...more new flowers

I've never seen these before.

These plants are called tunas and are in full bloom. They are obviously a cactus and wiki has an interesting write-up on them.

I've seen the plants before, of course, near the monte, by the casco. They are very established. But I've never seen them in bloom.

This picture may give you a clue as to why. That wire is an electric fence that we erected early this year. Apparently, the horses are great fans of the fruit...me, too! I carefully peeled one and it was delicious.

Before the wire, they never had a chance to bloom...the horses always got them first.

The blooms are SO bright and vivid that, from a distance, it looked like a giant orange tree had fallen over.

Dry Aged (24 days) Post

I meant to post this at the first of the month. Now, I'm compounding the error by posting it 24 days late. Even worse, I'm now posting it the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day...when NOBODY wants to hear about food!

Oh, well. Here it goes anyway...maybe your stomachs have been sufficiently stretched by Thursday's gorge and you're strangely hungry again or...you've been in Argentina long enough that the holiday slipped your mind altogether ("Sorry, Mom! Really, I just forgot all about it!")

In case you missed it, slate.com did a tremendous piece entitled "Raising the Steaks" If you are thrilled by the taste of Argentine Beef...apparently, it's not your imagination.

The article concentrates on the question of whether or not grass-fed beef tastes better. However, it strays into the subject of the USDA grading system (Prime, Choice, etc.) and a little bit into whether or not meat from "Angus" cattle actually has superior flavor and tenderness.

Of the five top-notch steaks sampled from different methods of rearing and aging, I chuckled out loud when I came to the one US steak most like a cut of Argentine Beef, "Tasting notes: Never have I witnessed a piece of meat so move grown men (and women)."

That fifth steak was, of course, declared the winner:

"The Verdict:
Marbling, schmarbling. The steak with the least intramuscular fat tasted the best—and was also the cheapest. That said, the steak with the most marbling came in a not–too-distant second. Do the two share anything in common? Interestingly, neither was finished on straight corn or treated with hormones. Both steaks also hail from ranches that pride themselves on their humane treatment of bovines. That made for an unexpected warm and fuzzy feeling as we loosened our belts, sat back, and embarked on several hours of wine-aided digestion."

(We can only hope the fine judges were sipping a malbec.)

That result should lay to rest any doubts among us long-timers as to whether or not the beef here is truly more tasty...or we just can't remember what a US steak tastes like.

Furthermore, it says something very good for grass-fed ranchers in the US. The grass-fed and/or organic beef movement allá is still quite new. The article makes a brief mention as to the resistance of restauranteurs to grass-fed beef for reasons of inconsistency, appearance, and quality. There is no doubt in my mind that this reluctance is due to the early results from those ranchers.

Early adopters there of the "no-feedlot" had lots of problems; it had been decades and decades since the US national herd had been selected for success on grass. There simply didn't remain any way of determining (or even guessing) in advance which cows would mature well by grazing alone. Argentine ranchers don't even notice that they eliminate individual cattle that don't do well on grass, it's simply something that they've never stopped doing.

Be the First One on your Block!

Happy days are here again!

The Yanq has never quibbled about which side his heart is on.

Go here for details...and/or join Democrats Abroad immediately by clicking here.

Contact me directly with any questions: YANQUIMIKE@YAHOO.COM

I hope we elect you chairperson of The Argentine!

...this just in from La Agronomía

Apparently, the little bugger is "La Cochinilla"...and is easily cured!

More to come.

...now you'll always think of me

...at least when you eat a cheap diner!

I gotta chuckle when I saw this at lunch today. Actually, I've seen this placemat a couple of times before but I never noticed that the oblisco is superimposed over part of the Chicago skyline.

Anyone that's stood in Grant Park (Grant is in Lincoln Park and Lincoln is in Grant Park, fyi, as a symbol for a "city dat ain't ready for reform!") will easily recognize this distictive rascacielo.

I used to enjoy telling visitors that it was the "Shaeffer Pen Building" because of its peculiar finial. Wikipedia, however, has got a nom de plume that I never heard around town!

Outside of legend, I have it from good sources that this particular skyscraper looks odd for another reason: they ran out of money when building it. One of the reasons it strikes you as weird looking is that it is out of proportion; it was intended to be several stories taller.

Los Jacarandás...would you adopt one?

Those mad, wild, desirous of everything at the same time, never commonplace tree-flowers burn, burn, burn, like fabulous purple Roman candles exploding like spiders across the clouds and stars (apologies, Father Jack.) and never fail us in this here antipodal November to which we all groove!

Entonces...calling all hipsters, flipsters and finger poppin' daddy and mommyos. Knock me your lobes! I came here to hip you to these way gone jacs...not to lay them out!

Remember that the bad jazz that a cat blows wails long after he's cut out! Blow something cool their way before the tick tocks both us...and them.

Whew!

Now I owe an apology to Lord B! But what other than beat poetry can do them justice?

With my outright theft of the above graphic from Line of Sight...source of some of the very best Buenos Aires blogging of the last few months...not to leave out Jeff Barry and his blog, City of Faded Elegance, who gave them their due as well this season in his usual deft fashion...

...we have been duly reminded of one of the best things about this here 'burg in which we live:

The Jacarandas. And now a plea to your generosity:
I believe there is a blight among us.

As I am somewhat involved with the Facultad de Agronomía it will be pretty easy to confirm the creeping badness that I've noticed among them over the past three years.

Perhaps it's too soon for a call to arms...but I wanted to get your attention before they all lose their springtime charms.

I intend to adopt an sick jacaranda on Libertador in Retiro. Do you know of a similarly ailing one in your daily route? Are you interested in "springing" a few bucks...especially if I can get us a group rate?

It wouldn't be like gifting a torre to the city we love...it might even be better.

Buenos Aires scores two!

The "Beeb" always seems to have good coverage of Argentina...but this was truly special in that two local stories got back-to-back stories on their front page.

If you've been here long enough, you'll have had experience with the cyclical lack of small bills and coins reported here.

THE PILLOW FIGHT, however! How'd we local bloggers miss that one!

I blame it on on Ian and Cintra being out of town.

UPDATE! Here's Alan Patrick of www.buenostours.com with the date/time stamps to prove he was all over the pillow fight before the BBC. Nice lookin' site. Thanks, Alan.

Din-Din with the B.A.E. Group

Lots of fun as usual! Good food, too. As I've mentioned before, I always enjoy myself at these somewhat monthly outings that Chris and Igor and the gang put together...although I never attend as much as I'd like.

Last Friday in Congreso was no exception in the enjoyment department.

Igor the Slav, Kevin the Celt (...and yours truly being ½ of each tribe) along with a latecomer member remained to discuss the relative virtues of malbec until the wee hours.

...con la frente marchita..las nieves del tiempo...

I feel like I'm back!

It was wonderful to squire my dear aunt and uncle around the city and province for more than an month...but it took me away.

On occasion, over the past weeks, I would peek in on the BsAs Expats Group...you should too, it's great group and managed by great people.

However, I encountered there a thread that astounded me: Argentina: Land of the Selfish.

Enraged me...would be more a more accurate description of my reaction to some of the posts.

The thread went on and on...until the admin mercifully closed it. It then opened into a PART 2 for Christ's sake!

Entonces...I decided to warm back up for yanquimike.com.ar by starting my own thread, creatively entitled, "Argentina: Land of the Generous."

A zillion words later, I realized that I could write a book about my warm feelings for this city (and I never even got a chance to rhapsodize about the little towns of the province!)

So here's my post to that thread...and it's your turn to contribute your warm and fuzzies...just don't forget to read all the poison and invective from the originals here and here first.

Don't let it sour you on the BsAs Expats Group, tho! They are wonderful and you should visit their outing tonight and consider joining them.

Argentina: Land of the Generous

Posted on: 11/17/2006 01:52 PM

I really couldn't believe that the "selfish" thread lasted so long (and now it's morphed into part2!)

How long can we continue THIS thread? Certainly as long or longer.

BsAs in particular had little or no experience with tourism 3 years ago...today it handily welcomes more than its population in annual visitors.

Argentina is still open to immigration 19th century-style. Immigration requirements are actually part of the constitution. I would love to see a ranking of countries as to their acceptance of immigrants...then I would like to see how many of those countries you would even consider immigrating to.

Do you attempt to speak the local language? You really should. It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, it can be bad. But it represents effort, humility, and the attitude of a guest...which is what you are. If you don't you should be prepared for at least a variant of the yankee sobriquet, "If those people want to come here why don't they learn English?!?"

Do you buy a local newspaper everyday? You really should...at least the English language editions. If you do, you will very likely drum up a friendship with your local kiosquero which will be source of advise, answers and a venue for shared experiences. There are quiosqueros that remember me from years ago when I was "just visiting".

Do you buy flowers? You should (especially some of the more bitter among us.) The lowly jasmine will fill your place with perfume for a couple-two-tree pesos and give you another opportunity to fall into the rythym and music of Buenos Aires as well as friendly discussion of the weather and, possibly, some advise or answers that you might need. Not only that...you'll keep in business one of the little parts of this city's soul.

Do you walk? For all its narrow broken sidewalks (I have a collection of travelogues that go back more than 100 years of English language complaints about the sidewalks here!) this is a very walkable city and shot-through with greenspace and balconies overflowing with santaritas (bougainvillas) and little shops that harken back to the 19th century selling buttons, brushes, ladies' hats, etc. The best way to know a town...and maybe the only way to love a town and be loved in return...is to burn some shoe leather. Walk. Get tired. Stop at a cafe. Restore yourself. Walk some more. And don't forget to talk. Your health, your Spanish, and even your attitude will improve.

Notice the light. I never hear it mentioned but if you notice it and maybe mention it to others, you'll realize that the sunlight here is special. Something like the Greek isles are famous for.

Breathe. Rush hours can, indeed, make you gag. However, pay attention to how Our Lady of the Good Winds blows the nox out almost immediatly afterward. That's something I've never encountered in my safaris of the great, large cities of the world.

In breathing, you'll notice sometimes that you've wandered into the invisible envelope of a jasmine or tilo tree...if the humidity is dense enough (very rare), you'll swear as though you and your clothing have been saturated with the perfume in a lasting way.

Let yourself feel the natural cycles of the day. If you're lucky enough to be at your leisure, don't forget to feel that "skipping school" sort of feeling as you watch millions of people make their way to work, lunch, meetings, home. And if you find yourself on one of the bondis (city buses) during peak times...especially during the semana brava ("the tough week" of heat and humidity) try to notice what you aren't noticing: these are a very clean people! Try to compare that to being crammed into a bus or subway car in the middle of Summer wherever you are from...the stench back home would be deadly.

Look at the pretty girls and how they fight for their art of beauty. Look at the older men and the porteño elegance they maintain...even if it is a little threadbare on occasion, the choice of fabrics and cuts of their suits have an elegance that is/should be a national treasure. Notice how the elderly are completely and totally integrated into the activity of the city. Ancient women do their shopping and make their purchases...and sometimes you'll see them chance to meet friends in the street. It's really beautiful. It's also something I've never seen to this extent in the US (maybe in Chicago's Little Italy...back when that was really in existence.)

Go out at night...even if you are older or just not used to late night "carousing". You'll find that you feel safe...probably safer than in your (old?) hometown. Notice how lots of foot trafic on a street makes things safer. Keep an eye especially open for octogenarians taking an ice cream after midnight. There is, of course, crime here. But whatever the crime rate, it doesn't scare the elderly or anyone else off the street like it does in the country of my particular birth.

This might surprise you but my foreign visitors to Chicago would always ask the question, "Where are all the OLD people?" If you can't notice it here and now...try to remember to notice it when you return home to the states.

Depending on you're background, you will soon get a feel for what it is like to live and work here. When that happens, try to develop a little tolerance for young people that work hard under difficult conditions, pocketing each week what you spend for dinner...even as they maintain their hopes and dreams in an unsure country and world. They are inclined to let off steam...but I'm unaware of young people anywhere that don't.

Keep in mind while you apply your foam earplugs (you should!) that many more of them will be partying in your apartment building Friday and Saturday now that the city has embraced a northern hemisphere attitude of 24/7 total prohibition toward protecting your right to smoke-free bars and nightclubs (those places and hours among which one writer to this forum aparently likes to take his children.) A bit of imported intolerance that comes with a price as does everything.

I haven't covered everything! Let all lovers of the beauty and art and artfulness of this tremendous city and country post here and post here and POST HERE...until the admin is forced to close the thread!!!

Your friend and lover, Buenos Aires,
maskow

p.s.

"Friendly and open" are quite subjective qualities. In the interest of full disclosure, I lived in Le Marais, Paris for a month...dying for a "souvenir" experience of classic parisienne rudeness...I never got one. In fact, I was daily beset with random acts of senseless kindness. (Now you know who you're dealing with.)

My 3 years here have been even more enjoyable in this regard. I think I can explain this: people from rural, small-town, and even suburban parts of the US consider my hometown of Chicago very rude...notwithstanding much anecdotal evidence of it being the friendliest big city in the country. Buenos Aires is a big city...big cities are difficult to live in, work in, move around in, stay-on-schedule in. Don't expect to be treated and accorded the recognition that you would in Peoria or a small Thai village...people just don't have that kind of time.

However, sociologists will tell you that there is a method to approaching "bigcityites" and receiving the attention you need and/or crave. To wit, don't approach strangers with a big, open smile and greeting...you will look suspicious to them. Instead, approach with the words, "Pardon me, I have a problem, I was wondering if you could help me." Then stand back as the flood gates of personal aid open. As busy and harried and, yes, suspicious as these residents are...(perhaps, even, because of that!) they each consider themselves to be tremendous experts in surviving and enjoying the city in which they live. They will, in Paris, NYC, Chicago, and any other megopolis that I have visited, literally go out of their way to help you and make your experience enjoyable if you make their acquaintance in this way. Try it. You'll like the results.

pps. See you tonight, Igor.

¡Bueno...basta!

Thus ends our US election coverage for this year. Thank you for allowing me this somewhat off-topic rant. I still have visitors from Yanquilandia for about another week...after that, it's back to Buenos Aires both body and soul.

Just to close this topic off...we've been watching the senate races in the estados de Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Assuming that all other races were safe for the Dems (they were.), we needed 4 of the above 6 to take control.

In Arizona, the GOP kept the seat with 52% of the vote.

In Missouri (my pet worry for this season), Dems picked off a Bush supporting incumbent and gained a seat.

In Rhode Island, the voters decided that the fairly liberal Chafee dynasty was not liberal enough...Dems pick up another seat.

In Tennessee, Democrat Harold Ford's tremendous momentum toward becoming the state's first Black senator in more than 100 years was squashed by what was possibly the most racist political ad of season in which a fictitious blonde white woman made multiple sexual innuendos regarding Ford. The race came down to 50.7% to 48%.

Now for Montana. Democrat Jon Tester has won but is insisting that every vote be tallied before making his victory speech. From Daily Kos, here is the situation and process for this tight race (49.1% to 48.4%):

Montana Vote Situation: Jon Tester leads Conrad Burns by approximately 1,700 votes (as of 11am EDT) and counting. In Silver Bow County (Butte), a Democratic stronghold, votes are still being counted but Tester is winning there with 66% of the vote. We expect to gain the majority of these uncounted votes and to add to Tester's margin.

Montana Process: When the counting phase is completed, a canvass will verify the vote tallies. That process could take as long as 48 hours, and must begin within three days and end within seven. Unless the canvass shows the margin to be within ¼ of 1%, there is no recount. As the loser, Burns would have to request the recount. When the votes are all counted, we expect to be outside that recount margin.

Then there's Virginia. The jury is still out, so to speak, on this apparent victory for the Democratic candidate: 49.6% to 49.3%. Kos, once again, gives us the lowdown on how this will be resolved:

Virginia Vote Situation: Jim Webb is up by approximately 8,000 votes and once the provisional ballots are counted, we expect Webb's margin to increase. (Please note that VA absentees were included in the tallies from last night.)

Virginia Process: A canvass is underway to verify the results and we expect that process to finish within a day or so. To be in recount, the margin needs to be less than 1% and Allen (as the loser) would have to request it. Because of Virginia voting laws, the margin would have to be much tighter than it currently is to see any change in the outcome. Given the current margins, that is highly, highly unlikely.

The NYT has another take on the possible recount in Virginia.

With Virginia, we have the necessary 4 of my original six and control of the Senate.

Already, Donald Rumsfeld has resigned as Secretary of War.

Maybe the "Old Country" will even regain habeus corpus.

If that happens, anything is possible. Chau from YanquiMike election central.

It's 2am...

I'm gonna finish this bottle of malbec and wake up sometime tomorrow to see if the above prediction comes true.

I tried my luck at the Gibraltar tonight...at finding someone interested in watching the returns on TV. No luck.

Right now, it looks like MO is our only hope (with 52% reporting.)

God bless us, everyone.

...when I ought to be talkin' about BsAs!

Wow. Gonna be a whole new ballgame tomorrow.

Could we possibly sweep all of AZ, MT, RI, TN, MO...AND VA???

Hey! There was a bar at about 5000 on Av Santa Fe that feted the election returns two years ago! Anybody got plans on going there again this year?