Part Seven: Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Day Twenty-Two

Since next week would be so intense, with two classes at the Institute on the Monday and Tuesday, shopping and preparing on the Wednesday and Thursday for the massive catering job, and then cooking for it on the Friday and Saturday, Pablo had arranged a relaxed lunch at the home of Daksakanya and her husband. It sounded like fun. Daksa (right, in blue) is a seasoned chef. Her business card says it all:

We arrived to find Daksa busy in the kitchen preparing lunch. I had already met her yesterday - she had accompanied us to the Culinary Institute, since she would be my assistant for the two classes there. Daksa introduced me to her friend Mathura-Mandala (aka Monica Bronzoni) who was Public Relations officer for Alimentos para la Vida (Food For Life). I asked if there was anything to do, and was directed to toss the salad and lay the table as we chatted. It was my pleasure, and a welcome change of pace.

Daksa had decided to do an Italian lunch. Sounded fine to me! Canneloni, home-baked bread, garden salad and a freshly juiced lemonade, plus a stunning dessert (details of which have dropped through the cracks of my memory I am afraid. But I definitely do recall being stunned!) Some close friends of Daksa arrived with their children, we chatted for a few more minutes, then we all headed outside for lunch.

As we sat in the quiet suburban garden setting, I had the distinct feeling that this could have been just about anywhere. In fact, the flora and atmosphere reminded me of my old house in Albert Park, Melbourne! The conversation turned to Argentine Spanish. Most of today's guests spoke reasonable English, so I wanted to find out what were the differences. The first thing that identifies an Argentine from a crowd of Spanish speakers is the Italian accent.

Then there is the usage of the pronoun vos in place of tu and pronunciation of 'll' and 'y' as 'zh' (as in 'pleasure') rather than 'y' (as in 'you'). In other words, an Argentine will pronounce the word for street, calle, as 'cajjay' rather than 'cayyay'. We also chatted about other lightweight tidbits, and I remembered to ask why I could not find the @ (arroba) key on the Argentine keyboard. Someone suggested the solution: to hold down the Alt key while typing 64. So as you can see, it was light and jovial lunch-time conversation, which, by the way, is recommended for good digestion.

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