Thursday, July 22, 2010
"A T-Bone steak, cheese, eggs and Welch's grape"
Last night we ate at Miranda, another parrillas. We both agree that it was the best meal of the trip (which is saying quite a lot). We ordered the grilled provelta with oregano as an appetizer again - amazing. Jen got a filet kabob and I got a filet - both amazing - and we split a side of mashed potatoes - amazing. For dessert, we had a dulche de leche pancake, which was a thin, sugary crepe filled with chocolate and caramel - amazing. All through dinner they played Notorious B.I.G. songs (an American rapper who died 13 years ago), including "Big Poppa," which features one of my favorite lines in the history of rap: "So we can steam on the way to the telly, go fill my belly: a t-bone steak, cheese, eggs and Welch's grape." It was a great night.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tigre - part 2
Seeing it's our last full day in Buenos Aires, I think it's time I utilize my editing privileges to this blog and add a few important details Jack seemed to conveniently forget about our day trip.
1. Argentina also has major Bieber fever: (also note the reference to yesterday's "Day of the Friends" holiday).
(For all of you Spanish majors out there, anyone know what "En que anda?" means? According to my online translation tool, the Biebs is questionably walking??)
2. Perhaps the single most important event of our trip was our purchase of food at YFP, the local gas station. Jack got a ham and cheese sandwich (which he claimed was great) and I finally got this package of double-decker Oreos that I've been eying up in grocery stores and small shops ever since we arrived. Readers be warned: Oreos in South America are shrouded in deceptive packaging and will never hold up to the same quality of deliciousness as in the U.S. The packaging seen in the picture below portrays three crisp cookies overflowing with frosting. The frosting, in actuality, was nearly nonexistent.
1. Argentina also has major Bieber fever: (also note the reference to yesterday's "Day of the Friends" holiday).
(For all of you Spanish majors out there, anyone know what "En que anda?" means? According to my online translation tool, the Biebs is questionably walking??)
2. Perhaps the single most important event of our trip was our purchase of food at YFP, the local gas station. Jack got a ham and cheese sandwich (which he claimed was great) and I finally got this package of double-decker Oreos that I've been eying up in grocery stores and small shops ever since we arrived. Readers be warned: Oreos in South America are shrouded in deceptive packaging and will never hold up to the same quality of deliciousness as in the U.S. The packaging seen in the picture below portrays three crisp cookies overflowing with frosting. The frosting, in actuality, was nearly nonexistent.
Tigre
Today we went to Tigre, which is a smaller city north of Buenos Aires on the delta of the Rio de la Plata. The region is geared toward tourism and includes many boat trips of the delta area, restaurants, an amusement park and other items. We took a cab from the city to the Muipa train station, just outside the city and then had a 30-minute train ride to Tigre. The train, which was full of families heading to Tigre for the day, snaked through a series of suburban neighborhoods, some of which were very high end.
Historically, the area was populated in part by Italian immigrants, and the Italian rowing club has existed for over 100 years:
There's also this old historic building:
Which is now a casino called "Trillenium"...
... where in just 10 minutes of slot playing, we turned 10 pesos into 33 pesos! As soon as we got up on the house, Jen insisted that we cash out right away, but kept one peso chip as a souvenir:
Then we went to the market down the street to spend our winnings. There were hundreds of vendors of various items, including many kitchen supplies and housewares, furniture, plants, baskets, fruits, blankets, clothes, toys, and all kinds of small trinkets and gifts. The market wrapped around for probably a total of 2 miles.
We stopped for a bite to eat at Arramas Snack Bar, which was right on the river.
Just like Buenos Aires, there were dogs everywhere. This one was sleeping in the street.
We then headed back and grabbed the train back to the city, walked quite a few blocks back toward the city (including past the Quinta de Olivos, which is the residence of the President of Argentina) and then grabbed a cab back to the hotel.
Historically, the area was populated in part by Italian immigrants, and the Italian rowing club has existed for over 100 years:
There's also this old historic building:
Which is now a casino called "Trillenium"...
... where in just 10 minutes of slot playing, we turned 10 pesos into 33 pesos! As soon as we got up on the house, Jen insisted that we cash out right away, but kept one peso chip as a souvenir:
Then we went to the market down the street to spend our winnings. There were hundreds of vendors of various items, including many kitchen supplies and housewares, furniture, plants, baskets, fruits, blankets, clothes, toys, and all kinds of small trinkets and gifts. The market wrapped around for probably a total of 2 miles.
We stopped for a bite to eat at Arramas Snack Bar, which was right on the river.
Just like Buenos Aires, there were dogs everywhere. This one was sleeping in the street.
We then headed back and grabbed the train back to the city, walked quite a few blocks back toward the city (including past the Quinta de Olivos, which is the residence of the President of Argentina) and then grabbed a cab back to the hotel.
El Trapiche
We had dinner at El Trapiche last night, a traditional parillas restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. I had the lomo de champignon, which was the greatest steak I've ever had (or will ever have) in my life. Jen ordered what we thought was a "first tier" portion of roast, but it appears to have been a "first tier" quality of meat. Luckily we also had pasta. (I would have shared some of my steak if it wasn't so good.) The craziest thing about all of these steakhouses is the price - we are eating large, high quality (except for Jen last night) portions of steak and having a bottle of wine for $50-$60 US (for the two of us). It's awesome. My arteries are especially loving it.
It is always very difficult to reserve a table at a steakhouse in Argentina because I think they only take one reservation per table per night (and meals take a really long time). But last night (a Tuesday) was even harder because it was Dia del Amigos. That's right, Argentina has a holiday called the "Day of Friends."
Today we had planned to go to Colonia Sacramento across the river in Uruguay (take a ferry), but we are changing it up per the recommendation of Gladys (one of the concierges) and heading to La Tigre river delta, which has some historical buildings and a large open air market.
It is always very difficult to reserve a table at a steakhouse in Argentina because I think they only take one reservation per table per night (and meals take a really long time). But last night (a Tuesday) was even harder because it was Dia del Amigos. That's right, Argentina has a holiday called the "Day of Friends."
Today we had planned to go to Colonia Sacramento across the river in Uruguay (take a ferry), but we are changing it up per the recommendation of Gladys (one of the concierges) and heading to La Tigre river delta, which has some historical buildings and a large open air market.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
THE SUN!
Today was a beautiful day in Buenos Aires. The sun was finally out, so we walked around all day. First we walked down to the botanical gardens, where we saw this group of dogs all tied up outside. (Large groups of dogs are a very common sight here, and there are dog droppings all over the sidewalk and streets, with no apparent laws or social customs to pick up after your dog).
The botanical gardens were quite beautiful, despite being filled with feral cats!
Then we headed right across the street to the zoo. The zoo is interesting in that the exhibits are designed to include remakes of old temples and ruins and several small species of herbivores are allowed to roam all over the zoo. Children are sold little buckets of animal food, which they are allowed to feed to most of the animals throughout the zoo, including this bison:
Like Siegfried and Roy, I am a huge fan of white tigers. This zoo had one, which was awesome:
Jen said this goat looked like Ray Charles because its eyes were kind of off-center and it swayed back and forth at this opening in the fence looking for food (similar to Ray Charles playing piano):
There was also a maned wolf at the zoo, a long-legged carnivore of the South American plains, which my dad has never seen. In your face, Jim O'Brien!
Then we wandered over to the Japanese garden:
Then we meandered about the city and passed by the Starbucks outside the city's main mall (Alto Palermo), which had an unbelievable line of teenagers:
We stopped in at Bonjour Pizza on the way back to the hotel for a late lunch and tried out Argentinian pizza. We had mozzarella with "jamon y morrones," which I knew was "ham and something," but Jen insisted that we get it. "Morrones" is huge slices of red peppers, so we removed those. The pizza was awesome, of course accompanied with a couple of Quilmes.
On the way back to the hotel to rest up before dinner, we stopped in to get a bottle of wine at the grocery store and saw these two bottles of liquor:
Now we're resting up and heading out to dinner at a steakhouse later on...
The botanical gardens were quite beautiful, despite being filled with feral cats!
Then we headed right across the street to the zoo. The zoo is interesting in that the exhibits are designed to include remakes of old temples and ruins and several small species of herbivores are allowed to roam all over the zoo. Children are sold little buckets of animal food, which they are allowed to feed to most of the animals throughout the zoo, including this bison:
Like Siegfried and Roy, I am a huge fan of white tigers. This zoo had one, which was awesome:
Jen said this goat looked like Ray Charles because its eyes were kind of off-center and it swayed back and forth at this opening in the fence looking for food (similar to Ray Charles playing piano):
There was also a maned wolf at the zoo, a long-legged carnivore of the South American plains, which my dad has never seen. In your face, Jim O'Brien!
Then we wandered over to the Japanese garden:
Then we meandered about the city and passed by the Starbucks outside the city's main mall (Alto Palermo), which had an unbelievable line of teenagers:
We stopped in at Bonjour Pizza on the way back to the hotel for a late lunch and tried out Argentinian pizza. We had mozzarella with "jamon y morrones," which I knew was "ham and something," but Jen insisted that we get it. "Morrones" is huge slices of red peppers, so we removed those. The pizza was awesome, of course accompanied with a couple of Quilmes.
On the way back to the hotel to rest up before dinner, we stopped in to get a bottle of wine at the grocery store and saw these two bottles of liquor:
Now we're resting up and heading out to dinner at a steakhouse later on...
Monday, July 19, 2010
Another great dinner...
Just came back from dinner at Mumbai (Indian food) and dessert at a little bar called Terra (a decent apple pie). We were the first people to arrive at Mumbai for dinner - around 9 pm! By the time we left at 11, it was getting very crowded. Every other restaurant we passed on the way to Mumbai was empty, and on the way back was filled beyond capacity. We can't believe how late people eat here - Jen is especially happy that such late scheduling is not the U.S. norm.
Earlier this evening we went to "Winery," a new wine and spirits store about five blocks from the hotel that has only been open for one month. It was extremely nice, and we purchased four bottles of wine, two large bottles of beer and a bag of Herr's barbeque potato chips (manufactured in Pennsylvania) for $48 (US). What a deal! (Jen insisted that I mention the chips).
Supposedly the weather is supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny tomorrow - a perfect day for the zoo? Stay tuned...
Earlier this evening we went to "Winery," a new wine and spirits store about five blocks from the hotel that has only been open for one month. It was extremely nice, and we purchased four bottles of wine, two large bottles of beer and a bag of Herr's barbeque potato chips (manufactured in Pennsylvania) for $48 (US). What a deal! (Jen insisted that I mention the chips).
Supposedly the weather is supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny tomorrow - a perfect day for the zoo? Stay tuned...
Haircut, Hermann's and History (Natural)
Another rainy day in Buenos Aires. After the Embassy, we grabbed breakfast at the hotel and then went out to wander around, with no real plans. Seeing as I hadn't had my hair cut in the past 87 days, we decided to go to this little barbershop/salon around the corner and get an Argentinian haircut. The dude was really nice and I actually got a good haircut for about $13 (US), including tip. Here's the before and after:
Then we just wandered around the city. Jen thought it would be fun to go into a grocery store and see all of the things that are unlike a U.S. grocery store, like Bimbo bread.
Then we happened upon this awesome old-school restaurant named Hermann's, which was a great place to warm up and dry off.
The wait staff was entirely composed of little old men, like these two:
We then took a cab down to the Natural History Museum. Like most people, I'm a huge fan of prehistoric mammals, and this museum's collection did not disappoint; however, the museum as a whole was rather small and unimpressive. It also appeared to have no heating system. Luckily, there were a few dozen dirty cats out front, being fed by a couple of bag ladies. Maybe they were fattening them up for a forthcoming exhibit.
Not really sure what the plans are for tonight...
(Professor Laskey hot)
(Colin Farrel hot)
Then we just wandered around the city. Jen thought it would be fun to go into a grocery store and see all of the things that are unlike a U.S. grocery store, like Bimbo bread.
Then we happened upon this awesome old-school restaurant named Hermann's, which was a great place to warm up and dry off.
The wait staff was entirely composed of little old men, like these two:
We then took a cab down to the Natural History Museum. Like most people, I'm a huge fan of prehistoric mammals, and this museum's collection did not disappoint; however, the museum as a whole was rather small and unimpressive. It also appeared to have no heating system. Luckily, there were a few dozen dirty cats out front, being fed by a couple of bag ladies. Maybe they were fattening them up for a forthcoming exhibit.
Not really sure what the plans are for tonight...
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