#like at my birthday dinner i had a pretty big margarita and my dad goes ''well at least youre not driving home''

[bhalspawn]

i can't say im glad i got so sick and had my legs amputated but i do feel like a totally different person now in the best way. like i know how much im loved and i know that im so much stronger than i ever thought

[brightandblossom]

Food for Thought Challenge...

Lately I have been extremely irritated by the negative attitude some media outlets can have towards food. My own difficult relationship with eating has clouded my own attitudes towards food and sometimes I find it all too easy to get caught up in the “food is an enemy” mind-set - which is so harmful, unnecessary and very inaccurate! 

Food is wonderful, special and something that can really add to special moments in our lives...something that has really helped me to remember this is an amazing podcast I have stumbled across called “Desert Island Dishes” with Margie Broadhead. In this podcast, different writers/chefs/bloggers and many others are interviewed and asked about certain “foodie” questions - similar to the desert island discs format! 

I couldn’t help but think...”what a great couple of questions to remind myself of the benefits food can have in my life”

So I’m going to answer those questions now, and hopefully they will be fun and interesting for anyone reading - and inspiring to possibly ask these for yourself to remind us of the joys of food in the recovery process!

 1.) What dish reminds you of your childhood?

This is a hard one! My family (although they do have some kitchen knowledge) aren’t the biggest “cooking” types, but for me I will always remember going for a Friday night trip to this one local Italian restaurant to which we became regulars! I would ALWAYS have a margarita pizza - which to this day still remains the best one I have ever had.

2.) What was the first dish you ever learned to cook?

Scrambled eggs with cheese... in the microwave. I remember my dad showed me when I was around 8 and for a few years that’s what he got for breakfast every birthday or fathers day...or any other day I tried to make the parents a breakfast in bed. 

3.) What is the best dish you have ever eaten

ooooh so many meals have a special place in my heart but I am just  going to say one of the first things that comes to mind...there used to be this coffee shop near where I grew up and they did the best rocky road I think I can remember. It was super squidgy and chocolatey and I remember it was pretty much the only cake I would ever order from there. 

4.) What would be your go-to sandwich?

Ok so maybe this is slightly bending the rules on what makes a sandwich… but baked beans and butter on really good ciabatta style bread. And it has to be saucy enough so that the bread gets a little soft and you have to eat it with a fork. Or avocado toast with fancy tomatoes is also amazing.  

5.) What is your favourite meal to cook?

It totally depends on my mood, but I always enjoy cooking. Lately I have been loving making pasta dishes with new flavours and sauces, but I also enjoy baking things - a walnut banana loaf is one of my specialities which I enjoy making!

6.) What would you make if you were hosting a Dinner Party?

To be honest, cooking for other people is one of my biggest hurdles I want to get better at. I just get so scared they wont enjoy it! When I get friends round for dinner though I usually enjoy making homemade pizzas together. It’s lots of fun rolling out the dough and decorating! And you can have olives and dips on a table for people to help themselves! Dessert I also like to keep “buffet” style. So a big bowl of fesh fruit salad, some ice cream/cream and assorted cakey bite things always goes down well - and don’t forget the after eights!

7.) Final question - So you are about to be sent away to a desert island... what and where will your final meal be?

This is a little specific... but I would love to be at some kind of hot summer resort type place with friends and family... sitting outside in the warm sun and the meal would be a gorgeous farmers buffet type thing. So you could basically just help yourself to all these freshly prepared bbq type foods and it would be just so relaxing and lovely. With a cold glass of wine and lemon meringue pie ice cream to finish!  

I don’t know about you but I am definitely feeling inspired to re-ignite my love of food again, and not let any disordered thoughts get in my way of enjoying life! 

If you want to answer these questions please go ahead! And tag me as I would love to support you and I’m so nosey to hear other peoples answers!

[lavidaatravezdeunavion]

Week 2

June 22

We took Saturday pretty easy since we were out pretty late on Friday. We went out to lunch at a cute little cafe called “Casa muamor,” I got a pasta and pesto dish which was alright id give it a 7/10 the sauce to pasta ratio was kind of off and the sauce was really oily. I also ordered an orange juice which like all the other places we have been was delicious. After lunch I went back to the residencia and just hung out with my roommate and some of the guys from here. That was pretty much all we did on Saturday nothing too exciting. 

June 23

We woke up to go get brunch and we went to “El Galeon,” the restaurant that's right around here. I got a “Pollo Completo,” sandwich which was huge and it also came with a side of fries. Besides the portion being huge and not being able to finish it was delectable and the restaurant has redeemed itself from that subpar salad I got from there the previous time. I also ordered an orange juice (what's new). 

After lunch, some of us went to San Telmo to go to their version of a flea market with a bunch of artisanal things. The Market goes for about five blocks and we went around 2:30 and let me tell you it was PACKED. It was really cool to see all the things people had, my one gift that i want to get for myself is something leather whether that be a jacket or a purse since leather is something Argentina is known for. The only thing that one should be very careful to watch out for pickpockets since there are so many people and usually you can't be distracted looking at cute stuff, one thing I did was make sure my cross body was over my body then i put my jacket over so that my cross body wasn't really exposed. 

After walking down the whole market it took us about two hours and then we decided to head back to the residencia. I took a mini nap and then got ready for dinner with our other professor. We all went to this restaurant called “calden del soho.” It was really nice but the prices were pretty expensive (thank god this was one of our program meals hehehe), I got a flank piece of pork. It was actually funny because i had no idea what piece of meat to order and my friend ashlyn who is now a vegetarian was helping me pick lol the irony. Any way when my plate came out my mouth was droooooling, it smelled so good and let me tell you the moment i put that first piece in my mouth i was in heaven.

 I also got some of our professors salad which was just a normal “ensalada completa,” we also got some wine to accompany our dinner. I'm not the most knowledgeable on wine but i know i do like red wine. The bottle we got was “ Saint Felicien Malbec,” I had three glasses so I guess you could say I liked it.

For dessert I got a “Flan,” for those that don't know it's basically a custard with caramel. I feel like you can easily mess up flan but thankfully it was made to perfection. We were also celebrating our friends Tyler’s birthday! So happy birthday again tyler! After dinner we went home and got into bed since we had school the next morning.

June 24 

Today we had school and I feel no matter how much sleep one gets mondays will always be difficult. Thankfully we only had class till 1:30pm. After class, some of us went to “Che Taco” a place right off of the “Independencia” stop on the blue line. I got some tacos de carne, let me tell you I didn't think I was gonna be satisfied because mexican food in Argentina some people would question it. I was pleasantly surprised! We also got some guac & chips and they were finger licking good, i also got a Jugo de Jamaica (hibiscus) and it was too good to be true.

After lunch we went back to the residencia and I took a little nap (no surprise there) and then got myself ready for dinner. We went to a restaurant in Palermo called “Moriela,” I had the absolute pleasure of seeing my longtime friend Becca and she came with us. We shared a margarita pizza and a bottle of red wine (not sure what kind but it was great). 

After dinner some of us went to get some drinks to continue celebrating our friend's birthday. We went to Ragnar the bar we had previously went too, we stayed for about an hour or two and then went on home since we had class the next day.

(my friend Juan says he loves the rain... lol)

June 25

Today after school we went to go get Empanadas from a place down the street. I got one cheese and onion, one chicken and one steak. My favorite one was surprisingly the cheese and onion one.   

on the way home we had a mini photo shoot.

And then just before we got home I had to stop by a grocery store to look for an item targeted to kids and see what the nutrition labels looked liked and if they were easy to find. On top of this we had to see what the regulations were compared to the ones in argentina. It was interesting because you see how much power there is in something so small. The labels were so small and kind of hard to find mean while here in the usa everyone knows where they will be placed and legible. 

When we finally made it home people were gathering so that we could cut into the cake for tylers birthday! We didn't have plates so people were kinda just eating it out of the cartoon it was a cute bonding moment :’). 

For dinner we went to a restaurant here in palermos “EL pinguino de palermo”.  I got a milanesa completa, and a side of puree de papa, and wait for it...and to drink i got orange juice. It was a 7.45/10. I've had better milanesa to be honest but it also wasn't the worst ive had. 

After dinner we just chilled and then I went to bed.

June 26

Honestly, the best thing to see when you are walking to school at 8:40 am in like forty-degree weather is a dog walker with so many cute dogs. He was really doing the damn thing. He is brave because although these dogs and a lot of the dogs they are well trained but i still wonder if something just set them off and they all go running in one direction he is flyiiiiiiin. 

After seeing the dogs before class you just know after class is going to be great. Our other professor who is also on this trip took us to an empanada place and i got 2 cebolla y queso, a carne one and a Pikachu one.  Cebolla and queso one had just a bit too much cheese for my liking. The carne one was like a 7.4/10 i feel like it was just good, nothing too crazy.

Also a little tangent about argentine napkins... like what's up. You can't really call these things napkins i think it's deceiving. 

Anywaysss after lunch we got back on the subte and got off at plaza italia which is like two blocks from our resi, and walked to the Eva Peron Museum. The only thing to say is *Mind Blown*. If you like history stuff and museums then I highly recommend. She was so impactful on the Argentine history and it's insane how she started out as an actress and went to creating programs to uplift women and children is great. We can each have our own opinions on Peronismo but if this woman had people grieving for 15 days you have to agree that she did something.

For dinner I went to this pay by the weight place and it was great. I got some noodles, fried rice, orange chicken and lettuce & cucumber and put some lime juice and salt over it.

June 27

After school rachel and i went to the travel agency to try to book our trip we took the subte like three different times cause of GPS lol. But on the way we got some McDonalds and i got a “cajita feliz” (happy meal) and it was so cute. The yogurt it came with was so small and it was just great. I also got a toy :) ! Anyway we also stumbled on a cute boutique where rachel got a cute shirt and leather skirt. The owner also gave me some tips for my upcoming vacation with my mom and dad to patagonia at the end of the program. We went walking a couple blocks to the travel agency but they weren’t that much help and it was just no point in going but since we got micky d’s and advice it wasn't that bad. 

Here is some candy i got it's their version of laffy taffy but much softer, it's good!

Our friends from the resi took us to this really cute garden we saw some ducks that got a little too close for comfort and they had these statues all over the park so it was really cool. 

For dinner we went to this burger place in Palermo “Burger Joint” i got “la Jamaica”. I'm not the biggest fan of burgers but it was so fricken good! It had bacon on it cheese lettuce and honey mustard and more. I got it with a side of fries and pesto-mayo. I was so happy with this meal and i was so mad I had to tap out it's a really big portion i think i definitely would have shared but it just tasted so good.

June 28

After school Rachel and I got a tostada (bread with ham and cheese ) from the cafe right by our resi, “Banova” (okay it's actually an ice cream store but i didn't know that because ive never seen anyone get ice cream from there lol)

We later went to cronico a bar in plaza serrano to watch the argentina - venezuela game (sorry bella lol). I don't know why i got just a salad but it wasn't even all that good. Again for my liking it had a bit too much cheese which I think was provolone so it was just a bit odd for me. I would give it a 7/10.

 After the game, my friends and I walked to the bakery our resi and got some pastries. They were delicious. We also played some uno and lets just say it got pretty competitive. 

After this I went straight to bed and got excited for our trip to Puerto Iguazu!

June 29

I had to get up at 6am because I hadn't packed for our trip and we had to be out the door by 7am. I somehow packed and got ready without being fully awake. We all piled into a bus and headed for the local airport (AEP). Let me tell you I was soooo excited to know that we'd be going to somewhere semi warm for the weekend. I was even able to pull out my bathing suit for a little but of tanning.

We got to the airport and got checked in and were ready to be on our plane around 8:30 and when we got to the airport we landed at about 10:30. 

Once we landed we headed to our hotel St. George. We tried to check in but the rooms wouldn't be ready by 2pm so some of us went to a pay by the weight place by the hotel i got a piece of fish milanesa, mashed potatoes, gnocchi (i now know this is not for me), some yuca and broccoli. It was good not sure really how to describe it but you wouldn't be missing out if you didn't eat there... 

After we ate we walked on the main road and stopped to get some ice cream. This is really sweet but if you ever had Mogul candies it tastes just like it. 

I was able to sit by the pool and was in love with the warmth.

 After we showered we walked to el hito de las 3 fronteras where argentina meets paraguay and brazil. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was so glad we also caught sunset because it just looked beautiful.

I was starting to get hungry and knew it was going to be at least another 30 min until we got back to the hotel because we went walking, so i got some popcorn and if you know my grandma or me you know we love salt. This popcorn was heaven.

So we still had another hour before dinner so we decided to stop by this mexican restaurant called “Tacopado”.  My friend Blue and I split a taco combo that came with one carne taco, one pollo taco, nachos and papas aztecas that had chimichurri and mayanose on it. Pretty delish. I was pretty satisfied for mexican food in argentina (that was prepared by argentinians).

After our “appetizers” we still had dinner at the hotel. I was not too hungry so i got a caesar salad. Eh it was good besides those four huge pieces of cheese on top. Rachel and I shared a brownie and ice cream with caramel. I loved the top of the brownie because it was a pool of caramel and that's the only part I really ate lol. 

After this I went to bed because we had a long day ahead of us.

I know this post is a week late but I’ve been doing a lot of traveling so I did not have my laptop with me. Hope you enjoyed the post!

Con amor,

T.L.