Buenos Aires - food!

Hello lovely blockmates!

I hope you are all having wonderful summers. I've been in Buenos Aires for two weeks, and it's really great. There are so many aspects of my time here that I want to tell you about...so I think I'll just start with the most delicious of topics :) In the future I will write about more serious themes such as history, politics, and my innermost secrets. Except for the innermost secrets part, because this blog is public so that would be awkward.

Anyway, I was originally nervous to come here as a vegetarian, because Argentina is known for its beef/steak (parrilla), and peanut butter is rare (though I have obtained a jar, after a long and arduous search!). But I need not have feared! Croissants (medialunas, or half-moons - the European influence is strong), ice cream/gelato, quiche (torta), empanadas, and pizza (there is a large Italian population) are especially popular and quite tasty. Rarely does a day go by in which I don't eat something with Dulce de Leche: cakes with dulce de leche in the middle, dulce-de-leche flavored ice cream, dulce-de-leche on fruit, etc. My host mom (I live with a really nice host family, 2 parents and 2 kids) bakes professionally, so needless to say her home cooking is quite good as well. I tried a new fruit, a "quince," in cooked-inside-pastry-form. A lot of food is just sold on the streets, especially at fairs - and there are a ton of fairs here, with outdoor music performances and really beautiful art.

I must say, however, I don't know what vegans would do here...

The hardest part of living in Buenos Aires is getting accustomed to the meal schedule - Argentines usually eat dinner around 9:15 or 9:30, whereas I often went to Annenberg around five...

There are also different table manners. My family eats fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, etc. - no summer fruit because it's winter here) with a fork and knife, and I am starting to learn how to do so, which makes me feel quite elegant. Val (and everyone else) - when we set up our fancy fruit spa, our fruit must be consumed in the proper manner; I will demonstrate how to do so when I return. At the same time, though, people are not expected to wait until everyone has food on their plate to start eating, nor are napkins necessarily placed on laps.

Also, Becky and I found kosher food! (Nick, you might appreciate this.) We went to the Jewish part of the city and looked at books that were written in Spanish and Hebrew. Then we went to a restaurant and ate hummus (and Becky ate chicken, I think). It was great.

There is a Chinatown in Buenos Aires, and I have yet to go, but I'm looking forward to it! Buenos Aires is really fascinating in that, like a lot of American cities, there are a bunch of immigrant groups, so lots of cultural heterogeneity to explore :)

Can we Skype with each other? I want to you guys and hear how things are going!

Love to all!!!