I have been eating some decent food since I got here, but am not rushing out to try every delicacy at once, so it’s a slow crescendo. I’ve had one proper steak so far, at a place recommended by someone I met last week. It was quite tasty, but didn’t make me swoon. The mashed potatoes had something in them—I forget what—and were fab. I hear that generally the quality of beef isn’t as high and prices not as low as they used to be. I’ll keep exploring (I just found a cheap all-you-can-eat parrilla [barbecue] place like the ones I went to last time I was here; it’s high on the list of places to check out!).
I went to a cooking class to learn how to make empanadas before I’d even had any here. Super easy. Could definitely make them at home, esp. because they sell the wrappers at the supermarket—and you can basically put anything you want in them, though there are traditional combinations. Since then I’ve been sampling them here and there—they cost about 50 cents US, so they make a great snack whenever I’ve forgotten to eat or am starving between meals (which seems to happen a lot). The roquefort one was the best so far, but I’ve also had ones with beef and chicken.
My landlady, Virginia, has been sharing lots of nice treats with me, including today’s pears boiled with lemon zest—they were both sweet and tart. She also left me a huge pastel that was kind of like a shepherd’s pie, with potatos on top, ground beef, onions, and hard-boiled eggs in the middle (they put hard-boiled eggs in a lot of things here), and some kind of squash/potato mix on the bottom. She also often makes milanesa, which is a very thin steak breaded and fried and topped with tomato, oregano, and cheese. (more…)
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