I’m in Panama!!!!!
Back to my roots, this is the first time I come back to Panama after 4 years and I can’t express how excited I am to share with you all the traditional foodie tips from my country.
The first foodie spot that I want to talk about is Panama’s Seafood/Fish Market (Mercado del Marisco). It was built as a collaboration between the panamanian and japanese governments.
This is THE place to find fresh fish, shrimps and all sorts of seafood. Panama is surrounded by sea, north and south, so it doesn’t get fresher than this. What you find in this market is the catch of the day itself.
Prices are very accessible through the whole year unless it’s restricted season. My favorite thing to buy here are langostinos, bigger than a shrimp but not as big as a lobster. They’re super good when prepared with garlic.
This is also the best spot to get some traditional panamanian ceviche. Ceviche is a seafood cocktail, you can choose corvina (a saltwater fish, very basic in taste), shrimp, octopus, etc. The seafood in ceviche is raw, since it’s prepared by submerging it in lemon juice. Since the lemon juice is so acid/sour, it cooks the seafood and adds a wonderful taste.
The Fish Market is located in the Casco Viejo area from Panama City, an area which keeps old, Spanish architecture from the colonial times and is veryeasy to reach.
If you ever come to Panama, do visit this spot, I personally recommend it!
I made a short video with some views from the market, you can find it here:
Two more days for Valentine’s!!!
I still have time to recommend you some sweet recipes for your Valentine. This time I’m preparing crunchy oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips! Good thing: I’m not adding any sugar to these, but decided to experiment again with some agave. The only sugar you may find is in the chocolate chips, unless you decide to use unsweetened ones, you may decide!
What you’ll need (24 cookies):
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1 1/4 cup spelt flour (regular wheat flour works too)
4 tablespoons melted (soy) butter
100g chocolate chips
5 tablespoons agave syrup
1/2 cup crushed nuts mixture
Procedure:
Combine all the dry ingredients: oatmeal, flour, nuts.
Add the melted butter and agave syrup and combine well.
Last thing you’ll add are the chocolate chips. You want them to melt just a tiny bit, adding a bit more flavor to the dough.
You should get a bit of a sticky mixture, easy to shape with your hands.
Shape into cookies and place them on a paper covered baking tray. Bake for 25 minutes in a pre-heated oven to 180°C.
Let them cool down before serving them.
Hope you guys like this recipe and enjoy it during Valentine’s Day!!!
Buen provecho,
xoxo.
Last week I had the opportunity of attending a real coffee lesson for the first time!
The lesson was directed by Diego Allaix, who is the Vice-Director at the University of Coffee in Trieste, Italy. Mr. Diego was invited to give an exclusive lesson by the coffee brand Illy, since they’re launching 3 new coffee flavors under the name: Monoarabica.
Illy’s main coffee is made out of 9 different flavors and they’ve chosen 3 predominant ones to sell them separately. They come from the countries: Brazil, Guatemala and Ethiopia. My recommendation: Guatemala. It has a very friendly taste, not too strong. The predominant aroma’s in this coffee are: chocolate, caramel, citric fruits and honey.
The lesson was super interesting! I had no idea there’s so much you can learn about coffee:
1. 7 grams is the perfect dosage for a cup of coffee.
2. Water temperature must be 88°/92°
3. Extraction pression: 9 bar
4. Duration: 30 seconds
5. Volume: 25-30 mililiters
Depending on where coffee grows, the taste may vary. For example, my favorite flavor (Guatemala) is grown in higher ground and it’s hand-picked, making the taste different from the others. The soil is a very big factor in coffee beans’ taste.
There are so many different aroma’s that you can find in coffee: wood, burnt, fruit, flowers, grilled bread, caramel, chocolate, etc. Who would’ve guessed?
I had the opportunity of interviewing Mr. Diego Allaix and ask about the recommended use for coffee: Beans vs Capsules, you’ll be able to find that interview + some scenes of what took place during the coffee lesson in my video here:
I hope we all learned something new about coffee! I was personally amazed by this world.
I want to thank everyone at Illy, Mr. Diego and UPR Belgium for inviting me to this lesson, it was an amazing experience!
Buen provecho,
xoxo.
University of Coffe – Trieste, Italy
www.unicaffe.it
Illy:
www.illy.com
