Viva Robusto!

Mmm... sacrilicious

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Ask anyone who knows me in real life, or anyone who has read my book: I am extremely particular about my pizza toppings. Generally speaking, I will only eat one topping: pepperoni. If there's no pepperoni available, I will grudgingly eat plain cheese pizza. Vegetarian pizza can go to hell, and I don't even dig on sausage and mushroom pies. But things may be changing.

A couple years ago, Liz and I discovered this recipe for white pizza topped with arugula. It's totally great, and it totally violates my pizza principles. We've added it to our regular pizza rotation.

Now there may be another candidate. A few weeks ago up at Crippen Creek, Don whipped up a variety of small pizzas for dinner, including the usual suspects... pepperoni, margarita, cheese... and a bacon/garlic/spinach concoction that really got my attention. In fact, as I was waiting for a hot pepperoni pie to come out of the oven, I sneaked a slice. One slice turned into two. Then the next day, when we were heating up leftover pizza for lunch, I found myself reaching for the bacon/garlic/spinach slices before I reached for pepperoni.

It was pizza sacrilege, pure and simple. But you better believe that it was worth every last sinful bite. Here's how to make your own:

Make or buy your usual pizza dough. Cook up some bacon, I recommend Fletcher's. When the dough is ready for toppings, drizzle olive oil, salt and minced raw garlic generously over the top. Add a handful of baby spinach leaves, top with mozzarella, then sprinkle your chopped bacon on top. Grate some parmigiano over the top of everything. It should look roughly like this:

And here it is out of the oven:

Now obviously bacon is a pork product... and not entirely unlike pepperoni. And yeah, I love bacon... so it's not like these toppings are a total stretch. But the raw garlic and spinach transform the pizza from a mere variant of pepperoni into something special that deserves its own place in my exclusive pantheon of pizza toppings. You could also try adding goat cheese and/or arugula (which is what Liz did) for a kind of hybrid between the bacon pizza and Ina Garten's White Pizza.

Coming soon: I have Sunday Gravy (spaghetti and meatballs) simmering on the stove right now. It's in hour 2 of a 4-5 hour simmer, and I'll post a report in the following days.

Bloggin' 2: Electric Blogaloo

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:39:00 +0000

One post per year, Fazio? That's all we get? Nah, Viva Robusto is blowing up huge in 2011. Since I've been away for so long, the least I can do is start off with some photos.

Fried chicken with bacon'd greens and mashed potatoes

Pumpkin pasta with pork belly

White pizza topped with arugula and lemon vinaigrette

Crippen Creek pork chop with roasted brussel sprouts and salad

Thanksgiving dinner rolls

And my signature home-baked rustic loaf

So, as you can see, I never stopped taking photos of the food we prepared, I just stopped blogging about it. In my defense, I did spend some of the time I wasn't blogging publishing a book, moving into a house (and painting every room), having a baby and working a full-time job.

However, since the ad agency I was working for has more or less decided to move to Ohio, I have a lot more time on my hands. And my loss is your gain, Viva Robusto faithful!

Look for updates soon and on the regular. And I mean it this time.

Le Super Bowl

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:31:00 +0000

Yeah, it's been almost a year since I've updated. My excuse? I wasn't sure that I wanted to continue with the blog. I started working again, and things were busy. Every time I considered making a post I realized how long it had been since my last update, and I felt that any new content would sort of imply that I was going to continue maintaining Viva Robusto with more new content, and I just wasn't sure I wanted to do that.

Well. I guess I'm back on board, at least for now. Liz and I are still cooking a lot of interesting stuff, and we take pictures maybe 30% of the time. But we haven't made anything so remarkably wonderful or unusual that I just had to go out and blog about it. Until now.

I finally made a cassoulet. I had never even heard of the dish until Christmas 2008, when Liz's father Don made some around Christmas time. He went all out, using his own duck to make duck confit, ham hocks from his own pigs (I believe) and his own homemade kielbasa sausage. It took him three days, and believe me when I tell you that the result must have been worth every minute.

I decided that I'd like to give the dish a try at some point, but I never got around to it last winter. This year, Don made Cassoulet again for Christmas, and I renewed my vow to make the dish before the weather started getting warm again. But for what occasion? Cassoulet isn't the sort of thing you whip together on some random Tuesday for one or two people. No. A feast so grand requires a major event or holiday to justify the effort and expense the chef lovingly pours into the dish.

Enter the Super Bowl. I love the Super Bowl, for the game and the commercials and the chance to get together and eat some really unhealthy food with friends. I have only missed one Super Bowl broadcast since 1985, and that was because I was in Bangkok and the game was on at the ungodly hour of 6am.

So this year, the New Orleans Saints made it to the big game. For reasons I can't quite express or explain, I like the Saints. I like New Orleans. New Orleans has a strong French background. If you squint your eyes, Cassoulet is kind of like a French chili of sorts -- you know, meat, beans, fat -- and chili is practically the official dish of the Super Bowl. It all made sense. I was going to make cassoulet for the Super Bowl.

Unfortunately I arrived at this decision the day before the big game. No time to get my own duck, render the fat out of the legs and then ferment the meat in the fat in the fridge. In other words, no duck confit. But what's that old saying? No duck confit... no problem! My favorite part of the dish is the rich smokiness, and that comes from the ham hocks. And there would still be plenty of meat between what I scraped off the hocks and the sausage. So, after consulting Don three or four or eleven times over the phone, I armed myself with the Saveur recipe for cassoulet, and headed to the store to pick up ingredients.

First up, ham hocks. These things look disgusting in real life, but they're oh so delicious.

You start by boiling the hocks with some onions, thyme, salt and pepper for two hours. Here they are, ready to start imparting delicious smoky flavor to my stock.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I soaked my beans overnight.

While the ham hocks are rendering, you puree the raw garlic and onions with a little water.

When two hours are up, drain the ham hocks and keep the stock. Shred all the useful meat off the hocks and discard everything else. Pour the stock over the beans, bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.

Here's the part where the duck fat and confit comes in. Usually you'd use the fat to cook the sausage. I just used butter. After browning the sausage, add the garlic/onion paste and cook a while longer.

Now you assemble the cassoulet in the baking dish. Put most of the beans on the bottom, then layer the pork on top of that. Put the sausage and garlic/onion on top of that. Then put even more beans on top of that. Finally, add about 3 cups of the stock. It looks messy, but it's going to taste great.

Bake for about an hour at 350, then reduce the heat to 250 and bake for another 3 hours. You're supposed to check every now and again to see if the cassoulet is forming a crust. If so, break the crust by pushing down on it with a spoon, and add more stock if it looks dry. I had to switch venues (from my house to a friend's) so mine didn't develop an ideal crust, but the pieces on top did get crispy enough. And here's how it turned out, pictured with a rib in the background.

I was extremely pleased with the results. The beans and sausage were melt-in-your-mouth soft with a deep, rich, smoky flavor. I suppose it couldn't possibly have been as rich as the real deal with duck confit, but I honestly couldn't taste the difference.

Typing this out, it doesn't sound all that complicated, but I would rate this meal as one of the most complex and effort-intensive I've ever produced. I'd say I spent three to four solid hours in the kitchen all told. Obviously that's not much compared to someone who's making their own duck confit from scratch, but it ain't exactly like microwaving a pizza either. Still, it was completely worth it. And I've discovered the joy of boiling ham hocks firsthand. If it were up to me, I'd start using them in just about every soup we make, a statement that no doubt terrifies my wife.

That's it for now. If I'm feeling inspired later, I'll post a write up of my first attempt at beef bourguignon.

Busy summer

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Well, it's been over a month again. But I'm not even going to apologize this time. At this point, I think Viva Robusto is a once-a-month kind of blog. I've just got too much going on to update it more than that.

Such as? Well, most significantly, I've started working again. I'm back at my former place of employment (an ad agency) as a contractor, working around half time in the office for a couple of new clients. Call me crazy, but it's nice to be in an office working on a regular schedule again. And yeah, it feels good to be employed after 20+ months living as a poker "pro."

More big news: If anyone even still remembers about our epic trip around the world, I'm just about ready to publish my book!

I sort of gave up on shopping the thing around right around the time the economy was circling the toilet bowl. Two (2) published authors with connections in the industry advised me that nobody was buying anything, so I figured the best move might be to bide my time rather than spam every literary agent in the world.

In the meantime, I heard some good things about self-publishing. Turns out several outfits offer "on-demand" publishing, which means they will print up a single copy of my book each time someone buys the thing through Amazon.com or another online retailer. In other words, no need for me to purchase 10,000 copies and warehouse them in the basement.

And while I will receive pretty decent royalties for each self-published copy sold, I also retain the rights, and the option to make a deal with a traditional publisher. Even if I don't get any nibbles, it's nice to have the option.

So, it's still probably a couple months off, but it's coming. You'll hear about it here, and probably in some kind of worldwide spam email from me.

On to the food portion of the blog! Let's just get this out of the way: Mandatory asparagus shot.

Yeah, we eat a lot of asparagus, and we're always taking pictures of it for some reason. I dunno, it just seems to go with everything. Like melt-in-your-mouth beef loin with bearnaise sauce and twice-baked potatoes.

Another Viva Robusto staple: Roasted potatoes. Pictured with Kirkland steak seasoning, which is actually pretty tasty stuff.

Sort of a first try at fish tacos. We pan-seared a pre-made mix of raw fish, onions and seasoning from a local grocery store, and it turned out pretty well. The fish in real fish tacos should be crispy and fried in my opinion, but these were pretty good and we didn't have to splatter the whole stove with grease to make 'em. (A grease screen is high on the list of things I am planning on purchasing when Liz and I are back in a house).

Of course, we've had many good meals at Crippen Creek since I last posted. This one stood out. 3 courses, starting with spaghetti and mussels.

Next, wild salmon that Liz's dad caught himself. This is probably the best salmon I've ever had. Lightly crusted with butter and bread crumbs and topped with minced garlic and herbs. I don't mean to brag, but this is a pretty appetizing photo, and it doesn't even do the food justice. So good. If you look closely, you can even see a little asparagus in the background.

Oh, and the dinner still wasn't done. Final course: Rare beef loin and, you guessed it, asparagus.

One last piece of big news before I end this update: I finally got the motorcycle I've been after for years. When I agreed to travel around the world with Liz (and spend nearly all of my poker savings in the process), one condition was that I would be allowed to buy a brand-new Triumph motorcycle when we returned. Well, it's been about 10 months, and it finally happened. This baby was actually used, but it only had 17 miles on it. I couldn't pass it up.

It rides as nice as it looks.

That's it for now. See you next month, hopefully with more news about the book.

Eating the Easter Bunny

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Vegetarians and vegans beware: In this edition of Viva Robusto, I document the killing and eating of a couple of cute, furry bunnies.

The story begins a few months ago, when Liz's friend Jessi from grad school contacted me on Facebook after one of my Viva Robusto updates. Turns out she and her husband are particularly resourceful foodies, making the most of their modestly-sized NE Portland yard to raise chickens, grow all manner of vegetables and, now, raise a crop of rabbits for meat.

The first batch of bunnies was going to be ready for slaughter in a few weeks; did we want to come over to document the process -- and the first meal -- on our blog?

Naturally I jumped at the opportunity, although I told Jessi that Liz would have to take the gory pictures if they wanted photos of the processing.

Well, we ended up missing out on the actual bunny killing, which left me relieved and Liz somewhat disappointed. But we did come over to sample and photograph their first meal prepared with homegrown meat -- Rabbit Cacciatore.

As the cacciatore simmered on the stove, Jessi led us on a tour of her incredible backyard -- in which nearly every inch of land is being put to good work growing vegetables or housing chickens and rabbits.

The reproductive cycle of rabbits is downright amazing. The male stud rabbit is kept in a separate cage -- until it's time to fertilize the female. When the male and female are placed in the same cage they instantly have sex, and the female gives birth to anywhere from 2-10 babies about a month later. A few weeks after that, it's possible to repeat the process!

Meanwhile, the batch of young rabbits is ready to process and eat in just a few short months, with each rabbit yielding around 2 pounds of meat. I haven't done the math, but it seems like even with only one male and female, two people could practically live off rabbit alone if they were so inclined. Talk about sustainability.

On to the pictures. Here's the lucky stud rabbit:

Here's the mother:

And last but not least, here's the cacciatore:

This is a "hunter-style" Italian dish with tomato, mushroom, onion and plenty of herbs and spices. It was already simmering when we arrived so we don't have any prep pictures. But here's what it looked like on the plate and ready to eat:

This was the big moment for Jessi and her husband. There was a bit of pressure associated with that first bite of homegrown rabbit -- after all, they had another 10+ pounds sitting in the fridge -- it had better be good!

I'll spare you any drama -- it was fantastic. A little more complex and hearty than chicken, but far from gamey. We ate it with homemade bread and oven-roasted asparagus, and it made a wonderful meal.

Of course, you're probably still wondering -- what did we actually eat on Easter Sunday? Turns out my parents had been saving a nice big chunk of ham from the Speranzas' pig for just such an occasion. So we had a homegrown, nitrate-free ham slow-roasted with some kind of sweet bourbon glaze, and it was spectacular.

Most of the cuts of meat from the Speranzas' pigs look quite different than their store-bought equivalents. They're darker and almost kind of gray -- not as attractive in their raw state, really -- but incredibly flavorful when cooked and healthier than store-bought pork.

This roast was just off the charts in my opinion. My parents brined the ham in advance so it was tender and juicy, and the salty/sweet contrast between the meat and the sweet bourbon glaze was to die for. I ate approximately 3 pounds on my own and promptly got the meat sweats.

Wrapping this post up, here are a few other notable meals we've enjoyed lately.

Some kind of African peanut/curry/vegetable stew that Liz prepared. A sprinkle of cilantro and fresh-squeezed lime on top... we'll be making this again.

Coffee cake muffins. Also made by Liz.

Our first attempt at Piadina, an Italian flatbread. Topped here with brie, fresh basil and prosciutto. I made the bread itself a little too thick, but this is another one we'll continue to experiment with.

Another potato leek soup -- this time using Ina Garten's recipe topped with crispy shallots. The shallots really make the dish.

That's it for now. Hopefully we'll get to do some grilling this summer -- we packaged our grill with the house when we sold in 2007 and we're itching to get back in the game.

Lasagna Virgin

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:58:00 +0000

I suppose the title says it all -- until last month I had never cooked my own lasagna from scratch. Yes, I love cooking, and I love Italian food, but lasagna was always just off my radar screen.

See, I've had a number of mediocre to bad lasagne in my life. Chalky, bland, mushy... there are so many ways a lasagna can be done poorly, and I suspect I've tried all of them. When it came time to cook something for myself, lasagna simply never registered as an option.

In recent years, however, I've had a number of lasagne that have brought the dish back into my good graces. My mom discovered an excellent lasagna recipe at some point during my college years, and has been making it every now and then for the past decade. More recently, Liz started making the Barefoot Contessa's Turkey Lasagna recipe with incredible results. So, I decided to give it a shot.

I used the same recipe with a few modifications. Most significantly, I used spicy Italian pork sausage instead of sweet Italian turkey sausage. In any case, here's how it all came together.

Onions and garlic ready to be sauteed.

Sausage -- casings removed -- into the pan.

Brown the sausage, add pureed tomatoes and seasonings, including fresh parsley.

In this recipe, we used regular lasagna noodles (not "no-cook" noodles) but we didn't exactly cook them. Ina Garten has you place them in a bowl of hot tap water for 20 minutes instead. I'm guessing this technique helps the noodles retain an al dente texture after all that time in the oven.

Prepping the cheeses.

Finally, we build the lasagna.

Ran out of sauce at the end... I could have done a better job estimating how much needed to go in each layer, but ultimately I don't think it mattered much.

Straight out of the oven:

And onto the plate, served with roasted asparagus.

I impressed myself... this lasagna was terrific. I like the creaminess and rich flavor that the goat cheese adds.

What else have we been cooking? Without getting into as much detail as the lasagna, here are a few pictures.

Tagliarelle with truffle butter (I couldn't find truffle butter in any brick and mortar store -- even Pastaworks. Apparently we need to order it online. So I substituted regular butter and a bit of truffle oil).

Wish I could take credit for this. Chili Egg Puff with potatoes sauteed in duck fat at Crippen Creek. There are no words.

A better look at those potatoes getting nice and crusty in that wonderful duck fat.

Our friend Austin, who is from Oregon but lives in Thailand, has given us a good technique for making Thai curries. Pictured: Masaman curry.

Meatballs for Italian Wedding Soup. A little different than the meatballs we use for Sunday Gravy, but pretty good in their own right.

I can't stop making this bread. What can I say?

Finally, here's what we had last night. From the latest issue of Saveur, pan-seared flatiron steak with herb butter.

The mashed potatoes don't look as appetizing as they might have, because I poured some of the pan juice on top of them. However, I can assure you that they were delicious.

What's next on the agenda? I vow to attempt a cassoulet before the end of the year. I am tinkering with and perfecting my pizza recipe. And some friends of ours are raising rabbits for meat, and they have invited us to share and photograph a special meal they will prepare after the slaughter. Until then!

Three types of bread - plus Andina trip report

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:55:00 +0000

Okay, so I didn't make a single post in February. And it's taken me half of March to get this one up. Well, I'll tell you, I'm just about as busy as an unemployed guy can be. I had a freelance assignment, and I've been playing cards a couple hours a day to make ends meet. But mostly, I've been baking a ton of bread.

Now, Liz and I have been making our own focaccia and pizza dough for a couple years now, but the other week I stumbled across a recipe on the internet that sparked my interest. It's the New York Times "No-Knead" bread recipe, and apparently it was all the rage a few years back. Yeah, we're behind the times.

The "trick" to the recipe is that you bake the bread in a Dutch Oven, which apparently mimics the conditions inside a professional steam-injected oven to give you a crispier crust.

It works. Incredibly well. My first attempt at the recipe:

Light and airy on the inside with a crispy crust. I was never able to achieve this kind of texture in my bread by baking it uncovered.

The crazy thing is how simple this bread is to prepare. Here's a link to the New York Times recipe.

Now, I spoke with my father-in-law Don about this recipe, and it turns out he's been using the Dutch Oven technique to bake bread for a while now. But, he thinks the NYT recipe needs more salt. He has his own recipe and techniques (which I won't reveal here; check out one of his cooking classes for details), and he suggested I experiment with the dough a little bit.

Bake more bread? Okay, twist my arm. Here's a roll I made using some normal focaccia dough that had only risen for 2 hours!

Not quite as airy on the inside as the NYT loaf, but the crust was out of this world. Since then, I've made another large-sized loaf using focaccia dough that rose for closer to 8 hours. It was virtually identical to the NYT texture.

Now if you don't have a Dutch Oven, or if you have virtually no patience at all, you can still make some pretty good bread. This is the beer bread recipe I referenced in the last post. To refresh your memory: Mix 3 cups of self-rising flour with 1/2 cup of sugar. Pour in a beer and stir it up. Pour the batter into a buttered bread pan, then pour another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of melted butter on top. Bake at 375 for an hour. Here's what it should look like:

This is a whole different style of bread... crumbly and a bit denser than one you'd make with yeast... but great in its own way. This goes really well with soup.

Okay, enough about bread. I promised an Andina trip report and it's time to deliver. First, a little backstory. Andina serves Peruvian food and is one of the most well-regarded restaurants in the Portland area. We'd heard great things and wanted to check it out, but we couldn't quite justify spending the money when I still hadn't found work. Then I got a gift certificate for my birthday back in November. We finally got around to using it last week.

At some point between the first time we heard about the restaurant and our meal there, our friends Seth and Karen told us that their friend Peter owns the place. I thought I'd mention this both because it's interesting, and also in the interest of full disclosure (even though we haven't met Peter).

Apologies in advance for these photos; the lighting in the restaurant was extremely dim (as is usually the case), making food photography particularly difficult.

Our server brought us a basket of bread and three dipping sauces while we browsed the menu. In order, they were peanutty, mango/orange-y and chili/spicy.

In Argentina, we were often served appetizers just like this -- bread with a salsa-like dipping sauce (often chimichurri).

Next up, appetizers. Andina has a couple dozen to choose from, all available in pequeno, mediano and grande sizes. We decided on conchas a la parmesana (bay scallops baked with parmesan cheese and lime butter) and chicharron de pollo (rispy golden chicken studded with quinoa, served with huacatay-peanut sauce).

The scallops were fantastic. You can't even see them through that golden crust of parmesan.

The chicken was tasty, but fell short of the scallops. We were left wondering if we had missed out on some other mindblowing appetizer.

For entrees, I ordered the adobo de cerdo (pork tenderloin quickly braised in the Arequipa style, with butternut squash and gorgonzola ravioli, green apple, and a tamarillo-rocoto “uchucuta”) and Liz had the lomo saltado (wok-fried Cascade Natural Beef tenders with onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, garlic, and ají, served with rice and fried yuca).

First, the adobo:

The pork was tender and flavorful, and the sauce was extremely rich. I didn't notice the butternut squash and gorgonzola flavors in the ravioli; the rich flavor of the sauce overwhelmed them. I enjoyed the dish thoroughly, but afterward I felt a pang of regret that I hadn't ordered the corderito de los andes (a succulent double rack of grass-fed lamb grilled to order, and served with a Peruvian yellow potato and two cheese timbale with a sublime roasted pepper demi-glace).

On to Liz's lomo:

I only sampled a few bites, but the lomo was tangy, savory and delicious. Two thumbs up. As usual, we were both too full to consider any dessert. Between two pequeno appetizers, two entrees and two drinks each, we rang up a $108 tab (including tip).

Well, I actually have quite a few more food photos to post, but in the interest of getting something published on Viva Robusto, I'm going to save them for later and call this a wrap. Stay tuned -- I promise it won't take me another month to post again.

Serious Business

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:13:00 +0000

After looking over my recent posts, I've decided that I'm not doing a very good job of actually describing the foods we've been making and enjoying. In fact, I think I've been doing a terrible job. I mean, sure, the photos are nice, but if this is going to be a food blog, I need to include recipes and a heck of a lot more detailed analysis -- no more lazy "amazing" or "delicious" adjectives.

So, obviously, let's get rolling with the new, improved Viva Robusto with a picture of some guy with an accordion.

Okay, it's not just some guy, it's my dad's cousin Mark being coaxed into a song or two at a big family gathering to celebrate my grandfather's 87th birthday, and my grandmother's sister's 80th. He was a little rusty, or so he claimed, before ducking into another room to "practice."

Ah, but before he could get started, the real professional took over. This guy is not actually one of my relatives; he's a friend of the family who also happens to be an Italian-themed entertainer and singer.

He reeled off all the classics -- "Volare," "That's Amore," "Tarantella," etc...

And, as to be expected, there was a metric ton of food. However, the event was catered, so there weren't any special family recipes to photograph and share. Maybe next time.

Moving on, Liz and I went up to Seattle to visit our friends Tam and Elissa, and encountered this truck on I-5.

Yeah, that looks to be about two or three chopped up pigs in the back of that Silverado, just loose in the bed without even a rear gate! Not sure if they're going to or from processing, but this is another sobering reminder: Unless you grow it yourself, you really never know where your food has been or what it's been up to!

Speaking of homegrown food, we all checked out the Ballard Farmer's Market while in Seattle.

There was a great selection of fresh produce, and we picked up potatoes, onions, garlic, leeks and carrots for soup later that night. But this was what really caught my eye:

Yep, that's a Triumph Bonneville T-100, almost the *exact* motorcycle I've been pining after for years. Minus the windscreen.

The dinner that night worked out beautifully. We decided on a creamy potato leek soup, using a recipe we found on Pinch My Salt, a much more professional and useful food blog than mine. That link will take you right to the recipe, which is pretty standard except for the innovation (for us, anyway) of using thinly sliced potatoes (rather than coarsely chopped), which are easier to mash down to a creamy texture right in the soup once they've cooked.

We also made roasted carrots using the Barefoot Contessa recipe (olive oil, salt, pepper... not exactly rocket science) and a big spinach salad with her mustard vinaigrette.

Now, the mustard vinaigrette recipe is one that's worth listing here. I'm not much of a salad guy, but it literally makes me salivate in anticipation every time.

The following proportions will make enough dressing for two or three people, so adjust accordingly.

2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon spicy mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg yolk at room temperature
pepper to taste

Finely chop the garlic, whisk chopped garlic and all other ingredients together. You can substitute different types of vinegar for a different taste -- we used Balsamic once and it was an interesting change of pace. You can also increase the garlic and mustard for a spicier dressing... I sometimes chop 3 or even 4 cloves of garlic, but I'm kind of crazy that way.

Oh, almost forgot: We topped off the dinner with homemade beer bread. This is one of the easiest bread recipes ever. Mix 3 cups of self-rising flour with a quarter cup of sugar and a bottle of beer. Transfer the batter to a greased baking pan and pour anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup of melted butter on top, bake at 350 until done (at least 40 minutes). It's impossible to screw this up. You end up with a nice, crispy buttery loaf of bread that goes great with soup.

Now that I've described our dinner in excruciating detail, I'm going to back it up with some glorious food pics, right? Uh, nope. Sorry. By the time we got everything done it was getting late and we just tucked right in. I completely forgot to take any pictures. My bad.

Not to worry, I've got some other mouthwatering food photos queued up. The next day we headed down to pike place to take this incredibly standard photo.

We were killing time while our wedding rings were being cleaned at EE Robbins, and we got a little hungry, so we wandered the market in search of my favorite fish & chip stand, Jack's.

Jack's doesn't offer too much in the way of ambiance or even seating, really. There are a few tipsy stools and a narrow aluminum counter. But the fish makes up for it. I usually get the Halibut, which is obviously the best, but since Liz and I were sharing, we went with a large order of Cod, just so there would be enough to go around.

Now, being a Halibut man, the Cod was actually a little bit disappointing. But it was still pretty dang good, thanks in large part to Jack's cocktail sauce. They usually reserve the stuff for prawns and so forth (you have to specially request it if you order fish and chips), but I find it goes best with the fish. It's tart and tangy and, I think, laced with horseradish.

Here's what it looks like. Word to the wise -- Jack's fish & chips are insanely greasy, which is just the way I like it. If you prefer "healthier" fish & chips, you might look elsewhere.

Back at home, planning our menus for the week. I wanted to experiment with some kind of a pesto pizza, and we figured we could use the leftovers in pasta later in the week, so I went out and bought a large box of basil and made some pesto.

This is only the second time I've made pesto (Liz usually makes it), but it's incredibly easy (if you have a food processor) and it comes out great.

Basically... pluck all the stems off your basil (about 4oz), wash the leaves and throw 'em in the food processor. Add maybe two or three cloves of garlic, a bit of olive oil (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup), some salt and as much parmesan cheese as you can grate before your arm gets tired. Fire that puppy up, then sample and adjust (add more oil, salt, garlic or cheese) according to taste.

Here's what we made with the leftovers... green basil pesto mac. This was just an improvised recipe -- I was trying to imitate the green basil pesto mac at Le Bistro Montage here in Portland.

While the pasta is boiling (I would recommend using larger macaroni than this -- these were just what I happened to have on hand), melt some butter (I used 1/4 stick for about 1/2 a pound of pasta) and a lot of grated parmesan in a saucepan. When the pasta is done (al dente), add a bit of heavy cream to the butter/parmesan melt (I think I used 1/3 cup or so) and bring it up to medium/low heat. With the heat still on, toss in the pasta and a few cloves of raw, finely chopped garlic, a couple tablespoons of pesto and even more parmesan. Saute and stir for a minute or so to coat. Then grate even more parmesan on top before serving. Yeah, it's a lot of parmesan. That's how they do it at the Montage, and that's the way I like it.

Parmesan pro tip: Trader Joe's has the best prices on authentic Parmigiano cheese. They also have Grano, which is extremely similar to Parmigiano, and is in fact produced across the river from Parma, but cannot legally be called Parmigiano.

That's it for now. More pics and recipes coming soon.

Just when you thought you were out... I pull you back in!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:25:00 +0000

For whatever reason, Blogger started working again on my desktop computer, which happens to be where all my post-travel photos are stored.

So, I guess I might as well update the blog!

First things first, we need to catch up. Liz and I returned home from our 10 months and one week of travel on August 7, 2008. Liz found work quickly and is pretty busy between her (now) full-time gig and occasional shifts at PWCL. I have been looking for work and working hard on my book, which I finished a couple of days before Thanksgiving.

I've still got a few tweaks here and there, and a few manuscripts out for editing, but I'm beginning the process of finding a literary agent. In case you are a literary agent (or publisher) and you have happened across this page, the book is a 56,000 word, narrative non-fiction account of how my wife and I traveled around the world. Yeah, I know, there are a million books like that. So what's the hook? I, um, actually hate to travel. My wife made me go places that I never thought I'd visit in a million years. So the book is tentatively called The Reluctant Traveler - Or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Third World, and it's a sarcastic rebuttal to the sort of dreamy travel books that make living in a thatched hut with 43 chickens and a voodoo shaman sound preferable to the author's previous home in the United States. And it's really [censored] funny.

But enough about that. Let's get back to what Viva Robusto has always been about -- food. I plan on updating this site on the semi-regular with pictures, recipes and stories about our culinary adventures.

These pictures are roughly in chronological order and go back to the first month or so after our return. First up, maple-oatmeal scones (Barefoot Contessa recipe). These have been a favorite since we first made them. If you don't already have Barefoot Contessa: Family Style, just run out and buy it right now. Every recipe we've tried is a winner (and we've tried a lot of them).

Grilled steak (with butter melting on top, obv), twice-baked potatoes and homegrown peas. If this doesn't sell The Inn At Crippen Creek Farm, I don't know what does.

A couple of the pigs raised right on the property for later use as bacon and other delicious pork products.

Some kind of molten chocolate cake/brownie thing that was pretty obviously delicious.

When we were in Italy, my grandfather's late brother's ex-wife made us the most amazing minestrone soup with pesto. Liz and I tried to recreate the recipe here using the America's Test Kitchen recipe for minestrone and Don's pesto recipe. Results? It wasn't quite as good, but it was damn close.

Another favorite from our trip recreated at home: Cochinita Pibil. I used the recipe from the Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD, believe it or not. Basically, you marinate about 3 pounds of pork shoulder in a spice and lemon juice concoction (heavy with annatto), then slow-bake it for 4-6 hours at a low temperature. The pink onions are simply pickled red onions. Again, it wasn't quite as good as the real stuff in Mexico, but it was our first try. And it actually got better overnight in the fridge.

Another picture. The texture was amazing -- fall-apart juicy.

Hot coppa from New Seasons. My 2nd favorite cured meat in the world. Obviously we had nothing to do with the preparation of this food, I just thought it looked delicious. Look at those spicy seeds on the corner there... it makes my mouth water every time I see this photo.

For Liz's birthday dinner, I made bacon-wrapped filets with mushrooms and a wine-based pan sauce (and Liz added some mashed potatoes). The pan sauce recipe came from America's Test Kitchen and was excellent. Unfortunately the meal itself wasn't very photogenic once we plated everything up, so I've posted a photo of myself preparing it instead. You can tell it's going to be a good meal by the plate of blood sitting on the stove.

One of our few meals out since our return. This is some kind of deep-fried gnocchi with cream, sauce (I think it may have been plum sauce) and sage, and it was really the only good part of the meal. I had some kind of a fettucine dish with wild boar that was mediocre at best (and looked disgusting to boot) and Liz had French onion soup that was served lukewarm. Bummer.

My first attempt at a cake, ever. This is ultra-rich chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. We ate this after a particularly decadent dinner and it sent me to the bedroom for about an hour of lying on my stomach and groaning afterward. Two thumbs up!

Another wedding with excellent food. Liz's brother pictured here enjoying the dessert.

Thanksgiving pie, glazed and ready to go in the oven. Liz's sister Kate made this.

Something new: Abel Skivars. I'm not sure how to spell that, and even Google couldn't help me. But basically, it means apple pancakes. Round apple pancakes. Our friends Seth and Karen made these for us.

Here's how they look when they're all done. We tried 'em with apple, blueberry (I think) and we even made a couple with bacon on the inside. You dip them into some kind of jam and powdered sugar before eating.

Christmas dinner at my grandparents. Two enormous, identical prime ribs. As good as they looked.

These may have been from a mix, but they sure looked cool.

Salad up at Crippen Creek with roasted pear topped with candied walnuts and blue cheese.

Some kind of a "pudding cake" (?) that I forgot to try after dinner.

After Christmas, Don and Dave made sunday gravy with meatballs. The sauce cooks all day long with homemade Italian sausage, meatballs and (I think) pork ribs. Don said at dinner that if he were on Death Row, this would be his choice for his last meal.

Afterward, homemade cannoli. Tragically, I was too full to eat any.

Well, that's it for the first real Viva Robusto post in months. Now that Blogger is working I will continue to update this page with new photos and recipes as often as I can. Hope you stay tuned.

Viva "Viva Robusto!"

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:28:00 +0000

I know you've been waiting patiently for something new to appear in this space since our return to the United States. Unfortunately, several factors have conspired to keep me from updating our beloved blog.

1. Trial photo slideshow program too limited.
I was hoping to edit together a slideshow. I had the whole thing worked out -- I already selected all the photos and music -- but the program I was using topped out at 36 photos max. That's not gonna cut it. If you know of a cool shareware photo slideshow program with unlimited photo potential, I'm all ears.

2. I can't log into Blogger from our desktop.
I'm not sure why this is happening, but every time I try to log into Blogger from our desktop, I get a page that simply reads, "Not Found." I can log in from our laptop, but that doesn't really do me any good because all of our new pictures are on the desktop. And the laptop hard drive is too full for me to simply move them over.

For now, all I can offer is the promise that I will add new pictures and a photo slideshow... at some point in the near future. Until then, here's something to get excited about -- I just passed the 50,000 word mark on my book. I have 3-ish chapters left to complete before I start shopping the thing around. I'm not one to toot my own horn, but it is probably the greatest book ever produced in the history of Western civilization.

Until next time...

Long overdue update

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:30:00 +0000

If you've been refreshing Viva Robusto for the past couple weeks in frustration, your patience is about to pay off. I have finally been able to upload the final pics from Mexico, as well as a whole bunch of delicious food pics from our return home.

Diving right in...

On our way to Mexico City from Puerto Escondido and the Oaxacan coast, we got to spend a few nights in our old apartment in Oaxaca City. And that meant another chance to enjoy tacos arabes from Salomon Tacos on Independencia. These are a little like al pastor tacos in that they only contain meat carved from a spit, but they're served in a fluffier, pita-like flour tortilla. Delicious.

Our last of many bus rides. Cause for celebration.

Mural by Diego Rivera in a government building near the centro historico.

One of the biggest "pinas" we ever saw. (Note: not actually a pina.)

More from the botanical garden at the same building.

More shirt-sightseeing coordination.

Mexico City is the biggest city we've ever visited; it's the 2nd largest in the world behind Tokyo. Look at how far ahead of us they are in walking-replacement technology!

This, unfortunately, is the last picture our sad little elph camera will ever take. It survived a drop in Florence, countless sandy beaches and took well over 10,000 photos (not even counting ones we deleted) before finally giving in. Liz was mad because this particular photo was just a poker-related in-joke.

So... that's it for photos from Mexico! It's a little anti-climactic, I know. But we did have a brand-new Canon Digital Rebel xTI waiting for us at home! We didn't know how to use it very well at first, but we could tell right away that it was capable of taking some amazing photos. Muffins at my parents' house.

We finally reunited with our dog! Poor Ash had gained about 10-15 pounds and was consequently pretty lethargic at first. But now that we've got him on Atkins and a strictly regimented workout plan he seems to have regained some of his youthful energy.

After riding scooters around in Asia and Italy, it was nice to come home to a real bike. Once I got the battery charged she ran like a dream despite sitting for over 10 months.

Speaking of dreams, American Dream pizza. This is the stuff I was obsessed with all year long. All that buildup and anticipation, and it was still even better than I could have hoped it would be. If you're ever in Portland or Corvallis, do yourself a favor and try it for yourself.

The sunsets in Portland rival the most beautiful we found anywhere else in the world.

Right away we had occasion to ditch the T-shirts and flip flops for a wedding.

We're still eating pretty dang well. The wedding was catered by Papa Hayden.

We may have left Mexico behind, but a little bit of the culture will remain with us always.

Too bad we didn't have this camera during our trip. Low-light photography is no longer impossible!

Just a heads-up: About 99% of the rest of our pics are of food. So if you don't care about that, check back in a few days for a final Viva Robusto wrap-up - Viva Robusto by the numbers.

After the wedding, we headed up to Crippen Creek to see Liz's family and continue indulging in amazing food. I'm usually not much for beets, but these were home grown and actually pretty tasty.

Don putting the final touches on dinner.

Which was homemade biscuits....

... fried chicken, mashed potatoes and beets.

A few of the veggies from the Speranzas' hoop house. First, basil.

Some kind of pepper.

Eggplant.

And baby bok choy.

Okay, now the rest of the pics are really all just food. There's always a pile of fresh-baked focaccia around at Crippen Creek.

Kitty's award-winning sticky buns.

Did you know that you can make dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweet and condensed milk? Me either. Google it before you try anything; according to Don, explosions can be an unwanted side-effect if this isn't cooked properly. Anyway, this went into homemade dulce de leche ice cream.

Homemade cinnamon roll and scrambled eggs from their own hens. Doesn't get much better than that for breakfast. I take that back. It will be slightly better when their pigs are mature and we can have home-raised bacon too.

I made up an extra batch of dough so we decided to try focacetta as an appetizer. According to my grandmother, you just make your regular focaccia dough, cut it into small pieces and roll it flat. Let the dough sit for about 10 minutes, then deep-fry it in oil. That's it. The results are dozens of fluffy, airy dough pockets that you can rip in half and stuff with prosciutto, salami and/or cheese. Or for a dessert, you can dip them in a cinnamon/sugar mix.

Steak with homemade chimichurri sauce. Don was paying attention to the Argentina portion of our blog and wanted to try his hand at some chimichurri. I think this was the best one I had.

As if that weren't enough, we also had risotto that night. Incredible.

From one feast to another... back in Portland, our friend Aruna invited us to a dinner party where she would be preparing Indian food. She's a great cook; how could we say no?

Her homemade samosas next to an assortment of spices.

This is a store-bought sauce but it looked pretty and tasted even better, so what the hell?

Everything else was from scratch, including saffron rice, a couple curries and several other excellent dishes that I feel ashamed to not know by name.

Ok, at this point we'd been home from Mexico for a couple weeks and I was craving Mexican food again. Here's a quick black bean, rice, chicken and homemade salsa dinner I threw together.

Last but not least, one of the prettiest pizzas I've ever made. This will be important evidence when my book comes out because I rag pretty hard on certain countries for not being able to produce a decent pizza. I should at least know how to make one myself if I'm going to criticize others.

Here's how it turned out. Bellissima.

That's it for now! I have one more travel-related post to make, and then I think I'll just keep on updating this as a food blog. I'll also continue to post news about the book here, so stay tuned.

We made it

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:04:00 +0000

We've been back in the states for a week and a half now, but since we don't really have a "home," it kind of still feels like we're traveling. We spent the first week or so with my parents, then we moved into a friend's condo -- which will be our home base for a while -- and then we promptly drove up to Crippen Creek for an extended weekend. So we're still on the same kind of pace we kept up during our trip... a new bed every three days or so.

And, surprise, we're still having problems with Picasa and the internet. I just spent half an hour selecting photos from our new camera only to discover that Picasa somehow froze while I was trying to upload them, erasing all my work. Argh.

When the rage passes, I will give it another shot.

Hasta Luego, Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:59:00 +0000

I'm trying to think of a way to begin this post that isn't melodramatic, but failing miserably. So I guess I'll just go with this:

If then my fortunes can delight my friend,
A story fruitful of events, attend:
Another's sorrow may thy ear enjoy,
And wine the lengthened intervals employ.
Long nights the now declining year bestows,
A part we consecrate to soft repose,
A part in pleasing talk we entertain;
For too much rest itself becomes a pain.
Let those, whom sleep invites, the call obey,
Their cares resuming with the dawning days
Here let us feast, and to the feast be joined
Discourse, the sweetest banquet of the mind;
Review the series of our lives, and taste
The melancholy joy of evil past:
For he who much has suffered, much will know;
And pleased remembrance builds delight on woe.

That's from the Odyssey, an epic travel story to be sure, but one which clearly pales in comparison to the adventures had by yours truly at Viva Robusto.

Why all the drama? In case you didn't already know, tomorrow is our last day in Mexico City. After 10 long months of travel, we're finally flying back home to Portland, Oregon.

It's been wonderful and horrible, epic and boring, blah blah blah. I can't do any justice to our experience in this forum. All I can do is post some more pictures and make a few comments. Meanwhile I'm organizing and condensing my thoughts into a taut, hilarious 80,000 words that will hopefully become a book.

With both our friends (Jenny and Karyn) arriving in Oaxaca, we spent the last few days there in quiet reflection for our upcoming beach time.

After a particularly horrific night bus ride (that was supposed to be the less curvy of the two available routes), we arrived in San Augustinillo.

We didn't have a reservation, but by pure luck we managed to get two affordable rooms in a very nice beachfront location.

Liz was impressed by our color coordination.

Although the surf was pretty rough, it was a mellow, picturesque beach.

The 2nd best pizza we've found in Mexico, which, as a country, has the 2nd best pizza in the world. That we've found so far.

Our game of frisbee was cut short when I jumped onto some kind of rock or sharp piece of wood with my bare foot. The cut was surprisingly small, but my toe now has a sizeable lump on one side. I think I may have broken it or caused some kind of bone spur.

Liz and the girls took a boat tour out in the ocean early one morning to see dolphins, turtles and manta rays. It sounded cool, but I knew there would be puking involved so I decided to sleep in. I won't say who did and who didn't, but two of the three of them puked. On the plus side, they did get to see turtles having sex.

And a downed drug plane that for whatever reason has been left untouched for years. That's so "Lost."

Another day we headed to a calmer beach so Jenny and Karyn could surf and boogie board.

This is why I retired from such activities.

Afterward we made our way up to a beachside restaurant for ceviche and cacahuates (peanuts) with fresh lime and chili. So good, and so messy.

Another beachside dinner.

Another boat tour, this time to check out the turtle reserve in the neighboring town of Mazunte.

They also had a small pile of baby crocodiles.

Coconut meat with lime, salt and chili. I wasn't around for this snack but I am told it was excellent.

Next stop: Puerto Escondido and the "Mexican Pipeline," a popular surfing spot for more than half a century.

You can't swim there without a board, so we made sure to get a spot with a pool.

The dangerous waters.

Relaxing at the beach is actually pretty hard work. Sometimes you gotta take five.

Our last evening before Jenny and Karyn went their separate ways.

Puerto was kind of touristy, and the beach wasn't particularly nice for sitting on, but we did get some killer sunsets.

After Jenny and Karyn moved on, we spent another day or so in Puerto before heading out to our last beach destination. I'm not sure if I should name the beach we visited here on the internet or keep it a secret. It wasn't my favorite beach in the world, but apparently it's paradise for surfers. Kind of an unknown spot with great waves... a place where you can get two long sessions in every day without fighting any crowds for position in the water.

We enjoyed our time there, but it was a little bit rustic for my taste. We stayed in a sand-floor bungalow right on the beach and I didn't shower for 6 days.

Liz actually slept in a hammock right on the beach, which has been a dream of hers for a while. Every morning at dawn she woke up just long enough to take a photo of the sunrise.

At least there were several cute puppies around during the day to keep us occupied while most people were out surfing.

The food was a little bit of a weak point, unfortunately. It's pretty much all seafood, which sounds great, until you consider having it three times a day for a week. The "restaurant" at our cabanas was pretty reasonable and served decent pescado and filete; I just got tired of it after a few days.

The one time I sought out and found a taco stand that served beef ended in unspeakable tragedy, but I won't elaborate on that now. Instead, here's a picture of the tangy charred fish al ajo (with garlic) that we ate most of the time.

One of the wandering vendors, selling everything from toys to tamales.

If you want a beach to yourself, this is the spot to visit.

My finest hour. Nursing a Fresca the morning after drinking too much of the local mezcal.

Liz's bed.

One of the girls that "worked" at our cabana, pictured with one of the puppies.

Their baby, eating filthy sand.

Back in Puerto, one last magnificent sunset before our bus ride back to Oaxaca.

That's it for photos. We have a handful more that are still on the camera, but our camera finally died completely, so we haven't been able to take many in Mexico City.

Our next post will be made from within the borders of the United States! Until then...

Giving this a shot...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Well, I was finally able to upload the photos to Picasa, but it took so long that I ran out of time to actually write a post.

So now, about a week later, we're in Puerto Escondido. We spent a handful of days at San Augustinillo and now we´ve found a nice little place here at the south end of Zicatela beach. However, I am posting this from a crappy internet cafe computer, so I won´t make any promises at this point about the length and/or quality of the post. This keyboard is terribly annyoing to type on, but I´ll do my best.

Back in Oaxaca, Liz and I took a quick daytrip up into the mountains to visit a park. I believe it´s actually in a separate town called San Felipe, but don´t quote me on that.

It was colorful, but cloudy, up there.

The clouds were bad news because I heard there were some decent basketball courts up there.

Still, I played through the rain and dominated. Still got it.

Actually the hoops were terrible and I was the only one there. The rims were about 7 feet tall and lacking nets, of course. I´m standing flat footed in that picture.

It did end up raining quite a bit, so it wasn´t long before we were on our way back down the hill to our apartment. This is our deceptively shitty-looking front door.

Another day trip, this time up to Hierve el Agua. That means "boiling water," roughly, but the water that naturally "boils" out of the ground here isn´t warm at all.

It forms several air-temperature pools near the edge of a cliff with spectacular views.

The minerals in the water create this kind of melted wax look as it cascades over the edge.

We actually planned on spending the night in a cabana up here, but were told that they were all full. Then, about thirty seconds before we were going to leave, after we had already boarded the truck, we were told differently. It was too late... we refuse to commit to a room unless we´ve seen it, and if we left the truck at that point we would have lost our ride. So we went back home.

A few more pics.

I think this is actually a blue agave cactus. I posted a pic of one before that I now believe was a different variety. This is (probably) the real deal.

No idea what variety this one is, unless "big ass" is a variety of cactus.

Yet another day trip, to the rug-weaving village of Teotitlan. Here the proprietors of a mom and pop outfit show us how the red dye for their rugs is actually made out of a type of fungus that grows on cactii.

Ok, here´s the story behind this shot. This guy is basically a mascot for the pharmacy a few doors down from our apartment. He gets paid to dance out on the street corner all day long. To promote the pharmacy. Obviously. Walgreens, are you paying attention?

Probably the fanciest restaurant in Oaxaca, Los Danzantes.

We went overbudget to check this place out one night. Great atmosphere, highly professional service, but the food was just OK. I mean, I had a steak for $17 that was about half the size and almost, but not quite as good as the ones we got for $9 in Argentina. Meanwhile, Liz had a lasagna that was advertised to come with spinach, but instead came with peas. She became violently ill the next day. Make of that what you will.

Happier times, before the peas arrived.

Our friend Jenny finally showed up and jumped straightaway into Mexican culture.

Another day trip up to hike in the San Felipe area. Foiled by rain, unfortunately. Everyone we spoke to advised us against taking the actual trail once we got there. So we just walked around a bit, took a few pictures, and headed back to town.

Few shots around town.

Liz and Jenny ran into some kind of bizarre parade with giant statues one evening.

Mayan ruins up at Monte Alban.

They had a monument to some guy who was important to the excavation of the park, or something. The important thing here is that he looked exactly like Kim Jong Il.

Mutant love.

All right, I can´t stand being in this internet cafe another minute, so that´s all for this update. I may post one more time in Mexico City. And then, when we get back home, I´ll add one last batch of photos, a video and some final thoughts. Until then!

Google broke the internet

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:14:00 +0000

Well, I was all set to upload 34 new photos before we leave Oaxaca (and my laptop) behind. But Google Picasa isn't cooperating.

Unless I can figure out what's wrong in the next 3 hours you'll just have to wait, because we're boarding a bus for the coast at 11pm.

If you don't see any new posts tonight, we will update again around August 1.

Hasta luego,

Dan

Mezcalritaville

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Thought we'd check in again from Oaxaca before we head to the beaches and, ultimately, back home.

If the content has been a little thin, I apologize. Truthfully I needed some time to unwind from all the traveling we'd done, so I haven't really been up for doing much here in Oaxaca. I've mostly been sitting around working on my book, playing a little bit of poker again, looking forward to coming back to Portland.

However, we've been more active in the past week or so. Oaxaca is growing on me more and more as we find new favorite places to eat and hang out.

Backing up a few weeks, here's a picture of the teachers' protest that marched down our street. When we arrived in Oaxaca, the zocalo (town center) was overtaken with striking teachers. Here's the short version of the story: The teachers have been striking every year for a long time. A few years ago (2006), the government cracked down and there was a huge riot and massacre.

Since then, little has changed. The same people are still in power in Oaxaca, and the teachers still strike every year. The march was the culmination of weeks of camping out in the zocalo, and was scheduled on the same day as the riots a few years back. Nobody knows if the government will crack down again, but for this year anyway, the march was allowed to continue in peace.

It's not as dangerous as it sounds, especially for tourists. Now the teachers are out of the zocalo and everything is back to normal. Anyway, here are some of the protesters as seen from our balcony.

One day we took a collectivo up to Tlacolula de Matamoros to do a little shopping in the market. This poor kid is going to be goat-phobic for the rest of his life.

Almost bought this.

Did buy this.

As I mentioned, Oaxaca does feel completely safe. But you do see an awful lot of dudes with giant machine guns. The picture is terrible, I know, but I didn't want to get caught taking a picture of a guy with an M-16 who probably didn't want his photo taken.

On the way back from Tlacolula we stopped in El Tule to visit the largest tree in Latin America.

It's big.

And we tried some of the nieve, which is a bit like a snow cone. A little sweet for our palates, though.

This is Marta, one of the two cats that live here. She has been acting a lot like Ash -- trying to get into our bed at night, and sleeping on our clothes in the daytime.

Dinner at the pozoleria near our apartment. I'll let wikipedia explain what pozole is:

Pozole is a traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew from Mexico. It is made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chile, garbanzo beans and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, radish, cilantro, avocado, lime juice, etc. There are a number of variations on pozole, including blanco (white or clear), verde (green), rojo (red), de frijol (with beans), and elopozole (sweet corn, squash, and meat).

You can also see some tacos de carnitas (rolled) in the background. Altogether this meal was around $11.

Garcia Vigil, the main tourist drag, pictured on a quiet night.

A few shots from a concert and dance in the zocalo.

After the first band played (classical music), we went to get some lunch. They were showing the next band on TV live as we ate.

The biggest ants I've ever seen. Apparently these guys only come out once or twice a year, but we've been lucky enough see them twice already. They're pretty slow-moving and apparently not a threat to bite. In fact, when they do come out, people collect them by hand to eat later. Yum.

Not everything is cheap here, but limes sure are. 20 will run you about $1. Cheap limes + "Controy" (fake Mexican Cointreau) + tequila = great margaritas.

In El Chaltan, Argentina, Liz met up with Marlene (left) from Denmark. Turns out she was coming to Mexico too, and she and Liz have stayed in touch. We met up for margaritas and dinner at La Olla.

It really is a pretty town despite the graffiti, noise and pollution.

It's not uncommon to stumble upon a random dance practice out in public.

Liz knows a cool Vespa when she sees one.

She's also been volunteering a bit of time at a center for kids here. This little dude is really working hard on his watercolor.

Balloons are big here.

This is a tlayuda from the Farmer's Market.

Again, I'll let wikipedia do the honors.

Tlayudas, sometimes spelled Clayuda (IPA /kla'ʝuð̞a/), is a part of Mexican Cuisine, consisting of a big crunchy tortilla covered with a spread of refried beans, asiento (unrefined pork lard), lettuce, meat (usually shredded chicken, beef tenderloin and/or pork), Oaxaca cheese or other cheese, and salsa. They are a popular antojito, or snack food, in Oaxaca, particularly around Oaxaca City.

Here's where we get flowers every week.

Liz with her Spanish teacher.

A few shots from a nearby museum. I didn't go. I just find it hard to get enthused about another museum or waterfall or cultural event at this point. But apparently it was quite scenic.

One thing I am enthused about: mezcal. I wrote a little about it in the previous post, but basically it's a variant of tequila that they produce in the Oaxaca region. I've tried probably eight or nine different varieties and haven't been disappointed yet. Like tequila, it's made from blue agave cactus (maguey en espanol).

Not sure if these are blue agave cactii or not, but they sure look like it.

And here's the best mezcal I've tried so far. It only costs $5.85 for a liter, but I think it tastes better than Patron or Don Julio.

And it has a worm!

That's all I've got for now. We're heading to Hierve el Agua tomorrow, and our friend Jenny arrives on Saturday. So the next update should be even more action-packed. Until then...

The Home Stretch

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:30:00 +0000

San Cristobal was a gorgeous little town. If it weren't for the rain -- and the projectile vomiting -- I would have enjoyed spending more time there.

A few shots from one of the clear days.

I hope these weren't the tacos that made me sick, because they were delicious.

Argentina has their dog-head mannequins; Mexico has... this.

Colorful local market in San Cristobal. We wandered right into the crowded, stinking depths of this thing. It's remarkable how similar it felt to the markets in Asia. They even had pig faces for sale.

Here's how it looked most of the time in San Cristobal.

Finally, I recovered enough to handle a night bus and we made it to Oaxaca. Our apartment is incredible. It's right off one of the busiest roads in town -- only three blocks from the zocalo -- but so peaceful and relaxing on the inside.

Look at those ceilings... you could fit a basketball court in there!

Perfect spot to really hunker down and work on my book. As you can see.

The shared courtyard.

And our own little breakfast nook.

The view from our balcony. This was some kind of graduation parade. About a week later we had another giant parade down the same street, this time a major protest against the local government.

Wish I could remember what this was called. The guacamole mellowed out the crisp, savory tortillas and carmelized topping perfectly.

Marta, one of the two cats that live here. Pictured capturing the largest moth I've ever seen. Honestly, it was almost like a bat.

Oaxaca is a little bigger and more polluted than I expected it to be. But the city is overflowing with character.

They repaint the buildings frequently to keep on top of graffiti.

Fresh corn tortillas, still hot from the oven. $0.80 for a kilo.

We are finally doing a better job living frugally and cooking most of our meals at home. Still, we plan on taking advantage of the world-renowned culinary scene here.

Here's the famous black mole.

And the red mole, with a side of white beans that were out of this world.

Another new favorite: mezcal. It's Oaxaca State's answer to tequila -- a strong alcoholic beverage made from blue agave. But we're finding that you get a little bit more for your money with mezcal than you do with tequila. Even the cheapest mezcals taste as complex and -- I'm not sure what the right word is... peaty? -- as more expensive tequilas.

In other news, the Spanish-speaking and book-writing, respectively, are going pretty well. Liz is studying with a private instructor about 15 hours a week, and I'm nearly achieving my goal of 1,000 words a day on the book.

The basketball-playing, however, is going poorly. If I walk 20 minutes to a rotting old court with no nets I can usually get a game of 1 on 1 going against a 4'11" guy. It's exercise, I guess (we're at 2,000 meters here so I always get winded), but it gets old really fast when you can literally block every single shot your opponent takes and score 100% of the time on them. I have to take it super easy on people just to stay interested in the game, and that's no fun.

We have about 4 more weeks here in our apartment, and then we'll head to the Oaxacan coast with a few of Liz's friends that are coming down to visit.

And then we'll be just about done with the trip. Catch up with you again soon!

It's Pronounced "Wa-Ha-Ka"

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:23:00 +0000

Well, we've finally arrived at the destination I've been dreaming about for the past six months: Oaxaca.

Why have I been so anxious to get here? Well, the city has a lot going on, and it's known for great food, but neither of those reasons fully covers it.

I was looking forward to Oaxaca because getting here meant that we'd almost be done riding buses, boats, trains and planes. We'll be planted in the same spot for the next six weeks, and then we just have a few more destinations to hit before flying back home.

And it turns out, we're in a great spot for hanging out. Our apartment is the nuts. We'd seen a few pictures, but they don't really do justice to the lush, jungle-like shared courtyard or 20-foot ceilings in our place.

We also didn't realize we'd be getting our own kitchen/dining area.

Back to the blog stuff: We left off in Tulum, where Liz booked a cave snorkeling tour one afternoon.

A bit of bad news first: Our camera is failing. It's too late in the trip to buy another one, since we have a brand-new digital SLR sitting at home waiting for us. We'll just have to make do for the next two months; we can still take pictures, but the exposure control is really goofy now.

So, apologies in advance, but this was the best shot we could get of the caves.

From Tulum, the next point of interest was Chichen Itza, a major Mayan ruin. But instead of forking over $$$$$$ to stay near the ruins, we stayed about half an hour away in a cute colonial town called Valladolid, home of the biggest Mexican flag I've ever seen in my life.

Just had to capture one of these for the blog. Thank god this kind of advertising is illegal in the states.

More Valladolid.

One of my new favorite Mexican foods: Cochinita Pibil. It's a type of slow-roasted pork -- a lot like Carnitas (except Carnitas are fried). Usually served with bright pink onions, tortillas and lime.

We had one night in Valladolid before heading off to see the ruins. We met up with a friendly German girl on the bus who told us about some kind of local dancing exhibition, so we checked it out.

They did the "Mexican hat dance" and also plenty of dancing with bottles and trays on their heads. I was hoping for some kind of Pee Wee Herman "Tequila" dance, but left disappointed.

The next morning we caught a ride with another American that was staying at our hotel. We wanted to beat the crowds to avoid another Angkor Wat catastrophe where we found ourselves fighting through tour groups all day.

And, we succeeded. We blitzed through the ruins in record time and were back on the bus to Valladolid before lunchtime. Here's the main attraction, which is somewhat anticlimatically located right near the entrance.

The German girl doing something silly.

The old ball court. This is where the Mayans played a primitive sport that involved knocking a ball through a hoop using their hips, knees and elbows. Human sacrifice usually followed the games, although nobody is certain if the losers or winners (or both) were offered up.

If you look closely at this wall, you can see the ring that served as the goal.

This is actually where they kept some of the remains (heads? skulls?) of the victims.

They also tossed a lot of human sacrifices into this deep pit of water. Just like in Army of Darkness.

And they played a really slow version of tic-tac-toe. Man, the guy who had X in this game got eternally owned.

Random ruin shot.

Does this remind you of anyone? Specifically, does this remind you of anyone in the Speranza family?

Next stop: The surface of the sun. I mean, Merida. Possibly the hottest place we've been on this trip. It was a nice town, but MAN. I don't know how people live there, let alone how they hang out with their friends on park benches.

Some guy told us that this was the oldest church in Mexico.

We only stayed in Merida on our way to Palenque. Palenque is another famous ruin site. Again, we stayed in a place (El Panchan) just outside the ruins rather than in Palenque town (supposed to be horrible) or at one of the uber-fancy resorts right next to the ruins.

El Panchan turned out to be a microscopic hippie enclave in the middle of the jungle. But we found very un-hippie-like lodging at Ed and Margarita's Cabanas. This place was meticulously clean and super luxurious as far as jungle lodging goes.

Some of the flora and fauna around our place.

This is the real-deal jungle, too. It buzzes constantly with insect activity, and you can even hear howler monkeys on occasion. They sound like [censored] scary monsters, and if you didn't know better, you might be terrified.

Many of the ruins at Palenque are still buried under the jungle. Here's what's been excavated.

They discovered a body in this tomb that had been treated with cinnabar (hence the red).

The next day we took a half-day trip to check out Agua Azul and another minor waterfall.

First, the minor waterfall.

Agua Azul. This is just a small part of the falls. It's not Iguazu or anything, but it is a fairly large series of falls.

It's actually dangerous not to swim here.

More views.

This guy is crazy. The water is like 3 feet deep where he's jumping in. It must be deeper during the rainy season.

We swam to the same spot earlier. Nice place, but not necessarily worth the ridiculously dangerous collective ride to get there.

After Palenque, we went to San Cristobal de las Casas, where I became violently sick from something other than drinking for the first time in 20 years. We have only a handful of pictures from the town, as I spent most of our time there in bed, and heavy rain kept Liz confined mostly to the hostel as well. Still, I'll get them up soon.

Update on the book: I've got between 17,000 and 18,000 words done (about 50-55 pages), and I'm trying to write 1,000 a day until we leave Oaxaca.

Also, for what it's worth, it's completely different than the blog. Here I'm just trying to loosely narrate a series of pictures so people can follow along with our trip. The book will tell a lot of the stories that can't be captured on film, in more detail, more polished, and hopefully, funnier.

That's all for now; catch up with you again soon.

T-Shirts, Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:43:00 +0000

I've long been considering making Viva Robusto T-Shirts. Anyone interested?

If so, what are your thoughts on this design, and how much do you think is a reasonable price? (Note: The back reads "www.vivarobusto.com," which will soon be the new URL for this site).

Leave your thoughts in the comments section and we'll see if there's enough interest.

More Mexico content coming soon!

Que Onda Mexico?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:20:00 +0000

As promised, I'm going to get caught up with everything before we get buried like we did in Argentina.

So, right now, we're in San Cristobal. Tomorrow night we take a night bus (our first in Mexico) to Oaxaca, where we'll spend the next six weeks.

Before we left Argentina, I had one final order of business to attend to: I was starting to look like a damn hippie, and I needed to correct the situation with a haircut and a shave. I keep letting my beard grow out while we travel because if I shave it all the way off, my skin gets irritated. And I hadn't cut my hair since the unfortunate near Bic job that the Thai lady gave me back on Khao San Road.

So I got an Argentine mullet.

All right, it's not really a mullet, but it's just a bit longer in the back than I usually find acceptable. Oh well. At least I don't look like an extra from Dazed and Confused anymore.

Our flight from Buenos Aires to Mexico City was pretty awful, but here's the reason it was all worth it: My first taste of tacos in Mexico. Even though these were just from some crappy stand at the airport, they were awesome.

We spent one night in Cancun, checked out the beach, found that it sucked unless you were paying $$$$ to stay at an all-inclusive, and quickly decided to head to Isla Mujeres.

Here's what we found there:

The beach at Isla Mujeres is spectacular.

Truly, it rivals even the best beaches we found in Thailand.

The only downside is that here we paid $40 per night for our room. In Thailand we probably averaged under $20.

The food, of course, was terrific. I've been craving Mexican food for so long (I've never gone this long without it before), I think I ate 19 tacos in the first two days.

These were particularly delicious. Asada, Pollo and Camarones.

This was a quesadilla, which was deep-fried and not all that good. I'm posting the picture because it's the first time I've ever ordered food that came with a plate emblazoned with a pithy, accurate review of the food it was holding. Unimpressive.

Ceviche. So good.

I was really close to buying the "Who cares asshole" T-shirt.

This dude scampered out of nowhere and scared the crap out of us. They're harmless, though. That is, if you consider flying, acid-spitting death lizards harmless.

I'm kidding, they really are harmless (I think).

This was a nice beachside snack: roasted pumpkin seeds with fresh lime, salt and chili. Really excellent, we will try to recreate this at home as an appetizer.

Just another ridiculous sunset.

Finally, a country that plays basketball! Manu Ginobili aside, it was near impossible to find a court, let alone a court with players, in Argentina. In Mexico they're everywhere. I gave these 4'1" 9 year-olds the schooling of their lifetime.

Nice dinner on Isla Mujeres with the largest portion of guacamole ever. That bowl was heaping when it arrived.

Our next stop: Isla Holbox (pronounced "holbosh"). It's less touristy and more mellow than Isla Mujeres, but strangely more expensive.

Food wasn't as good either, but we did find a place with pretty sharp margaritas.

And the hottest sauce known to man. The guy asked me if I wanted "salsa picante," and when I said yes, this is what he brought. WOW. After dinner he told me how it's made. Basically you puree habanero peppers with olive oil, salt and garlic.

Apparently a lot of the structures on the island were destroyed by a hurricane within the last decade, but you'd hardly know it. There were lots of colorful buildings with this kind of faded cool character.

People in Mexico drink a LOT of soda. They consume more Coke than any other country in the world per capita.

It's my dog in a box!

Next stop: Tulum. The beaches here are a lot like those at the Oregon coast: wide, with strong waves. The only difference is that it's 90+ degrees here so you can actually swim.

Although the conditions aren't quite as ideal as they are at Isla Mujeres, the setting is still postcard perfect.

There are also ancient Mayan ruins overlooking part of the beach.

Those Mayans really had the best real estate of all the indigenous peoples.

That's it for now. We're not completely caught up, but we're getting there. I should have plenty of free time in Oaxaca, so you can expect more within the week.

Until then, adios!

Final Argentina Post

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Picking right up...

With the coca tea in our systems, we rallied the rest of the drive back to Salta and managed to get the car fueled and returned in time to grab lunch and buy tickets to Tucuman and, eventually, Iguazu.

Before we knew it, we were on an Andesmar bus with full Cama seats! We had tried to purchase Cama seats on our first overnight bus ride to Puerto Madryn, and did in fact pay Cama prices, but when the bus arrived, it only had Semi-Cama available. Since then, it had been all Semi-Cama, all the time. Too bad our first Cama ride was only going to be 5 hours long.

We arrived in Tucuman and grabbed a taxi to our hostel. There's a story there, but you'll have to wait for the book for this one. At our hostel, they were out of bedsheets for our private room, so we got a partial refund and moved to an empty dorm. The next day, at around noon, we got on another bus for Iguazu, perhaps our seventh or eighth 20-hour bus ride of the trip.

I was clean shaven at the start of the bus ride.

When we arrived in Iguazu the following afternoon the weather was cloudy and we were exhausted, so we decided to save the falls for the next day. We drank tons of Quilmes with an international crew of travelers at our hostel, then went out for asada. We made it home relatively early... one or two of the guys (including a funny Australian guy who spoke immaculate Spanish and knew all the Buenos Aires-specific slang) didn't get back until 4 or 5am.

We sort of partnered up with a German couple, grabbed a bus to the falls and headed straight for the Garganta Del Diablo. If you've been paying attention, you'll remember that that was also the name of the rock formation we visited up near Salta.

Approaching the largest single waterfall at Iguazu... you can see the mist rising all the way out of the crater from the force of impact on the rocks below.

There were still pieces remaining from an old, busted catwalk, next to the one we were walking on. This was reassuring.

Our first views of the edge.

Some facts about Iguazu from wikipedia:

- The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers.

- The peak surface area of water falling over Iguazu is 1.3 million square feet. By comparison, Niagara is about 600,000 square feet.

- At one point a person can stand and be surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls.

So here it is, the Garganta del Diablo. A huge freaking wall of water.

I think this sign warns about kayaking over the side.

Trying to take in the whole thing at once. If you stare directly at it you almost get dizzy. It feels like something that big shouldn't be moving like that.

The German couple we toured the falls with.

The falls aren't the only attraction. The park around Iguazu is known for a great variety of flora and fauna as well.

OF COURSE.

And then there are these guys, the "coaties." They're kind of anteater-ish beaver/raccoon/cat things that prowl the park in search of tourists dumb enough to feed them.

They don't have to look far.

Thanks to the abundant supply of food, these guys are everywhere and totally fearless.

This poor lady dropped her bag for one second and the coaties were all over it. Luckily some old man knew to make a scary cat sound which frightened them all away.

Later her son was taunting one of the coaties with a piece of food and it started climbing all over his legs and up his torso, giving him a nasty scratch in the process. Hope you didn't get rabies, kid.

Back to the falls. After the Garganta, we did both the upper and lower loop hikes. It's difficult to capture the range of waterfalls, but we tried our best. Just imagine waterfalls as far as the eye can see.

Looking down on the lower catwalk from the upper one.

One of the larger falls (other than the Garganta). Check out the people on the platform about halfway down for scale.

After a full day at the falls, we bused back to town, grabbed a quick dinner and boarded our last 20-hour bus ride in Argentina.

The face of victory:

And with this post, we're almost caught up. We spent a handful of days in Buenos Aires, mostly repairing the damage Aerolineas Argentinas caused to our itinerary, and now we're in Mexico. Mexico updates to come in short order.

Free Salt!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:42:00 +0000

Picking right up in San Antonio de los Cobres. We had almost given up on even getting any kind of a decent breakfast (potato chips and Oreos from the corner store don't count) when we stopped by the one nice hotel in town to ask for directions. And lo and behold, they were serving a pretty nice breakfast that we were allowed to partake of.

Then it was right back on the road. It was another slow, gravelly stretch, but at least there were plenty of donkeys to keep us amused.

First stop: the salt flats. We thought we overshot the entrance when we lost sight of them in the distance, but then we rounded the bend and saw that they were much bigger than we had first imagined.

Salt, as far as the eye can see! Piles and piles of it. In Argentina, first you get the salt, then you get the power, then you get the women.

Seriously, free salt! Grab your shovel!

If I have driven just one salt miner to our website with this carving, then it was all worth it.

After playing in the salt for a while, we hit the next stretch of road, paved thankfully, up to Purmamarca. Again the scenery was otherworldly.

And Purmamarca turned out to be a great little town. It's nice and quaint, with a spectacular backdrop of vibrant red, yellow and green rocks. We didn't get a great picture of the rocks, unfortunately, but we did get a few pics of our spectacular lunch. First up, five different empanadas. I think they were llama, carne, pollo, queso and... something else I can't remember. The llama was best.

And then I splurged and ordered the lomo de llama. This was really good... extremely juicy and tender like a nice cut of pork. And the flavor was excellent. Salty, tangy, savory. The cheese was kind of a semi-firm goat cheese that was a nice, soft complement to the tanginess of the llama. And the potatoes were nice too. This was one of the top 3 meals I had in Argentina.

Liz, meanwhile, had some quinoa fritters that were good in their own right, if not as spectacular as my dish.

There was a nice outdoor market with local crafts, and Liz picked up a little something for our future house (not from among these, though).

One of the signs advertising coca leaves. I think they're technically illegal, but the locals in northern Argentina get away with chewing them quite frequently. "Bica" is bicarbonate soda, or baking soda (I think). I think you use a little of it to mellow out the leaves, or something.

Purmamarca was only a quick lunch stop, next we headed north to Tilcara and Humahuaca. We breezed through Tilcara pretty quickly, then decided to go all the way to Humahuaca and decide from there where we wanted to spend the night.

The views, again, were worth all the driving.

When it came time to secure a hostel, we decided on Tilcara over Humahuaca. And we just grabbed the first place we looked at because we were tired and everything was expensive. Then we looked a little closer at the place we had rented. Ugh.

That night we went to one of the fanciest restaurants in town because they had a roaring fire. The food was a little weird, though. This was supposed to be a quesadilla. Uh.... what?

I ordered llama again, thinking of my awesome lunch, and got this. The llama itself wasn't bad, but the rest was disappointing. On the left, that's just chopped tomatoes with four potato chips sticking out of it. And the green stuff was mashed peas... disgusting.

The next day on our way back to Salta, we stopped in Purmamarca for breakfast. And coca tea! Liz found it a little odd at first, but I liked the taste and thought it was actually quite mild. No dramatic side effects, sorry to report.

From Salta we blitzed on through to Iguazu falls. And now I have to renege on my promise in the previous post. I said I'd get all the Argentina stuff up right now, but it's already 9pm and I've been sitting in this cafe for like 3 hours. We have a billion shots from Iguazu, so it's just going to have to wait. Until then...

Tulum, Too Late

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:55:00 +0000

So much for finishing all our Argentina posts before leaving Argentina. With all our difficulties making the flight to Mexico happen, we just couldn't get it together to make a post.

Here's the story: When we bought our tickets over 8 months ago, Aerolineas Argentinas offered a direct flight from Buenos Aires to Cancun. Since then they've canceled the route. In fact, they no longer fly to Mexico at all, as far as I could tell. So at some point, they made reservations on our behalf with Aero Mexico.

Unfortunately there were a few problems. First, instead of flying direct to Cancun during the daytime, our new itinerary had us flying overnight to Mexico City, waiting 10 hours, then catching a connection to Cancun. Secondly, and more importantly, they somehow managed to cancel our itinerary after making it for us.

I won't get into what a hassle it was calling Aerolineas and Aero Mexico over and over and being hung up on and transfered and not helped in any way, so just imagine pretty much the worst customer service ever and you'll get the idea. The final slap in the face came when Aerolineas told us to get to the airport at least 4 hours early (6pm) so we'd have time for Aero Mexico to issue us new tickets. Figuring we'd play it safe, we arrived 5 hours early, at 5pm, only to find that nobody from Aero Mexico would even be arriving at the airport until 8:30pm. Son of a [censored].

But we made it through our flights and around 36 hours later we found ourselves sitting on a beach eating tacos and drinking beer with lime, so we got over it.

Right now we're in Tulum. Mexico has been great so far and, as usual, we've been too busy to get caught up with Viva Robusto. But I promise to blitz through the rest of Argentina right now so we can start talking Mexico. And I'll post at least one photo from the last few days at the end of this update as a bit of a sneak preview.

Back to Argentina:

After the stunning drive to Cafayate, we headed north to Cachi. The scenery was radically different and nearly as amazing.

The brilliant blue sky didn't hurt.

It was another demanding drive, with lots of cliffs and hairpin turns and long stretches of gravel. But then we'd turn a corner and run into something beautiful.

And finally we made it to Cachi. Along with Purmamarca it was our favorite of the 7 or 8 towns we visited on this mini road trip. Just a dusty little town up in the mountains with good outdoor cafes and a handful of nice restaurants.

And a basketball court! I didn't get to play, but it was shocking to even find a court.

We had a lovely dinner, but no pics unfortunately. It was a little dark anyway, and we had forgotten the camera. I had Cabrito (a local goat dish), and Liz tried Locro (a corn dish), another specialty of the region. We made it an early night and hit the road the next morning for San Antonio de Los Cobres.

To get there, we first had to drive waaaaaaaaay up into the mountains and down the other side, almost all the way back to Salta, before turning sharply northwest on yet another beastly stretch of gravel road.

First, heading up.

I'm not sure what our exact altitude was, but we had a hard time catching our breath in Cachi, and this was significantly higher. At one point we drove right into a cloud that we wouldn't escape for almost two hours.

Also, we found this guy wandering around by himself near the peak of the pass.

He was friendly.

Perhaps overly so.

When we finally drove away, he chased us! Too bad we didn't have an apple or anything to feed him. I think he was hungry.

Finally we reached a rest stop on the other side of the mountain with a few llamas loitering outside.

The previous day we had stopped for a quick bite and it wound up taking well over an hour to get 4 simple empanadas. So it was with some reluctance that we ordered another 4 from the 80-some year old owners of this place. Luckily they were more efficient and had food on our table within half an hour. And these were really worth the wait.

The next stretch of the drive was mostly paved, but really windy. And because it had been raining some, we had to drive through a lot of pools leading to waterfalls on the edge of cliffs. Like this.

After shifting between first, second and third gear for approximately 6 hours, we finally made it to San Antonio de los Cobres. But before arriving in the town, we stopped at one of the highest points in the passes to take this shot. 4,080 meters is, of course, 13,385 feet. As a point of reference, Mount Hood is 11,249 feet tall. It was insane up here... too windy to even get out of the car. Hence the muddy-looking shot through the window.

All that effort, and San Antonio de los Cobres turned out to not be a very nice place. It was just a cold, dusty, windy town at over 3,700 meters that we needed to pass through on our grand loop through the Salta region.

It felt like what I imagine Afghanistan is like. All empty streets and piles of rubble.

I wolfed down a steak and papas in a dingy, smoky restaurant, then we picked up a few snacks and a small bottle of booze and hunkered down for the night in our tiny room.

That's all for right now. I need to upload the rest of the pics before I can continue. But to insure this update doesn't end on a depressing note, here's a more recent photo:

That was taken today, actually. More soon!

The Volkswagen Gol Diaries

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Diving straight into our time in the Salta region.

No, I have not been kidnapped. This is the best way to sleep on an overnight bus.

Our first (and only) afternoon in Salta, we headed out to check out the fancy restaurant and bar district up on Balcarce. But we got sidetracked by a local market. This part of the country feels different. Like Mexico or something. And we actually found some spicy food! These are called Humitas, and they're just like Tamales. They even had spicy salsa.

I mean, the food in this country is good, but outside of steak, wine and ice cream, it's a little bland. You almost never find pepper on the tables in restaurants, and when they tell you something is "picante," they are almost always lying.

This stuff had a legitimate amount of heat to it. So delicious.

It also appears to be more Catholic up here.

We were lucky to witness the start of a Quince. It's like a Quincinera (sp?) in Mexico, where they throw an elaborate bash to celebrate a girl's 15th birthday. This lucky girl made her entrance on the back of a motorcycle.

Seriously, the amount of money they must drop on these things is mind-boggling.

Later that night. This is the drunkest I have ever looked in a picture. I wasn't even drunk!

To prove it, I overcompensated in the next photo.

The next day we secured a rental car and hit the road. A Volskwagen Gol, which I think is identical to a Volkswagen Golf. Not sure why they drop the "F" in latin America. Anyway, the original plan was to hit Cafayate, Cachi and maybe Humahuaca before returning to Salta. We ended up extending the trip by 2 days and also visiting San Antonio De Los Cobres and Tilcara.

The scenery in this region really is out of this world. We did over 1200 km in about 4 days... but that's not all freeway driving. It was cliffside, twist-and-turn, high-altitude, dirt-road driving, and it ended up being the most demanding drive I've ever undertaken.

At the start of the trip, we discovered that there IS water on Mars.

The colors were incredibly striking.

The "Garganta del Diablo," the first of two "Gargantas" we would see on this trip. AKA, the throat of the devil. It was impossible to photograph properly as it was so large that the exposure never worked properly. Aim at the top and the bottom is too dark. Aim at the bottom and the top is washed out. This is the best we could do.

I'm posting this because Liz raved on and on about how well my shirt matched the background.

This one has a bit of scale. Lower left hand side.

And so does this one. Bottom center.

I'm hoping this makes the cover of a rock climbing magazine.

Liz has a shot as well.

That mountain in the middle was even greener in real life. Like the color of the Statue of Liberty. So weird!

Where did we leave the car?

Oh yeah, down there.

Apparently they also have trees on Mars.

We finally arrived in Cafayate after pulling over about 462 times appreciate the scenery. Unfortunately it was too late to visit most of the wineries, but this one was still open.

It was the most scenic winery either of us has ever seen.

But the wine wasn't so great. Their most expensive bottle on offer was 25 pesos ($7), and most bottles ranged from 6 pesos to 12. That's not to say you can't get a very solid bottle of wine for 12 pesos in Argentina; but these weren't up there among our favorites. We posed for this picture (and bought a 6-peso bottle of Torrontes) to be polite.

You didn't think there could be anything nastier than fried cockroaches or a mayonnaise waffle, did you? How about Tuna flavored ice cream?

We must have gotten the honeymoon suite... hence the sexy monopillow and satin-accented blanket.

It's getting late here; I'll try to wrap up the rest of these photos before we shove off tomorrow.

Last Tango in Buenos Aires

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Well, our bags are (nearly) packed and we're finally ready to move on from Argentina. If everything goes according to plan (and sadly, this is not an insignificantly-sized "if"), we'll be on a northbound flight to Mexico City tomorrow night with a connecting flight to Cancun on Sunday.

When we booked the trip, we were able to snag a direct flight from Buenos Aires to Cancun on Aerolineas Argentinas, but we should have known that itinerary was too good to be true. The troubled airline canceled the route and hooked us up with Aero Mexico instead. Only they also managed to cancel our itineraries at the same time. And the Aero Mexico flight isn't direct; we have to fly overnight to Mexico City and then sit in the airport for many hours before making our way to Cancun. [censored]

I've been sorting things out for the past three days, and I think we're finally good to go. This is assuming there is no massive incompetence on display at the Aerolineas counter tomorrow. We'll see.

So anyway, it's our last chance to post Argentina-related content while we're still in Argentina. Buckle up; I'm going to do my best to blast through all the rest of our photos.

We left off with our arrival in Mendoza. The wine capital of Argentina. Turns out it's also one of the crime capitals of Argentina. The streets there are a little tougher than the ones in Buenos Aires; Liz had to fend off a couple guys that were trying to snag one of our bags from right under her nose in the park. The idiots would have been disappointed to find that the bag they wanted was filled with nothing but dirty laundry, but it still would have sucked to lose most of my Thai T-shirt collection.

It was also hard to find a room. The first place we checked had a microscopic private room with one single bed and one bunk bed. We gambled that we would find something better and lost... having to settle for a dorm room with abysmal shower and toilet facilities all the way across town.

But the next day we finally found something good. Well, Liz did. A charming unlisted hostel just outside the really happening part of town with massive private rooms that were nicer than lots of hotel rooms we've found in the States. On top of that we had the best bathroom of the trip. Just imagine, the sheer luxury of having a tub so water doesn't pour all over the ground when you shower. Ahh.

The single must-do activity in Mendoza is wine touring. There are a couple of "tour agencies" that offer "guided" mountain bike tours, but we found this to be mostly a scam. Another American couple at our hostel paid something like 70 pesos each for their package, which included transportation. We took the bus for 1.4 pesos each, and rented bikes for 15 pesos each, so we came out 53.6 pesos ahead. Of course, our bikes were absolute rubbish, but then again, theirs were too.

Our first stop, at a winemaking museum that doubles as a fairly large capacity operating winery.

I think I'm ready to help out on the farm, Don.

The ride was actually kind of lame at first... there was lots of traffic, construction and pollution. But once you got a few kilometers down the road, it improved a bit.

This is actually inside some giant cauldron-esque wine-storage thing at the Familia di Tommasso winery.

Descending to the cellar.

The Tommasso winery put on an excellent tasting of 5 different wines for just 10 pesos a head.

My first taste of absinthe. In case you hadn't guessed, it's the mint-colored fluid that looks deceivingly light and refreshing. It actually tastes like Scope, as my friend Kyle said it would.

Baby clothes get baby bear head mannequins.

The other great attraction in Mendoza (in our eyes, anyway) is the Parque San Martin, a massive park on the edge of town where we spent a few afternoons reading, walking and just hanging out.

Just getting the name out there.

They have all this public exercise equipment there, most of which appears to be pull-up bars. We couldn't figure out what to do with this one, though.

After traveling such a great distance, we decided to spend almost a week in Mendoza. But Liz, of course, couldn't sit still that long. She booked a minibus trip up to see Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Andes.

This is apparently where they filmed "Seven Years in Tibet."

Here's some kind of Yellowstone-esque mineral deposit. I wasn't there to verify, but Liz swears that that was a normal sized building. It looks like a model to me for some reason.

And here's the merchandise. They leave objects out to get coated and then sell them as souvenirs.

More views:

These views are pretty neat-looking, but honestly we saw much more spectacular in the Salta region. Coming soon.....

Yet another country we came extremely close to physically but never visited. Chile.

Back in town at the Parque San Martin again, we found these two Ash-dogs that were going nuts over a plastic bag.

That's it for Mendoza. From there we took yet another overnight bus up to Salta. I'll see if I can't get the pictures uploaded and posted in the next few hours.