Senegal: Freedom Ain't Free

My week of indulgence also came at an opportune time…The celebration of Senegalese independence!!

More delicious food & a room full of Afro-Argentines & African immigrants, what more can I say??

How about...Spicy empanadas & Puffpuff?!

Check out the happenings...

Indulgences...

Carlitos--comida Peruana.

Now, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about how shocking and uninformed my initial meeting with Buenos Aires was, but um, yea, it was quite a shock.

My reasons for studying abroad:

-chill with brown people

-eat rice and beans and plátanos

-dance salsa

-drink tequila

-get a few credits to add to my African American studies major

It wasn't until I had already signed on the dotted line to go to Buenos Aires (based on peoples comments that it was an amazing city similar to NYC, that they had a great time, that the food was great, that it was cheap...) that I actually started researching Buenos Aires.

As it turns out, there is absolutely no rice and bean or plátanos eating, no spicy food, hardly any salsa, (a pretty stiff cumbia actually), and (though i don't want to play into the European imagery) most people have Italian looks with some sneaky black/indigenous features that pop up. Now this is all in Buenos Aires, which has taken it upon itself to become the center of the Argentine universe....

The rest of the country is admittedly more colorful, gots some flavor in their food, and lets say are more like the REST of Latin America.

Now as much as I might complain about the things that I CAN’T get here readily:

(AHEM)peanut butter, thai food, Indian food, tea tree oil, chipotle peppers.

And though I might complain about the average persons dinner options

(COUGH) pizza, pizza, empanada, pizza, carne, carne, jamon y queso, and empanadas. MILANESA

And salad consists ONLY of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.

It is PERFECTLY OK to just have meat and white bread for dinner.

Seasoning is salt & pepper. Nothing else is needed. Nothing!

STEAK SAUCE is an insult

As much as I might complain about the general eating habits of Argentines, there are somethings that I just can't get enough of down here:

5. $10 filet mignon…

· I don’t even really mess with meat all like that in the united states, but I’ve definitely had the best steak of my life in this city. So far, Argentina's carne industry is pretty far from the capitalistic meat factories that exist in the US, so the meat is rich in flavor and guilt-free.

4.Verdulerias

· Every street corner has beautiful stands overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetables all at competing prices. It makes an awesome photo-op, but it also makes fruits and veggies look oh-so-much-more appetizing.

3. YerbaMate

· This herbal tea is sipped from a gourd through a special straw. It has no caffeine but is an all natural stimulant, and keeps you regular, (if you know what I’m saying).

2. Empanadas

So every culture has their delicious pastry dough wrapped around some meat and cheese. Jamaican Beef Patties, Dumplings, and Argentina has their empanadas. I remember the first time I tasted a real empanada was 5 years ago on Venice beach, and empanadas and I have been inseparable ever since. Luckily, down here, they’re less than a dollar each. Will it be veggies, ham, cheese and pineapple, carne, pollo, or corn today?

1. FACTURAS with Dulce de Leche

·After every verduleria overflowing with all of these fresh fruits and vegetables, you’ll find an equally beautiful panaderia/confiteria with glossy cakes of chocolate and fruits, peeking out the window begging for a good mouth to go home to. Dulce de leche is crack…theres not much else that I can say about it.

Now, at some point in my stay here it became my daily habit to wake up, take a run in the park then get my yoga on. Now these things are awesome but then I would incorporate a stop at a verdularia to pick up tomatoes and palta, THEN stop at the panadaria and pick up 3 empanadas, and a half dozen facturas dripping with dulce de leche.

As I told myself, as part of my reintroduction to the country, the city, and my neighborhood, I’d pick a new stop each day and chow down. Empanadas never get old, and I’d make a mental note of which pollo empanadas had a pit of spice in them, which carnes were ruined with pesky olives, which verduras were particularly garlicy & delicious, and which crusts were flaky, and which were soggy after coming from the oven.

Now I have to admit, I’m an eater and an unabashed AMANTE of food. I don’t have any shame in my eating game, BUT there is a time when things get to be too much, and food gets a bit sinful.

Yup I said it sinful.

So, I decided that it was time that I got out all of my food comforts and reintroducing out of the way for a week…then go on a cleansing fast.

The following are meals from my week of indulgence:

CARLITOS

CHIPOTLE CHICKEN SALAD

EMPANADAS

PIZZA

CARNE/PAN DE BUDIN

CRESOMA llena de dulce de leche

FACTURAS DE DULCE DE LECHE

Old Friends, New Communities...

Coming back to Buenos Aires has been a bit of a polarizing adjustment. Physically the city is very familiar for me. I’ve been all over it by foot, squished into its buses, and have been intimately intermixed into the grit of it’s underground.

In some ways it feels like a second home, a second or perhaps third character, life and existence that I’ve tucked away thousands of miles from the US to save for wintry days. Often I feel like I’m returning to unfinished business, to a mission that I just didn’t have the time or tools to complete yet.

I’ve got a host of really awesome friends here, my favorite restaurants, and community organizations that I feel committed too.

But in many ways, my return to Buenos Aires has been yet another quick and startling transition that my brain and heart has yet to wrap itself around. I’m no longer a study abroad student running around with a naïve mission to find the long lost black people. I’m no longer just limping by with my Spanish, and in many ways the universe has truly provided me with everything that I need to make ANYTHING happen during my time here.

I have money, equipment, opportunities overflowing, communities that have a clear plan and mission, and yet I’ve been going around in circles like a puppy trying to figure out where and how to start. Literally, within two weeks of arriving in Buenos Aires, all of the desires I’ve had about this place have manifested themselves. An opportunity to sing? Check. An opportunity to photograph? Check. A job teaching yoga? Check? A productive community organization to contribute to? Check?

This has been one of these times where the universe has really showed me that it is possible to do ANYTHING that I want here, I just have to be patient and calculated about my actions—and FOCUS.

These times when things all fall together, and there are about 14 thousand things that I could do, I start to tend toward workaholism. If I’m not working, I feel uncomfortable, and when I am working I feel that I need to be working harder. It’s a nagging feeling that brings guilt instead of relaxation.

These are tendencies that I’ve definitely picked up from Harvard, and I find them to be more and more common among other high achieving black women. It seems that we are constantly racing against the clock, fighting against these our societal images to prove ourselves, and to out-do ourselves….before it’s too late?

I’ve found that commonly, we’ve seen so many of our fellow sisters in the depths of destruction that we are stuck in a never ending struggle to not waste time, to not to waste what we’ve been given. We’ve been warned by mothers not to follow in their paths. We’ve been told by our community how much potential we have. We’ve been told by 18 different people, the different truth about 18 different paths that we should take. We’re a generation with more choice and opportunity in some ways than ever. We don’t have to get married to support ourselves (and frankly we don’t get married much at all). Our career choices are not as strictly delineated by our gender or the color of our skin. Even having babies doesn’t confine us to the domestic realm anymore. And it’s become more and more common that our attachment to our career status acts as our man, family, and child (or so says all of the articles coming out lately that high achieving black women never get married….)

Without diving into Often times in wanting to live up to all of the expectations that we have of what we COULD do we end up overworking ourselves, and undervaluing our relationships.

It sounds counterintuitive that during a year that I would be without job, hours, or responsibilities that I would end up feeling so pressured and busy.

I am thankful that I’ve got such awesome friends here to make me take time out of my busy schedule to take care of what’s more important. And what is that? Peacefulness, maintaining balance, leaving a space better than you’ve found it—and as it’s something that I’ve definitely neglected in my past.

Luckily, I’ve found a roommate here who has taught me a lot about maintaining positive energy and relations in the house…and about taking breaks to do these things.

She makes sure that I teach her yoga during the week, she makes sure that I sit my ass down to watch a movie, or listen to a song, or to sing a song with her, she teaches me about Argentine Futbol, and takes great pride in joy in explaining my Spanish mistakes while teaching me new slang.

Lucky for her, lately my way of showing my appreciation (and moreso my procrastination method) has been cooking. I’ve been cooking all sorts of new and interesting things that most Argentines may have never seen in the kitchen. Arroz con frijoles, plátanos, salsa, guacamole, thai-pinneaple rice, crazy salads, new sauces and salad dressings, baked chicken, sweet potatoes…

To welcome me into the house and to say good-bye to a good friend we even had an incredible process of learning how to make EMPANADAS TUCHUMANAS, which of course, according to every Tucumana that lives in my house: THE BEST EMPANADAS IN THE WORLD. Actually, I hear that Tucumanas INVENTED Empanadas.

I have to admit, they were pretty damn good. Baked, Fried, Burnt, Hot, or Cold. I definitely ate to one stop past itus all the way into having to literally lay out on my bed for a while to regain my ability to talk and walk. (Sad, but true).

They were even better having gone through the entire process of cooking then with Emi…including staying up until four am the night before just peeling off strips of meat…and even better still beside the heaping piles of homemade guacamole that I made.

Sometimes there is nothing better than indulging in some gluttony and wine with new friends…oh and of course futbol. ..

CHECK OUT THE RECIPE HERE

CHECK OUT MORE PICS OF NEW FRIENDS & GATHERINGS…