Fine Wine Store Coming to David

Felipe Motta is the largest, fanciest and best stocked wine store I know in Panama. Every time I get a chance to visit Felipe Motta while in Panama City, I fill my shopping cart with delicacies and the store packs and ships my purchases to arrive in Boquete the next day, complimentary.

You can imagine Felipe Motta as a huge supermarket, but it’s filled with gourmet foods, fresh baked goods, imported cheeses, all types of liquors and thousands of fine wines from all over the world.

This photo only shows the back area of the store where the fine wines are displayed.

I mean really “fine wines” from all over the world, with prices ranging from $1.95 to $890.00 for a 750 milliliter bottle. Yes, I saw several bottles of Collectible Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2001 Pauillac wine, each priced at $890.00. This was the most pricey bottle of fine wine I saw the day I visited the lavishly holiday-decorated wine store last week.

You may need to enlarge this photo to see the exact numbers posted on right side of the tag beneath the bottle.

Below the price tag is the Wine Spectator Magazine’s description of this amazing wine; “Stick your nose in this and it says something “I am special”. Deep and generous aromas of blackberries, fresh tobacco and minerals. It’s full bodied, with big velvety tannins and a super long finish. Like a fine cashmere sweater.” This wine is $148.33 per glass and by its description, it just might be worth it.

If you’re in the mood for holiday giving, choose one of these lush baskets filled with candies, crackers, bar ware, fine wine, whatever you think your lucky receiver would like. I saw several baskets that included champagne and caviar for New Year’s celebrations.

You can find just the right basket at Felipe Motta and priced to suit your needs.

Here’s the best part – - a new Felipe Motta Wine Store will soon open in the large building that now houses Lumicentro in David, about 45 minutes south of Boquete.

We will soon be able to plan our gift-giving to include any number of fine gourmet gifts from all over the world.

I’m saving my balboas!

A “Whisk Hunt” in Panama

Wait, is that a whisk the witch is riding on?  It’s difficult to tell, she’s so far away.  It doesn’t look like a broom, no – - it’s a giant whisk! I am looking for a whisk exactly that same size.  I want to use it in my new huge, flat-bottomed  stainless steel bowl to make fluffy meringue, like Lauretta made in her cooking class.  Why not go on a “whisk hunt” ?

It’s almost Halloween and with any luck, I’ll find that witch’s whisk!

This morning was beautiful up on the side of Volcan Baru, I could see the Pacific Ocean from my kitchen window and the sky was clear.  That’s my way of forecasting the weather each day, if I can see the ocean in the morning, it’ll be a good day. But, if I want a more detailed report, I go to www.boqueteweather.com; there is no television reporting of local weather available here in Boquete.

Boquete has limited supplies of kitchen tools.  Our local La Reina Department Store doesn’t carry whisks at all, I always try to buy things in Boquete, if possible.

Because the weather was good, I headed to the city of David, 45 minutes south of Boquete, to begin my “whisk hunt”.  It’s less than a week before Halloween, so this is the best time for my hunt.

There are several large home-improvement stores that have recently opened in David and my favorite is Novey, located on the Panamerican Highway.  Novey had the cutest little whisk.  I had to buy it because it’s just right for beating an egg in my Pyrex measuring cup.  No big whisks at Novey.

Near Novey is Arrocha, a large modern department store with a big housewares department.  Unfortunately, the entire store was dressed up for Christmas and the housewares department was condensed into one aisle, my bad luck.  No whisks at all, but I did find heavy glass candle holders for $2.00 each and got 3 of them.

My whisk hunt continued to the far side of David to ERA, the only restaurant supply store west of Panama City. Luck was with me, I found the biggest, most beautiful, long-handled, delicate, grey and purple striped whisk you could imagine.

Guess what??? The lady who found the whisk in ERA’s back room was dressed TOTALLY IN BLACK!

When you come to my kitchen, you’ll see my gorgeous whisk hanging next to my other 3 whisks, waiting to be used to make a lovely meringue for Meringue Kisses.  They’d make good “Trick or Treat” candies, don’t you think?

Finally, a Saucier

As a self-proclaimed “gourmet cook”, wouldn’t you think I’d have a saucier?  Every “gourmet cook” has a fine collection of cooking utensils, kitchen equipment and serving items, but this one totally escaped me.   I’m hosting a “Guest Chef” series in my kitchen and one chef asked for this utensil to use in her class. Oh, no, I jumped on Google and got immediately educated into the style and art of cooking using a saucier, a cooking utensil that no French kitchen would be without.

On the Merriam Dictionary site, I read that Saucier is a town of about 1,300 folks in Mississippi, that out of 100 million people, 4,000 have the last name of Saucier, that the word “saucier” is used 20 time a day at Amazon.com and that ” saucier” rhymes with “glossier”.  However, the saucier I was looking for is last definition of the word, “a collectible specialty cooking piece with rounded sides that allow for easy, more efficient whisking”.  This was it, I just had to have a saucier.

Prices for a saucier on the internet run from Farberware $19.99 to AllClad $115.00o to LeCruset in 8 colors for $159.95, but to get one sent to Panama just didn’t seem necessary, I was sure that I could find one here.

The quest to find a saucier began in Boquete.  Since I never knew a saucier existed, it’s possible that our local department store La Reina would have one.  But no, their pots and pans came only in sets and none included a saucier.  The next step was to drive 45 minutes south to David, the capitol city of Chiriqui Province.  The drive went quickly and soon I was searching my favorite kitchen store, Mundial Rawsa, located on the main street leading into downtown David.

The owner, Ms. Tedman, showed me 10 different styles of pots and pans, she seemed to know what I wanted but couldn’t interest me in anything similar.  It had to be a saucier, nothing else would do.  I did find a real Wilton candy thermometer there, a real important find for a “gourmet cook” who doesn’t have a candy thermometer.

My last resort was ERA, Panama’s only commercial kitchen supply store west of Panama City.  Yes, they had a 1 quart, 18-10 stainless steel, “professional” saucier, as pictured here.  The price was $41.00; it gleams, it has a thick bottom and it just feels good.  Keep checking TBG for some good-tasting recipes I make in my new saucier.