It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.
There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

To Market to Market

There is no excuse, here in Buenos Aires, for not having been to the market today.
Almost every block has a kiosk, bakery, small produce market that also sells eggs and milk or something bigger like the Asian markets and super markets.
It really cuts down on that old excuse that you just couldn't get out to the market , when there is one across the street or next door.
We tend to shop for things on a more daily basis than when we were in the US and did our once a week shopping with 8 bags of groceries, boys helping load them into the car, or delivery vans pulling up to the apartment. You can get them delivered here but it seems ridiculous for us, there are so many close by, why call and wait for it to be delivered ?
Pup even has a choice of many Pet shops nearby for his food and chewies.

I think it is impossible to live here and be thirsty. Kiosks, bakeries and all the markets sell drinks and milk. Milk is often sold in bags, which confused me at first, until I bought a pretty blue bottle to put it in .. but mostly we use the ordinary milk cartons. Some drinks are sold more than others , it appears. Fernet, Gancia .. don't ask.

Almost all markets have "Imported/Foreign" food items. Spices, teas and jams and jellies, some tinned things and now and then, Ortega Mexican products. They used to sell Hellman's Mayonnaise and Skippy Peanut Butter... now there is no such thing in this country. I mourn the loss of my mayonnaise.. but credit that loss to the weight drop I had when we first moved here. I mean really, what good is a sandwich without mayo? Good mayo.

No matter where you go, there are artful displays of produce. The boys that work in this market are always out there, arranging. I sometimes tease them and act like I am going to knock over one of their pyramids of oranges .. they always smile.. ( probably thinking all the while, I wish that crazy woman would leave us alone)

And there are flower sellers on the corners scattered around town... here we are lucky again, to have three who sell flowers within blocks of our apartment . . This lady is great, her flowers actually live longer than a day or two.

See my salmon ? I am not sure where they get it but it is delicious.
I can't eat these. How can I ? I have seen their faces !
Cute, isn't he ? He is thinking ... Oh no, there she is again .. just as I got to the top of my orange pyramid... will she knock into it ? will she make me knock it over ? She has the dog with her !!!

I don't even know what some of these things are called. That is one of the positives of not speaking the language well, you just point and grunt. Lately we have been eating lots of avocado and tomato salads and eating large amounts of cherries and tiny sweet plums.
Summer has its good points.


Don't you wish you were here ?

9 comments:

  1. I would be in Heaven with produce markets like that... OMG, there's no way you could help yourself from teasing such a cutie-pie with the oranges!!! Love the pics and "virtual tour"!!

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  2. Such beautiful and plentiful markets. It looks like the economy of that area is doing well. We don't see produce or flowers like that even when it is summer here. And I'll bet the scents of the flowers and the flavor of the fruits and vegetables are plentiful and good...Not like the simulated cardboard things we get here in the Rocky Mountains.

    I found even if you aren't fluent you can still get your shopping done with a lot of pointing, nodding and smiles, even if you do threaten to tumble down their displays.

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  3. Do the fruit pyramids ever collapse?

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  4. Nature Weaver, I have never seen an entire collapse but I have seen some roll into the street.
    I admit to pretending to push a pyramid once, making the market guys laugh .. if I had actually done it, I bet they would not have thought me to be so funny.
    I think they might go to classes on balance in pyramid building ~

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  5. A Broad.....I'm with you. I think I'd be tempted to be naughty and pick a bottom orange, just to see what would happen. There must be a bit of the 'imp' in us. giggle

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  6. It reminds me of Paris where every day there was a different market somewhere that went on for miles. Enjoy Mt. V

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  7. Sabrina, ( as I type I munch cherries) you would enjoy the marketing here. They pick out the best one, make sure it is not bruised or rotten, weight it, and wrap it in a little bag.. very nice. The veggies and fruit come in on trucks in the early hours of the mornings..
    There are farms all over Argentina, I don't think they import much ..but I am mostly clueless about that.

    Leenie.. I don't know about the economy doing so well but the farmers keep the people fed .. We had to adjust to the cooking here, it is not anything like what we are used to back in NY or wherever we were in Europe.. They have their own tastes and it is found in the cooking, everywhere.

    Anonymous .. Oh to be in one of those markets ! The cheese ! the bread ! the paté !!

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  8. Could you let us know where you find these lovely markets? Particularly the fish market?

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  9. Sure ! Our favorite fish market and another that is almost as good, are located on Rodriguez Pena between Juncal and Vicente Lopez.
    They are almost across the street from each other .. I have no idea what the names are of either one of them :)
    The produce markets are everywhere .. we have 2 by our home , but they really are Everywhere..

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