JS RTW

Been There, Done That

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 12:22:16 -0600

A whole year has gone by in the blink of an eye. Fortunately we have many of Jan’s fabulous photos and my occasional stabs at wit.

Here then is the chronicle of our year abroad. It was great fun, we didn’t get tired of it at all, and not only would we do it all over again, in a way we are.

It turns out we are now moving to Argentina to open a restaurant. There will be one last post to this blog indicating where you can find out more, but until then...

It was a great pleasure to share our adventures with you. We have loved the emails and comments, keep them coming.

And to all of the people that we met, you are what made the trip special, and we can not thank you enough for sharing your lives with us.

Steve & Jan

Don’t Cry

Sat, 23 May 2009 19:17:58 -0600

For me Argentina was a place shrouded in mystery. Before coming here I had visions of immense cattle ranches, wild west lawlessness and beautiful women sipping fine wine. Then I arrived.

It turns out that all of it was true, and more. I have also heard tales that there is a great metropolitan city, not all that far away, but which we managed to miss. It is on the list for any future trip, I am assured that I have missed quite the experience.

Leave it to me to see exactly the opposite of what most visitors encounter. I get bucolic vineyards and pastoral lifestyles, and those that make it to Buenos Aires get fashion glitz and jet set adventures. Usually, we are the “Times Square” and not the “Fresh Air” couple, but wine happens in the sticks, and to the sticks we pilgrimaged.

The verdant venue was good for our souls, if not our waistlines. 25 winery meals later and any minute now we are headed for a serious diet. We hit it just at harvest and were able to feast on the vision of all the people working so hard. Usually when we visit the winery it is a quiet time and there is almost nothing going on. It made for great pictures.

We tasted what seemed to be an enormous amount of wine. Honestly, I taste more in a few weeks of serious tasting, but this was all presented ceremonially and the proper rituals all had to be observed, it takes time and energy. As such, I received a great depth of knowledge on all of the producers we visited, but in all with only 250 wines tasted, it was not an earth shattering record by any means.

Speaking of enormous, that is the only way to describe the task that Jan in facing, as she wrestles her collection of 18,000 images. This is only the first year of categorizing and maintaining her photos in Aperture, imagine the size of the collection in a decade! Backing them all up to a server on line was a foray into digital frustration. At least they are now that much safer.

I am stalling, I know that writing that final summary will be one task closer to the end. Yet I am aware that I can no longer count on your unfaltering attention if I draw it out any longer, so here goes: The Mendoza section of Argentina is a dirty, somewhat impoverished parched landscape of high dessert and vineyards. The people are rich in their culture and joy of life, if not in their pockets. The wine is great, the food is getting better, and there is every reason to come visit.

And so it is done. My final missive of my final country as we wind down to a last few days in Chile, and then...

The Complexity of a Simple Dinner

Mon, 4 May 2009 05:53:36 -0600

Once again I have taken the opportunity to show off my culinary prowess on unsuspecting locals. Here in Mendoza I plotted and pulled off a 7 course dinner in our tiny hotel room / apartment. Using only local ingredients and the scant utensils and spices I could drum up, I crafted a nice little meal.

The targets of my gastronomic machinations were a group of mostly young girls. I wonder what would ever have possessed me to want to try to impress them? A young man was also in attendance, and as it turned out, he would be one of the most dazzled.

Seven wines not being enough to mollify the crowd we ended up downing another pair of sparklers after the meal. In Argentine fashion the dinner started close to 10 PM and was over around 2. Those who were still standing sauntered off to another party. We elected to put our weary bones to bed.

The menu, for those that can’t read the tiny print on the image above, was:

Curried Crab with Toasted Coconut (Thailand)
Baron B Espumante

Langostino in a Lemon Beurre Blanc (Bulgaria)
2008 Sophenia Tupungato Sauvignon Blanc

Butter Chicken (India)
2007 O Fournier Urban Uco Torrontes

Rafraîchir

Rare Roast Beef with Hollandaise
thrice cooked potatoes and creamed corn (Chile)
1992 Bodegas Lopez Montchenot 15 Años

Cheese Plate (Argentina)
Achaval Ferrer Malbec Dolce

Strawberry Banana Balsamico Sauce (Aspen)
2007 Santa Julia Tardio

Assorted Chocolates (El Mundo)
Duc de Saint Remy Demi Sec Espumante

No really, lots of work

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:20:42 -0600

More than once I have tried to convince you that getting up early in the morning, putting on decent clothes and a big smile and then being whisked to the winery to taste a dozen wines is hard work. And it is, but it is not nearly as much work as those that get up hours before we do.

It is harvest time here, or more precisely the tail end of harvest. Vineyard workers are up well before the sun and are out in the field picking grapes. Winery personnel are ready to receive the grapes and to take them through the process of sorting, crushing and moving them to the tanks for fermentation.

Each winery we have visited on this trip has been a bee hive of activity, rushing to accommodate the new harvest while clearing out last year’s vintage to make room. Some use gentle gravity based systems to ensure a minimum of contact with air, others use powerful pumps to keep their huge volumes of wine moving. They all have one thing in common, this is no time for dawdling.

We are especially thankful for the wineries and the many winemakers that have hosted us, for taking time during this busy season. Usually I try to stay out of their way during crush, but the timing worked out that we are here now. This is great for pictures and Jan has taken an amazing series of the action at hand.

It is starting to slow down now, as all but the last of the most ripe Cabernet is in the winery. A collective sigh of relief can be heard as the harvest has gone off without a hitch this year. Now the process of fermentation is coming to an end for many of the whites and lighter reds, while other tanks are filled with active yeast during their own hard work. And for us? More hard work ahead with over a half dozen wineries yet to visit, raising the total to over 20 just for Argentina, and the possibility of more to come.

Work, work, work, work, work. Life is so hard!

Mucho Moo, Pas du Baa, Pricey Pork

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 06:51:45 -0600

Now that I have fractured the onomatopoeic offerings of several languages let me iterate by saying there is lots of beef here, and very little lamb, and pork is, well, pricey.

Grilling meat is passion in Argentina. They use an enclosed brick oven that bakes the meat as much as it grills it, a very different approach from most BBQs in the US. And as for sauce, salt is it. They want to be able to taste the meat and enjoy the textures. In fact, it is almost more texture that they are after. The put many different cuts on the fire to enjoy in succession. From the chewiest to the most tender, with a few sausages thrown in for good measure.

At the wineries we have been served more classically Continental fare, although usually with an Argentine flair. The flavors tend to be fresh and unadorned. For example, a tomato soup that is nothing more than pureed tomatoes with a bit of garnish of minced peppers and onions. Much to my delight, onions seem to be as ubiquitous as meat (for those that don’t know me well, trained chef not withstanding, I am not an onion fan).

As befits a land with a large population of Italian immigrants pizza is popular here. The crust tends to be doughy and the sauce all but non existent. This is not the pizza of Italy, or even the US. It holds true to local tastes in that it is all about unadorned flavors.

Empanadas are a South American staple, and what we have enjoyed so far in Argentina take the edge of those of Chile. The dough here tends to be more flaky and less dense. The flavors are similar, with cheese, or ham and cheese being a staple. In fact Chile had more variety than we have come across in Mendoza. Chile has seafood, and the only sea on this side of Argentina is full of grass and cows.

There are several fine restaurants that are calling out to us, but we have yet to avail ourselves of them. We plan on giving the local cuisine a good once over, but in the mean time I continue to make international cuisine from our tiny kitchen. This may be the only place in the city you can get a decent saag or buttered chicken (Indian food).

Grocery shopping continue to be a challenge, as it has been all over the world. Each country had its pluses and minuses, and here the wine is a huge plus, while the dearth of my favorite ingredients are a minus. It is all about adapting, and so we have and will continue to do so. The wine is decent, plentiful and cheap, and after all that is really the main ingredient in every dinner we enjoy.

So, for all of you who are waiting for the grand dinner of new favorites from around the world, we will start with a nice salad from Bulgaria, a few empanadas from South America, some spicy shrimp from Thailand, a well curried offering from India and something coconut laden from Cambodia. Hungry yet?