Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday at Feria de Mataderos

After hearing so much about this great fair in a part of town called Mataderos, we decided to check it out with our friends Layne and Angela. There was a stage with dancers, tons of arts and crafts, and all types of tasty treats. Of course, we loved the places that offered free samples, especially the dulce de leche and this yummy mixed berry jam we bought. For lunch we tried two cuts of meat that were new to us, vacio and bondiola. Both turned out be tender and grilled to our liking. Other than some loser snapping at me for taking a picture of his ugly little llama and pony without tipping him, it was a beautiful and sunny day!





























We watched a horse competition for quite a while but couldn't quite figure out what the game was trying to accomplish. There were a bunch of competitors racing down the road and trying to push a stick through a loop at top speed. We think...but it was difficult to figure out the difference between when someone was successful at it or not. I'm sure I could look it up and educate us. In any case, we ended up just clapping when everyone else did. Homework for us: figure out what exactly is the object of that competition?

One of the funniest parts was this horse-riding dog that yapped at everything that passed by him. He rides this horse every week but just could not stop barking at other horses, dogs, and people as if he had never been out in public before!



























Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sounds of Jazz

What a lovely Saturday it was. The 2008 Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival on the rooftop terrace of the Recoleta Cultural Center was quite a treat. There's not much we like more than free live music outdoors. The turnout was amazing and when seats ran out there were tons of people standing up in the back or just sitting on the ground. This picture is of Roxana Amed, a very important figure on the Argentina jazz scene. She opened her set with a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace.


We had a nice dinner in the Unicorn Room at the Faena Hotel -- where we saw Julia Stiles hanging out. Wonder if she's filming a movie here? In any case, after dinner Don finally got what he had been waiting for...a trip to the floating casino in Puerto Madero. As luck would have it, we won big! We had a lot of fun and walked away with a big stack of pesos.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Is Spring Here to Stay?


After several more days of rain and clouds, the sun appeared on Thursday and Don and I jumped at the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. We went to the Botanical Garden and had a leisurely walk around the area. The garden has hundreds of cats living there and they like to come up to you, probably hoping that you have some food. There were tons of people laying around on the grass and relaxing.

After the garden we went over to the Park Hyatt in Recoleta, which was even more beautiful than the one we visited while in Mendoza. We had afternoon tea and scones and listened to a harpist. It was a very peaceful way to enjoy our late afternoon merienda (snack) during the downtime. Whereas at home bars and restaurants are jumping around happy hour (5-7pm), nothing really happens here in Buenos Aires. People are at home having family time and dinner doesn't get going at most places until after 9:30pm.

I can't say enough about the fabulous Vietnamese dinner we ate at Green Bamboo. A new version of chicken satay that, instead of just wooden sticks, the chicken was skewered on sugar cane sticks. Add pork rolls and duck confit to the mix and YUM...

We also successfully booked our next trip! On November 9th we'll be heading to the Patagonia region to visit Calafate, Puerto Madryn, and Bariloche. We can't wait.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Party Time!

Don came up with the idea of having an omelette and champagne party at midnight on Saturday. I was somewhat intrigued so I sent out a small invite and went along with it. Don loves my omelettes at home so much that he has dubbed me the "Omelette Queen." Let's just say it's not the same when you have a hungry audience in the kitchen! The omelette making turned into a true team effort. All in all, they came out really, really well. Around 3 am things started getting really funny...such as Martin's so-called "breakdancing" on the floor and my attempt at a very unattractive mix of tae kwon do / capoeira. Good times.


OK, who is that behind the monkey?! Javier...?

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Everyday Life

The past few days have been pretty normal and mostly low key for us with few exceptions. We've tried some really great restaurants like Standard for Argentine asado, Pregiatto for pasta and Sudestada for southeast Asian. I was disappointed that I forgot to bring my camera to Sudestada because I had the most delicious and beautiful looking dish. The chef carved out half of a huge, fresh pineapple and filled it with chicken, pork, shrimp and a spicy-sweet sauce. Don also loved his spicy pork dish and we definitely plan to go back. However, we've only made it to the gym once this week so you know where I'm going with that...

Thursday night we hung out with Linnea at Milion, which we had seen on the Food Network when Rachel Ray visited here. It's a cool bar/club in an old mansion and the website is really cool, Milion. The place is also known for its black cat that roams around but no one could seem to find him for us. We haven't really stayed out late here so we decided to keep the night alive by going to Club 69 or Niceto Club. It was very much like what we'd do in DC by going to the upper VIP level and getting champagne. We had a great time and stayed out really late.



To recover from our late night out we had a lazy day in the park for a picnic on Friday. We got some choripan and went to La Rosedal or the rose garden. At least we tried to get into the rose garden but it was closed so we sat on the outskirts. The weather was fantastic and we just lay on our blanket and relaxed. A group of geese tried to attack us for our food and it was hilarious watching Don try to hit them with his baseball cap. The geese would even try and eat the blanket!


I won't even go into detail about our trip to Jumbo Easy today, the equivalent of Wal-Mart here. Big shopping trips drive me crazy even though it was relatively empty and we didn't even have to wait in line for very long. Plus they deliver everything to your house, which is good considering we bought enough to last us for the next six months!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

USA Day!

We voted today! The embassy had a really nice event for absentee voters with food, music, and a speech by the US Ambassador. And, of course, they served Starbucks coffee! Our Washington, DC absentee ballots haven't arrived to our apartment - no surprise there - so we had to complete a federal write-in ballot. It was a lot of fun being there at the embassy and we got there before the line became over an hour long wait.
Funny thing, we were feeling so "American" that we did something we swore we wouldn't do. We left the embassy and we ate at McDonald's! The quarter pounder with cheese burgers were actually really good...and we saw tons of other Americans there who had just left the embassy, which made us laugh. The McDonald's fries never taste the same outside the US but the burgers were really close to the real thing. Can't wait until November 4!
Check out CNN's coverage of the political events we've attended: video clip

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

La Recoleta Cemetery

We ate lunch in Recoleta today and visited La Recoleta Cemetery, which is a common touristy thing to do and is where Eva Peron is buried. There are hundreds of mausoleums for famous, wealthy, and influential families from Argentina. As we had read before arriving, the mausoleums and walkways are arranged somewhat like city blocks. Here's a typical view:
Some of the mausoleums are in horrible disarray, which was sad to see. But, for the most part, walking through the cemetery is a nice experience. It was difficult to get a good picture of Eva's mausoleum because of how it was situated but here's a part that shows "Evita".

Monday, October 6, 2008

Mendoza Picture Slideshow

Click here to see a slideshow of our pictures from Mendoza.

Mendoza is a very large wine-producing province. It is the 5th largest in the world and domestic consumption has, for a long time, easily absorbed production.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Mendoza, South America's Napa Valley

We have recently returned from 3 nights in Mendoza and it was not long enough! As soon as we arrived on Thursday afternoon the hotel staff handed us 2 chilled glasses of Torrentes white wine and all thoughts of busy Buenos Aires cleared out of our minds. It was sunny and warm and we had a great lunch on the terrace of the restaurant. The food during our entire stay was fantastic at restaurants like Francis Mollman's 1884.

That night, we attended a wine tasting at the lodge. We tried 3 types of wine - 2 red, 1 white - and played a guessing game of "essences" found in wine. Smelling the little bottles with various essences turned out to be quite difficult! Some examples we had were cloves, grapefruit, grass, coffee, black pepper. Sounds easy but it's not. The lodge grows the bonarda seed grape and sells it to other vineyards for producing wine. It only makes 2,000 bottles a year of its own for its guest to drink while staying there. The bonarda grape is deep ruby red and has a full taste.

On Friday we visited two bodegas or wineries - the first was Vistalba by Carlos Pulenta and the second was Achaval Ferrer. We got to taste wine directly from a French oak barrel, which is what our tour guide is pouring here.


Somehow, Don woke up early and took a mountain bike ride around the estate before our Saturday spa day began. And it was amazing. We had a treatment together called Winetherapy that lasts for 2.5 hours! We had a 50-minute massage, a crushed Malbec seed scrub, a Bonarda red wine bath, and a Torrentes wine wrap. Pure indulgence. We miss Mendoza already and are thinking about returning when the grapes are ripening, even though we found the weather so perfect now.
We just sent an email slideshow of our pictures from the trip. Post a comment here if you didn't get it.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Rain, Rain Go Away

It's been raining and chilly for 3 days and I'm fighting a stomach virus. Not too fun so we haven't done much except for eat out when I can "stomach" it. Luckily, we've had some good food experiences, mostly after realizing how difficult it is to get anything delivered on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Most of the best restaurants here will deliver to you, unlike in DC, but you can mostly forget about it until Wednesday rolls around at the places we tried.

Monday night we went to Sarkis just a few blocks from our house, which some call the best Mediterranean food in Buenos Aires. The reviews didn't disappoint. We absolutely loved the tabbouleh and the lamb kebab, and we had a tasty Cabernet-Merlot blend. The hummus was better than the one we had to throw out from the grocery store but still not as good as some of our favorite restaurants back home like Zaytinya or Lebanese Taverna. I tried to get a picture of the belly dancer with Don but it didn't turn out too well as you can see! I had a great time eating away but my stomach made me pay for it all night long while Don slept soundly...

We leave tomorrow for Mendoza to stay at the Cavas Wine Lodge. Stay tuned for details of our adventures in wine country!