Saturday, January 26, 2008

Colorful Images of Buenos Aires...



Yesterday was a fantastic day with a city tour called Images of BA done in English by a reputable tour company, Eternautas. It was a excellent way to learn pieces of Buenos Aires History while seeing several of the famous barrios(neighborhoods).

One of the most colorful barrios in BA is La Boca, a working class neighborhood. In the late 1800's, Argentina's agricultural exports where taking off attracting thousands of immigrants from mostly Spain and Italy. Upon arrival, they realized the land was unaffordable and they were not able to take advantage of the farming. So, they settled in the southern end of BA at the mouth of the river known as La Boca working in slaughter houses, meat packing plants and other various industries. According to historians, they were so poor that they couldn't afford to buy paint for their homes which were pieced together out of corrugated metal sheets. Located near the ship yard they would seek the left over paint from the boat builders. Not having enough left overs of just one color, they would use several.

After admiring the brightly colored town filled with art work and crafts, dad was approached by this sexy young tango dancer and we couldn't resist a picture...

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Stay Tuned

Excitement is in the air around here with the anticipation of our family visitors, my dad and his wife Lou. We will get to do more of the touristy things now! Reluctantly, we had been putting off most of those tourish things until a visitor arrives. So with that said, anticipate some insight into Buenos Aires and hopefully some great pictures to go along with the short stories.

Adventures, we look forward to taking are a bike tour to La Boca that takes you through an ecological park reserve, a standard catch all city tour, a theme tour called a the hidden Buenos Aires, tango shows, lots of shopping for leather goods and woven things, arts and craft fairs, tango music, theater shows, a trip to an estancia and well lots of good food in between all the excitement of course.

I plan on listing more links, not only to some excellent recipes that we discover, but also for great web sites, blogs, and businesses in Buenos Aires that you may want to check out for yourself. So stay tuned and keep in touch. Please, let me know of anything you may want to see or hear about related to Buenos Aires. Just post a comment below!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Radish Salsa? I never....


One evening we were talking about what for dinner tonight. Randall mentioned making salsa and we would need RADISHES??? I never heard of that I insisted but thought well, it would go together. Randall was sure that radishes were in most salsa recipes. So, to the computer he went to prove me wrong. Well he didn't find many but he did discover an AWESOME RECIPE. This delicious radish salsa goes on top of chicken or pork along with an avocado salsa underneath. So give it a try, I think you'll like it. We definitely did. YUM!

As you can see, I'm still figuring this blogging thing out so bare with me. I'll learn all the bells and whistles that go with the program sooner than later. From now on, we will "link" our delicious discoveries for you to try for yourself. For those of you learning too give it a try! Click on the blue link above and you'll discover the recipe in detail.

Fresh Fruits and Vegtables Galore...




One of the convenient things I really enjoy about living here in the city is the fresh fruits and vegetables located on almost every city block. Some just exist, but others are quite a composition to admire. Above you see 2 we discovered last week in the Belgrano barrio(neighborhood). Fortunately, we will get to frequent this market often as Randi visits her NEW orthodontist.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

New Years Eve and Day

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a BIG HUGE?? fire work....


This is what is left...

New Years Eve with our friends playing Wii

New Years Day...Can you guess what we ate?

Yum!

We could have just bought some pork already prepared at Coto Supermercado!

New Years Eve was a literal blast of fun and fire works that lit up the city. We were with friends at their place for a wonderful authentic mexican fiesta! Like when we were cruising, we had to say good bye and hope our paths cross again.

New Years Day was a family affair of cooking. Did you guess a rabbit? Well we got to the market too late to find what we really wanted and ended up with a wonderful rabbit. Yum!

Cooking together! It's a family tradition for us.(Nov/Dec)

Homemade empanadas ...
Cornish Game Hen...

Thanks giving dinner...

Octopus, grilled vegtables and homemade pasta


Birthday cake for Randi by Randi...

Christmas dinner...beef wellington

Well in addition to getting some things done like meeting other kids, dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, buying a piano, buying 2 bikes, renewing passports, and the list goes on; we have managed to cook a lot. For those of you who know us well, that is what we love to do! A family that travels together, loves to cook together? Well we do! For Thanksgiving not knowing where to get turkey, we made a different kind of bird, cornish game hens. Did you know that Argentina is known for some of the best carne(beef)? Well, Randall was searching on line for something special to make for Christmas dinner. Beef Wellington was the answer. So above you can see some of our family creations over the last couple of months.

Meeting families with Children in BA(November)

Tren de la Costa....


After a couple of days of settling into our new place, we had an agenda of things to get done! However, we all forgot that when you are in a foreign country and one with a different language, everything takes TIME!!! First priority was to meet other families with kids at the right age.

Life in a city is nothing like being a cruiser. Meeting kids here is much more challenging unless your kids go to the Lincoln school(international school, English speaking)or just any public school! When cruising, all families are seeking other kids all of which are usually home schooled.

But we joined many different Expat groups. Randall and I were busy going to social events to meet parents the first several weeks: cocktail parties, end of year parties, fashion show garden parties, museum tours, newcomers luncheons and the list goes on!

After some net working, we met the Willbanks, a family of 4 with a son 3, and daughter who just turned 13. Above you see Austin(soon to be 14) with Alicia 13 and the rest of her family with Randall. We went for a scenic train ride(Tren de la Costa) along the Delta del Parana to a town called Tigre. El Tigre, a riverside suburb of Buenos Aires, is where many portenos like to go to escape and relax in the countryside. It consists of a network of waterways with stilt houses and colonial mansions.