Criolla Mac & Cheese Saturday!

Let the weekend adventures begin!

Basically, Nico was my tour guide today because he had three straight days this week to discover new places while I was at work. The first place we went to visit was one of the city’s most popular parks, and surprise, surprise…it is only a few blocks from my place!

The park was packed full of people because the weather was extraordinary! One of the gardens we passed through actually contained three different styles and had one main axis. (I know this because of my architectural student tour guide. LOL!) Very cool!

 As we continued the walk through this gigantic park, we ran across a health fair. It was packed full of people and vendors providing samples of healthy oils, breads, and organic spreads. Wheatgrass was one of the samples we tried; It wasn't my first time consuming the powerful extract, but it was for Nico and I think he liked it.

On the move again, we passed by the planetarium where they must have had a show or something with a teenage heartthrob because it was crowded with hormone raging teenage girls. We didn't stay long there. LOL!

leaving the park we continued the journey through an area I’ve never been. We found another mall where they were creating an ice-skating rink on the roof. It was a strange concept for me because temperatures were in the high 50s and some trees were still green, but I guess it is Argentina’s winter.

By now the sky was starting to darken with the sun starting to set, but we were traveling through Palermo and weren't going to let a little darkness stop us. We ended up in a very classy part of town full of embassies. We walked by the Swiss Ambassador’s home and by the massive and extravagant Spain Embassy.  

"The Swiss" at his House

Finally ending up in Recoleta, we noticed this massive stone building with steps that only Rocky could conquer. At first we thought it was a museum because there were a lot of paintings on display, but then we found out it was actually Argentina’s law school. Apparently, every Saturday they host free shows which are open to the public, and we arrived conveniently at intermission so we caught the second half of the performance. SCORE!

Catching a ride back to Palermo via a colectivo, I made friends with this charming 70-ish year old German lady. Her personality reminded me of my crush, Betty White. (OH…Betty White…it was like a dream come true. LOL!) I just had to laugh because one comment she made was, “Have you found an Argentinean girl yet? They are so thin here, and American girls are so fat.” It’s hard for me to believe that statement because I’ve seen my fair share of body builds down here and in the states. (I swear she was hitting on me, even though Nico thinks differently. LOL!)

Back at my place, it was my turn to cook and spread the American culture…so I “attempted” to make the classic mac & cheese from scratch with an Argentinean twist. (The keyword  here is attempted.) The outcome wasn’t what I was hoping for, and my cheese sauce was one massive clump. I think it was because of the type of cheese I used or I let the sauce get too hot.

Finally finished with supper around midnight, we went online to check out Frank’s Bar Speakeasy's Facebook page because we wanted to check it out. In order to enter the bar, you have to provide a password which can be found by decoding clues they list on their Facebook page. Feeling we had the correct password, we tried to validate it but nothing was happening and no confirmation email was being received.

As we waited for the confirmation email, we G-Chatted with my mother and her friend Brenda for about 1.5 hours, spitting jokes and info to each other. Great times! Still receiving no confirmation email and the time being 3 am, we decided to call it a night.