How to bake a delicious Pasta Frola Pastafrola is a typical Argentine cake. Here is the recipe: Ingredients: * 60 g corn starch (1) * 240 g flour * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 160 g sugar * 1 teaspoon vanilla essence * 2 eggs * 150 g butter * 500 g quince jam * 1 grated lemon rind Decoration: * 1 tablespoon apricot or peach jam * 3 tablespoon water * Grated coconut * Some dulce de leche (2) Instructions: 1) Mix together butter and sugar to a large bowl. Add grated lemon rind, vanilla essence, eggs and mix.  2) Finally, add the flour sifted with the baking powder and corn starch. 3) Knead all ingredients until combined (it's not necessary to knead a lot). Let the dough rest at least for 30 minutes. 4) To prepare the filling, cut the quince jam in little pieces and mix with 3 tablespoon water in a pot. Cook over low heat until well combined.  5) Preheat oven to 180 º C.  Take 3/4 dough and distribute it in a greased baking tin. Fill with the quince jam. With the 1/4 dough, cut strips to form a railing.  6) Bake for 15 minutes to 180º C. Then bake another 15 minutes for 160º c. 7)Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the baking tin and cool completely. 8) Decoration: Mix the peach jam with 1 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon sugar in a pot. Cook over low heat until well combined. Distribute the preparation over​ the cake.  9) Spread the dulce the leche on the cake borders and sprinkle with grated coconut.  10) Preserve in the refrigerator. (1) If you don't get corn starch, replace with flour. (2) Dulce de leche is a typical Argentine sweet. If you don't get it, replace with jam

How to bake a delicious Pasta Frola Pasta Frola is a typical Argentine cake. Here is the recipe: Ingredients: * 60 g corn starch (1) * 240 g flour * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 160 g sugar * 1 teaspoon vanilla essence * 2 eggs * 150 g butter * 500 g quince jam * 1 grated lemon rind Decoration: * 1 tablespoon apricot or peach jam * 3 tablespoon water * Grated coconut * Some dulce de leche (2) Instructions: 1) Mix together butter and sugar to a large bowl. Add grated lemon rind, vanilla essence, eggs and mix.  2) Finally, add the flour sifted with the baking powder and corn starch. 3) Knead all ingredients until combined (it's not necessary to knead a lot). Let the dough rest at least for 30 minutes. 4) To prepare the filling, cut the quince jam in little pieces and mix with 3 tablespoon water in a pot. Cook over low heat until well combined.  5) Preheat oven to 180 º C.  Take 3/4 dough and distribute it in a greased baking tin. Fill with the quince jam. With the 1/4 dough, cut strips to form a railing.  6) Bake for 15 minutes to 180º C. Then bake another 15 minutes for 160º c. 7)Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the baking tin and cool completely. 8) Decoration: Mix the peach jam with 1 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon sugar in a pot. Cook over low heat until well combined. Distribute the preparationover the cake.  9) Spread the dulce the leche on the cake borders and sprinkle with grated coconut.  10) Preserve in the refrigerator. (1) If you don't get corn starch, replace with flour (2) Dulce de leche is a typical Argentine sweet. If you don't get it, replace with jam

Famous Argentine's figures: Juan Domingo Perón and Eva Perón (1º part) Juan Domingo Perón was born in Buenos Aires in 1895 and died in 1974. He was leader and founder of the Peronist movement. It's considered one of the most controversial and influential politicians of 2the 0th century. He became Argentine's president in three opportunities (1946–52, 1952–55, 1973–74) Political opponents of Peronismo always say that Argentina before Perón's era was a superpower. But I don’t know if it’s really true. Peron helped poor and disadvantaged people. Before Peron’s era, there were a lot of poor people which hadn't any right. Most of them lived in the provinces. In the forties, many of them started to come to Buenos Aires. My grandparent was among them. He was 16 years old and he got a job as a worker in a bakery. He worked 15 hours per day. He had neither holidays nor “aguinaldo” (1). But with Peron everything changed. He received his first “aguinaldo” and took his first holidays. In 1945, Perón married Eva Duarte, later better known as Eva Perón or “EVITA”. Her story deserves a separate chapter. She became the benefactor of poor and deprived people. She became the most beloved by poor people, but also the most hated by the bourgeoisie and high social class. She fought for causes she believes in, such as women’s suffrage and improving the lives of the poor. Sadly, Evita contracted cervical cancer and died in 1952. In 1979, Tom Rice wrote musical​ “Evita” based on her life and in 1996 Madonna played Eva Perón in the film version. But what happened with Juan Perón later? He was overthrown by a military coup in 1955 and he was obliged to left the country. And here started another long story... (1) “Aguinaldo” is an extra month's salary paid at July and December in Argentina (I couldn’t find any translation for this word).

Palabras del español que cambian su significado DRÁSTICAMENTE según en que país estés

Si sos nativo o estudiante de español, seguramente estarás de acuerdo en que este idioma es uno de los más ricos y diversos que existen. Una de las causas de esta riqueza y diversidad es, seguramente, el hecho de que el español es hablado en muchos países del mundo.  Esto hace que, en muchas ocasiones, una misma palabra pueda tener significados totalmente diferentes. Algunas veces, estas diferencias pueden sonar graciosas o simpáticas. Por ejemplo, me ha pasado de escuchar a turistas decir la palabra "carro". En Argentina, un "carro" es un transporte tirado por caballos o mulas, utilizado en el campo o por la gente muy humilde para juntar los desperdicios de los tachos de basura. En Argentina, usaríamos la palabra "auto" o "coche".

Pero otras veces, hay palabras que en ciertos países son de un uso coloquial (o hasta culto), mientras que en otro país de habla hispana esa misma palabra puede tener un significado burdo, ordinario o grosero. Hace unos años, vistando México, me encontré con este postre en el menú: "Dulce de c*jeta". En Argentina decimos "dulce de leche" y "c*jeta" es una mala palabra. 

¿Les ha ocurrido alguna vez de viajar a algún otro país de habla hispana y utilizar la palabra equivocada? ¿O de escuchar o leer una palabra que en el país de ustedes significa una reverenda grosería?

Acá  les dejo un video de youtube interpretado por actores argentinos y españoles. Mírenlo en especial si algún día tienen pensando viajar a España o Argentina. El video describe una situación muy divertida que se genera justamente por las diferencias en el lenguaje. Dura 1 minuto 58 segundos, no les va a robar mucho de su tiempo: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECYS_bSOHd8

The story of the Pastafrola: from Italian pastry to Spanish filling I love cooking and especially I love baking cakes. One of my favourites it's the Pastafrola, a typical cake from Argentina.   Just like Argentinians are a mix of migrants from different European countries we can sure that Pastafrola shares this multicultural origin.  According to the Italian, the first Pastafrola was baked in the 6th century. At those time this pastry was used both for sweet and salted meals. Its preparation and style descent from Italian dessert "crostata". It was originally filled with fruits and jam.  But the classic Argentinian filling, the quince jam, isn't typical in Italy. Quinces are a popular fruit in Turkey, Middle-East and Spain. Since Spaniards coexisted a lot of years with Arabian culture, they appropriated this fruit. And now Argentina is one the first world producer of quince. Then Argentinian Pastafrola is a combination of an Italian pastry and a Spaniard filling. Pastafrola can also fill with "dulce de leche"(a typical sweet made with milk and sugar) or sweet potato jam. Usually, it's accompanied with tea, coffee or "mate" (a typical Argentinian infusion).

Should smartphones be banned at secondary schools? Some people say that smartphones should be banned at secondary schools. They argue that mobile devices make academic performance worse and encourage cyberbullying. On the other hand, the constant exposition to smartphone screens could harm students sight. But I don't agree with this. I work as a secondary teacher since a lot of years. I can tell about my experience in Argentine's public schools. The former Argentine president, Cristina Kirchner, had given netbooks to all students from public schools. For this reason, most schools decided to dismantle their computer classrooms. But the actual president, Mauricio Macri, has discontinued this project. So public schools hasn' got any computers. Hence, the only way students have to access the internet is by their smartphones. And in my opinion, the use of the internet is crucial to learn everything nowadays. Besides smartphones contain many useful applications such as the calculator and word processor.

Should smartphones be banned at secondary schools? Some people say that smartphones should be banned at secondary schools. They argue that mobile devices make academic performance worse and encourage cyberbullying. On the other hand, the constant exposition to smartphone screens could harm students sight. But I don't agree with this. I work as a secondary teacher since a lot of years. I can tell about my experience in Argentine's public schools. The former Argentine president, Cristina Kirchner, had given netbooks to all students from public schools. For this reason, most schools decided to dismantle their computer classrooms. But the actual president, Mauricio Macri, has discontinued this project. So public schools hasn' got any computers. Hence, the only way students have to access the internet is by their smartphones. And in my opinion, the use of the internet is crucial to learn everything nowadays. Besides smartphones contain many useful applications such as the calculator and word processor.

The Teatro Colón was chosen as the best theatre in the world Pride of Latin-American culture, the Teatro Colón situated in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was chosen as the best opera stage in the world according to the Italian website Travel 365. This website dedicates to spread experiences, information and news about tourism. On this occasion, the website published an article about the 15 most important opera house all over the world. The Teatro Colón was at the top of this ranking above other theatres such as La Scala of Milan and The Royal Opera House of London. This ranking was elaborated by specialists and people who had visited the theatres. This award incentives tourists to visit the theatre. Reputation is built with the artists who have performed in it. On one occasion, the famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti said: " The Teatro Colón has an important defect: its acoustics is perfect. So if you make a mistake, everybody notices it". Ranking of Theatres: https://www.travel365.it/classifica-teatri-piu-belli-importanti-mondo.htm

Marianela Nuñez, the Argentine ballet dancer who shines in London. Marianela was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1982. She began to dance at 3 years old, and when she was 8 she entered the prestigious ballet school of Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. At 14 she joined the corps de ballet of the Company. After a hard audition, she got to enter the Royal Ballet School in London in 1997. She joined the Company in 1998, was promoted to First Soloist in 2001 and to Principal Dancer in 2002. She played all the main roles of the classical ballet repertoire. She danced too in the principal theaters of the world, like the Scala de Milán, the Bolshoi of Russia and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. In 2018, she has been awarded the best dancer of Great Britain. But she isn´t only a great ballerina. She is also a modest person. She never forgets her origins and every year she comes back to Buenos Aires to offer a charity gala. And of course,​ she will dance in Theater Colon too. She is going to play this year the Merry Widow on August 5 and 8.