Buenos Aires

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Another Night Out with Cecilia

A few weeks ago a few of us went to a lovely concert at the Colegio de Escribanos in San Isidro, described in a post called Our San Isidro Adventure. Last night Cecilia and I went to another event there, this time a folkloric group called Otro Cantar.

I usually love South American folkloric music, with all its bright costumes and guitars. This was a bit of a different take on it, and I must say we weren’t too keen. You’ll see the video clip is much shorter than usual — that’s why!

Otro Cantar

The concert ended about 10.30 pm and we hadn’t had dinner, so we headed back to Olivos, where Cecilia lives, for pizza. I’m showing you this photo of Cecilia because, even though it’s just a pizza joint, not even a bar or cafe, it does serve wine—Cecilia thought it strange that I would even question it! Anyway, we drank a bottle and ate a pizza and then went home to bed — I slept until the 9 am alarm woke me!

Not every concert is great, but you can always have fun!

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Cowboy Music in Buenos Aires!

Last night I joined a group of folks at La Dama de Bollini to hear our friend Cliff do a program of Cowboy Songs and Poems. This is a funky little place that often has interesting shows you wouldn’t necessarily find anywhere else.

This video is longer than the ones I usually post here, but I wanted to give you a feel for the variety of the music. There was Johnny Cash and Elvis, as well as some songs by people who, not being really a country music fan, I didn’t know — but I did enjoy them. And then Cliff read a couple of his own cowboy poems, and I’ve included one here. There was also some singalong, which is always fun.

Altogether a fun night — thanks Cliff!

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Concert at Centro Naval

Last night my friend Lina and I went to a beautiful concert at the Centro Naval in downtown Buenos Aires. The program consisted of just some popular and well known arias from various Italian operas — in other words, just the good bits and none of the boring bits! Lina is an opera fan so she might disagree!

It is, as it sounds, a building belonging to the navy and it is absolutely beautiful. Here are a couple of shots of the room where the concert was held.

In a city full of beautiful doors, this one is my personal favourite. Besides the photograph, here is a sketch of the door that I did on one of my early visits here. I sat at the cafe opposite, on a sweltering hot summer day, drinking white wine and sketching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turned out that the pianist and the tenor were the same people we heard sing a few weeks ago at a concert in San Isidro, and they were maybe even better here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I shot a video of Nessun Dorma, one of my own favourites. Even though we were very close to the performers, I couldn’t get a clear shot, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

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Fun Food and Wine Tasting in a Cool Bar

Last night I went with some friends — Lina, Lola, Wendy and Tomas — to a cool Middle Eastern bar called Fayer in the barrio of Palermo.

They have a regular menu I think, but last night it was a tasting menu with suggested wine pairings. We had falafel, kebabs, roasted cauliflower and a couple of fishy things I didn’t have. They had wines from various parts of the country and we agreed they were all good.

Again, it was a little dark for photographs and I didn’t take one of our group, but these will give you an idea of what the place and the food looked like.

Veal kebabs with flatbread

Grilled (or it might have been fried) cauliflower

Maybe the best falafel I’ve ever tasted

I chose a second red instead of the white and all three were good

 

General view of the bar area

Apparently the place had a photographer at work and they sent us a few photos of our table group. Lola, me, Lina, Wendy and Tomas.

 

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Started a New Book!

As I told you a few weeks ago, I am leading an online group of people who are determined to get their books written, some after quite some time. Because part of the process is that they are held accountable for doing what they said they would do, I decided I should too. So I’m writing another book.

I actually began it last year when I was down here. It’s about a series of very old, very typical bars or cafes (in Buenos Aires they are the same thing) called the Bares Notables. Some of my friends enthusiastically agreed to join me in the “research”, which consisted of eating and drinking in several of the establishments! But I didn’t really follow through and all I have is a series of notes.

But now I have the motivation to actually write it, so I’m picking up where I left off. Three of my friends who will definitely want to help again with the research — Venetia, Joanna and Sally — are on vacation right now, so I might wait a couple of weeks for that part.

But while I was out for another purpose this week, I had lunch in one of the bars. It’s called Los Galgos, which means greyhounds, and there are pictures of those dogs all over the place. Curious to know why? Stay tuned — I’ll let you know after I interview the owner.

They did, however, have absolutely delicious bread. As a rule I don’t like Argentine bread, so this was very welcome. They make everything in house, and these were crusty on the outside and soft and light inside — yummy. I asked if I could buy some to take home, and the waiter said unfortunately no. But when he came back with my change, he brought these two in a paper bag — free of charge. Nice, eh? And very Argentine!

 

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Are These Fabulous or What?

I don’t know if I mentioned this here or just on Facebook, but a couple of months ago I started a new tradition. When I get a new client, I get new tango shoes! (Tangueras can never have too many tango shoes!)

So I thought you’d like to see a photo of the latest pair, which I bought on the weekend. I haven’t worn them to a milonga yet, but I will this week. I did wear them for an hour at home while I did my practice, and believe it or not they are very comfortable.

Can’t wait to caress a man’s leg with these beauties!

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Yes, They Are Canadian

A couple of months ago, I was invited to go to an event at a new restaurant/snack bar with a few friends. When Venetia told me about it, I immediately asked if the owners were Canadian. She looked at me in amazement.

“Yes, they are,” she replied. “How did you know?”

Well, the name of the place is 416. For those of you outside Canada, 416 is the area code for Toronto! Isn’t that a fun name?

Well, in fact I couldn’t go to that event, but this week I finally did go — twice. On Thursday night I went to a Ladies Night Out with a group of fun women friends. It was quite informal, and we sat around eating delicious finger foods and drinking wine and champagne. The food included an amazing, spicy Korean chicken — which was welcome to lovers of spicy food. Argentines are not big on spicy food, and even when you ask for it hot, it rarely measures up. But this was hot hot hot!

I forgot to take photos (Venetia, are you surprised?).

When we were there, the owners told us they have a new monthly event called Sunday Roast, and some of us decided to go for that last night. As you can see from the photo, it is quite dark there, but it’s quite atmospheric and enjoyable. To be honest, I’ve had better roast beef, but everything around it was excellent. Here’s the official photo of the oven roasted cauliflower, which was as delicious as it looks.

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Outdoor Concert for Kids (of all ages!)

On Saturday I went to a fun event I just heard about by accident. The kids are on winter holidays right now, and this was a free concert designed to interest young kids in classical music. I’ve been at several classical concerts where very young kids were really into the music — one took place in a park and a little boy of about six or seven stood on the grass and conducted the orchestra for the whole concert!

This one took place in Plaza Vaticana, an open square on one side of the Teatro Colon. I couldn’t believe the size of the crowd, and I had to stand in line for quite a while to get a seat. There were even standing room only sections on either side of the square.

There were opera characters walking around in costume as the crowd moved into the space, having their photos taken with the kids. Then they all moved up to the stage as the live orchestra took its place and the show began.

The music was all easily consumable, many tunes everyone knows, such as the William Tell Overture. You can see from the video how into it the kids and adults were. There’s a great appreciation for culture in all its forms in Buenos Aires, and the fact that they interest children in it very early will ensure that it continues. Just another thing to love about this magical city!

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Argentine Independence Day

Today is 9 de julio, the day Argentina celebrates its independence from Spain in 1816. There were numerous events and celebrations across the city, and I did want to see at least one of them on this, my first Dia de Independencia. Several of us chose the military parade, and we agreed to meet up afterwards at the home of our friend Lola, who lives just a few yards away from the parade route.

In my wisdom, I decided a taxi would be my best way to get there, but as it turned out the streets were closed off for miles around and I had quite a hike. There’s a huge park in the area, and I ended up on the wrong side of it. I could see the street I wanted to get to, and as the crow flies it wasn’t far away. Unfortunately, I’m not a crow. I could hear the bands, so I knew I was close, but to get there I had to walk the full length of the park, cross over and walk back down. Ah well, I got good exercise for my first foray after the pneumonia!

Arriving at the meeting place, I found Cecilia had moved on because you couldn’t really see much there. But there’s a cafe on the corner, and a seat opened up just as I arrived, so I claimed it and didn’t move!

It’s true I couldn’t see much. OK, I couldn’t see anything. But it was a beautiful sunny day, not too cold, and for me it was fun just sitting in the sun people watching. I could hear the commentary and the music, and I saw the jets and the helicopters fly overhead.

As I sat there, drinking it all in, I found myself filled with emotion. I had received a little flag from a soldier, and as I waved it joined the happy shouts of Viva La Patria with the crowd, a little tear of happiness rolled down my cheek.

Somewhere else in the crowd, Cecilia had found a better spot, where she took some photos. South American military parades are very colourful, the uniforms quite distinctive.

Eventually, several of us found our way to Lola’s place and we had some wine and potluck nibblies. It was a lovely way to round off the celebration.

Viva La Patria!

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A Little Spontaneous Tango

I’ve been under the weather this week with a rotten cold, so haven’t been doing much that’s interesting. But last night Venetia had a little dinner party for just six close friends. Besides me, there was our hilariously funny Irish friend Sally, Rob and Alex, who entertained Venetia and me to dinner at their home a few weeks ago, and my tango teacher and good friend Alejandro.

Venetia is a great cook, and served us a beautiful caprese salad followed by a chicken dish to die for.

Of course she is usually the photographer, and I should take taken up the slack while she was busy serving dinner, but I forgot!

Conversation flowed and there was a lot of laughing. Alejandro thought we should do a spur-of-the-moment tango demo, and of course I’m always up for that. Feels different dancing in outdoor boots instead of elegant tango shoes, but I enjoyed it anyway. I hope you do too. Thanks to Venetia for filming it.