From Argentina With Love

Yerba Mate

 

The economy is on everybody's lips lately, and Argentineans are expert economisers--with all of their own economic ups and downs, they know that the best things in life are free.

A walk in the spring air, watching the trees blossom, a hug from a child, an afternoon nap, the company of a good friend. 

Argentineans are masters at slowing down, enjoying life and its wonders.  They spend time with friends and family they care for, they have a glass of wine and sit down to dinner as a family.   This is something I admit Istruggle with--I have a hard time letting myself nap or taking time to just slow down, let go and enjoy something beautiful for 5 minutes--like the view of the fog rolling over the mountains outside my window.

As Americans, we seem to always be rushing, trying to 'get things done'--when really, 'done' doesn't ever happen.  Life can pass us by without stopping to savor its pleasures.

Today, I am stopping to take a breath.  To enjoy being alive, to share a mate with my husband, to chat with a friend, to hug my son (and maybe even take a nap!).

Yerba Mate is drunk by most Argentineans, regardless of class or background--it is a sort of common denominator.  It's drunk once a day: "from morning till evening", as many Argentineans say! 

Typically, groups of friends at any outdoor excursion or gathering will bring along a thermos of hot water, a mate and yerba.  Or families will meet after waking from siesta to drink mate.  Traditionally, it is drunk communally in a group--the same mate straw (a bombilla) shared by everyone.  The mate is refilled with hot water using the same leaves, until they lose their flavor.

It is something that fosters community, strengthens friendships, encourages sharing and bonding.  Over the past year, I've had the pleasure of building a community with other bloggers, food writers, and readers--thanks to you all!  Today, I will be sipping my mate with you, even if it is just virtual--I'm stopping to appreciate what great things surround me.  I hope you'll do the same!

Yerba Mate

Yerba Mate Tea

Yerba Mate (comes in a variety of styles--we drink mate cocido sin palo, but you can also try those infused with citrus or peppermint!)

sugar, to taste

Hot water (NOT boiling, or you'll burn your mouth!)

bombilla filter straw

mate (gourd or other)

A note:  Yerba Mate, and a mate kit with the mate bowl it's commonly served in, can be found at shops like Whole Foods, or at many Latin supermarkets (like Rancho Liborio) where it is much less expensive.

Fill the mate (bombilla inside) with the yerba about 2/3 full.  Add the sugar to taste, do not stir.  Pour the hot water over the yerba in a circular motion until full but not over-flowing.  Drink from the bombilla.  The yerba will be very strong at first, but will mellow after several refills.

Relevant posts:  Yerba Mate, Argentina's National Drink (with mate preparation video)

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More photos on my flickr photostream, From Argentina With Love.

Soda en Sifon--Seltzer Water in a Siphon Bottle

 

It's been a summer of record-breaking high temperatures in Mendoza this year; seemingly interminable hot day after hot day.  During a heat wave, the line never disappears at Ferruccio Soppelsa, Mendoza's oldest helado (ice cream) chain.

And day after day, I've returned to the shop, in a vain attempt to escape the heat.  I pay the guy behind the counter, who's wearing a white uniform with red and yellow trim.  The shirt has a red 'Ferruccio Soppelsa' embroidered over the right breast pocket, and the uniform is complete with a white Soda Jerk hat.  The whole look is straight out of a 1950s soda fountain.

This day, it's finally a few degrees cooler outside, so in place of my usual 6 peso, 3 flavor gelato tower, I order a cortito--an espresso.  Literally, it means 'a little short one', or 'a little cut'.  I move out to the patio to sit outside and watch the people who walk by.  When the server brings the coffee to the table, it's served with a little plate of bite-sized cookies, and a glass of seltzer water.

In the US, 'sparkling water' is available on menus of nicer restaurants.  Some people drink it at home.  But in Argentina, a cup of coffee at a cafe is always served with a glass of soda.  And what a nice touch.  Until it was served to me, I don't think I ever noticed that after drinking my coffee, a little glass of seltzer was just what I needed for my parched throat.  Plus, it prolongs the cafe experience of sitting and sipping, a great Argentinean pastime.

The selzter, or soda, comes from siphon bottles like the one above.  The  sifon  is a ubiquitous part of the Argentinean cafe.  The soda is mixed with wine or Gancia (an alcoholic apperitif) or served like this, next to a coffee.  (I had to show off the vintage sifon we found at the flea market at Plazoleta Pelligrini.  It's no longer functional, but I fell in love with the deco shape, gem-like color and the cut of the glass. )

These days, the rechargable bottles are made from plastic, with the soda brand logo on the side.   When empty, the bottles are sent away in large crates to be cleaned, refilled and recharged.  Which makes serving it with coffee it the perfect little detail--a gift that keeps on giving.

Find more photos on my flickr photostream, From Argentina With Love.

Submarino--an Argentinean Hot Chocolate

 

It's a gray, rainy day in Mendoza.  Unseasonably cold for March, the overcast sky offers a preview of what's to come in the next months.  Our breath hangs in the air in front of us, like smoke cigarettes of so many passing  Argentinos,  as if hoping that roll of tobacco will warm them.

Though it showers sporadically, the day never improves.  The cobblestones of Mendoza's peotonal (pedestrian mall) are slick and dark with rain.   Low clouds make us want to stay inside under the covers, but with a toddler, this is impossible.  So we trudge out to Bonafide, Argentina's famed coffee chain, and head to the upstairs lounge overlooking the mall.  Low leather couches seat student types, one long-haired blond totes a guitar.  They huddle in groups, chatting, staving off the cold with hot coffee and the warm words of their flirtations.  The picture windows along the top floor give a bird's eye view of the peotonal--it would be the perfect place to people watch. 

But one couple, obviously young and  in love, wrapped in scarves and wool coats, have their back to the view.  What they are so focused on, (other than gazing at each other) is the perfect liquid warmth of the cups sitting in front of them. 

"What is that they're drinking?"  I ask Guillermo, trying not to point at the pair too obviously. 

"Those are submarinos!"  he says with a grin.  "We drank those all the time as kids!"

He couldn't explain fast enough.

"It's hot milk, served with a bar of chocolate on the side.  Dark chocolate--it has to be dark chocolate!"  he insisted.  "That's the submarine!  Then you take the submarine and you sink it!  The chocolate melts, and you have hot chocolate.  That's what they're drinking.  Submarinos."

Describing it, Guillermo was transformed back into the excitable five year old who once enjoyed them on a cold day.  And we sat, nestled as two and a half could be, indulging in our own submarinos while it rained away outside. 

 

Submarinos--Argentinean Hot Chocolate

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is winter right now, this recipe will have real appeal.  (Especially if you have a toddler!)  Make as soon as possible and warm yourself up. 

One mug of hot milk

portion of a bar of high-quality dark chocolate (I used Green and Black's)

To make the submarino:

Heat the milk to a drinkable temperature that's also warm enough to melt the chocolate.  Insert the chocolate bar into the hot milk.  Sink the submarine!  And stir until the chocolate has melted and is incorporated into the milk.  Enjoy with child-like glee.

Cerveza Quilmes-Argentina's Favorite Beer

A hot summer night.  We're sitting around my in-laws' round Formica-topped table.  It's the kind from the 70s with the Naugahyde seats (in dark green) that make the back of your legs stick to it in hot weather.  We're all facing the tele, watching the Turner Classic Movies channel, only with all those old classic films dubbed in Spanish. 

There's only one way to beat the heat.  My brother-in-law, Marcos, comes in with a wire rack-like basket full of 6 huge bottles of beer; Quilmes.  Earlier, Marcos had taken the same wire basket to the store full of empty bottles.  In Argentina, the empties are sent back to the manufacturer, cleaned, and re-used.  I don't know why I was so impressed by that wire rack basket, but it is such a mental image in my mind, that little basket sitting on the floor in my mother-in-law's pantry.  The first time I saw it, I didn't know what it was for, everything there in Argentina was so foreign to me.  I'd go to bed with a headache every night from listening to that chattering, Italian-accented Spanish (or Castellano, as they call it) rolling around in my head like a bunch of marbles.

Marcos set a bottle on the table and brought over 4 glasses.  It was at least 40 oz., which surprised me--in Argentina there aren't little 12 oz. individual bottles, rather, one large bottle to share with a group.   Served in mugs with handles, called 'chops', Quilmes was the perfect way to cool down on that hot, buggy night.

Quilmes, as I came to find out, just celebrated it's 120 year anniversary, was named for a group of indigenous people of Argentina, and is also Argentina's most popular and well-known lager.  There's also a flickr group dedicated just to pictures of Quilmes. (There's a flickr group for photos of just about everything, really, from mustaches to empanadas, so there's something for everyone!)  flickr is this awesome photo-sharing service where you can upload your photos for anyone (or only those you choose) to see.  But my favorite part about it is the groups--people with common interests join the same group and post photos of the subject (Argentinean food, for example) to one pool, to see and discuss each other's photos of this subject.  If you haven't already guessed, I'm on flickr, (under Rebecca T. Caro)so if you are, too, please add me to your 'friends' so we can share photos!  I'm off to post some photos!

Bodega Goyenechea--Goyenechea Winery (near San Rafael, Mendoza)

On my first-ever visit to Argentina,we went to tour a family winery called Goyenechea.  This is the willow-tree lined road leading to the winery.

Established by Basque immigrant brothers, Santiago and Narciso, Goyenechea was built in the late 1890s.  Their land holdings (1,200 hectares, about 2,965 acres) were once the largest continuous vineyard in the world.  It was more like a compound, really:  it included the bodega and vineyards, 50 houses, a social club and a school for employees and their families, along with the sprawling family estate (complete with a family chapel).