Tim hopped on the baking train and made "American biscuits" this morning (as opposed to "British biscuits" which are cookies). No one around her knew what they were, so Tim thought he ought to educate them.The recipe called for either buttermilk or heavy cream. There was no buttermilk, and the heavy cream was 5 times the cost of the milk. Martha Stewart says you can mix milk with vinager to make buttermilk, so he gave that a shot. What we got were fluffy, rich, and super acidic biscuits. I kept thinking they had to be delicious, but after eating two, I threw in the towel. Might as well throw these out. They're inedible.
After seeing them, our host brother Pablo said he actually did recognize them. He (and his brother Diego) worked in the US one summer (our winter). Pablo worked at McDonald's, so he knows all about biscuits. The whole idea of Pablo working at McDonald's in Portland, ME during the winter is a little absurd to me. He went with a work program for Hispanic students. Pablo speaks English and certainly could have found better employment, but this program was basically the only way he could get a visa to visit the US. To him, it was a great opportunity for a cultural experience.
Allow me one political digression today. What in the world is the US, a country of immigrants, doing in saying that no one from Central or South America can come even to visit? Apparently here you pay about $300 to get to the point in the process where they tell you that you are not welcome. That amount of money is about 2 months' salary for the majority of working people here. As the Peruvian saying goes, "La vaca se ha olvidado que fue ternera" (The cow has forgotten that it was a a calf).
Well Tim, at least they weren't the consistency of hockey pucks! (just kidding!!)