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Las Pizzaras

Last night I went out with Lina, Venetia and Lola to great little restaurant in Palermo called Las Pizzaras. We knew about it because the waitress is a tango friend of Lola’s. Coincidentally, she is French Canadian from Montreal! She took this photo of the group, which allowed Venetia to be in the photo rather than taking it.

Anyway, we all trotted off there last night and had a lovely meal and lots of good conversation and laughter as usual.

 

This is a photo of my steak, which was delicious. The fresh kale salad and some kind of tomato thing were also great, but I didn’t like the sweet potato stuff.

Instead of dessert I opted for a Negroni. You can’t see it very well, but it came in a lovely copper mug and was delicious. However, I think my cocktail days are over, at least during the same meal as wine, because I have been falling asleep all day!

One more group meal before I leave for my Christmas vacation, and that will be brunch on Sunday. It feels so good to be doing normal things again!

 

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Fiesta!

This year my friends and I took part in many Zoom birthday parties, including mine. But yesterday was a big day, because we had a fiesta for Linda — live! We had dinner at a cafe, outside on the terrace, and it was great. Here are a few shots that show how much fun we had.

The whole group, with the birthday girl at the head of the table.

Linda, the birthday girl, with the cake. Just enough for us each to have a small bite, which was enough because it was rich.

I don’t know what I said to Sally, but it must have been hilarious! As always, Venetia captured the moment — gracias Chica!

 

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Update on the mourning doves

I’ve been watching this little mama patiently sitting on her eggs for a couple of weeks, and they finally hatched a few days ago. They are very close to the wall, so it’s hard to get the right angle to video them, but I had a go anyway. I don’t think National Geographic is going to hire me any time soon.

I’ll try again when they are starting to try to fly. Stay tuned!

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More food!

Seems it’s all about food these days with me! Yesterday I went to lunch with Venetia at a great Spanish restaurant called El Burladero. Lina was supposed to join us, but she got stuck in a taxi in the middle of a manifestacion (protest) at the Congreso and never made it. Oh well, we’ll just have to go again, right?

Here are some shots of the lovely food we enjoyed.

My meal started with mushroom croquettes — four of them, and I actually managed to eat three! My main course was pork in a lovely Spanish sauce with tomatoes and onions, and what they call here papas españoles (Spanish potatoes). They brought these spices separately so that we could add them to taste, which we did and it made the food even better! My dessert was what I’d call a Spanish version of pots de creme, topped with fresh blackberry sauce. Mmmmm.

 

 

 

 

Venetia had a salad with big plump prawns, followed by a white fish which seems to be a cross between cod and sole, with a lovely Spanish style vegetable sauce. I seem to have lost the photo of her dessert, which was apple pie and she said it was lovely.

And here are two happy chicas, full of yummy Spanish food and Argentine wine!

Where shall we eat next??

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Wow, this was yummy!

Last night I couldn’t interest anybody in coming to dinner with me, so I went on my own to a place just five minutes from me, called Quotidiano. It’s known as a pasta place, but a friend told me they have marvellous burrata, so I decided to check it out. Mmmmmmmm!

I first tried burrata in Chicago. I was there for a speaking engagement and had one night to dine out. I ate in an Italian place and couldn’t decide what to eat. It was a warm summer night  and I was eating outside (just like last night), and the waitress recommended burrata with salad. I was hooked!

If you’ve never tried burrata, it is a large ball of mozarella mixed with cream and there’s nothing else quite the same. Try it — you’ll like it!

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Twenty Years of Splendour

I’ve talked about this place before, but since this is the 20th anniversary of El Ateneo Grand Splendid, I thought it worth mentioning again.

Originally a theatre and then movie theatre, in 2000 this beautiful old building was transformed into a bookshop. Even as the seats were removed to make way for books where people used to sit, the renovation kept most of the original features. The foyer features beautiful coffee table books, journals and diaries, and even a small section of English language books. The box office still kind of fulfills its original function, as it’s now where you go to pay for your books.

If you take the marble staircase to the next level, you can look down over the auditorium, and it’s also a place used for art exhibitions of various kinds.

My two favourite parts are the boxes and the stage, which have been kept as they were and repurposed. I’ve never actually sat in any of the boxes, but people take books in there and read for as long as they like and nobody bothers them.

The stage is now a cafe, where you can have anything from a cup of coffee to a full meal with wine, and if you look up you’ll see all the ropes and pulleys that used to operate the stage.

I pop in once in a while for a coffee and usually end up buying at least one book. And when anyone comes to visit it’s definitely on my list to show them.

Last year, National Geographic voted El Ateneo Grand Splendid “the world’s most beautiful bookshop”. I don’t doubt it.

 

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Spontaneous Day Out!

I had just stepped out of the shower this morning when my phone rang, and it was Cecilia. She had come into the city for a doctor’s appointment and called to see if I had plans for the day. I was supposed to be working, but of course I said I hadn’t! She proposed picking me up at taking me to Olivos, where she lives, for the day. Half an hour later we were on our way to her house.

Another friend, Gillian, also lives in Olivos, so we called her to see if she wanted to join us for lunch, and of course she did. It was a bit early, so we took the dog for a lovely walk down by the port, and then came back to Cecilia’s house to wait for Gillian.

We went to a lovely place called Club Sports, in a nearby town called Martinez. The place was lovely, and the setting even lovelier! It was right on the riverbank, and after a delicious lunch we wandered a little by the water before leaving.

Spontaneous outings can be even more fun just by their nature, and this was certainly true today. Gracias, Cecilia!

Well fed and relaxed after a great lunch

Being silly about the elbow-instead-of-hug thing

A bit more sedate, which isn’t at all like either of us!

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Two Adventures At Once!

I’m currently ghostwriting a book for a couple in Canada, and every Saturday morning we have a two-hour Zoom call when I interview them about their stories for the book.

This morning, as always, the adventure they were telling me about was exciting and I was living it vicariously through them. But then I had an adventure of sorts myself. This morning dawned sunny and hot, with clear blue skies. I went for my early morning walk, ate breakfast outside and walked home. All good.

As always, before the interview I set my table up in front of the window so that I would get good natural light for the video, and we started our meeting. All was well for about the first hour, and then, as often happens in Argentine summer, the sky darkened very suddenly and very quickly. Then the rain came on. And then the wind came up, and the palm tree outside my balcony began to waffle about. Then it started to thunder.

My image on the screen was becoming so dark you could hardly seem me. At one point, my client said, “Helen, are you still there? Can you hear us?” I assured him I was, and told him just to keep talking!

I think I’ve mentioned that there are a lot of pigeons across from my apartment, and there’s currently a mourning dove sitting on eggs on my bedroom window ledge. I can put up with that, but they all seem to have taken this as a sign that a party is going on, and my balcony sometimes look like a pigeon convention until I shoo them away.

I could see them all starting to gather on the balcony for shelter, and at first I ignored them because I didn’t want to interrupt. But I was so distracted I had to tell them, and we took a short break from the interview while I chased off these birds!

The Argentine word for a thunderstorm is tormenta, which I think you’ll agree is very descriptive!

Anyway, before we finished our call the sky had lightened considerably and they could see me again by the time we finished! But the tormenta isn’t over, although it’s not so dark now. I think it’s on for the day — although they often stop just as suddenly as they begin.

I’m going to a local restaurant for dinner tonight, so I’ll just go and get the raincoat and wellies at the ready just in case!

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Adios, Maradona!

Yesterday was a sad one for Argentina, when legendary football hero Diego Maradona died at the age of just 60.

Even though he had his problems after his playing days were over, including drugs and health problems, all that is at least temporarily forgotten in the outpouring of love and grief here in Argentina and around the world. The President has declared three days of national mourning, which I thought was just a formality until I saw what was happening all across the country.

I remember watching him in his heyday, when I had no inkling I would ever have a connection with Argentina. My husband and I enjoyed watching him speed down the field, faster than the cartoon Roadrunner, and that left foot — Felix swore he could kick round corners!

Of course, one of his most famous matches was in the 1986 World Cup quarter final, when Argentina beat England 2-1. Both goals were scored by Maradona. The second one was brilliant. The first, well … not so much. It was clearly punched into the net but the ref didn’t see it. It’s known as the Hand of God goal. Of course it knocked England out of the Cup that year, which probably explains this cartoon that was sent to me by my nephew in Scotland! OK, I now see it’s too small to read the caption. It says, “Sure, the English may very well hate me, but the Scottish love me and that’s all that matters!” HaHa!

Anyway, a million people are expected downtown, thousands filing around his casket as he lies in state at the Presidential Palace. What social distancing? Virus — what virus?