At least we still have Cumaná.

My life is like 101 Dalmatians. You know that part where all the dogs start to work together to send messages through each other by barking and barking and barking to each other because that is their only way of communication, well the dogs in neighborhood do that. At any time, it is likely that the dogs will start barking, one starts and then they all follow and it's like I'm living in a Disney movie, except for it's not the cool part of a Disney movie, it's the annoying part for the humans (that's me). I would much rather be in like "Hakuna Matata" or "I just can't wait to be king" or some part of Finding Nemo, pretty much any part, because I don't know if you remember this, but it takes place in Australia and I love Australia and also the fishys are cute.

Moving back into the realm of what is Buenos Aires. I know I have said this many times, but there is not all that much variety in Argentine food, there are even Argentines who will admit to this. So, us Americans we need choices, because I don't know if you know this either, but Americans pretty much do whatever they want, when they want to. I miss this. Anyways, so we have made a list based on research and the suggestions of other (both Argetines and Americans) of new and different places to go eat. We have to do this because if you just randomly choose a restaurant on the street, it will have some combination of the following: meat, empanadas, pasta, possibly casseroles(called cazeulas), possibly some mal-formed variation on the salad, desserts with dulce de leche and bread. That's pretty much it, plus 2x the meat. So we have tried many new restaurants this way, we have tried some awesome and some mediocre vegetarian restaurants. This is how we found Tea Connection and Pura Vida and such delicious and completely americanized concepts such as these.

Moving on, this weekend was a weekend of restaurants given to us on suggestion. First, on Friday, we went to Sarkis finally. This is supposed to be the best Middle Easter/Greek food in BA and has had great reviews on every website we've seen. We have also gotten about a million brilliant reviews from other kids in our program and anyone likely to eat Middle Eastern/Greek food. So, we go to Sarkis, we are expecting pretty much the best dining experience we've ever had, as that is what others have led us to believe. And I will have you know, that is not even remotely what we encountered. We arrived, sat down, were immediately handed English menus without being asked (which was theoretically helpful because the spanish menu didn't contain any descriptions, only names, that's really what menus are good for, nothing). Anyways, so I dare to ask our overweight and very hairy man waiter a question and he doesn't so much as answer as explain to me that a half portion is smaller than a full portion, which is not what I was asking. He says of course we should all get full portions, which leads me to this suggestion, Never take advice on how much to eat from a fat man. This seems logical, and it is, I know, just do it. Moving on again, so we order, we decided to split an appetizer of garbanzo bean pureé a.k.a. hummus. And we all order mild variations of the same thing, some vegetable stuffed with some meat-rice combo. Our hummus arrives with pita, with my food, Lindsay's food and Ami's food. And yes, I think it is weird to get your appetizer with your meal. So, we start eating the hummus which does the trick if you're craving hummus but is mediocre at best (which is really all I expect here anymore). We chow on hummus, Greg tells us it has some sort of milk product on it, because he is having a mild allergic reaction. This obviously points out that something is wrong, because pita bread by design contains no milk products. So we are sitting, waiting, wishing that eventually Greg's food will come out. We sit, we don't eat our food because it would be rude to eat while Greg is starving. The waiter comes by and explains to us how sometimes food takes time to cook and that we should just eat. We try and fail to explain to him that we just don't work that way, we have manners. We sit, we wait, we are still wishing. Time passes. After about 10 minutes, we decide that the three of us have more food than we can eat anyways and give some to Greg so we can all start eating. (For the record, the full portion of grape-leaf wrapped met-rice combo that I order contained around 10 of these things, which leads me to remind you, never take advice on how much to eat from a fat person). So we are all eating and sharing and tasting each others food only to say, yeah that tastes just like mine, only slightly different. The four of us finish all of our food, literally all of our food and sit for another five minutes before Greg's food shows up. And in case you are wondering, he ordered a red pepper stuffed with meat-rice combo. So Greg eats, he starts feeling sick. Ami and I order BaclAva and it finally arrives and it is wonderful, absolutely wonderful and just drenched in honey. Mmm, good. We eventually get the bill and pay the man, making a point not to tip too much because he was basically crap. So, this seems like the end of mediocre Sarkis experience until I make a point to note that Greg is still sick. And after we've been shopping for only a small amount of time, he leaves to find a bathroom and then throws up. Wow, Sarkis, one for the win. He goes home, we continue shopping without having decided if we will return to Sarkis for anything more than the BaclAva. Note of Happiness: It was cheap, we like that, we're easy.

Moving on. Friday night, Ami and Lindsay and I went to see a movie (greg was still sick). It was an Argentine movie and completely in spanish and more importantly, we understood basically everything that went on. It was actually a really good movie and I would recommend it highly.

To Saturday and beyond. We did basically nothing. Eventually we met at Cumaná for lunch because it's real food, it's filling and we know that we like it. No one is going to get sick and we know that it will be a reasonable price. Also, we hadn't gone this week, and it is our goal to go once a week. After Cumaná, we planned to go to the Museum of Fine Arts which is right near that giant mechanical flower. Cool. It is apparently awesome and something you should see and we hadn't yet. Before actually making it to the museum, we got sidetracked. The weather was "horrendous," it was cool and cloudy and it was basically perfect fall weather. There was no one out because it was so "cold." We went to Starbucks, yes starbucks in argentina, because we wanted to walk around outside with our lattes and think of home. It worked wonders. We walked in, it smelled like heaven and we wondered why more argentines didn't appreciate the ability to choose to sit and drink coffee or just walk around in the beautiful outdoors with it (although there were a hefty number of argentines in starbucks and they just opened the 18th one in BA in the barrio of Caballito). I had a Chai Tea Latte and felt happy. We walked to the museum and it actually is something to see. One of the best art museums I have ever been in. There were so many great works, by great authors and although it was a bit confusing, there are just so many things to see. It was awesome, we didn't even finish half before we got tired and ran out of time and decided we would have to return. Really top notch art museum.

Saturday night arrives, it's party night. We have reservations at a restaurant called La Cabrera which is supposed to be really good. We have reservations for 8:30, which is really early, but we also should have called earlier in the week to make reservations, oops. We arrive and are seated. We decided what to eat and eventually out comes this massive amount of food, which deserves the pictures that Ami and Lindsay took. This is a meat place btw. I had order some chicken kabobs and out they came, completely encased in a layer of bacon death. So I had to send them back and my experience was kind of subpar. But Ami and Lindsay and Greg all had wonderful meats and happiness and that is wonderful. We shared a bottle of wine which affected me more than the other because I hadn't really eaten a lot. We got some desserts, Greg got fruit salad and I got the Chocolate Volcano, which was wildly expensive but delicious nonetheless. I think overall this was an alright dining experience, but I doubt we will ever return, it was really pricey and the food wasn't that good, good, not that good.

So, that is pretty much my summary of the past bit. I know I haven't been keeping up with my blog as well as I should have been, but no one was reading it anyways. Also, considering half of my posts are solely about food, it is really no wonder I have been gaining weight. But I started running again (and there ensues the shin splints) and I have been making a conscious effort to eat less bread (of which they provide heaps before every meal) and less dulce de leche. My pants are almost fitting like they used to, get pumped.

Alright, time for life to call in again. Although I have finished my Native American Poetry reading, I still have short stories to read, 3 chapters n Boquitas Pintadas, a 2-page thing to write, an informe to write, a resume to create and a syllabus to translate to english, so I should get on that. Also, I have to go to lunch at Tea Connection at 2:30, because that's what we do.

Also, I finally bought rain boots and according to weather.com, it's never going to rain again. I hate you karma.

lots of love, like lots, also i still need some addresses for postcards if you want one, hmmm.
love
kristin