A cooking class meal with Teresita in Adrogué

Our group signed up for a cooking class with Teresita (http://www.try2cook.com/Cooking-classes-in-Buenos-Aires.html ).  For their retirement, they built a new home in Adrogué, placing emphasis on a very large kitchen with ample room for a large butcher's block where Teresita's classes can work, and on a dining room where seven of us sat most comfortably with the three hosts.  She gives weekly cooking classes in her home and is also offering wine tastings (with food) to those interested in exploring just a few of Argentina's impressive wines.

These photos will show a bit of their home, particularly the kitchen (which was designed to be on the dark side and therefore more cool in the hot summers).  The printed menu provides a guide through some of the photos.  In particular, we spent time learning to make epanadas from scratch, using the finest cake flour, warm lard and water, to which was added beef, olives, parsley, etc.

While we were working in the kitchen--and eating in the dining room--it really rained.  But we were safe, dry, hungry and happy.  

Tenderloin being seared to perfection before being coated with a reduced Malbec sauce.

This late harvest blend of three grapes was a surprise and highlight.  I later got a bottle for the group's meal the next evening at our house.

Teresita's granddaughter flambéed some pears with Cuban rum, butter and sugar.  Can't beat that.

At the end of the day (and the day's extensive meal), everybody sat around the table to talk.  We soon raised questions about politics in Argentina, about items on the news for which we lacked background information, questions about the country's failing economy and floundering politicians (well, that is the opinion of the English press here).  The three hosts were articulate, forthright, and yet discrete.  We learned a lot.  To each of us, this conversation (in English) in a home in Argentina was the real highlight of our day.