Out & About: Buenos Aires

I’m a lucky girl; I have a pretty cool day job. When they’re not making me work for my money, I get the opportunity to accrue travel miles. Imagine my delight when I found out I was Argentina-bound. As The Hubbz’ new t-shirt says ‘Buenos F*ckn Aires’. Yeah, baby!

I have often dreamt of visiting this city and getting lost in its architectural beauty. The dream didn’t include spending hours upon hours locked up in a basement attending a conference, but hey. I’m a clever girl, I found ways to sneak away and play a little.

As I share some of the pictures with you, let me tell you my impressions of Buenos Aires. The layout and architecture reminded me of 2 of my favorite European cities: Madrid and Paris. It especially reminded me of Paris, buildings so ornate and fancy looking. Incredibly wide thoroughfares dissected by tiny-cobbled streets. Plazas at every turn. Locals casually, yet elegantly clad.

I think I’ve mentioned my love of Paris, well Buenos Aires felt to me much the same, but better because I was surrounded by fellow Spanish speakers. There is just something that makes my heart sing when I’m surrounded  by Latinos. The guys were GORGEOUS, there are some seriously good genes running through those veins. I hadn’t even made it out of the airport before I was texting my single friends to book their next vacation to Bs. As. Seriously. It didn’t matter what age they were, young teens to old men in their 70s, they looked GOOD! Then they start talking and swoon over their accent. Sigh.

I have often heard that Argentines are stuck up, as a matter of fact, they’re referred to as the French of South America. I’m here to tell you that I didn’t have an unpleasant exchange with a single person in Paris or in Buenos Aires. There was a dismissive waiter at the first cafe I stopped at for lunch, but even the local sitting next to me found him to be a pill. It really was no biggie, though. OK, I tend to limit my advice tidbits to the kitchen, but let me share this little travel nugget: when you go to another country, think of it as going to someone else’s home. 

My new bestie!

If you invited yourself to someone’s home, you would go out of your way to be gracious, unimposing and to appreciate their customs and traditions, even if they didn’t resonate with yours. You would respect their space and find enjoyment in their way of living. It’s the same with travel, once you let go of the mentality of the way things are supposed to be, which is probably based on American standards, and open up to the way things are in this new, undiscovered place, I promise you the locals will welcome you with open arms and hearts and your visit will be unforgettable. Trust me on that.

Anyway, no more talking or typing, for more shots, follow this link. It will take you directly to the photostream. It seemed every time I spoke to an Argentinean and thanked them for their help, they had this little reply which I need to commit to memory:
Me: Muchas gracias (thanks so much)
Them: No, por favor! (no, please!)
As if to say ‘it was MY pleasure to help you’, ‘really, don’t mention it’. I will take that with me and make it a part of my repertoire.

Still crying for more Argentina,
Anamaris

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Eating out: Portland, Oregon

About a month ago, I had the pleasure of heading out to Portland for about a week. Unfortunately, it was on business, but believe me when I say, I made it my business to get some fun in. I managed to see bit of the outlying beauty of this city, but mostly, I managed to get a LOT of awesome food in. Lots. Loads. Really, a lot! Oh and some awesome beer and wines and coffee, and…, well, you get the picture.

I’ve told you about my FoodTV obsession, so it should be no surprise that I’m an avid fan of Unique Eats and Guy’s DD&Ds. Why do I mention those shows, you ask? Because, Portland is ALWAYS all up in there! Man! That’s a really ‘good food’ food-town. Let me share some highlights, if you don’t mind.

By pure accident, we bumped into VooDoo Doughnuts.

We were trying to drive out to the coast and the NaggiGator kept getting confused and making us drive around in circles when all we were looking for was a drive-thru. But, maybe the navigation system knew better and tried to make sure we didn’t miss out on this little gem.

If you like doughnuts, probably even if you don’t, you’ll find something here to tickle your fancy. I did, and I’m not a huge fan of doughnuts, if they’re not piping hot off the fryer and simply plain-glazed, I’m not interested.

Enter… The Maple Bacon Doughnut. O.M.G!!!

This thing was good, like crazy good! So good, we went back right before leaving to bring some home for our loved ones. We’re nice that way.

Another memorable  moment happened at Public Domain, a nearby coffee shop. I had a cup of a Panamanian brew, but it was the way it was prepared that had me entranced.

They call it a Pour Over and the barista takes about 10 minutes to hand pour the water over the grounds.

He mentioned that they pour at different speeds and on different spots to vary the flavor of the final cup. It was mesmerizing.

From there, a proper breakfast at the Byways Cafe in the Pearl District. I had the most awesome Corned Beef Hash, next time I’ll skip the bell peppers, though.

The other thing I loved about Portland, was the street food scene. Oh my! The little carts were EVERYWHERE!

I stopped by the Frying Scotsman and had some fish & chips. Cute chef, great accent, awesome halibut and fries!

The other FoodNetwork find was Pine State Biscuits. These guys are rocking the biscuit! Anything you can dream of, they put on a biscuit and do so with gusto!

I had the most popular one, The Reggie.

Yep, that’s fried chicken breast. No, that’s GOOD fried chicken breast. Topped with bacon, gravy and insane amounts of cheddar. I want one NOW.

Did mention Portland is a beer town? My! I had some awesome beer at too many places to mention.

But…, I found the home of Rogue Ales… I scored megapoints with The Hubbz on that one.

I ate and drank and walked and had fun and repeated. Oh. I also got some work done (wink, wink). To see more of the food porn, just click here. Go on, you know you wanna.

Cookingly yours,
Anamaris

Out and about in 2010

What I saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panama. The shots.

I’ve been slow with this, VERY slow with this. But I’ve done it! I’ve selected my favorite shots: 85 of about 800, how crazy is that?

There’s a little of everything, except for food, I still need to work on those. There are straightforward shots of the sights, a few shots of things that caught my eye and some captures of typical Panama things.

I hope these give you a taste of my beautiful little country. Who knows? Maybe it’ll interest you enough to make it your next destination, you won’t regret it.

Here are just a few samples, click on any of the pictures or follow the link to my Flickr stream and watch the slideshow.

Enjoy!
Anamaris

 

 

 

Vacation over. Sad.

I’m back. I really had a tough time willing my legs to move towards that airplane yesterday afternoon. Why can’t I be on a permanent vacation? Maybe if I played the lotto and won one of the mega bucks prizes I could.

It’s always wonderful going home. I was telling The Hubbz that I’m always aware that I miss home, but the moment I see the landscape from the plane, I realize how very much I miss it. All of it. But now I’m back and I will share some of it with you. Try to, anyway; it never seems to translate quite as well.

Originally, my plan was to share some of the food with you as we ate around town. At the last minute I decided to leave the laptop behind and just plug in at local internet cafes. What was I thinking? The few times I thought about it while I was out, I was too busy taking in the sights and foods. Then when I was out of the city and made it to one, they didn’t have USB connections on the computers. So…, it was a no go.

Over the next few days, I will share my trip with you. Foods. Sights. Culture. Life. I have over 800 pictures to sort through, please bear with me, but I do hope you’ll enjoy the show. Once it begins.

Begrudginly back,
Anamaris