Happy gnocchi day! Feliz ñoquis del 29!

In case you didn't know, the 29th of each month in Argentina is Gnocchi Day! Can you imagine a better holiday? It comes once a month, not just once a year, and the whole purpose is to celebrate food. More details & quite a nice little article here. The bottom line is that we eat ñoquis on the 29th because of something having to do with payday, either that on the 29th you are poor and waiting for your paycheck, and flour & potatoes are cheap, or that you're celebrating that you got your paycheck, or that you put money under your plate because it's financially auspicious. Something like that. Somewhere along the line all the supersticions mixed in my head and I started to believe that you are actually supposed to put gnocchis under your pillow on the night of the 29th for good luck and prosperity, but I'm pretty sure that's not true. It sounds messy.
Anyway, E & I are going to Las Violetas, my favorite favorite old school BA café, for my last Gnocchi Day in Argentina. ¡Buen provecho!

And some more pictures of gnocchi to get you in the mood...

AlfajOreo!

A combination of laziness and busy-ness means that not much is getting written on here these days. But I'm breaking my dry spell to tell you all about something seriously amazing that I discovered today. Or rather, that my friend Sarah introduced me to. (Sidenote: guys have some fascination with two blonde girls who have the same name. Sort of like with twins. The best was when, upon hearing that we are both named Sarah and from the United States, one guy asked if we were sisters. 'Yes,' Sarah said, 'And our parents named us BOTH Sarah.')
Anyway. I had heard tell of the existence of an Oreo alfajor, but had never actually witnessed one until today. For all y'all in the USA, an alfajor is a cookie made from two or three cookies stuck together, usually by dulce de leche, but sometimes by fruit or chocolate mousse, and often the whole thing is dipped in chocolate. So, Oreo + alfajor?? Amazing. It's like North meets South! I tried my first one today, it's basically a huge oreo with three cookies instead of two and then the whole thing is covered in more chocolate. And there is no dulce de leche anywhere in it!
Here's the thing about dulce de leche: it's okay. I like it okay. When I first got here I wasn't having it, but now it's alright. BUT I do not love it, and in a country that legally requires all desserts and sweets to contain a certain percentage of dulce de leche, and it is regarded with an almost nationalistic kind of blind reverence... well, it's nice to find an alternative. (I just had this conversation over our Oreo alfajores with Sarah, in which she said that her fiancee, an Argentine, would probably not speak to her for a week if he heard us dissing dulce de leche.)
I hope no one's offended and I don't get deported for publishing negative comments about D. de leche on the internet. I'll just add that I'm not all that impressed by dulce, BUT the beef down here is just as good as everyone says it is. Better. Really, it's fantastic.
That's all for now! Back to packing up and getting ready to move to my new apartment (more on that later.) Everyone down here, enjoy your holiday for día del trabajo!

The good, the bad, & the cheto cheto cheto

Cheto means "snobby" in Argie slang. Which brings me to restaurant review number one. (The Buenos Diaries is moonlighting as a food blog for this post.) Anyway, on Saturday I was feeling a little homesick and went in search of cafe comfort food. I had heard a lot about Mark's Deli in Palermo - like that there were real sandwiches, even brownies and lemonade! I was sold. Well... it was... okay. I actually feel uncomfortable even writing that but I don't want to criticize Mark's too harshly. Bottom line - the food may pass for upscale and interesting in Buenos Aires but it was pretty much just your basic "trendy cafe" fare - sandwiches on olive bread with smoked salmon or goat cheese or roasted red peppers, etc. The coffee was very good, and the pastries looked good. But it was simply not buena onda. I should know by now what I'm getting myself into when I go into that part of Palermo, but as I was sitting in Mark's I couldn't help thinking two things. First, if I wanted to live in Brentwood, I wouldn't have left LA. And two, am I on the set of The L-Word? Basically, it was just ridiculously trendy and not in an effortless way, either. The customers all rocked the same deliberate bedhead and this month's issue of Vogue makeup (bright lips, bare eyes) and variations on the same outfit. It was very see and be seen. I guess I still haven't learned that what is casual comfort food at home is sometimes sold as very hip and modern here. And the waiters were pretty but rude. I actually had quite a nice time at Mark's, but mainly because Jamie & I were able to make fun of the cheto-ness and focus on planning our next great adventures (to Colombia and Israel. Possibly living on the beach in Costa Rica.)
When dinnertime rolled around I was very ready for some down and dirty street food. Actually, I literally googled "dirty street parrilla buenos aires" and it came up with La rosalía, the one in Palermo, not San Telmo. First things first, go there. Just go. You will not regret it. It was awesome for several reasons. The grill faces the street (always a good sign), it was packed with locals, the waitress was exceptionally friendly, and it was very no-frills. Restaurants are always better when the focus is on the food, no? We tried to order a few things before coming up with something on the menu that was actually available. It was morcilla sandwiches (slathered with chimichurri) and mollejas. And they were AMAZING. All in all, with a bottle of wine thrown in, the bill came to 30 pesos (for 2 people.) Not bad.

Chinatown, BA Style

Picture to the left: whole fresh sushi rolls for 5 to 10 pesos each. Of course we bought some for lunch tomorrow!

Buenos Aires Chinatown is fantastic. It should really be called Asiatown because there are a mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean stores and restaurants. It's not at all like Chinatown in San Francisco or New York - much smaller, quieter, and residential, in a really nice way. Lots of trees, cobblestone streets and elegant, old-fashioned buildings. But more important than any of that is the food. The restaurants, yes, sushi, wonton soup, miso, cha siu bao, etc etc. But the real variety is in the grocery stores where you can find tofu, whole wheat alfajores, a million different spices, genmaicha tea, Skippy peanut butter and even Newman's Own light italian salad dressing! I realize that if you're reading this from the United States none of that sounds too exciting. BUT IT IS.

The same amazing kitsch you would find in SF Chinatown. We bought paper lanterns and a hideously scary dragonfly plant ornament to act as a scarecrow for the pigeons that congregate on our balcony, but drew the line at a huge golden piggy bank (we wanted it but 35 pesos was just too much.)

Newman's Own! 23 pesos for a jar of marinara sauce, that's reasonable...

Sunday/ Domingo/ Vasánap

Back home in Yanquilandia, I never felt like Sunday was anything special. It was a day to sleep late, hang out at home, get ready for the coming week, do laundry, homework, or whatever, get over your hangover from the night before, and dread getting up for work on Monday.
Not so in Buenos Aires. Porteños take their day of rest seriously. Most shops are closed and good luck finding an ATM that has any money left in it. The streets are finally quiet and (relatively) empty. Sunday in Buenos Aires in the summer is a day to be spent outside, sipping mate in a plaza, going on a picnic in the park, making out with your novio/a, playing fútbol, working on your tan like it's a job. Above all though, it's a day for family.
So what is an expat to do? Well, there are some very nice street fairs - San Telmo, Recoleta, and especially Mataderos (folk-dancing, helado artesanal, very few tourists, Northern Argentine food...)
But this Sunday I tried something new and went to the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur in Puerto Madero. It's basically a long boardwalk, lots of sunny, grassy areas, a little crafts fair, some random carnival rides for kids, and a huge nature reserve/ bird sanctuary. For a nature reserve, yeah, it's not spectacularly pretty. But it's a lovely scene anyway, lots and lots of families, little kids running around, dogs, a parrilla stand every 10 feet and ice cream vendors on bikes.
Sophy and I made it our mission to try as much food as possible and between us ate a choripan (chorizo on bread), a homemade alfajor, and a bondiola (a sandwich made with grilled pork), all delicious and very fresh. I could tell you other nice things about Costanera Sur but really, aren't the 700 parrillas enough reason to go?

Burritos in BA!?!

Yes, burritos exist in Buenos Aires. I had heard tell of a Californian-owned burrito restaurant here but never actually tried it until today, when Mark, Sophy and I traipsed over to CBC (California Burrito Company) at Lavalle 441. CBC is a blatant Chipotle/Rubio's knockoff, right down to the vintage style posters of famous California locations like the Santa Monica Pier on the walls. But that's not a bad thing, because after months of living without legit Mexican food these burritos were incredible. Fresh ingredients, lots of choices (black beans!!), real salsa, real guacamole, real tortillas and real tortilla chips. The burritos even came in aluminum foil like at home and there were real paper napkins on the table as opposed to the little sheets of wax paper that pass for napkins at many BA restaurants. CBC is as good as Mexican food is gonna get in BA.

There are a couple downsides, the first being that people from California, where we eat real Mexican food on an almost daily basis, will get nostalgic for that real Mexican food. At home I don't eat at Chipotle or Rubio's because there are a lot of other, better, more authentic options right around the corner (Gordo's! Cactus! Picante!) But c'est la vie, this is Argentina and you have to take what you can get when it comes to Mexican food. (Pssst for those of you who were thinking that the food in Argentina would bear some resemblance to Mexican or Central American food, think again. Spices are not really a big thing here. Neither are rice and beans.)

The other downside to CBC is its location, in the center of Lavalle, near Calle Florida. This is my absolute least favorite part of BA and I totally don't understand why it's recommended as a tourist draw in guidebooks. It's loud, crowded, dirty, ugly, and touristy, and after 10 minutes on Calle Florida I'm wiping the grime and smog from my skin and looking for the closest Subte stop or colectivo that will take me back to Palermo.

However, a big CBC burrito with black beans, guacamole, three kinds of salsa, lomo or cerdo, all wrapped up in a flour tortilla, is worth braving the crowds on Lavalle and Florida. And once inside, you can easily forget about the city and pretend you're back at home for half an hour.
Oh and pssst, does this remind anyone else of that rhyme we learned in 7th grade Spanish class that went "A, E, I, O, U, El burro sabe más que tú..."

La Esquina de las Flores

Sorry we haven't been writing much lately - Will is in Peru and will soon be returning home to the United States, and I'm finishing up my last few days of TEFL madness.
One of the perks of my TEFL course is its location, just a few blocks from a very nice vegetarian restaurant called La Esquina de las Flores. My diet of jamón, pizza, and cocktails was starting to wear on me, and while I'm not usually that into vegetarian/ vegan restaurants at home, I decided to give Esquina de las Flores a try.
It's a combination health food store/ cafeteria-style restaurant on the first floor and if you head up the turquoise stairs, you'll find a sit-down restaurant. It's a couple more pesos to eat upstairs but there are a lot more options and the seating is less crowded. They have whole wheat pasta, pizza, and empanadas, huge salads, and various casseroles and other dishes made with lentils, quinoa, red beans, etc. The pumpkin & soy cheese ravioli is amazing. And, it's not vegan, so you can get dishes with real cheese. (This is an Argentine restaurant after all, there has to be some kind of cow product on the menu.)
I didn't think this kind of food existed in Argentina but it does, and it's soooo good. You can also eat there even if you are relatively broke, like me. It'll be $10 to $15 pesos for a meal with a side salad and a drink.
Y fijate, this is the Esquina de las Flores at Córdoba 1587 (in Tribunales), not the one on Gurruchaga in Palermo. I've heard bad things about that one, but the one on Córdoba is fantastic if you're craving fresh veggies & healthy versions of all your favorite Argie foods.
Vegetarian food still not your thing? Then go there for the cute waiters.
¡Buen provecho!

Comida Peruana

In the spirit of Dick (see entry below), and his ignorance, I think it's time to learn about our new favorite Peruvian place. And also, I figure that I should probably write about this delicious restaurant we tried last night, before we find ourselves at another one and begin to forget what fun we had at the first. That's basically all we've been doing this last week; eating good food. But for me, that's the pleasure of traveling.

So after starving ourselves until about 21:30, we brought out the Lonely Planet and decided to choose a restaurant. Sarah had been craving arroz con frijoles since we got here, and I still hadn't had decent Peruvian since I visited in, when was that, 2000? At any rate, after a little bit of research (we were really starving so the decision wasn't too difficult) we taxied out to Congresso for some Peruvian at Status, at Virrey Cevallos 178. Awesome choice.

The place was a bit crowded, with tables justo al lado, but there was still enough room for the camarero get to us.

We began with the Ceviche Mixto totally Peruvian style, just the way I remember, seasoned with lemon juice and various spices and of course, two tall Pisco Sours with egg white and all. The ceviche even came with those little fresh corn nut things they include with everything.

The ceviche was quite filling, but as Sarah and I looked around, the main dishes looked so enticing that we opted for more, much more. Sarah took the arroz y frijoles con bistec (which may have just satisfied her rice and bean craving temporarily) and I went for my personal Peruvian fav, the Lomo Saltado, a plate filled with strips of marinated lamb, french fries, and sauteed onions and peppers, and of course, rice. We couldn't have been much happier.
And the dinner was incredibly reasonable-- 70 pesos for more food than we could eat and good strong drink (and a nice tip : ).

We're definitely going back to Status. Viva Peru.

Mmm...

Parrilla: A very typical Argentine culinary experience that basically consists of lots and lots of different kinds of meat usually served on little grills at your table. To be eaten with ensalada, papas fritas, and some fabulous Argentine vino tinto.
If you didn't already know that, you may want to take a minute right now to add "Travel to South America" to your To Do list, or to the post-it notes stuck all around the edge of your computer.
Dale? Continuamos.

Tonight was a very big night for Will. He experienced his very first Argentine parrilla, meaning he is now a full member of the community. As for me, it was my first parrilla with actual Argentines there to guide us and dar consejos, so I had a lot of fun as well.
We had about 5 kinds of steak, chorizo (sausage), mollejas (sweetbreads), and morcilla (blood sausage.) We skipped chinchulines (intestines) tonight - we are after all Yanquis. We'll get there.
I was scared before we even got there of the blood sausage, mostly because well - it sounds utterly disgusting. It was actually pretty good - Will compared it to eating black beans. My favorite was the chorizo, probably because it reminded me of the sausages we used to get at Eastern European Christmas markets when I was living in Budapest.
We were too busy eating 78% of the body parts of a cow to notice the name of the restaurant where we ate, but it was at Costa Rica y Humboldt in Palermo.
Anyway, I'm very tired from the sordid events of last night (Halloween in Buenos Aires - no details are necessary or recommended) and from the food coma eating the parrilla has put me in...
I think Anthony Bourdain said it best in the Argentina episode of No Reservations, when while eating faina (basically a tortilla made of chickpea flour, that can be topped with cheese or whatever), he remarked: "I think a drunk person invented this."
I think that somewhat accurately describes a lot of the food in Buenos Aires; not that it's messy or made without care, but that the focus seems to be on simple, satisfying, high quality ingredients presented without a lot of fuss - the flavor of the food doesn't get lost in the pretension of the dish the way it often seems to at home. Or something.
Okay, I'm going to bed. Chauuu!

Politics & Sushi...

Are not really related. But before delving into the subject of Argentine politics, I wanna give a quick shout-out to the fabulous sushi we had last night at Moshimoshi (Ortega y Gasset & Soldado de la Independencia.)

We started with some delicious cocteles... mine included a list of ingredients that sounded totally dubious in combination - sake, green tea, apple juice, honey, and mint - but it was amazing. The sushi itself was fantastic, fresh, and creative (langostina tempura roll coated with cornflakes) and even the old Bs As standby, the Philadelphia roll, was exceptional. The restaurant itself was well-styled, both modern and warm, with a fashionable and groomed clientele that reminded me of my UCLA days and nights out in Beverly Hills. AND, the waitress actually asked us - on two separate occasions - if we were enjoying our food, an almost unheard of occurence here in Bs As.
As a sidenote, that is actually something I love about restaurants here, you can enjoy your food and chat without constant interruptions from a waiter/waitress asking if you're ready to order before you've even opened the menu, asking to take away your plate if you set down your fork for just a minute... But I digress.

The real point of this post was meant to be the presidential election tomorrow in Argentina. I really don't know enough about the politics behind each candidate to comment (the last time I tried to discuss the election with a friend from Argentina, it went something like this: "So who are you voting for on Sunday?" "I don't know, probably I won't go." "Really? What about Cristina?" "Uyy, it makes me sick, let's change the subject.")
So I'll stick to what I do know: how they look. The forerunner here is the current first lady, Cristina Kirchner (and by forerunner, I mean that by all accounts she already has it in the bag.)



The first thing you notice about Cristina is - well, the copious amount of mascara she wears. Does she not have a team of handlers and stylists to say, "Che, Cristina, take it easy on the mascara"? But, en serio, I think it is very cool that in Argentina female politicians are allowed to look feminine and even sexy, and not forced into the obligatory Janet Reno haircuts and bland powersuits of the women of Capitol Hill.
Although, as a feminista, I have to wonder: Is it just two sides of the same coin?
There's a lot more to be said on that topic... I find myself wondering how we can casually discuss the machismo in South American cultures like it has nothing to do with us, while we are the ones who devote entire articles in serious newspapers to Hillary Clinton's cleavage.
But I'll save that tangent for my master's thesis, or something.

Here's a final thought on politics, courtesy of an anonymous Buenos Aires street artist:

d. de leche...?

So, I just want to know, what's the deal with Dulce de Leche? It's in every dessert that I've eaten here. I'm not complaining. It's really good. And for those of you who have tried Haagen Dazs brand Dulce de Leche ice cream back at home and think you know what I'm talking about, I'm letting you know that you don't. It's different here; it's much thicker and sweeter.

Sarah would be the first to agree. She says it's much sweeter here too, to the point where she won't eat it. When I show her a cookie, oozing with delectably delicious dulce de leche, she literally shudders because she knows how her mouth/body react to eating something so sweet. Of course she's trying to keep her aversion to Dulce de Leche a secret. She's afraid her distaste for one of Argentina's national pastimes (eating d. de leche) might get her deported. Well, hopefully the Argentine government doesn't know about this blog because, if we haven't already made some typically ignorant American remarks, we're bound to cause a stir eventually. "Que me dices? Es verdad? A ella no le gusta dulce de leche? Dios mio, que lastima! Es Americana, seguro." Wait until we start talking about futbol and the soon-to-be president, Cristina Kirchner. When we leave for Uruguay intending to get our passports re-stamped they won't let us back in.

At any rate, our main goal Saturday morning was to return to Sarah's old stomping grounds, and enjoy some cafe and a few fine treats at Las Violetas on Rivadavia. So we set out walking towards the Almagro neighborhood with big eyes and empty stomachs. Las Violetas is one of the older cafes in Buenos Aires, dating back to the 19th century. The cafe, which has a grand salon-like interior with large windows and a very high ceiling, is run by waiters wearing white jackets and bow ties and thick black moustaches. At Sarah's recommendation we ordered the Maria Cala breakfast, which for only $30 (pesos) would make Corky, my beloved lab, full. The tray came piled to the brim with ham and cheese sandwiches, toasts, jams, and, of course, a selection of eight different ways of eating dulce de leche. It's in everything here.


Yummm! We struggled to finish as much as we could. This included a cafe con leche and some freshly squeezed orange juice. But, alas, it was just too much. Plus, half of the deserts were filled with d. de leche and I was on my own. We did a good job though. The toughest part was leaving food on that plate. God I wish I could have some of those desserts right now.

Sarah kept begging me to eat the little dulce de leche taco, which was essentially 96% d. de leche. We have a small photo sequence to demonstrate the struggle to finish that little candy. Keep in mind, this was after a plate full of d. de leche candies and ham sandwiches.




That was hard to swallow! Overall, it was a great day, good food, good coffee, and shared with a good companion.

I got an ice cream sundae yesterday, and to avoid sharing any, I had it topped with dulce de leche. That's my secret. All this chat about dulce de leche is making me crave it. I'm going to go look for some.

Stand under my umbrella

Ella Ella, Ay ay ay...

Yes it would be nice if it stopped raining here. Ever. But c'est la vie, I'm still loving it. Fun things to do in the rain include: watching Entourage on Will's laptop, trying to go to museums but somehow not making it, working on eating our endless supply of jamon cocido y queso casero, having fun with the Metric System (Will is 1.88 tall; I am 1.70)... and learning how to convert Fahrenheit into Celsius, which you do by first subtracting 32, then multiply by 5/9, run around the block and do a little dance. If you're lucky, you won't come up with an answer that even people with mathphobia know is ridiculous... ("So the boiling point of water is... negative 5? Wait...")
Anyway, we haven't gotten to see as much of the city as I'd like with this Seattle-esque weather, but we DID make it to a true cultural landmark on Wednesday:


Yes, that's right, the ONLY Kosher McDonald's in the entire world outside of Israel. (In the Abasto mall at Corrientes & Anchorena.) It didn't seem much different than other McDonald's except for the noticeable lack of cheese on the menu and the fact that cashiers tried to guilt you into eating more than you wanted.

More fun & adventures with culture shock coming soon. Although I have to say, there hasn't really been too much of that. The people here are just as friendly & helpful as I remembered... I keep waiting to meet someone who is rude/ unhelpful/ impatient with my broken Castellano, but it hasn't happened yet.

& if we ever get homesick...