SaltShaker

Buenos Aires - Coming from a country like the U.S., where vacations are taken more or less at random, living in a place like Argentina can be a bit awkward when official vacation time rolls around. It’s much like trying to visit Italy in August; other than businesses catering to tourists, everything else is closed, [...]

Buenos Aires - “One seventh of your life is spent on Mondays.”
“Mondays are not part of the productive work week.” - Dogbert
“Mondays suck.” - Garfield
Actually, I generally like Mondays. I’m not good at Sundays as they tend to involve being far lazier than I’m happy to be. Mondays are good days to run errands and [...]

Buenos Aires - I’m just a soft touch, that’s the problem. I’d like to think not, but such is life. Somehow or other, last night, out walking around with Henry and his friend Damian, looking for a nice, casual, simple, and inexpensive plate of pasta, I let myself be talked into being seated at a [...]

Buenos Aires - It’s a personal view that one ought to be a trifle careful in the naming of a restaurant. After all, like anything, the name advertises some message to the public, and they will draw conclusions from it, whether it’s your intent or not. Cholita is a word that by itself generally is [...]

Buenos Aires - Anyone who’s ever worked in a kitchen knows that there are moments when you’re passing by an ingredient in the market and it suddenly leaps up and jumps into your shopping basket. It’s sort of like the iPod, widescreen plasma television, or Soloflex, you suddenly find yourself at home with it, don’t [...]

Buenos Aires - It’s been raining a lot this week, so I’ve been in, catching up on lots of reading and writing. I just saw a great post over on eGullet, where I occasionally pop in to see if anyone is saying anything witty, brilliant, or amusing.
Back in August of 2004 I wrote a [...]

Buenos Aires - When it comes to buildings, I tend to think of federal style as a mix of red brick and white shutters, everything being a bit blocky in appearance. When it comes to federal style furniture, it’s almost the opposite, with curves and elegance, and fancy fabrics like damask. I’m sure there was [...]

Buenos Aires - I had a couple of hours before my lunch date yesterday, and after running a few errands found myself near to the Plaza Congreso. The plaza has become home to daily gatherings of the unemployed and/or homeless - most just seem to choose a spot that is theirs for the day, some [...]