Paul Shoul, GoNomad Photographer: "Gerry, Loved your article in Food Arts on San Sebastián. '. . . evaporate like an espuma in the desert ' my new favorite line of the year. Cracked me up."

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Paul Shoul, GoNomad Photographer-Writer:"Gerry, Loved your article in Food Arts on San Sebastián. '. . . evaporate like an espuma (foam) in the desert.' my new favorite line of the year. Cracked me up."

My friend, photographer-writer-blogger, Paul Shoul, from the environs of Boston, is not only a great photographer, he is a very kind friend--sometimes!!  And he may be the One who reads me!  He was recently in San Sebastián, reporting on and photographing one of this world's great cities.  Upon his return, he saw my Food Arts article on San Sebastián Gastronomika 2010 and sent me this much appreciated observation above.  

The quote came from this paragraph in The Basque Trilogy article:

"The meal at Etxebarri was yet another Spanish Basque triumph of exceptional product sourcing married to simple, but exceptionally refined, techniques, which, in the best places, trumps cocina de vanguardia sleights-of-hand nearly every time. In the hands of experienced maestros at Extebarri, Elkano, and Kaia, such dishes, because of their exquisite simplicity and pure flavors, remain etched in memory long after many of the cocina de vanguardia pyrotechnics evaporate like an espuma in the desert. Perhaps that’s why so many Spanish vanguardia chefs have opened modernized traditional tapas bars in the past few years."

Here are some of Paul Shoul's photographs of the pintxos (tapas) scene in San Sebastián.

And here is a link to the Food Arts article (March, 2011),  A Basque Trilogy, and a link to a scan of the article.  Below are four slide shows of the photographs that I took on that trip to San Sebastián Gastronomika 2010 in November.  

(There were slide shows here until Google decided that they would no longer let Picasa Web Albums function, after I and many, many, many other people depended on Google not to waste many, many, many hours of our HARD work by pulling this photo platform out from under us.  These slide shows are not longer available.)

San Sebastián Gastronomika 2010 Christian Escriba - Arzak - And More 11-24-10

San Sebastián Gastronomika 11-23 Day Dedicated to New York

Asador Etxebarri 11-23-2010

San Sebastián Gastronomika 2010 November 22 
Ferran - Thomas Keller - Joselito Ibérico Jamones

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

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About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com