Page 17 - AHATA

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local Monday 23 June 2025
Craving a pastechi? Make one at home!

(Oranjestad)—If you ever your dough into the bowl
been to Aruba before, you are using or on a clean
you probably heard of surface with some flour
(and even tried) the Aru- lightly dusted until its sur-
ban Pastechi. Beloved by face is smooth. You'll know
young and old, this tasty your dough is ready when it
treat is a staple for party doesn’t stick to your hands
snacks, a quick lunch or or the surface on which
even breakfast! you’re kneading it. Let your
dough rest covered for 15-
Here’s how to make the 20 minutes.
Pastechi dough.
After resting, divide your
Ingredients: dough into approximately
4 cups of wheat flour 100 gram balls and roll it
1 tbsp baking powder (if flat with a rolling pin. The
using self-rising flour, omit thickness of the pastechi
baking powder) depends on your taste, but
1 tsp salt the average thinness would
1 tbsp sugar be around ¼ inch or so.
0.5 cup of melted butter
1 cup water Filling for the pastechis var-
1 egg ies according to your taste.
The easiest and most com- fold it in half and pinch the wax paper in between come almost tradition to
Directions: mon filling you’ll find in Aru- sides shut with a fork. If you each pastechi if you are eat pastechis for breakfast
Sift your flour into a bowl ba is a simple cheese fill- have a folding tool, feel to store them on top of on the way to work. Many
and add all the dry ingredi- ing. For this, we usually use free to use it for this pro- one another. This way the roadside snack trucks sell
ents before giving it a quick shredded Gouda, but feel cess. Your pastechi is ready pastechis don’t stick to pastechi from early morn-
mix. Next add the butter, free to use any cheese that for the fryer! each other when defrost- ing to noon, and offer a va-
water and egg and mix melts well when frying the ing. riety of fillings like cheese;
until thoroughly combined. pastry. If you want to store some ham and cheese; ground
At this point, your dough pastechis for later use, you Here in Aruba we enjoy beef and pulled chicken to
will start to get sticky; time Place the filling on your can freeze them. A good pastechi at any time of name a few.q
for an arm workout. Knead rolled out piece of dough, tip is to place a piece of the day, but it has be-

Forgotten gems
Open air movie theaters

(Oranjestad)—During the span of sus office is located. The theater was
over 100 years, Aruba only saw simple; it only consisted of a screen,
five open air movie theatres. Now and visitors had to bring their own
practically obsolete on the island, chairs to enjoy the popular silent
these theaters were once frequently movies of the time.
visited by locals and migrants in the
20th century. American migrants who worked in
the refinery and lived in the Lago
The first open air theater was con- Colony in Sero Colorado also had
structed in 1920 and was commis- their piece of the pie with their Open
sioned by Shon Eduard (Eddy) de air Theatre, which formed part of the
Veer. This theater was located at Esso Club, also known as the Pan-
the Hotel Colombia in Oranjestad, Am Club. It was at this theater that
which is now where the Aruban cen- “Talkies” were first streamed, mov-
ies with sound. This theater mostly located in Balashi was a hot spot
streamed American blockbusters for for teenagers, who had the habit Source: “De kolibrie op de rots en
the American expats, this way mak- of cramming all their friends in one meer over de geschiedenis van Aru-
ing sure that these migrant were not car to go see the movies. For this ba” by Evert Bongers.
missing out on entertainment from phenomenon there was a separate
their home land. price that you had to pay called the
“car crash”.
In the 1950’s and 60’s, Savaneta saw
their own open air theater, located This theater closed around 2012, but
in front of the Marinier’s Kazerne (Ma- was re-opened during the pandem-
rine Barracks). This theater was mostly ic in July 2020, where movies were
visited by the neighboring marines, streamed on a gigantic screen set
who didn’t have much entertain- up in front of stacked containers.
ment other than movies at that time. However, this nostalgic form of en-
tertainment did not last very long
The last and most recent open air as it was closed again only a year
theater was constructed in the or two later. Nowadays you can still
form of a drive-in theater. A popu- see the stacked containers when you
lar American concept, the Drive Inn drive near the bridge in Balashi.q