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Fun Photo Shoot for My Book

I wanted to do a second edition of Rare Steak, Red Wine, Hot Tango to keep it active, and Amazon says you have to make substantive changes or additions for a new edition. So I added a chapter about my stay in hospital and a fourth chapter about tango, this one about the clothes.

Venetia did a whole fashion shoot with several of my outfits (and shoes of course!) on the roof of her building. We chose early evening for the light, but it was still sweltering hot in stretch velvet!

It was lots of fun, and given the raw material she had to work with I think Venetia did a great job! I’m going to tell my fellow tangueras about her services, and hopefully she’ll get some business from this.

Here are just a few. Now I have to choose which ones to put in the book!

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Tango Music at Cafe de los Angelitos

I’ve been to Cafe de los Angelitos a couple of times already, as it is a Bar Notable and there will be a chapter about it in my book. The reason for this visit was quite specific.

I belong to a worldwide expat organization called InterNations, and in Buenos Aires it has a tango group. They organized a little gathering where a professional tango pianist would come along and tell us something about the history and styles of tango music, and a we would be treated to some bandoneon music.

There couldn’t be a more appropriate setting than Cafe de los Angelitos, which is steeped in the history of tango. Photographs of the great tango orchestra leaders adorn the walls, and even the stained glass panels are tango themed.

The bandoneonista was a young woman, and apparently there’s a trend for more women playing the bandoneon. I think that’s interesting, as it may well add yet another nuance to the ever evolving music of tango.

She played on a little balcony over the bar, and told us to go ahead and chat and she would just play in the background. I find it very hard to sit when tango music is playing, and I might have invited one of the men in the group to dance, but there just wasn’t any space between the tables. In any case, it was a lovely interlude.

I hope you enjoy this little bitesized taste of Buenos Aires.

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The Devil Made Me Do It!

This week a lovely young woman from South Africa arrived in Buenos Aires. Liz is a friend of a friend of Venetia, and has quickly become one of our group of badass women! On her first night here, Venetia, Sasha, Liz and I went for drinks on the terrace at La Biela and we told her all about Buenos Aires. She immediately latched onto the tango idea and said she wanted a lesson. Of course, I said I’d connect her with Alejandro.

However, nothing would do but she had to have the right shoes before she goes for a lesson! So today I took her for the quintessential tango shoe shopping experience at Comme Il Faut. Did I really think I could go there and not buy shoes? Of course not! Here’s the evidence.

I love these shoes! If I wasn’t going out already tonight I would go dancing in them. But since I’ve been to milonga three times already this week and I have my lesson tomorrow, maybe it’s just as well! They can wait!

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Tango in the Open Air!

Wow, last night I went somewhere I have been wanting to go to for a very long time. It’s called La Glorieta, and it’s an open-air milonga. I went with two of my tanguera friends, Lina and Lola.

The dance space is in a pergola in a park in the barrio of Belgrano, which takes ten minutes or so by train from the main railway station. When we arrived, a class was just finishing, and there was also some kind of film crew setting up. A few couples were dancing — in silence. Yes, no music. It turned out there was some sort of power cut and they couldn’t work the sound system, but they said it would start in an hour when it began to get dark and the generator-powered lights came on. This being Buenos Aires, nobody complained and everyone just sat on the steps, changed their shoes and began to chat with other people.

Sure enough, as darkness fell, the music started and the milonga was soon in full swing. The crowd had people from twenties to eighties, which was delightful. It does my heart good to see how many young people are dancing tango, because that will keep it alive. All three of us danced quite a lot, which always makes it fun.

There are a few differences between La Glorieta and the traditional milongas. First, it’s free to go in, although they do pass a hat once the dancing is well underway. You put in whatever you like — here this is called paying a la gorra.

There’s nowhere to put your bag, so you hang it on a hook on the side railing. Sounded a bit iffy to me, but everyone does it and mine came to no harm.

There’s no food or drink, and I have to admit I enjoy a glass of champagne at the usual milongas. Still, it’s probably just as well as there are no washrooms either!

The one thing that did bother me was that there are no chairs. So you are either dancing or standing, and don’t get the chance to rest your legs between tandas as you do in regular milongas. And the floor is terrazza, which is hard on the knees anyway. So we just stayed about 90 minutes and our legs had had enough. (I’m resting up today so that I’ll be ready for my regular milonga tonight!)

I didn’t take any photos as I was too busy dancing, but these stock photos will give you an idea how it looks. I’ll definitely be going back!

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New Year’s Day with a Fun Group of Chicas

Well after all the partying last night, I had planned a quiet day by myself at home, but of course this is Buenos Aires, so how likely was that? Not very. I received a Whatsapp message from Cecilia inviting Venetia and me to lunch at her house in Olivos. As soon as we had made sure the trains were running, we accepted the invitation.

Besides us and Cecilia, there were Cecilia’s sister Adriana, their cousin Elvira, Cecilia’s friend Liana and our friend Gillian. We had a great lunch with lots of laughter and conversation. Then we finished the afternoon by taking the three dogs for a walk down by the port. Or maybe they took us. In any case, it was a great way to finish the holiday and give us a good start to 2020.

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New Year’s Eve by the Rio de la Plata

This was the fourth year of bringing in the New Year in the posh, upscale barrio of Puerto Madero. We, however, don’t pay the ridiculous prices they charge in the waterfront restaurants or upscale hotels. No, we have a picnic, complete with table and chairs, Christmas tablecover and fairy lights that we twine around the nearest tree. And of course lots of food, wine and champagne. We take advantage of the music from the restaurants to dance along by the water and across the bridge, and when we need to go to the washroom we use the one in the Hilton!

Here are a few images from this year’s picnic.

Thank you for reading my blog, commenting in the Comments section as well as by email to me, and general telling me you enjoy hearing about my exploits here in amazing Argentina.

I wish you and yours all the best for a Happy New Year, and a wonderful 2020.

Apparently Vivi didn’t get the memo about everyone wearing white! It’s a Brazilian custom that’s made its way here the past few years.

The beautiful Puente de la Mujer

Spacey on New Year’s Eve!

Lina and me

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Decisions, decisions!

It rained cats and dogs all day today. So tonight’s decision was: stay home and cook (oh joy!) or put on the raincoat and wellies and go out and have someone else cook for me.

No brainer!

I went to one of my regular wee local places and had rolled stuffed pork with Russian Salad. Some friends had been discussing just what Russian salad was, so that’s why I had it! It wasn’t bad, but a bit too much mayo for my taste. But never mind, someone else made it.

And since it is coming up for New Year, my regular waiter offered me a complimentary lemoncello. What’s not to like!

This was after I drank half of it – then remembered to take a picture!

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Unexpected Bar Notable Visit

Usually I set up groups of my “researchers” to visit the various Bares Notables to gather information for my book. But this one wasn’t planned.

Venetia suggested we go to a barrio quite a way from the centre of the city called Flores. I had been there before with Lina and done some fun shopping. The only thing was that Lina couldn’t go with us, and I knew I would have trouble finding my way around, as it’s quite a big barrio. It’s also one that has everything from  huge numbers of street vendors selling clothing on the sidewalk (literally) to interesting cafes to funky little shops selling clothes you wouldn’t necessarily find elsewhere.

The truth is, we never did find the shops Lina had taken me to, and we’ll have to go another time with her. But, there was a silver lining. Before we went, I had looked online to see if I could figure it out, and I found there was a Bar Notable there, not too far from the subway station, so we decided to start by going there for lunch. What a find!

It’s called La Farmacia and, as the name implies, it was once a pharmacy selling potions and pills of all kinds. In its present life as a bar/cafe, it still has the old dark wood counters, one of which is now the bar. What’s really fun is that instead of the usual rows of wine bottles on the wall, here they have the old jars that used to hold powders and other medicinal remedies. How cool is that? Here are some shots.

And here was one of the great finds! There’s a typical Argentine dish called provoleta, which is a portion of provolone cheese grilled till it’s soft and gooey, and served in the pan it’s cooked in. Sometimes it has herbs and even veggies. The problem I have with it is that it takes me a while to eat all that cheese, and when it cools down it gets hard again and it’s not so nice. The folks at La Farmacia have found the answer! They make little individual ones in one of those trays you use to cook escargots, and it’s cast iron. So it hold the heat, and the provoletas stay hot and gooey — ecstasy!

So I’ll definitely be going back there with more of my researchers.

We did discover one nice little shop, where I had actually bought a top last time I was there. This time I made an impulse purchase of this spectacular skirt! When you dance tango at the milongas here in Buenos Aires, you have a chance to wear things that would be too over-the-top for any other setting, but this will be getting its first outing soon. I was thinking of wearing it tonight, but the black tops I have are a bit too warm for this sweltering heat, so it might have to wait. But I was delighted with my purchase. Venetia also found a blouse she loved and bought it, so even though we didn’t find the street with the good shops, we both counted it a success!

 

 

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Christmas Eve at Cecilia’s

In Argentina we celebrate Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, and its called Noche Buena. As usual, I spent it with my “Argentine family”, ie Cecilia’s family, in Olivos — just outside the city and into Buenos Aires Province. Besides the family (which includes me!) there were Venetia, Sally and Sasha.

Before the food, we had an adventure with the wine, or at least trying to get at the wine with a fancy schmancy bottle opener. Sally did the honours, with Sasha supposedly helping and Venetia capturing the silliness on video. (Fortunately we found the cheap bottle opener later and had no more problems!)

This year we actually had a traditional English Christmas Dinner, with a big stuffed turkey, followed by plum pudding and ice cream, all cooked beautifully by Venetia. We quaffed lots of Malbec, followed by champagne at midnight after we opened our presents. Here are a few pictures that capture the fun.

Group selfie taken by Cecilia

Sally and Sasha

Just chilling

We stayed overnight, and then after a nice leisurely breakfast this morning we headed home on the train. Nothing much happens here on Christmas Day, so I was very happy just to chill out all by myself at home. I’m about to cook some nice chicken and pasta and maybe sneak in yet another glass of Malbec.

I FaceTimed my family in Scotland, where children-fueled chaos reigned as usual! Just shows that all it takes to make a great Christmas is to be with people who matter to you.

All in all, another lovely Buenos Aires Christmas. I hope you had a good one too.

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Holiday Brunch

As I reported in my last post, today I went to a holiday brunch, put on by my friend Lolly, who lives just five minutes from me. It’s almost 4 pm and I just got back.

I love that I meet new people here all the time as well as the familiar faces, and that was the case today. The food was fantastic, and Lolly served something called creme brulée french toast — OMG! To die for! To wash it down we had liberal quantities of mimosas — champagne and orange juice for the uninitiated.

I sat with an Argentine woman, a Canadian woman who owns a sustainable hotel here and speaks enviable Spanish, and her partner, also Argentine. The conversation was in rapid Spanish, and I’m happy simply with the amount of it I understood — probably 90%.

Now I’m home having a cup of tea, and then I’ll be getting ready to go dancing. This particular milonga has theme nights, and of course tonight the theme is Christmas. I’m going to wear the red top I wore last night and white leggings, with my Santa Claus earrings and my red tango shoes. I do look a bit like Santa’s little helper, so I hope men will still dance with me and not just think I’m a nutter. Ah well, only one way to find out!

Here are a few shots from today, and I just realized Lolly, the hostess, isn’t in any of them! Sorry Lolly.