Girl´s Night Out

This event is for all women, and for that woman in your life (if you are a guy reading this).

Go ahead, sign up, go have some fun drinking, socializing, shopping, eating, shopping some more and all the while knowing that you are also donating to a local charity.

For this event we are going to raffle off 5 of our Pan Dulce de Tus Sueños. You need to buy a ticket to the event be eligible for this raffle that they will organize.

For all who participate they are going to be giving away some goodie bags that will have Sugar & Spice goodies included.

Click below to get more details.

www.girlsnightoutbuenosaires.com

Now what are we to do on Wednesday night?

Now that the special vote isn´t happening and you, the *thirsty beer swigging mob, have no where to go Wednesday night you might want to consider ditching your beer mugs for wine glasses.

I wanted to drum up some support for a tasting that Gary and Nigel organize on a monthly basis. This month, I'm covering for Gary. The tasting costs 35 pesos and it is at Nigel Tollerman's wine cellar at Anchorena 695.

If you can't make it, feel free to spread the word to others who might be interested :) They can RSVP to the Google groups list, or me at phos at pobox.com or my cell is 15-6942-7132, but if it is just a few you can also come without RSVP as we don't usually get close to packing the house.

I'm also planning to bring some cheese this month, so we won't go hungry. We also have a Google group dedicated to this monthly tasting, http://groups.google.com/group/vinoba

Take care,

Jason

Okay Jason, you asked for it. Get your cleaning crew ready to receive the thirsty, beer swigging mob.

*reference to someone thinking that this type of mob was going to appear at their 6th floor home.

High School Musical 4 or Democrats Abroad Undone?

I just can´t get a break. I was looking forward to this meeting to at least have some closure. Is it too much to ask to have a defining moment? This brought flashbacks of high school petty squabbling.

The special vote is canceled. Joe Green, the Vice Chair for Dems Abroad of the Americas wrote to all of us with the news that the showdown was off.

Someone backed down? Someone repented and took back their accusations?

Hardly, what happened was that the entire board decided to throw in the towel. That´s right, all of them quit and now we will have the normal yearly vote in January:

I write to inform you that, because of the current leadership crisis in your Executive Committee, all members of that Committee have tendered their resignations to the Democrats Abroad (DPCA or Democratic Party Committee Abroad) global leadership team. This means that there will be no special meeting on Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

Although Mike doesn´t get to face a firing squad, I am kind of let down because he also doesn´t get to respond to his accusers. I am sure that Mike was also disappointed. Debbie explained it pretty well in her blog post on the latest happenings.

However, I am sure he will get over it and will run again. I am looking forward to it, and I will support Yanqui Mike once again.

But, who will run the show if we don´t have a board?

The January 2009 Annual General Meeting of DAAR will elect a new executive committee and its officers (this would have had to happen in any event, since the 2008 selection was part of an organizing meeting and requires a new election at the first AGM). This meeting will be organized by the DPCA leadership and I plan to be with you at that time.

That´s right, the big man himself is coming down here to make sure things run smoothly and nobody wants to run around and cancel meetings, and change venues, and worry about drunken mobs tracking mud all over their living rooms.

Political Drama in Buenos Aires

We just couldn´t let the Republicans have all the fun of political infighting. Could it have been the lack of fight, now that Obama won, that made us turn on each other?

Democtrats Abroad Argentina is now organizing a vote to remove Yanqui Mike from DAA for this Wednesday night at the home of a fellow expat Laura Atkins:

Calle Austria 2660,
the entire 6th floor,
Recoleta, Buenos Aires
6pm

View Larger Map

Being a member of Democrats Abroad, I think I have previously mentioned it here, I have received some e-mails on the subject; another expat mentioned those e-mails in her post. And yet, another expat wrote about the same thing, and according to her post, she seemed to have met Yanqui Mike the same way I met him.

For transparency´s sake I have to mention that I consider Yanqui Mike a friend. I have been social with him and his wife and have gone out and shared a beer or two. It should not be any surprise to anyone that I would find all this nonsense unsettling. My very first reaction is to stand up for my friends. What kind of a friend would I be if that was not the case?

My second reaction was to check with him to see if he did anything wrong.

The other two posts on the subject, written by Gina of Buenos Aires Style and Debbie of TangoSpam highlighted the little we know of the accusations. So far, in those accusations, I don´t see any reason to have taken things this far. If there are other reasons I guess I will have to wait to hear what those are at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the accused Yanqui Mike, did write on his blog regarding this turn of events. The very first post on the call for his resignation has him promising to post every e-mail that he receives. The second one is actually a listing of some more e-mails--this guy gets a lot of e-mails. In the third one he is posting information on the meeting and begging people to go and witness and vote. In this one, "Heidi in San Juan" makes an important observation.

"This is more like Democrats Abroad Buenos Aires" since people that live in the interior of the country are out of luck and will not be able to vote unless they travel to the big city.

One other little thorn to this event is the timing. 6pm is very early for Argentina. There will be some people who will not be able to attend becuase they will be either working or stuck in rush hour traffic. However, I have also been calling people and the word on the street is that there is a lot of interest in this meeting and some people are making arrangements to get there. Heck, one guy is coming straight from the hospital after recuperating from surgery and another person is coming from Quilmes just to name two examples.

I wonder how big Laura´s 6th floor really is? We might have to actually use the entire floor.

I will have to take time out of my day. I would rather be playing with my kids, or spending time with my parents who are visiting from out of town, or being in the company of my own wife, getting dinner ready and talking about our day, etc.

I probably echo most of my fellow Democrats when I say the following: There better be some damaging evidence there ´cause what I have seen so far is petty squabbling and if I drag my ass out there to hear whining and little substance I am going to be pissed.

And if that wasn´t bad enough Ian of Goodairs just had to highlight how now it looks like the famous Argentine beef will be a thing of the past much sooner than later.

Podcast Reminder - The Socially Responsible Cookie

Patt Gilmore stopped by the store last week and we had a chat over coffee and cookies. She surprised me by putting the interview up right away. If you would like to hear it you can click here.

Her site is called What´s the Frequency Argentina?

While you visit her site you can also listen to her other recent interviews covering ice cream, grilling meat, etc. She also has an audio book called Squatting Over a Bucket Under the Argentine Moon.

If you have iTunes you can also look up her podcast and listen to it on your iPod.

You are sure to find something to interest you at her site.

Oh, that non-profit that I could not remember during the interview is CCRAI.

Radio Reminder - Pan Dulce (Panettone)

Mañana me van a entrevistar en la radio en el programa de Adalberto Rossi "Cátedra
Avícola y Agropecuaria" am750 entre las 7 y 8 horas de la mañana. El tema sera sobre el Pan Dulce.

Obviamente voy a hablar sobre el Pan Dulce de Tus Sueños.

********English*********

I am going to be on the radio again. What, you haven´t heard me on the radio?

I can´t blame you. I haven´t mentioned it before. I have been pretty bad about that so from now on I am going to try to let everyone in on those little events before hand.

Tomorrow, between 7am and 8am Argentina time, I will be interviewed on a show called "Cátedra
Avícola y Agropecuaria" on am750. The topic is going to be Pan Dulce (Panettone).

Obviously I am going to talk about the Panettone of Your Dreams.

Pan Dulce de Tus Sueños / Panettone of Your Dreams

Cuando decidimos hacer pan dulce no queríamos hacer uno más de lo que ya estaba en el mercado. Haber iniciado en el mundo de los pan dulces me dí cuenta que yo no era el único a quien la mayoría de los pan dulces no gustaban.

Me encontraba con más personas que me declaraban su disgusto por la fruta abrillantada por ejemplo, o que no les gusta el pan dulce seco y otros a quien sí les gusta el pan dulce seco.

Nuestro pan dulce esta hecho para mi, porque a mi me gusta un pan dulce con frutas secas como avellanas, almendras, nueces, castañas de caju, cascara de naranja y pasas de uva maceradas en coñac.

Este año decidimos dejar a ustedes decidir que ingredientes irán en su pan dulce, el *pan dulce de tus sueños.

* Por favor tomen nota de los ingredientes disponibles en el cuadro al inicio de esta nota.

El costo del pan dulce de tus sueños es de $65 pesos (x 1 kg).

• El pedido requiere una seña de 50% del valor con un anticipo de 7 a 10 días.
• Con su compra de su pan dulce puede recibir un descuento de 10% sobre el resto de los productos en nuestro local.
• Si piden un pan dulce sin ingredientes pueden descontar $10 pesos del precio.
• Si piden el pan dulce con estuche esmerilado por favor agregar $10 pesos al precio.

************

When we started making panettone, we did not want to make just another panettone that would get lost in the shuffle. We wanted to make one different from what was already out there. I soon met others that felt the same way I did about the majority of the panettones in Argentina.

They would tell me that they really disliked the candied fruit or how many of them where dry and some people actually preferred the dry ones.

Our panettone is made for me basically. I like my panettone chock full of hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, candied orange peel, and Cognac soaked raisins.

But this year we have decided to let you have a say as to how to make your panettone. You tell us what ingredients to make it with and we will make the *panettone of your dreams.

* Please note the available ingredients in the logo above.

The price of the panettone of your dreams is $65 pesos (1 kg).

• To place your order for your Panettone you need to leave a deposit of 50% of the value of the panettone and give us 7 to 10 days to have it ready for you.
• With your purchase of this panettone you can also get a 10% discount off your purchase of any other products in our store.
• If you order a panettone with no ingredients then you can subtract $10 pesos from the price.
• If you want the special plastic see through case then please add $10 pesos to the price.

Sara Palin is so Dumb...

This is so brilliant and simple. Here is a sample and if you feel inspired you can send in your own:

...she took an umbrella to see Purple Rain.

...she thought Boyz II Men was a day care center.

...she called Dan Quayle for a spell check.

...she thought a quarterback was the new tax refund.

...she sits on the tv and watches the couch.

...she thought soy milk was Spanish for I am milk.

Yes, We Did!

Yes, We Did!

Caption in the picture: "It is no longer a dream"
Thanks to Bloc de Periodista for that one.

Oh, no he didn´t...

Okay, we can still feel good,

But let´s remember to keep our feet on the ground...

Dollar Sale

Photo from William Lauer Photo Blog.

Yesterday, while I was writing my post about the currency crisis, the government held a garage sale and they were selling dollars.

Argentina's peso closed steady Wednesday due to a massive central bank dollar sale, but bonds fell for an 11th consecutive session due to continued concerns over a government plan to take over private pensions.

Just thought the timing was kind of funny.

Basically, investors flocked to the dollar fearing that the Argentine´s nationalization of the nation´s private pension funds was a money grab to keep the country from defaulting on its debt.

Argentina just can´t get a break, sort of like McCain these days.

Meanwhile I am still waiting for the price of chocolate, butter, eggs, transportation, etc. to go down... any day now.