Your Blog, My Blog

The morning after the election, it was still true. I spent the morning reading the paper La Nacion (in Spanish). No recounts. A landslide. The outpouring of emotion, of support, of pride in America — made me cry. I especially enjoyed this article by an American who, after many years living abroad in many countries where he sometimes felt safer not speaking English, was met with an unexpected kiss on the cheek by a stranger, just for being American. The entire world celebrated this victory. We were certainly beaming.

SUERTE (luck)

Our first 29th of the month (ñoqui day), was Sept 29th (Rosh Hashana). We’ve promised to celebrate every subsequent ñoquis day. This Oct 29th, we found an Italian restaurant in our neighborhood (not much of a challenge in B.A), and we placed a bill under our plate for good luck.

And what would you know, but November 4th, Barak Hussein Obama is elected the 44th president of the United States of America. Coincidence? Perchance, but this I know: I’ll be eating ñoquis every 29th, religiously!

MI CUADERNO (my notebook)

I’ve received a request to explain the whole “vos” thing.  In Argentina they use vos instead of tu as the informal you.  It’s really not a big; you can use tu and everyone will understand you.  But, if you want to blend in and sound like a local, you might as well try it.  Note: Vos is only used in two tenses:  Indicative present and imperative.

Also, ll and y is pronounced /sh/, so pollo (chicken) is pronounced /po-sho/ rather than /po-jo/.  Either way, it’s still a chicken.

What else do Portenos (people from Buenos Aires) say?  How about Che?  It is used to mean “hey.”  We have Guy Fox; they have Che Guevara.  Che!  And chicos, most groups of people regardless of age are addressed as chicos (kids).  But, you can refer to your parents as mis viejos (my olds) and this is not insulting or rude.  More on speaking like a Porteno here.

Finally, theater we could fully understand! 

… last night we went to see SILENCIO, an homage to Marcel Marceau.

Bodecker and Neander were fantastic!

Pope Juan Pablo Segundo (John Paul II) sighting.

Part of an exhibition called Camino al Bicentenario 1810-2010 - Pylares y Paracciones, Presidencia de la Nacion (Casa Rosada), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Another Elvis sighting.  Antique shop, Recoleta, B.A.

We reported earlier that we got waved through the subway this last weekend without having to pay.  The Associated Press is reporting that the reason was because the subway is out of coins, and rather than make everyone upset, no one had to pay.  The article goes on to speculate that the reason might be because of inflation:

“Each 50 cent coin contains about 5.3 grams of copper and 0.5 grams of aluminum, together worth about a sixth of the coin’s monetary value. But inflation is rising so fast that in a few years, the coins will be worth less than the metal they are made of.”

We’ll see.

I’ve been spending the past few days trying to promote my new iphone application, Votetastic.  It’s an election-specific application, so needs as much help getting the word out as possible.  If you know of anyone with an iphone, send them the link: http://tinyurl.com/4bwq48 I’d appreciate it.

Votetastic is an electoral college calculator and senate seat tabulator.  You can play out various scenerios such as “what happens if McCain wins Florida but loses Ohio”…for hours.

It’s just now getting released because Apple has quite a back log and took forever to make its way through the contract phases…ah well, next time we’ll be all setup.

TIGRE (not to be confused with Le Tigre)

It’s been described as the Venice of Argentina, but it really has a feeling all its own.  We vowed to return when it’s not raining to explore the Delta in a row boat/canoe/kayak.  It’s just an hour away by train.  The train leaves blocks away from our house and the trip costs about $0.30.  It’s a nice way to escape the city and we weren’t the only ones departing B.A. during the long weekend.

Went to the MAT Museum (Museo de Arte Tigre) and saw a show by a local contemporary artist from Tigre Miguel A. D’Arienzo that we both really enjoyed.  Seeing his work in the setting we did made it even more vibrant.

Here’s Matt at the MAT museum

There’s also a Ferris wheel, roller coasters, a casino, old fighter planes, a fruit market, and more.  We waited out the rain at Maria Lujan where we lunched on some rich, but delicious, pasta.

MYKONOS, Las Canitas, Buenos Aires

Friday night we felt like going somewhere quiet in our neighborhood.  We remembered seeing a Greek restaurant, and that sounded good.  Little did we know that we were in for another show with music, dancing, and pottery smashing.  It felt like we were at a friend’s wedding.  Great food and a great time.  They even asked us to help smash a few plates.  We graciously obliged.

*We had wondered where the neighborhood (barrio) Las Canitas was and discovered it was right behind our own and we had walked there many times before.

Our new life … it may take some getting used to …

YEAST, anyone?

Our Spanish/Chinese speaking friends, does “Yeast” sound like something terrible in Spanish or Chinese? Please advise. We inquired about it at our corner store and the Chinese owner laughed his head off and had to flee the aisle. I kid you not.

Days later we found out the word was levadura (the photo above is me skipping down the aisle to show Matt what I had just discovered). It was the last ingredient required to make BAGELS! OK, not *exactly* the last. The most exotic of all ingredients is what they call “Philadelphia” here (queso crema— yes, cream cheese). We were ecstatic to locate two cafes that serve “bagels with Philadelphia”: Big Mama’s Deli (link is a review by a Jewish-NY’er-expat-foodie-blogger-chef) and Bar Seis (where Matt has been spending many mornings).

But, the “bagel and cream cheese” is still an anomaly here and the waiters ask, “Se parace, mas o menos?” meaning it resembles a bagel, more or less? And it was the “more or less” part that began the big bagel baking experiment. How can I describe it? The bagels at Big Mama’s are buttery. Not to say they aren’t delicious, they’re just different. The cream cheese everywhere is homemade and is strained sour cream. So, it has a similar texture but has the flavor of sour cream.

So, this morning, I started the big bagel experiment while Matt hit the pavement in search for “Philadelphia.” An hour or so later, I had dough shaped into rings ready to plop into a boiling caramel water bath when Matt returned bearing “Sushi Cream Cheese” in a squeezable bag. Opa!

The recipe:

• 500g flour
• 265 ml water
• 12g yeast
• 1tb honey
• 20g soft butter
• For the caramel water: 300g sugar plus 3-4 liters water.

Combine the flour, water, yeast, and honey

Kneed for 4 minutes

Add the butter & salt

Kneed for 8 more minutes

Allow to rise for 40 minutes

Divide into 8 portions, roll to 3 inch diameter

Create hole in middle by poking your thumb through the center and englarging outwards.

Let rise for 35 minutes

On Medium heat, allow sugar to melt in a saucepan

Add water and bring to a boil.

Boil bagels in water - 1 minute on each side

Remove from water

Coat with seeds

Place on a greased baking sheet

Bake in oven for 15 minutes (oven preheated to 425 degrees F)

Remove and allow to cool for 30 minutes

ENJOY! mmmm

(we were so excited to be eating the bagels we forgot all about the camera)