Food is always an interesting way to see a culture. When you are living in a country different from your own, eating new kinds of food can be a big part of the cultural shock. Lucky for me, Argentinian diet does not differ too much from other South American countries, so instead of being in shock, I have been indulging in all kinds of delicious things.  Not good for my waist line, but good for my mood! 
 The traditional foods I have tasted during my time in Buenos Aires show strong European influence.  On the other hand, national ingredients are also present, which results in a unique array of flavors.   Below I mention some of the dishes, snacks and drinks I have been lucky to try -and a couple I am planning to -:

Breads and snacks

1. Facturas

Facturas are small pastries and sweet bread pieces.  There is a great variety of facturas.  They vary on size, flavors, fillings and shape.  People eat facturas for breakfast or as a snack between meals.  They are my favorite from Argentinian’s cuisine!

Note:  The word factura also means bill.  Funny, uh?

2. Empanadas

Most empanadas, when served, look like a semicircle.  Their shape reminds me of an Italian Calzone, being empanadas way smaller.  The dough for empanadas is usually made with flour and fat. The fillings vary from meat and cheese to dulce de leche. Once the filling is placed inside the empanada, these are either fried or baked.     

3. Choripan

Chori, from the word chorizo, plus pan which means bread equals choripan. 

A baguette type of bread cut open and pieces of chorizo placed inside. That’s it!  

Choripan is seasoned with chimichurri, a common Argentinian sauce.

As an interesting note, I have not seen choripan offered in restaurants or cafés.  I have seen it a couple of times on the street. 

Entrees

4. Pizza

In Argentina there is pizza de molde which has thick crust, and I have not yet tried.  The other type is Pizza a la Piedra. With a thinner crust, and generous on the cheese, this is the one I have seen the most.  Toppings are what you usually find in other countries.  Argentineans make good, good pizza.

5.  Pastas

Pasta has not been my first choice when eating out.  However, you can be sure it is in every single menu in Buenos Aires’ restaurants.  Along with the pizza, this part of the diet is a pretty obvious consequence of Italian immigration to Argentina.

6.  Milanesas

Milanesas, as pasta, are omnipresent.  You could even buy a milanesa in the carnicería ready to fry.  Not frozen, just ready!

7. Parrillada

This dish, to me, is the most representative of  Argentinian cuisine. Parrillada includes chorizo, chinchulines, morcilla and different cuts of red meats cooked and served on a grill (parrilla).   This meat feast is usually accompanied by red wine, bread and salad.  –and a good nap, if possible-.

Sweets

8. Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche is widely consumed and used as baking ingredient in Argentina, as well as in many other Latin American countries.

9. Alfajores

Alfajores are basically two cookies joined together by a sweet filling, usually dulce de leche.   They may be covered in chocolate. Alfajores are common in Spain and many South American countries.

Drinks

10. Vino patero

This is foot-pressed wine.  Made using more traditional techniques, and sold by cup or jar.

11. Mate

Mate is a traditional infused drink, inherited from the indigenous that inhabited this part of South America.  Mate is also common in some parts of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and, of course, Argentina.  It is prepared infusing dried leaves of the plant yerba mate in water.   

I know there are many more dishes and foods to try.  I may comment on them as I learn more about Argentinian cuisine… Have you been to Argentina and tried their food?  Did you have a favorite?

http://www.torquatotasso.com.ar/

My quest for a Tango show was not over yet. Since my online research was not giving much results, my brother resorted to word of mouth. A friend of his suggested the Centro Cultural Torquato tasso. I was a bit skeptical because the one singing was "La Chicana Tango". I have nothing against Chicano music, but I was in Buenos Aires and the thing to do was to Tango.

Anyway, I trusted the recommendation and took a bus to San Telmo, were the Tasso is located.

The place is not small, but is not a stadium either. Which means that, even if your table is in the back, you get to see the show. They ask attendants to arrive early, so they food can be ordered and served before the show starts. We order a picada and some wine, and they brought our food just on time, right before the show. When Dolores Sola, "La Chicana" came out, dressed in a way that strongly ressembled Frida Kahlo, I was not worried any more about not listening to Tango. I was up for a good show and open to see what they had to offer. Let me tell you, it was a great show! No dancing this time, but excellent musicians and a powerful voice that let us craving even more. It was a modern version of Tango, with all the flair of the traditional. I leave you today with a video of La Chicana and her band. Next time I visit Buenos Aires, I am going back to El Tasso for some more good wine and music!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAVRkCNllEA&feature=related

El Paso, TX

"That's just a piece of dirt.” That is what I hear a Texan say once about El Paso, and I believed him.  I could not help but think about those dusty, small cowboy towns you see in movies…  I have to tell you my friends, there is some truth to that, but this place has much more to offer.  Here are some things that caught my attention during my second visit to the city:

1.        The Río Grande is not so grande.  (big)

2.       Standing on what is today the University of Texas at El Paso, I can see the city of Juárez, Mx.  I feel I am almost there, literally.  I could see a message about the Bible, which is carved on the mountain side.  I could also follow a soccer match happening on a paved basketball court by the border.

3.       The US Government did build a fence….  

4.       The first Spanish Mission built in Texas is still here, and people still go to mass there!  (More about it on future post).

5.       During the 50’s someone thought it would be pretty cool to bring real crocodiles to the plaza in El Paso’s downtown, so they DID!  For obvious safety reasons, the crocs are gone.  There is a huge statue of them instead.

Have you been to El Paso?  What did you think of the city?

Landfill Harmonic

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We wish you all a very happy 2012!  We pretty much had the last minute idea of traveling to San Antonio Texas to bring in the new year, so around 2:00PM on the 31st, we got in the car, stopped for gas and a
Subway sandwich and drove south.

We read that morning about the celebration that would take place at Hemisfair Park and the Riverwalk, and the fact that it was a free event.  What better than free!?  We arrived at the hotel around 8:30 (I know, we made a few stops to pick up our much needed yellow underwear), checked in and walked down to the street.  For starters, the weather was amazing!  T-shirt, jeans and a pair of chucks.

We first stopped to get the mandatory picture of the Alamo.  I'm pretty sure I have enough of those but it's close enough to the hotel not to have done it.  Then we walked down to the Riverwalk which was packed but everybody seemed to be having a good time.

We made it over to Hemisfair Park and people were everywhere.  The usual pushing through crowds holding your beer up in the air to avoid spilling it.  I was impressed that I did not see a single fight break out as they usually do in drunken crowds.  Everyone was having a good time, there were several stages with live music, and food vendors of all kinds.

We walked around and finally made it to the main stage for the countdown.  It was the end of a good year and the beginning of what I hope is an even better one.

Trip of the Day

We've been away for a while busy with work, but we are planning an excellent adventure for today.  We're off to the Allen Premium Outlet Mall!!  Woo Hoo!  New shirts and pants!  I'll be back with amazing photos later today!

Thanksgiving Vacation

After several days of carefully planning our Thanksgiving vacation, we decided to make it a stay-cation.  Although I've been unemployed for a few months now, Nati needed a much deserved break.  So we did absolutely nothing for an entire week other than watch a parade in Fort Worth and three seasons of '24' on Netflix.  I never saw the series when it actually aired, but I have reached the conclusion that all the problems on that show are caused by women.  I declare shenanigans but now I have to watch the whole damn thing.

#TTOT - Travel Talk On Twitter - 11/24/2011

Thanks to all who participated in Travel Talk on Twitter yesterday!  Excellent tips from everyone.  See you next time!

Running with the Bulls!

Well, sorta.  Here is Nati running with the bulls in downtown Dallas.  I found this photo doing cleanup of my hard drive.  I took this during the immigration march in downtown Dallas last year.  

#TTOT - Travel Talk On Twitter - 11/15/2011

Come on over and participate in #TTOT !!  Follow us on Twitter for more info every Tuesday!

Don't Ride the Train!

So a couple of friends from Mexico City came to visit for a few days.  So we did some of the typical tourist things to do in Dallas.  Dealey Plaza, The Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center among other things.

However, I am not posting about those places in this post.  I do however have to absolutely warn you about the famous Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) streetcar.  In my almost six years of living in Dallas, I had never ridden the trolley before.  We figured we would give it a try this time around.

First of all, DART employees have no idea where the boarding points are for the M-line that the trolley runs on.   We left the Sixth Floor Museum and began to search for any DART employee along the line, so that they could inform us where to board the train.  Of course, we were given multiple answers, mostly due to the fact that there is construction all over downtown Dallas.

The internet provided us with yet another set of directions, so we decided to get in the car and go find the address provided on DART's website.  No such luck.  We parked, walked for at least half an hour until we found it.  ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE INTERSTATE!

So we waited...and waited...and waited.  The streetcar finally showed up.  Off we go.  Here is my friend Arturo and his wife Valerie.  Happy and excited to board the streetcar.

The "operator" was probably tired of his job, as there was no explanation of what the sights were.  Not that there was much to see.  Looking at the map of the route now, I realize it is pretty much a means of transportation for drunk people downtown, as it passes by all of the restaurants and bars down McKinney Ave.  Being that it was a weekday, there was not much action to see.

Anyway, to make a long story short, avoid the streetcar at all costs as a tourist attraction.  It really has nothing to offer unless they eventually change the route to a more scenic one.

Happy to get off of the DART streetcar!!

Time for another blooper!

This is one of our favorites, AND IT HAPPENED TWICE!!!

What is it with heat and swollen fingers!?

Exhibit A - August 7th, 2009.  The day we got married in Dallas, TX.  It took me over 12 minutes to put that ring on her finger.  It did not fit.

Exhibit B - June 19th, 2010.  The day we got married in Cartagena, Colombia.  It took me over 12 minutes to put that ring on her finger.  It did not fit.

More fossils?

No, not more fossils.  In fact, we haven't seen any fossils lately.  But here are a few more of the animals we saw at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.

Not sure what the deal is with these animals staring us down.  All we were doing was driving through their living room!

Audad - Ammotragus Lervia.  I believe the true name is Rammus Staredownus.  At least that's what the Internet says.

Giraffe - Giraffa Camelopardalis.  This one we will call neckus longeritus.  This guy actually stuck his head in through my window.  Another hungry one.  There were about 6 of these walking around.

We've seen one of these before.  Or two?  I don't recall which one this is, but it is definitely one of the zebras!!

Axis Deer - Axis Axis.  This guy looks so mean that his scientific name is self explanatory.  He'll give you the ax, and then again.

Fossil Rim, Glen Rose Texas

So we took a little road trip about two hours from our house, down to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Preserve in Glen Rose Texas. We had been there before, only last time we took the mountain bikes to ride around certain areas of the park.

This time we decided to get up early to beat the Labor Day crowd, but as it turns out, we had some work to do here at the house & didn't leave for the park until 10pm.

We drove into Glen Rose looking for a place to eat as it would take us about two hours to drive around the park. After driving around for a while, we backtracked to a Mexican restaurant we had seen on our way there and stopped for some tacos. I'll give them a 7.

Once we got to the park we were surprised to see how many people had planned on doing the same thing. It was a holiday after all. The sign said the tour would take between 2 and 4 hours TO THE HALF-WAY MARK!

Over the hill we could see the line of cars slowly driving through the park. We figured WTH, we're already here, might as well do it.

Off we go...

Who would have thought, 2 different species of zebras. Eqqus burchelli and Eqqus canadensis tabida. Can you spot the differences? The first is black with white stripes, the second is white with black stripes.

And yeah, they are right there.  They are so used to people driving around the park feeding them that they pretty much just come in through the windows looking for food.

Peppermint Zebra

So we took a little trip today to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, TX.  There's a lot more to the story, but it's late & I need some sleep.  Here is a little preview of things to come.

Photo Bloopers #2

A failed Titanic moment.

I never expected the photo blooper post to have so much success!  I guess it is time to get back at my lovely wife with this failed attempt at acrobatics aboard the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia.  Apparently "somebody" doesn't know how to jump straight up in the air and leaped to the right!

Photo Bloopers #1

Natalia came up with the great idea of posting some of our photo bloopers. I have a tendency to make faces when I know she is taking photos of me, and I try to compose myself right before she hits the shutter. Many times she's been faster than me...

It is in my best interest to post one of myself, before I start posting photos of her!  Here I am in Cartagena a couple of days before our wedding.  Natalia says I'm an "allegatere".

We interrupt your regular broadcast...

I just had to do a quick commercial break to show my lovely wife cooking for me!

Doing prep.

Acting, Tango, and Cinema

Music and dance are always a fun way to explore a culture. Therefore, a Tango show was one of my priorities during my time in Buenos Aires.  José Luis, Flavio E. and I looked for the best places and/or deals on town, but after a good number of phone calls and emails, we decided not to attend one.   They were too expensive, way out of our budget.  We were disappointed, and I thought I had to let it go.
The night before José Luis left Buenos Aires to go on his motorcycle adventure, we went to Avenida Corrientes.   The plan was to buy some reading materials and have Chocolate and churros at Café La Giralda.  With books on hand, and a belly full of deliciousness, we had some time left.  Since Corrientes is full of theaters, we decided to check out one of the performances.  The chosen one was Tita, Una vida en tiempo de tango in Teatro Metropolitan.