Saying Adios to Buenos Aires - Part II

Our favorite things about Buenos Aires:

1) The 3-to-1 exchange rate. I can’t emphasize this enough. You can reduce your LA monthly overhead (rent, transportation, food, etc.) by 50% or more here – and yet still live higher on the cosmopolitan hog than you could EVER afford to back home.

2) A truly “green” city. By this I don’t mean an environmental model, alas, but a city where you see green things everywhere. Trees. Parks. Flower boxes. This is a beautiful urban city because it values greenery – the opposite of a concrete jungle.

3) Eating slowly and socially. In Buenos Aires, we’ve had to redefine the eating experience. People here relish a leisurely, talkative meal. Less devouring, more delighting. The result? You eat less…and enjoy it more.

4) The foodie restaurant scene. Yes, the steakhouses are great. But you can only eat so much beef. Fortunately, there’s gourmet Vietnamese, French, Scandinavian – you name it. Lots of places with spectacular food that actually lives up to the hip decor. Also, they use really interesting ingredients like dried flowers. Sounds weird…but tastes great.

5) The people. Not only are they artsy, intellectual and often bilingual, Argentines are incredibly friendly to boot. People went out of their way to befriend us and invite us to do things. Our new friend Maria Jose even threw us a farewell party last night!

6) The ease of getting around. You don’t need a car. The subway is great. The walking is pleasant, thanks to the abundant shade from huge trees. And if you’re in a rush or going a long way, cabs are cheap (less than $3 usually) and plentiful.

7) Fresh mint cocktails. I don’t know if the mint they grow in Argentina is fresher or what, but it is the most intensely flavored mint I’ve ever tasted. Added to a cocktail, it’s unbelievably refreshing. Forget mojitos. These are REAL mint drinks.

8) Delivery. You can literally get ANYTHING delivered to you in Buenos Aires. I don’t just mean food either. You can get a DVD delivered – and picked up! A bottle of wine. A prescription. A book. No minimum order, either. A single espresso? Fine.

9) The postres (desserts). You can find more varieties of desserts here than you could eat in a lifetime. When restaurants close between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. (between lunch and dinner), there’s always a confiteria (pastry shop) on or around the block to get you through it. Plus, at around 13 cents, they may break your waistline, but not your budget.

10) The culture. People value the arts. (Apparently there are more plays in production for children here than anywhere else in the world.) They value music, design, etc. The city government even sponsors a huge program of free concerts, tango shows and cultural activities every weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun) through the summer.

11) The emphasis on tidiness. Thanks to a new initiative, the government has placed trash cans on every street corner. You never have to look for a place to throw away something. Also, the grass in public spaces is weedwacked almost every day. I challenge anyone to find grass that’s more than two inches!

In sum, is this a livable city? Ab-so-lute-ly.

Saying Adios to Buenos Aires - Part I

Sadly, this marks our penultimate post from Buenos Aires. Can you believe how fast the two months have gone? We certainly can't.

On Monday, we move out of our apartment into a hotel. Tuesday, we fly to Peru for a four-night layover in Lima and the nearby beach town of San Bartolo, where Matt will get to do some surfing. Finally, come Sunday morning (March 4th), we’re curbside at good old LAX.

I thought it fitting to conclude our blog with a “Best of Buenos Aires” round-up. Part one is a smattering of photos that show off the city’s endless charm and appeal. Part two is a list of all our favorite things about Buenos Aires.

Part one is below. Enjoy!

La Ultima Rey de Escocia

Since the Oscars are on Sunday, I've had movies on my mind - thus the theme of today's post.

Last Saturday night, Matt and I went to see The Last King of Scotland, or La Ultima Rey de Escocia. (Forrest Whitaker's performance is spellbinding, if you haven't seen it.) The film was in English with Spanish subtitles, which was perfect for me. I could understand it AND learn a few palabras de Espanol (words of Spanish) at the same time. Here's a photo of people waiting in line to buy tickets at the Recoleta Village Multiplex, which has 14 screens.


We discovered a couple of interesting things about moviegoing here.

1) Seats are assigned at the time you buy your tickets. They show you a chart and inform you what's still available - then you make your selection. We really liked this because it allows you to go early and then return to the theater just as the movie starts without having to worry about being stuck in the front row. It's kind of like the ArcLight in LA, except you pick the seats.

2) Many movie titles just don't translate, and very few are the exact same as they would be in the US. (An example of the rare non-translated movie title is Borat.) But others, such as A Prairie Home Companion for example, are too idiomatic to translate. So they rename them, sometimes with amusing results. A Prairie Home Companion becomes Noches Magicas de Radio (Magic Nights on the Radio)...and Flushed Away becomes Lo Que El Agua Se Llevo (which I think means something like What The Water Carried Away). Feel free to correct me anyone!

3) Unlike Nicaragua, movies arrive in Argentina not too long after their US debuts - around one to two months later on average. For example, here's a sampling of what's currently playing in town: Dreamgirls, Blood Diamond, Apocalypto, Babel, Charlotte's Web, A Night at the Museum, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Holiday, and Perfume. I would say only about 10% of the movies showing are non-American films made in Latin America. Clearly, Hollywood dominates.

4) Most Hollywood films are shown in English with Spanish subtitles. Thus, it's easy for non-Spanish speakers to go to the movies here. The only problem is when a film or parts of a film are in a language other than English. An example would be Apocalypto, which is in a native language. Thus I wouldn't be able to see it here in Argentina because the subtitles would be in Spanish, not English. We also decided against seeing Babel here as parts of it are in Japanese apparently.

An Ode to Dulce de Leche

In a conversation at wine club last night, a woman who works at the US Embassy affirmed our feelings about peanut butter being the food Americans miss most when abroad. But the funny thing was our friend Maria Jose's puzzled yet ardent response: "But we have dulce de leche here!" And she's not alone in her sentiment. Argentines truly feel dulce de leche is better than any other spreadable sweet treat in the world, and they might be right.
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Beyond beef, there is nothing more predominant in Argentine cuisine that dulce de leche. You can find it oozing hot in an empanada. You can find it stuffed in facturas (croissant-like pastries). You can find it in alfajores, or Spanish-style cookies with two sweet biscuits joined by a layer of dulce de leche in the middle. You can find it tucked in masas (bite-sized desserts.) You can find it as ice cream, both as a base flavor or as an accent or ribbon in other flavors. (Not surprisingly, it is the most popular flavor of ice cream here.) You can even find it in chewy tablet form. There is artesan dulce de leche. Organic dulce de leche. You name it - it exists.

Everything in this entire case of masas below has dulce de leche in it some way or another. In fact, there are whole sections of confiterias (pastry shops) devoted to things with dulce de leche. In the world of desserts here, it's sort of like the haves (having dulce de leche) and the have-nots (not having dulce de leche)!



So what exactly is dulce de leche? It's looks and tastes like caramel in many ways but with one important difference. Caramel is made by boiling sugar and water. Dulce de leche is made by boiling sugar and milk. As a result, it is thicker and creamier, sort of like a jam. It also has a distinctive, nearly-burnt-milk flavor. Compared to caramel, it's undoubtably the richer, more indulgent of the two. Although caramel is certainly popular in the States, it's not something that Americans eat every day. For Argentines, dulce de leche is.

Below is a photo of one of the most famous Argentine brands of alfajores made with dulce de leche. We are bringing them to Peru as a present for Matt Gehrke, the friend we're staying with in Lima during our brief pit stop on the way back to LA. (He requested them after a visit to Buenos Aires convinced him of their greatness.) Sorry for the bad photography by the way - I couldn't figure out how to turn the flash off!


A final tidbit. There are different legends about how dulce de leche came to be. Most involve some famous person's cook inadvertently leaving milk and sugar on the stove for too long. One story has it originating in Argentina. Another in France. Who knows for sure, but it's wildly popular in all of South America, so I might vote for the Argentina birthplace story.

In contrast, dulce de leche didn't become widely known in the US until Haagen-Dazs introduced it as an ice cream flavor in 1998. But if you've ever had the Haagan-Dazs, let me just say it's nothing in comparison to the dulce de leche ice cream at Argentina's two best ice cream chains, Freddo (www.freddo.com.ar ) and Persicco (www.persicco.com). And best of all...they deliver!

High Tea at the Alvear Palace

On Saturday, we went for high tea at Buenos Aires' most elegant European-styled hotel, the modestly named Alvear Palace. Served in the solarium of the hotel's L'Orangerie Restaurant, tea service is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Even better, it is served by white gloved attendants. Clearly, this was too much pomp and circumstance to miss.

You can read all about the high tea service as well as the hotel, built in 1932, here: http://www.alvearpalace.com/v2/tealvear.php.



The meal began with, of course, tea, served with crisp formality out of silver pots with silver strainers placed over the cup to catch any loose pieces. I had Chai. Matt had the Breakfast Blend. He dropped a large cube of sugar in his. I opted for a little milk. I will say that it was very good tea.


Then came the finger sandwiches (cucumber and cream cheese, etc). Then the scones. Then a new pot of tea. Then the three-tiered patisserie tray (salty items below, sweet items on top). And finally, much later, a slice of cake of your choice at the end.

As a piano tinkled away in the distance, we observed the following type of people attending high tea: some wealthy, well-groomed Argentines in suits and some American tourists wearing jeans and sneakers. We also overheard an American couple who sat down quite a while after us tell their waiter, "We're pressed for time. Can we get the check?" Why they would come to a two- to three-hour high tea in a rush is perplexing, to say the least. But it sparked the following thought about our cultural differences. Argentines eat leisurely, a little at a time. Americans tend to inhale their food. Argentines are not fat. Americans are. It gets you thinking, doesn't it?

Bidets: What Are They Good For?

This morning I was reading a magazine called THE WEEK that Calley included in our care package. It's a weekly round-up of the best news stories and columns from all around the world. On page 20, I had to laugh out loud. Here's why.

In a story about David Beckham's upcoming move to LA, excerpted from the Chicago Sun-Times, writer Neil Steinberg argues that Beckham won't have any impact on popularizing soccer in America. That's because he claims soccer is "the bidet of American sport." Why? Because it's "a puzzling contrivance, very big in Europe, that Americans simply don't like the look of."

Frankly, I have to agree with my country's state of bafflement over the bidet. We've had bidets in both of our apartments, as well as the hotel we stayed in over New Year's. Given how cramped bathrooms can be here, we've lamented how much precious space these strange appliances take up. So you'll enjoy Matt's eventual conclusion of how best to use the bidet - as toiletry storage! :)

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Here are a few other tidbits we've learned. Apparently the ubiquitousness of the bidet in Argentina is a direct result of the Italian influence on the culture. Bidets are very common in Italy, unlike Spain. We've also learned that many people use them for washing their feet in addition to other parts. Apparently there is a setting for foot washing where the water only comes out around the rim instead of shooting like a geyser. Who knew?

And Our Favorite Blog Reader Is....

Calley Prezzano!

Look what we received in a care package sent all the way from San Francisco yesterday. Peanut butter - smooth AND crunchy! We had mentioned our withdrawal for this very American food in a past post, and lo and behold, it showed up at our doorstep.

Muchissimo gracias, Calley! You made our day. I would write more but I'm busy spreading more peanut butter on a cracker.

Stopping to Smell the Roses

On Valentine's Day, Matt and I took a long lunch and went to the Rosedal, a massive, immaculately landscaped rose garden located within Bosques de Palermo. (See my last post if you don't know what that is.) It's about a five-minute, $1.50 cab ride from our apartment.

The garden is surrounded by a meandering moat replete with ducks and swans (and even a few islands), and you have to cross one of two picturesque bridges to enter. At first sight, it's almost like a fantasy landscape. We took the experience in on foot while others rented rowboats and paddleboats to take it in by water.

Although many of the roses were past their peak (now that it's mid-summer), the garden was still incredibly beautiful and serene, with all sorts of shaded nooks for escaping the midday sun. People were picnicking near the groves of trees, and the breeze coming off the water and the various fountains made it quite pleasant.

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Here's the lovely, vine-covered promenade that hugs the moat and is one of the best ways to navigate the Rosedal. There was hardly a speck of trash anywhere, as you can see, and thanks to our mid-week timing, there wasn't a crowd to maneuver around.

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With tidy paths, freshly cut grass, good signage, abundant trash cans and nice restrooms, the Rosedal (free to the public) is a testimony to the city's emphasis on taking care of its parks. We were extremely impressed and could hardly believe we'd taken this long to check it out. In fact, as of this writing, I might rank it as my favorite spot in Buenos Aires.

Palermo: Why We Love It - Part II

THE PARKS

We have yet to mention Palermo's huge, 64-acre network of interconnected parks, collectively termed Bosques del Palermo (Palermo Forests.) With several lakes, biking paths and countless different gardens (the Zoological Garden, Japanese Garden, Botanical Garden, Rose Garden, etc.), it is to Buenos Aires what Central Park is to New York City. Except that Central Park doesn't have mysterious hidden statues....or bike rentals for as low as $1/hour.

THE TREE-LINED STREETS

Continuing on the green theme, one of the most instantly noticeable things about Palermo is that, unlike the rest of the city, almost all of the streets (some of which are still cobblestone) are lined with huge old trees that provide cool shade on even the hottest days. You can tell that the city has worked very hard to preserve the trees (and thus the charm) in this area, despite all the new construction.

THE MULTI-PURPOSE SPACES

In Palermo, a restaurant is not just a restaurant. It is often a number of things: a lounge, a cafe, a bookstore, a performance space, an art gallery, a club (at night), a music shop. Since eating is not something to rush through here, you are provided with lots of things to do while you take your sweet time. Here are two examples. First photo: Eterna Cadencia, a bohemian bookstore-restaurant. Second photo: Central, a industrial-styled restaurant-reading hangout.

Let Them Eat Beef

Our asado (BBQ) last night was so much fun that we forgot to take pictures while it was happening. But here's a shot of the leftovers. Yes, this is how much we had left AFTER feeding eight people, if you can believe it. The redder meat is the bife (beef) while the whiter meat at the front right is the cerdo (pork). Most Argentines like to cook their meats very slowly until very well done, but we just couldn't come around to that perspective. We like our beef more medium (Amy) to rare (Matt).

As you can see, asados are not light meals. It's all about consuming as much meat as you possibly can over a three to four hour period. We started with salami, then moved to sausage, then pork and then finally, the beef. (FYI, I put the kibosh on blood sausage and sweetbreads, which are also very typical offerings.) But because meat prices are regulated by the government and thus extremely cheap, an asado is not an expensive event. We paid around $20 for ALL of the meat. Increible, no?

Here's our parilla (outdoor BBQ) the day after. You can see the ashes and also the long utensils you use. The typical way to do the fire here is with both charcoal and wood. (Supermarkets sell small pieces of wood specifically for this purpose.) A funny tidbit is that Argentines pride themselves on using just one match to light the parilla. More than one, and your reputation is sunk.



Here's who attended our asado:

--Ines and Santiago, our BFFs from Casa Coupage, who coached us through the whole process and even went with us to the grocery store to buy the meat. We couldn't have done it without their help.

--Charlie and Veronica, a very nice English-speaking couple. Charlie, who is from Texas, works for an American-owned engineering firm here in BA. He and Matt met in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua. Veronica, who is from Sao Paulo, Brazil, works for an ad agency here.

--Jeff, a freelance writer/editor from Los Angeles, who we were put in touch with by a friend of Matt's and who joined us on New Year's Eve. He is here for six months, and like me, he telecommutes for his US clients.

--Ronnie, the older Argentine fellow who is starting an olive oil exportation business in Patagonia and who befriended us at Casa Coupage. We sit at the same wine-tasting table with him and Maria Jose every Wednesday.

Sadly, Maria Jose couldn't attend as she's on holiday in Pinamar, a beach town about four hours south of the city.

The Future of Branding?

As promised, we returned to the restaurant located in the Mini Cooper dealership to investigate this peculiar marketing trend further. We ordered two licuados (fresh fruit shakes), one peach and one banana, and took in the scene.


A couple of observations. Do you have to be interested in buying a car to eat there? No. Do you have to own a car to eat there? No. Do you have to steel your subconscious mind from the overwhelming number of marketing messages while you eat there? Yes.



You see, the restaurant - apparently a destination for the style-conscious person with disposable income, the kind who COULD afford to own a car that's not a Fiat - turned out to be a tangled web of cross-promotion. From the American Express tablewear to the Hugo Boss menu covers to the Delta Airlines frosted signs on the windows, we were bombarded by international branding.



And how did we feel about all this? Extremely odd...and then slightly cool...and then slightly uncomfortable for feeling slightly cool. In the end, at least the drinks were refreshing.

Learning to Pronounce "Araoz"

Why is this important to pronounce correctly? Because it's the name of the street where our new apartment is located, and getting home in a taxi requires that the driver actually understand what street name you're saying. For the first few days, I was prouncing it "ar-AY-os" and getting perplexed or blank looks from the cabbies. But now that I correctly pronounce it "ah-ROUSE," I instead enjoy an instant nod of recognition from the driver as the cab speeds off (following no particular lane lines, of course).

Now, about the new apartment itself, which feels more like a condo due to its bi-level layout (meaning, it has two floors).

First, let's start with the positives, some of which will be demonstrated by the photos.

--Two bathrooms (one upstairs, one downstairs)

--Two balconies (one upstairs, one downstairs)

--Top floor of building

--Full entertainment center with TV/DVD/stereo

--Brick parilla (BBQ) on lower balcony

--Pool in the building

--Quieter, tree-lined street

--Open kitchen with glass counters (unusual as most are galley style)

--Large walk-in closet (unusual in BA)

--Sandwich press (we are enamored with this appliance!)

--Two blocks from the gym

--Closer to the happening areas of Palermo

And the negatives:

--More limited views

--Dingy carpet on the upper floor

--Some faulty electrical outlets

--No confiteria (pastry shop) downstairs or even on the block! (Okay, maybe this is a positive.)

(The stairs, just FYI, are right behind the cut-out shelf with the coffemaker and paper towel holder. One other cool feature to note is the row of glass tiles that let in light right over the stove and kitchen sink.)

So as you can see, there are many more advantages than disadvantages, and we have lots of new amenities. We are having people over on Saturday for a barbeque to take advantage of the parilla, for instance. Plus, it is definitely the more functional of the two apartments in terms of telecommuting. I can be working upstairs while Matt is watching the news downstairs (that or his favorite new channel, La Rural, which is all about life in the Argentine countryside), and I can't hear the television at all.

p.s. Photos of the surprisingly idyllic, shaded pool coming soon - as soon as the weather improves! (It's been rainy and overcast this week.)

Palermo: Why We Love It

Restaurants abound in Palermo. The lunch special is a real deal with a starter, main course, dessert and drink for $10.

There is a fountain of creativity in Palermo, and artistic expressions are visible all around the neighborhood.

Another Historic Home To Drool Over

We got to check out Maria Jose's home last weekend. (You may recall that she's our new friend from wine club, the one who works as the regional marketing manager for Disney on Ice.) Built in 1922, it's another renovated stunner thanks to its high ceilings, exposed brick, original tile floors, beautiful wooden doors/windows, rooftop terrace and colorful stained glass.




Luckily, Maria Jose pulled out all of her savings in early 2001 to buy the place - right before the economic crisis. So unlike other Argentines who saw their dollar-based savings accounts sliced to a third of their original value overnight, her money was safely invested in real estate. Today a renovated historic home like hers is highly sought-out by home buyers, so she's in good shape for a very profitable resale.



Here's another interesting tidbit about Maria Jose. I believe I mentioned that she speaks English fluently. I should add that she speaks English without a hint of an accent and has the most impressive bilingual command of English/Spanish of anyone we've met. Thus it wasn't surprising to learn that she worked as a translator for visiting celebrities for many years. What was surprising was finding out her favorite American clients: Charlie Sheen and George Hamilton. She says they were by far the nicest, funniest and most down-to-earth of all the people she worked with. She also developed a great bond with Deepak Chopra, who she still translates for as a personal favor whenever he comes to Argentina.

Top Three Hazards of BA

1. The Drip

New Yorkers will probably relate best to this one. You're walking along, minding your own business and suddenly....PLOP. The condensation from an air conditioner has landed right on top of your head, and it's now running down your scalp. While technically not harmful or life-threatening, "the drip" can be quite startling and annoying, especially if you're dressed nicely. Here in Buenos Aires, "the drip" is exceedingly common because central air does not exist. Like most of Latin America, most apartments and homes are air conditioned by window or "split" units because the costs are much, much lower (both in terms of construction as well as the monthly power bill). Thus, Matt and I now have a new rule for navigating the sidewalks. Look ahead for puddles, and when you see one, walk around it. Chances are it's a "drip zone."

2. The Poop

Now, I just discussed one rule for navigating the city by foot. Here's another important one. Don't just look ahead for puddles. Look down also to make sure you're not about to step on dog crap. Yes, dog crap. I don't know the figures, but let's just say that there are a LOT of pooches in Buenos Aires. Apparently the dog walking profession was born here to meet the needs of busy dog-owning urbanites who were gone all day. Just head out on any weekday, and you'll be guaranteed to see a dog walker with a least 15 dogs, somehow managing to get them all to happily trot along in sync. How do they handle their brood's needs? Legally, every dog owner and dog walker is required to scoop the poop, but clearly this is a law that many Argentines are disobeying. Or perhaps the dog walker only has so many hands and scoop bags. I don't know, but suffice to say, we watch our step these days, and life smells much better. (To be fair, the problem isn't nearly as bad in nicer neighborhoods.)

3. The "C" Knob

In the US, there are two knobs in your shower: hot (H) or cold (C). But in Latin America, the words for hot and cold are "caliente" and "frio." Are you guessing the hazard yet? Let me describe the scenario. Your alarm goes off in the morning, and you're still rather out of it. Your brain isn't awake yet. To rectify that, you step inside the shower, and turn on the water. Suddenly, it gets really, really hot. Scalding hot. In panic, you crank that "C" knob for all its worth to turn the temperature down. But it's only getting hotter! What the heck is going on? That's when you realize you're turning up the hot...instead of the cold. Because "C" here means "caliente," not cold. No matter how many times I do this, it's almost like the "C" on the knob is inexorably programmed to mean cold in my subconscious. It's almost Pavlovian. Need cold? Turn the "C." So as you can see, of all three hazards, this one is definitely the most dangerous. Luckily, I don't have any third degree burns...yet.