Carne

MEAT 101: ASADOS

A nice Sunday afternoon tradition in BA is an asado, or cookout. At the beginning, it looks something like this.  The usual suspects: chorizo (not the spicy Spanish kind you are thinking of. The greasy, chunky sometimes with hunks of fat or cartilage, but otherwise delicious Argentine kind), asado (Slab o ribs, cut crosswise. Pictured here.), lomo (pork chop-ish), and morcilla (black pudding, which oozes viscous black  filling when you cut into it, and which I politely avoid).  And sometimes they'll sprinkle in a vegetable or bread on the side. Asado is also the name for the physical grill itself. There's something here called the meat sweats...

Lots of folks seem to have rooftop BBQs. Cutter can be seen here on the left in his blue Eddy Bauer fleece-- sidenote--which he bought with a giftcard from my mom. He hadn't remembered that I had bought an identical blue Eddy Bauer fleece, which I purchased with a gift card from my mom. So when he showed up in Belgium with it, and both of us only brought two sweaters, one of them being a blue Eddy Bauer fleece, we were really excited...

Sometimes dogs help cook at the asados. Not true. And I don't know who this guys is. Or this dog. But they look nice. And Cutter ate their meat.

MEAT 102: CHORIPAN 

Step 1: Follow the smokey pork smell to your favorite parrilla truck or other temporary mobile establishment. Say "dame un chori, por favor." Give them 10 pesos.  Normally you will see a large red sausage spilt in half, along with a bun, then crisped and smoked up just for you on the grill. It will be handed to you wrapped in paper, or at Parilla Mi Sueño (bbq of my dreams), you will receive it on a High School Muscial plate. (See stack, left.)

Sometimes cats help collect money at choripan stands. No they don't.

Procede to the condiments area. Here you will find open containers of red cabbage, l&t, onions in vinegar, chimicuri sauce, and a variety of non-refrigerated mayonaise-types. Say yes.

Say a blessing for all you are thankful for, especially the High School Musical plate which will catch the fallen condiments so you can stick them back in the sandwich with your fingers.

Not like this.

Like this. BBQ of my dreams....

I'm not sure what to call this cause there's no theme. BUT THERE IS A PRIZE

Hey little buddy! Cutter snuck this shot of a capybara from OUTSIDE the zoo...  He would like to welcome you to the latest installment of pictures and stories from Buenos Aires!!!

Ok, so I uploaded these in no particular order.  I'd like you to guess what this is. Special prize for the right answer. GO!

I'd also like you to guess what I'm eating here. I know what it LOOKS like, but it's just my Chinese-on-a-stick lunch from our first adventure to barrio chino Buenos Aires!  There's something about the light, the glow in this photo... or maybe the artistically foreshortened calamari... or the size, shape, and texture of what I'm eating...that just makes us feel like anything is possible.

Also inspiring, an ENORMOUS pile of freshly made noquis argentinas!! There is a fresh pasta shop every third block, and this is ours. Check out all the COOL MACHINES! Last night I made my first fresh-pasta lasanga. The don't sell the dry stuff at the supermarket cause every buys the fresh lasagna already prepared, which is for sale at every store. Nonsense.

Ooohhhh myyyyy godddddd... my roommate Chris and I are falling from a buiiilllddinnnggggg

So cool. The mosaic is nice, too.

A semi-charming pick from the 'hood. By which I mean, our hood. Ainit pretty? I'm not sure if that's the big "Feliz cumpleanos Lara!" banner or the "Lo siento mucho Natalie. Te amo. Take me back." banner. The clouds are nice though.

And last in the random grouping of photos, Vietnamese night at casa Wood-Shaw-Enders-Connington! The Enders-Connington troup arrived here after 2 years in Vietnam, so here we are eating bun thit nuong! YES!

'Tina Numero Uno

Buenos noches amigos. We're here!! I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of supercute or artsy photos to share with you, but it has been noted that there have been no posts since our arrival in Buenos Aires, so here's a lil something, with love, from the 'Tina...

SO, we ARRIVED on July 21st at 5:30am, and took a 2 hour public bus ride (why pay 40 pesos for a cab when you can pay 2?), traveling through the exquisite countryside that often surrounds an international airport. We were also just in time for the garbage strike, and it is indeed true what they say: it is the middle of winter in Argentina.We checked into our 8-bed dorm room in time for breakfast, wondering exactly what we had gotten ourselves into.  But NEVER FEAR, as you can see from this photograph, our sights rapidly improved! Once the trash was collected and the northern sun shone upon our faces, it was love at second (or third) sight. Lucky for us, our hostel was in one of the least scenic barrios in town, so it only went up from there...

This is one of many, many cute restaurants, cafes, shops, etc in our neighborhood.  Each neighborhood is very distinct... you have the bohemian/tango/antique/crumbly-historic neighborhood we live in (San Telmo), the big tall buildings and blinking lights neighborhoods, the sketchy, the ultra-modern, and the sickeningly bourgeois and terribly cute and enticing with lots of coffee shops and bakeries and too-expensive stores neighborhood.

One of the cooler things in BA is the amazing street ART. Puts Paris and Brussels to shame! There's lots of art, period, including a gallery hop sponsored by Chandon every final Friday. (Bee line!) Tango is still on our list of things to do, and we'll keep you posted on how that goes...

And here I am with some STEAK and tatoes! I hope to have a more mouth-watering picture to share in the near future, but we couldn't really be bothered with photography at a time like this.  Not pictured: provoleta, another specialty, which is basically fried cheese. YES!  My favorite, though, is the empanadas, which are the best at the joint 2 blocks from our house. About 15 flavors, and different varieties are folded in pinched in unique and lovely ways to signify their fillings.  Second favorite cheap food: choripan. (aka sausage sandwich) 15 pesos hot off the asado grill with all-you-can-top cabbage, salsas, etc.  There is a permanent aroma of grilled meats on the streets here. Yes, friends.

Home sweet HOME. We found a great apartment in San Telmo, a slightly grungy but up and coming neighborhood, with a señora named Juana. Juana is rad, and we have acquired 2 roommates, Aimee & Chris. We are living in harmony with maté and Malbec. Pictured here: Cutter watercoloring monster pictures. Not pictured: our very cute kitchen, 2 bathrooms, our own little bedroom and study on the floor above, and the Olympics on the TV in Spanish behind me.   Also to note, I've been offered a job teaching English as a live-out au pair, and Cutter is going to be doing some writing for  a popular local English newspaper, The Argentine Independent.  yay!  More choripans for us!!!  What else? We'll be starting intensive Spanish classes next week at a nearly-free, but notoriously excellent language school. So hopefully it will soon be less embarrassing to communicate with the locals.

Much to tell, but that's bueno for now.  :)  Besos to all!