Finalmente, the days will become warmer.

I like spring and I like Vivaldi.

Of course, up north, fall is beginning… and that means that in Italy there will soon be new olive oil.  If anyone is coming down say in November, please bring me a bottle!

…dammit. Why’s it gotta do that.

…Well, I guess that’s why in this blog I call myself “a tanguera between 2 lands”…

P.S. I know some Italians who will complain about the Laura Pausini song in this video, but you need to understand that “Tra Te E Il Mare” is so totally the Italy expat-to-be theme song.  (Come on Italy expats, agree with me! You know it’s true).

Recently my roommate G had some friends over, one of whom is Spanish and cooked dinner for the lot of them.  Unfortunately I was on my way out the door to a milonga when they arrived, so I didn’t get to sample what he was preparing (though I did see that he brought sea scallops which was almost enough to make me skip tango.  Gotta find scallops, and soon).

There was plenty of gazpacho leftover and my kind roommate let me have some.  At the first taste, I started feeling inspired.  Then my roommate shared his pasta with me, which had been tossed with green olives.  All of this beautiful tanginess, all of this color!  I immediately got out my Mediterranean (mostly Italian and French) cookbooks, started re-reading this book, which is full of inspiration and nice recipes, and went online to my favorite recipe sites, preparing myself culinarily for the coming seasons of sun.  I’ve always eaten Mediterranean, but was not so inspired the first few months here, and now with the change in seasons, comes a change in the ingredients available and a change in what I crave, which means a change in recipes.

One of my favorite sites from which to get recipes is Divina Cucina, an inspiring site by a woman based in Florence, Italy, who gives cooking classes.  Her recipe page is great, full of things that make me think of my relatives in Lucca and the wonderful dinners we’ve had together.

The other day for lunch I decided to make my own spin on her recipe for tonno e fagioli.  Never one to follow a recipe exactly, I used chickpeas (garbanzos) instead, and added some sliced green olives to add a little extra tangy flavor.  Absolutely wonderful!  Then yesterday I had Miss Tango over and I tried the recipe for spaghetti di vino, which was very simple and delicious, only I used bucatini instead of spaghetti, and added sage.  It was wonderful and we decided it would be very nice to add some black olives next time.

See?  It doesn’t have to be all about meat and papas fritas down here (though I love both).  If you have a kitchen and some inspiration (and a verduleria nearby), you can get creative and eat very well.

Here’s a Biagi interpretation of the song.  I do love its rhythm.  Sigh… with the right leader, it can feel like flying.

This one is danced by Federico Naveira & Inés Muzzopappa.

And the words (thanks to todotango) by José María Contursi.  Music by Mario Canaro.

A beautiful Mexican interpretation (bolero ranchero?) of a Tango I just can’t get out of my head tonight…

The singer, Chayito Valdez.

(UPDATE: The two examples below are based on true stories that I witnessed with my own eyes.)

Dear innocent, unsuspecting newbie to the traditional milongas of Buenos Aires, a few suggestions to make your transition into milonguera life a bit smoother.

1. It’s winter in Buenos Aires and very cold at night, so you subject yourself to throwing on a pair of trousers under that dress for the cold commute between home and the milonga.  I totally understand that and have done it myself.  We all do it.  When it’s cold it’s cold.

But what makes you think it’s logical and classy to change OUT of your trousers in front of everyone at the milonga?  What makes you think we want to be distracted from cabeceo-ing to watch you hike up your dress and pull down your pants?  And I know you think you are being discreet, but the traditional milongas are very well-lit, and do you think for a minute that the men don’t notice it?  Because they do.  If only you knew what they were thinking.  Then again, maybe you don’t want to know.

Maybe this was okay to do at your practica in your hometown.  But you’re not there anymore.  You’re in Buenos Aires.  And you’re not at a practica you are at a milonga.  Here, it’s about how you present yourself.  People here make a special occasion of their favorite Saturday night milonga.  Look around you at how people behave.  They dress in nice, clean clothes, they smell good, they present themselves nicely. Ever hear of the Italian expression, La Bella Figura? (Making a good impression, basically…) Well it applies here too, in terms of how you behave and present yourself in the milongas.  That’s just the way it is.

Tip: the bathroom is right there.  Just a few steps away.  This means that when you arrive you can saunter over to the ladies’ room and pull down your trousers to your heart’s content.  Your friends at the milonga thank you for politely observing this.  If you have a problem with this or wish to leave said trousers on under your dress (something I must admit I have never understood), maybe traditional milongas are not for you.  Try Villa Malcolm. It’s much more casual, and also very dark.

~~~

2. Some folks have an issue about dancers changing their shoes at the table.  I honestly don’t care where you change yours shoes as long you are discreet and there is enough space for you to do so without knocking your head into the table next to you and causing water to spill.  But what I DO have an issue with is this:  do you really think it’s attractive to hoist your foot on your knee and rub foot powder into your foot, between your toes, all around, put your tango shoes on and then get up to dance without even washing your hands?  Ick!

Tip:  Well, I think it goes without saying.  But I’ll say it anyway:  If you must rub any sort of substance into your feet, do so in the ladies room and WASH YOUR HANDS.

I know there are a lot of codigos to remember in the traditional milongas, but it doesn’t take a set of rules to know what’s simply logical.  The above behaviors I have mentioned don’t even need codigos, they are just basic common sense.

And now you are just about ready to milonguear…

some birthday presents

What a weekend to recover from!

Friday my home was host to a gathering of friends, complete with homemade pizza (thank you Miss Tango for making the crusts!), bread with tapenade, Mediterranean rice salad that was missing lemon but was still good, three kinds of cake including a cheesecake from Miss Tango, and exquisite Tiramisu brought by one of my friends who is a chef.

As I looked around, I was overwhelmed to realize that I’ve gotten to know this many people in just seven months time. As I relaxed into the evening, I enjoyed sitting back and watching everybody interact as though they’d all known each other forever. It felt good.

Saturday saw me at Cachirulo, dancing tango among my milonguero friends and of course partaking in the customary birthday dance, an experience that showed me just how kind and generous everyone is at my favorite milonga.  Lots of positivity and support and well-wishes from everyone for my birthday. The hosts even got me a birthday cake, which is also customary.

A highlight of the evening was when a visiting couple, I think Colombian, with whom I shared some of my birthday cake came up to me to wish me feliz cumpleaños, and the woman, moved that I’d share with her said something about my name and her daughter, it was hard to understand as the music was so loud. I think I have her daughter’s name. Anyway, she took her necklace off of her neck and gave it to me. What a sweet gesture!

This weekend served to remind me that I am never alone, that I am surrounded by good people who want the best for me, wherever I go. Thank you everybody who participated in celebrating my birthday! I am truly blessed.

Happy Birthday to me

It’s amazing how much we’ve come to rely upon the internet for our daily lives.  I absolutely need it because of my job - working at home as a translator.  Lately we’ve been having some problems with our modem.  The internet connection has been going out for hours at a time.  A bit difficult when you have two freelance workers under the same roof.  Yesterday I accepted a couple of jobs and set to work translating.  The internet was just not cooperating with me, and I had to reset the modem and restart my computer and repair my connection many times.  Then it was just gone.  This was just not going to happen.

G called our internet provider and supposedly a technician is to come within 72 hours.  But this is Argentina and I don’t know how dependable that time estimate will be.

G had to shut me and my panicky self up last night as I was getting a little too whiny about this.  He has been in my profession for years and he has apparently learned to stay mellow when these things happen - this is a risk of being an independent worker at home and the best thing to do is look for ways to resume business under the conditions.  We sat down and came up with ways that we would still be able to work in situations like this.

He lent me his pen drive and I set out this morning to find a locutorio (internet point) that would be open so early (my clients are five hours ahead of me and I had an early morning deadline).  Luckily, I found this cafe.  Yes, an internet cafe and not a locutorio, an internet cafe with comfortable seats, working computers, and great coffee.  And its open 24 hours and is not too far from where I live.  I’m glad I have this place in case of an emergency, but it still doesn’t make up for not having an internet connection at home, since I prefer to use my own computer as I have special software that I use.

Tomorrow I will have to translate and so I am using a friend’s house as an emergency office.  I’m thinking if I don’t get internet back by this weekend, I will have to find a place to stay for next week, so that I can work - I’m not a lucky foreigner with a tourist budget who gets to divide everything by 3, and generally freelance work is either feast or famine, so every minute I spend without internet is crucial.  I need money!

This reminds me of when I worked in the home equity lending department at the bank in Seattle - we had what was called a ¨Business Resumption Plan”.  A very detailed plan for how to conduct business under emergency conditions (power goes out, terrorists attack, there’s an earthquake).  I had to be part of the testing for it one weekend.  It drove me crazy.  My thought was that if there was an earthquake or any other sort of emergency, I didn’t care about people’s loans, I cared about my safety and would be more interested in saving my own ass.

Now that I’m self-employed I have realized that a Business Resumption Plan is exactly what I need.  Anything can happen, and I do need to know what to do so that I can meet my own bottom line.  It’s amazing what you can learn from the corporate world that I was so eager to abandon.  Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to go back there, but I’m glad I took that lesson with me, even if I did learn it a little late.

The good news is my birthday is coming up, so I think I’ll impose a day off upon myself this Friday. 

Now back to work.

The next equinox will be on the 22nd of September, which means that down here it will be spring!

I was able to go outside today with short sleeves and no jacket, and felt fine until a cool wind started to blow.  But it’s nice outside.

I don’t have much to say lately so I will leave you with a few pictures of things that I pass on my walks.  I love the architecture here.  The details!  I feel so lucky that I get to look at such beauty on a daily basis.