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July 26, 2007
Random Weirdness: Buenos Aires
Do I really need to write a preliminary disclaimer about 'weird' being relative? You are all intellegent, educated readers, right? I'm not going to belabor that point. Let me just dive into some things that seem strange to me, a middle-aged gringo that has had some experience in Mexico.
The majority of ground coffee in supermarkets comes with sugar already mixed into it. 'Super Cabrales' is the only brand I've been able to find that doesn't.
Fur is in here. True, it seems to be the mark of a woman more, um, advanced in her years, but you can't swing a dead rabbit without hitting someone in a stole, wrap or pom pom scarf.
Hellmann's mayonnaise has mustard in it here. I don't have a jar from Mexico or the US handy at the moment, so maybe it comes in the versions in those countries. I never noticed it there, but the version sold in Argentina has an obvious taste and tint of mustard. That label also produces something called salsa golf that is mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together, and a line of spicy ketchup.
There are domestic whiskeys here, but they're all Scotches. One can find Jack Daniels and Jim Beam here, but they're like like USD $6.50 a shot. I've seen Jameson, but not Bushmills.
When you buy tickets to see a movie here, you get to select your seat assignments.
Courdoroy is hot here. Maybe it's a winter thing. You know, like flip-flops are a summer thing.
Coffee here always comes with little cookies called masas and tends to be something that you would have as a snack or as dessert. When I order coffee and a sandwich here, they think it's crazy. They always verify, "You want coffee...and a sandwich? At the same time?" (Inevitably, they bring the coffee out with the little cookies and won't serve the food until I finish the coffee and cookies.)
Mullets are fashionable here. Okay, let me rephrase that. People actually have mullets here. A lot of people.
People pronounce the 'll' ('elle' double L) consonant like "juh" (in English). So when they talk about tortilla, they pronounce it as "tor-TEE-juh." Here, 'tortilla' refers to the Spanish tortilla; the other, North American kind does not exist here.
Restaurants offer side orders (called porciónes) of vegetables here, like they do at old-school joints in the United States.
A lot of people are multi-lingual here. One sees and hears a lot of other languages in this city - French, German, Italian (but even the Spanish sounds like Italian here), English, (Brazilian) Portugese.
Kitchens don't open until 8 pm at the earliest. Most people don't seem to eat dinner until 10 pm at the earliest. Most places here close at midnight, although a fair number are open until 2 pm. A handful are open until 5 am.
Posted by crispy at July 26, 2007 07:16 AM
Comments
Fur is big business here in Alaska too, there's like 10 fur stores in downtown Anchorage alone. These stores also have a box of fox faces for like $5 a piece.
Posted by: Akira at July 26, 2007 12:22 PM
I can't imagine mayo and mustard being good. However, I love mixing ketchup and mayo. To have it done for me would rule. Rule, I say!
I hates sugar in coffee. That's just wrong.
[crispy says: The mustard in mayo thing just ruins it for me. I love mayonnaise otherwise. I might even enjoy a sandwich where the two are placed separately on a sandwich. With mustard mixed into the mayonnaise, it's not right. I take my coffee black too, so the sugar thing is also disturbing.]
Posted by: Mark Allen at July 28, 2007 10:47 PM