Our Time Is Short...

In less than a week we will be heading back to Washington, DC and the feeling is very bittersweet. It's amazing how quickly the months pass and we're trying our best to continue to take it slow and easy and savor everything around us. We've seen glaciers, penguins, whales, wine country, lots of tango, Brazil, Uruguay and more. We both agree that we spent our time here well and we're very happy with how everything turned out. Argentina just has so much to offer.

Sunday was my birthday so we hung out at the Four Seasons brunch for hours and hours. We had grappled with how to celebrate because I really don't like parties as much as Don does and so a lazy, food-filled Sunday turned out to be a perfect compromise. I feel like we're really part of the city here when we run into people we've met over time, which we did at brunch. It's funny how quickly strangers turn into familiar faces. It was such a beautiful day doing one of our favorite things here and soaking up the Buenos Aires weather. We have our fingers crossed that the DC climate warms up to welcome us back or it's going to be quite a shock! Not to mention it could take a while figuring out where all our winter stuff is packed away in storage...

So, I'm about to sit on the terrace and watch the water and read a book. Nothing more, nothing less.

Our new digs in Puerto Madero

So for our last 2 weeks in Buenos Aires we decided to switch apartments and try our hand at living in Puerto Madero. Our new building is directly across from the entrance to the Faena Hotel on a nice, quiet street. While we loved the charm of our previous neighborhood on the Palermo/Villa Crespo border, we were looking to change things up a bit. There's an ecological reserve nearby to this new apartment with a path for running and we have a beautiful view of the river from our terrace. One of the other major perks: we have a real, fancy adult pool on the rooftop with a fantastic view--not our kiddie pool for those who know. Here's how it looks:It was also a pleasant surprise when we went out today and saw a big Sunday fair like they have in Palermo Recoleta. There was the typical Argentine arts and crafts, singing, dancing, and junk food. It didn't even feel like we were in Puerto Madero, which is considered more sterile than other areas and principally filled with business people. Everyone was laying around the park talking and having picnics or roller blading or jogging. Sundays are a great day to get out and enjoy the fresh air and people watch. Puerto Madero is already growing on us.

A Day in Tigre on the River

Welcome to Tigre!

One of the primary reasons that we love Argentina is because the country is full of interesting and beautiful places to visit and to see new things. Just when we think we've hit a good chunk of the most raved about spots, someone is sure to start talking about some other place that they've been to that sounds amazing. Well, today we hit yet another of the destinations on our list, a place in the northern province of Buenos Aires called Tigre. The main draw is to take a boat tour of the delta and inlets and see the various islands. A couple we met who owns a nearby restaurant had recommended that we visit a particular island that houses a delicious restaurant named Gato Blanco. We were lucky enough to arrive and just look around until we found a boat company that would offer us a private tour, drop us off at lunch, and then take us boat to the main port. It was a fantastic day on the water. People were kayaking, jet skiing, taking motor boats, and even floating in the water on plastic recliners. We had a spectular lunch...the grilled black hake was the best I've had here in Buenos Aires. All in all, a successful trip, a beautiful day, and another destination checked off of our list!

On the boat ride traveling along the delta:

Our fantastic lunch spot:

Watching visitors lounge at a resort on the river:

Happy New Year!

It's 2009! Don and I brought in the new year with a few friends and we are so happy to have Butch visiting from DC. He's been our Buenos Aires companion for the past week and we've been wining, dining, and dancing all over. One of the best parts about having a visitor is that you get a great excuse to make reservations at all of your favorite restaurants and so far they have not disappointed. Last night we were at the Faeno Hotel dinner and tango show because you just can't come down here and not see a tango show. So that's one major thing checked off the list but now we're on to shopping for leather and visiting Tigre in the north to sail through the Delta...

Here are Butch and Don at Asia de Cuba in Puerto Madero having a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon:
The boys leaving brunch at Olsen's:

Feliz Navidad!

It's Christmas Day here in Buenos Aires and it's a blazing 90 degree day. The morning was eerily quiet after all the families in the city partied hard last night. Christmas Eve is a very important night here and at midnight fireworks started going off all across the sky. Our whole neighborhood was filled with bangs, booms, and streaks of color. But we really missed the Christmas movies that we would have watched in DC. The cable service we have in our apartment just wasn't providing the right stuff! What's Christmas Eve without watching "A Christmas Story"?

As our celebration today, we went to the Alvear Hotel for a long beautiful brunch. We, of course, met another couple--as we always do--and proceeded to tell them about all the best things that we had learned about this city and other places to see in Argentina. There is so much to do here and always so little time!

Kosher Night

As always, Don and I are on the constant look-out for new restaurants. We keep our eyes trained on new signs and fliers in Palermo searching for something new and interesting. Well, since we got here in September, there has been a huge purple wall announcing the arrival of an Asian steakhouse on Cordoba Avenue. We've waited patiently and walked by every week or so to monitor the progress of the construction. Finally, it was open! We tried to go there for lunch one day and ran into a security guard in an ill-fitting black suit standing near the elevator entrance. It was then we discovered that the restaurant was open only for dinner and that it was "Jewish food" as he called it. Kosher-style Asian only, so we probably wouldn't want to eat there, he assumed. Don and I are no quitters so we politely informed him that we would return at a later time for dinner. That dinner came a few days ago and we ran into him and yet another security guard. After a lengthy conversation about us 1) not having a reservation, 2) not being part of the "community", and 3) being from the United States and aware of what Kosher means, we were finally allowed to take a seat in the restaurant and order dinner.

The duck rolls were rather tasty but didn't really surprise us. Don was a bit reluctant to order the deep-fried gizzards but we relented after the waiter insisted. They tasted like sweetbreads wrapped in dough as one would imagine. But man, oh man, did we get a big surprise when our rack of beef rib steak came out. It was a massive sight to see. They like to serve the meat on the bone here a lot and this thing looked like it came from a brontosauras and it was covered in barbecue sauce. A little overcooked for us but we were so excited just to figure out how to eat the thing. A successful Asian Kosher dinner if we may say so ourselves.

Don't you see the resemblance?

Feeling Festive and Stuffed Like Turkeys

The past few days have been full of fun and FOOD. Wednesday was Don's birthday and we hit up two of our favorite places, La Cabrera and Osaka. He's been going to the dentist a lot lately and we were afraid that he wouldn't be able to eat. Luckily, he felt okay so we headed out to make the best of it and had a great time on a blazing hot day. It turned out to be a wonderful birthday for him despite experiencing our first black out here. Not a thing worked in the apartment, including the air conditioning, so we didn't stay in long. Here's a snapshot of some of our feasting:

Oh, and then there was Thanksgiving on Thursday... Another blackout all day. So, of course we were missing our family and we decided to have a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant called Kansas. We had turkey with gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, glazed carrots, broccoli, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, the works! It was wonderful. We even went to two more American-style places (Casa Bar and The Alamo) to watch football and have seconds with yet another Thanksgiving day dish, which we shared. We ended up seeing the Dallas Cowboys win, wrapping up a great day for Don, no doubt.

And, if we hadn't had enough...we baked homemade macaroni and cheese and brought it to our friend's house for another Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. Yes, you read that correctly. We baked. Macaroni and cheese. Just a big pan of scrumptious, creamy cheese! We love the holidays.

Patagonia III: Villa La Angostura

Hotel Correntoso in Villa La Angostura was the perfect way to end our tour of Patagonia. We were intending on staying at Llao Llao but our apartment owner suggested this alternative and he was right on target. After tons of excursions we needed a relaxing way to decompress with less people around. We ended up getting 4 days of much-needed spa time, fine dining, and beautiful lake views. They knew us really well in the spa as we had different treatments 3 days in a row and they couldn't keep us out of the pool! Las Balsas restaurant deserves a special mention here because our lunch there was exquisite and we had our first encounter with a really helpful sommelier. We both think the food was probably the best we've had since being in Argentina overall.

We did drag ourselves away from the hotel to take a private boat tour along the Nahuel Huapi Lake and a walk through the Arrayanes Forest. The picture above is one we really like of an old bridge that is near the entrance to the national parklands where the boat docks. It was much different having a small boat and a gourmet lunch to ourselves versus being on a catamaran with hundreds of people and a tour guide trying to speak English over the loud speaker! But we feel like we got a full spectrum of the Patagonia experience.

Click on the title of this post to see our picture slideshow.

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!

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.