Aprovecha el Momento

Vista from my apartment in BsAs

In the life I live back in the states, I find it all too easy to stick to the usual routine. No need to go check out this museum, buy tickets to that concert or explore a new section of the city. They (or something like them) will all be available to me the next day, next month or even next year. For most of us, there's no rush to get to doing and seeing the things we say we should because we don't see any sort of expiration date on our time here.

I was happily reminded of this just the other day. By pure coincidence, an old friend of mine is living a temporary life in Buenos Aires as well. Her time here is a bit longer than the five short months I am scheduled for...she is planning to spend three to five years working for her Seattle-based employer here in BsAs. She and her partner have been here six months already. After a brief exchange of stories, what we learned is that I have seen and done more in the city in one and a half months than they have in six months. At first I couldn't believe it, but really it's all about perspective. Every day I spend here, I see another grain of sand slip through the hour glass and I am desperately trying to stop them by living as big of a life as possible.

Gotan Project Concert
GoTan = TanGo

Last Thursday, I went to a concert with a couple of friends from the office. The concert was by the Gotan Project, a group based out of Paris, France, known for their Tango Electronica style of music. Tango is the national dance here in Argentina, so you can understand why a group from Europe is so beloved here. I really didn't know much about them, nor had I heard more than one of their songs before the concert, but I'm so glad I went. It was a great evening at Teatro Gran Rex followed by a delicious parilla - including the best chimichurri I have had yet in BsAs! Gracias a Parilla Peña!

Over the weekend, there were two great events going on at La Rural, a large exposition center in the Palermo neighborhood. On Friday night, a group of us attended Vinos y Bodegas, an expo of wines to sample from all over Argentina. Anyone who knows me well, or even knows me at all, knows this is practically a national holiday for me. For $100 ARS (about $25 USD), you are given a glass and the opportunity to taste the fruits of labor from over 100 different wineries participating in this event. QUE BUENO!! There were also some fabulous olive oils and balsamic vinegars to try when you needed a little break from the wine and a little bread to soak it up. My favorite wine of the night was the Malma Pinot Noir from Neuquen. I think I definitely lingered for a while at their booth...

On Sunday, I went to the other big event at La Rural that weekend: Caminos y Sabores. There were over 400 exhibitors, including producers from all over Argentina of food (salami and other meats, cheeses, dulce de leche, jams, honey, yerba mate, olive oils, liquors, beer, wine), textiles, jewelry and other artisan crafts. It was such fun moving from booth to booth to sample all they had to offer. I even ate a piece of wood! It was an interesting afternoon to say the least. 

In my month and a half in Buenos Aires, I have already done and experienced so many things. I can't wait to continue the daily adventure and share a little bit of it with you. If I take only one thing back with me when I return to the states, I hope it is the lesson of  "aprovecha el momento" (basically, carpe diem) because "la vida es demasiado corta" (life is too short). Time will run out in some way and at some point for all of us. I hope to make the most of mine every day.

Chau,

M

El Almuerzo

Quite a bit of the food in Buenos Aires is actually fairly similar to what we eat back home…beef (though I will elaborate on this in a future post), french fries (papas fritas), pizza and pasta. 

For lunch (el almuerzo), common fare might include a tarta or a few empanadas. While most of you have probably had empanadas before, they’re not exactly something we eat regularly in the EEUU (Estados Unidos=United States). Empanadas are basically filled pockets of dough, and they are the perfect lunch, dinner or snack to get you through to the next meal. From what I’ve seen, here in Buenos Aires they are most commonly al horno (baked) rather than frito (fried). The options seem practically endless, but the most common fillings are: carne (meat), carne picante (spicy meat), humita (corn), queso y cebolla (cheese and onion), verdura (vegetable), jamón y queso (ham and cheese) y pollo (chicken). Of course,  there are also dulce (sweet) empanadas, but that´s for another day. Besides the versatility and sheer deliciousness of these savory little pockets, I also love the unique shape used to denote what is inside. 

Key to Empanada Shapes, courtesy Mi Matute in Recoleta

How brilliant! I am still trying to figure out if shapes are consistent across bakers or not…more sampling to do, I guess.

Tarta de Calabaza y Mozzarella

A little after 14:00 (that's 2 pm to you), I ventured out onto the streets in search of sustenance. Remember, everything happens later here. A noon lunch meeting would be unheard of. Today I decided to have a tarta (tart, pie) for lunch. I've mostly seen savory tartas here, but apparently they do come sweet as well. There are many flavors of these as well: jamón y queso (seems jamón y queso is an option no matter what you are ordering), zapallito (a round zucchini that seems overly abundant here), pastel de pollo (chicken) and calabaza y mozzarella (pumpkin and mozzarella). Sometimes they have only a bottom crust and other times there is top crust as well. A slice of tarta is the perfect lunch, especially when accompanied by a chopped tomato from the local verdulería (fruit and vegetable shop).

Buen provecho!

Feliz Cumple!

Most of my MB BsAs Team! Nati is in lower right corner.

Birthdays in Buenos Aires remind me a bit of being back in elementary school...in a good way. All of your classmates (coworkers) make a really big deal over it and you are responsible for bringing in a treat to share with them. Instead of the Duncan Hines cupcakes our moms made in grade school, it's usually some of the delicious facturas (pastries) here in BsAs. So that a gift can be given to the birthday girl or boy, they solicit donations of $12 ARS (about $3 USD) from everyone in the office. To my surprise, the gift seems almost always to be an article or two of clothing.

Today was Nati's cumple (short for cumpleaños, meaning birthday). Nati and I are on the same account team down here and sit right across from each other. I was amazed today every time someone stopped by to see her - to kiss her on the cheek, ask her about her weekend and wish her a feliz cumple. At least 30 different people must have visited her today to carry out this ritual. And on their way back to their desk, they grabbed one of the pastries that Nati brought in to help celebrate.

El Desayuno