Discover Buenos Aires

It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

By DaVe McComb on April 3, 2013 in Food, Living

Many an expat’s lament about living in Argentina is missing the things from home. One of the things at the top of that list for American expats has been peanut butter. Check any expat forum or blog and you’ll undoubtedly see someone complaining about the lack of peanut butter in Argentina.

Well, tell them to stop their bitching. Peanut butter is here in a big way.

While there was always a way to find peanut butter in Barrio Chino or at one of the dietetica’s it often left much to be desired. The brands in Barrio Chino typically had tons of sugar added and the others were often a weird pasty substance. Now, there’s two real options for you:

Dame Mani has long been one of the biggest brand of Argentine peanut butter, but only recently did they add an all natural option. The new “maní untable natural” has absolutely no added ingredients. It is now available in pretty much every supermarket. A 510g jar goes for about $28 pesos. Unfortunately they only have a creamy option, so chunky lovers are out of luck with this one, but…

Our much preferred choice is the handmade peanut butter from Mil Mantecas. Recently opened, this expat business handcrafts each batch – creamy or crunchy – from only the finest ingredients. Each jar is 340g of what I like to consider fine, craft peanut butter.

The crunchy we had was without a doubt the best I’ve ever eaten. I actually had to look at the ingredients again to confirm that it did not have any added sugar. The combination of sweet and extra crunchy was just perfect.

Mil Mantecas hand delivers each order and prices start at $25 pesos for classic and $30 pesos for crunchy plus delivery. Discounts are available for larger orders. It’s a bit more than the store bought brands but for the freshness and quality, it can’t be beat.

Now that you’ve got your peanut butter fix handled, it’s time to go back to bitching about other things like broken sidewalks and dog crap.

Hola! I’ve Got Your Pandora, Netflix and Hulu From Anywhere

By DaVe McComb on March 26, 2013 in Tech

I’ve written a lot about getting around those crazy restrictions that do not allow us to watch US content in Argentina and I’m always looking for the best products – paid or free – to do the job. For example, if you want to access US content on an iPad or iPhone, then Unotelly is the quickest and easiest way to do that.

However, if you only want to watch content from your web browser, PC or Android device, we have another option for you – Hola. Hola is a peer-to-peer network who’s ultimate goal is to speed up the Internet. One of their available products is the Hola Unblocker for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox as well as the full Hola client for Windows and Android.

Simply install the Hola browser extension and you’ll have immediate access to BBC Player, CBS, Fox, Hulu, ITV, Netflix and Pandora. If you install the PC or Android version, you’ll have access to even more sites.

It’s trivial to install, won’t slow down your computer and completely free. You don’t even have to configure it. Just go to those sites and they work as if you were in the good ole US of A.

Gotta love technology…

The Best Food Blogs in Buenos Aires

By DaVe McComb on March 25, 2013 in Food

I’ll admit it. I’m a foodie.

I was one of the first diners at Casa Mun. I’ve been to Aramburu. I had dinner with GAJO. I did The Pale Blue Door in San Telmo and almost all the other closed door restaurants too. I crave Osaka. Hell, I even made it to P.F. Chang’s opening weekend (no really, it is a big deal here).

What I’m not is a food blogger. It’s just not my forte. Oh, I’ve had many plans to blog about some of these great meals, it just doesn’t often happen. I get home, stuffed and tipsy, and take a look at the iPhone photos of my food and realize, “Hmmm… it looked much better in person.” Then the desire to blog just fades away.

Luckily, there are a number of awesome food bloggers in Buenos Aires to pick up the slack and provide the scoop on the best places to eat. They’ve given me tons of insight and tips on where to find the ultimate dining experiences, so I thought it was only fair that I share my favorites with you.

1. Pick Up The Fork
Allie’s “Pick Up The Fork” is my go-to source for all the best tips on Buenos Aires dining. From closed door restaurants to cheap eats to the most exclusive places, she pretty much covers it all. You can see from her awards page and number of Facebook likes that a lot of other people agree as well. Her blogging has even launched the Buenos Aires Food Tour which will give you an awesome, non-touristy way to explore some of the best Buenos Aires dining spots.

2. The Lost Asian
Frances’ “The Lost Asian” blog features her amazing food photography and reviews as she eats her way around the city. If I have only one complaint about the blog it’s that the photos make every place look really good, even if she doesn’t score them very highly. Sometimes I forget to read the text as the photos are just so mouth-watering. Frances’ food blogging has also lead to her own closed-door restaurant, The Hidden Kitchen, in Palermo Soho.

3. Sorrel Moseley-Williams
While not “technically” a food blog, Sorrel’s personal blog has been featuring more and more restaurant and food reviews. She handles restaurant reviews, wine reviews and a lot more. It’s definitely worth Checking out.

4. Salt Shaker
“Salt Shaker” is blog from Dan Perlman, food blogger extraordinaire and owner of Casa Salt Shaker, Buenos Aires’ first puerta cerrada. While the site design may be in need of an update, the information and reviews are not. Dan regularly reviews restaurants, alcohol, wine and his own dinners on the site and it makes for great reading. There’s been many places I’ve tried based on Dan’s recommendations.

5. La Panza Portena
Paige’s “La Panza Portena” also provides great reviews and stunning photos of her Buenos Aires dining experiences. Follow her blog and I can guarantee you’ll find a number of new places to try.

6. Buenos Aires Foodies
Maria shares information about the entire Buenos Aires food scene on her “Buenos Aires Foodies” blog. She covers restaurants, events, shops, resources and much more. She also has a food guide and gourmet shop available on the site.

We only covered the English-language blogs of BA. There’s quite a few other amazing food guides and blogs in Spanish as well. You should be sure to check out: Guia Óleo (the Zagat’s of Argentina), Restorando (the Open Table of Argentina) and Planeta Joy.

Those are our favorites. Hope they help steer you in the right direction as well. Please let us know in the comments if you have some other favorites of your own.

LAN Airfare Sale to Buenos Aires + Add On Another City in Argentina for Only $13 More

By DaVe McComb on March 24, 2013 in Travel

LAN is running a pretty interesting promotion right now. You can fly from the US to Buenos Aires starting at only $849 roundtrip (all taxes and fees included). While that’s a pretty amazing price, you can also add on another city in Buenos Aires – Mendoza, Cordoba, Bariloche, Iguazu or Salta – for only U$S 13 more! This is perfect for those who want to tour the country a bit.

The base fare to Buenos Aires starts at $849 from New York, $949 from Miami and $1049 from Los Angeles or San Francisco. You must purchase your ticket before April 1, 2013, for travel from April 1 to June 30, 2013, and it must include a Saturday night stay.

One example fare we found was from New York to Buenos Aires on April 14, 2013. Then from Buenos Aires to Mendoza on April 19, 2013. And finally from Mendoza to New York on April 21, 2013. The total price for this trip with all taxes and fees is $954.72. That’s a pretty amazing deal.

Just for fun we tried New York to Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires to Bariloche, Bariloche back to Buenos Aires and then Buenos Aires back to New York. This priced out to only $1242. Still a pretty good deal…but not as good as leaving from one of the other cities.

We’d recommend that you jump on this deal quickly while there are still a lot of available dates. LAN sales have been known to sell out.

Another benefit to flying LAN is that you are allowed to check two bags in coach. Every other major airline only allows one checked bag at no cost. LAN also has similar deals to Santiago, Bogota and Lima, but we’re a Buenos Aires blog, so we focused on deals to BA only.

Unfortunately, these deals do not apply when going from Buenos Aires to the United States. But, if you have the chance to buy these tickets in Argentina and can get the dolar blue rate, the price can go as low as U$S 634.

Let us know if you got in on this deal in the comments below…