WE FOUND ROOT BEER!!!!!!!!!!
I found it hidden away at the end of the aisle and proceeded to scream at Leah from across the store until she got to me. Everyone though we were crazy, it was so exciting, and of course we took pictures. We then bought ¨svelty¨ vanilla ice cream and introduced Dominic´s family to root beer floats. They loved them and hopefully we are spreading a tradition.
Happy New Year and we´ll be sure to post our adventures tomorrow!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Days 2 & 3: Viña del Mar, Chile
Kelly spoke to soon as she closed her posts declaring us non-sunburned, as she managed to miss 2 large spots on her back that now gleam an irritated red.
We took the 10 pm bus from Mendoza after showering in the bus station. We were again on the top floor of the double-decker in the front seat: the death seat. Fortunately we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us (except when we were passing trucks and had buses coming straight at us, which happened twice) because we were winding around the edges of mountain cliffs that surely would have made me nauseous if visible. We also had an extremely obnoxious woman with hot pink lipstick across the aisle from us who jabbered away all night. At about 2 am we crossed the border, having to wake up and get out to go through customs. Not so fun. And not at all warm...we were rather unprepared for the freezing weather atop the Andes mountains. We shivered our way in a half-sleep through various security points and then off we went.
We arrived in Viña del Mar at 4:30 in the morning, an hour and a half before ETA. Without cell phone or Chilean currency, we were trapped in the freezing station, fighting sleep and waiting for Dominic, my friend who we're staying with, to come save us. It was the best exercise in patience I have ever undergone.
We slept until 5 in the afternoon in the most comforting down bed and awoke to a delicious meal with her family. Her parents are nice and her 9 year old brother is energetic and funny, but none of them speak English so conversation can be difficult at times. Fortunately we have Kelly's sunburn to talk about all the time.
At night we went out to the Carnaval Cultural in Valparaiso, a neighboring coastal town with the biggest New Years celebration in South America and quite a lot of festivity leading up to it. We, as well as pretty much the rest of Chile, showed up for a free concert that a popular Chilean group - Shamanes - was giving. Note: we have officially left the land of cumbia and tango and are onto all reggaeton, all the time.
The crowd was so thick that I literally was forced to lift my feet at times and still was moved along with the rush of people. It was the only time in my life I have seriously feared death by trampling. But the music was fun and the dancers entertaining and Dominic and her friends taught us how to dance like a Chilean while passing the boxed wine. The next group up was Chico de Trujillo, who are apparently lesser known but play more typically Chilean beats. Dancing to this music involved a lot of jumping up and down, which was good because it was pretty darn cold out.
After the concerts everyone walked to a street with an extreme incline and chilled with all the other party-goers. This is where we had our first go at a Chilean classic - an Italiano - which is a hot dog in a GIANT bun and loaded with tomatoes and avocado (and mayo, but we got without) to look like the Italian flag. We danced with random drum circles and later sat in our own circle with Dominic and co singing Spanish songs and Kelly and I contributing beat-boxing rhythms.
The next day we slept in (her parents think we do nothing but sleep) and woke up again just in time for lunch. Dominic´s grandpa offered to take us to Concón, a small town nearby, and we got a crazy ride up and down the many hills of the coast. We stopped to get out to walk around rocks jutting out into the water, it was stunningly beautiful despite the cloudy weather, and we could see hints of the land surrounding the cove in the distance. Then we went to a nice beach and stuck our feet in, but it was literally freezing, so we went for seafood empanadas (delicious) then made our way back. We passed giant sand dunes on the way, which we promptly climbed despite the near-vertical incline (everything we do is in preparation for walking the Inca trail...) to get a great view of the ocean on the other side.
At night we relaxed at Domi's house, watched My Best Friends Wedding and ate homemade cake her mom had waiting in the oven for us. Chile is pretty fabulous.
We took the 10 pm bus from Mendoza after showering in the bus station. We were again on the top floor of the double-decker in the front seat: the death seat. Fortunately we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us (except when we were passing trucks and had buses coming straight at us, which happened twice) because we were winding around the edges of mountain cliffs that surely would have made me nauseous if visible. We also had an extremely obnoxious woman with hot pink lipstick across the aisle from us who jabbered away all night. At about 2 am we crossed the border, having to wake up and get out to go through customs. Not so fun. And not at all warm...we were rather unprepared for the freezing weather atop the Andes mountains. We shivered our way in a half-sleep through various security points and then off we went.
We arrived in Viña del Mar at 4:30 in the morning, an hour and a half before ETA. Without cell phone or Chilean currency, we were trapped in the freezing station, fighting sleep and waiting for Dominic, my friend who we're staying with, to come save us. It was the best exercise in patience I have ever undergone.
We slept until 5 in the afternoon in the most comforting down bed and awoke to a delicious meal with her family. Her parents are nice and her 9 year old brother is energetic and funny, but none of them speak English so conversation can be difficult at times. Fortunately we have Kelly's sunburn to talk about all the time.
At night we went out to the Carnaval Cultural in Valparaiso, a neighboring coastal town with the biggest New Years celebration in South America and quite a lot of festivity leading up to it. We, as well as pretty much the rest of Chile, showed up for a free concert that a popular Chilean group - Shamanes - was giving. Note: we have officially left the land of cumbia and tango and are onto all reggaeton, all the time.
The crowd was so thick that I literally was forced to lift my feet at times and still was moved along with the rush of people. It was the only time in my life I have seriously feared death by trampling. But the music was fun and the dancers entertaining and Dominic and her friends taught us how to dance like a Chilean while passing the boxed wine. The next group up was Chico de Trujillo, who are apparently lesser known but play more typically Chilean beats. Dancing to this music involved a lot of jumping up and down, which was good because it was pretty darn cold out.
After the concerts everyone walked to a street with an extreme incline and chilled with all the other party-goers. This is where we had our first go at a Chilean classic - an Italiano - which is a hot dog in a GIANT bun and loaded with tomatoes and avocado (and mayo, but we got without) to look like the Italian flag. We danced with random drum circles and later sat in our own circle with Dominic and co singing Spanish songs and Kelly and I contributing beat-boxing rhythms.
The next day we slept in (her parents think we do nothing but sleep) and woke up again just in time for lunch. Dominic´s grandpa offered to take us to Concón, a small town nearby, and we got a crazy ride up and down the many hills of the coast. We stopped to get out to walk around rocks jutting out into the water, it was stunningly beautiful despite the cloudy weather, and we could see hints of the land surrounding the cove in the distance. Then we went to a nice beach and stuck our feet in, but it was literally freezing, so we went for seafood empanadas (delicious) then made our way back. We passed giant sand dunes on the way, which we promptly climbed despite the near-vertical incline (everything we do is in preparation for walking the Inca trail...) to get a great view of the ocean on the other side.
At night we relaxed at Domi's house, watched My Best Friends Wedding and ate homemade cake her mom had waiting in the oven for us. Chile is pretty fabulous.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Day 1...MENDOZA!
I am currently typing in a cyber cafe in Mendoza, Argentina and the keyboard is completely different then what I am used to, so forgive any typos. On the plus side, the computer mouse I´m using has a picture of Bart Simpson sticking his tongue out at me. Have I ever mentioned how obsessed South America is with the Simpsons?
Anyways, we started off our adventure last night at 8 pm. We got to sit in the very front of the bus, which is basically like a rollercoaster ride. The driver never stays on his side of the road and it definitely felt like we were in the death seats. Once we sat down and got comfortable, we eagerly awaited the beginning of whatever ridiculous movie the bus driver was going to pick. As we saw the play symbol appear on the tvs, we laid back and got ready. Little did we realize it was a 2 hour long dvd of the most random music videos ever. Some of my favorites include ¨2 Hearts¨ by Phil Collins, ¨Chiquadita¨ by ABBA, and ¨Always¨ by Bon Jovi. Definitely the best was when Air Supply´s music video came on for ¨All Out of Love¨ and it was a kareoke version. Leah and I sang along quite loudly, along with the crazy wine guides who were sitting behind us. We began talking to them and they offered to give us a wine tour, but we preferred to do our own thing and left them at the bus station.
We got into Mendoza around 8 30 am and it none of the tourist places opened until 9 so we had breakfast at a nice cafe and planned our day. We got some tourist information and we told to go rent bikes at a shop called ¨Mr. Hugo´s.¨ It was this awesome little shop with tons of bikes, 2 dogs and a parrot that would scream hola at you. We grabbed a map, hopped on our bikes, and rode off wearing about 18 coats of sun block.
Our first stop was about 4 km away. There were no real bike trails so Leah and I just rode along the side of the road. Luckily the drivers were all used to bikers so we never came close to getting hit. Our only issue was getting absurd pick up lines thrown at us as cars whizzed by. Don´t worry parents, neither of us were tempted.
We went to a wine museum and got to see how wine was made, sampled several different types of wine at several wineries and had a great lunch at one of them. Our favorite spot was definitely ¨Histores and Sabores¨ which was a chocolate and liquor shop that had over 30 different flavors of liquor. We each got to sample one. I chose pomelo while Leah went for the banana with dulce de leche, shocking I know.
We finally returned to Mr. Hugo´s and I´m not gonna lie, I really can´t feel my butt right now. We biked over 30 km and the last 5 were incredibly painful. Fortunately, good old Mr. Hugo welcomed us big with a big glass of wine and a hammock to rest our weary bodies in.
So that was our first day, no one got too sunburnt, and we are catching a bus tonight at 10 pm that will get us into Santiago around 6 am. No idea what is in store for us, but I´m pretty excited.
Anyways, we started off our adventure last night at 8 pm. We got to sit in the very front of the bus, which is basically like a rollercoaster ride. The driver never stays on his side of the road and it definitely felt like we were in the death seats. Once we sat down and got comfortable, we eagerly awaited the beginning of whatever ridiculous movie the bus driver was going to pick. As we saw the play symbol appear on the tvs, we laid back and got ready. Little did we realize it was a 2 hour long dvd of the most random music videos ever. Some of my favorites include ¨2 Hearts¨ by Phil Collins, ¨Chiquadita¨ by ABBA, and ¨Always¨ by Bon Jovi. Definitely the best was when Air Supply´s music video came on for ¨All Out of Love¨ and it was a kareoke version. Leah and I sang along quite loudly, along with the crazy wine guides who were sitting behind us. We began talking to them and they offered to give us a wine tour, but we preferred to do our own thing and left them at the bus station.
We got into Mendoza around 8 30 am and it none of the tourist places opened until 9 so we had breakfast at a nice cafe and planned our day. We got some tourist information and we told to go rent bikes at a shop called ¨Mr. Hugo´s.¨ It was this awesome little shop with tons of bikes, 2 dogs and a parrot that would scream hola at you. We grabbed a map, hopped on our bikes, and rode off wearing about 18 coats of sun block.
Our first stop was about 4 km away. There were no real bike trails so Leah and I just rode along the side of the road. Luckily the drivers were all used to bikers so we never came close to getting hit. Our only issue was getting absurd pick up lines thrown at us as cars whizzed by. Don´t worry parents, neither of us were tempted.
We went to a wine museum and got to see how wine was made, sampled several different types of wine at several wineries and had a great lunch at one of them. Our favorite spot was definitely ¨Histores and Sabores¨ which was a chocolate and liquor shop that had over 30 different flavors of liquor. We each got to sample one. I chose pomelo while Leah went for the banana with dulce de leche, shocking I know.
We finally returned to Mr. Hugo´s and I´m not gonna lie, I really can´t feel my butt right now. We biked over 30 km and the last 5 were incredibly painful. Fortunately, good old Mr. Hugo welcomed us big with a big glass of wine and a hammock to rest our weary bodies in.
So that was our first day, no one got too sunburnt, and we are catching a bus tonight at 10 pm that will get us into Santiago around 6 am. No idea what is in store for us, but I´m pretty excited.
Friday, December 26, 2008
And We're Off!
Okay everyone, after packing up all our crap and throwing away stuff we forgot we had, Leah and I are ready for our "Great South American Adventure!" This will be the last post I make from my computer for 2 months, which I think is pretty crazy. I have a feeling we will be blogging a lot more frequently because we will have so much to talk about, so get excited.
Our first stop is Mendoza for a day, then we are off to Chile. Wish us luck!
Our first stop is Mendoza for a day, then we are off to Chile. Wish us luck!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas everyone!
So Christmastime in Argentina is a bit different from what we're used to. And all we really wanted was snow. But instead I went to work in a halter top and ended up sweating all night regardless.
On Christmas Eve everything is closed here because it's the Argentines bigger night of celebration instead of Christmas Day. So since Sugar was open and served food, every single foreigner in the city was there ordering hamburgers. And a few single dads with kids...very much Tim Allen, Denny's, "The Santa Clause" for those of you who know what I'm talking about. This meant that I was extremely stressed until the kitchen closed at 1 am, at which point I was able to relax a bit and hang out with Kelly and my friends who showed up at the bar. It ended up not being such a bad way to celebrate, and I think everyone there felt a certain camaraderie of the shared desire to all be in our respective homes for the holidays.
On Christmas Eve everything is closed here because it's the Argentines bigger night of celebration instead of Christmas Day. So since Sugar was open and served food, every single foreigner in the city was there ordering hamburgers. And a few single dads with kids...very much Tim Allen, Denny's, "The Santa Clause" for those of you who know what I'm talking about. This meant that I was extremely stressed until the kitchen closed at 1 am, at which point I was able to relax a bit and hang out with Kelly and my friends who showed up at the bar. It ended up not being such a bad way to celebrate, and I think everyone there felt a certain camaraderie of the shared desire to all be in our respective homes for the holidays.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Get Inspired!
I Found this video, I think it's amazing. If you have an urge to be inspired, or feeling low, or just want to test your movie trivia, check this out!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Pasta pasta
When looking for dining recommendations in Buenos Aires, I always resort to www.guiaoleo.com.ar , which is what life would be like if Argentina had google maps... or any other useful, logical, modern tool for locating and rating desirable city features. What information I find there is always crosschecked on SaltShaker, the blog of an American chef living in BA. He has a closed door restaurant that I've heard is wonderful and writes useful reviews about eating in the city, so when I found out he was going to offer cooking classes, I tried to hop on. Unfortunately, they had filled up almost immediately, but I emailed him and he said if I wanted to squeeze into sporadic classes of the 10-class series, we could work something out.
The series is focused on Italian food, and I chose my first class as the second of the series: pasta. I spent Tuesday morning with two Americans, far more clued into the gastronomy world than I, and Dan, our leader. I learned an incredible amount about Italian cooking, flour, and food shopping in Buenos Aires...everything from why put a good amount of salt in boiling water (it allows you to boil the water at a higher temperature) to where to find purple corn from Chile that makes a refreshing (non-alcoholic) drink called Chicha that I've become quite a fan of. We also skimmed some of Dan's history and experience in the culinary world: turns out he used to be the manager of the wine selection for Lidia Bastianich's restaurants (she has a well-known Italian cooking TV show and several upscale restaurants...Mom and Evan: remember when we went to Becco?)
The first pasta we made we did completely from scratch (the rest we used mixers to quicken the kneading process). It's called Pici alle Briciole - basically thick peasant noodles in an agli'e olio sauce with breadcrumbs for texture. Then we made a whole wheat pasta, Langanelli con I Ceci, in a surprising garbanzo and celery sauce. Then Agnolotti, which are like half-moon ravioli, which we baked like empanadas and dipped in sauce. Finally came the gnocchi in herbed cream sauce, which almost didn't make it but fortunately was salvaged and turned out deliciously. My favorite was the Pici...it was a texture I have never before experienced. Everyone else seemed thrilled by the whole wheat pasta, which was good, but I think they were just originally whole wheat downers who were shocked that whole wheat could be so delicious....but not this girl. I knew better.
Here's Dan's post with link to pictures of our meal: http://www.saltshaker.net/20081210/magic-and-pasta
The series is focused on Italian food, and I chose my first class as the second of the series: pasta. I spent Tuesday morning with two Americans, far more clued into the gastronomy world than I, and Dan, our leader. I learned an incredible amount about Italian cooking, flour, and food shopping in Buenos Aires...everything from why put a good amount of salt in boiling water (it allows you to boil the water at a higher temperature) to where to find purple corn from Chile that makes a refreshing (non-alcoholic) drink called Chicha that I've become quite a fan of. We also skimmed some of Dan's history and experience in the culinary world: turns out he used to be the manager of the wine selection for Lidia Bastianich's restaurants (she has a well-known Italian cooking TV show and several upscale restaurants...Mom and Evan: remember when we went to Becco?)
The first pasta we made we did completely from scratch (the rest we used mixers to quicken the kneading process). It's called Pici alle Briciole - basically thick peasant noodles in an agli'e olio sauce with breadcrumbs for texture. Then we made a whole wheat pasta, Langanelli con I Ceci, in a surprising garbanzo and celery sauce. Then Agnolotti, which are like half-moon ravioli, which we baked like empanadas and dipped in sauce. Finally came the gnocchi in herbed cream sauce, which almost didn't make it but fortunately was salvaged and turned out deliciously. My favorite was the Pici...it was a texture I have never before experienced. Everyone else seemed thrilled by the whole wheat pasta, which was good, but I think they were just originally whole wheat downers who were shocked that whole wheat could be so delicious....but not this girl. I knew better.
Here's Dan's post with link to pictures of our meal: http://www.saltshaker.net/20081210/magic-and-pasta
Monday, December 8, 2008
Happy Immaculate Conception Day!
It is now 7:11 in the evening and I am just waking up. The still heat is stifling and our fans are useless...if I could sleep more I would. But I suppose I have to be awake anyway because we're making a trip to La Cabrera tonight, our favorite spot for steak in town.
I slept all day because it is Virgin Mary day or Immaculate Conception day or something along those lines...basically it's an Argentines-don't-feel-like-working day, so I have the day off. Which in parallel meant that I had a day on at the bar - we stayed open all Sunday night as if it were a Friday or a Saturday. Now that summer vacations have started and study abroad students are returning home for the holidays, the clientele has switched from a good mix of expats and Argentines to almost strictly Argie, meaning less tips and later hours for us. David, a Brazilian kitchen guy, is leaving today and will be gone for a few months (as most of us will be), and as he's the first to go, a bunch of us thought we might as well go out after work. At 7 am. It's amazing that you can do that here, but I surely won't be making a habit of it. 7:11 is too late to wake up.
Kelly and I dined last night at Sarkis, a much talked about Armenian restaurant in Palermo. Kelly, having never had Armenian/Middle Eastern food, was a bit nervous I think, but since her foray into Indian cuisine last month went so well I wasn't concerned. We showed up at 9 (on the early side in this country) and despite a huge dining room were made to wait for a spot while space cleared. The dining room was so vast that our waiter resorted to air traffic controller-like hand motions to guide us to our table from across the room.
Dinner was delicious, we got a quartet of appetizers that the waiter recommended, and then we shared a lamb entree. Which first showed up without yogurt, which I was having none of, so he brought the plate back and doused it in yogurt and pita and onion, and presented it to us with a rather exaggerated but earnest 'ta-DA!' We ate til we physically could not continue, and walked to Sugar.
***Pictures added below, to Thanksgiving dinner post
I slept all day because it is Virgin Mary day or Immaculate Conception day or something along those lines...basically it's an Argentines-don't-feel-like-working day, so I have the day off. Which in parallel meant that I had a day on at the bar - we stayed open all Sunday night as if it were a Friday or a Saturday. Now that summer vacations have started and study abroad students are returning home for the holidays, the clientele has switched from a good mix of expats and Argentines to almost strictly Argie, meaning less tips and later hours for us. David, a Brazilian kitchen guy, is leaving today and will be gone for a few months (as most of us will be), and as he's the first to go, a bunch of us thought we might as well go out after work. At 7 am. It's amazing that you can do that here, but I surely won't be making a habit of it. 7:11 is too late to wake up.
Kelly and I dined last night at Sarkis, a much talked about Armenian restaurant in Palermo. Kelly, having never had Armenian/Middle Eastern food, was a bit nervous I think, but since her foray into Indian cuisine last month went so well I wasn't concerned. We showed up at 9 (on the early side in this country) and despite a huge dining room were made to wait for a spot while space cleared. The dining room was so vast that our waiter resorted to air traffic controller-like hand motions to guide us to our table from across the room.
Dinner was delicious, we got a quartet of appetizers that the waiter recommended, and then we shared a lamb entree. Which first showed up without yogurt, which I was having none of, so he brought the plate back and doused it in yogurt and pita and onion, and presented it to us with a rather exaggerated but earnest 'ta-DA!' We ate til we physically could not continue, and walked to Sugar.
***Pictures added below, to Thanksgiving dinner post
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Causing A Scene
Yesterday Leah and I went shopping with some friends at Once, the cheaper, more fun shopping district in Buenos Aires. It came to our attention that there were several t shirts with interesting pictures or catch phrases and here are my top three:
1. A t-shirt that said, "I like the kisses, follow me."
2. A tank top that had a picture of Macaulay Culkin doing his famous Home Alone face. Oh and a picture of Michael Jackson creepily staring at him from behind through a window. And of course I found a picture of it, so why don't I just show you:
3. My all time favorite t shirt that I desperately wish I had purchased was a dark blue with the word DIVA down one side in large silver glittery letters and the lyrics to Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" down the other side.
Because of these lyrics, the rest of our night consisted of Leah and I breaking randomly into the song, singing like we too had lived a rough 50 years of smoking cigarettes and dancing privately for money, just to live, just to survive! The shimmy dance we used definitely added to the performance and everyone at California Burrito Company either loved us and joined in, or thought we were insane.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Happy December!
It's officially December, which means it's time to bring out the Christmas music! Leah and I sat in the kitchen for about 2 hours today, drinking delicious mate and blasting carols. The two Italian girls chilling with us were able to feign ignorance over knowing the lyrics of our songs, but don't worry, we promised (more like threatened) that they would know the words by the time Christmas rolls around.
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