the meal.

Say whaaa-?

Not that I mind whatsoever paying for my portion of a meal, and not that I mean to imply there’s a problem with this practice…but I just really didn’t know what to do with it. It goes against every fiber of my being to show up at someone’s home for dinner empty-handed. (We still ended up bringing a bottle of Fernet, I just couldn’t help myself). I’ve just always loathed the awkwardness of dividing up a bill after enjoying a meal at a restaurant with friends. Not to mention, I’m pretty bad with numbers in English. So in Spanish? Forget about it.

Why does this make me so uncomfortable?

To be clear, I recognize that this is simply a matter of different frames of reference. I have no problem accepting bottles of wine from guests, but if they offer me the equivalent in cash, it somehow gets weird.

But it’s totally the standard here, so as they say, “es lo que es” and I’ve gotten used to it. Comfort zone: departed. Horizons: expanded.

Though when I’m hosting we eat earlier, everyone’s instructed to bring wine and there’s no exchange of money. I can adjust to most of the customs here, but I just can’t bring myself to tally the bill for a dinner party. Yanqui hostess, yanqui rules.

Hostess gifts from our Thanksgiving dinner guests. No more drinking wine from plastic cups!

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