Did I forget to mention that Argentina is my temporary home? My family is currently residing here for my husband’s job. We’re a few months in now, so nice and settled, but those first few weeks were wild! I researched about the life and cuisine here beforehand and read about staples such as empanadas, milenesa, asado, tortas, chimichurri, dulce de leche and alfajores. I also learned of their Italian rooted offerings such as pizza, pasta, gnocchi and more. Yes, please!

We were exhausted after an overnight flight with an 18 month old and driving several hours from the airport to our new rental home. Our hostess greeted us and helped us acclimate to the house. She speaks some English and I speak some Spanish so we were able to communicate fairly well between the two of us. All of the appliances are completely different so this took a while. At this point we were famished because the only thing we had eaten since our airplane breakfast was chips from the gas station. We tried a hamburger but it was soy and also had an actual piece of ham on it. I’m not kidding. I knew then that life was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

So we headed out to get provisions at a local grocery store recommended by our hostess. However, between the different traffic laws (or lack thereof), being in a big city, a Spanish GPS and it now being dark outside we could not find it. We stumbled upon a small market and got some basics to get by for a couple of days. After we returned to la casa, I planned to prepare a quick frozen pizza but could not figure out how to work the gas oven. We tried several times but the flame kept going out so PB & J and chips for dinner it is!

I woke up the next morning feeling somewhat refreshed and decided to make breakfast. I fetched some eggs supplied by the yard hens featured above. I guess I’m a farm girl now! I served scrambled eggs with jelly and dulce de leche toast and it was muy delicioso! It took me two hours to figure out how to work their version of the Keurig which only produced about half a cup of coffee. I simply added another pouch and pressed the button again and presto! I’m starting to get the hang of things. Our hostess came by that afternoon and showed us how to work the oven. Who knew you had to hold the gas button down for 30 seconds so the flame will stick? But hey, now we’re cooking!

We find the grocery store a few hours later and quickly become overwhelmed. It’s huge and we don’t know where anything is. The products come in much smaller sizes and quantities than we’re used to. There is no friendly international section like at Walmart. The only familiar products are Lays, Pringle’s and Oreos. There are no pre-made items such as dips, soups, meal kits, etc. What are we going to do without the supplement of processed food?!?! I guess this self teaching cook is going to learn how to do things from scratch!
Current emotional state: 😤😳🤔🤷‍♀️😜

Please continue to follow as there are more stories to come!

✌️💜🍴,

Mood Ring Kitchen

Categories: Uncategorized

Tagged as: cooking foodblog south america Zerotohero

Mood Ring Kitchen

I’m a self teaching home cook and aspiring foodie entrepreneur. I enjoy coming up with creative ways to prepare flavorful food such as snacks, desserts and everything in between. Cooking is a way for me to challenge myself and satisfy curiosities about different ingredients.

The hope is to produce something thoughtful, memorable or every once in a while maybe even wonderful. I enjoy following my “gut” and exploring new recipes that can be comforting, exciting and nourishing. Above all else, I enjoy exploring the emotions surrounding food and writing about those experiences. 😝👩‍🍳👩‍💻