If it was my country...

I found out about this site from a friends blog and was so intruigued by her comparison between Argentina (her current country of residence) with Russia (the country she is from)  that I wanted to do it for myself.

I did it for the United States and Argentina and these were the results-very interesting!


If Argentina were your home instead of The United States you would...

have 80.94% more chance of dying in infancy The number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in Argentina is 11.11 while in The United States it is 6.14.

use 80.78% less electricity
The per capita consumption of electricity in Argentina is 2,400kWh while in The United States it is 12,484kWh.

consume 76.53% less oil
Argentina consumes 0.6197 gallons of oil per day per capita while The United States consumes 2.6400

make 70.26% less money The GDP per capita in Argentina is $13,800 while in The United States it is $46,400

spend 82.07% less money on health care
Per capita public and private health expenditures combined in Argentina are $1,205 USD while The United States spends $6,719 USD

have 28.34% more babies The annual number of births per 1,000 people in Argentina is 17.75 while in The United States it is 13.83.

die 1.48 years sooner The life expectancy at birth in Argentina is 76.76 while in The United States it is 78.24.

3.23% more chance of being unemployed
Argentina has an unemployment rate of 9.60% while The United States has 9.30%

16.67% less likely to have HIV/AIDS
The number of adults living with HIV/AIDS in Argentina is 0.50% while in The United States it is 0.60%.

experience 1.56% more of a class divide
The GINI index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income. In Argentina is 45.70 while in The United States it is 45.00.

Lujan

We had been told that there's a great church about an hour or so outside Buenos Aires in a town called Lujan.  We decided a Saturday would be a perfect time to go visit the church and get outside the city for a day.  So, we gathered our (currently our only roomate) and a friend of Johns from work and took the bus to Lujan.  We didnt really know what to expect, but it honestly blew my mind!  It was a giant, beautiful church...kind of in the middle of nowhere! 

All around the church were relics and offerings (of very high quality as you can see).

Lujan is supposed to be full of parillas (grills) so we decided to stay for lunch and enjoy a parilla.  It was an all you can eat-literally translated to "free fork."  We had empanadas, salad, bread, potato salad, meat, meat, meat and ice cream.  I dont know if we ended up choosing the right one, nobody else was really there...

It was a great day all the same.  Getting out of Buenos Aires for a day was nice and seeing a new part of Argentina was lovely!

Welcome 2011!

Even though John and I both grew up in the midwest, we've got some Southern influences that I think just might be stuck.

Todays the 1st of January, the first day of 2011, so as our southern "roots" dictate we ate Hoppin Johns, cabbage and cornbread.  We were a little nervous about finding all the ingredients and things necessary to make it all, but alas, my mom brought black eyed peas with her from the states when she came to visit.  So, we were able to find everything.

Cornbread, black eyed peas and cabbage

Sitting on the balcony to eat our good luck! 

Beautiful day, maybe not the most beautiful view though...

Spread Love BA

There is a small movement going around the world called "Spread Your Love" which was founded by someone named Keveen Gabet.  Basically, his mission is to "spread his love all over, to encourage others to do so, and to be a connecting bridge between people from around the world."

Some years ago Keveen in Mexico and came up with a simple, yet effective way to spread love-through chalking.  He thought he would simply start drawing hearts and writing messages of love on a public sidewalk with chalk in Mexico City.  The idea would be that others would join in and also spread their love.

To watch the video click the link below (it's pretty cool).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPGniNPWJek&feature=player_embedded

I have a friend here in Buenos Aires that picked up on the idea and thought it would be cool to extend it to Buenos Aires. They decided to follow Mexicos example and do a chalking in a public park where many people go on Sundays.  He invited many people to come and see and help, but also hoped that random others would join in.

It was a really beautiful day and so many people were out in the park and stopped to participate!  Below are some pictures I took.

Noquis on the 29th

As I was reading through something on the culture and people of Argentina I came across a part that said all Argentines eat Ñoquis on the 29th.  I thought that was strange so I asked my co workers what they ate on the 29th of each month.  Without skipping a beat they all answered  "ñoquis."  Someone said that the best ñoquis were on the 29th of February...it only happens once every four years.

( Ñoquis or Gnocchis are a type of pasta made from potatoes and are served with any typical pasta sauce.  While they are a little chewy and stick to the roof of your mouth, they are pretty delicious).

So, the 29th came and nearly every restaurant had ñoquis posted as their daily dish, the grocery stores had stocked up on ñoquis and so clearly, John and I decided it was necessary to make ñoquis.

The best part of the tradition is that if you put some pesos under your plate when you are eating, it will bring you good luck and fortune.  We did that too.

Pesitos under the plate for good luck

Nobody really knows where the myth came from or why they do it but ther are a couple of ideas.  Taken from Expose Buenos Aires,

1-Potato Patron Saint

Legend has it that a young doctor by the name of Pantaleon, a recent convert to Christianity, performed a number of miracles.  The most famous is that one day, when he was travelling on a pilgrimage, and he was in serious need of something to eat.   He stopped at a farmer’s house and asked for food.  The farmer was very poor, but proceeded to offer him what little he had.  Pantaleon was very grateful, and he told the farmer that for helping a man of god, he would have a plentiful harvest the following year.  Sure enough, the year that followed was the most prosperous the farmer had ever experienced.
On the 29^th of July, Pantaleon was canonized, and became Saint Pantaleon, patron saint of Venice, along with St. Marcos.  To honour St. Pantaleon, the people would eat ñoquis on the 29^th of every month.

2- The Potato Switch

One year in Italy, nearly an entire harvest of wheat was lost, which was the staple of their diet.  Without wheat, they would go hungry.  Luckily, the potato harvest was a good one, and although they were normally used for animal feed, the farmers were forced to use eat potatoes as well.  They used potatoes to make a sort of pasta, which turned out to be the origin of potato ñoquis. The people were very overjoyed with the delicious results, and from that year onward, they would gather in the plaza on the 29^th of every month,  in honor of the Patron St. Pantaleon, to celebrate the potato harvest.  Naturally, during this celebration, potato ñoquis were served, and money was placed under the plates as a symbol of luck.

3 – Penniless, but not potato-less

During the sudden arrival of so many Italian immigrants in Argentina, there was also a lot of poverty.  Many of these immigrants struggled to live on their meager salaries.  As a result, by the end of the month, they were often out of money, and had to eat as little as possible.  Ñoquis are a very economical meal, as well as nutritious and very substancial, making them a perfect meal for those without money.  The ñoquis would be served with some pesos underneath the plate, wishing luck to the person eating them.  Making ñoquis near the end of the month became a common occurrence, and slowly turned into a tradition on the 29^th day of every month.

4 – Club del Ñoquis

A few decades ago, a group of food journalists would have monthly meetings, alternating between members’ houses, and the host would be responsible for preparing dinner for their guests.  One particular meeting happened to fall on the 29^th of the month, and the host, aware of the history of Italy and Saint Pantaleon, decided to prepare ñoquis. The meal was a huge success, and as the monthly meetings became more and more popular, they became known as the “Club de Ñoquis,” meeting on the 29^th day of every month. This became a exclusive club whose events were attended by some of the city’s most prestigious people.  Each month, different styles of ñoquis were served, and the idea eating ñoquis on a monthly basis began to spread to restaurants and people’s houses. It became somewhat of a trend, and turned into the tradition as it is today.

Colonia

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to a nearby town in Uruguay called Colonia.  It is just an hour ferry ride away and is such a cute little town!  It´s an entirely tourist town-in fact, 26 thousand live there and 13 thousand work in tourism!!

It was originally a Portuguese town and then went back and forth between Spanish and Potuguese power. Therefore, the architecture is interestingly differently influenced.  It´s a charming place with narrow little cobblestone streets and colorful houses.  Its full of lots of little art shops and ice cream stores-super tranquil.

Most people say it´s not really worth the trip if you are going to be down here, but I strongly feel the contrary.  I´d suggest Colonia any day!

I forgot my camera but here are some stolen pics of the city from colonianet.com

Happy Thanksgiving

Just like any other Thursday, this past Thursday I went to work, had my lunch in the park nearby and was planning on coming home to a laid back night and hanging out in the house.

That all changed when I received an email from my roommate that said " Is there anything I can pick up for tonights happy thanksgiving meal?

I wrote him back saying I wasn't really sure we were doing the meal.  I had mentioned it to my roomates in the first month I was here and had forgotten about it.

They obviously hadn't.

So I wrote him back and told him it was on and I'd be home at 6:30 and he'd better round up the troops to help chop and cook.  He was ready.  So I spent some time looking up recipes and figuring out what kinds of ingredients I'd be able to find here.  Obviously some things were out of the picture-pumpkin pie for example.

I decided on a menu and we put it into action at about 7:00pm.  By 12:00 we all sat down to dinner.  It was not exactly the most traditional dinner, but it was surprisingly close.  We ended up with no turkey, but chicken, and steak for our meat.  We had mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and a peach pie for dessert.

We spoke Spanish throughout the meal which wasnt exactly typical of a thanksgiving meal...We were a worldy group to say the least.  We had representation from the United States, Colombia, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Australia.

It was a great day!  We all helped out and I think I explained 10 times what the day was and why we were eating such a feast.

The one thing that was definitely the same this year, is we all ate too much!