micheleandtom.com

Apologies for my posting gap — we have been traveling in locales sin Internet.

Yes, that means we have taken to the road again, a change for us because we haven’t done any significant roaming since our summer sojourn in Dec – Feb of 2008/2009.

This last Sunday evening, everything started on a fabulous note as we trekked out to Libertador to catch a cab to Retiro — Zoe spotted a Kangoo cab, which meant we could all fit in one car! (Four people plus luggage is a lot for your standard taxi to absorb.)

Upon our arrival at the Terminal de Omnibus, memories of being on the bus during the Christmas season came rushing back to us. At that time, as you can imagine, the terminal was a zoo. In contrast, it felt deserted this last Sunday. Pictured here is the abandoned first class lounge; for awhile, we were the only people there.

The next item to really catch our attention was the length of the trip — nine hours of overnight travel. After experiencing much longer stretches during our previous stint of vagabonding, the nine hour haul seemed like a short jaunt.

Our last item of note was the usual disappointment with “breakfast:” salt-free (meaning flavorless) crackers, cookies, and some sort of cereal bar flavored with artificial chemi-peach.

Despite our lack of morning nutrition, we made it, no worse for the wear, to Mercedes in the province of Corrientes by about 7:00 am Monday morning, an hour behind schedule. There, we were met by Ariel, who was to take us via 4 x 4 to our posada (lodge) outside of Carlos Pelligrini, where adventure awaited us in the Esteros del Iberá (marshes of the shining waters).

The ride to the lodge was actually an expedition in itself. Our driver seemed to believe we were in a Dakar rally because he drove about 110 kilometers per hour over the deep grooves and gigantic bumps that are worn into the orange ribbons of clay. I sat in between the two girls in the back of an extended cab Toyota truck while they tried to nap on me despite the thrill ride we were taking, during which we seemed to catch air every few minutes. I admired their persistence.

To add to the adventure, Zoe was sick and had a fever and Zelda was combating her usual motion sickness.

Never a dull moment!

I was reminded at Zelda’s school production celebrating Cristobal Colón‘s discovery of the Americas that we folks from the U.S. are very impatient and direct.

We don’t have long flowery hellos and goodbyes. Instead of taking the time for a nice chat over coffee at a cafe, we choose to order huge caffeinated drinks to go so that we can inhale them in our car while rushing somewhere. And, our national anthem launches into the singing immediately without prelude or conclusion.

Not so the Argentinian anthem, which begins with what seems to be its own symphonic movement prior to anyone actually lending voice. Every time I find myself lulled into self reflection by the Argentine national song’s instrumental introduction, I am subsequently jarred out of my reverie when the vocal portion begins.

We weren’t sure what to expect when we went to Zelda’s celebration of Chris Colon, which featured 1st and 2nd graders as well as some 2 & 3 year old jardín children. To say we were dazzled is an understatement. The older kids (including Zoe) painted the backdrop in art class. All of the costumes and props were great. The wee thespians spoke clearly and no one forgot their lines.

This theater piece had it all: drama, narrators, musical numbers, and charming toddlers. Below are some pictures that show: 1) Christopher contemplating travel; 2) The monarchy of Spain with the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting (Zelda’s part) discussing funding for an expedition; 3) The sailors crossing the Atlantic; 4) The impossibly cute Pre-K kids in a musical sailor number; 5) The Indians and the Europeans meeting; and 6) A musical flag extravaganza honoring all of the countries in the Americas.

I have to say, they take their drama seriously here, and it shows. This exceeded any similar in-school productions we attended at the elementary level in the US. (I confess, I am one of those parents that enjoys seeing my own children perform, but generally, I find these events to be rather boring. So for me, this was certainly a pleasant surprise.) Bravo!

A while back, we were desperately searching for an English-language film at the cinema that was suitable for the whole family. At the time, there were only adult options in English available and they had a minimum rating of PG-13 back in the States. (Here in Buenos Aires, most foreign fare aimed at the junior set is dubbed, but adult films are subtitled.) Since we didn’t know anything about the movies in question, we began searching online for information about content for the Zs, who are not horribly media savvy.

As we were doing our pelicula fact finding, Tom stumbled upon the site Kids in Mind.

Wow — we had no idea that there were people who sat down and watched a movie and literally cataloged every female hard nipple covered by a shirt, every mention of the Lord’s name in vain (check out the profanity glossary), substance abuse references, and of course, moments of actual nudity and graphic violence.

Tom and I quickly abandoned our original reason for being on the site and randomly began entering in recent summer films. What was our favorite discovery? Well, if you should happen to take a family outing to the cinema for a viewing of “The Hangover”, you might want to take advantage of their list of suggested “discussion topics“:

Bachelor parties, marriage, dating, relationships, trust, love, counting cards, spousal abuse, lying, Ruffelin, the Holocaust, Holocaust survivors, sexually transmitted diseases, recklessness, drug dealing, gambling.

In the end, their unique reviews were somewhat useful, but good Lord, I really did feel like a prude!

Thanks once again to Candace and Gil, without whom we would do nothing interesting. Today, it was a trek outside of Capital Federal (the name for the inner barrios of Buenos Aires) so that we could attend some sort of joint British/American outdoor fair at the posh Hurlinghame Club.

The club itself is a bit of a throwback to colonial times, it has an 18-hole golf course, polo fields and stables, tennis courts, cricket, swimming, blah blah blah. It is quite a huge piece of property and was indeed a nice setting for a beautiful spring day. I learned today that the club is supposed to be where polo was first introduced to Argentina.

There were food booths with the standard parilla fare, sweetened popcorn, games for the kids, lots of grass to play around on, loads of vendors (we bought a llama wool blanket to bring home), a marching bagpipe and percussion band as well as Scottish Highland dancers. (A big thank you to Gilson Pereira for remembering to bring his camera and for taking the photo here!)

On a side note, as we trekked back to the R. Dario stop, we saw the train fly by before we made it to the platform — it was actually a few minutes early. I didn’t know that was possible with a train system!

Concluding our three-part picantefest was a delicious and creamy bowl of chicken tikka masala, pictured here, served over basmati rice.

In terms of flavorings, such as ground coriander and cardamom, we visited El Viejo Molino — a spice, dried fruit, and international condiment store located on Soldado de la Independencia 1193. For the premixed garam masala blend and the chile peppers, we did have to go to Barrio Chino. The rest was readily available in our neighborhood: chicken breasts, whole milk yogurt, garlic, ginger, onions, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, cream, basmati rice, and cilantro.

I must say that we rocked the chicken tikka, although we did have a challenge with the broiler. We first set it to broil and it wasn’t quite hot enough, so then we set it to broil with convection and it was smokin’…I mean that literally. It was a bit of a balancing act, especially with chicken breasts, which go from perfect to way-overcooked in about a minute. We nailed it though!

(Small victories, celebrated large — that’s what we’re all about. We’ll be high-fiving over that chicken for weeks.)

Electrical systems are often overloaded and somewhat finicky here in Buenos Aires, as evidenced by our recent candle-lit birthday party for Zelda!

We had another such incident today. While dining at a new Panadería/Confitería, I went upstairs to use the restroom. Unfortunately, said baño was not stocked with paper towels for the drying of the manos. Luckily (or so I thought at the time), there was an air drying unit, which was unplugged. Being the enterprising person that I am, I restored its connection to mother electricity and…well, let’s just say it was a bad idea.

The bathroom light went out, the dryer didn’t work, and I had to fumble around in the pitch black with wet hands to get out of there. When I repaired back downstairs, rejoining my darling husband, he jokingly asked, “Hey, it just went dark down here. Did you make the lights go out?” I winced and said, “Yah, I think I did.” He didn’t believe me at first, unable to come up with a connection between plumbing and electricity!

Needless to say, I felt horrible for blacking out the illumination in the main dining area! I suppose they still have a few “opening day” type kinks to mitigate at La Argentina.

Pictured here was the next dish we made in honor of international spicy cuisine — hot and sour soup. Yummy. As I write about it on this blustery, cold Sunday, I still feel the residual warmth that we received from this Asian comfort food.

Difficult-to-find ingredients, which we were able to locate in Barrio Chino, included: bamboo shoots, tofu (firm), chile oil, Chinese black vinegar, and sesame oil. When we were making this dish, we couldn’t find fresh shiitake mushrooms; sadly, that meant that we had to substitute white button ‘shrooms, which caused a loss of richness to the soup, I am sure.

To the right, you can see Tom drizzling beaten egg into the hot liquid, the last cooking step just before serving. (He was rather unamused about my request that he drizzle backhanded so he wouldn’t block the edibles for my picture! Anything for the blog, right?)

The recipe also called for pork chops, which we obtained from the Avicar, our favorite chain of butchers.

As a complete aside, we’ve always been quite happy with the pork chops from the Avicar. Our standby American meal here in Buenos Aires is pan seared pork chops, fresh homemade applesauce using the Granny Smith variety (at least they have a little flavor), and a real Caesar salad (that means no mayonnaise in the dressing).

The Argentine palate is known for being somewhat bland when it comes to spices…really, their cuisine shies away from any sort of bold flavor. This has led to us experiencing unnaturally high cravings for ethnic food after being in BA nigh on a year.

(In all fairness to Baires, there are definitely good ethnic restaurants in the city, but because all of these yummy dining options don’t serve the evening repast until quite late, they are not a realistic choice for us as a family if we want the kids to stay on schedule and get enough sleep…and we do, otherwise, Tom and I might go crazy!)

As a result of our being shut out of the evening meal scene (for the most part), we have dedicated this week’s cooking to our picante pining!

Our first dish was a Thai-inspired chicken soup, which is pictured above with the accompanying condiment tray. Unusual ingredients included lemongrass, fish sauce, coconut milk, and Thai red curry paste. We could find all of the above in Barrio Chino (Chinatown), with the exception of the Thai red curry paste, which we had to produce ourselves and required us to locate another hard-to-find ingredient, hot red peppers.

(Finding peppers of any variety that are truly hot is a challenge.)

While we were proud of making our own red curry paste, we did have a lot leftover, so we ended up shmooshing it into an ice cube tray to freeze for later use! (Pictured above.) Now, Tom and I are famous for putting things in the freezer for “later use” and having to throw them out when we move, like the giant leg of lamb bone we were storing with the express intent of boiling into a rich soup stock. Unfortunately, we had to toss it when we moved out of our house in Seattle. Come to think of it, our red curry paste cubes are currently nestled in next to the herbed butter in the freezer, yet another item we have not reused. *Sigh*

This last photo is Tom prepping the chicken with his fresh ingredients all perfectly mis en place on the counter.

This is a heartfelt ode to vinegar!

If I had to reduce my cleaning cabinet down to one substance, it would be vinegar. It cleanses like a charm, isn’t poisonous, and has medical benefits as well!

Just in the last week, I used it to remove smeary kid fingerprints from the underside of our dining room table, which is etched glass (horrible design) and to wash some shirts to remove odors.

On the medicinal front, it cured my toe fungus!

About 3 months before I I had knee surgery last year, I somehow managed to bruise my right big toe, which led to my nail bed being susceptible to fungus, which I figured I picked up at the pool. *sigh* After a zillion hours of online research and a visit to the podiatrist, I was told that none of the home remedies would get rid of said fungus. Instead, the doctor told me that the drug Lamisil was the answer.

(Just so you know, Lamisil is evil incarnate. After 4 days, I had to stop because it gave me a funny taste in my mouth, I literally couldn’t sleep, and my joints hurt, blah blah blah. Death in a pill.)

Stopping the drug brought me back to square one, at which time I recalled the podiatrist saying, “…maybe some of the home remedies would work, but they’ll take 6 months to a year, and I don’t think people really stick with them.” Right then and there, I swore I would be the one to see it through. I filed down the surface of my entire infiltrated nail so it was very thin and then I taped a white vinegar-soaked cotton ball to my big toe for 20 minutes every morning and every night for over a year. (This digit was dubbed “cider toe.”)

While I missed the occasional day, I really rocked my schedule, for the most part. Now, this was not easy during all of the traveling we did last Dec/Jan/Feb. For instance, while we were in Nono, Argentina in the middle of nowhere at an estancia, there was nary a place to buy more vinegar when I ran out. Ian, dear brother that he is, went to the kitchen and asked for a container of vinegar to take back to my room (he’s still mad about having to do it). Anything for the cider toe!

I am happy to report that my home remedy and stubbornness worked — I stopped the cider toe regimen about 14 months after starting, and my nail looks perfect!

All Hail Vinegar.

Our second party this last Friday was Zelda and Sofia’s joint celebration of birth, commemorated with the Hello Kitty and Pucca cakes that are pictured here.

Zelda’s portion of Party Friday began with a race across town from the wedding reception to a panadería to pick up the crustless (and tasteless, truth be told) miga sandwiches and the masa seca (shortbread cookies with chocolate, dulce de leche and fruit fillings). In the same cab, we left the bakery and drove toward the apartment, where the Zs and I disembarked. Tom continued on from there to the party room, where he dropped off the food and ran to the nearest Chino to get ten, 2 liter bottles of various sodas.

Meanwhile, at the apartment, I was having the girls change (Zelda into her Chinese dress, and Zoe into her more casual clothes), gathering together gift bags, gifts, receipts, money to pay for the festivities, and extras in case I needed to build more gift bags while I was at the party. We had to solve the crisis of Zelda’s underwear showing through her tights as the slits on the side of the dress ran a little high…apparently they don’t make them with sitting “criss cross apple sauce” in mind!

So, with a zillion tons of crap, the Zs and I tromped downstairs and headed for the salon de fiestas in a taxi during rush hour.

The salon was divided into two major rooms — one ostensibly for adults, and one for kids, the latter being the location for the birthday emcees, who had set up with their audio/visual equipment by the time I had arrived.

You can see the kids’ area in the first photo below, when it was still neat and the children were snorfing snacks while waiting for things to get going. By the time all of the munchkins arrived, it was a booming room with a master of ceremonies, multimedia quizzes, and dancing — the birthday entertainment industry is big business here and these guys occupy the little ones for about 2 1/2 hours.

You can see how rapt some of the attendees were in the 2nd photo below. The third shot captures Zelda’s momentary pause to pop something in her mouth!

The second row of images below are some of the party shots the birthday entertainers provided from the event. Both Zelda and Sofia were delighted with these cheesy visuals!

Lest you think everything went well, we did have a few mishaps. Something blew the circuit breaker and there was no lighting for much of the party (making photography difficult). Strangely (thank God, really), there was still enough juice to power the audio/visual though. The other monkey wrench was a student still waiting for their parents thirty minutes after the scheduled end of the party, and we had no way to reach said parents. It all ended happily; however, the mother arrived after some last minute gift shopping, and picked up her daughter!

And lastly, I have to make a small mention about our gift bags. I must say, they were awesome! We went to Chinatown and bought a bunch of crap. Why is that so awesome? Because we purchased different crap than the usual party bag goodies that everyone buys from the usual stores.

Of course, I couldn’t stop myself from negotiating. I always asked the Chinese vendors for a discount since we were buying 16 items at a whack. I figured they let me get away with it because I was speaking my rather rusty Mandarin. At one point, after a small purchase, Tom asked me, “you know you were negotiating over .60 cents there honey?”

I didn’t really get his question!