El Asado

(asado = argentinian bbq)

Nico invited the TEFL girls and me to another asado at his house on Saturday night. For those of you that have eaten argentinian meat, you know it´s good. For those of you that have eaten argentinian meat in Argentina, you know that it changes your life. It is, without a doubt, impossibly good. Most of you know that I was a vegetarian for several years before travelling. I started eating meat before my little world adventure because a large part of discovering a new place is through its food. For me, meat has always been okay. I don´t crave it - it usually doesn´t do it for me. But la carne en Argentina...I want to take my clothes of for it. I´m having a dirty affair with meat and I can´t seem to stop myself.

Nico was the asador extraordinaire - I think you have to be born here to really cook meat like this. Seasoned just with salt, it cuts like butter and you are in heaven with every bite.

Nico, and his friend Gabriel, purchased 5 kilos of meat...la morcilla (blood sausage), chorizo, vacío, tire, lomo...

Asados normally start with chorizo and bread, or rather, choripan. Sip some wine, nibble on some choripan and gawk at the mountain of meat sizzling on the grill.Also, traditionally, you have provoleta - cheese grilled on the bbq - another life changing experience. Then the asador serves you meant until, well - you are a broken, former shell of a vegetarian, lying on the floor and rubbing your barriga (belly).

Morcilla - who knew it could be so good. There is no bigger leap from vegetarian to morcilla. I am not even ashamed.

So, hows my barriga? Well, perhaps I´m sporting an extra jiggle here (and there), but another BsAs tradition keeps me in check: walking. I also started running again and found a nature reserve not far from my house where I can run nextt o the Rio de la Plata and prepare for my next dirty encounter with mi amor, asado.

Stay tuned...a portrait of my apartment, coming soon!

Re Rad

Adding ¨re¨ to a Spanish word causes it to be emphasized. Re bueno. Re rico. It´s pretty informal; it´s what the cool kids are doing.

Well, I have decided to introduce Rad to the Argentinian vocabulary and so far, so good. When rad starts sweeping across south America, just remember where you heard it first.

So, here is my Re Rad list of Buenos Aires...I applaud you, I salute you, I muse at your strangeness and I thank you for making me giggle:

1. 1. Maria Panagos, anfitriona extraordinaire: for bringing me soup and an entire bottle of wine in bed when I was sick this weekend. You are re rad.
   


2. To the guy who was walking down Avenida Alem with your headphones on and singing at the TOP of your lungs. You are re rad.
   
   

3. To the dog taking a huge dump on the grass out front of the Casa Rosada. Way to protest. Re rad.

4. To all Argentinians and your strange sense of personal space, and especially to the woman that walked straight into me in the middle of the crosswalk last week. Our little game of chicken was amusing. I respect your resolve. Re rad.

5. To Hugo in my advanced English class and to your advanced knowledge of English. You rattled off at least 4 synonyms for the word ¨pot¨....grass, weed, marijuana, shit. Re rad.

6. To Juan, you close talker, you franglais speaking, bad driver. You are re rad for so many reasons, but I´m going to put you on this list for driving your car from Argentina to Alaska 20 years ago...and still owning the car. Thanks for driving us to the party (and god-thanks for getting us there safely).

7. To the cheerleaders at La Boca football game. You have no shame showing your entire ass. Wow. Re rad.

8. To eating steak at 1 a.m. at my new neighborhood parilla, Desnivel.

9. To my female taxi driver, one of only 40 in Buenos Aires. Re rad, gerrl.

10. To the old lady who weilded a fork at my friend Brittany the other night in the bar....not so cool, in fact- a little creepy. But I´ve always liked a geezer with hutzpah. Re rad, for a goy!

chow for now!