Tea With Mila, Dinner With Hernan

Here is a picture of Mila with two kitties that sleep in a basket at the Artesenal Tango Shoe store. They were both very cute, well, so was Mila. After she woke them up, they walked around the store terrorizing us. The big one had to walk around and rub up against everyone, walking over boxes of shoes or whatever was in the way. The little white one started meowing loudly when everyone stopped paying attention to her. It was an interesting place to hang out as Mila's dance partner, Peter, tried on shoes and tried to decide whether or not to buy them.

Yesterday was a busy and long day. I didn't make it to the gym because I sat here and played around on my computer until 11:30. By then it was too late for me to exercise because I needed to go buy food for my dinner with Hernan. I went to the produce store with the funny, entertaining guy but he wasn't there. It wasn't as much fun and it is kind of a walk, so I guess that isn't going to work out. Then I went to the fish store across the street and got a big piece of fish, but I have no idea what it is, and a package of frozen langostinos, which I am assuming are prawns. Fresh seafood really seems hard to come by, but this store had a big selection of fish.

I took a little nap and then met Mila and her partner Peter at Fabio Shoes. I went to try to find Fabio Shoes before. A colleague of mine who was here on sabbatical last year e-mailed me some information and she told me about Fabio. I had the address - 10 Riobamba. I found it. But there was nothing outside indicating what floor it was on and there was just a buzzer panel. So I never went up. Mila had a tango magazine with the number - I think it is 10A. We went up in the little elevator and were met with a very nice selection of dance sneakers, which are good for practice and dance classes, so you don't scuff your swanky new tango shoes. I didn't buy any shoes, but Peter got a nice pair of black dance sneakers, and Mila considered, but didn't buy, a very cute pair of blue sparkly ones.

From there we went to Artesanal and woke the cats up.

One thing I am discovering here is that my feet seem to be humungous. For most of my life I've worn a size 10, which is pretty big and it was impossible to find shoes in Japan. Now I seem to have grown into an 11. There are some size 10 tango shoes here, but very few 11s. So, when I find a pair that I like in my size, I am very lucky. I plan to go back to Fabio after my current credit card statement closes. I've kind of gone over my budget this month with the credit card.

After we finished shoe shopping, we went to the Alvear Palace Hotel in the Recoleta for Afternoon Tea. I did this last year with Larry and it was quite fun pretending we had money. I can not afford this kind of spread anywhere else but here. The regular tea is 85 pesos, which is a little less than 30 dollars, but we were going to split it 3 ways (normally it's plenty for 2).

We had all kinds of little tea sandwiches, cakes and scones with different jams, marmelades and lemon curd. Along with a nice pot of tea, and the best thing was a great view of a room full of conchettas. The room was filled with only women, all dressed up, hair and make-up done to perfection, sitting around and sipping tea and chatting. There was one large table with someone who was having a birthday. There was a table next to us of four older women, and across from us sat two young women. I think they were all very cheta, they were dripping with jewelry, and while I didn't see any furs, I am sure they were there.

The funny thing though was that since I was going to eat dinner later and Mila and Peter were planning on getting something to eat before their tango class, we just ordered one tea (we also didn't want to spend a lot of money). The little tea sandwiches and all were plenty for us, but at the end, they bring out this big desert tray which looks like it is inside an iron lung. They open the glass on the iron lung and you get to choose a big piece of cake to finish off. When I went with Larry, I know we split the tea, but we also each got a piece of cake.

Our waitress told us that we would get one piece of cake, but I didn't know if she meant one for all of us, or one each. They rolled up the iron lung and Mila chose a little apple tart, which is what I would have gotten too, and it was a good thing that was what I wanted because after Mila chose, they closed the iron lung and rolled it away. We all looked at each other surprised. I told them I felt so poor. It was like Oliver, "please sir, more food?", but it was fine. We cut up this delicate little tart into three pieces while the conchetta surrounding us each had their own big piece of cake. I guess it proved to me that I will never fit in here in the Recoleta among the well-heeled. I also realized that I don't really like going to the Alvear Palace all that much. It's kind of like going to the zoo. Not a place I want to spend a whole lot of time, especially if they are going to ration the cake.

We hopped in a cab and all got off at Puerrydon and Santa Fe. From there Mila and Peter took the subte home and I walked the few blocks to my apartment to begin cooking for Hernan. Fortunately, he was running late, so I had more time to prepare.

I made a good dinner and he loved it. We started with chicken wings that I made with garlic, ginger, sweet chili sauce and tamarind sauce. I stir fried them first and then baked them until they got nice and crispy. They had a little bite to them and were maybe too spicy for Hernan, but I thought they came out great. Just the right blend of sweet and spicy and they were sticky and crunchy and the meat was very tender.

For dinner we had a curry with mixed seafood, a little Penang curry paste so it wasn't too spicy and coconut milk, with peas and zuchini (I forgot the mushrooms), a fish baked a la papelote with a little green curry paste, cocunut milk, dill, coriander, basil, ginger, shallots and mushrooms. The fish I thought was a little dry. Hernan kept telling me to keep it baking 5 more minutes. It went from staying in the oven from 35 minutes to over an hour. Now I know it doesn't need to cook that much.

The final dish was beef with green beans, stir fried with oyster sauce. It was also good and I was happy that my random choice of beef at the supermarket turned out to be a good choice. I bought the smallest chunk of beef I could find. Turned out it was sliced very thin for milanesa. All I had to do was cut it into pieces to stir fry and it was perfect.

Along with this we drank a bottle of La Linda rose, and it was a perfect meal. Hernan was very appreciative and very gracious, in fact it was the nicest he has ever been. He also really liked his gift certificate to the spa. He said no one has ever given him anything like that. I usually don't give spa gift certificates either.

We hung out after dinner talking (mostly English) and then we watched an Italian movie Hernan brought with him called "The Secret", but actually I think it is called "Non ho paura" (I'm not afraid). It was interesting watching a movie in Italian with Spanish subtitles. I understood most of it, but I was so tired, I started dozing off. Finally at 2:30, we finished the movie and Hernan went home

I'm feeling a lot better this week. The remnants of the flu are pretty much gone, I feel more comfortable speaking Spanish and am less afraid of going to the Disco. I enjoy being with Hernan and don't feel so inferior anymore, and I am beginning to enjoy being here again. I think the flu was a big part of my "culture shock" last week, and of course not knowing anyone here was kind of difficult. Since I've started having conversation exchange, and being able to cook in my kitchen, I'm feeling a little more grounded and relaxed about things.

Today I am meeting a new conversation exchange partner, the very enthusiastic, yet mysterious Luis. We're going to meet at Recoleta Village, a huge entertainment complex not too far from here. I really need to start speaking more Spanish though.