Friday, June 29, 2007

Someday my prince will shop for his own shoes

Last weekend I had my first fiesta (party) in my new apartment in Recoleta/Barrio Norte. Actually, it was more of a fiestita, a little party, because there were only four of us. I met D. maybe 7 or 8 years ago, when he was in LA to study English for the summer. We stayed in touch, off-and-on, over the years and he's been full of helpful info and advice about living here. I've gotten together with him and his boyfriend, C., at times for lunch, dinner, and just hanging out. A couple of weeks ago I went out to Belgrano to join them in celebrating C.'s birthday.

This time, they came to see me and the new place and we hung out with pizza and empanadas (meat-filled pastry) from a local restaurant. Almost every restaurant here delivers and, oddly enough, they usually call it delivery instead of envio a domicilio, the correct Spanish term. There are lots of these Spanglish terms in use. You use a mouse, not a raton, with your computer. You buy or rent a DVD pronounced the English way, not day-bay-day like it should be pronounced in Spanish. I don't know why these things are but I suspect they're the result of the pervasive influence of American television and movies.

We also tried out my new espresso machine. Yes, I bought the Ariete model I talked about in a recent entry. I love the look of it, somewhat retro but also modern. It has a stainless steel boiler, brass portafilter, burr grinder, and temperature gauge for you coffee techno-geeks like me. I was planning to buy a Saeco Aroma, aka Saeco Classico, a longtime workhorse of home espresso machines, which I had found on a website. Naturally, when I arrived all ready to plunk down my credit card, they told me they no longer carry it. So, I went with the one I really wanted, the Ariete, even though it was almost twice the cost...but it does have a built-in grinder so it really wasn't a bad deal! I'm happy now, drinking myself into a hyper-caffeinated bliss daily.

The fourth person at our gathering was M., one of the best friends of C. and D. He took part in a home video recently, a kind of fun birthday project for another of his friends. It's a twisted version of Cinderella, who is known as Cenicienta in Spanish. Enjoy!

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