Yesterday we took an Argentine cooking class to learn about and prepare some traditional Argentine food, including empanadas, a squash stew, and Dulce de lèche crepes. The place is called Pachamama, and our chef/instructor Fran was great. After three hours of cooking we feasted on our efforts.

One thing we’ve learned in our travels in Argentina is that spices are seldom used. We assumed Latin America would be spicy and flavorful, But we were wrong. Even salt and pepper are often omitted and the food can be quite bland. At Pachamama we did use more spices and the result was much better flavor. We made a delicious chimichuri sauce for the empanadas and they were fantastic. There is an art to filling the empanadas, and different fillings require different folds. You can actually identify the filling just by looking at the way the crust is folded.

The class and subsequent meal demanded a siesta to digest and recover. The weather has turned cooler and pleasant, and after our siesta we spent a relaxing evening on our patio, sipping Vermouth spritzers and enjoying the summer sky. A flock of noisy parakeets joined us briefly, before flying off looking for food.