Chez Pauline

So found this cute little place she took me to yesterday for tea, and let me tell you I just adored it! Chez Pauline in Recoleta, is a maison de thé where you can walk in and buy some really exquisite teas and pastries or sit down at one of their little tables and enjoy a pot of tea and a pain au chocotate, brioche or the day's cakes with a friend.

I tried the Bouquet de Provence tea: black Ceilán tea with lavender flowers from Provence and sliced almonds (to die for!). Unfortunately they didn't have any macarons at the time, I guess that's what happens when you show up for tea time at 7pm... so we settled for home made toast with butter and countryside honey instead.

I loved the look, and if you buy a can of tea, you can get discounts on refills later on, no need to buy the can again afterwards! I deffinitely need to get back for one and give those macarons a try...

Have a great weekend!


Photo from here.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Another Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Wether it's your first with someone, your first alone, you're running out of ideas or you've got the perfect plan, how are you planning on spending it?

Me, I'm not sure. P and I always pretend it's not an important date, but then we are at the last second trying to figure out what to do so we don't let the moment pass. Our most memorable? Probably the year we had dinner at Azurra, a restaurant on a19th floor in downtown Buenos Aires. He'd booked a table by the window, and we had a spectacular view of Puerto Madero and we saw the Gay Cruise take off into the night all lit up. Too bad it closed, 'cause the restaurant was really nice, although the food was a bit blah. What do you care, though, it's Valentine's!!

Please post your plans for tomorrow and have a GREAT weekend!!


Photo via WeHeartIt.

A Starbucks proposal + opening

Just in case you guys didn't already know, we have a new Stabucks Coffee Store in our neigbourhood! You can now find it at the corner of Federico Lacroze and 3 de Febrero (Belgrano). Make sure to try out the Dulce de Leche Frapuccino Crème.... to die for this summer! (Warning: for some reason the store is full of 12-15 year olds... might want to consider the time you hit the store!)

And now something to illustrate the news: a Starbucks proposal, photographed by a friend in desguise. How cute is that??

Por si todavía no se enteraron, tenemos un nuevos Starbucks en el barrio! Abrió en la esquina de Federico Lacroze y 3 de Febrero (Belgrano). Les recomiendo el Dulce de Leche Frapuccino Crème... genial para este verano! (Advertencia: por alguna razón el local está lleno de chicas y chicos de 12 a 15 años, ténganlo en cuenta para elegir el horario!).

Y para ilustrar las novedades: una pareja que se comprpometió en uno de los locales fotografiados por una amiga en encuvierto! No es re tierno??


Photos by Cindi.
I came across this cute proposal via A Cup of Joe.

No desafíes a la chocotorta!!

(Do not defy the Chocotorta!!)

Dears, I'm going to pass on some sound advice, things I learned the hard way this weekend: when doing the Chocotorta (famous Argentine cake made with Chocolinas cookies, dulce de leche and whipped cream) NEVER defy it!! Follow the rules excatly as they appear in the package. Meaning: if the recipe says it serves six and you have twelve guests, DON'T bend the rules by smuggly thinking you can just double the ingredients and have double the servings!! Big, BIG mistake!! Apparently at Bagley they teamed superior ingeneers to come up with the exact recipe, and they came to the conclusion that the only proper way is by starting the cake with 12 cookies at a time, and that's that. That doesn't mean you can just shrug and say "I have 12 people, I'll double the cookies". Unfortunately this is not like one of those math problems we had to solve in the 4th grade. Now you'll have to become an engeneer yourself and think of a way to save the cake from sliding off of itself. In my case I invented some contingency walls that worked just fine. Word has it it was delicious non the less... some even asked specialy to be served the sides, just so they could get an extra Chocolina... how about you? Did you try it??

Queridas, les voy a dar un consejo que aprendí este fin de semana cuando hice una Chocotorta: NUNCA la desafíen!! Sigan las instrucciones al pie de la letra. Esto significa que si la receta dice que es para seis porciones y vos tenés doce invitados NO trates de quebrar las reglas pensando que podés duplicar la cantidad de ingredientes y tener el doble de porciones!! Gran, GRAN error!! Aparentemente en Bagley juntaron a un grupo de ingenieros para que consiguieran la receta exacta y llegaron a la conclusión de que la única forma de realizarla es con pisos de a 12 galletitas, y sólo así. Esto no significa que puedas encojerte de hombros y decir "Tengo 12 personas, duplico las galletitas". Acá no tienen nada que ver esos problemas de matemática de 4º grado... Te vas a tener que convertir en una ingeniera y pensar en un método para salvar a la torta para que no se patine sobre sí misma. En mi caso inventé estas paredes de contingencia que funcionaron bastante bien. Los rumores afirman que estuvo bárbara igual... algunos inclusive pidieron especialmente de los bordes, para poder comer una Chocolina de más.... y vos? la probaste??


Photo credits: Me.

Many birthday wishes

And this gorgeous birthday crepe cake goes to:

My lovely Cousin who turned 19 yesterday!
My oh-so-missed GrandPa who's birthday would be today,
And to my great Dad, who's b-day is tomorrow and who's age shall remain a state secret! ;)

Happy birthday to y'all!!!


Esta buenísima torta de panqueques es para:

Mi Prima que ayer cumplió 19 años!
Mi Abuelo, a quien extrañamos muchísimo y que cumpliría años hoy,
Y a mi Papá, que cumple mañana y cuya edad permanecerá como secreto de Estado! ;)

Feliz cumple para todos!!



Credits: gorgeous crepe cake by SHGarden.
PS: Yes, I know this isn't my type of cake, but it's something THEY would go mad for!!