Maybe they should consider a new logo?

Chinese restaurants don't have the best reputation when it comes the type of meat they choose to use. This restaurant's logo doesn't help break that stereotype...

The Hunt For Good Sushi Continues...

In the past few years, Sushi in Buenos Aires has become a recent trend. In a country defined by their meat, when I first arrive in 2006 it was quite difficult to find variety and utterly impossible to find reasonably priced ethnic food (I'll have to write another entry on this!). Not to make a huge generalization about an entire culture, but the locals I had come into contact were willing to scarf down parts of a cow that I did not know were legal to eat, while at the same time considered raw fish to be a huge asco (disgusting).

Good roll memory in Lima, Peru

Times have changed. The demand for this fashionable food has increased as have the number of Sushi and Japanese "style" (note the quotes) restaurants. In my experience, the majority of the sushi (rolls, sashimi, niguiri) are inediblely abismal. In short, it's a copy of the US/Western world's copy of traditional Japanese - lots of imitation crab, canned tuna, hacked fishy tasting salmon, and philadelphia cream cheese galore - all at prices that would be expensive for US standards (if you don't know, BA is CHEAP as hell if you have dollas).
As an avid admirer of Japanese food, I have embarked on the difficult journey of finding tasty sushi without spending half of my peso paycheck on one dinner. I was really looking forward to trying this place near my new apartment called Shiru, I read about it on guiaoleo.com, and all 8 reviewers gave in good marks (the fact there were only 8 should have been a red flag).
The good thing about this place is you can order half rolls, so instead of flushing my money on 30 peso rolls, I could order more variety for the same non-bargain...I ordered a combo of salmon sashimi and nigiri (ehh) and some rolls containing "tempura shrimp" (I put this in quote bc the tempura was like bread dropped in the sink - I know, you are shuddering at the thought - and the shrimp had the veins still hanging by a thread).

Much better than my last experience at PequeñoSan, the quaint Recoleta café turned sushi restaurant only at night with partially cooked rice... but for the 30 pieces of not so great quality at AR$85, I think I will keep trying until I find a hit.

Jalá!

I am very proud of my jalot (challahs) that I made for Rosh Hoshana... I always blame the lack of quality ingredients and my barely equipped kitchen as an excuse why my cooking experiments don't work out... this is probably the best abroad challah I have made to date - could use a little more flavor, but over all nice consistancy.
I ditched the old challah recipe I had (sorry mom) and found a new one online at one of my favorite blogs: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/best-challah-egg-bread/. I tried to follow it the best I could given lack of any proper measuring apparatuses...
It turned out pretty well even though I burnt the top a bit because I had to flip it over last minute...that's what happens when there is just two heat settings on the stove: off and flames.

Maní Japones

This is my new favorite snack - salty morsels of peanuty goodness, Maní Japones, or Japanese Peanuts. What makes them Japanese you ask? Nada, but they are addictively delicious.

To The End of the Line

Line at Starbucks Alto Palermo that stretches out the door and curves around the block - I'm guessing an hour wait just to order. Also note that there are probably 20 other places to get good coffee within a 2 minute radius.

If there is a line out the door, it must be for something amazing, right? Opening night for a huge summer blockbuster, a celebrity book signing, Black Friday sales - totally hellish sounding to me, but I get it... now how about standing in line for a half an hour for coffee, lunch at a "trendy" restaurant when there are a million other restaurants with no wait, bus when there is a subway station 4 blocks away... It seems to me that people factor in waiting-in-line-time as part of the activity time.

The anomaly of the Argentina Line, as I like to call it, continues to baffle me... it's as if people seek out the longest line and get in the back of it, thinking maybe someone will give them 100 pesos once they get to the front.

My theory is that people are so accustomed to waiting in line from the lack of organization, they are used to things being difficult to obtain - so a mere 45 minutes is worth the wait. Some other examples of line waiting include:

1. Renewing of tourist visa - camping overnight just so one can renew her tourist visa all due a two week closing of the immigration office due to rain
2. Friday afternoon bank/ATM machine
3. 7pm Rush hour at the grocery store - I'm not exactly sure what Pago Facil is, but I always get stuck behind an old woman trying to use it when the sign at the cash register clearly says they are unable to use it
   
4. Anything government oriented
5. Retrieving movie tickets even though tickets already bought online - no distinct lines between those with tickets, and those who are trying to purchase them.
   

Fatal Accident in Flores: 2 People Dead, and a Bolivian

Here's a prime example of the quality investigative journalism from my favorite source for all news Argentina, Cronica TV (click for past segments). For those of you who don't speak Spanish, the headline reads: FATAL ACCIDENT IN FLORES (neighborhood in BA) TWO PEOPLE DEAD, AND A BOLIVIAN. Now correct me if I'm wrong, and maybe this is a stupid question, but wouldn't that make it 3 people dead?

If you think this may be a SNL-like spoof, you have been mistaken! This is a prime example of the format and content of the headlines... it's like one completely politically incorrect person got together with all their despicable sleazeball counterparts and said, "We gotta start a news channel!" And they did.

You're so corny...