7th (Food) Heaven...

Hi Everyone!

I know I'm posting at a different time, and I'm sure you've all been losing sleep wondering where the heck my post could be (yeah right), but better late than never. This week marked week 7 and sorry to say nothing to culturally enlightening or touristy occurred on my part. It was another normal week of classes and some much welcomed warmer (60ish) weather. The best way to sum up this week would probably be food, so it's also a good thing I began to battle with running outside in a big city....not an easy feat for me.

Wednesday I made it my mission to finally run outside. Whether it was my legs telling me to please take a break from the treadmill or my wallet telling me that I could save a whole lot of pesos by not renewing my now expired gym membership but I decided to give it a try. Nervous Nelly over here thought about it all of Tuesday night and I went back and forth in my mind planning when to go, where to go and what to wear. While everyone was off to class I laced up my shoes, grabbed a key and hit the streets...legitimately wanting to pee my pants. I started off house key in my fist with my ipod in my ears (not going to lie it was clearly more to play the part than anything because I rarely run with music) and crossed the main street Sante Fe before choosing to wrap around the botanical gardens and see where I could go. The ipod lasted about 3 minutes when I realized that it could be 'dangerous' by not allowing me to hear everything around me (yeah, ok psycho) so I ripped that out. After zig-zagging all around and doing that stupid jogging in place at a crosswalk thing I make fun of so many people for doing I was finally back in front of the apartment, but feeling a little different than I usually do after a run. For starters, I was way winded and I decided to tag that as me running faster than usual so no one could get near me instead of the fact that my gym membership had already been expired for a week which was probably the true cause. Secondly, I had a huge cramp running all down my right hand side and I couldn't figure out why. That was until I pried open my right fist to find the apartment keys. Needless to say I was nervous about dropping them but still didn't want anyone to see I had apartment keys so I clenched them in my fist, thus causing a giant cramp. Clearly my nervous, anxious tendencies were highlighted for all to see during my adventure. In case you were concerned, I have since been out several times and survived every single one but I'm just hoping no one decides to come to close to ask for directions or anything of the like for both there sake and my own.

The end of the week and the weekend brought sheer laziness which had an upside- experimenting with exactly what we could get delivered to our apartment here in Buenos Aires. People told us before you came that you can get pretty much anything under the sun delivered- from empanadas to ice cream to cigarettes from the local 'maxikiosco' (yes Jen and I went there one night to get some microwave popcorn and were handed magnets with their telephone numbers advertising that they will deliver us a Coca Lite, a pack of cigarettes or even a candy bar....weird). On Saturday I decided to test out the waters of sushi delivery- and I don't think I could have picked a shadier thing to get delivered so I was REALLY hoping it all turned out okay. Sure enough after a botched Spanglish phone call to the Spanish sushi restaurant, 20 minutes later and a mere 10USD I had met the Argentine delivery man on a motorcycle at our apartment door and was headed up the stairs with the food. Now, I will be the first to say I'm not very adventurous when it comes to sushi- heck I don't even eat seafood- but this was honestly the BEST vegetable sushi roll I have ever had. Although I have yet to identify all of the ingredients in the roll the BA twist definitely had to do with the sundried tomatoes that were neatly tucked amongst the layers of cucumber, avocado, celery and pickled ginger. Needless to say sushi was not creepy but in fact delicious and I didn't even have to put on shoes or shower to go in public and retrieve it....it was a beautiful thing.

To continue on with my food adventure I decided to aim for some more 'foreign' style cuisine and go out in search of some mexican style food. Ok, looking back I would like to think this much thought went into my decision, but in reality it was 4 pm on a Sunday and a greasy burrito just sounded appealing. Jen and I headed out in search of CBC- a Chipotle style chain opened in the past few years by two US college graduates who wanted to bring this Mexican style food bar to Buenos Aires. After a treacherous walk through some sketchy side streets laden with construction areas and some run ins with wet cement (which is now hardened to the bottom of both of our shoes) we finally found CBC. Too tired and hungry to try naming ingredients in Spanish we stood in front of our burrito man and just pointed above the glass that covered all of the ingredients. We had no problem playing the part of the hasty Americans- sitting and scoffing our meals before other people had even ordered- sickening, I know. With a fork and a diet coke close by I enjoyed one of the most delicious, un-regional burrito salad to date. All I have to say is bravo you two random college students, bravo. We decided to trek home a different route on full stomachs and tired legs and this was not such a good idea. As I have stated before I am no Dora the Explorer and we literally ended up across town, but to be honest Jen and I both agreed it is more likely that someone just picked up some streets and moved them around while we were in the restaurant because we honestly were going the right way......

Just to warn you I'm coming to a close of these detailed foodie diaries, but I'm not done yet. So if you are concerned for my cholesterol level and wondering if I packed enough spandex to replace my button pants then you should just walk away now because there are a couple more food decisions to document.

Monday brought an overcast day and no classes so I decided for once in a very long time to pull myself away from the distractions of apartment life and facebook and head out in search of a cafe to do some Spanish Literature reading....bold move, right? I headed out towards the Plaza Guemes I visited a few weekends before and found a string of coffee shops. I headed into the first one that advertised a couch nestled in the corner and free WIFI named- The Coffee Store. One of best cups of coffee I have had since being here- Swiss Chocolate Almond...needless to say it made the readings seem a little less painful.

But, before doing so I ventured with my roommates a few doors down from our apartment building to a shady looking parilla restaurant we walk by everyday that offers fresh meat and an eclectic mix of various plastic chairs and tables inside a semi-dungy back room. The parilla for 5, simple salad of onions and tomatoes and hand cut french fries was nothing extravagant but was reasonably price and featured a delicious smoked flavor I haven't yet experienced here in BA. Some of the roomies headed down the street to a bakery they discovered with homemade alfajores (you know those cake like cookies sandwiched with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate...?) the size of a beach ball. I decided to end my food journey before the bakery knowing that I have no doubt I will feature it in an upcoming blog entry :)

And now we have reached tonight, where this oompla loompa completes her journey and must enter detox for the next eternity. But, I have no problems admitting that I traded the touristy temptations of museums and cultural excursions for a week full of a wide variety of what BA's food world has to offer...and you know what?....it was well worth it even if I will know have to become a little (or a lot) more familiar with some nearby running routes...

Here's to sweet dreams and full tummies!

xo

Per