Comments on: Dos Años

By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Wrap it up with a bow

SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Wrap it up with a bow — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:05:35 +0000

[...] a favorite was a tough choice, though it came down, in the end, to one of two – my look back at two years of blogging and my look back at our last day or so visiting Henry’s family in Trujillo, Perú. The [...]

By: Frank Almeida

Frank Almeida — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:08:54 +0000

Congratulations Dan! Happy belated two years. I am currently in an expo and should actually be doing some work, but I wanted to take a couple of minutes to read a couple of blogs and catch up on some that I have not been to for a while. So I wish you a very happy two year anniversary and look forward to seeing you here many more years.

By: dan

dan — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:55:49 +0000

I’ve gotten a couple of e-mails on this post as well – thought I’d post a couple of snippets:

i just read your column on being in argentina two years as of July 2 – congratulations are in order – i think you ve made a great change and done a hell of a lot – and entertained me many times with your musings – it should make you proud that 208 people from around the world signed on and read your post in the last 24 hours – i am in east hampton at this moment with company from joliette, outside of montreal canada for dinner – i brought up foam in cooking at dinner and they brought up some chef from barcelona – and now im sending them your column on foam etc – as far as relationships go, if youre still together and talking, you’ve doing better than most – that’s another major accomplishment – keep trying – i just wanted to say thanks and again, congratulations on two years – D.M. I’m taking the time out to write because I was thinking of you the other day and I sort of had a mini-dream if you will where I saw you going to the next level of your expertise in Argentina when you open a small restaurant, where you become more defined in “branding” yourself if you will – what I saw specifically was you giving out “wine awards” or “medals” that you see given to premium wines annually for their quality – but in this case it would be the “Casa Saltshaker” Gold, Silver, Copper and Bronze metals to the wines indigenous to where you are at in South America (so you could be inclusive of Chile, Brazil and Uruguay as well as Argentina) as to which wines best paired overall with your ethnic meals, etc., which you chose over and over to cook with again, etc. I mean, it would be something rather novel and new, no, but don’t all traditions have to have a starting point? Anyway it made enough of an impression on me that I thought I would write and tell you – perhap soon I’ll see you anyway on ultilissima (they carry the channel here in Miami) with your own (well deserved) show. – R.B.

Thanks to everyone above for the good wishes and thoughts!

By: doctorevie

doctorevie — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:36:16 +0000

Wonderful entry, Dan. I celebrated my 2nd expat anniversary this past April. Last night, I was sitting with Marcelo in our dining room, and I thought, “Damn. Here I am sitting with Marcelo in an apartment in Buenos Aires. How trippy is this?” I still can’t believe it that the winds of fate have carried me down here. It’s been completely frustrating, exhilarating, surprising, and damn scary at times, but I’m glad I had the balls to make the move. It’s still disconcerting to think that ALL my stuff is here, that I have nothing to go back to in the States. Well, not nothing, but my life and all my committments are here now. I totally related to the part about love and relationships. Talk about the clash of the cultures, generations, psychologies. I have been close to calling it a day many, MANY times, because why fight with someone in another language when you can fight with someone in your own language and on familiar territory?! Still, you know, love keeps me here, and, I know that the good outweighs the bad. So, I, too, rediscovered love. Love is an amazing, maddening thing, and I’m so grateful for the experience (even though it just sucks sometimes). I don’t know if I would have chosen this place to live if it had not been for Marcelo. I would have chosen Italy or my homestate of California. But this continues to be a big adventure. Best of luck to you, and keep cooking!

By: ksternberg

ksternberg — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:05:45 +0000

As a native New Yorker (no longer there) who has visited you in BA, I think I have a grasp on what you mean about the relaxed pace there. This is a really good, moving and well-written entry. Fate has certainly been kind to you, although I think it was Ben Franklin who said “I find that the harder I work, the luckier I get,” so various factors are in play. Certainly, no matter what’s next, your life in BA will influence you in whatever you do, wherever you are. Personally, I think where you are is wonderful: A beautiful city with great food and wine, a nice apartment, a good relationship, and an economy where the currency is on a 3:1 ration with the dollar. I kind of like the open a restaurant in the U.S. idea (because I’d like to be closer to your cooking), but please don’t let that affect your decision-making.

By: Pip

Pip — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:43:49 +0000

First of all, congratulations! It must have been a rocky road for sure to make such a change, but it seems like you are taking it all in and enjoying it.
ItÂ´s surprising to see that you consider Buenos Aires to have a relaxed pace, I can only imagine what NYC is like then! But either way, itÂ´s always good to stop and smell the roses, to use an original phrase, of course.