Domestic Day

The second day of running after a long hiatus is always rough, but I soldiered on. The bug guy came today. I wanted to ask him if he could get rid of whatever bit me underneath my lower eyelashes, but since it appears more like a black eye than a mosquito bite, I figured his response would be, “Abusive boyfriends? Can’t help you there,” so I let Jenny handle it. Actually my eye looks much better now: the swelling’s down and it’s not as red, but I was getting a few funny looks on the street yesterday. (Well, more than usual.) Jenny didn’t notice it until I pointed it out, but last night at Taco Tuesday, Damian was all, “What’s wrong?” The music last night was great: Bill Withers’ “Use Me Up” and Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey,” to name a couple. And the crowd was fun. Ben and Mark had bought matching underwear on the way over to “weigh the competition” for their new business endeavor, which did not exactly bode well for their sexual reputations. Damian is convinced they are a couple. And while debating two or three tacos, Annemarie convinced me to “Go for three; it’s only a dollar.” It’s not about the money; it’s what I’m putting into my body. But I suppose the only “bad” ingredient in any of those (small) tacos was rice. So next time, no rice. Why didn’t I think of that earlier? We stayed, the six of us, for about two hours, enjoying our tacos and snacking on three additional orders of chips and guacamole. The place was packed when we left, and hoards of hungry Americans nabbed our table before we even got the chance to take our trays.

As we walked down from Catedral down San Martin to Lavalle, Jenny announced that she would’ve rather taken the bus. Big step. (It does drop you off closer to Lavalle, as I learned on our bus ride home.) I had to do some minor surgery on my red beaded necklace, as it got caught in my Chilean scarf as I flung it off in a victorious “We aren’t late!” greeting to Damian, Annemarie, Mark and Ben. I told Damian I wanted to meet his family, since I keep hearing so much about them, but Annemarie grumbled, “Only some of them.” She still is upset about Matias’ comments about American dress versus Argentine style. Since I’ve been wearing skinny jeans for a few years now, I don’t think I’ll let his petty comments get to me.

I seriously considered going to Rapsodia to buy this dress I really liked as an “I’m not going to Peru” present to myself. But it’s still pretty pricey and now that I see past the selective (numbers only) dyslexia, I can’t justify paying that much, even if it is in pesos. And it seems silly to spend the money just because I have it. Ben was trying to convince me to go to Salta and Cordoba and Mendoza… all these places I don’t really care about seeing, because he says “you have to get out to see just how Third World Argentina really is.” I’ve seen Third World, thank you. I’ll pass. I mean, Patagonia, El Calafate, even Bariloche – I’d love to see those, just not when it’s so cold. Should’ve planned ahead but I suppose there’s always next time. I hate to live with that mindset but what else can you do? Resolve that you will never have the opportunity to go back? That’s too sad.

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I’ve had myself a pretty domestic day today. After my run I showered and did a bit of laundry, then put on my “Barefoot Cooking” playlist and made myself a lunch omelet and toast.

This is my playlist:

1. The Way Young Lovers Do - Van Morrison
   
2. Clementine - The Grateful Dead
3. Mais Que Nada - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
4. The Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix
5. Sugar Magnolia - The Grateful Dead
6. Castles Made of Sand - Jimi Hendrix
7. Gloria - Van Morrison
   
8. Stir It Up - Bob Marley
   
9. All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
   
10. Instant Pleasure - Rufus Wainwright
    
11. Dance All Night - Ryan Adams
    
12. Domino - Van Morrison
    
13. Breaking Up Somebody's Home - Patty Griffin
    

And after eating, since the playlist was still going and my feet were still bare, I prepped some vegetables (because, hey, I actually learned something all that time I sat in Dennis’ office watching Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller) and then sautéed an apple in butter, vanilla, and a splash of white wine because lately my Chilean apples haven’t been quite so crisp and Annemarie left that bottle of wine in our fridge a month ago and I’m definitely too scared to drink it. But to cook with it seems okay. And if you cook anything (apples or wine) in butter and top them with granola and a splash of milk, it turns out okay. Actually it turned out pretty dang good. I still don’t know my way around the store too well, and I’ve had some issues buying cheese. (Brie is safe, everything else – watch out!) But I don’t really mind because my grocery store plays the best jams; which is fitting, because my grocery store is called Disco. Of course today I had trouble finding peanut butter, and I hate to ask because that seems like such an American thing to want. I assumed it would be by the jelly, but no, that’s where the dulce de leche is. So I ended up buying pasta de mani, which is basically some kind of Indian peanut paste, but the ingredients are just peanuts, so I figure it will be like Mrs. Scudder’s organic peanut butter – you know, the kind that you have to stir. Jenny says the Skippy kind is in the baking aisle on the top shelf, and it’s like $20 pesos. That’s a lot. I think my pasta de mani was half of that, not to mention a lot better for you than Skippy brand. So I grabbed that and more yogurt and green bananas (it was either that or brown) and this cheese that looks like American cheese but tastes kind of like nothing and headed home to write.

Oh but before I headed to the grocery store, I stopped by Alto Palermo, in case I did want to buy that “I’m not going to Peru” dress at Rapsodia. But I decided against it. And there was nothing else in the mall that I wanted. But I did notice these shirts at Zara: there was a W, an E, an N, an I, an R and a T with all these little images screen printed behind the block letters. I wondered where M was. What my image would be. Am I supposed to wear the W and walk on my hands? ...Until I realized those six letters spelled out “WINTER,” looks like Zara Argentina didn’t get the display memo from international headquarters. I resisted the urge to rearrange the shirts for them.

In local news:
We’re getting a Starbucks. Muy pronto and right down my street. Actually, it’s at the intersection of both my streets: Coronel Diaz and Arenales, although it’s a heck of a lot closer to my new place than my old one. Don’t know how soon “muy pronto” is, but if it’s anytime before June 26, I’ll check it out for you. It’s right next to the TGI Friday’s.
In US news:
Hillary won West Virginia and won’t give up the race yet. But one of her close supporters and Bill’s former Deomocratic strategist Mr. Carville says, "I have an undated check written out for Obama. I'll send it when this is over." Hurry up and date that check please, buck-o. And thank you, Senator John Edwards for jumping on the bandwagon and finally endorsing Obama. Let's get this show on the road.