Antarctica, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil
Puerto Iguazú, The Argentine Experience
On the evening of our first day visiting Iguazú Falls, Seth took us all out for a culinary adventure at the appropriately named "Argentine Experience". It's kind of half restaurant, half theater. We sat at two long tables, on high chairs, wearing silly chef hats. Our host—call him the master of ceremonies—taught us about Argentine cuisine and how to prepare our drinks and food. And we did prepare some of our food, with varying degrees of success, but in the end we had a terrific meal and lots of laughs.
Here are some photos:
Here we are, having prepared our own drinks—after the careful tutelage of our master of ceremonies. ¡Salud!
Next up, they served us traditional Argentine appetizers, in this case perfectly cooked sliced chorizo, provoleta cheese, a couple of types of Argentine salsa, fantastic crusty Argentine bread, and blood sausage. Okay, I admit I wasn't big on the blood sausage, but the chorizo was terrific with the bread, cheese, and salsa. Yum!
Next, they served us a tray of cooked root veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes, and I don't remember what else), but to finish off its preparation before eating, we were instructed to brush on a couple of sauces using a sprig of rosemary (el romero in Spanish). We nominated Ross from Australia to do the honors. He did an excellent job, considering that the potatoes (that's what I ate) were excellent!
Before the main course, we were instructed how to make an empanada, Argentina's signature dish. This was mine. Yeah, I know, pretty sad. Luckily I had no hand in preparing the ingredients or cooking it, because even though it didn't resemble an empanada very much visually, it tasted fantastic!
After the food was cleared away, we all prepared our own brew of mate, a bitter tea-like drink made from dried leaves of the Yerba Mate tree (which is closely related to holly and not tea). I carefully added the hot water and mate leaves together exactly as directed, being careful to use the same yells at the right times that our master of ceremonies said we needed to use, and then took a sip through the customary metal Argentine straw, the bombilla. OMG, it was awful. Not as bad as the matcha (no relation) that I had in Japan, but right up there with some of the worst flavors I've ever experienced. I mean no offense to the Argentinians, but thank you very much, the next time I am offered mate I will decline. In their defense, I am no tea drinker and suspect tea drinkers might find mate acceptable.
And then it was all over. Despite the mate, the Argentine Experience was wonderful. Good food, good company, and good fun.