Sunday, May 1, 2011

Bring on the steak!

We are a week into this adventure and things are lookin good.  First things first, we'll talk about our school for those who are interested in that.  It's busy.  Nuff said.  OK, a bit more.  It does consume most of our weekday evenings sadly, but we still find time to eat empanadas!  We both have taught two classes already even though we started our own classes Monday!  Just throwing us to the porteno (Spanish for a Buenos Aires local) wolves.  Everything has gone well though, except my lesson the other day to an advanced class (Lindsay is doing great on all accounts and classes!).  I was going to talk about the 4th of July, had some history planned, and was going to cover some vocab surrounding the subject.  But lo and behold, these guys knew everything before I started.  They could name everyone on Mt. Rushmore, including Teddy Roosevelt being a Rough Rider!  They knew about the Revolutionary War and even about our parades.  Why they know more about American history than most Americans, I don't know, but they did.  Needless to say, I am used to teaching 3rd graders who have the knowledge of a walnut and I can usually out maneuver their attempts at intelligence with grace and ease.  These guys were in their 50's though and presented a new challenge.  It was a bit intimidating.  But they had fun and we sang the Star Spangled Banner to end class and they loved that and wanted to keep their copy of the words.  America wins again!

In other notes, Lindsay and I finally had our first bites of parrilla and asado.  We decided to go to dinner last night, ending up in the ritzy Palermo Hollywood and stumbled upon a wonderful place, Payapa.  Upon scouring the menu, we found a gem on the first page that appeared to be an assortment of food that was geared towards 2 or 3 people.  Our interested was peaked.  As we debated whether or not to order this meal, only guessing what the food might be since it was written in Spanish, but figured it would great, a young English speaking waiter came buy to explain the intricacies of the meal we were considering.  He explained it was a traditional array of grilled meats, including chorizo, chicken, steak, pork, and blood sausage.  And thus, the debate concluded.  SOLD!  The appetizer was a big chuck of grilled provolone, then a salad, followed by our freshly grilled grab bag of meat.  It was cooked without seasoning and the only sauce we used, chimichuri, was for the chorizo.  We only squeezed lemons on the rest of the meat.  Needless to say, unless you don't like meat, which means you're mental, is this meal was freaking fantastic!  The meat tasted so pure, as I can only assume they slaughtered their finest pig, their fattened cow and the most elegant chicken when they saw us walk in.  It was juicy and easily held it's own with flavor without needing a bath in A-1 or Worcester.  We washed all this down with two large bottles of Stella Artois, which was the perfect accompaniment for this divine meal.  And all this for a whopping $50!  And that's expensive from we can tell. Pretty sweet deal.

Now we get ready for another week of school, hope to find an apartment and continue to fatten our faces with empanadas and gelato (ice cream here is delicious).  Cheers to all living north of us!

6 comments:

  1. Let's hear it for carnivores! Nice treat and a pleasant way to reward yourself for your first week. Well done! (Well, probably rare.) Dad

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  2. Ah empanadas and a good parillada! Find a two bedroom appartment, i'm coming back!

    my favorite is still La Cabrera. In palermo on the corner of Cabrera and Thames.

    saludos

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  3. The story about singing the star Spangled Banner was great.. happy you are doing well.

    Brock

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  4. Very interesting. Cindra said her son Jordan, who is teaching English in Inchion, South Korea observed the South Koreans know so much about the United States. Jordan said that not only did they know all 50 states, they knew the capitals, state nicknames, their population, industries, and locations.

    Love, Kathy

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  5. Chuck- we'll bring a steak up for you before we go. i am sure the backpacking trek we have before we return home will only season your steak.

    Reid- done deal. and we are heading for la cabrera very soon now.

    Brock- you really should have heard these guys sing. all four of us way off key, these three guys muddling through the words all while the majestic sounds of brass instruments serenaded us of the story of Ol' Glory. yikes...

    Kathy- our teacher said in most european countries, and i suppose asian countries, too, maybe as a business move, they have their own history as well as world history where they study not just the u.s., but the history of many countries around the world. he made it sound like other countries, at least norway and europe, value knowing something about the world they live in. not that we don't, just a different perspective on the world

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