Empanadas, Take 2

Jamie says: I was excited to try my hand at making empanadas again. The reviews came in: they were great. 

Jonathan was picking up Charlie so Dava and I had the house to ourselves. Empanada making is pretty time intensive and Dava had a good hour to cause trouble. Pictured below are her two favorite activities, taking my wallet apart and finding things in my purse to ruin, rub everywhere, or otherwise destroy.

 

Not pictured: Dava drawing on books, banging on the window, quietly looking at books (awww), tugging at my clothes, sitting quietly and doings things that I'll find out about tomorrow. 

Also, check out this kid's knees when she gets home from school: 

Ranting about food

JG says: My friend Isaac innocently wrote me an email, curious about the food here. This, unexpurgated, is what he got back:


The food down here is alternately wonderful and horrendous. The produce, dairy, pasta, bread and meat from the markets all taste/feel fresh and flavorful. The legendary steak deserves its adulation and the medialunas  (small croissants) are awesome; they taste like hallah French toast. But after exactly 1 month we were sick of the local staples: steak and empanadas (which is one of my favorite foods usually) and ham and cheese on croissants. Fish is expensive and mostly not local. Cans of red or black beans are imported and thus expensive. Finding non-sugared cereal or yoghurt is a full-time job. They love their own style of pizza and serve it everywhere and it's inedible and makes me angry. It's like a block of polly-o melted onto a sponge. Restaurant salads are a middle-American joke. I got some sushi out of desperation and the salmon was good but the tuna was from a can and the veggie roll was cooked. Yesterday I discovered a Syrian market and came home with hummus/tabouleh/babaganoush and I feel like it saved the family. 

More pictures from this weekend

Jamie says: The same day that Charlie, Dava and I walked through the Rose Garden, we came back with Jonathan so Charlie live out her dream of riding a paddle boat with her papa. While they did that, Dava and I walked around finding some green peppers growing next to the sidewalk and feeding the geese. 

On Sunday, we took our second trip to San Telmo Market. I was excited to purchase some more La Milagrosa salsa. Charlie, once again decided that bodega ice cream was better than anything else. I think I should try it! 

Prohibito No Tocar (NOT Touching Is Not Permitted)

JG says: Charlie, Dava and I spent an afternoon at  an exhibit specifically demanding that children touch everything. Highlights included : Charlie re-arranging a Warhol,  Dava learning about how size affects an instrument's sound, Charlie getting a ride using an Argentine kid's leverage, and Dava making the lights dance.

From Charlie: 
Charlie says I love the park; it was so fun when we had our picnic. I got a cheese sandwich and also for dessert, I had had a heart cookie.  It was so yummy. 
Mama says Charlie got a cheese sandwich. Why was it a cheese sandwich? Because she picked out a cheese sandwich. 

Dava says: On our picnic, Charlie fed the pigeons bread from her cheese sandwich. All the pigeons came to see her and every single one got to taste a little bite of bread or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven, or eight, or nine, or ten. 

Walk in the Rose Garden

At the Buenos Aires Irish Festival, last weekend

JG's post: Apparently, there are 5,000 Irish-born or Irish-immigrated residents of Bs.As., so they take Saint Patrick's Day seriously (even if Ireland itself doesn't).  We went to celebrate Dava and Charlie's 1/8th Irishness, and because why wouldn't you go to an Irish festival in Argentina.

Charlie got some "celtic" facepaint.

Charlie says: I was singing a song to my Papa; it was called Countryside Fiddlee-i-o. I love it because it's for a countryside called Ireland. I wrote the song; I also play it with my band sometime. My band and practice it a lot. I bet you didn't know that I have a band. Who will work with my band? 

Dava, of course, was just happy to shake her thing.

Day in the life of...

Jamie says: This is what we looked like walking to school this morning.
(Every morning I say a little prayer that the crappy stroller we have here will last the entire trip. It's questionable.)

Here is a quick video of Dava getting out of school-  https://youtu.be/wrzH-gPcprg She's very cute and has a great time. Although it's not captured in this video, as soon as she sees me she says: "All done. All done. All done."
Lunch with Dava... also, what on earth is she saying here? She says this all day "boot-ah, boot-ah, boot-ah". I thought she was saying "computer" but she says it even when not around computers. https://youtu.be/6z6nsN0Wsjo

A carousel ride after school. It's 60 cents I can't say no. 

Jonathan and I agreed that the last day of school every week, we would get Charlie a treat. This was both to avoid buying her candy and ice cream all the time, because it's everywhere and Buenos Aires kids eat candy and desserts regularly. And also as a reward for getting through another school week in a foreign country. Today I took Charlie to a fancy 'boutique' ice cream shop called Lucciano's. It has ice cream pops shaped like pigs and cartoon characters. When Jonathan and I both saw it we said to each other that we would "HAVE to take Charlie there." Well, Charlie was not interested in a super-fancy bourgeois ice cream treat. She told me about a great ice cream shop near the park. Leaving the park she was pointing to the other side of the street "That's it! That's it!" I was confused. The bodega? 
Yes, Charlie wanted an ice cream from the bodega cooler. Apparently, she wanted to rub the ice cream all over her face. At least she's happy. As in, sugar-crazy happy. 

"Round a round"

Dava, Dancer, Dos.

We went back to the Jardin Japonés for an outdoor performance of traditional Japonese music.

Dava felt moved.

After a bit of solo action, she went in search of a partner.

Fortunately, Charlie was more than up to the task.

And how.

School Field Trip

Jamie says: Charlie took her first Fallow Land field trip today, to the Rose Garden. These pictures are emailed from other parents. I didn't attend. 

Empanadas

Jamie says: Here is the first stab at homemade empanadas. I say "homemade" although the pastry is store-bought. I know, cheating. 

The filing is beef with onion, garlic, and red pepper. , with some with spicy salsa for the adults. I'm hoping tonight's dinner will kick off an empanada rivalry between me and Jonathan–where we each make more and more delicious empanadas trying to outdo each other. These were pretty darn good though. 

JG: Scrumptious! It is unlike me to resist a cooking challenge but in this arena I don't believe I can compete, though my empanadas de carne would have olive and hard boiled egg.

Here are the girls relaxing after dinner. The park they're looking out over is Plaza Alemania. 

Pictures from this weekend

Jamie says: I'm hoping Jonathan will post more photos and Charlie will provide more commentary.

Jonathan carrying both girls. A fuzzy but very cute photo.

Irish dancing at the Irish Festival 

Charlie with facepaint at the Irish Festival ...In this picture, she's probably begging for us to buy her something. Anything. 

Charlie smelling flowers after the Irish Festival

Charlie running through the park, chasing butterflies. 

Charlie feeding the pigeons in the park, which is apparently totally cool here. 

I wish I could title this "A moment of peace" but all I can say is that they're both asleep now and that is fantastic. 

Superhero Day at Charlie's School

JG: On Friday, I went to pick Charlie up and was greeted by a legion of 5-year-old superheroes in homemade costumes. Charlie was calling herself "Water Woman." I guess she's transitioned from a few months ago when she told me she was a superhero called "Super Yelling Girl" whose superpower is how loud she can yell.
Charlie: No, I was both yesterday.

 


Charlie: I'm not the only one in this picture that has a superhero cape on. In fact, Kiara, Triana, Lulo and I, we were all wearing capes, and superhero outfits.

On the way home Charlie and I stopped in the "Poop Park" to take a 10 pesos ride on the carousel.

Charlie: It was so fun!!! [JG: Charlie requested "a lot" of exclamation marks because "I want to pretend that I was yelling."]

Dava's happy place: Heras Park (lunchtime doggy central)