There are all four seasons, too! Three months of each; long springs and autumns ...and none of those endless midwestern summers and winters. You can almost set your watch by the change of seasons here. Yesterday, for example, was the first day of fall ...and the morning is as crisp and cool as you could imagine.
It is at this point every year that coffee and medialunas lose their charm.A double espresso on a warm summer's morn, allows you to cafeinate quickly and with a minimum of hot liquid to meet the even hotter day. But now is the time that I begin to enjoy refilling the mate over and over from the steaming kettle, turning the lights on in each brain cell a little slower but warming my blood without bouncing off the walls from an equivalent of strong coffee.
Fresh baked medialunas are a great summer morning fortifier. Flakey and full of beef tallow, they can really fire you up for a day's work without leaving you sweaty and heavy before you even get out into the heat and humidity.
As a US import, however, I wake up on fall and winter mornings hankering for something substantial. My Missus, although REporteña, adopted these cravings too while we lived back in The Land of Breakfast.
The hired hands are shocked to see us prepare the kind of breakfast you can get almost anywhere back in the ol' country. Although shocking the hired hands with your exotic personal habits, for any reason, is not exactly good management technique ...the call of your ancestors that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" should not be ignored.
You don't have to recreate a Southern Hemisphere Grand Slam ...but without eggs, meat, and a starchy grain or tuber, you probably won't satisfy your genetic nagging. A dash of spice pins a rose on the whole spread and sends you off to work with a smile in your belly.
My culinary survival kit has two crucial ingredients: Tortillas de Pancho Villa and El Tejano Hot Sauce ...both widely available in Buenos Aires. Both products are superior to brands anywhere in North America.
Open Bar Ranch Autumn Breakfast for two:
6 farm-fresh eggs, fried over-easy in butter.
200 grams Yanqui Mike's #99 Smoked Pampas Bacon, rind removed and sliced thin
6 Pancho Villa genuine nixtamalized corn tortillas
and a generous helping of El Tejano red hot sauce
I'm willing to bet that there are certain foods which you cannot do without. After a few years, that list will probably shrink. Down on the ranch, my personal "Don´t Run Out" list contains two items: El Tejano hot Sauce and Tortillas de Pancho Villa.
Try 'em both today and let me know what you think!
Provecho,
Mike
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