Jacaranda Lovin'

Please take a minute to check out this lovely little photographic depiction of my favorite month of the year in Buenos Aires. Photographer Beatrice Murch, who works with the Independent, compiled these images for a little feature on one of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen!

The jacarandas are such a stunning part of BA. I love strolling down Av. del Libertador on a nice Sunday afternoon and admiring their purple blossoms. What a perfect incentive to come visit in November!

Photographic Evidence of My Ceramic Purchase Rampage

Taken from Emma's blog - Proof that not only am I a giant, but that when left unsupervised, trouble ensues.

Luxe Lumiere

This j.crew lumiere dress is my idea of a holiday party dress! Although from the practical side of things, whenever I wear my beaded/intricately sequined tops and dresses, not only am I constantly paranoid that I am going to snag things on them, but I usually do lose a few along the way. It makes me sad. My favorite item in my closet is my Rapsodia boxy swing top - silver and covered in a mix of sequins and little beads. Paired with my leather leggings I feel like Mick Jagger.

At Home with Nora Ephron

There is no doubt in my mind that Nora Ephron is beyond words amazing. I want to be her. Or just be her friend. Or have her be a cool auntie of mine. Either way, I just read this interview with her in the NYT and I felt an urge to go knock on her door and have her teach me how to play craps.

Some prize excerpts:

Worst Thing About New York: Bicycle messengers. They scare me. Sometimes, when I am not worrying about other forms of death, I am certain that I am going to be run over by a bicycle messenger.

Hobby: I play craps. About 900 years ago, when I was a columnist at Esquire, they had a sales conference in Paradise Island, the Bahamas, and someone taught me. It is such a great game. I will teach almost anyone how to play craps at a moment’s notice.

Neck Guards: I have always loved scarves, because in New York you have to wear them to keep your neck warm. Then, as you get older, you need to keep your neck shielded from public view.

Always in Fridge: Are you kidding? If you open our refrigerator, you have to close the door to keep things from falling out. I buy more food than the two of us can eat. Then I freeze it.

Obsolete Thing She Won’t Toss: A collection of teacups that I once had a place for, but now I don’t really. They are too gorgeous to be used, and they hold barely any tea, I’d like to add. So they are just in a little cupboard, and it is very sad.

Evening Routine: Around 6 o’clock we’d figure what we want for dinner. It is very ordinary. I cook dinner. We eat it. Nick does the dishes. It is a fantastic division of labor. Then we might watch something on TV and read. Or go back to work. Bedtime would be midnight.

Thanksgiving in Photos

More details on the feast - and the hangover that followed - to come. For now, eye candy. I'm hungry!

Thanksgiving!

Well here I am again. One year later and I can't believe how much time has passed! It really feels like just yesterday that I had very little notice that I was in charge of roasting the turkey, in addition to buying flowers and dessert and getting everything else ready for our Thanksgiving feast here at Basavilbaso.

This year I knew I was going to do the turkey so at least I had that part more or less taken care of. José is also in town today, unlike last year when he had just gotten home from a business trip to sit down to dinner -- so I have a little helper! I am so excited for tonight. A good friend and her entire family are coming to the house, and since they're 5 they are making a bevy of dishes. Seriously amazing. I am definitely thankful for THAT! It just leaves me to turkey, home decor, and a potato/leek gratin that I am going to whip up.

Road block: I have this really nice French ceramic baking dish, but I'm not 100% sure that it can go into the oven!! I mean, it's French, so it has to be nice, right? Nice = heat resistant. Right? Fingers crossed. Otherwise I'll be running out to the store like, 10 minutes ago to go get a replacement. I really don't want to have a gigantic messy gratin disaster on my hands 20 minutes before guests arrive ... HELP !! MOM !!

It's 900 degrees today. Typical. That's why Thanksgiving is celebrated in the autumn, not on the verge of a broiling summer. I wish I had some sangria on hand ... Hm ... maybe I could whip up a quick batch.

Ok - back later with turkey updates. SOS !

Great Shelving Idea

I just found this lovely little bloglet, apartment diet, and have been drooling over each and every image posted there! I love this idea for low but raised shelving - I am thinking it will be the perfect solution to our home office. José collects music and it seems that every free centimeter of the room is used to store vinyls, cds, old cassettes, you name it! That leaves very little room for my precious books and other beloved treasures that came with me to Basavilbaso. We already have lots of things stored in boxes similar to those featured in the photo, so let's just say we're halfway there!

for my BA readers

All 5 of you. But really.

Saturday I skipped on over to the Christmas Fair at the British Ambassador's Residence. I had been there a few years back, in the crazy UCA days, for the ambassador's son's 21st birthday. It was a free-for-all of random booze and out of control English kids with a 6 to 1 exchange rate and an insatiable desire to rage. It was so fun and so random. I hadn't been back and when I found out about the annual Christmas Fair, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that I had to go!

Each year there is a lovely little fair with lots of little old ladies who call you "love" and sell things like handknit stockings, felt ornaments, cute gift ideas, and other gems. It was a brilliant day, with so much sunshine I wanted to lounge there all afternoon.

I was tipped off by someone I know who was selling things there, and was so glad she filled me in! Emma is from Leeds and has been in BA for the past 6 years with her husband Oliver and two most adorable sons, Seth and Bo. They have just returned after living in India for the past 9 months (Oliver is a writer and was in India doing research). I really don't want to gush, but I have such a girl crush on Emma. She's beyond cool it hurts. Her creativity is incredible and her Boca chairs are being sold by Anthropologie! (They were also featured on Design*Sponge, as was her previous apartment. Check it out here)

When Keith from Man Shops Globe came to BA, she was his guide. Hello, can you see that I am green with envy? You'd think she would have an ego to match, but she's so down to earth! I love that she prefers to work with relatively unknown artisans and people when she's doing a project.

One of her ongoing projects is Handpicked - a small, curated collection of objects and gems from the artists she's found along the way. I bought a bunch of ceramic bowls and limited myself only to those because otherwise I would have taken the entire table with me! There were the cutest little teapots, amazing pitchers, perfect mugs and a million other things I loved. She also carries necklaces made by a woman whose father owns a factory - she rescues the buttons that aren't used and makes the most amazing pieces of jewelry out of them! Toss in some beautiful throws from Elementos Argentinos and you can imagine that I didn't visit any other stand but Emma's!

If you think you can stand the case of envy that will overcome you, take a peep at Emma's blog and read up about her fun little life and all the rest! I will post pictures of the bowls I got later this week.

I love Lamp

I love this video. Enough said.

weekend roundup

For me it's like Sunday since Cristina decided to make today another national holiday. Thank you very much!

We've had a really fun and very busy weekend, and I'm even more excited since Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I got my hands on a sassy turkey imported from Brasil and have just put it in the fridge to start the defrosting process. I have named her María de Luján and she weighs 5.1kg, just around 11 lbs. She's rock hard. I hope she thaws in time (cue holiday nightmare #12 that has crossed my mind in the past week or so).

On Friday I had really wanted to go to day one of the Hot Festival - Mika, Girl Talk, Scissor Sisters, Phoenix. I should have gotten my act together and bought my ticket ahead of time, but when push came to shove I couldn't really rationalize it in terms of budget (sad). We had 2 free tickets to day two, which was still great but I was dying to see Girl Talk (actually I'd prefer not to talk about that, I'm still kicking myself). So instead of dance on stage with Girl Talk, we did a trifecta Danzón/Shampoo/Crobar that did not disappoint either. I feel like it made up for my granny ways.

Thievery Corporation and Massive Attack were the two big names for Saturday and I have to say I was not disappointed by either of their sets! I love that Thievery Corporation is from DC and listening to them really brought back memories of when I used to go to the 9:30 Club about 4 times a month (no joke). It was definitely bittersweet; I love the power music has to transform the entire mood and feeling of a place. I closed my eyes and I was back home! It was lovely.

I guess you could say I was late to jump on the Massive Attack bandwagon - just last year when I started living with José he would put it on while we enjoyed a nice glass of malbec on any random evening - but no matter. Their set was nothing short of amazing. I actually want to say AMAZING because that is more accurate. Since I had never seen them before (not even a music video) I was so happy to see that their show mirrored exactly how the music sounds and feels. I would totally see them again.

Sunday was spent watching polo at the Abierto de Palermo - the final cup of the season. The sun was shining and it was a perfect day to bask in the sun, drink a little champagne, and people watch. Two years back I went to every game in the short season (mid-November to early December) and really started to love watching it! (It helped to have someone who used to play explain the rules and ins-and-outs of the game - makes it much easier to follow and therefore, enjoy). After about 5 hours in the sun, I got home and was totally knackered, as my sissy would say, and needed to lie flat with a big bottle of water by my side in hopes of recuperating.

That brings us to today ... Holiday. Humid and cloudy and not nice for my barometric-pressure sensitivity. Jose wanted to climb a bit so I joined him at Peru Beach and caught up on recent issues of The Economist and Time while he scaled walls and got his hands covered in chalk. Now I'm here, waiting for María de Luján to start melting & for my ice cream to arrive (What? You say that ice cream isn't good for a headache? No, I've been told it's just the ticket).

Now I'm perusing Etsy for some milk glass vases and eyeing the lentil recipes from the New York Times ... not to mention the amazing "Up at the Villa" article from T Magazine. Take me to Rome...

Honeymoon Brainstorming

Jose and I have made very little progress when it comes to the honeymoon planning process. We know where we want to go, but it's a route that could be done in anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months (oh to have the luxury of time!!). Given that we have to assume that at least one of us will have some kind of real employment at the time of the wedding, sadly we cannot bank on taking an extra-long trip after we get married.

Our basic outline is this: Venice/Bigonovo, trot across N. Italy, trot across S. France, trot along to Barcelona and then to the Basque country. Ideally a jaunt to Portugal could be tacked on at the end.

Since i've never been to any of those places, I would love some tips on what's not to miss, little gems of boutique hotels, amazing places to eat (my #1 priority, clearly), and anything else you feel would be helpful! I would be such a happy camper to get some info!

Gluttony

Let's just say that yesterday got off to a wonderful start. We had a nice leisurely morning while getting ready for the busy afternoon/evening that waited for us. Jose and I made it down to Puerto Madero about an hour before the We Run Buenos Aires 10k was supposed to kick off. Since I wasn't able to run, but had registered for the race (pre-injury, I'm not that much of a wannabe!), I was convinced to wear the race t-shirt along with everyone else. I felt like a total dork but it helped me blend in (among 15,000 people it's not that hard, but anyway) and I figured it's better to dress in a semi-athletic fashion when at a massive athletic event.

Eventually, we all kind of mashed toward the starting line. Since I was the non-runner of the group, I was the portable coat check with the backpack full of water, jackets/long-sleeved shirts, cell phones, etc weighing me down. Before I knew it, the race had started and I was crossing the starting line with everyone else! Mind you, it's basically impossible (and also incredibly stupid) to try to stop/walk when you have masses of people behind you ready to run 10k. My plan was to just cross with everyone and then ditch off to the side straight away. Unfortunately, Nike had put up some serious barriers and I felt like they were neverending; it was impossible to find a seamless exit from the race course! I finally found a gap between two and kind of shoved myself in between them. It was a good 2-block little trot there. My knee hurts now so I've got that going for me. Ugh I miss running so much.

Fast forward. Everyone finished - Jose's time was great, 52:30 - and we had to rush back home to get ready for our Indian feast (part of the week-long Indian Cultural Festival) with some friends. When I found out that it was all you can eat, full-on buffet style, my heart exploded with joy. The wine flowed, and the curry wasn't far behind. The food was delicious, and managed to distract me from the awfully kitschy decor (a la Bollywood, no doubt) and overpowering sitar (I will admit, the guy playing was really good, although I kept expecting a Beatles song to come over the stereo or something, reminiscent of the days when George got really into Bangladesh and the late 60s/early 70s started to take root).

I ate. And ate. And ate.

Coup d'eat: gulab jamun.

The death knell. Little fried balls of heavenly dough, soaked in sugar/rose water syrup.
I've had them several times before and have never been able to resist. Oh man, oh man.

Bad news bears. I ate three and was immediately immobilized. Like, unable to stand up, walk, breathe or think without severe discomfort. I even had a little digestive tea afterward and it didn't help. I was in for a doozy.

After dinner, we all piled into our friend's car to start off on our trek around the city for Noche de los Museos. We had driven all of 1 block when I felt an extreme urge to throw myself out of the car and into anywhere but a moving vehicle. I had to bow out of a fun night that I had so badly wanted to be a part of, and ended up watching old-ish episodes of SNL and Top Chef on the couch while I strained not to move or do anything that would upset the insane quantity of food and liquid in my stomach.

Definitely not an ideal end to what could have been an ideal evening.

I slept until 1pm today, something that I almost never do, because I had finally managed to fall asleep a little after 3am. The day has been grey and ugly, so we didn't miss out on much. I caught up on some news on the iPad, made a smoothie, used up the rest of the veg in the fridge to make Gazpacho round 2, tried to see if I could remember how to do a real push up, and looked for bridesmaid's dresses that can accommodate pregnant bellies. Rather productive, given the circumstances.

And here we are, listening to the Scissor Sisters and Girl Talk, getting ready for the show on Friday. I haven't gotten my ticket yet because I just found out that if I buy $350 of anything from the Paseo Alcorta mall (not hard at all, given inflation and my itch for retail therapy) I get a free ticket! Woowee! It's a win-win, people.

tgif

I just had a delicious lunch down at Pura Vida and my belly is full of fruit & veg and extremely happy. We need to run out to the supermarket to get some more fruit so this weekend I can keep on blending! Sad, but true.

Just some random thoughts. These past weeks have been full of wedding planning/logistical details blargh. I was kind of bummed (as I'm sure my mom was too!) that things really weren't 100% resolved at the end of my trip in September. There really was/is a lot to do - maybe not the "big" things but we don't have the invites yet (I have such expensive taste apparently. The invites we had decided on two months back would end up costing us over $2,000. Better luck next time.) I don't believe in skimping on the important details but I also don't believe in going overboard just because. It's ONE DAY. Not even a whole day! I obviously want things to be spectacularly perfect because I'm Type A, but I can't imagine trying rationalize some of the outrageous things that brides demand/want/purchase/make other people purchase for the Big Day.

Part of me is happy that I'm not working full, full time (two part time jobs keep me busy but I wouldn't say they add up to a complete 9-6 every day) so I can at least spend some time looking at my favorite wedding blogs for ideas and just general eye candy. The other part of me is just like still in awe at the fact that some people put so much energy and expectation to this one day in their lives. Of course it's supposed to be happy and perfect and amazing and fun and all the rest - but I'm not sure if I would hope for it to be the "best day of my life." I just feel like there should be so much more happiness and joy beyond that day! That the marriage, not the wedding, should be what you're most excited about. To be honest I'm exhausted just thinking about all of the work and blood/sweat/tears that go into a mere 8 hour event! That's not saying that I don't care at all about how it turns out, of course I do, but I just wonder where our expectations and priorities are. Obviously everyone is different and I'm really not in any position to judge, but I just hope that if I were like trying to drag on the whole "I'm getting married I'm the bride omg omg!" thing much beyond the actual wedding ... well, I hope that someone close to me would give me a good slap.

Because at the end of the day, after fighting with my mom over the most minute little detail like the exact color of the envelope liner, I sit down to dinner with Josey and I just realize why I am so excited for June 4th. It's not because I get to wear a beautiful white dress, and it's not because of the gift registry. It's because I get to spend my life with my (cue cliche) best friend/running buddy/Indian food companion/puzzle partner/music buff/personal sommelier! How exciting and amazing is that? I'm sure that is why brides really just beam on their big day. The event is a blur; if you're lucky you might even get a bite of dinner or manage to step back and enjoy the event that has taken so long to create. The material objects and goods just melt away. It's not about being "the Bride" and buying an entirely white wardrobe to drive the point home. It's about cherishing a love that to you is so unique and so special that it deserves its own celebration.

Weekend Romping

Lots to look forward to this weekend ... Indian feast after Josey runs the Nike 10k (my damn knee still hurts. Thanks, Centro Valls, for NOT working) in the afternoon (side note: I don't know why this race is run in the afternoon, but I guess it's nice because we don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn!). Then we'll be playing at Noche de Los Museos (Night at the Museum) - an annual event where almost every museum/gallery/etc in the city is open until 3 am. Fun times. I want to go to the Penitentiary Museum but not sure if anyone else will want to join me ...

Have to start getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner at Basavilbaso, Round 2! Very excited to make another turkey and have some friends over for a big feast.

What else .... Reading Design*Sponge and getting fun Before&After inspiration ideas. Just a minute ago Jose and I were chatting about how to tackle the home office problem. I NEED MORE STORAGE people! I hate seeing loose papers and documents, among other things, scattered about without order. Part of my tardiness on the whole matter is due to my pathetic claims that because I'm in BA, I don't know where to go to buy what I could get at home in a pinch. That is sort of true, but mostly false. I just need a little oomph to get to a librería for some stand-up document storage, maybe Easy for some random shelves or something, and the rest I can wing. Ideally I'd be at the Mercado de Pulgas for some amazing antique hunting and a little bit of salvage work. Maybe on Sunday I can coerce a certain someone to join me ...

Blendy Friendly

Today I have revived my relationship with a forgotten kitchen buddy, the Blender. I made an insanely yummy but incredibly basic smoothie for breakfast and then just whipped up a nice fresh batch of gazpacho for dinner tonight. It's currently rainy and chilly, nothing at all like weather that demands a chilled soup but I don't really care.

I'm going to start being more creative (aka lifting inspiration from Pura Vida's smoothie menu, saving myself a trip downtown and $20+) and adding random things into my morning fruit fusion, and coming up with other blended delights for my tumtum. Liquid diet, anyone? (Just kidding)

A True Necessity

We're looking at getting some new rugs for the house (pretty much just for the home office and the dressing room), and I am sort of set on picking up a gem from Elementos Argentinos. I love everything that comes out of their amazing store, and I think this Greek key rug would be perfect in the office! I dream of it and need it immediately.

Things That Make Me Happy

1. Mid-day sunning sessions with José on the terrace. Good time to catch up on Elle Decor mags, essential travel literature, and check in with my darling succulents.

2. Eating Indian food twice in two days! Both with excellent company and delicious wine. My bell has never been this full of curry delight. Annex to #2: The Indian Cultural & Food Festival in BA, from now until November 14. Pure. Heaven.

3. Giggy the Pom. Enough said. (Thanks FMF)

4. TGIF. The sun is shining and life is good.

5. Dreaming of the antique mosaic tiles I might pick up while in Punta this New Year's.

6. Peonies.

Things I Enjoy

Paying the disgruntled post office girl in 5 cent coins because she refuses to give me change for $10

Overdue Pictures

It's been a while since I've posted some pictures, so when I started looking through my recent uploads I saw that I really only take pictures of flowers and plants. Kind of sad, but better than putting up pictures of my ugly mug. For example, my garlic friends that are flourishing, and my sad lemon cypress that is semi-dead but reviving.


Enjoy photographic evidence of recent events ... José's amazingness and filling our entire apartment with jasmine, my stunning peonies that I gazed at for days, and other random tidbits.

These are the funny yellow flowers that are sprouting way on top of my cabbage ... They're winter plants so now that it's Spring they are getting ready to die (tear) and these insanely tall things have started popping up!Tall, moribund cabbage and its baby brother who isn't quite there yet. In the middle, a random onion I planted. It seems to be doing well. Hooray!

Sunny Monday

What a busy weekend! And by busy I mean there was so much wind it was out of control. The two don't seem to be related but I'm just going to go with it.

Friday was my only taste of Halloween - sniff, sniff - as I went to an event hosted by the newspaper for a bit before running off to a dinner with friends. Since I didn't really have much time to come up with a real costume, I feel that we did a pretty good job considering. I dressed up in a kimono and Josey went as a random Russian man (we did the best we could with what we had in our closet. I miss the days of college when theme parties were so rampant that you always had something completely insane for nearly every occasion).

Photo:

Later in the evening, after a quick costume change (literally), we scampered off to a late, late dinner at Olsen accompanied by several strong vodka cocktails (Fun Fact: Olsen is a Scandinavian restaurant that boasts the widest vodka selection in all of BA.). After sleeping in considerably on Saturday, we were hoping for a nice day outside but the sky got all dark and gusty and things started blowing everywhere in epic proportions. Really. It was quite odd. BA isn't usually a windy place. We took shelter in an Italian place in Puerto Madero and drank limoncello to quell our nerves. I was also served a bowl of pasta so big 3 people could have eaten it and still been satisfied. Regardless, our table ordered 3 desserts just to finish it all off with a bang. Woo. Was on the couch for several hours afterward.

Sunday we headed over to Buenos Aires Photo at the Palais de Glace, one of my favorite little exposition spaces. I felt like there weren't as many photos on display as last year but that might be my memory playing tricks on me. Regardless, it was really fun, as always, to check out some of the up and coming artists and their work. Some of my favorite photos were from Buenos Aires in the 1930s, with shots from inside the slaughterhouses and other things. It's a shame it's only open just 3 or 4 days, because I would love to go back when there was no one else so I could really enjoy it!

Oh yes we also saw The Social Network last night. Loved. It. Just like everyone else who has seen it, I feel. I loved reading a little more of the backstory before seeing it (and reading which bits were a little more fictionalized than others), but especially enjoyed the interview Sean Parker did with Vanity Fair last month. Really compelling, to me at least. I think Justin Timberlake did quite a good job at portraying him. I didn't once think of him from the nsync days! On another movie note, I am sad that Black Sawn, the new Natalie Portman psycho-sexy-thriller, won't be coming to BA. Am hoping I can find a copy of it somewhere ... Anywhere!

At PT this morning they told me that my tendons still feel inflamed. I could have told them this myself when, after another "touch test" (a name I invented) revealed that random poking of my knee causes severely sharp pain! Not cool. Why have I been waking up at the crack of dawn for the past month if this isn't healed yet? Looks like I'll be getting a second opinion ... Which is why I love my health insurance. It's free!

Hm.. What else? It's hot and sunny so I spent some time up on the roof this morning and at lunch. Went to the gym and now Jose laughs at me for wanting to be like a bouncer at a club since I do crazy arm workouts and check out my sick muscles in the mirror when we're in the elevator. Hey, what can I say? Gotta look good in my wedding dress - and the clock is ticking!

Off to babysit and make some yummy Murg Malai kebabs for dinner .... mmmmmm