Argentine Parties

Having been a guest to no less than 5 parties in the last 3 weeks (with another to attend tonight), it seems time to write a bit about the Argentine party scene--and to finally show off my wonderful host parents! First things first, here’s Jorge and Josefina (she doesn’t seem to smile for any pictures):

The first party we went to was the birthday party of my host parents’ son’s mother-in-law…did you follow that? Everyone was very friendly, especially his 6-year-old niece, who could not believe it when he told her I wasn’t from Argentina and was only just learning Spanish (no credit to my Spanish skills, just her amazement at realizing everyone in the world wasn’t Argentine). She commenced to test my English skills, by asking various vocabulary words “Como se dice pescado en ingles?”), then running to her mom, an English teacher to see if I was right.

I didn’t bring my camera, but once I saw the spread, I wished I had…the husband of the birthday girl was a chef, and they had beautiful arrangements of little pastry cups filled with meat and cheese, an eggplant spread, little square sandwiches with the crusts cut off, filled with ham and cheese, and small toasts with a variety of toppings. Then, came the dessert platter with 5-6 different types of cookies and sweets accompanied by champagne (they always serve champagne, not coffee with dessert), then the birthday cake…

Next, was Independence Day (July 9), which is typically a quiet celebration of lunch with family/friends. The treat this time was homemade empanadas, with a melt-in-your-mouth crust. They were stuffed with meat, caprese (tomato, basil, and cheese), or a fruity dessert filling. Here’s the group responsible:

Josefina and Viviana, “La Loca.” are making empanadas…well, Vivi is drinking more mate than making empanadas. And here’s our host, with my host sister, Kelly (far-left, another intern from Connecticut), Amber (also another intern from Connecticut), and Jacquelyn (far-right, an intern from Kansas). We went out the night before, thinking it’d be a quiet day of lunch and rest, however, the lunch clocked in at about 7 ½ hours (we left at 11 a.m. and got home around 6:30 p.m.), making for a quiet, sleep-deprived afternoon for the younger crowd.

After the empanadas, locro was served, a traditional lentil and meat stew, followed by the compulsory dessert platter and champagne.

Viviana’s 50^th birthday was the next event, and 50^th Birthdays are huge here, especially when your nickname is “La Loca.” A party hall was rented, and a similar spread was provided to the first birthday party, but a bit fancier. More meat, more meat, and finally a bit of pizza with runny cheese were served. Kristin and Samiron (more of my intern group) are near ODing on the meat that makes up every meal.

Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without entertainment. The men in the family (Vivi is my host dad’s sister) put on a strip show for the lucky lady…I don’t think she’s the only loco in the family.

And, there was lots of dancing, party favors, and masks. (Uh, and possibly, a bit of free-flowing wine and Fernet from the looks of these pictures…)

Even the waiters were enjoying the chance to break it down…

Sunday was Dia del Amigo, which meant Saturday night was the night to celebrate your friends (since nothing gets going until after midnight, and technically that’s Sunday, anyway.) My friend, Jen, had a little fiesta at her place, with Antonio, Ana Maria, and I…(I swear I haven’t morphed into a whale, it’s just a bad angle!)

Finally, Sunday afternoon we had another marathon Argentine lunch--this one clocking in at a measly six hours. More empanadas were served, followed by…asado!!! The traditional Argentine BBQ that makes all Americans groan under the weight of the meat consumed. Plate after plate is brought out, blood sausage, another type of sausage (called chorizo, but not at all like Mexican chorizo), several cuts of beef of varying degrees of stringiness and fattiness. These are accompanied by a simple green salad (lettuce, tomatoes and onion) and lots of bread for soaking up the juice/wrapping up the sausages.

After lunch, we played a bit of tejo, an Argentine version of bocce then, listened to some music while the women danced. After that much wine in one weekend, it was almost a relief to go back to work--almost!

(This posting is dedicated to my mother, who’s been saying there aren’t enough pictures of me and the people down here.)