These are a few of our favorite things.....

I love autumn! I simple love autumn!

This weekend I can combine three of my favorite things, foliage, brunch and Itzhak Perlman.

Source:MUG

When you're going for the golds—and the oranges and reds.

New York

Connecticut

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

Massachusetts

Vermont

New Hampshire

Maine

Apple Picking

Covered Bridges

Pumpkin Patches

HBO Latino Screening of CASI CASI on Monday, Oct 1

Monday, October 1st,

6:00 p.m.

Instituto Cervantes Auditorium

211 East 49th Street (between 3rd and 2nd Av.) Click here to See Map

HBO Latino Screening of CASI CASI:

Running for Student Council President is one way of impressing Jacklynne, the most popular girl in school, until Emilio finds out she wants to be president, too!

CASI CASI is an Award winning caper comedy full of romance and heart.

Please join us in the garden for a reception from 6-7 with Chilean wine from Santa Rita Wines, Cuban appetizers from Havana Central, and live rhythms from percussionists Antonio Rodriguez and Chris Viteri.

Following the screening, please stay for a special panel discussion with the cast of CASI CASI. To attend, please call 212-308-7720 or email mailto:events@cervantes.org.

This event is free of charge, but seating is limited. Reservations are required!

©2007 Home Box Office Inc. Todos los derechos reservados. HBO Latino® es una marca de servicio de Home Box Office, Inc.

The Chivas Studio - performance by Malacates on Sat, Sept 29th

Our querido friends at Noche Latina shared the invite and we in turn share it with you.

THE CHIVAS STUDIO

NEW YORK CITY

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 29TH, 2007

FROM 10:00PM - 1:00 AM

THE CHIVAS STUDIO

1021 6TH AVE. AT 38TH ST,

NYC 866 922 8977

PRIVATE EVENT
COMPLIMENTARY HORS D'OEUVRES

AND SIGNATURE COCKTAILS WILL BE SERVED

FOR A LIMITED TIME THE CHIVAS STUDIO WILL BE IN NEW YORK CITY

BE AMONG THE FIRST TO SEE THIS EXCLUSIVE NEW LOUNGE
R.S.V.P. ONLINE OR BY CALLING 866-922-8977

Please provide information for all required fields

R.S.V.P. ONLINE CLICK HERE
This event is complimentary.

You and your guest must be at least 21 to attend.

Proper attire requested.

On time arrival is recommended.

We reserve the right to refuse admission.

A Little Madrid in Chelsea

ummm there seems to be a Spanish theme developing at Casa Naranja this past week...

The always cutting edge Urban Daddy reported this tapita just today.

A Fifth of Pine

Tapas and Cocktails in Chelsea

Your basic Spanish is fine. But you've never been one to stop at fine.
And so, in the interest of expanding your vocabulario, we present: El Quinto Pino, officially opening this evening.
Spanish for "The Fifth Pine," El Quinto Pino is the kind of neighborhood tapas bar you'd find in Madrid: hole-in-the-wall-y, all stools, no tables, mosaic tiles and chalkboard menus. (You get the feeling Chef Alex Raij (Tia Pol) cares about delivering rare delicious bites, great drinks and nothing more.) After taking a quick sampling of the menu—which is entirely in Spanish—we drew up a list of the words you'd be wise to pronounce most often:

Berenjena con Miel. Like so many unexpected combinations (Sonny & Cher, foie gras and donuts), this pairing of fried eggplant with honey leads to deliciously light and crispy results.
Ensalada de Oreja. Literally "Ear Salad," it's braised pig ear mixed with a cauliflower, onion and carrot salad.

Serranita. A hard-pressed sandwich, the Serrano ham is ingeniously stacked atop its own fat (one layer ham, one layer fat) so that when compacted, everything melts together into unified, tasty gooeyness.

El Quinto Royale. It's like a Kir Royale, except instead of champagne and blackcurrant liquor, it uses cava and blueberry liquor. We're fairly certain it will help inspire romance (and the courage to consume ear salad).

And remember: Practice makes perfect.
El Quinto Pino, 401 W 24th St (at Ninth Ave), 212-206-6900

The Reign in Spain

From the Haute List

Hermanas, Penelope and Monica Cruz are hot for Mango, and Mango is loving them back. Included in my ES Magazine (the women's mag in London's Evening Standard) was a Mango look book with the adorable clothes from the Cruz collection for the Barcelona based chain.

In the pack of skinny models were some sultry looks from Crystal Renn, a model plus size model who broke the mold and continues to be a pet of photographer Steven Meisel and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Unfortunately, I can't share the snaps, but you can tinker around with the website and find it all here.

calling all Brides

BRIDES Something Pink Gown Sale
Preview sale Oct. 4, 6:30pm-9:30pm, General sale Oct. 5-6 9am-7pm
at Lotus Space

It looks like the people over at BRIDES magazine have put together a huge SALE. Gowns donated from recent brides, retailers and manufacturers are available at discounted prices, with all proceeds going to the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. There are two sales: a preview sale ($200 entry fee) that includes entrance for a friend, cocktails, a gift bag (worth around $250) and the assistance of a BRIDES magazine editor; and the general sale ($20 entry fee) which includes two hours of shopping time. Advanced tickets are going fast, so make sure to buy your tickets early.

The Price Of Sugar

We talked about this documentary eons ago and will urge you once again to make a point of watching.

This documentary is a call for action, a call I suspect will resonate with all Casa Naranja devotees.

THE PRICE OF SUGAR - (unrated)

2007 - USA - English, Spanish & French (with English subtitles) - 90 minutes - Mitropoulos Films

Directed by Bill Haney

Featuring: Narrator: Paul Newman. With: Father Christopher Hartley

On the island of the Dominican Republic, tourists flock to pristine beaches unaware that a few miles away thousands of dispossessed Haitians have toiled under armed-guard on plantations harvesting sugarcane, much of which ends up in U.S. kitchens. They work grueling hours and frequently lack decent housing, clean water, electricity, education or healthcare. THE PRICE OF SUGAR follows Father Christopher Hartley, a charismatic Spanish priest, as he organizes some of this hemisphere's poorest people, challenging powerful interests profiting from their work. This film raises key questions about where the products we consume originate and at what human cost they are produced.

This movie is playing between: 9/28/2007 and 10/4/2007

click here for showtimes and tickets Official MovieWebsite IMDB Link View Trailer

Newest Juan Luis Guerra Music Video...

Republica Update has the 411 on Juan Luis Guerra's newest video.

Directed by Dominican Director Taba Blanchard, here's JLG's newest music video for his song "La Travesía," right out the oven. The premise is going around the world looking for some woman's love and it's made with home video footage provided to the director from friends across the globe. Visually stunning. Republica Update will be sitting down with Taba for 5 Q's in the next few days and we will give you a heads up

The History Channel en español

If you watched "La Mentira" in spite of yourself <> you know Ms. Kate.

Ahhh, the nostalgia of a good novela is overwhelming me right now but I digress.

Beginning this fall, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo will be the spokesperson for The History Channel en español Fall Programming Initiative. During Hispanic Heritage Month, the television and film star will accompany Spanish speaking viewers on a Latino history journey. From mid-September through mid-October, del Castillo will join the network in a special tribute, highlighting Latin American history and some of its protagonists, introducing seven documentary films to Spanish speaking television viewers.

The films are:

“The Pinochet Case,” (airing September 11),

“The Sugar Curtain” (airing September 15),

“Señorita Extraviada” (Missing Young Woman, airing September 16),

“Mexican Migration to the U.S.” (airing September 23),

“The Private Archives Of Pablo Escobar” (airing September 30),

“The True Story of Che Guevara” (airing October 7)

“A Place Called Chiapas” (airing October 14).

Free Manu Chao download on itunes

Experience what we at Casa Naranja have been urging you to do since we were alerted about the new Manu Chao album, for FREE!

It's Hispanic Heritage Month, so for this week's free Single of the Week, we chose a track from an artist who is huge in the Latin world, but who we think deserves a bit more exposure to everybody else. "Rainin' in Paradize" is taken from La Radiolina, Manu Chao's first studio album in six years.
Check It Out

Papabubble in Soho

Because buying your candy from a store orgininating in Barcelona is so much chicer than say, purchasing at Duane Reade.

Barcelona’s artisanal-candy chain Papabubble has settled on a U.S. location at 380 Broome Street and an opening date of October 18.

photo:Hector Mediavilla/Polaris, for The New York Times

Juan Luis Guerra at Apple Store on October 2nd

Juan Luis Guerra at Apple Store!

Juan Luis Guerra will perform at the New York Soho Apple Store on 2 October on the occasion of Hispanic Heritage Month.

He was chosen together with Pepe Aguilar, Xtreme and Jeremias to perform at Apple stores in five US cities as part of the Latin heritage celebrations.

The series begins on Sept. 15 with a performance by the B-Side Players at Apple's Chicago store on North Michigan Avenue, and wraps up on Oct. 13 with Down ("Lean Like a Cholo") at the company's Santa Monica, Calif., location. Juan Luis Guerra is on tour promoting "La llave de mi corazon," his new Grammy-nominated CD, part of a crossover strategy by the outstanding Latin performer.

Taste 50+ Riojas on September 20!

Join Vibrant Rioja and taste more than 50 of the world's most food-friendly wines on September 20th at a walk-around evening to benefit City Harvest at The Metropolitan Pavilion. Known for robust flavors, easy taste and extraordinary balance, Rioja's palate-pleasers pair perfectly with tables of tantalizing tapas presented by eight of the city's leading restaurants.

Join Wines from Spain to celebrate 25 years of extraordinary Spanish wines at the 14th Annual Great Match: Wine & Tapas. Taste more than 300 wines representing many of Spain's 67 denominations of origin, and feast on tapas prepared by 8 of New York's leading chefs.

Ivy Stark / Amalia

Akhtar Nawab / The E.U.

René Ortiz / La Esquina

Christopher Lee / Gilt
Marc Murphy / Landmarc

Ryan Skeen / Resto

Seamus Mullen / Boquería / Suba

Charles Ramseyer / Wild Salmon

Thursday, September 20, 2007

6:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Metropolitan Pavilion125 West 18th Street, New York City
Donation: $70 per person in advance.

RSVP before 5:00 pm on September 19, 2007. Proceeds benefit City Harvest, the world's oldest, and New York's only food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding New York City's hungry men, women, and children.

For easy online reservations and directions, visit: http://www.greatmatch.org/. For additional information, please call 1-866-946-3763. American Express, Visa & MasterCard accepted.

Nina Garcia appearance- Mon, Sept 17th

For everything you need to know about style, consult Nina Garcia when she hits Borders on Monday to discuss her new book, The Little Black Book of Style.

Breathtaking Latin America

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Saint Augustine

Casa Naranja invites you to travel from your seat to the most spectacular shots of Latin America. It is like nothing you have ever seen before!

Through the Eyes of the Condor

By Robert Haas

published by National Geographic

the cover photo : Flamingos sweep through a shallow lagoon near Chuburná on the northern Yucatán coast

Enough superlatives do not exist to fully appreciate the magnificence of the photos published

Step aboard a private plane for a breathtaking tour of the immense and varied wilderness of Latin America—lush lands and scenic waterways nearly impossible to experience any other way.
Your guide to this remarkable vision is Robert B. Haas, award-winning environmentalist and one of the world's foremost artists in aerial photography. Poignant essays penned by Haas while living in Latin America expand on themes important to understanding the region: culture, economy, development, tourism, and more.

See the virtual photo exhibit to learn more about these stunning photographs.

Barcelona es cool

Barcelona anyone??????

Click here for your Barcelona LeCool guide.

Madrid es cool

If any of you lovelies are traveling to Madrid this coming week Casa Naranja is prepared to provide you a cheat sheet of the only things you need to do while there.

Click here for your Madrid LeCool guide.

Latinbeat 2007

I am truly sorry we did not post this earlier. I am not sure who curated this film program but they did a briliant job. They have included a few not to be missed gems.

Déficit

Director: Gael García Bernal,

Country: Mexico,

Release: 2007, Runtime: 75

Déficit is the day-in-the-life story of Cristóbal, a twenty-something, hip hop-loving upper-class Mexican who studies economics and is the son of a corrupt politician. As he parties with his friends around the swimming pool of his family’s vacation home, the relationship of the upper class to working classes in current-day Mexico is explicitly brought to the foreground. Déficit explores the loss of innocence of an entire generation of Mexicans, forced to confront the reality that a political status quo in Mexico is gradually coming to an end.

Buy Tickets

Sat Sep 15: 8:00

For a listing of the films in LatinBeat 2007 go to Program Overview.

For a listing of the films in Four Breakthroughs from Mexico’s New Cinema go to LatinBeat 2007 SideBar.

Click on Calendar to view the schedule, film descriptions and to purchase tickets online.

Latinbeat 2007 is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with the support of the Consulate General of Argentina, the Consulate General of Brazil, the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, the General Consulate of Uruguay and the Consulate General of Peru.

Fiesta at Museum of Natural History's Rose Center

This Friday, Flavorpill's One Step Beyond party returns to rock the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space. School's in session, so it's perfect timing for a field trip with Brazilian baile funksters Bonde do Role, whose carioca jams dominate the Hall of the Universe. Philly reps large with wise-guy rappers Plastic Little and Afrotech kingpin King Britt, who brings his own VJ along for the ride.

Ticket price includes entrance to the Hayden Planetarium's Passport to the Universe sky show, plus a future museum visit, so mark your calendars and get ready to kick off your cultural school year.

When: Friday, September 14 (9pm-1am)
Where: American Museum of Natural History, North Entrance (81st St & Central Park West)
Price: $20

21+ with ID

Ticket includes admission to Passport to the Universe and one free future Museum admission.

Buy Tickets

Waiting With Bated Breath....Juanes

La Vida. . .Es Un Ratico is Juanes' highly anticipated follow-up to Mi Sangre. Pre-order it on iTunes today and you'll get the bonus track Falsas Palabras and access to an exclusive Ticketmaster pre-sale tour tickets offer.
Check It Out

Getting a Salsa Groove On

Seth Kugel is one of my favorite NYT contributers and the author of Nueva York: The Complete Guide to Latino Life in the Five Boroughs. Once again he proves to be totally tuned into the Latina vibe and vida that we are all about. His article Getting a Salsa Groove On is a great run down on what is happening with Salsa in NYC and more importantly where it is happening. Read the article and look for his shout-outs to some of Casa Naranja's faves: MarchaLatina.org LaFarraNY.com, and NYRemezcla.com.

Seth recommends:
Columbus 72, 246A Columbus Avenue between 71st and 72nd; (212) 239-2672; http://www.columbus72.com/.

S.O.B.'s, 204 Varick Street (at West Houston); (212) 243-4940; http://www.sobs.com/.

LQ ( Latin Quarter), 511 Lexington Avenue (between 47th and 48th); (212) 593-7575; http://www.lqny.com/.

La Fonda Boricua, 169 East 106th Street; (212) 410-7292; http://www.fondaboricua.com/.

Camaradas el Barrio, 2241 First Avenue (at 115th); (212) 348-2703; http://www.camaradaselbarrio.com/.

Parkside Lounge, 317 East Houston Street (at Attorney); (212) 673-6270; http://www.parksidelounge.com/.

Birdland, 315 West 44th Street; (212) 581-3080; http://www.birdlandjazz.com/.

Barbès, 376 Ninth Street (at Sixth Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn; (718) 965-9177; http://www.barbesbrooklyn.com/.

D'Antigua, 84-16 Northern Boulevard, Jackson Heights, Queens; (718) 779-0128.

Terraza, 40-19 Gleane Street, Jackson Heights, Queens; (718) 803-9602; http://www.terrazacafe.com/.

Arka Lounge, 4488 Broadway (at 192nd Street); (212) 567-9425; http://www.arkalounge.com/

photo credit: Robert Caplin for The New York Times

Argentine Nights: Celebrating Tango

Argentine Nights: Celebrating Tango
Tango Connection
Thursday, October 04, 2007 8:00PM
Peter Norton Symphony Space

Broadway at 95th St

New York

Tango Connection, the new 13-member tango ensemble formed by world-renowned dancer Mariela Franganillo celebrates tango, from its early roots to classic and modern interpretations. Franganillo, who performed in Broadway’s Forever Tango, brings inspiration and innovation to this romantic and evocative art form with her company of leading Argentine musicians and dancers, including partner Fernando Rodriguez; Natalia Hills and Francisco Forquera; Sabrina and Ruben Veliz; and Sara Grdan and Ivan Terrazas.

Co-sponsored by Barnard/Columbia Latin Heritage Committee & the Consulate General of in New York .

Tickets $45, $35

WMI Friends $40, $30

Students $15

Argentine Nights: Tango!
Fontango with Roxana Fontan
Saturday, October 06, 2007 8:00 pm
Peter Norton Symphony Space

Broadway at 95th St

New York

Roxana Fontan, “The Voice of Buenos Aires” and one of tango’s leading singers, directs an ensemble of musicians and dancers from Argentina in a passionate and sensuous evening of tango. Ms. Fontan, whose extensive career has brought her to stages throughout the world, toured with Tango X 2 and appeared in Carlos Saura’s Tango. The group’s dancers—Corina de la Rosa and Julio Balmaceda, and Dana Frigoli and Pablo Villarraza—appeared in Forever Tango and Tango Magic.

Tickets $45, $35

WMI Friends $40, $30

Students $15

Rosa Mexicano's Annual Chocolate Festival!

Chic Moment Overload! Fashion Week Spring 08

Fashion week.
Unfortunately we will not be covering Fashion Week in our usual capacity this season.
BUT... may we recommend:

Racked, who are covering the event from outside the tents (although they are partnering with superblog Refinery29 for show coverage), but they'll be linking to everyone else who's covering it, so I suggest checking Racked for super-comprehensive coverage.

We can recommend a thousand other links for coverage but one of our favorite, cheekiest, snarkiest and on point is Show & Tell, the always-excellent blog from the lovely ladies at New York Magazine.

Brian Reyes Collection
Photo by Imaxtree

Witness an event eleven years in the making

Witness an event eleven years in the making

Junot Díaz
Barnes & Noble, 33 East 17th Street; 7 p.m.; Profile; More info

We've been waiting eleven years for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the long-promised novel from Dominican-born New Yorker Junot Díaz. His debut, the short-story collection Drown, was as popular in Brooklyn Heights as Washington Heights, and the new novel proves well worth the wait: An epic, semi-magical history of one pitiable overweight nerd and his Dominican-American family, it's even truer to Diaz's distinctive immigrant-nerd style than his long-ago breakthrough book. This is one author you'll want to hear in person.

Photo by Ted Partin

Nina Garcia’s Little Black Book of Style

The Project Runway judge and editrix has release a new book of style tidbits entitled The Little Black Book of Style. Magazine-length pieces and fantastic illustrations by Ruben Toledo make it a quick, but aesthetically edifying, read.

According to Ms. G, a style icon knows how to edit, to invest in “the bones,” to buy with drama, the utmost importance of shoes, the power of accessories, a good tailor and more. And of course, if you don’t already know these tenets of fashion, Garcia goes through them each letting you in on little secrets along the way.