In Brief, for once...

By JaxI

Sweet Avocado for dessert? Ajo?

Another food blip today I'm afraid.
Yesterday we started an international cooking class at M's school for the mums, to take advantage of all the weird and wonderful people that make up our community.

The first volunteer teacher was Liliana From Argentina, who taught us how to make the above yummy treats. 4 kinds of empanada, (the wee pasty things) stuffed with beef and egg, creamed corn, chicken and vegetable, and ham and cheese. Trying to make these look pretty with neatly folded edges and all the filling safely inside and not intact spewing out of every side, reminded me of watching "The Generation Game" when I was a kid. I have no dexterity whatsoever, but it was great fun, and thankfully they taste great even if they are deformed.
Next we made a kind of herb infused pickled aubergine, which was great, and I learned that the word for garlic in Spanish is pronounced the same as the word for idiot in Japanese, and this greatly pleased the 5 year old who controls my soul.
There then ensued a fight between the Spanish speaking contingents from Argentina Ecuador and Spain as to whose dialect was the most civilized. Nice to know people all over the world have the same friendly emnities. There was no conclusion to this debate.
The bread like things were little cheese puffs called pan de queso made with tapioca flour. Very moreish!

Next up was palm heart wrapped in ham as wee hors d'oevres. I'd never tried them before but they get the thumbs up. Kind of a cross between bamboo shots and asparagus..?
And for dessert, a kind of shortbread cookie sandwiched together with the greatest of all Latino substances: dulce de leche (basically condensed milk heated till it turns into pure unadulterated caramel cream heaven) and coated in coconut.
Most of these things I knew already were going to be great, but the big surprise came at the end with dessert.
It sounds bizarre, but I urge you to go out and try this right now: get an avocado, slice it in half ( the softer the better). Remove the stone, but leave the flesh in the skin. Sprinkle the juice of a fresh lemon over it, then some sugar. Now mush all that up inthe skin of the avocado and eat! It was really lovely.
Thanks Liliana for a lovely change!
I think I could live in Argentina, if the goodbye all this good.
I wonder who will volunteer next.

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