Buenos Aires - a little smackerel of something

Winnie-the-Pooh always used to believe that eleven o'clock was time for "a little smackerel of something". Actually, I think that Pooh believed that any time was time for a little smackerel of something. I also think that he must have lived in Buenos Aires.


For one thing, they take their food very seriously. They're very proud of their big juicy steaks, their asados, and their wines. They are much more interested in the quality of their food than we seem to be. They also take their decor seriously; one restaurant even had a piratical theme.

For another thing, they enjoy breaking up their day with a snack and a chat at one of the cafes. They linger over their food, talking and laughing and watching the world around them. At home, we just eat quickly and get on to something else.

Another difference is that they have supper waaay after my bedtime. Usually they don't seem to sit down to supper until 10:00, and sometimes even later. Their evenings just get started at 11:00. Fernanda says that most milongas (places where you can dance a tango), restaurants and bars are open almost all night long, and you can have supper at thre o'clock in the morning!

Fernanda and I went shopping for fruit one bright fall day; we found red apples from the south of Argentina, pineapples and bananas and green apples from Ecuador, and delicious vegetables from farms outside Buenos Aires.

Then we went looking for an asado. We found this gaucho busy with his facón cutting slices off the roasting meat. Normally a gaucho never, ever lets anybody else touch his facón, but he let Fernanda hold the handle as a special favour.

We had our meat, vegetables and fruit ... now it was time to look for the rest of supper. Fernanda bought two big boxes of empanadas. These are delicious. Sometimes they're filled with meat, sometimes with cheese, and they're served piping hot. I had one for a snack ... I couldn't wait until 10:00 for supper!

After dinner we went to a birthday party where we had pizza; slightly different from ours, but I still had three slices. One of my teeth came out, and I put it under my pillow at bedtime. The tooth fairy doesn't visit Latin America; Ratón Perez collects the teeth instead. I tried to stay awake to see him, but it was after midnight. When I woke up, the sunlight was pouring through the window and this was under my pillow.

I think I'll spend it on another empanada.