SaltShaker

Buenos Aires - First, a side note, the purchase of our new apartment went off without a hitch! A little different than purchasing an apartment in New York, not too much - the only real difference other than somewhat different paperwork is that instead of issuing certified checks for everything, the finance company hands out [...]

Buenos Aires - The new edition (2006) of Viñas, Bodegas & Vinos de América del Sur was officially released last night. I know you’ve been waiting to hear that. After I’ve had a chance to spend some time reading through it, I’ll write-up a bit of a commentary. What made it important last night was [...]

Buenos Aires - Once again pointing up that plays on words don’t work cross-language was my attempt at a joke about there not being any virgins at the Copacabana. I didn’t say it aloud, as heading to the Bolivian community’s Festival of the Virgin of Copacabana, in Barrio Flores, had the air of something serious [...]

Buenos Aires - We’re coming down to the wire on buying our new apartment, so things have been a little hectic. Meetings and phone calls with the real estate agent, the escribano (notary/title preparer), working out transfering funds halfway across the world (you’d think in the day and age of the internet and easy global [...]

Buenos Aires - Shared a bottle of wine and a bite to eat with Andres Rosberg, the new president of the sommelier association here in Argentina. Future projects in the offing. We dropped by a small wine shop he knows that offers the opportunity to taste wine by the glass or bottle, accompanied by casual [...]

Buenos Aires - Celery is one of those much maligned vegetables. You know the type - okra, avocados, lima beans. You wouldn’t think it would fall into that category, but stop and think about it - other than that ubiquitous staple of the buffet, the “celery stick,” or maybe mixed into a salad, when was [...]

Buenos Aires - I’d like to wax poetic over the first arrival of fresh green peas in my local market. My poetic talents, even if I’ve had a glass or two of wine, run towards Mary had a little lamb or limericks about gefilte fish.
I’d wax prosaic, which is more in line with my [...]

Buenos Aires - Picked up some beautiful oyster mushrooms in chinatown the other day. Decided to just do a search for an interesting recipe on the internet and found a great site with all sorts of mushroom recipes. What caught my eye was a recipe for Mock Abalone. I had all the ingredients except one [...]