"Cookies Remasterizadas" de Cielos Argentinos

Nos acaban de publicar en una nota para la revista Cielos Argentinos!  Basicamente nos eligieron como "probablemente las mejores del mercado"!


Hagan click sobre la foto para ver el articulo en detalle!


Gracias Cielos Argentinos!

"Cookies Remastered!" - Cielos Argentinos is an airline magazine and they have just written about us. I think this is the first time we have appeared in one of these types of magazines. They just basically said that we are "probably the best out there"!


I will take that, thank you very much!


Click on the image to read it in detail....


Thank you Cielos Argentinos!

An American Pan Dulce

Con este titulo es literalmente un Americano, no solamente un Yanqui...

What I mean is, an American in the literal sense, not just a Yanq...

Que quiero decir con esto? Yo no tengo una larga tradición de consumir pan dulce por ejemplo, ni alfajores, ni de hacer tramites como lo dicen acá. Igual, con el tiempo (ya tengo once años en Argentina) estoy aprovechando de todos los años que no pude hacer eso y con cada año me siento más Argentino.

What do I mean by this? I don´t have a long tradition of consuming Pan Dulce, nor alfajores, nor of standing in long lines doing "tramites" like they call them here. But, with the passing of time, I have eleven years in Argentina now, I am making up for lost time that I did not have being involved in all of these things.

Me agarró el corralito; me he quedado estancado en trafico por piquetes; me he mojado hasta las rodillas por las inundaciones del arroyo Maldonado; y me he quedado sin luz por varias horas en el verano, y puedo seguir dejando más ejemplos pero como ustedes viven acá seguramente ya conocen muy bien estas incomodidades.

I got caught by "the corralito"; I have been stuck in traffic caused by strikes; I have waded through knee deep water in my barrio due to the flooding of the Maldonado (that runs underneath Juan B. Justo); and I have been stuck without electricity during the hottest summer days. I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

Tanta mala sangre paso por esos eventos que no puede ser justo que no aproveche y aprenda lo bueno también.

I have gotten so pissed off at these incidents that it´s just not fair that I also do not learn from the good that Argentina has to offer as well.

Hace poco, en una reunión de padres de donde van mis hijas a la escuela, estábamos debatiendo quien se ocupaba del asado que estábamos a punto de hacer. Me ofrecí como una opción y de inmediato uno de los padres dijo "un yanqui haciendo asado?".

Recently I was with a group of dads from my kid´s school and we were getting ready to make an asado. I offered to be one of the asadores and one dad stood straight up and said "A Yanqui making an asado?".

Claro, lo dijo con sonrisa y buena onda. Por suerte hubo otros padres que han probado asados de la mano de este yanqui y le dijeron que no solo sabia como hacerlo, lo sabia hacerlo muy bien. Esto también porque tuve mucha practica.

Sure, he said it smiling and jokingly. I mean we are friends. Luckily, I had some others in the group who vouched for my asado skills and assured everyone that not only did I know what I was doing, but that I am actually pretty good.

Si estas leyendo esto y te digo que un Yanqui también hace uno de los mejores pan dulces de la Argentina, seguramente el primer pensamiento seria "un Yanqui haciendo pan dulce?" con una sonrisa y buena onda por supuesto.

Now, if you are reading this and you are Argentine and I tell you that a Yanqui is also responsible for making one of the best pan dulces in Argentina, surely your first thought might be "A Yanqui making a pan dulce?", albeit smiling and jokingly of course. 

 Photo courtesy of Beatrice Murch Photography.

Pero no se asusten. La panadería es más cercana a una ciencia y yo no tengo esa experiencia. Para eso hay una mano profesional y muy Argentina detrás de los pan dulces. Lo que yo traigo a la mesa, como nos gusta decir en el gran norte, es inspiración.

But, don´t fret. Baking is actually much closer to a science and I don´t have that type of background. For the actual baking we have pros running our production. What I bring to the table is inspiration.

Yo miro el mercado y veo negocios y persona con  tradición de pan dulce y los respeto y lo reconozco. Igual, tenia ganas de entrar al juego, pero tampoco quería hacer algo que ya estaba establecido. No quería ser uno más que ofrece algo que ya tiene sus proveedores y sus clientes.

I look at the market and I see bakers with long traditions of making pan dulce. I respect them and I recognize what they do. However, I still wanted to get into the pan dulce game, but I did not want to do what was already out there; I did not want to be just another one of the what was already there.

Me enfoque en que es lo que no me gustaba de los pan dulces en el mercado (fruta abrillantada por ejemplo) y lo que más me gustaba de los mismos (frutas secas) y también escuchando a mi alrededor los comentarios de muchos Argentinos que cada año entran a la experiencia de compartir un pan dulce, que por tradición y costumbre les gusta, pero que a muchos les paró de apasionar. Quizás con los años se van cambiando los gustos como nos pasa a todos y no se dan cuenta que quizás sus gustos están pidiendo un cambio, algo un poco más sofisticado y fino.

I focused on what I did not like about the pan dulces I saw (candied fruit for example) and on what I really liked (dried fruit like nuts, raisins soaked in cognac and candied orange peel for example) and I also listened to what the locals had to say who each year went through the pan dulce motions. Out of tradition and custom they would sit around and share a pan dulce that has longed stopped fascinating there taste buds. Maybe they remembered how much they liked it as kids, but now they have matured. There taste buds were not as excited anymore. They were looking for something a little more grown up and sophisticated.

El pan dulce Inolvidable nació justo en busca de ofrecer algo nuevo, más sofisticado y fino en las góndolas Argentinas. Nosotros no tenemos un gran presupuesto como para gastar en marketing. Pero sí tenemos grandes reservas de paciencia. Desde 2002 estamos horneando lo que hoy se esta reconociendo como uno de los mejores pan dulces de la Argentina. La receta es Argentina, los insumos son Argentinos y con cada año la cantidad de gente que prueba nuestro pan dulce crece y se multiplica.

We came up with our "Unforgetable Pan Dulce" as a response to that yearning. We do not have a marketing budget so we have relied on word of mouth since the very beginning. Since 2002 we have been baking what is now being considered one of the best Argentine pan dulces. The recipe is Argentine, the ingredients are Argentine and with each passing year more and more Argentines are getting to know our pan dulce.

Este año agregamos un pan dulce con chocolate semi-amargo y avellanas; lo llamamos Nocciolato. También agregamos una variedad con solamente chocolate semi-amargo con una cobertura del mismo chocolate y decorado con chocolate blanco. También, porque la gente lo pidió, un pan dulce con fruta abrillantada. A ultimo momento hicimos un pan dulce de dulce de leche.

This year we added a pan dulce with semi-sweet chocolate and hazelnuts; we call it Nocciolato. We have also added one with only semi-sweet chocolate that also has a semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate icing. We have also, because some people have asked us for it, created a more traditional pan dulce with candied fruit. I think it's because they want their traditional pan dulce made by Sugar & Spice. At the last moment we also made one with dulce de leche.

Promoción fue valida hasta 15/12/2011

...y que es lo "Americano" en todo esto? Bueno, yo siendo un yanqui solamente veo lo que hay y pienso en lo que puede haber basado de donde vine y agrego un poco de inspiración a la receta. Mi deseo es de hacer algo nuevo. El equipo de Sugar & Spice son una mezcla de nacionalidades, hermanos y hermanas de las Americas y hace que estos pan dulces literalmente se puedan pensar como pan dulces Americanos.

...and what is the "American" in all of this? Being an outsider and specifically an American I see only what is already there and I think about all the possibilities based on where I came from and I add a little of inspiration. All I want is to make something new. The Sugar & Spice family is a true American melting pot made up from our sister neighboring American countries so these pan dulces can truly be thought of as American pan dulces.

Feliz Navidad, Felices Fiestas, Felices Festivus y que tengan un prospero año nuevo!

May you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, a Facetious Festivus and a prosperous New Year!

YoQueVos Likes Sugar & Spice too

And we also like them right back!

I am really liking all of these Top 10 lists that we are being included into!

This holiday season we were published in La Nación, Clarin, Elle, Viva, Joy Magazine, The Urban Grocer, BAFoodies, The Landing Pad, and we even made it to a hard cover book by Narda Lepes.


Now we made it to YoQueVos, which by the way I really, really love how they manage to find so many unique stores, gifts, foods, entertainment, etc.

Amongst all of their unique finds they included us in their list of the best gifts of 2010!


And to top it off, there newsletters normally come with discounts.

Do yourself a favor and sign up. You won´t regret it.

BA Cast vs Me?

I seemed to have touched a nerve on my appearance on a fairly new podcast that has popped up in Buenos Aires. But, before I get to that maybe I should introduce you to this show.

Above all, it is entertaining, funny, witty, and they manage to do this even when they touch on serious topics. It never gets pedantic.

The hosts are Daniel Karlin (The American) and Fernando Farias (The Argentine).

Listening to them is like looking at the actual clash of cultures. It's like watching the melting pot get maid; a little of this, a little of that, mix in a dose of how things have always been with some "variety" (which happens to be Fernando's new favorite pet peeve thanks to yours truly and a little help from Daniel) and you get this show.

Some of the things you get to learn about would be the local´s courting ritual from the perspective of an expat woman in Baires on show 1, as well as how many alfajores are eaten on any given day in Argentina.

The number will shock you. Keep in mind the population is 40 million when you listen in on this one.

On episode three you have Maria Carra of Buenos Aires Foodies and Larry of El Tejano (my favorite salsa!) as guests talking about steak sandwiches.

For episode four Maria Carra comes back to give her top 5 DDL's and Yanqui Mike joins the conversation on socialism, unions, leftists, and the profit motive.

There is Ian Mount from Goodairs; a Canadian expat woman foils a bicycle robbery; they chime in on the culture of children; what do people do on the beach when they find a lost child and so many more little tidbits of life in Argentina.

Speaking of tidbits of life in Argentina they want to hear directly from you. On Tuesday, the 21st of December (yeah that´s tomorrow!) they are going to be at Sugar.

Go with your best story depicting a cultural or linguistic misunderstanding. The winner will get to be on their show. Daniel called his date "un gato" for example and not only did he live to tell the tale, he married her. That is one serious chamuyero.

Take my word for it. It´s a lot of fun taping with them. Which, leads me to my visit with them.

When I visited with them I took Diva, the sassy and mysterious beauty behind Bitch Tours, and she gave her top 5 questions that tourist ask her.

We had a blast chamuyando over wine, mate, cookies and brownies.

I was asked for my top 5 list and I could not think of one on the spot. Mine literally took days. Should I turn it in? Will I insult anyone with this?

I seemed to have touched a nerve with Fernando. Listen to him introducing the segment and you can´t help but see that I cut deep.

Here are my Top 5 mehs. These are things that Argentines think are fantastic, but I just shrug my shoulders and go meh.

You could also hear delight in Daniel reading them on the program.

Drumroll.......................

5. Quilmes - Yep, it´s Argentine´s Budweiser and that is not a compliment.

4. Churros - Just across the river in Uruguay you have great fresh churros. Why can´t they make them here like that? They have to put this awful fake chocolate covering on the churros and totally ruin it. Isn´t there a Spaniard among the population to help out? I can even get a better churro in the streets of Chicago with even more variety of fillings to boot.

3. Chimichurri - I was expecting a little heat, a blast of flavor that would bring out a party in my mouth when combined with steak. All it does is get in the way of a fabulous steak. Meh! Even they try to pass the blame on to the English (read the wikipedia entry).

2. Kiosco Alfajores - Not the premium variety, but those other ubiquitous hockey pucks of dulce de leche and cheap sandwich cookie covered in fake chocolate. Thankfully there are some great quality ones, but the massive consumption of the cheap variety makes them an Argentine staple and to me they are just meh.

1. Sandwiches de Miga - To me they are basically a wonder-bread sandwich with the crusts cut off. Yeah, I used to have those, when I was 5 years old.

So what do you think?

If you have not listened to the show you should fix that and give them a listen. The shows are very short. They run about 20 minutes short, just long enough to listen on a bus ride to and from work, date, doctor´s appointment, whatever. And if you hit un corte de calle, you can listen to two, three, four of them.

I have linked to the show all over this post. If you have iTunes you can also subscribe to the podcast.

Narda Lepes Likes Sugar & Spice (and we like her right back)

I have always had a weakness for beautiful, strong, independent, proactive, intelligent women and when they can cook, well that is just the icing on the cake.

These are all traits that Narda and my wife share (they also both studied in Paris).

Yes, I am a very lucky guy.

The other one they share is that they both like Sugar and Spice products. Sure, one of them makes them and the other recognizes the quality, dedication and love that goes into making them.

Narda is a celebrated chef in Argentina. She began her TV career around the same time that Sugar & Spice started.

However, she seems to have just catapulted into the limelight, dropped from the sky to teach us about food, wine, and how to enjoy them.

And she just came out with a book titled "Qué, Cómo, Dónde".

After responding to so many people's questions every time she would go out to do her shopping, she realized that she could put together a guide that would help us find all those little gems that a seasoned pro like herself would get to know.

I started leafing through it and I was so excited to see that she actually made a couple of references to Sugar & Spice.

She also included us in her top 8 Pan Dulces.

This is not a collection of detailed reviews of different stores, bakeries, deli's, wine shops, café's, fairs, book stores, music stores, organic shops, fresh pasta shops, etc.

No, this is set up as a no nonsense guide. She briefly states what makes the place stand out and gives you the address, web site, phone number and hours.

It even comes with a little notebook so you can take notes and take it with you without having to take the whole book along.

I have already found out where I can score some authentic maple syrup from a Canadian expat. For that alone, this book has already paid for itself.

Just in time for the holidays, this would be a great present for those foodies on your gift list.

And from Sugar and Spice we are flattered that she has included us in her book.

Narda, if you see this... Te mando un beso grande y de parte de todos nosotros en Sugar, agradezco tu generosidad y buena onda que has tenido con nosotros.

This Time It´s a Top Five List of the Best Teas in Buenos Aires

The Landing Pad has come out with an article on the Top 5 Teas in Buenos Aires and Sugar & Spice was fortunate enough to make the cut.

I have also heard that we were mentioned in a new book by a local celebrity chef.

I have to go out and buy it and will let you all know shortly what that is about.

After so many years of people not knowing who we are it´s nice to get some public recognition.

By the way, check out the new diggs of The Landing Pad. Great new layout guys!

Los 10 Pan Dulces Más Ricos / Top Ten Pan Dulces Buenos Aires

We made another Pan Dulce list again! This time Carolina Aguirre of Planeta Joy gave us some Top Ten List love and La Nación also published the article.

This is not the first time we have shown up on a Top 10 list.

Just last night I stayed up 'till 5am working at the Dot Shopping mall.

We were there actually supervising more than anything else.

We hired a window dresser to help out our new shop at the Dot Shopping mall. It came out fantastic! It was like opening a new store only one month into having a new store already.

I so wanted to take pictures, but the shopping mall turns the lights off and the pictures would not come out nice at all.

This would be my round about way of saying that you could also get our frequently Top Ten mentioned Pan Dulce there as well.

Now, I just need to take a nap.

2007 - Bacanal Top 8 Pan Dulces
2009 - Oh La Lá Top 5 Pan Dulces
2009 - Joy Top 10 Pan Dulces


********************

Este año volvimos a las listas de los mejores Pan Dulces! Este año fue de la mano de Carolina Aguirre de la revista Joy. Nos incluyó entre los 10 mejores pan dulces!

Esto no fue la primera vez que nos han incluido en este tipo de listas.

Justo anoche estuvimos trabajando sobre nuestro nuevo local en el Dot hasta las 5 horas de la mañana. El local quedó muy lindo y no lo pude creer, pero fue como recibir un local nuevo, solamente un mes después de haber abierto un local nuevo.

Me hubiera gustado tomar fotos, pero el shopping apaga la mayoría de las luces y las fotos no salían bien con tan poca luz.

Básicamente estoy tratando de avivarlos de que los pan dulces también se pueden conseguir en el Dot.

Ahora necesito dormir un poco.

Muchas gracias Carolina!  Thank you Carolina!

Ruta del Pan Dulce de Revista Joy

link to full article - Link a articulo original

El más equilibrado: SUGAR AND SPICE

Junto con el de Plaza Mayor, es el que mejor relación precio calidad tiene en el mercado. Para quienes no quieren gastar cien pesos en un pan dulce ni clavarse con uno de quince espantoso del supermercado, Sugar and Spice hizo un pan dulce que está justito en el medio. Es quizás la mejor masa de todo el ranking, de sabor muy natural, con la cantidad justa de frutas secas, naranjitas y pasas, pero además con una cubierta crocante y  pasta de almendras inolvidable. Se consigue por $40 el grande en su local de Guatemala 5419 (Palermo) o en supermercados, por un precio parecido.

Clarin´s Top 10 - Sugar & Spice Makes the List

Not a bad way to end the year or start a new one. Clarin, Argentina´s largest newspaper, included us in their round-up of entrepreneurs with the most innovative ideas. For some reason, the online article is not complete so you would have to read the actual paper or you can click on the picture above if you can read Spanish.

Another expat (this one from the UK) was also mentioned. His company is 0800-Vino and it is a wine delivery service that promises to have your order delivered to your home within the hour.

Clarin chose among all the companies that they interviewed during the year. This was a complete surprise to me, and I found out about it after a friend of mine wrote to me congratulating me on the article. Thanks Tom!

The article is in Spanish, so what follows is my own personal translation of our part of the article.

Frank Almeida said that he came to this country out of love. He arrived in 1999 with his then girlfriend, now wife, but he soon started to miss some things. "I could not find cookies, like I knew cookies". To satisfy his nostalgia, his wife started baking out of their home. Today they are the owners of Sugar & Spice, a brand of gourmet cookies that invoiced $1,500,000 pesos in 2007.

We first "baked them at home and sold them to local bars and cafés of Palermo Viejo". Later they rented a space, bought an oven and designed their packaging. They managed to sell to Falabella (multinational departement store chain) and that is how they started their relationships with large clients. They also obtained angel investment to the tune of one million dollars. With that money they bought a factory with 800 sq meters of space. Today you can find their products in Jumbo, Disco, Libertad and La Anonima.

Of course we can also be found in many small gourmet shops, cafés, wine shops, cheese shops, video stores, chocolate shops, etc throughout the country from Tierra del Fuego to Misiones.

Pan Dulce on My Mind

This is the time of the year that I am busiest, stressed out, and would have been pulling my hair out by now, but that was last year´s trick.

Patricia Gilmore is this year´s Pan Dulce Angel. She, and 18 volunteers, went around the city and gave any homeless person they could find an edible hug (a.k.a. Pan Dulce). I donated some pan dulces to her idea and you could read more about that by clicking here. She promises to organize this thing better next year. She could possibly have a database that would be valuable to the city... just thinking out loud.

This year we participated with Girl´s Night Out and we raffled off 5 Pan Dulces de Tus Sueños. There were also many other things raffled off and it turned out to be a very fun night. The weather was very nice, drinking champagne, surrounded by women. Too bad I forgot the camera at home.

Yo Que Voz, also participated and they have a promotion going on with our cookies as well.

Oh, La La (the picture above was taken from the magazine) just placed us among the top 5 pan dulces this year. You won´t find it in the link I provided though; it´s only in their printed magazine.

So far, we are on track to selling almost three times as many Pan Dulces this year as we did last year, and that is a great way to wrap up this holiday season.

Bacanal Loves Pan Dulce (Panettone)

This is the end of the Panettone (Pan Dulce) season for us. When we started Sugar & Spice, the idea was to bring to the market what was missing. We did not want to make alfajores for example because you can get one in every corner. We made one exception and that was Pan Dulce (Panettone).

Most Panettone in Argentina is made with candied fruit and I just do not like it. I know it´s a matter of taste--to each his own. However, there were so few options for those of us who only liked the more noble inclusions like hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, and walnuts laced with orange peel and raisins soaked in cognac. Now it looks like there is some competition in the market place.

Bacanal went through the trouble of selecting their top 8 "most delicious and original" offerings and Sugar & Spice was among those chosen. We are rubbing elbows with the likes of Jean Paul Bondoux (Alvear Palace Hotel), Plaza Mayor, Beatriz Chomnalez (Ceasar Park Hotel), Las Violetas, etc.

If you click on the picture below you will be taken to the scanned images of the full article in this month´s Bacanal.