guinea pigs: meals, meds, prophecies

[from Wikipedia (mostly)]

The guinea pig plays an important role in the folk culture of many Indigenous South American groups, especially as a food source, but also in folk medicine and in community religious ceremonies. Since the 1960s, efforts have been made to increase consumption of the animal outside South America.

cuy being raised at home in Andean fashion

The scientific name of the common species is Cavia porcellus, with porcellus being Latin for "little pig". Cavia is New Latin; it is derived from cabiai, the animal's name in the language of the Galibi tribes once native to French Guiana. Cabiai may be an adaptation of the Portuguese çavia (now savia), which is itself derived from the Tupi word saujá, meaning rat. Guinea pigs are called quwi or jaca in Quechua and cuy or cuyo (pl. cuyes, cuyos) in the Spanish of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Ironically, breeders tend to use the more formal "cavy" to describe the animal, while in scientific and laboratory contexts it is far more commonly referred to by the more colloquial "guinea pig".

Moche guinea pig

The common guinea pig was first domesticated as early as 5000 BC for food by tribes in the Andean region of South America (present-day the southern part of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia), some thousands of years after the domestication of the South American camelids. Statues dating from ca. 500 BC to 500 AD that depict guinea pigs have been unearthed in archaeological digs in Peru and Ecuador. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped animals and often depicted the guinea pig in their art. From ca. 1200 AD to the Spanish conquest in 1532, selective breeding resulted in many varieties of domestic guinea pigs, which form the basis for some of the modern domestic breeds. They continue to be a food source in the region; many households in the Andean highlands raise the animal, which subsists off the family's vegetable scraps. Folklore traditions involving guinea pigs are numerous; they are exchanged as gifts, used in customary social and religious ceremonies, and frequently referenced in spoken metaphors. They also play a role in traditional healing rituals by folk doctors, or curanderos, who use the animals to diagnose diseases such as jaundice, rheumatism, arthritis, and typhus. They are rubbed against the bodies of the sick, and are seen as a supernatural medium. Black guinea pigs are considered especially useful for diagnoses. The animal also may be cut open and its entrails examined to determine whether the cure was effective. These methods are widely accepted in many parts of the Andes, where Western medicine is either unavailable or distrusted.

 cuy asado

Guinea pig meat is high in protein and low in fat and cholesterol, and is described as being similar to rabbit and the dark meat of chicken. The animal may be served fried (chactado or frito), broiled (asado), or roasted (al horno), and in urban restaurants may also be served in a casserole or a fricassee. Ecuadorians commonly consume sopa or locro de cuy, a soup dish. Pachamanca or huatia, a process similar to barbecueing, is also popular, and is usually served with corn beer (chicha) in traditional settings.

can you eat vegan in South America?

[from Adeline Bash @ Trekking Through It, 10 October 2010]

An American Vegan In Chile.

When I came to Chile I expected to be hungry…

I had given up animal products six months ago and my school had warned me South American fare was not vegan friendly.

My counselor suggested I begin reincorporating meat back into my diet immediately, to avoid getting sick while I was abroad.

I wanted to experience the culture and didn’t want to come off as a pretentious American to my future Chilean family, but eating meat again? That was out of the question.

I reasoned that I would do my best to avoid it, but told my advisor that, if need be, I would eat eggs and dairy again. But after discussing it with my mom, who also recently adopted a vegan diet, I gained a new perspective.

She reminded me that my diet was about more than food. My decision to stop eating meat was not a new fad. It was not one of my numerous New Year’s health kicks that I knew I would inevitably give up. It was about how I wanted to interact with the earth and the other living things with which we share it.

I revised my application form and stated that I intended to maintain a vegan diet during my time abroad. My counselor was apprehensive, but told me I should be fine.

Nonetheless, with everything I’d heard about the Chilean diet—carne at every meal, bread cooked with animal lard—I expected to be hungry.

But after being here for a little under three months my experience has been the opposite.

Like most of my American girlfriends my jeans are fitting tighter and I am enjoying every minute of gorging myself on the magnificent—and unbelievably cheap—fruits and vegetables that line Chile’s busy outdoor marketplaces.

Click here to read more.

Lima says no to GMO

[from The Independent, 19 June 2011]

Peru's capital declares itself a GMO-free zone

Peru's capital Lima declared itself a "GMO-free zone" in a municipal ordinance on Thursday in response to a controversial government decree that critics feared would see the country flooded with genetically modified organisms.

Lima's Mayor Susana Villarán

The city council, lead by Mayor Susana Villarán, officially declared the city of eight million a "territory free of transgenic and genetically modified organisms," to protect the population's health and preserve biodiversity and the environment.

Similar measures have already been enacted in other parts of the country in response to an April 15 decree regarding "biosafety," which Peru's Minister of Agriculture, Rafael Quevedo, said was only intended to regulate entry procedures for GMOs among various government agencies responsible for biodiversity.

Several cities in addition to Lima as well as agricultural groups, agronomists and doctors denounced the government decree when it was was published in April.

The declaration comes one week after the legislature approved a law that put in place a ten-year moratorium on imports of genetically modified cultures and seeds into Peru, unless they are to be used for research purposes.

Peru's President Alan Garcia

The moratorium must still be approved by President Alan Garcia, who can send it back to Congress for changes before he leaves office on July 28.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, Peru is one of the world's largest exporters of organic food, including coffee and cocoa, with $3 billion a year in revenues and 40,000 certified producers.

cocoa beans

South American soy

[from Louise Gray @ The Telegraph, 20 June 2011]

GM soy: the high cost of the quest for 'green gold'

Scientists and villagers in rural Paraguay are questioning the health and environmental impact of GM soy.

soy beans

The green shack where Petrona Villasboa lives in Itapuã is surrounded by shimmering fields. It represents a lucrative golden harvest for some but, for this grieving mother, it has become a symbol of death. The crop that dominates this impoverished area of rural southern Paraguay is genetically modified (GM) soy, and she blames it for her son's death. "Soy destroys people's lives," Petrona says. "It is a poison. It is no way to live."

Sitting outside her home, the mother of eight describes the day in January 2003 when 11-year-old Silvino Talavera arrived home. He had cycled to the stalls by the nearest main road to buy some meat and rice for a family meal.

"I was washing clothes down by the river, and he came to tell me that as he'd ridden along the community road, which runs through the soy fields, he'd been sprayed by one of the 'mosquitoes'," she says. ('Mosquitoes' are what locals call the pesticide or herbicide crop-spraying machines pulled by tractors.) "He smelt so bad that he took his clothes off and jumped straight in the water."

Petrona did not think much more about it. For peasant communities living amid the soy fields, chemical spraying is a frequent occurrence. But later that day, she says the whole family fell ill after eating the food that Silvino had bought.

Petrona Villasboa holds a photo of her dead son, Silvino Talavera

"Silvino was violently sick. He said, 'Mummy, my bones ache' and then his skin went black'," she says.

By the time they had begged a lift to the nearest hospital. Silvino was unable to move. His stomach was pumped, but he had lost consciousness. Petrona was told her son was ''paralysed by intoxication''. All doctors could do was to offer pain relief. Within a few hours he was dead.

His family were in no doubt that his death was caused by his exposure to the crop spray, but no autopsy was carried out. It was only after years of campaigning that Petrona managed to have the case heard in court. In 2006, two farmers were each sentenced to two years in jail for manslaughter. According to Petrona, the men, who are her neighbours, have never served their sentence, and she continues to fight for justice.

Click here to read more.

Tanya & Bevan in Cafayate & Salta

[email & pix from Tanya & Bevan's recent visit to La Estancia]

donkeys @ the gate

We were caught for an extra night in Cafayate because both gas stations were out of nafta! Although the delivery truck was expected at 4pm on Sunday, it did not arrive until around 8am on Monday morning. We were happy that we didn't have a flight to catch and were not too upset seeing that there are much worse places to be stuck! We now will always leave Salta with a full tank and fill up when we arrive in Cafayate.

Heath Club desserts

The food at the clubhouse continues to improve. We had an amazing lunch there with some beautiful desserts! Bevan and I also had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people this trip - both people living in the town, owners, and some potential owners.

In Salta, we went mattress shopping and found things very expensive. The Simmons Beautyrest are around 10-16,000P and the Argentine brand, Cardeuse, were around 10K Pesos for their higher end mattresses with a pillow top. If you aren't able to tolerate really firm mattresses, I would suggest going with the top of the line Cardeuse or the Simmons.

cortes bovino

[thank you, Matt, & the Uruguayan butcher shop that hung this poster]

"cuts of beef for provisioning"

Matt says:

I thought you might find this useful. I took a picture of it in a grocery store (pardon the glare).

It seems to be different than the terms used in Argentina, but it has been helpful for me over here tracking down the particular cuts of meat I'm looking for.

The one thing missing is that entrecot seems to be another term for a boneless rib roast.

asado: how to

[from Jemima Sissons @ The Wall Street Journal, 3 June 2011]

[a big thank you to Joe Meuth for this post]

Barbecuing the Perfect Steak

As Chef Fernando Trocca Prepares the Asado, He Explains Why Argentinian Beef Is the Best in the World

"Never, ever cook with flames—this is probably the most important thing to learn. Flames are the American way."

Chef Fernando Trocca gives writer Jemima Sissons
a lesson on the Argentinean way of barbecuing.

Fernando Trocca, one of Argentina's most esteemed chefs, is sharing this piece of advice while showing me his pride and joy: an almighty black cast-iron parrilla, or Argentinean barbecue grill, that is the centerpiece of his fine dining restaurant Sucre. He is instructing me in the Argentinean way of barbecuing. To the right is a large pit, filled with the smoky aroma of quebracho (a red hardwood), which has been slowly turning into embers for the past hour-and-a-half.

As well as owning Sucre, located in a shabby-chic area of northern Buenos Aires, Mr. Trocca is executive chef of the Argentinean restaurant group Gaucho Grill, with branches across the U.K. and one in Beirut.

Asado—both the name of a barbecue as a social event, and a cut of beef (short ribs)—was part of the chef's weekly life, growing up in Buenos Aires.

preparing the meat

"Asado is a ritual—it is about people cooking together," explains Mr. Trocca. "They mostly happen on a Saturday or Sunday. We don't plan anything here. They usually happen spontaneously. If you have outdoor space, you have a parrilla."

The main difference between an Argentinean grill and a European one is that in the Argentinean grill the fire is on one side of the pit at the bottom. As the embers become red hot, they are pushed to the other side. The meat is placed over these only, hence the first cardinal rule of grilling in Argentina: Never over an open flame.

Mr. Trocca, 45 years old, loved cooking from an early age. "I used to have a grandmother who was a great chef. The passion comes from there," he says.

In 1985, he started his training in Buenos Aires. Five years later he packed his bags for Europe, where his training included a stint with the legendary Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. After moving to New York, where he worked at fashionable culinary hot spot Vandam, he returned in 2001 to open Sucre, which mixes typical asado with modern and European dishes such as octopus carpaccio and whitefish confit with arugula. He has been executive chef at Gaucho Grill for the past three years.

the completed dish

The asado derives from the Spanish asar, to roast, and originated as a gaucho [South American cowboy] ritual. There are still differences with the types of grill found in Mr. Trocca's restaurant and garden, and the ones the gauchos use. Some gauchos still cook in a croce form—whole lambs, for example, are strung up on a cross and cooked slowly next to a fire in the middle. However, in reality, "most gauchos use gas nowadays," Mr. Trocca says. They also prefer their meat to be extremely well done, he says, and this is how it still comes in many Argentine restaurants unless otherwise requested.

The asado starts an hour-and-a-half before eating is to begin, when the fire is lit. Mr. Trocca uses wood only. "Everything is a ceremony," Mr. Trocca says. "I always start by opening a bottle of wine, probably a Torrontes [a white grape from Argentina]. I start with the fire, hand around some salami. First up are the sausages, blood sausage, and chorizo—these are much more fatty than in Europe. Then comes the offal—sweetbreads, kidneys and chinchulines [intestines]—with lots of lemon juice. Only then comes the beef, lamb and pork, often two to three hours into the meal."

Mr. Trocca starts the lesson by showing me how to make chimichurri sauce, a mixture of flat-leaf parsley, garlic, onions, red pepper, dried sweet chili, olive oil and vinegar. He also makes a fresh criollo salsa: simply tomatoes without the seeds, onion and lashings of Argentinean olive oil. In a traditional asado, these are often the only accompaniments to the meat—perhaps with some sweet potatoes that have been baked in foil with olive oil in the fire for 20 minutes, and then slathered in butter.

However, the main event is the meat, and Argentinean steak has the reputation for being some of the best, if not the best, in the world. When asked why, Mr. Trocca explains it is all about geography: "The cows live in the pampas (grasslands), where all they eat is amazing grass. They just walk around, there is no stress and there are no hills, so they have no muscles. It all comes down to diet and muscles." He says that in Europe, he would use Aberdeen Angus, as the closest equivalent.

Mr. Trocca starts to grill a five-centimeter, finely marbled rib-eye on the parrilla, which will take 12-15 minutes in total to be pink in the middle. A good indicator of when to turn it over is when the blood rises to the surface of the raw side. He elaborates on which cuts of beef he favors: asado (short rib), followed by rib-eye and skirt steak. Fillet doesn't stand a chance: "In 10 years in Sucre, I have never had it on the menu, there is no taste as there is no fat. I know how popular fillet is. If it is on the menu, it will sell. I like to re-educate people a bit about different cuts."

One of the most delicious things on the menu, and rarely seen on the barbecues or restaurant menus of Europe, is matambre de cerdo: pork flank steak. After being salted first (no pepper, as with all the meat), it is cooked on the grill for four minutes on either side and served with potato salad.

And what would he never put on a barbecue? "Chicken, unless it is spatchcocked, and fish, which simply doesn't work well."

What does work well, however, is grilled provolone cheese. This is a nod to Argentina's multicultural history, as much of the country's cuisine has Spanish and Italian influences. Here, provolone cheese is simply cut into four-centimeter discs, and left to dry out for a few days, before being grilled for two minutes either side. This is served with chimichurri sauce.

As Mr. Trocca painstakingly layers discs of potato onto a pan—to be served as a sort of potato doily with the beautifully tender rib eye—he explains what he loves most about asado: "It is the most social of all cooking, and, gastronomically, it is what Argentina is most famous for," he says. "There is nothing like a slow asado, all your friends sitting around and talking; I will send out things little by little for them to enjoy. Sometimes it goes on for four hours or longer—to me that is the perfect meal."

puerta cerrada (closed door)

[from A Gringo in Buenos Aires, 26 March 2010]

Closed-Door Restaurants of Buenos Aires

Closed-door restaurants, a.k.a. restaurantes a puertas cerradas, are big in Buenos Aires. Never heard of them? What closed-door restaurants do is to blur the line between restaurants and dinner parties. They often occur in what is actually the home of the chef, and so necessarily they’re limited to small number of diners. Menus usually change weekly or even daily according to the whims of the chef. They also almost never offer you a choice of dishes; you just get what the chef is cooking on the night you go, which is actually kind of liberating.

The result of all of this is something more intimate and social than a regular restaurant. Going to a closed-door restaurant usually involves meeting and chatting with the chef and the other guests, rather than just eating and dashing. There’s much more a feeling of a shared experience with your fellow diners. Also, the cuisine they offer is often a lot more creative and adventurous than your standard Buenos Aires restaurant fare (which makes a welcome change from meat-and-Malbec).

Casa Saltshaker

The most well-known closed-door restaurant in Buenos Aires is undeniably Casa Saltshaker, which is run by Dan Perlman, author of the influential Buenos Aires restaurant review site at www.saltshaker.net. Casa Saltshaker offers a five-course tasting menu (optionally paired with wine) which changes from one day to the next. Every menu at Casa Saltshaker is themed, and some of the themes are pretty whacky (check out the website). It seats just 12 people in the apartment of Mr. Perlman and his partner Henry Tapia. It’s located in Barrio Norte.

Casa Sunae

Much newer on the puerta cerrada scene is Casa Sunae. The food is ‘pan-Asian’ and both promises and delivers “fiery curries, fresh herbs and exotic spices.” If you’ve been in Buenos Aires for a while and are craving food with flavor, Casa Sunae might be just the thing. There’s a nice patio which is a perfect place to meet the other guests over a cocktail prior to dinner, and the service is also top-notch.

Casa Felix

Casa Felix is another well-established closed-door restaurant. Rock star chef Diego Felix offers a five-course tasting menu for up to 12 people every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for ARG$150. Guests get a free welcoming cocktail on arrival. Casa Felix operates out of a beautiful house in Chacarita near Colegiales. Unlike some (most?) closed-door restaurants, mingling between guests isn’t all that common. The food at Casa Felix is sublime and consequently it’s wildly popular, and maybe the best-reviewed closed-door restaurant in Buenos Aires.

La Cocina Discreta

Two other highly regarded closed-door restaurants here are La Cocina Discreta, which is located in Villa Crespo and has the capacity to seat 18 diners, and Treintasillas, which is in Colegiales and is run by the talented and creative chef Ezequiel Gallardo.

Treintesillas

If you want to check out the puerta cerrada experience, note that most of them only open for Friday and Saturday nights – obviously if you’re running a restaurant out of your home, you don’t really want to have guests every single night of the week. Bookings are also essential.

Buenos Aires eats

[many thanks to Cyrus Sarmadi; click on restaurant names below for additional reviews of these & similar restaurants]

Rio Alba, Avenida Cervino 4499, Buenos Aires, Capital Federal, Argentina, (54-11) 4773 9508

This is a local favorite, I don’t expect you’ll find many tourists there. The atmosphere is casual. The steak is the best that I’ve had so far in Argentina, the salad was very fresh as well.

salchicca criolla

Sarkis, Thames 1101 at Jufré, Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, (54-11) 4772-4911

This Armenian restaurant is in Palermo Hollywood. It had some really delicious Mediterranean dishes. I would get a combination of platters like kabob, hummus, olives, tabouli salad, and so on (they have non-meat selections also). They only take cash.

Tegui, Costa Rica 5852, Buenos Aires; (54-11) 5291-3333

This is a fusion restaurant in Palermo Hollywood. The food was good (small portions though) although a bit pricey, the atmosphere is very contemporary, and the service was OK.

rabbit ravioli

the best sushi in Buenos Aires

[from Brando, 5 April 2011]

You can find sushi restaurants in all parts of the city, & most offer takeout & delivery.

the best pasta in Buenos Aires

According to Brando, Buenos Aires has great pasta restaurants because so many porteños (people who live in Buenos Aires) are of Italian descent. Here's Brando's map of fine pasta restaurants:

Read today's Brando article to learn more.

remineralize

One of the delights of my blog is hearing from readers, for example, David & Dasha Gaian, whose organization Remineralize the Earth "is a nonprofit organization assisting the worldwide movement of remineralizing soils with finely ground rock dust, sea minerals and other natural and sustainable means to increase the growth, health, and nutrient value of all plant life. Adding minerals and trace elements is vital to the creation of fertile soils, healthy crops and forests, and is a key strategy to stabilize the climate."

The website is very interesting, including this story about remineralization in Brazil.

tamales & humitas

It’s freezing in Salta. Ok, not literally, but last night at 7:30 PM it was 14º C according to a lighted time & temperature display at the corner of Belgrano & Peyreddon. We went out for some exercise & as usual, the walk was far longer than we’d planned. All the restaurants we’d spotted on Saturday night were closed on Sunday.

Finally, we reached El Corredor de las Empanadas at the corner of Zuviría & Necoches. This place has the best tamales & humitas in Salta. Tamales cost 5 pesos; humitas, seladas (salted) or dulces (sweet), 10; un medio litro de vinto tinto de casa (a half liter of red house wine) 10. So for 30 pesos we enjoyed 2 tamales, 1 humita selada, a basket of bread served with picante (very spicy) sauce, & wine.

The humitas are to die for, so good that I sit for a while with each mouthful, refuse to swallow until I’ve savored & savored the taste. 

eating & sleeping & shopping

Sometimes it seems that all we do here is eat & drink. I'm not complaining.

Last week in Cafayate we got to longing for pork chops, so we dropped by a Super Pollo on Calle Calchaqui near the plaza. The signs on the wall said cerdo (pork) but listed no prices. We took a number & waited while others bought unbelievable amounts of bife (beef) & some pollo (poultry). I also studied the carved-up vaca (cow) chart & picked out the useful fact that lomo means loin.

When a fellow behind the counter called out ochenta y dos (#82), I asked whether he had lomo de cerdo. Yes, he did, so I asked whether it had os (bone) or not. Both, he said, so yippee, I asked for 2 bone-in loin pork chops. He looked in the chest freezer & found no pork, so he headed into the walk-in freezer & returned shortly with a frozen bone-in pork loin. After cutting a thin chop, he held it up for me to see. Demasiado delgado (too thin), I said. ¿Mas grueso (thicker)? he asked. Sí, I said. We walked out with 2 thick chops that cost us 15 pesos. They were delicious.

Every time we come to Salta, we stop at a hole-in-the-wall cheese shop on San Martin for a half kilo of white, semi-hard, goat cheese that we break easily into chunks & eat off & on all day. To find the shop, cruise the north side of the 800 block.

Our jaunt along San Martin was in search of a colchón (mattress), 2 por 2 (2 meters square). Numerous folks told us to go to MaxiKing, but we found MaxiKing's mattresses too duro (hard) for us. We are bony, & I am arthritic. It was odd to find at least 5 stores all selling MaxiKing brand within 2 blocks, but Salta & Buenos Aires are like this. They have single-use shopping districts. We walked through the music & the bookstore shopping districts in Buenos Aires a few weeks ago.

Because our favorite mattress ever was a Simmons, we trekked over to Alto NOA shopping mall at 6 PM & sprawled on a few Beauty Rests. Blandito (soft), we kept saying. Yup, we found one we liked, only 6+K pesos, at least 4 times the price of a high-end MaxiKing, but hey, we sleep a lot. Fascinating to learn that getting a mattress delivered to Cafayate costs only about 150 pesos.

Friends told us today that when we go Simmons to buy the mattress, we should tell them what we want, offer 5K pesos cash, & see what happens. They also told us about buying their new camioneta (pickup). They withdrew cash of the ATM for days on end & borrowed cash from everyone they knew & went to the car dealer with cash, the only way to get a good price, that is to say a good price here, where cars are not cheap.

On the way back from Vaqueros, the same taxi driver recommended a lunch place, Charrua, muy muy bueno, he said, so we went. It's on the corner of Caseros & Vicente Lopez. Of course we were the first ones there, but wow, it filled to bursting by the time we left. Couples, families with children, multi-generational families, etc., & most of them seemed to be regular customers.

Because we pigged out on bife de chorizo last night at La Lenita on Balcarce, we ate pollo today. Mike's meal was a fabulous pollo al ajillo con papas. After the first taste, he said he could now translate ajillo (garlic). His papas (potatoes) were thin rounds cooked golden & semi-crispy. I only ate 2, because I was scarfing down my pollo curry which came in a baked basket made of herbed cracker dough (exquisite) along with rice & sauteed red/green/yellow sweet peppers. For all this plus bread with condiments, a half liter of vino tinto, & a bottle of agua con gas, la cuenta (bill) came to 88 pesos.

The waiter at Charrua, like many waiters here, ask where we're from & what we're doing here. Our answers of Hawaii & building a house in Cafayate bring smiles. In the middle of last night's meal, the waiter gave us a regalo (gift) of steaming hot, fresh-made empanadas. The Charrua waiter today gave us regalos of limoncello, an icy cold lemon-flavored drink served in liqueur glasses, absolutely delicious. I look forward to buying a bottle.

For tonight, I'm thinking 1 tamale & 1 glass of wine. Moderation, right?

fruit, weather, & art

While you're here, buy & eat fruit from the local vendors. The peaches, plums, pears, grapes, & watermelon are all splendid.

Folks are asking me about the weather.

A week ago the weather was cloudy & occasionally rainy. Then it changed to sunny & warmer. In the last two days, the clouds came back. Last night it sprinkled, & we saw one lightning flash.

This morning the ground is wet, it's partly cloudy, & low clouds hover over the mountains. Mike stood outside Ginny's front door to shoot this picture of snow on the high peaks.

Temperatures are comfortable to warm. Light cotton clothing & occasionally a light sweater are all we've worn.

We stopped by to see local ceramicist Sasha Utama's work this week, but he was not home. I took these photos of his yard.

first days

At dusk on our second night at La Estancia, we drive down the main road past the Heath Club. As we cross a patch of wet road, a flight of Whistling Herons rises before us. I’ve never seen this bird except in Argentina.

Syrigma sibilatrix, Chiflón, Whistling Heron

§

¿Donde está la farmacía? Where is the pharmacy?
Around the corner, the woman says, one half block plus a quarter.
To the left? I say.
Si. She nods & grips my upper arm. Where are you from?
The United States.
Have a wonderful visit.
Smiles & smiles.

§

I ask the young pharmacist for Suphedrin, & he brings me a box of 10 tablets. I tell him that my husband has had a fever for three days, that he is coughing badly. The pharmacist goes to the back & brings out Refrianex Compuesto, a cold remedy containing paracetamol for fever, ephedrine for congestion, chlorpheniramine for allergy, & bromhexine hydrochloride for coughing. Even though I don’t recognize 2 out of the 4 ingredients, I agree to try it instead of the Suphedrin. When I ask for Mentholatum, he brings me Otrivina, an Argentine equivalent. 70 pesos.

§

At la pulpería, which is what general stores, country stores, have been called for three or four centuries in Argentina, the owner breaks away from the circle of old men drinking beer & mate to ask how he can help me. Fruta seca, dried fruit, I say. We go back & forth in Spanish until I understand to say higo for fig. He walks between barrels to a countertop covered with dried fruit in plastic bags. He offers me a fig, which is delicious. I decide to buy 200 grams of dried figs & 4 dried whole peaches. Later the peaches prove to be magnificent.

As we turn back to the main counter, he says what else, & I choose a bottle of the excellent Burra Roja beer from San Carlos & a half dozen eggs. Bastante, I say. ¿No mas? he says. He adds it up, 43 pesos, & when I see the sum on his notepad, I say cuarenta tres. He congratulates me on my eyesight, explains that blue eyes mean good eyesight, & recites a longish poem in Spanish about blue eyes. I understand some, not all of it, smile with delight. Un poeta, I say. He assumes a small proud smile.

On my way out he escorts me, points to a bag of dark plant material that he says is good for cough. I explain that my husband is sick with a cold & that he has been coughing for many years. My new friend turns back behind the main counter, reaches up, & pulls down a dark brown bottle labeled Arrope de Chañar. He points to a large plastic bag full of small round orange fruits: chañar, 1 kilo for 5 pesos. I decline the kilo but accept the 12 peso bottle of fruit syrup. 1-2 teaspoons in warm water 3-4 times a day. I suspect this remedy will work better than what I bought at the pharmacy.

§

Back home, I strip last night’s roasted chicken from the carcass & drop the bones into a soup pot with an onion, salt, peppercorns, & plenty of water. I don’t have any herbs. The bones boil for 2-3 hours, fill the house with the wonderful smell of chicken stock. Later I strain the stock, let it cool, remove most of the chicken fat, add fresh onion & fresh vegetables from Juan Romero Sr.’s garden — red & green sweet peppers, round green zucchini, hubbard squash — & cook the vegetables for 10 minutes before I add the coarsely chopped leftover chicken for the final 5 minutes. My first chicken soup in Argentina. It will feed us for 3 meals.

chicken soup for a cold

§

This morning a large white sheep, oveja, probably the grownup version of the small white lamb we saw with its black sibling last October, jogs into Ginny’s yard. A long dirty white rope trails from its collar. I run outside & snag the rope, only to be jerked hither & thither while I try to lead the sheep off the newly leveled, about-to-be-landscaped yard & back into the meadow across the street. Everyone is laughing, los trabajadores (workers) & Mike, who wishes he had the camera which is bouncing on its strap around my neck. I want to tie up the sheep but don't see a good place. God forbid I should tie the sheep to a metal utility box, & the sheep should pull the box cattywampus or out of the ground entirely.

§

The black bird in the tree looks like a Red-winged Blackbird, but when it flies, I see that the bright-colored patches are yellow, a Yellow-winged Blackbird.

Agelaius thilius, Varillero ala Amarilla, Yellow-winged Blackbird

Argentine food

[many thanks to Forrest Beck for this post]

I just bought SaltShaker Spanish-English-Spanish Food & Wine Dictionary - Second Edition, a book you may want to make your readers aware of since I have personal experience using it. It is another dictionary, but unique in that it focuses largely on Argentinian foods. The author is Dan Perlman who runs saltshaker.net, a great website for anyone who enjoys trying to locate good food and wine in Buenos Aires. I bought the first edition when Nicole and I lived in Argentina for 4 months in 2007/08. This updated version contains 3000 more entries, but most importantly comes in a Kindle version so I can use it on my iphone/iPad in BA (though I'm not toting my iPad around BA anytime soon).

where to eat fish in Buenos Aires

[from La Nación, 8 February 2011]

Los mejores restaurantes para comer pescado en Buenos Aires

Clasico español: Restaurante Vasco Francés, Moreno 1370, Montserrat | Tel: 4381-5415

Se pueden pedir fritas, a la milanesa o a la plancha. El plato, para compartir, cuesta $75. Los chopitos, de entrada, son una verdadera fiesta: calamares pequeñitos rellenos con sus propios tentáculos y salteados a la plancha con cebollitas $66. El resto de los platos resultan una verdadera gozada: el pulpo a la gallega $180, los cachetes de abadejo a la vizcaína $53 y, claramente, la paella, que viene servida en pequeñas ollitas calientes ideales para raspar el fondo con el arroz pegado. Los arroces merecen un apartado especial con sus atractivas variedades: el negro vasco francés (con tinta de calamar, vieiras y langostinos, $135) y el especial (con centolla, langostinos, setas y crema, $160). Todos los pescados pueden pedirse con un surtido de salsas.

En clave peruana: Primavera Trujillana, Franklin D. Roosevelt 1627, Belgrano | Tel: 4706-1218

Si la idea es hacer un recorrido marítimo por el paladar, te sugerimos pedir el hit de la casa: camarones al ajillo ­-según el día, pueden ser langostinos-, que vienen con morrón, ajo en crema de achacote y arroz. Todos los principales cuestan $50 y se pueden servir con distintas intensidades de picante según la tolerancia del comensal. Otra especialidad para sumar en tu lista de opciones es el ceviche mixto, es decir, pescado y mariscos cocidos al limón con cilantro, especias varias y cebolla colorada.

Sabor portuario: Don José, Avenida Alvear 423, Martínez | Tel: 4798-4860

Los mariscos, por supuesto, son los protagonistas de la carta. La llamada "Fritanga" augura una comida memorable con langostinos, rabas, cornalitos y calamaretes. Si superás semejante entrada, entonces, estás listo para sumergirte en las profundidades de una cazuela de mariscos y moluscos (que cuesta $90 y alcanza hasta para tres personas). Una opción para los menos atrevidos son las pastas caseras con salsas de mariscos, como, por ejemplo, los escandalosos tallarines al bocco ($78, para compartir).

De pelicula: Nemo, Cabello 3672, Palermo | Tel: 4802-5308

Si querés hacer un paseo completo por el mundo de la pesca, entonces, podés elegir entre el tapeo de mar o el tableo de pescado. El primero viene con 14 platitos de mejillones, langostinos, camarones, brótola y otras opciones que no se repiten. Mejor, para compartir $145. Si vas "a por" el segundo, te vas a encontrar con 700 gramos de pescado surtido que propone como constante el salmón y las especialidades del día: abadejo, lenguado, corbina, mero y pacú del río, entre otros $150. El arroz, las papas a la plancha y distintas terrinas acompañan el desfile acuático. Nemo no ofrece pescado frito de ninguna clase ni tampoco excesos de condimentos, sino que, el foco está puesto en los sabores esenciales. Atención con el pulpo, siempre bien preparado, servido con papas al natural, sin trozar y con los tentáculos enteros, $89 el plato.

La pesca esencial: Sólo Pescado, Anchorena 533, Abasto | Tel: 4861-0997

Las especialidades de la casa: desde merluza, pasando por langostinos, trucha del sur, pejerrey, salmón, abadejo y cornalitos hasta paellas, ceviches y gambas al ajillo. En síntesis, todos los platos marítimos en sus correspondientes versiones porteñas, italianas y españolas. Por eso, lo mejor, para evitar confusiones, es acercarse al mostrador y preguntar por la pesca del día para que el cocinero, siempre sincero y honesto, recomiende cocciones y guarniciones. Con $50 comés más que bien.

drought

[from agriculture.com, Dec 4, 2010]

UPDATE: South America crop report

CURITIBA, Brazil (Agriculture.com)--With the country's three most important corn and soybean provinces receiving just 64% or less of normal rainfall in 2010, crop and market-watchers have started to get nervous about Argentina's crops.

It is necessary to follow the next few weeks of weather in Argentina, because the plants are starting that early development stage.

In 2010/11, Argentine farmers are expected to plant 18.65 million hectares (1.7% more than the 2009/10 crop). As of Friday, 59% of the total area has been planted.

The three most important provinces (Buenos Aires, Córdoba e Santa Fé) represent 75% of the total soybean area in the Argentine soybean belt called "Umid Pampa". As of Friday, soybean emergence in Buenos Aires is rated at 73%, Cordoba 66% and Santa Fé 53%.

So far, the corn and soybean soils of Buenos Aires have received only 64% of normal rainfall. In Cordoba, the story is even worse, with just 52% of normal rainfall received. And in Santa Fe, 62% of normal rain has fallen on crop soils.

CORN

In 2010/11, Argentine corn farmers will plant an estimated 4.01million hectares (9.0% more than crop 2009/10). As of Friday, 80% of the crop has been planted.

Like soybeans, the three most important provinces (Buenos Aires, Córdoba e Santa Fé) represent 71% of total area of corn in Argentina's "Umid Pampa" area. Emergence of the corn crop in Buenos Aires 99.5%, Cordoba 81% and Santa Fé 84%.

Reports about weather indicate that the corn and soybean crops are in good and regular conditions. With the lack of normal rainfall, there is concern building, regarding the crop progress in some regions of production in Argentina.

San José de Metán

Yesterday we drove from friendly, hot, dusty, & industrial San Ramón de la Nueva Orán through endless farm country to Joaquín V. Gonzales. We saw plenty of ostrich along the way.

In J. V. Gonzales we glanced briefly at the Hotel Colonial, drank a cup of coffee at the rundown Hotel Mallorca, & decided to drive on to San José de Metán. What a pretty city. Many lovely homes. A conversation with 2 policia led us to a good restaurant, Date Gusto, where we ate an enormous platter of parillada al horno along with the requisite ensalada completa & a bottle of 2007 Quara Tannat.

We suggest you skip the Hotel Solis, where the overwhelming smell of wax in the halls somehow didn't warn me not to accept a grim room with no window to the outdoors (we'd been driving a long time & couldn't find another hotel). We suffered bad WiFi, dim yellow lighting, no power to the AC, a shower faucet handle that came away in the hand, minimal water pressure, & a brown liquid in the breakfast coffee cup that only barely resembled coffee. On the other hand, the muchacho who flipped the AC circuit breaker & unlocked the garage was delightful.