Empanadas de leche and empanadas de piña at Castro's Bakery, which has locations in Arlington (on Wilson Blvd.) and Falls Church (Wilson Blvd. at Seven Corners, even though the address suggests Rt. 50). The empanada de leche was mostly hollow but very good.
There's a whole article devoted to our favorite betting currency in the Express.
Yes, that's right. For Chileans, Passion Translates to Empanadas, reports the New York Times. Kudos to my sister for passing along this gem. I now totally want to travel for 10 days eating empanadas. Hmm, how could I raise money for a trip like that?
I just came across an article from the NYTimes a couple weeks ago about food at baseball stadiums. Click on the interactive map, then click on Miami. Think we'd make fewer empanada bets if losing meant immediate payoff at the ballpark?
From the Express:
Rise of the Empanadas: Economy Down, Prices Up
IT'S A SIGN OF THE TIMES. As global food prices continue the rise and U.S. consumers worry about inflation, the price of one reliably low-cost snack has increased locally.
According to signs posted at local chain Julia's Empanadas, as of Monday, the price of the meat- and vegetable-filled pastries jumped by 23 cents, the first such increase in three years. So get ready to dig out some extra change for a saltenas empanada with chicken, potato, green peas, hard-boiled egg, green olives and onion, or a Chilean-style beef empanada with raisins, hard-boiled egg, onion and olives.
Perhaps such a price bump was inevitable as the nation frets about the state of the economy. As MSNBC reported late last month, the price of cheap eats — from pizza to bagels to even the famous "Recession Special" at Gray's Papaya in New York City — has been increasing.
And now, too, the simple empanada. Still, the stuffed pastry remains one of the cheapest options out there.
Congratulations, Debby. You kicked all of our butts in the First Annual PH4H Empanada Bowl.
It wasn't even close:
For those who like trivia, but weren't keeping up with the message board, here are some weird facts:
Since so many of our teams are playing in bowl games this year, how about some College Bowl Pick 'Em -- hereinafter known as "the First Annual PH4H Empanada Bowl."
This is easy -- pretty much all you have to do is pick who you think the winner of the bowl game is. It doesn't require extensive or exhaustive college football knowledge.
If you want to play, click here.
The first game is on December 20th, so you should probably make your picks by then.
For those who don't know, the original empanada wager was between Tom and me over a Cardinals-Brewers series in May 2005. I won the wager.
I never received this empanada. A few weeks ago, Tom and I decided to go double or nothing on the Wisconsin-Illinois football game. I won. Tom owed me two empanadas.
This week I faced Tom in fantasy football, and we wagered a bowl of pho and iced coffee if I won, and he didn't owe me the two empanadas if I lost.
I lost.
So the original empanada bet has finally reached its conclusion, with me never receiving the empanada.
Today, a bunch of us went to the last baseball game at RFK Stadium, which was great. But it won't be my favorite memory of the place.
And, although they were all fantastic, my favorite memory has nothing to do with Opening Day 2005, the 10 game winning streak in June, 2005, Ramon Ortiz's near-no hitter (and home run) on Labor Day, 2006, or even Zimm's walk off 3-run home run against the Yankees earlier that season.
No, my favorite RFK memory is this, as retold by Dan:
If you haven't done so already, watch the Hipster Olympics video. Then you'll understand.
Amy and I just returned from Israel, and on our first night at the kibbutz, we went to the kibbutz cafe with some fellow archaelogical dig participants. We discovered that the kibbutz cafe was actually a non-kosher Argentinian style restaurant specializing in empanadas. So the next time you're in Israel, stop by Kibbutz Revadim (about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) for all your empanada bet payoffs!
In an older thread (http://ph4h.blogspot.com/2006/04/ph4h-betting-manifesto.html), Dara kindly posted the rules of the road for PH4H Betting. I'd like to say that there was a new incarnation of a PH4H bet last week, where in lieu of an empanada or a steak dinner, I offered Dan just a steak if Carlos Zambrano no-hit the Nationals (turned out to be a very short-lived bet, but oh well). Upon realizing that I offered only a steak, Dara and Justin quickly tossed in side dishes for Dan's steak dinner.
I believe that these sorts of bets should be deemed Collective Unilateral Bets, whereby groups of people offer items that together make up the entire bet. As PH4H is all about charity and the homeless (and, of course, empanadas), it's only proper that we save each other money with collective betting.
So I was off of work yesterday and Amy had a Professional Day, so we went to lunch at an Argentinian restaurant in Rockville, El Patio. We tried the empanadas (Amy had, somehow, never had an empanada in her life), and they were excellent. The rest of the food- tortillas, quiches, and other Argentinian dishes- is really good (and dirt cheap), too. And they accidentally gave us two free capuccinos (too bad I'm not a coffee drinker, but my maté was good). We definitely recommend this restaurant- Justin and Debby, it's right around the corner from where you're moving!
Last night, Justin blogged about the BCS while I was busy writing about college basketball. Clearly, we're in backwardsland.
As more evidence, check out this empanada bet e-mail conversation from mid-September:
On 9/17/06, Justin wrote:
My proposal.....
Higher ranking in the AP bowl at the end of the regular season..... Wisconsin (3-0, but so far unranked) or Florida State (2-1, ranked, but unimpressive looking).
If neither team is ranked at the end of the regular season and one team goes to a bowl and the other doesn't, the winner is the team that goes to a bowl.
If both teams go to a bowl and only one team wins its bowl game, that team is the winner.
If both teams win their bowl games, it goes to the team that scores more points in its bowl game.
If they score the same number of points in their respective bowl games, we randomly select a member of the PH4H blog, and we each buy that person an empanada.
Whaddaya think?
On 9/18/06, Dara wrote:
It's hard for me to bet on Florida State. It's way easier to make bets on stuff that I don't care about in order to give me something to root for.
Then again, Florida State can still win everything else for the rest of the season . . .
Fine. Whatever.
On 9/18/06, Justin wrote:
Wisconsin could go undefeated for that matter.
Justin and I have placed an empanada bet based on the Ravens and Rams final records. If the Ravens finish better than the Rams, I win an empanada. If the Rams finish better than the Ravens, Justin wins an empanada. If both finish with the same record, whoever goes farther in the playoffs wins the empanada. If both go the same distance or miss the playoffs, whoever picks lower in the 2007 NFL draft pick wins the empanada.
It is also permissible to sing the National Anthem backwards in Spanish.
Just be warned -- the president doesn't approve of this version.
Jeff and I were discussing the PH4H bets last night at the Nationals game. We’ve been making these silly bets for a while, but nobody has set forth rules to govern our conduct. So, here’s an attempt:
Betting Form: There are two types of bets, mutual and unilateral. A mutual bet is easy. For example, “If the Tampa Bay Devil Rays finish the 2006 season ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, Jeff will buy Dara an empanada. But, if the Orioles finish above the Devil Rays, Dara will owe Jeff an empanada.” This is a mutual bet. The terms are negotiated between both parties, who are assumed to have equal bargaining power and equal opportunity to accept or reject the terms.
Moreover, the terms do not have to be mirror images. For example, “If the Toronto Blue Jays finish in first place in the AL East standings for the 2006 season, Justin will owe Dara an empanada, but if the Blue Jays finish below .500 in the 2006 season, Dara will owe Justin an empanada."
A unilateral bet is more difficult. It is always poor manners to ask someone to buy you something. Therefore, these bets should always involve the bettor offering something to the recipient. So, instead of saying “If Royce Clayton hits a double to the GEICO banner on his next at bat, will you buy me an empanada?” proper form would instead require you to say “If Royce Clayton hits a double to the GEICO banner, I will buy you an empanada.”
No matter how ridiculous the offer, if you make it, you are obligated to follow-through.
Of course, a unilateral bet can be changed into a mutual bet if the recipient agrees to further conditions. For example, in the situation described above, the recipient can say, “Sure. And if Royce Clayton hits a triple to the McDonald's sign, I will buy you an empanada.”
Betting Currencies: There are many acceptable betting currencies, and the list keeps expanding.
The most common bets involve an empanada, or portion thereof – although, from experience, betting in increments of a quarter of an empanada can become unwieldy. 
Other bets include a dinner, a steak dinner, a lemonade, a hard lemonade, a Cristian Guzman bobblehead doll, and singing a national anthem backwards. (Any national anthem is perfectly acceptable, but if it's not "The Star-Spangled Banner," you should probably specify that at the time you make the bet.)
Justin has offered to pay off bets in Gatorade, but I think that is only acceptable in situations involving the Florida Gators.
The various currencies can be combined, and such behavior is encouraged, as it makes for more interesting conversation. Specificity is equally important, for the same reason. For example, "I'll bet you an empanada," is vastly less amusing than "I'll bet you a dessert empanada and a hard lemonade."
We should not -- and do not -- encourage betting for money (except, of course, for the inevitable NCAA Tournament pool). Indeed, the only time that cash should change hands is when it (a) occurs in a bar and (b) is more accurately described as a dare. So, it is entirely acceptable to say "Justin, I will give you a dollar if you go up to a random girl at the bar and sing 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,'" or "Inbal, I will give you a dollar if you ask that guy if you can touch his cowboy hat."
Other Issues: (1) As indicated in the prior example, bets do not have to be sports related. They can be related to anything.
(2) You can increase the bet currency up until the time that performance is no longer possible, but you cannot decrease the currency. For example, it is acceptable to make the following bet: “If Carlos Baerga hits a home run during this at bat, I will buy you an empanada. No, make that two empanadas. Make that two empanadas AND a lemonade. And, I’ll sing the National Anthem backwards.” (Although, as most everyone knows, Dan has not had much success with this particular bet.)
In that regard, however, it is not acceptable to say something along the lines of “If Nick Johnson gets hit by a pitch in this at bat, I will buy you a steak dinner. Well, on second thought, he gets plunked a lot, so make that an empanada.”
(3) You should endeavor to keep a record of your bets. While this blog is not the only option for keeping track of who owes what to whom, it is useful and available for that purpose.
(4) If someone has to sing the National Anthem backwards, you should at least make an attempt to record it for posterity, and if possible, post it to the blog. (Hint, hint.)
