1973

January 14 -- Elvis Presley's concert in Hawaii. The first worldwide telecast by an entertainer watched by more people than watched the Apollo moon landings. February 11 – Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released from Vietnam March 29 – The last United States soldier leaves Vietnam April 4 – The World Trade …

November, patriotic month

  In November, Panama held the key dates that commemorate the basis of our history as a free country. 3, 10 and 28 are the most important; Panama's independence from Colombia, First call of the Village of Los Santos and Panama's independence from Spain, respectively. But we must add the 4th, which is Flag Day. In …

Vintage

November 10th 1821, marks a popular uprising against the Spanish colonial government in Panama, The First Cry of Independence in the Villa de Los Santos, which led to the proclamation of the independence of Panama from Spain on November 28 of that year. According to popular tradition, this event was led by Rufina Alfaro, character …

November 3rd. Separation of Panama from Colombia

In November, Panama celebrates a month of national festivities. Throughout November, all around the country the flag and patriotic symbols are displayed. There are three days of great historical importance for Panama in November. The days of national celebration are the 3rd, 10th and 28th of November. The celebrations these days are due to the …

Columbus Day

We are going to move forward a few decades and meet Santa María La Antigua del Darién. The first stable city founded by Europeans on the mainland of the Americas in 1510. Santa María la Antigua del Darien was also the first episcopal see in the continent, and a few years later became the capital …

The last BBQ: Cassava with Mojo

This weekend was officially the last one before school for my kids, so we gather some friends for the last BBQ. We had the usual in this occasions: ribs, chorizos, longanizas, butifarras … (sausages in one word), but to give it a Panamanian touch I added some Yucas al mojo and, to commemorate the beginning of …

Out of the Past

Another visit to memory lane; this time with a recipe posted on February: Gollería or Bollería, a very typical recipe in Panama, mainly in the interior. According to the Spanish Royal Academy, the word gollería means “Delicacy, delicate” a definition that I find very accurate, especially for rural people who are able to transform such …

Corn baskets

As I still have some corn meal left, today I made a very easy “recipe”. These little baskets can be filled with anything, beef, chicken, fish, veggies, cheese, ham… the sky is the limit. I chose minced meat and a quick “pisto manchego”, a combination of poached vegetables. These vegetables may vary slightly, but have …

Panamanian creole tamale

Tamale, when people hear that word immediately think of Mexico, but there’re tamales also in other countries, for instance Panama. It has in common the masa, made of corn, but I like to think that beside that our tamales are unique and there’s no party, reunion or special celebration without this typical delight. Today's recipe is …

Blast from the Past

The 7 links challenge gave the chance to realize that some of my best posts (modesty aside), are in the old format, it means that they are together on the same post with the Spanish recipe, so many of my English speaking readers might overlooked them.  That’s why today I bring you the first of …