AnuvaBlog

Last week after nice lazy Sunday rise at 12 pm we made coffee and planned out our day. We felt a bit cooped up this week and jumped at a friend’s  invitation to take a day trip to Mataderos.

In English Mataderos translates to “slaughterhouse”. Mataderos is a section of Buenos Aires traditionally known for its live stock market and meat packing. Cattle were brought to Mataderos to be killed and shipped to other parts of the country. Some times Mataderos is referred to as the “New Chicago”.

Our day however had much more to do with merriment and gaiety rather than carnage and gore.

Every Sunday the neighborhood of Mataderos hosts a bustling street fair. Many buses run out to the fair on a regular basis; click here for details http://www.buenostours.com/feria-de-mataderos

We descended into masses. Street vendors, artisans, and entertainers packed in around the center square as passer bys made there way through. Unlike San Telmo we saw far less tourists, mostly just Argentine families spending a day outside for great food and shopping.

We were surrounded by smoking grills, traditional song and dance, artisan cheeses, massive knives, leather goods, mate gords, trotting horses, leather faced toothless gauchos with riding crops the size of base ball bats. At one point we even saw a performer charging people $2 to beat a fake cat with a stick.

We stopped to watch dancers perform Zamba, a traditional folk dance. Watch a video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqGpqp3A0U&feature=related  Couples line up facing each other stepping forward and back. Quick steps take them circling around eachother as the women playfully wave scarves above their heads.

We were impressed by the quality of the crafts. Especially  the hand made engraved knives and leather bags. We wandered around admiring the artisanship before looking for the group. We were told “ 3 pm pink café on the corner.” And laughed when we discovered half the buildings are one shade of pink or another.

We found our friend waiting on the corner of the hot pink café directly across from the band stand. We all agreed to be hungry and headed for the smoke. Mataderos is a great place for parilla. You can also find traditional foods from the province like tamahles (steam corned husks stuffed with xyz) and locro (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9yk64pypK4s/RqP9oo4miJI/AAAAAAAAAB8/B-VC89Nom4U/s400/Locro.jpg a delicious meaty white bean stew). 

We opted for churipans and an $8 peso bottle of Vino Patero, Cab Sauv. The vendor informed us they produce less than 4,000 liters per year. Fruity and “boutique” but not quite the quality I have come to expect from Argentine wines. Still better than what I could produce in my basement.

Much more talkative after having been satiated we made our way to the track. We missed the spectacle but Gauchos, which are essentially Argentine cowboys line up and bolt like bats out of hell towards the finish line. Each carries a small metal spear which at full speed they must pierce through a metal loop dangling from the finish line. They charge closely past grandmothers, bundled babies and clumsy children, very exciting. http://img.youtube.com/vi/OCr_D0pyF-4/0.jpg

As they wrapped up gauchos paraded around on their horse as a few children pranced around on ponies and mules. We even saw a dog riding a horse. We made our way back home and finished out the afternoon with bottle of real wine; Cavagnaro Malbec. https://www.anuvawines.com/wine/malbec/cavagnaro-malbec-2004/

I know this post is very off topic, but I feel it’s my civic duty to inform as many people as possible about the bird-shit bandits:

If you live in or are visiting Argentina, the following may happen: you are walking down the street, minding your own business and you feel something splatter across your arm or pant leg. It looks white and disgusting and immediately a “good samaritan” will offer to help you clean off your clothing. It may be an old lady, or a young boy. It doesn’t matter. That person is part of a team of thieves scheming to get your money and valuables.

As this first person helps you clean off, a second and even third will try to pick your pocket, take you backpack or otherwise rob you.

I have personally met 4 people–all tourists–who have mentioned that this happened to them. Two of them recognized what was happenening about half way through the scam, and the other two did not and ended up without their wallets.

Please spread the word!

In the weeks leading up to my wedding, the Argentines have kept asking: “But… but, can you really do an asado?” For those who still don’t know, asado is loosely translated as “barbeque” but from what I’ve seen, all the American version and Argentine version have in common is the desire for black lines charred into the meat.

I took it upon myself, to make sure that the 20 or so closest Argentines to me came to witness the meat feast prepared by yours truly in their distinctive style.

Keep in mind, I have done this several times for my fiancee’s family, but doing an asado for 6 is way way different than for 20. Especially when you do an entire “costillar” (the whole rib cage) on the grill. The thing weighed 15kg. And in addition we did a “carre de cerdo” (baby back ribs), chorizo and morcilla.

With Naiara Malbec and Cavagnaro Malbec keeping the masses happy until the meat was done (which took about 3 hours), I realized that we had forgotten to bring our good knife to the quinta where we were staying. The importance of a good knife when prying apart cooked beef ribs cannot be underestimated. So 30 minutes later, with an enormous blister forming on the underside of my right index finger, beef and pork was served to applauding masses. (It is customary to applaud the “asador (grillman)” when he does a good job. Yes, he.

“I’m glad to see you are taking a real interest in our culture,” says my future brother-in-law as I nurse my blister. “What did you do to your finger?”  I reached for the Malbec and never looked back. Loving how the tannins cut the grease and then the grease cut the tannins, we glimpsed a moment of sensory heaven together and this American, for the moment, rose to the challenge.

I tried explain what a Hallmark Holiday was to the Argentines but they insisted that I was wrong about el Dia del Amigo. I assumed that, like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, which are virtually equivalent down here (i.e. everyone gets together for dinner and gives all the Moms or Dads gifts) to what they are in the US, el Dia del Amigo–ostensibly “Friend’s Day”–is not.

People pretty much get together and drink wine. And the tendency is for couples to actually split from their significant others to go out on their own with friends. How sophisticated!

So what wine are we drinking tonight? I’m bringing a new wine that may be in Anuva’s club soon. It’s called Viña el Cerno Syrah. Being a 1999, one can feel how this wine must have evolved over the last 9 years, sculpting and honing its rich, silky smooth body in the bottle. Inspiring wafts of the nose brings hints of ripe black cherry and dried Italian herbs. On the palate, this micro-production prodigy persists nicely.

Look for it before the end of the year.

This phrase lovingly refers to the passion that Argentines have fútbol. Yes, the kind you play with your feet, as the name indicates. The sport can be seen on all the sports channels and local channels here, virtually year-round. Las Hinchas (literally, “the swellers” or “the swollen ones” but really the maniac fans) flock to the stadiums of Buenos Aires and greater Argentina to cheer on their teams, throw confetti and toilet paper, set off fire crackers and smoke bombs, beat drums, waive flags and sing, sing, sing for hours on end. “Dale, dale, dale (insert name of team here)”, is probably the most common cheer here for any team. And remember to pronounce that word “Dah-lay” which can mean anything from “ok” to “I agree” to “Come on!” to “Let’s go!” depending on inflection and context.

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If you look up the translation of the word ASADO to English, you get barbeque. But anyone who is multilingual will tell you that translations are almost never perfect. Yes, asado is the Argentine version of a barbeque, but seldom will you find a hotdog or hamburger on the grill. Meat lovers around the world agree that at an asado, you will find the most amazingly flavorful and unique cuts of meat ever.

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