Danny's Birthday and Asado 101

Saturday, Danny's birthday, was really fun. We had another asado, and boy oh boy do we love them. The term asado is a technique used for cooking the meat, but it is also the name of the gathering. At the asado there is different cuts of beef alongside other meats, which are cooked on a grill (parrilla) or open fire. Most Argentines have a parrilla in their home, and share an asado with their family on Sundays.

This asado was held at Alfredo's house (Danny's boss). We were with Danny's team from work. According to them this was a more typical asado. Our last asado was more wild. We got to Alfredo's house at 1pm and stayed until 8pm. We just relax and take it easy all day. This is normal for them at an asado!

Everyone has their own way of having an asado, but here's the basic outline:

-Start with bread, cheese, and some sort of meat. This is served with beer, Coca-cola, or red wine. You talk for a couple hours while the meat is cooking. Cooking the asado is a slow process.

-When the first cut of meat is ready then you begin. There is an order which the meat is served, it's not all brought out at once. At both the asados we've been to the Costillas or asado de tira (ribs) are served first (This is my favorite!). Such good meat! There is always bread, a simple mixed salad of, for instance lettuce, tomato, and onion (lechuga, tomate, y cebolla). The blood sausage made an appearance again, this one was a little bit better then the last, but I would still not say it was good. There was vacío(flank steak), mollejas (sweet bread)-this is not really bread, it's carne, it has something to do with the saliva producing gland. I can't remember the other types of meat, but some of them they would not tell us what it was. They said it was best that we didn't know :). This meal is usually served with red wine.

-All of this scrumptious food is followed by drinking Fernet (I mentioned this in a previous blog). I was taught the way to make a good Fernet. To make a Fernet and Coke, use a tall glass filled with ice, then pour the Fernet up to 1/3 of the glass, fill the rest of the way with Coke, then top off with a splash more of Fernet (this is called crowning). Fernet is used as a digestive aid after the meal is finished.

-You clear the plates and then it's time for mate and pastries. Mate is their beloved tea. It's like how Portlander's are with coffee, but more intense. Mate is the name for the devise in which you drink the mate as well. You use a metal straw with a filter called a bombillo. Danny's team bought him a mate for his birthday (pictured). They are going to show him how to 'heal it' at work today. There's a process it has to go through before you can drink out of it. If you don't 'heal it' the mate is ruined. Danny really loved his gift.

-Next (this isn't part of their tradition) I brought out a lemon meringue pie for Danny. We sang 'Happy Birthday' to him in Spanish. He was really embarrassed, and especially that I got him a little “23” candle.

-We went outside and talked for a couple more hours and drank some more Fernet (very slowly). We found that once you finish the Fernet they notice your glass is empty and want to give you more.

-A lot of times there is more meat left at this point and people continue the night with eating more meat, and whatever side dishes are leftover.

So, there you have it. Now you can have an asado of your own!

Home cookin'

We finally had a delicious home cooked dinner tonight. We've been going out so much because it's cheap, our kitchen is pretty small, and our cutting knife sucks (oh yeah, it makes a big difference). I made some homemade spaghetti the night before last and I got distracted and cooked the noodles too long and they were slimy. I was pretty disappointed. But tonight, different story, good stuff.

Why is it that Coca-Cola tastes better out of a glass bottle? We don't normally drink soda, but it's cheaper than water. It tastes better here, we can't figure it out.

So, lately I have been hanging out in a LITTLE book shop with antique books. I've made friends with the store owner. He is a history professor and he has a wealth knowledge about the history of Argentina, which is something I am currently fascinated with. I am buying books to use in my art. He is pretty limited in his English and I am even more limited in my Spanish. But somehow we have sat in his little book store and talked for hours about Argentina. He thumbs through his Spanish-English dictionary every now and then to find the words he's looking for. I will have to take a picture of him and put it on here.

Danny's birthday is in two days. He's turning twenty three! Woohoo! His boss is having a welcome asado for him, and it happens to be on his birthday, so that's kind of perfect. I am going to take him horseback riding for his gift (don't worry he knows about it). We are going to go in the next couple weeks, I am pretty excited about that one too. Tomorrow night I am taking him out to dinner to Las Tinajas. It's the country's largest all-you-can-eat restaurant (tenedor libre). According to the recommendation it serves a "mind-boggling array of interational cuisine alongside a fake waterfall and indoor river." We're all for all-you-can-eat, fake waterfalls, and rivers.

I told you I would put the picture of the Andes Mountains on here, so here it is. It's from an airplane using a cellphone, but you get the idea.

Good Eats!

Today went to lunch at a really nice restaurant with a friend from Danny's work (Nicholas) and his girlfriend. She's Argentine, but she was born in Corvallis, Oregon- small world, huh? We sat outdoors in the sun. There were palm trees around. The restaurants roof was covered with those half-mooned terracotta looking shingles, and it definitely felt like we were on vacation. Both Nicholas and his girlfriend graciously ordered everything they thought would be tasty and we all shared and feasted together. It was delicious! We had asado tipe...um I can't remember the rest. Different cuts of meat, sausage, salads, breads, it was truly wonderful and relaxing. It was SO nice to have someone tell us what some of the foods were. It's amazing how much better the food tastes when someone who knows the language orders it. Basically today has been a relax day. We watched Homeward Bound and Danny and I both cried. That movie always makes us cry. (Danny is VERY reluctant to have me type this in here.) We are now at Il Gatto, a restaurant we both like and it was also very good. The food keeps getting better and better. I was a little worried at first, but now, I am really enjoying the food. I found out the grocery stores are kind of limited around here with the food they offer because it's a college town, but I think we'll venture further for groceries next week.

I guess the food varies when you go north and south of Cordoba too. From what we've heard everything changes when you go north and south, the climate, the people, and the food. We're excited to explore! We love living in the city. Everything you need is within walking distance, something neither of us are really used to. We're excited to move to Portland when we get back.

Everyone here is so welcoming, beautiful, friendly, and affectionate. We greet everyone with kisses on the cheek now. Danny's day at work starts off with greetings from everyone and kisses on the cheek. Imagine if all work places started their days that way. Danny's friends from work have really been so helpful. Their just ready to help us with whatever, we've been so grateful to them.

We miss you guys. Watching Homeward Bound made us miss home. We love you all!

Shall we dance?

FRIDAY:
It rained on Friday in Cordoba, which was the first rain here since February. I woke up to thunder and lightning, it was really fun. The rain was coming down like a typical calm rain in Portland, but people get really excited about it. It's similar to how Oregonians react when it snows. Several people took the opportunity to sell umbrellas on street corners. The streets are not built for rain, and neither are the sidewalks, it's so slippery when you walk. I almost fell at least five times. It happened to be the first day I had Spanish class too, and I got lost. I've been to the building twice and this time I happen to get lost...for a half hour. I went to lunch with Danny beforehand, which was lovely, but I was coming from the opposite side of town and if you know me well, you know I am not good at directions. They (my Spanish teacher and the administrative woman) were very sweet and understanding when I got there. They thought I was a half hour late because of the rain.

I loved the Spanish class. It was one on one with a woman named Flor. She was very sweet and we really hit it off. She's a great teacher, and I am looking forward to learning a lot. I am feeling more confident about my Spanish already, which has made life easier.

Guess what Danny and I did that night??? WE LEARNED HOW TO TANGO! It was really fun. It is a beautiful dance. One of our friends is going to send a recording of one of the dances from his camera. It was their second marathon since the opening of the place, and people tango for 30 hours, unfortunately some government officials got involved and stopped it prematurely. These people are professionals, so they weren't going to let that stop them, so they went to a bar, and asked them to put on some tango music and continued. Danny and I stayed until about 3 am, and we were heading home early, but evidently that was the perfect time to leave because as we were leaving the government officials arrived.

The evening started at 10pm with tango lessons. Falcundo, Danny's coworker, is a world champion tango dancer, and he taught the class. They make it look so easy, and smooth. The women are like puddy in the men's hands. The men lead with their chests, and the women follow the mans every step. It's amazing to watch after you've been taught how to do it. Then at midnight the floor is open to everyone. There were about 100 people there and it was just how you would imagine a tango club to be. Dimly lit, with a few red and white lights hanging from the ceiling. There were large unframed figure paintings lining the walls around the dance floor. At around 2:00 am a couple danced solo on the dance floor to three different songs. Two, which they had practiced, and one improvised. They look as if their ice skating across the floor. We will definitely be going back there again.

SATURDAY:
We had asado today!!! It's an Argentine BBQ. You find whatever you can to burn, and use any metal contraption you can find to put slabs of meat on, then you cook it, serve some Fernet and you have an asado. My oh my is it delicious. Everyone sings, and dances, I LOVED IT! Oh Fernet is 45% alcohol mixed with Coca Cola. It tastes like an herbal medicine I take when I have a cold. It's a Cordoba specialty. We loved the people and the food, it was such a good time. We ate blood sausage (Morcilla), which is coagulated blood. I'm not going to lie, it was not very good, but the rest of the meat was phenomenal. They invited Danny and I inside their culture. We felt so welcomed. Here's a little of what an asado is like. It's all in Spanish, sorry no subtitles :-)

I forgot to tell you our address. It's different then the one we gave to the moms. They were off by one number, it was kind of confusing when we got here because the address they gave us did not exist, and the key didn't work here, but luckily someone showed us a trick to opening the door.

Independencia 812
Planta Baja C
Nueva Córdoba 5000
Córdoba Argentina

imágenes de nuestro apartamento

Nuestro apartamento

I haven't told you guys about our apartment. We really like it. Isn't it cute? It's wonderful because we have a patio. That's where I am sitting right now. We have internet with a really bad connection, so it will work for a couple minutes every so often, then disconnect, so I am hoping this goes through. I have been a little bit scared to go out and find a place to use the internet because every time I go out people ask me all sort of questions and tell me things and I have NO IDEA what they're saying. This has happened a couple of times where I will say, “no entiendo,” ( I don't understand) and then they will get other people in the store involved and they all speak at me, and I will say, “no hablo espanol.” But they get more people involved and then I just end up feeling stupid in front of a ton of people instead of just one. I can see the humor in it while I am not involved, but it is really humiliating when I'm in the middle of it.

I start Spanish classes tomorrow, and I am really excited about it. It's for two hours a day, five days a week, for two weeks. It's one on one, which is what I need right now. I am going to continue to take the two week lessons for as long as I need it, and right now I really need a lot of teaching. They are for two weeks, but I would just take them at different levels every two weeks, hopefully that makes sense. It's not letting me put the pictures on right now. I will try again in a little bit.