food

We made a reservation to try out something new for dinner. Casa Salt Shaker is a "restaurante de puertas cerradas," a dinner party hosted by a chef in his home. Each night has a different theme; we are signed up for a celebration of "Republic Day in Guyana... an interesting cuisine... a blend of the cuisines of the Caribbean, India & the East Indies..." It sounds super delicious. He was also just written up in the New York Times amongst a bunch of other places that sound completely stupid.

This is a very funny and astute synopsis of Argentinian eating habits:

"The classic beginner's mistake in Argentina is to neglect the first steak of the day. You will be tempted to just peck at it or even skip it altogether, rationalizing that you need to save yourself for the much larger steak later that night. But this is a false economy, like refusing to drink water in the early parts of a marathon. That first steak has to get you through the afternoon and half the night, until the restaurants begin to open at ten; the first steak is what primes your system to digest large quantities of animal protein, and it's the first steak that buffers the sudden sugar rush of your afternoon ice cream cone. The midnight second steak might be more the glamorous one, standing as it does a good three inches off the plate, but all it has to do is get you up and out of the restaurant and into bed (for the love of God, don't forget to drink water)."

(click the link and read the whole thing!!)