Squids and Elvers

Time to time one needs to lighten up a bit so I am glad that EITb published this note about two of the must famous Basque dishes, one of them my all time favorite.

Here it is and... enjoy your meal:

Gastronomy

Traditional Cooking

Strange-looking Basque dishes

07/17/2007

There are at least two local dishes that never fail to catch the eye of the outsider: squids and elvers.

One of the two Basque dishes that never fail to catch the eye of the outsider is squid cooked in its ink, hence the not very typical black sauce. But don’t be put off, you’ll love it. The black sauce which accompanies the squid, and which is made of its own ink, is unique.

The recipe has spread throughout the Basque Country, and is considered one of the true masterpieces of our cuisine. It can be found using the news browser at the top of the page using the key work “squid”.

The other one is elvers, baby eels that look a bit like worms. Elvers are another dish which only very few countries eat. Fried with a hot pepper in an enamelled clay dish, they are absolutely delicious. They are prepared by simply frying them in oil, garlic salt and paprika, but unfortunately their scarcity is converting them into a very expensive dish.

It’s traditional to eat them on the evening before San Sebastian Day, but their scarcity and astronomical price is obliging establishments to use surimi substitutes.

~ ~ ~

Interview with Segi Members in Ireland

This interview was published at An Phoblacht (thanks to them news about the facts regarding the Basque conflict reach the English speaking web surfers):

Repression, criminalisation no solutions to conflict

Basque conflict will only be resolved by negotiation – SEGI

Segi, the Basque youth organisation was banned by the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón in February 2002. Previously, Garzón had banned the two Basque youth organisations that preceded Segi – Jarrai and Haika. Forty two youth, members of the executive of the groups, were charged with membership of ETA, as Garzón considered that supporting the right to self-determination of the Basque people is not only illegal, but criminal.

The case descended into a farce when another judge of the Audiencia National – the Spanish version of the Special Criminal Court, considered that Garzón’s arguments were not valid and released all detainees, after handling them minimum sentences for membership of illegal organisations. However, 19 of the 23 released were again imprisoned last February, after the court changed the initial sentence. The new decision of the Audiencia National took place only weeks after ETA planted a bomb in the carpark of Madrid airport.

The increasing repression suffered by the Basque pro-independence movement and the immediate imprisonment linked to membership of any of the banned organisations is the backdrop to the decision by two members of Segi who visited Ireland early this month deciding not to disclose their identities. During their Irish visit, An Phoblacht’s SALLY GALLAGHER spoke to the Segi representatives.

What is the reason for this visit to Ireland?

We came to help organise the trip that members of Ógra Shinn Fein are going to make to the Basque Country in September

How is your relationship with Ógra Sinn Fein?

The relationship with Ógra is a few years old already, and we consider it something important as they are an organisation very similar to ours, with common areas of work. This allows us to share points of view and reflections on our political projects. It is also very important for us because they have the experience of the kind of peace process we are working for. Even when in many aspects the situation in Ireland is different, their experience is something we can learn from.

Could you describe the situation faced by the Basque youth movement at the moment?

The situation is that, since January when the Spanish Special Court declared SEGI a terrorist organisation, we have been prosecuted for our activities. Our former leader is serving a six-year jail sentence. We cannot even put up a banner or a poster in the street because we risk being identified by the police, sent to Madrid, being charged with membership of a terrorist organisation and being sent to prison. But even in this environment people keep organising, SEGI keeps working and fighting but we have to take measures, like not publicising our identities, so as not to facilitate the police in throwing us in jail.

What were the arguments used by the Spanish courts to label SEGI as a terrorist organisation?

The truth is that we do not believe there was any judicial basis for it. From our point of view it was a straightforward political decision. SEGI is dangerous for them, as we fight for a political project, we support independence for the Basque Country, and we are socialist, so we fight the Spanish and French capitalist imposition in the Basque Country. What they were trying to achieve was to end our struggle and to take us off the political scene.

But, why at this particular moment? SEGI or the previous youth organisations have been active since the 1980s. So, why now?

I think it was a consequence of the Spanish Popular Party being in government. They took the decision that as part of their strategy of oppression against the Basque Country they would attack the political structures of the Basque pro-independence movement. What they were trying to do was to establish that everything is ETA, so every single political organisation or social movement working for the national and social liberation of the Basque Country were accused of being an integral part of ETA.

This allowed for their criminalisation and opened the door to their illegalisation. And within this strategy they have proceeded against numerous political and social organisations. The first to go through the whole procedure has been JARRA/HAIKA/SEGI which are the different youth organisations that have been active in the Basque Country. Labelling us a terrorist organisation is the last step in this process.

Has the fact of being declared a terrorist organisation had any effect in the work of the youth movement?

Not really. I am not going to deny that we are afraid because labelling an organisation as ‘terrorist’ is a major step. But the truth is that there has not been any gap in our work. People keep organising in the colleges, towns, cities. We keep working. We keep fighting in the streets. The fact is that when we were declared illegal for the first time, some five years ago, we had a rough time as we had to accommodate our work to a new reality – our way of working had to be adapted to the new situation. But a lot of time has passed since then and we have improved a lot. So when they declared us a terrorist organisation last February, people did not feel that the situation had changed that much as we were already illegal.

But six years in jail is a long time. Being harassed by the police is one thing but going to jail is something totally different, especially when you are a teenager.

As I said we were already an illegal organisation. We were supposed to be a clandestine organisation. Even if being declared a terrorist organisation is qualitatively different, the truth is that during the period from which we had been declared illegal until last February, we had time to overcome our fears and got ready to face that situation.

Yes you can face a six years long or an even longer jail sentence but the truth is that we were facing similar ones before. I think that when people have a clear idea of what they are they fighting for and they hold their principles dear, they are ready to take the risk.

Now that ETA’s ceasefire is over, after 14 months, how does SEGI see the future?

We were hopeful with the situation up to recently, not only because of the ceasefire but also because we could see how the social and political situation was changing in the last few years. There was a majority in the Basque Country looking for a change, and ETA seemed to have taken into account those social and political conditions as it took the decision to use the ceasefire to approach a new scenario where the political conflict could be solved in a political way. But the reality was that for over a year the Socialist Party in the Spanish Government – with the help of the Basque Nationalist Party PNV – resisted taking any step towards the resolution of the conflict. The negotiations have been constantly stalled by these two parties. They did not seem to be ready to approach a solution based on the two main factors that caused the conflict in the first place – territoriality and the right to self-determination.

Even if everybody agrees that the conflict has political roots, they were not ready to negotiate a political solution to the conflict. The left pro-independence movement put on the table a political proposal to end the conflict. This proposal was based on those two factors that were the key to the conflict, but the Spanish Government and the PNV said no to the proposals and failed to come up with an alternative.

And now?

Batasuna’s political proposal is the key to the solution and we need to publicise the proposal among the people in the Basque Country. Once a majority knows the ins and outs of it, we will have to try to push all the political parties to negotiate, because we know that the solution will come from negotiation. There is no other way. Repression or criminalisation are not solutions.

In this new scenario what is the role of SEGI?

Our aim is to fight for, and build up our independence on a daily basis, while trying to gather as much strength as we can around the pro-independence Basque movement. But at this moment in time we also see it as our responsibility to publicise the content of the political proposal for the solution of the conflict, among youth. Now, during the summer; that will be our main line of work and we will keep working on those issues that we usually do such as housing, students rights, etc.

.... ... .

Playing the Diabolic Box

This article about Basque music was published at Straight:

Basque rhythms infuse Tapia eta Leturia tunes

Tony Montague

The type of accordion you play may affect your chances of getting into heaven. When Basque musician Joseba Tapia was six years old and showed interest in playing traditional dance tunes on the squeezebox, his family and the local priest became nervous about his choice of instrument.

"An uncle made me a present of a plastic accordion, and I was able to play a fandango with it," recalls Tapia, on the line from his home near San Sebastián, in northern Spain's autonomous Basque region. "Everybody thought, 'This little guy has something in his blood.' But they didn't want me to take up the diatonic accordion, as the instrument was considered bad in that society. The Catholic Church had strong objections because it led to dancing, which of course led to other things. It was given the name el fuelle del infierno [the bellows of hell]."

Tapia–who leads the quartet Tapia eta Leturia–was persuaded to take up the spiritually safer chromatic, or piano, accordion instead, and for many years he dutifully played mainly classical music. But he longed to get his hands on the diabolic box, which he heard at fiestas in small towns and villages in his mountainous homeland. When Tapia was in his mid-teens his father relented, and an uncle taught him trikitixa. The Basque word refers not only to the diatonic accordion itself (which is also used in Cajun music), but to a particular type of folk dance and the tunes created for it.

"Trikitixa is just one kind of traditional music in our culture," explains Tapia, speaking in Spanish. "We play two rhythms, basically–the fandango in 3/4 time, and the arin-arin in 2/4 time."

In the late '70s, Tapia gained local fame as a young trikitixa player whose fingers flew over the keys with blistering speed and accuracy. He teamed up with virtuosic pandeiro (tambourine) player Xavier Leturia in 1984, and together they drove dancers into Dionysian frenzies while somehow avoiding excommunication. "At first we were playing only in Guipúzcoa, the province I come from, and rural towns in the highlands. But soon we were doing concerts, weddings, and parties all over the Basque country."

The pair didn't limit themselves to traditional folk. Their 1995 self-titled disc draws on reggae, rap, punk, and the radical rock scene in their homeland. Tapia has launched a solo career that includes performing modern Québécois songs translated into Basque, and an album that features Basque songs, many of them unpublished, from the Spanish Civil War era.

When Tapia eta Leturia come to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival this weekend, however, they'll be playing the old-style trikitixa–with a fresh twist. Despite the name the duo is now a quartet, with the addition of Arkaitz Miner on fiddle and mandolin and Jexux Aranburu on keyboards.

"We were the first group to expand the traditional trikitixa duo of accordion and tambourine, and it gives our sound much more depth and variety of textures and harmonies. We play the dance music I grew up with, though also some new compositions. In such ways we keep pushing forward the music we love."

Tapia eta Leturia plays the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on Saturday (July 14).

.... ... .

Picon Punch

This article was published at the Wall Street Journal:

The Basques' Beverage

Eric Felten

ELKO, Nev. -- A few friends of mine have driven through this town, a way station on the lonely highway between Reno and Salt Lake City. Each made the mistake of stopping to eat at one of the grim, dim casinos on the main drag (one of which, the Commercial Casino, features the stuffed carcass of a giant polar bear, a towering old fellow who looks positively perplexed -- and slightly embarrassed -- at having ended up in a dusty glass case in Nevada). Settling for casino grub is a profound mistake, because just a couple of blocks over is a string of venerable Basque restaurant/bars where the hungry traveler would be fêted with heaping plates of steak piled with sautéed garlic, and where a desert-crossing thirst is satisfied with the traditional "basco" drink, Picon Punch.

One of those welcoming spots is called The Star, where I found myself surrounded by cheerful men speaking Basque -- a language unto itself, and decidedly unlike either Spanish or French. When my Picon Punch arrived, Andy Lejardi and Anastasio Arriaga switched to English to ask what I thought of the favorite drink of Basque-Americans -- and to offer a warning that the Picon Punch can sneak up on you.

Mr. Lejardi left the Spanish Basque country in 1969 after an obligatory stint in Francisco Franco's army. Like young Basque men for a century before him, he came to Nevada to herd sheep. Now retired, he lives across the border in Idaho, one of some 50,000 Old World Basques and their descendants who, according to William Douglass, author of "Amerikanuak: Basques in the New World," live in the Western states. Mr. Lejardi noted that the Picon Punch isn't much known in the Old World Basque country, where the most distinctive local drinks are a sloe-berry liqueur called patxaran and the sweet herbal izarra.

Mr. Arriaga pointed out a couple of small wiry men at the end of the bar. "They're from California. Very tough," he said with admiration. "Woodchoppers." Toughness is a singular Basque quality and is reflected in their sports -- feats of strength and sheer exertion. Chopping wood is a staple with Basques, but the signature basco sport is the hefting and schlepping of crushingly heavy weights. The woodchoppers were in town to compete at the National Basque Festival, much of which took place in Elko's streets and parks last weekend. But before the tough guys got to take their whacks, there was dancing.

Taking to the street were boys dressed in white shirts and pants with red sashes around their waists and jingling bells strapped to their shins; the girls were in green skirts, red aprons and white blouses and scarves, their legs cross-gartered. They danced with garlanded hoops to the skirring of an electrified accordion; the steps looked like a distant cousin of the Highland Fling. From the sidelines, mothers of the dancers tossed back their heads and let loose a ululating yell that got its start as a Basque war cry: "Ley-ley-ley-ley-ley-ley-ley-ley-ley-ley-ha-ha-ha-ha-hooooooooooo!"

There were more berets being worn than on New York's 52nd Street during the height of bebop.

The next day I went back to The Star to see how its Picon Punch is made.

The drink takes its name from the brand of the central ingredient, Amer Picon. "Amer" is the French word for "bitter." Gaston Picon concocted his own aperitif of bitter orange peel, herbs and alcohol as a tonic, and started bottling it commercially in 1830. But Amer Picon hadn't been doing boffo business in the States of late, and the brand abandoned the New World. Fortunately, there is a worthy substitute, Torani Amer, now the staple for Picon Punches.

The Star's bartender, Miguel Leonis, puts a stemmed goblet on the bar and fills it with ice. After putting in a healthy dash of grenadine, he fills the glass with Torani Amer, leaving just enough room on top for a float of brandy. He takes a twist of lemon and rubs it around the rim of the glass before tossing it in. "Some people add club soda to water it down a little," says Mr. Leonis. "But we don't. This is the real deal." The result is a delicious cocktail with a subtle orange flavor that isn't so much bittersweet as perfectly balanced between bitter and sweet.

The real deal is still possible because, shortly after Prohibition, R. Torre & Co., a California firm making flavored syrups and liqueurs, came up with its own version of Amer Picon to sell to the many Basque restaurants in San Francisco. Torani Amer is now the only liquor marketed by the company, which focuses instead on its Torani syrups for baking and flavoring coffees. Amer isn't a big business line, but it is a steady one -- especially since Amer Picon took a powder. Ask for Amer Picon at your local liquor store, and you're almost sure to come up emptyhanded -- unless you're lucky enough to find a dusty old bottle languishing on a back shelf. Unfortunately, ask for Torani Amer and you will likely be just as frustrated.

Some California liquor stores, such as BevMo and Wally's, regularly stock the liqueur, and shops in northern Nevada have naturally heard of the stuff. But otherwise your chances of finding a store that sells Torani Amer are slim. That doesn't necessarily mean it can't be acquired. Anybody can push a bottle of Grey Goose or Smirnoff across the counter at you, but the store worth giving your everyday business to is the one that will make every effort to acquire rarities when you need them.

Better yet, if you ever find yourself between Salt Lake City and Reno, stop in at The Star or the nearby Biltoki Restaurant and enjoy a Picon Punch in its natural habitat -- a treat as rare as the Basque language you will hear spoken all around you. Should you want to join in the conversation, raise your glass and say, "To your health": Zure Osagarriari.

Picon Punch

2½ oz Torani Amer (or Amer Picon)
½ oz grenadine
¾ oz brandy

Pour grenadine and Amer over ice in a stemmed goblet and stir. Top with a float of brandy. Rub a twist of lemon around the rim of the glass, and then toss it in.

.... ... .

Nagasaki in Gernika

This note was published at The Japan Times:

Nagasaki opens A-bomb exhibit in Guernica, Spain

GUERNICA, Spain (Kyodo) An exhibition showcasing the tragic consequences of the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan in World War II has opened at the Guernika Peace Museum Foundation.

Sakue Shimohira, a 72-year-old survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing in 1945, made a plea during the opening ceremony last week for the world to abolish nuclear weapons.

"Please make Nagasaki the last site of an atomic bombing so that no more atomic bomb sufferers will be produced," she said.

The national peace hall in Nagasaki decided to hold the event in Guernica in the belief it is "suitable to convey the horror of the atomic bombing" in 2007, the 70th anniversary of the aerial bombing of Guernica, which inspired Pablo Picasso's famous painting of the same name.

The Basque city was bombed by Nazi Germany's aircraft on behalf of Gen. Francisco Franco for several hours during a crowded market day.

Introduced as a "peace ambassador," Shimohira talked about her experience in front of about 80 people.

A 43-year-old coffee shop manager said he was stunned by her speech.

"Thinking about victims, I feel overwhelmed," he said. "I also feel indignation toward those people who killed this many people. I would like to tell my two children what I heard."

The note is a follow up to the one we reproduced back in May.

.... ... .

Oxford Murders

Sorry, nope, this is not some sort of police report from Oxford, this is about the new film by Basque director Alex de la Iglesia. To learn more read this article appeared at EITb:

Entertainment

Alex de la Iglesia

Basque film director starts filming The Oxford Murders

02/07/2007

The film will be entirely in English and relies on the starring of Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings). The filming will take place in England during nine weeks.

The film will be in English and count on the starring of Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings). The filming will take in England during nine weeks.

The Basque film director Alex de la Iglesia (Bilbao) started the filming of The Oxford Murders, a film adapted from the novel Los crímenes imperceptibles (Imperceptible crimes, translated into English as The Oxford Murders) by the Argentine writer Guillermo Martinez.

The director's blog will keep us up to date of the filming project.

The movie, entirely in English, relies on an international cast led by Elijah Wood, John Hurt, Leonor Watling, Julie Cox, Anna Massey, Alex Cox and Dominique Pinon. During nine weeks the filming will take place in London and Oxford.

In this thriller, a professor of logic and a graduate student investigate a series of bizarre, mathematically-based murders in Oxford. Each new death is linked to a different mathematical shape. It seems that the killer can be stopped only if someone decodes the next symbol in the sequence.

.... ... .

Euskera in Iparralde

These are such great news, check this out, comes to us via EITb:

Life

Promotion of Basque Language

Historical agreement to promote Basque language in Iparralde

02/07/2007

The Basque Government and the Public Office of the Basque Language of Iparralde (Northern Basque Country) signed an agreement to collaborate in linguistic issues. An economic fund of €1,450,000 was fixed for 2007.

The Basque Government and the Public Office of the Basque Language of Iparralde (Northern Basque Country in the French State) signed in Baiona an agreement to collaborate in linguistic issues. Both institutions qualified the agreement as historical, as it makes official an institutional collaboration that goes beyond juridical and administrative borders.

The agreement signed by the Basque Government and the Public Office of the Basque Language will make possible a linguistic policy that promotes the Basque language in Iparralde.

In March a call for projects will be announced, to be financed with a €1,450,000 fund, a fund to which the Basque Government will contribute €450,000.

In 2007 several joint initiatives will be carried out such as the 4th Social-linguistic Survey of the Basque Country and the collaboration in research on toponyms and education.

The agreement institutionalizes a relationship existing since 2003, when the Councilor for Culture signed a first protocol with different French institutions. The recent creation of the Public Office of the Basque Language opens the path to a historical transfrontier collaboration.

A mixed commission will follow up the evolution of the projects. Today's signed agreement will be valid until 2010, but has to be ratified every year.

.... ... .

Cobeaga in the USA

This note comes to us thanks to EITb:

Nominated for the Oscar

Basque short film director Borja Cobeaga is already in the US

02/07/2007

Éramos pocos (One Too Many) has been nominated and awarded 70 prizes in 200 festivals worldwide. One of the most important awards it received was the Best Comedy at the Aspen Shortsfest.

Borja Cobeaga, Basque short film director, has travelled to the US in order to promote his work Éramos pocos (One Too Many). Next February 25 he will compete at the 79th Oscars Annual Academy Awards within the short films (live action) section.

The video is 15 minutes long. Borja Cobeaga wrote the script alongside Sergio Barrejón, and they tell the story of a father and a son. When the wife abandons the father, he decides to take his mother-in-law home from a residential home for the elderly with his son's help, so that she becomes the new cleaning woman. Actors Ramón Barea, Mariví Bilbao and Alejandro Tejería play the main roles.

Éramos pocos has been nominated and awarded 70 prizes in 200 festivals worldwide. One of the most important awards it received was the Best Comedy at the Aspen Shortsfest.

Cobeaga's work is included in the Kimuak 2006 catalogue that the Culture Department of the Basque Government annually boosts. The Culture councillor, Miren Azkarate, stated that it is not a coincidence that another short compiled in Kimuak was awarded two years ago, and now Cobeaga's.

Good luck to him!

.... ... .

Euskera For Visitors

Summer is here and soon thousands of visitors will be enjoying the tourist attractions that Nabarra offers so, here you have a handy crash curse into the Basque Language:

Useful information about the Basque Language (Euskara)

We mention here some useful words for visitors when they visit Gipuzkoa. Obviously, the idea is not to teach "Euskara in 10 lessons".

The Baskon language is used for everyday activities

Euskara is not difficult to pronounce, and we point out here some of the most important differences in relation to Castilian.

* g: ge and gi like gue and gui in Castilian, respectively. For example, in Gipuzkoa.
* tx: like ch in Castilian; for example, "coche" (car).
* ts: similar to tx, but softer.
* tz: similar to zz in Italian, in pizza.
* x: similar to sh in English, in show.
* z: s sibilant.

It is useful to remember that because Euskara is an inflected language, the words we list here may have different suffixes depending on the case in which are used, for example:

* etxe ............home / house
* etxearen ........belongs to the home / belongs to the house
* etxea ...........the home / the house
* etxeko ..........of the house
* etxean ..........at home / in the house
* etxetik .........from the house
* etxera ..........go home
* etxerantz .......towards the house

Courtesy Vocabulary

# Adiós, saludo, hola,...Agur............. Good-bye, greetings, (hello.. )
# Hola...............Kaixo................... Hi
# Qué tal?............Zer moduz?.............. How are you?
# Buenos días.........Egun on................. Good morning
# Buenas tardes........Arratsalde on........... Good afternoon
# Buenas noches.......Gabon................... Good evening
# Hasta mañana........Bihar arte............... See you tomorrow
# Hasta luego.........Gero arte................ See you later
# Por favor...........Mesedez.................. Please
# Perdón!............Barkatu!................. Sorry!
# Gracias..........Mila esker, eskerrik asko.. Thank you
# De nada..........Ez horregatik......... You are welcome, my pleasure
# Sí.................Bai........................ Yes
# No................Ez......................... No

To Understand Signs (in alphabetic order)

# Afaria................Cena ..................... Dinner
# Albergea..............Albergue .................. Hostal
# Alokatzen da..........Se alquila .................. To let, to hire, to rent
# Aparkalekua...........Aparcamiento................ Car park
# Autobus geltokia....Estación de autobuses ...... Bus station
# Badabil...............Funciona ................... In running order
# Bazkaria..............Comida .................... Lunch
# Botika................Farmacia ................... Chemist
# Bulegoa...............Oficina .................... Office
# Eliza.................Iglesia ..................... Church
# Emakumeak, Andreak....Señoras .................... Ladies
# Enparantza............Plaza ...................... Square
# Etorbidea.............Avenida .................... Avenue
# Ez dabil..............No funciona ................. 0ut of order
# Ez erre...............No fumar ................... No smoking
# Gizonak...............Hombres ................... Gentlemen
# Gosaria...............Desayuno .................. Breakfast
# Har eta Jan.........Restaurante autoservicio .... Self service restaurant
# Hondartza.............Playa ......................Beach
# Hotela................Hotel ..................... Hotel
# Irekita...............Abierto .................... Open
# Irteera...............Salida ..................... Exit
# Itxita................Cerrado ................... Closed
# Jatetxea..............Restaurante ................. Restaurant
# Kaia..................Puerto ..................... Port
# Kalea.................Calle ....................... Street
# Kontuz!...............Cuidado! ................... Caution!, look out!
# Komuna................WC ........................ Toilets
# Liburudenda...........Librería ..................... Book shop
# Liburutegia...........Biblioteca .................... Library
# Ospitalea.............Hospital ...................... Hospital
# Pasealekua............Paseo ........................ Promenade
# Posta bulegoa.........Correos ...................... Post Office
# Sarrera...............Entrada ...................... Way in
# Salgai (dago).........Se vende ..................... For sale
# Tren geltokia.........Estación de tren ............... Railway station
# Turismo bulegoa.......Oficina de turismo ............. Turist Office
# Udaletxea.............Ayuntamiento .................. Town Hall
# Udaltzaingoa..........Policía Municipal .............. Municipal Police
# Zabalik...............Abierto ....................... Open
# Zinema................Cine ......................... Cinema

In Bars (how to order)

# Ardoa.............. Vino....................... Wine
# Ardo beitza........ Vino tinto ................ Redwine
# Ardo beitza bat.... Un vino tinto............. A red wine
# Beltza bat.......... Un tinto................... A wine
# Bi ardo gorri...... Dos claros ................ Two rosés
# Hiru ardo txuri ... Tres blancos.............. Three whaes
# Lau garagardo .... Cuatro cervezas .......... Four beers
# Bost-kafesne...... Cinco cafés con leche .... Five white coffees
# Esnea.............. Leche....................... Milk
# Kafe utza ......... Café solo .................. Black coffee
# Kafe ebakia....... Café cortado............... Coffee with a little milk
# Patxarana......... Pacharán............. Pacharán(afnuityanis)
# Sagardoa.......... Sidra........................ Cider
# Tea................ Té............................ Tea
# Txakolina ........ Txakoli ......... Txakoli (sharp-tasting Basque white wine)
# Ura................ Agua........................ Water
# Ur minerala....... Agua mineral ............. Mineral water
# Zuritoa ........... Vasito de cerveza.......... Small glass of beer

Baskon Vocabulary In Place-Names

Many of the place-names mentioned here have to do with their physical description. Therefore, it could be useful to know some of the words most frequently used.

# .aga ................. lugar de ................. place of
# Aitz or haitz ........ Peña..................... Rock
# Aran................. Valle..................... Valley
# Aritz ................ Roble .................... Oak tree
# Baserri ............. Caserio................... Basque farmstead
# Berri................ Nuevo..................... New
# Borda............... Cabaña................... Hut
# Ereñotz............. Laurel..................... Laurel
# Erreka............... Arroyo................... Stream
# .eta.................. lugar de ................... place for
# Etxe................. Casa........................ House/home
# -gain................ sobre, encima............. On, over, upon
# Gorri................ Rojo, pelado.............. Red
# Herri ................ Pueblo ................... Small town
# Ibai.................. Río......................... River
# Iturri................. Fuente.................... Fountain
# Korta................ Pasto...................... Pasture
# Langa................ Puerta rústica, portilla......... Rustic door
# Lizar................. Fresno ................... Ashtree
# Mendi................ Monte..................... Mountain
# Pago................. Haya...................... Beechtree
# .pe(an).............. debajo..................... under
# Zabal ................ Amplio, abierto.......... Wide, broad,open
# Zarra,Zaharra....... Viejo..................... Old
# Zubi.................. Puente.................... Bridge

For example, Aizkorri: a bare mountain; Etxeberria: a new house.

.... ... .

Eusko Flickr : Maisons d'Ainhoa

Maisons d'Ainhoa
Originally uploaded by Mhln