In America, people debate over whether Kansas City, Texas or Carolina BBQ is best. In Argentina - they know their barbecue is the best in the world (sorry US :-) Their pride is palpable with most homes having their own Asado setup in the back of the house and the cooking of Asado being a celebration of family & friends coming together for hours of socializing.

The ultimate breaking bread.

We had some Asado at a roadside restaurant - Choripaso - on our way from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa. But true Asado is had in the homes of Argentines - and I was giddy when my hosts in Trenque Lauquen treated me to a night I won't forget.

Luis Armando and his wife Silvina Tressilo were the epitome of warmth and hospitality and showed me every step of the process.

Photos are pretty self explanatory - but the essence of what I learned:
- Tranquilo, Tranquilo, Tranquilo - you must relax, be patient and chill out to make Asado. It's a lesson Luis repeated often as I frantically danced around the grill. Great meals take time (in this case - about two hours)
- Meat doesn't need much more than steady heat and a dose of salt to showcase its true flavors. I have yet to see frozen meat in any of the homes here and I believe the quality, freshness and origin of the beef is key to the great asados we've had. (I'm kicking myself for not getting a photo of the beef truck I saw parked in front of a carneceria with sides of cows hanging from hooks)
- Variety is the spice of life. Like many meals - there is a pre-meal of antipasti (cheese and chorizo and morcilla and bread) and various cuts of meat from the grill - sausage, ribs, loin, along with various salads and red wine of course. I need to find a good link to an article a out the various cuts of meat featured in Asado.
- You've got to have good wood. Seriously. You need dry, dense wood to create the crucial coals needed for the slow cooking of the Asado.
- Pace yourself. Deciding to enjoy Asado is a time commitment. And with our often-obnoxious pace of life in the US, embracing time commitments with friends and family is something we could do a bit more of.

I asked my friend Luis for his thoughts on why Asado is so important in Argentina. In summary, he shared:
'It is traditional because it became from the gauchos who ate it while they were traveling long distances. To have Asado is one of Argentina's traditions and the meat is so fantastic because of the open pastures the cows feed on. Asado is more than meat though, because you drink mate while preparing it and it is a time to get together with friends and family. '

- Jess

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I'm here as part of a Rotary Foundation Group Study Exchange, where a team of Idaho professionals travels for four weeks to multiple cities in a country on a vocational and cultural exchange. We are traveling across the La Pampa & Buenos Aires provinces, hitting 7 cities in 4 weeks. Then I will extend my stay for 14 days to spend time in Buenos Aires, Colonia, Uruguay and Iguazu Falls.

And my stomach has come along for the ride :-)

For the past week+ I've been the crazy American taking photos of everything she is eating and drinking. I plan to post individual blogs about my favorite experiences, but just to highlight a few foodie things I already love about Argentina:

- Dulce de leche (need I say more?)
- Vino at dinner AND lunch
- Love of pasta, there is even a 'Day of the Gnocchi' every month on the 29th
- The art of the asado (a blog to come, but a photo below of my awesome hosts in Trenque Lauquen teaching me asado)
- Helado (aka ice cream) that is beyond delicious. AND, they deliver it to your door via moto. Hells yes.
- Pre-feasting. A term I've coined for the spread of chorizo and cheese and bread that comes before lunch and dinner
- Carne is king. Heck, Argentina is the #1 country for the amount of meat consumed per capita :-)
- Meals as the social center of the day. I love how people come together over food here. Meals last for hours and young and old alike truly 'break bread' and spend time with each other.

More to come - but a few photos to share.
- Jess

Spread the word…discreetly

Now, who doesn't love getting a first bite of something. Especially when it's served via a discreet pop-up dining experience for an intimate table of 20?

Those four words enticed me. The creativity, wit a whimsy of the chef inspired me. And I find myself sending foodie vibes to the universe that The Wandering Table wanders back through Boise again.

So what is it?

This is about passion. We have an insatiable appetite for cooking and creating food. We love what we do and is something we enjoy sharing with other people. This is our anti-restaurant. This is our way of cooking what we want to cook. This is how we share the food we love to eat. This is a chance to taste a meal prepared from the seasons. There is a reason that all great chefs of the world use seasonal, local ingredients. Where can you gather more inspiration, when you get a tomato, still warm from the sun, or from the farmer you work with, or from a day of foraging for mushrooms. There is in inherent appreciation of great products that makes my job so much better. I go out of my way to seek the best products, and to honor those who grew them by doing my best at serving them to people in way that makes food memorable. This is how we create great experiences, traditions, and communities. This wandering table is making stops in various locations from airport hangers to barns to vineyards, and everywhere in between. Our menus are created and meant to reflect the best  of the season. We’ve created one of the most interesting and unique dining experiences in the Northwest and you’re invited.

When it landed in Boise – here's what Chef Adam Hegsted served up.

With a menu like that – every course was a visual and brain-tantalizing feast. But here were my favs

Cucumber Tasting – featuring pickled, dried, sorbet, smoked and sauce

Egg Yolk Caviar – featuring asparagus, parmesan, yolk vinny

Herb Waffles – with chicken fried morels and pine syrup

Wild Steelhead Tartar with crispy skin, radish, first grass and river sand (the most delicious I've ever had :-)

And this photo doesn't do the dessert justice – Chocolate Textures – crispy, cold, dry, hot, firm

Bravo to Chef and his team and David Hale and IPTV for bringing the Wandering Table through Boise. 

Sent from my iPhone

How about turning the phrase on its head and instead calling this a 'Gem in the Wall.'

Let's add Cucina di Paolo to my trio of Italian rockstars in the Treasure Valley - joining Gino's and Uncle Giuseppe's.

Quaint Italian cafe with drool-worthy glass cases of goodness and a husband and wife running the show who make everyone feel like part of a big Italian family.

Head up to Vista to mangia with the best of em!

One of the largest hurdles to converting to a sustainable agricultural model is how to make it affordable across all economic models.  I suggest a very simple solution:  eat feet.  Eat ears.  Eat noses and tongues.  Eat the other 1/3 of the animal that is currently going in the trash or to animal feed.  All of these off cuts have strong culinary traditions behind them, and not just in "ethnic foods".  We as Americans have very strange concepts of what is an acceptable foodstuff.  Americans will eat fast food, but say "yuck" to ears and feet grown by local, sustainable and organic farmers. 

If we as consumers eat the off cuts of our local and sustainable products, it will do two things: continue the demand for the product but it will also help to moderate the price of the premium end.  The vast majority of farmers are not gouging us on loins, chops and premium cuts because they can.  They are recouping the losses of offering a premium product that isn't being fully utilized.  And if they are gouging us, we will know.  Then we can shift our purchasing power to a producer who is able to moderate pricing.  It's a win-win.  

This doesn't only apply to pigs.  We as Americans drastically underutilize our beef, poultry and other livestock.  We buy beets at The Capital City Market and then throw out the tops.  Then we buy swiss chard to serve with our beets.  FYI - Swiss Chard is a non root producing variety of beet.  

We need to start eating feet as a nation.  We need to start eating hearts, cheeks, liver, ears, and tongue.  Eat weeds.  Eat tops.  As Anthony Bourdain puts it, "eat the nasty bits."  Our current eating habits are just pushing the ideal of sustainable eating further towards the few and away from the many.

Cooks have to step it up.  We have to offer these products, and prepare them with enough skill that an adventurous skeptic will become an avid fan.  This requires dedication, a capital investment and practice.  Tongue isn't expensive, but screw it up 4 or 5 times and it starts to add up.  It really adds up on the time end, where proper preparation can take hours or days.

This isn't the final solution, but it will progress us towards the goal of sustainability. 

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You've been my favorite Southern Italian foodie stop in the West since my family moved to Boise in the mid-90's and my Gramma Angie (aka 'Tootsie') gave your food her blessing. If Tootsie from Astoria, Queens said your food is legit and of the old country, count me as a believer.

So thanks for the trip down memory lane, for serving up meatballs just like Gramma's, for employing a staff who treat you like family, for making me swoon with pillowy gnocchi goodness.

Just goes to show - yet again - that the address doesn't matter, it's the soul and spirit inside the kitchen that makes a meal memorable.