This award goes to a small restaurant in Buenos Aires by the name of, "La Cupertina". The atmosphere feels like being in an old kitchen. Initially we were not sure if we were in the right place since the door was locked and there did not appear to be any customers in the restaurant. Turns out you have to be "buzzed" in and we barely beat the lunchtime rush as customers came pouring in shortly after we arrived.
Now I have had empanadas before, but La Cupertina's are the best I have ever had. The standard beef empanada is offered and tastes great, however the two types embedded in my eternal empanada loving soul are the corn and the ham & cheese. The corn one is my favorite and just had this warm sweet corn taste to it, have never tasted anything like it. The ham & cheese was also very good and had the added twist of having a little bit of sugar sprinkled on top. Man, I am making myself hungry!
All I have to look forward to now are Julia's Empanadas in DC, which are larger and pretty good but not on the same level.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
- Delicioso!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
The Estancia
Saturday we had a day trip to an Argentine Country House (estancia). Activities were set to include some country barbecue, a castle visit, a dancing demo, and horseback riding. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it rained fairly heavily, so the horseback riding which I was looking forward to the most did not happen. However, here are some photos of the food as it was being cooked and some of the country dancing.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
Gaucho/Gaucha
Llueve
Caballo
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
Gaucho/Gaucha
Llueve
Caballo
Re-living the Weekend: Birth of 'The Jogging Man'
The birth of 'The Jogging Man' dance occurred around 1:15 AM 12/20/2009... for those that were there enough said. Imagine the running man dance minus the legs. Too funny.
Re-living the weekend: What are they saying?
As we were finishing up at the restaurant in Palermo several of the staff approached us as were were standing next to the table and asked Andrea something incomprehensible to us (in Spanish of couse). Were we short on the tab? Were they trying to sell us more food? Were we in the way? What did they want!
Andrew responded with 'despasio' (slower) to try and get them to speak slower... no dice. I walk up and a gentleman turns to me and starts speaking Spanish faster than Humberto, so of course I could not understand and responded with 'No se' (I don't know). Andrea throws up her hands to the sky and in a near yell says 'Nosotros vamos!' (We are going!) and suddenly the guys smile and happily begin cleaning off the table. Apparently they just wanted the table to seat another group.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
- despacio
- Donde esta el bano?
- nosotros vamos
- no entiendo (This is what I should have said)
Andrew responded with 'despasio' (slower) to try and get them to speak slower... no dice. I walk up and a gentleman turns to me and starts speaking Spanish faster than Humberto, so of course I could not understand and responded with 'No se' (I don't know). Andrea throws up her hands to the sky and in a near yell says 'Nosotros vamos!' (We are going!) and suddenly the guys smile and happily begin cleaning off the table. Apparently they just wanted the table to seat another group.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
- despacio
- Donde esta el bano?
- nosotros vamos
- no entiendo (This is what I should have said)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
A night out in Palermo Hollywood
The scene here is quite a bit different then you might be used to. For one thing, dinner usually does not happen until 10pm and some clubs/bars do not open until 2am and business keeps going on into the morning.
Last night we grabbed dinner around 10:30pm at a place in the Palermo neighborhood that somewhat resembles DC's Adam's Morgan area. Not necessarily in layout, but in the feel of the area and the clientele at the establishments.
The next stop was this great spot called Alcornoque resto & lounge bar where we had our own tables and some nice lounge/sofa style seats. A group of around eight of us had a few rounds of cervasas and assorted other mixed drinks to pass the time until the club opened. The bill came out to $400 pesos (a little over $100 US). Needless to say this was a steal. The service was also great, which is not always the case in ARG relative to what we are accustomed to stateside, which is both a plus and a minus (more on this in another post).
Around 2:30am we walked down the street to a night club where we had drinks, talked, and danced till around 5:30am and were welcomed by the daylight. Certainly a different experience, but very enjoyable.
Last night we grabbed dinner around 10:30pm at a place in the Palermo neighborhood that somewhat resembles DC's Adam's Morgan area. Not necessarily in layout, but in the feel of the area and the clientele at the establishments.
The next stop was this great spot called Alcornoque resto & lounge bar where we had our own tables and some nice lounge/sofa style seats. A group of around eight of us had a few rounds of cervasas and assorted other mixed drinks to pass the time until the club opened. The bill came out to $400 pesos (a little over $100 US). Needless to say this was a steal. The service was also great, which is not always the case in ARG relative to what we are accustomed to stateside, which is both a plus and a minus (more on this in another post).
Around 2:30am we walked down the street to a night club where we had drinks, talked, and danced till around 5:30am and were welcomed by the daylight. Certainly a different experience, but very enjoyable.
Thank you (Gracias)
I asked my classmate Humberto, a native Spanish speaker, why I say thank you more then he does. According to him I thank people too much because I do not know what I am talking about. The example he gave is:
Somebody: Hola!
Me: Gracias!
Somebody: Como te llama?
Me: Gracias!
Funny stuff.
Somebody: Hola!
Me: Gracias!
Somebody: Como te llama?
Me: Gracias!
Funny stuff.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Hablo espanol mal (I speak bad Spanish)
Noble as my efforts are I apparently have some recurring bad habits when it comes to speaking Spanish. I have to thank my classmate, friend, and unofficial tutor for making fun of me every chance he gets. My best guess is the abuse I am receiving is his way of getting back at all the people who ever made fun of him while he was learning English. I am definitely taking one for the team... a big one (thank me later America).
What goes wrong? Here is a short list:
1) First of all I apparently speak like a woman. Not the tone of my voice, just the fact that I always seem to use the feminine form of a nouns/adjectives when referring to myself (La).
2) Not able to keep up with a conversation (by the time the conversation is over I have just realized what the topic was)
3) Try to guess the Spanish version of a word by adding an 'o' or 'a' to the end of an English word
4) Use my hands a lot when I speak (makes me look more Italian)
What goes wrong? Here is a short list:
1) First of all I apparently speak like a woman. Not the tone of my voice, just the fact that I always seem to use the feminine form of a nouns/adjectives when referring to myself (La).
2) Not able to keep up with a conversation (by the time the conversation is over I have just realized what the topic was)
3) Try to guess the Spanish version of a word by adding an 'o' or 'a' to the end of an English word
4) Use my hands a lot when I speak (makes me look more Italian)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tango
One of the treats for this trip was learning a few Tango steps and going to a show. After learning the 8 basic steps to Tango while sipping champagne we had the honor of watching a great Tango show. The show was held in a fairly small venue and we were packed in there pretty tight. It made the show more enjoyable since we were so close to all the acts. For much better coverage then I can provide head over to the Kogod in Argentina blog and see the "Tango, Steak and More" post.
Bodega Norton
This was a great trip to the one of the major Argentine wine companies. The tour included plenty of wine tasting, a presentation on the companies history, a lesson on wine tasting, and a cool set of 'carnival' style games to wine prizes (you guessed it, free bottles of wine)!
Here is a picture next to the fireplace at the entrance.
Some of the group taking advantage of the lounge area.
Our wine expert giving Andrew some one-on-one advice on the art of wine tasting.
One of the carnival style games was a ring toss over wine bottles. Successfully getting 3 of 5 rings around any of the bottles earned you a free bottle of wine from Bodega Norton
Here is a picture next to the fireplace at the entrance.
The Norton Malbec and Quorum wines used for our wine tasting.
Tuesday -> Steak and Touring
Let's pretend I did not go X days without posting something. It's been busy. Tuesday night was an incredible dinner at La Cabrera in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires . I had an amazing Argentine steak (Quirrosqutio?) and some of my classmates ordered the Lomito con pimienta, a great looking sirloin steak flavored with pepper (pictures pending). After having a taste I may have to go back for more before we leave.
The day also included touring the city and included a visit to Eva Peron's grave site.
We tried to go to Plaza de Mayo, a famous square in Buenos Aires known to host frequent protests...
Unfortunately they were protesting while we were there, so we were not allowed off the bus. Okay, I am about 5 posts behind so I will try to get caught up throughout the day.
Things to come... More grammatically sketchy Espanol, the tango show, interesting cuisine, pictures!
The day also included touring the city and included a visit to Eva Peron's grave site.
We tried to go to Plaza de Mayo, a famous square in Buenos Aires known to host frequent protests...
Unfortunately they were protesting while we were there, so we were not allowed off the bus. Okay, I am about 5 posts behind so I will try to get caught up throughout the day.
Things to come... More grammatically sketchy Espanol, the tango show, interesting cuisine, pictures!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The First Full Day, Let's Go for a Walk
Today's activities included a few hours of walking going starting from Microcentro and going through Recoleta and Palermo neighborhoods. The initial goal was to visit the planetarium (Planetario Galileo Galilei) while also stopping to see take advantage of the sights and photo opportunities along the way. The sights along the way included Plaza Ruben Dario (dedicated to the famous Nicaraguan poet), the Recoleta Cemetery. I included some pictures from the cemetery. You will notice I did not actually enter the cemetary... not my thing.
Long story short, the planetarium was closed when we arrived, but at least we had a chance to see the city and take some pictures. I also had my first experience with Carrefour for lunch (it's like wal-mart, but cooler).
Now in 70+ degree weather you would expect to see more people in shorts, but as I walked around in my cargo shorts I must have truly stood out as being a tourist as almost nobody, except other visitors, seemed to have shorts on. Seemed like everybody was wearing a jeans (pantalones). About an hour into walking I realized why, since every mosquito on the east side of Buenos Aires took a bite out of me.
To cap off the night we enjoyed a nice little dinner at a local cafe. The lifestyle here is so much different as you are never rushed to eat and go. In fact, you have to ask for the check or they will just let you sit and chat with friends all day. There is no rush!!! If I tried to do the same thing in the US the waiter would probably catch an attitude... hmm I could get used to this.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
- mosquitoes
- pantalones
- Cafe no leche.
Be sure to check out the 'official' AU blog for this trip at http://www.kogodinargentina.blogspot.com/
Adios!
Long story short, the planetarium was closed when we arrived, but at least we had a chance to see the city and take some pictures. I also had my first experience with Carrefour for lunch (it's like wal-mart, but cooler).
Now in 70+ degree weather you would expect to see more people in shorts, but as I walked around in my cargo shorts I must have truly stood out as being a tourist as almost nobody, except other visitors, seemed to have shorts on. Seemed like everybody was wearing a jeans (pantalones). About an hour into walking I realized why, since every mosquito on the east side of Buenos Aires took a bite out of me.
To cap off the night we enjoyed a nice little dinner at a local cafe. The lifestyle here is so much different as you are never rushed to eat and go. In fact, you have to ask for the check or they will just let you sit and chat with friends all day. There is no rush!!! If I tried to do the same thing in the US the waiter would probably catch an attitude... hmm I could get used to this.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
- mosquitoes
- pantalones
- Cafe no leche.
Be sure to check out the 'official' AU blog for this trip at http://www.kogodinargentina.blogspot.com/
Adios!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Welcome to Buenos Aires!
After 14-16 hours I finally arrived in Buenos Aires. It is summertime here and the weather is much warmer then DC. Along the way I met a friendly Argentine lady traveling with her daughter who filled me in on some places to go and foods to try during my stay. Let's see if it pays off!
Day one consisted of a lot of walking through the 'Microcentro' part of the city, which is the business district. Also took a stroll down Florida Ave., a place with a lot of shops clearly geared towards tourists. The American music and pricey merchandise are sure give-aways. The AM treat was a Toastado sandwich, an Argentinian version of grilled ham and cheese that is amazing.
Most of the day was spent napping and getting adjusted to the new environment. The next post will be more enjoyable, I promise.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
- Cambiar dolares para pesos?
- Gracias!
Day one consisted of a lot of walking through the 'Microcentro' part of the city, which is the business district. Also took a stroll down Florida Ave., a place with a lot of shops clearly geared towards tourists. The American music and pricey merchandise are sure give-aways. The AM treat was a Toastado sandwich, an Argentinian version of grilled ham and cheese that is amazing.
Most of the day was spent napping and getting adjusted to the new environment. The next post will be more enjoyable, I promise.
Word/Phrases of the day (Disclaimer: I do not claim that these are grammatically correct, but at least they were understood):
- Cambiar dolares para pesos?
- Gracias!
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