My 100th Blog Post – A Milestone!

As a new blogger, I’ve had lots of fun writing about what’s important to me, living and growing in Boquete, Panama. Eleven thousand, eight hundred fifty (11,850) visitors have opened my site. It’s really astounding!

Thanks to all of you for peeking at our lives here in Boquete, it’s an amazing place in which to live. The rainbows are spectacular, the air is clean, and coffee grown here, is the best in the world!

In a nutshell, the first 100 posts were mostly about the people I know and love, the folks I see every day, and the neighbors who give so much to our community. There have also been fellow food bloggers and readers from around the world whom I call friends, although I’ve never met them face-to-face. I’ve mentioned lots of famous people who have impacted my life in some way or another. The nearly 100 people named in my blogs are named again below, and I really appreciate the contribution each person has made to my life since moving to Boquete, nearly 8 years ago.

Would you like to guess the most popular article of the 100 blogs I have written? How about guessing the average amount of time each visitor spends on the site at each visit? The answers are given below.

Thanks so much to the real stars of the past 100 blogs! By name, they are: Lauretta Bonfiglio, Sharon James, Juan Linares, Renny Kranich, David Kent, Jon Day, Kurt & Norman, Erik Carrera, Charlie Collins, Alison Holst, Anne Necker, Maritrini, Joyce and Nick Newton, Tom and Caroline Bot, Richard Detrich, Tammyjo Eckhart, Danilo, Jerry Wager, Elvin, Dorothy Lamour, Jorge Ortega, Liz Lees, James Cagny, and Tova Speter.

Thanks to Nelson, Calixto, Belisario Torres, Kelly Herring, Jim and Cindy Eickhoff, Julia Quiroz, Cesar, Doris Day, Idu, Papa Ricco, Giovanni, Carrie and Jonathan, Violet, Patricia Martinelli, Carlos Williams, Amy Adams, Greg Henry, Gobbles, Clyde and Phyllis Stevens, Ruby McKenzie, Eddie Cantor, Marian and Ethan Becker, Hershel and Mikey, Grandma Gates, Zorida, Lee Zelter, Axel Schob, Kirsten Peck, Judy Garland, Gale Cellucci, Drick Perry, and Anayansi Menendez.

I so much appreciate David Necker, Eric and Jane, Lori Lynn, Dave and Erin Ross, Groucho Marx, Rachel White, Martine Heyer, Richard Meyer, Mickey and Squirt James, Frederic Chopin, Mario Batali, Edgar Castillo, Vasco Numez Balboa, Irma Rombauer, Julia Child, Craig Claibourne, Barbra Streisand, Michelangelo, Diego Rivera, Bill Streit, Bing Crosby, Emeril Lagasse and Steven R. Covey.

You can still guess the top blogs, these photos will give you a hint. The top, broad category is “Boquete Living”, including blogs about daily living in the Highlands of Panama.

The #1 blog in my first 100 articles, is “My Fiestaware Collection”, written October 8, 2009. The blog you visited almost as many times, at #2, is “Panama’s Coffee Cup – Cafe Duran”, dated January 8. The #3 blog is “Hollywood’s Golden Age of Dining”, written January 3.

At each visit, the viewer stays on boquetegourmet.com site an average of 2 minutes, 37 seconds, quite an amazingly long period of time, especially when there are millions of other sites to visit.

I’m so very grateful to all of you for your time these past several months, and I hope to make my second hundred articles even more interesting and fun! If you’d like to suggest a particular subject, please let me know. Thanks again for your support!

Hugs,
Cora

Greg’s Boquete-Hollywood Party

If you haven’t heard already, Greg, alias SippitySup.com, finally posted his take on the “Golden Age of Hollywood” Cooking Class he presented in my kitchen last month. It took him a month to gather all the photos, to think about his experience and to finally put into words how he felt about the entire adventure.

It was the olden days of Hollywood that everyone enjoyed; the fine food, the gorgeous drinks and the fine conversation that our Boquete friends love.  If you read Greg’s www.SippitySup.com post about the evening of fun and fine, glamorous dining, it will all come together for you.

The dish-by-dish recipes and photos are in Greg’s site, also.  My favorite dish of the evening, if you could call it a dish, was the Signature Cocktail from the Cocoanut Grove.  Anytime gin is used in a different way, I love it.  The slightly-pink color was magical and I felt like Amy Adams as the princess in the movie “Enchanted” popping up into Times Square while sipping her fruity delightful cocktail.  Oh, how times have changed in the movie industry since the “Golden Age” of Hollywood.

I tried to duplicate that cocktail in my kitchen and it turned out just as delicious as I remembered sipping during Greg’s class. The original recipe requires maraschino liqueur, but I can’t find it anywhere in Panama, not even at Felipe Motta Wine Store.  The only cherry liqueur I can buy here is produced in Chile by Mitjans and it is very tasty. This is how I make this memorable Hollywood cocktail using ingredients available in Boquete.

Boquete’s Hollywood Cocktail
2 ounces Dry Gin
1 ounce Cherry Liqueur
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice, strained
2 drops grenadine

Fill a shaker with ice and add all the ingredients.
Cover, shake and strain into a martini glass. Top with a tiny slice of fresh lime.

Greg loved visiting Boquete and he especially loved his class of exceptional students, which you can see and read about on his post.

Thanks to you Greg, for bringing the taste of Hollywood to Boquete.   It was a look back into history, a time we remember when “glamour” was all the rage.  And Greg, we’ll keep those glamorous memories alive in Panama by enjoying Boquete’s version of the  “Hollywood Cocktail” often.
Cora

SippitySup’s Menu – Dish by Dish

By now, everyone knows about Hollywood photographer, writer and chef, Greg Henry and why he came to Boquete last month. He’s lovingly called “SippitySup” due to his top-voted website, www.SippitySup.com.

The cooking class Greg presented, “Hollywood’s Golden Age”, included 6 recipes from 6 of the world-famous restaurants in Hollywood that were “glistening” back in the 1940-50’s. I attempted to gather photos of each dish as it was prepared, but I missed the Rumaki. If anyone has an actual photo of the Rumaki that was made during the class, please let me know.

The Cocoanut Grove’s Signature Cocktail was leading the menu, each student received one as they walked into my kitchen. That doesn’t happen very often, so it was a big treat for everyone.

Then came the Plaintains with Caviar and Black Bean Puree. The photo below shows Greg frying up the plantains. They were served buffet-style with lots of toppings available: red and black caviar, smoked tuna, sour cream, bean puree, and thinly-sliced red onions.

Barbecue Shrimp with Ginger and Lime was beautifully prepared and as you can see, this heaping platter of grilled shrimp gave everyone as many kabobs as they liked.

The final entree was the Brown Derby Original Cobb Salad topped with poached chicken and old-fashioned French dressing made from the original recipe. The freshly-picked organic vegetables were a special treat and the stars of the 40’s and 50’s probably didn’t have such luscious greens as we do today.

Dessert was Romanoff’s Chocolate Souffle’, almost as delicious looking as it tasted, especially when sprinkled with powdered sugar and topped with whipped cream.

For all these recipes and perfect photos of the “practice” dishes, click here. You’ll see Greg’s blogs about the renown restaurants and the Hollywood stars who frequented them.

And just think, everyone who enjoyed Greg’s cooking class was dining on the same delectable foods that were served 70 years ago during Hollywood’s “Golden Age”.
Cora