Classical Education Our Way: 11.2008

Thursday, November 20, 2008

More swimming!

Oldest peep swam the 500 yard freestyle this past weekend. That is 20 laps of 25 yards. She was very nervous and did not think she would make it all the way to the end. Her coach assured her that she swims way more than that at every practice.

She stayed pretty steady the whole way until the last 25. She realized she still had some power left in her legs and she kicked hard!

She came in 2nd place with a time of 7:01. She is swimming this same event this coming weekend and she hopes to improve that time now that she knows her arms won't fall off.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Recipe Time!

The closest commonly known food to this are arepas....Columbian corn cakes. In Ecuador we call them Tortitas de Maiz. While arepas are made with white corn, tortitas de maiz are made with yellow corn. They are typically served as a breakfast food but my family enjoys them at any time of the day.

For your ingredients you will need some things that are not typically in your pantry (unless you are Latin):

Harina de maiz amarillo precocinada (Fine yellow cornmeal precooked)

These are two that I have seen often but there are others. As long as it is a fine precooked cornmeal it should work just fine.

Cheese- the closest I have found to what we need is a Mexican queso fresco. This is just one example.

Sugar - I use Turbinado or Demerara sugar. I suppose regular white sugar will work too. I am not sure how honey or agave would work. if you try those, I'd love to hear about it.

Salt - I use sea salt...any salt will work.

Final ingredient.....WATER....lukewarm water.

Start with a medium sized bowl.

Add about 1 cup of harina de maiz

and about two tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. This is really relative to taste. If you have a sweet tooth add a little more. If not such a sweet tooth, add a little less. If you want something more savory, you could leave out the sugar all together. Before the final step you can taste the masa to see if it is balanced correctly.

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Then slowly add about a cup of warm water. I use water as hot as I can stand it without burning myself. It is not necessary but with the cold here it is one way to warm up my hands. Luke warm is perfectly fine.

Mix in the water.

Add a little at a time (1/2 cup at a time) until the masa is completely wet.

It should look like this when it is fully wet. There should be nothing left in the bowl and it should not be sticking to your hands either. Remember little water at a time.

Push it down in the center and add about 1-2 tablespoons more of water. This masa is very forgiving. If you add too much water just add more masa and it will be absorbed easily. If your masa is too dry add a little more water and problem fixed. The reason I add a little more water once the masa is ready is to knead it some more. The turbinado sugar will dissolve once worked a little more.

Now it looks smoother!

If you are like me, you will always forget to prepare the cheese ahead of time. So rinse off your hands and get the cheese out. How much cheese you need will depend on how much harina you use. Start off with a little and cut more as you need. Cut it into smallish cubes like this.

Pinch off a bit of the masa. The size will depend on how big you want them. I like mine about the size of my palm. I have small hands so you play around with what size works for you.