Underpants – a comic masterpiece of a word. Just try maintaining a serious tone when saying the word “underpants.” In Britain you can’t even say “pants” without getting a clever-clever rejoinder. For them, pants are garments worn under trousers.
The German word for panties is “panties,” which when pronounced with a German accent sounds very, very naughty.
It’s difficult to know how to frame the argument about underpants. Boxers or briefs? Surely this is a false dichotomy.
Last year, when the Manolo was living in Argentina, he discovered the greatest television chef of them all, Francis Mallmann. And so when the Mallmann recently released his newest cookbook, Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, it was only natural that the Manolo should rush out purchase this book, and read it at the single sitting.
And now, the Manolo is happy to report that he has not been disappointed; the book is excellent.
Of the course, the written word, even with accompanying full-color photos, cannot capture the true Argentine charm of Francis Mallmann. What the Manolo first said in 2008 holds true today..
If you do not know Francis Mallman, you must learn of him immediately. He is not just the greatest chef ever produced by Argentina, but also perhaps the most completely self-confident and instinctively correct lifestyle maven to emerge in the past 25 years. Compared to Mallmann, Martha Stewart is the dowdy and self-doubting hausfrau.
To watch Mallmann is to know immediately how one should live one’s life. And his masterful cooking show, Un lugar en Medoza, is both the oddest and most satisfying cooking show ever to appear on television, anywhere. It is, above all else, completely mesmerizing.
There are several videos available on YouTube, including the whole episode of Un lugar en Mendoza (in three parts).
Why is Mallmann so mesmerizing? Here is the person at HotelChatter explaining Mallmann.
Mallmann has a quality you don’t find much in hoteliers: pleasantness. Not only that, he’s a scholar, a gentleman, and a romantic. His poetry collection greatly exceeds his cookbook collection. He smokes good cigars. He likes camping and mucking around on his Blackberry. He dresses like John Wayne dressing up as Oscar Wilde. He would make a good character on Lost.
Speaking of camping, here is the video of Mallmann camping…
This is on the Laguna Garzon, near the Pueblo Garzon, which home of the fabulous Mallmann restaurant and hotel, Garzon.
Finally, you must see the video below, even though the quality is execrable. You must see it for the coat that Mallmann wears…
