Argentine Odyssey: More from BA

 The next day in Buenos Aires was a city tour in the rain in the am to La Boca, marked by its colorful houses and rowdy football team Boca Juniors.

This was followed by a visit to the strikingly beautiful Colon Theater.

After sampling more traditional, local fare we were ready for something a bit more eclectic. Fortunately, Buenos Aires is an international city with many exciting food options. We found Sipan, a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant, that brings some of the fresh Latin-Asian dishes that Peru is known for to BA. We enjoyed our chicken wontons with tamarind sauce that were crispy and sweet with very flavorful filling. In addition we tried the chicken, egg, and cheese empanada that was slightly spicy underneath the very flaky and buttery pastry. For our main course we can the arroz con camerones: fried rice with fresh, sweet prawns, green onions and light sweet coat of tamarind and soy sauces on the soft long grain rice.

We hid in from the rain in the world class shopping on Florida street and for dinner ventured to El Mirasol in Puerto Madero for some more traditional cuisine. We began with empanadas of sweet corn with a creamy filling that rendered a rich savory flavor. We chose the Mirasol salad of apples, heart of palm, walnut, carrot, and a variation of Thousand Island dressing that we didn't use too much of. Instead of fillets, we ordered different kebabs.  The kebabs of chicken were succulent chunks of chicken with thin slice of onion and ham in between. Kebabs of sirloin and sweetbreads appear with perfectly caramelized meat forming that salty-sweet crust of good asado. The sweetbreads were massive cubes compared to the small morsels I usual see.  These fatty, soft thymus gland portions are nothing like what we know back home. It was the bovine equivalent of foie gras without the faint livery aftertaste.

These came with a side of thin cut chips that looked like cottage fries. Finally, we ordered a traditional dessert of dulce y queso or sweets and cheese.  Our waiter was excited we ordered "plates tres typicos!" This completed the low carb meal. The dulce is a membrillo of sweet potato that resembles quince paste from Spain.  Unlike the Manchego, etc. of Spain the queso here is bouncy less creamy style of cheese. One gets the feeling that under the broiler or in the oven this would melt together nicely on some kind of toast or in an empanada. It was a nice easy way to polish off the evening's bottle of malbec without a sugar rush. We walked back to our hotel stopping for a hot chocolate and Bailey's and coffee.