first weekend at Intervale

Mike, Paprika

usa part two: road trip!

monday morning, on the road again. We stopped first at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor to get some crusty bread and other goodies for the road. They hand out all kinds of free samples in there! I tried a really interesting taste of salty chocolate, and the best thing we tried was this Agrodolce white balsamic vinegar. Then we headed out to meet Mike’s Bubi Goldie for brunch at a classic greek Coney Island diner (serving the Detroit specialty: Coney Dog, a hot dog smothered with meaty chili, diced onions and mustard). Judy tried the Coney Dog but I opted for a huge greek salad and a strawberry milkshake. yum.
and then back in the car, headed for Canada. I was excited to visit Canada but it was pretty featureless, really. I fell asleep and woke up at Niagara Falls! We stopped to eat our sandwiches and check it out.

I had never seen it before and it was absolutely lovely but kind of an anti-climax after seeing Argentina’s way-more-exciting Iguazu Falls. We stayed that night at a cute bed & breakfast in upstate New York, the Adams Basin Inn, an early-1800′s tavern which sits right on the banks of the Erie Canal. It turned out to be a beautiful, warm evening and after a long day in the car, we were psyched to head out to the gazebo on the riverbank with a cooler full of fancy cheeses and a bottle of Argentine malbec to watch the sun setting over the canal.

day two, we headed east towards Troy, New York, where we stopped to visit dear friends Andrew and Vickie. We rolled in around 5pm and picked up some groceries to cook a big tasty dinner together! It was exciting to check out the progress on Andrew and Vickie’s house, they are continually renovating/improving it in a totally DIY manner with lots of scavenged materials. Since last year they’d built a whole new bathroom and a greenhouse and some beautiful new vegetable beds in the Yarden. Best of all, they adopted Shae, this amazingly relaxed and benevolent little black pup, a lab mix who just lives to hang out and be cute and agreeable. The night flew by and we had such a nice time catching up with old friends, we forgot to take any pictures.

day three: more driving, headed East along the scenic route through the mountains, Vermont and then New Hampshire and then finally to Maine!

usa part one: Michigan

We flew into Detroit, arriving on Thursday morning April 23rd. As soon as we dropped off our luggage and got cleaned up, we headed out for thai food! which was the number one thing we’d been looking forward to eating on this trip. We spent a few lovely days visiting with all kinds of family. My parents had driven out from Maine for the wedding, and we also got to meet up with my uncle David and his girlfriend Liz, who live in Grand Rapids. Then we spent time with Mike’s dad Sandy and his wife Cheri and all their lovely family, and we met Mike’s adorable new niece Riley (three months old!) and of course we spent time with Mike’s mom Bonnie and her now-husband Les, whose wedding was the reason for our whole trip! and all of their families.

There were so many delicious and fun family dinners, it’s impossible to recount them all, hopefully it is sufficient to say that we were hospitably received and very well fed.

The wedding was lovely, it was held at an old arts club in downtown Detroit, called the Scarab Club, right next to the Detroit Institute of Arts. The upstairs club room is absolutely beautiful, an arts & crafts style lounge with awesome architectural details. The wooden beams have been signed by hundreds of artists who’ve come to visit Detroit since the club was opened in the 1920′s.

after the ceremony we had a delicious meal and a musical performance by two cello players.

Then we killed a few hours wandering around downtown Detroit (yikes!) in our wedding togs, until it was time to meet Sandy and Cheri and Robin for some delicious BBQ at the famous Slow’s Barbeque. It was totally awesome and delicious, as promised. (this was the other top food we’d been looking forward to eating in the USA!)

maine, new hampshire

Next stop, Maine! we turned up in Gorham, ME on Friday afternoon and after cheerful greetings from all family and dogs, settled right in to the back porch with a beer and italians from Amato’s. My sister Amy and her husband George were traveling in Italy so their two dogs Django and Annabelle were staying at my parents’ house, in addition to my parents’ two dogs, Paprika and Juniper. My two cats Buster and Boris are also living there, in addition to 8 baby chickens who were living in a cardboard box in the hallway. On top of all these animals, and Mike and I, Mike’s mom Bonnie and her friend Les had come out from Michigan to visit with us in Maine too! so it was a pretty full house. Bonnie and Les had never been to visit Maine or New Hampshire before, so we all wanted to show them the best of New England. On Saturday we drove over to Intervale, New Hampshire to stay in our family’s cabin in the White Mountains. We went to visit Jackson Falls, ate lobsters for dinner, enjoyed some beautiful hours relaxing on the screen porch, went for some beautiful hikes in the white mountains. We walked up Mt. Willard trail (aka Bubblegum Hill) with all four dogs and six people, under cloudy skies and by the time we reached the spectacular viewpoint at the top, it had started to rain… on the whole walk down it was pouring buckets!!

in general our time in Maine and NH included a lot of rain, though there were good hot sunny days too. After a few days in Intervale, we went back to Maine for a few days, snacked at a few seafood shacks, explored Portland, joined Amy and George at an idsva fundraiser, had a great dinner at Fore Street, took a ferry out to the islands in Casco Bay.

Mike left us on Thursday evening and then Bonnie and Les headed home on Saturday morning… but we weren’t lonely because my Aunt Barbara arrived on Saturday evening to visit for the week! We stayed in Intervale for most of the week. Amy and George and Alicia and Kathy all came up to Intervale too, so we had a cozy visit with lots of family and dogs and good food.
Again, it was so sad when I had to leave. I packed all my suitcases (I had accumulated SO much new stuff to bring home with me to BsAs… I had to take a whole extra suitcase to carry it all!) the night before and early Saturday morning, Judy and Richard drove me down to the Eastern Slope Inn in North Conway, where the bus to Boston stops at 8:25 am. Goodbye to family and goodbye to the mountains and my homeland. Snif.

back to the US of A.

it’s time for our annual trip back to the northern hemisphere!! mike left first, and I followed a week later. my last week in Buenos Aires was totally crazy, as I had a HUUUGE screenprinting project to finish up before the trip, and I was still unpacking and cleaning and moving-into our new house (we had arranged for some nice folks to come stay in our apartment with the dog while we were out-of-town, so we wanted to get the apartment into decent, livable condition!), and then I got the worst head cold right before I left, so I ended up staying up until the wee hours the night before, finishing this work project and sniffling and sneezing and wheezing and then the morning before my flight i was running all over town trying to tie up loose ends and run errands and find cold medicine and i had about 12 minutes to pick out all my clothes for the trip and pack my bags. I did my classic rushed-packing-job resulting in way too much stuff and really heavy suitcases. Normally I don’t like taking cold medicines (and thus don’t have any in my house) but I was terrified that my head would actually explode during flight so I desperately swallowed as many decongestant-type pills as I could get my hands on. I flew out of Buenos Aires and had a layover in Santiago, Chile. Then flew from Santiago overnight to New York City. Then I had 5 hours to loiter inside of JFK airport before flying to Chicago. Mike met me at the airport in Chicago, about 24 hours after I’d stepped into the airport in BA! (i was SO happy to see him!!!). We spent the night in Chicago and then early in the morning we took Amtrak to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and arrived at Mike’s dad’s house just a few hours before the wedding.

Spent the next few days in suburbia, enjoying North American delicacies like pancakes and bacon and oatmeal cookies, and getting to know Michigan, Mike’s hometown, and all of Mike’s family, who were all very very sweet and generous and took great care of us!!

family in Buenos Aires

This past week my parents, Judy and Richard, and my sister Amy and her husband George came to visit Buenos Aires! It was really fun.
I had a great time planning how to fit all of my favorite things and places into one week. I feel like I could write a tour guide now. Here’s the general outline:

SUNDAY
we had a big brunch (fresh raviolis filled with cheese and nut, and squash, mmm!) at my house and then went out to San Telmo to see the Sunday festivities and the flea market in Plaza Dorrego. There were lots of great tango groups and dancers performing along Defensa.

After a little rest time, we had a giant steak dinner at La Cabrera, in Palermo Soho. Aside from the typically delicious Argentine steaks (especially the thyme-rubbed bife de lomo!) they serve a zillion little side-dishes, such as squash puree, couscous, vegetable salads, and candied garlic, with every meal.

MONDAY
we went out for coffees and lunas con jamon & queso, and then set off on a self-guided walking tour (from this website) along Avenida de Mayo, starting at the Congress building and Plaza Congreso and continuing past the Barolo Building, across 9 de Julio, until Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada.

We ate lunch, of course, at Cafe Tortoni.
After lunch we had some tasty dark-chocolate-and-candied-orange-peel ice cream! and then did some resting, shopping, and wandering.
We had delicious and exciting tapas for dinner at De Olivas i Lustres on Gorriti in Palermo Soho, near our old apartment.

TUESDAY
we went to Recoleta Cemetery and then visited the church next door, the Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar. There is a neat little cloisters museum upstairs with a nice view looking out over the cemetery.

We had lunch at one of the cafes on the terraza at the Design Center (but avoided going inside!) and then looked at a few of the many interesting contemporary art exhibits at the Recoleta Cultural Center next door. Then we squeezed in a quick trip to the nearby Decorative Arts Museum, housed in a historical mansion on Libertador, before heading to the Alvear Palace Hotel for a very very very fancy afternoon tea, served by waiters wearing white gloves.

Stuffed with 14 courses of dainty sandwiches and fanciful, divine desserts and champagne (and, of course, tea), we dragged ourselves to tango classes at Luciana’s house.

I had never seen Judy and Richard dance, ever. As far as I know they have not danced in at least 30 years, probably more, but they seemed to have a great time at their first tango lesson with Luciana. This is an amazing testament to our dear Luciana’s delightful enthusiasm and skill as a teacher.

WEDNESDAY
we got up early and took an 8:30 ferry across the river to charming Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.

Most of the day was spent wandering the shady cobblestones and lunching in a leafy courtyard at El Mesón de la Plaza. After sitting by the water for a bit and climbing the lighthouse for a view of the town, we headed back to the ferry.
Back in Buenos Aires, we stopped at Milion for mojitos at the alabaster bar, and ended up staying for a very tasty dinner in the courtyard under the full moon.

THURSDAY
In the morning we went to the Japanese Gardens in Palermo, and then walked over to the Botanical Garden, which was a huge hit with Judy. It is pretty exciting to realize that we’re way down in South America and all the plants and flora and fauna are completely different from what we’re used to!
We had a disappointing lunch at Sudestada, while a wild rainstorm turned the streets into high seas. Amy and George explored the fancy shops in Palermo Soho and found a truly amazing suede jacket at the Mariano Toledo store. We had another great tango class with Luciana and a tasty vegetarian meal at Artemisia.

Then some of us went on to La Catedral, where Amy and George danced! There was a surprise tango music performance by two guys, one singing and one playing guitar, they were really good!

FRIDAY

on Friday morning we went for a walk in the Ecological Reserve. I thought it would be a great opportunity for everyone to enjoy some natural beauty and bird-watching without leaving the city – but in fact it was pretty hot and muggy even in the morning, and there’s really no shade in the Ecological Reserve – it’s all tall grasses and shrubs but not many trees. We enjoyed cool breezes when we could get them by the waterside – then made a premature retreat back to civilization, feeling rather wilted and beaten by the heat.

We decided to just drink tea and rest for the afternoon, then in the evening we had a dinner date at Casa Saltshaker, a “closed-door” restaurant in Recoleta. The chef is Dan Perlman, a transplanted New Yorker who concocts a menu and cooks and serves dinner in his home, two nights a week, to a group of about 12 people. We chose to do the wine pairing menu, which was a great choice, we really enjoyed the various wines with each of the six courses. I can no longer remember exactly what we ate!! But I do remember was a fun evening, the food was tasty and Judy and Richard really enjoyed the experience.

SATURDAY

We took a trip to Tigre, one of my favorite areas around Buenos Aires. We went out for a boat ride around the delta on one of the beautiful wooden tourboats, and had a nice wander about the market. We took the Tren de la Costa home, which is supposed to be the fancier, touristy option, although I don’t really understand exactly what’s so special about it (except that it costs about five times more than the normal commuter train). Anyway, it turned out to be a bad choice, because our train struck a motorcycle and rider at one of the street crossings! So we got stuck waiting in the train for a long while, as the police came and cleared the wreck. It was sad and a bit confusing because the train conductor didn’t tell anybody what was going on, and all the train passengers were kind of freaking out while we were stuck there waiting. We finally got back to Buenos Aires later than planned, just in time for dinner in Palermo.

And then Sunday morning… everyone headed back to the USA! What a great trip! It was really really fun hosting the whole family here in Buenos Aires, I wish we could all do it again. Now that we’ve seen all the basics in Buenos Aires, next time I would definitely try to get out of the city and see more of the natural wonders that Argentina has to offer…