Death and Life, Food and Wine

Yesterday I was too tired to post anything after a marathon of walking first in Cemeterio de la Recoleta and then in San Telmo's Sunday street market...

The Cemeterio was the one place that I wanted to visit in BA - it was fantastico. It's a miniature walled city within the city with very narrow "streets" (I measured one passage at about 80 cm!) and with some very elaborate mausoleums - a cornacopia of architectural styles.

I didn't recognize any names apart from Eva Durarte (Evita) but it's clear that this is where the richest of the rich and the most powerful of the powerful are burried. Black and grey prevail and oddly there are not many flowers left apart from Evita's family tomb.

There are many lovely bronze plaques with relief sculpture, endless statues of and angels and...cats! Note to the Flea: never, ever come here or you will want to rescue them all.

Inside many of the mausoleums coffins are sitting in view with shrouds draped over and or with a marble slab acting as an alter. In one columbarium, a couple of coffins were inching out..

I could have spent the day but, it was Sunday and San Telmo  was at  it's liveliest...

Sunday was a good "first day" to be in BA. The crazy traffic is not so crazy and the Subte (subway) is not so full. The city is easy to get around in and is quite safe. People of all ages are out and about everywhere at all hours. Overall the feel is very european but with an air of faded grandness about it.

The subway is dirt cheap - about 28 cents CAD for 1 trip that covers the whole system. One curous thing I noticed about the trains is that they drive of the left while the cars drive on the right - very disorienting for me. It was the Brits of course who started the trend. The first Subte line was built in 1913 and the original wooden cars are still in use. You can open the windows and the doors manually if needed - even when the train is still in motion. What fun!

Today it was Cooking Empanandas with Teresita in her home in a lovely suburb about 1/2 hour by train outside the city, The train was another whopping 28 cents and on the way back it was free because the ticket office was closed. Toronto has much to learn.

As soon as the others arrived, by car, which took longer and was hundreds times more expensive than the train, eight of us got right into slicing and chopping with a few breaks to try some malbec and some white wine...the name escapes me...I was chuffed when Teresita said I rolled out the dough perfectly. 

We did a beef stuffing with chopped eggs, onion and spring onion greens as well as a corn filling with a bit of red pepper.  Bolivian spices were used - Teresita swears by their superiority. The dough, and I know that Sherree will cringe, uses lard. Oddly the Americans didn't even know what lard was. I will recreate the recipe faithfully when I get home so be prepared. Oh, I also need 7 volunteers to help. It goes so much faster that way.

The stuffing is a bit tricky but after a dozen it gets easier. Half of each were baked and the rest deep fried - less than a minute. We got to eat our work and the terrace with another type of northern Argentinian wine.

On the way back to my guest house I stopped at Plaza de Mayo to see if there was any sign of the Madres - I love the memorial painted plaza the paving.

And since I was in the neighburhood I took walk over the Calatrava Bridge, Puente de la Mujer. The form was supposed to have been inspired by a Tango couple - you decide...

BTW, it's a swing bridge!