I am not sure how many of you are aware of the economic crisis in Argentina at the moment. Well prices have risen a lot over the last few years and currently the Argentinian Peso is losing value daily which is not good. As far as money is concerned my basic observation is cheese, chocolate and crisps are so expensive in comparison to the UK. This for Nathan and I is probably a good thing as anyone who knows Nathan will know he is chocolate mad. My family especially laugh about Easter 2013 when we were completing the traditional 'Thain' treasure hunt in the garden which basically means you label the bars/eggs and hide them in the bushes and then hunt for your own named ones, and doing the respectful thing and leaving the ones not for you in their place. This tradition has got more and more competitive as we have got older, where the usual egg in the hanging basket is just too obvious....anyway I have gone off point, so my parents had got Nathan too very large family sized galaxy bars. While we were still hunting he had consumed an entire bar, the whole thing, we all still laugh about this now. Watching Nathan's face light up when he is giving chocolate is brilliant. Alison has even taken to donating all her chocolate boxes and chocolate gifts to Nathan as he gets more pleasure from them than anyone we know. So now you can see this expensive chocolate situation is a real dilemma for Nathan when we are trying to live on£18 a day! How can he justify spending a quarter of the daily budget on a snack! As for me I am a big cheese and crisp fan but it is probably helpful to my healthy eating and 'getting fit year off work' that they are expensive!
What is not expensive and available everywhere is 'dulce de leche' which I feel will always be in our fridge until we leave South America! Nathan loves the stuff and I think it's pretty good too. If anyone has had my mum's banoffee pie (which is awesome) its exactly like the toffee layer she puts in that which is made from boiling a tin of condensed milk. You can buy it in massive jars, just like how kids at home might spoon Nutella or Peanut butter from a jar, in the same way Dulce de leche can be enjoyed! It is on all restaurant menu's for desert with pancakes, cheesecake or waffles and is on every ice cream list!
We have been supermarket shopping a lot as we eat in 5 out of 7 nights and I feel like a local now as I have a purse full of vouchers. You know the ones Tesco hand out 20p off bananas etc! Well we go to 3 different ones so I have to remember which one i can use which voucher in! Guess you are really living somewhere when you are saving your coupons! Can't wait for the 15th as I get £4 off my shop!
So on the topic of food we've had a pretty good 24 hours! On Tuesday evening we cooked Carbonara in the flat we were staying in. Literally just as we dished up the electric went and then was off for 13 hours! Thank goodness we had just dished up and thankfully it came on in time for my Mexican Eggs birthday breakfast! This is my favourite, it is red onion, red pepper, garlic, paprika and chilli cooked in a pan then a tin of chopped tomatoes is added along with salt and pepper and left to thicken for 30 mins. Then 4 eggs are cracked onto the top of the mixture and sliced tomatoes and the lid is put over so that the steam cooks the eggs! This is then divided between 2 plates and served with an avocado, lime and flatbread! Yum yum yum yum! Anyone who is hosting us this year we are more than happy to make you this breakfast!
Then in the evening we went to Las Cholas which is a Parrilla (a traditional Argentine Charcoal grill) it was really lovely. To get to your table you climbed these stone steps at the side of the restaurant covered in tea lights to the top, which was an under cover terrace with big heaters. We turned up at 8.45 and within 15 minutes every seat was taken with groups of friends, couples, people celebrating birthdays, it became clear that we had gone at the perfect time and on a great evening as it was full of atmosphere. We haven't had a starter when we have been out yet so decided as it was my birthday we would try one and we are very glad we did. We order a chorizo sausage from the grill and a baked (on the grill in foil) Camembert! Oh wow the cheese especially was fantastic!
For main course we shared a platter of sirloin steak, chips with an egg on, grilled onion, grilled red pepper, grilled provolone cheese, puréed pumpkin and vegetable rice. We of course had a bottle of Malbec and sparkling water! It was such a lovely evening!
It was funny having my birthday in another country and it made me really miss all my family and friends so thank you so much to everyone who text, whatsapp, wrote on my Facebook wall and sent me a video it really made my day! Lots of love to all of you xxx