Sunday, November 2, 2008

Po-tA-toe

I've always thought that Americans eat a lot of potatoes but I think Argentines could easily surpass that. I don't have statistics but I really think they eat potatoes as much as they eat beef. Many dishes they serve here say 'con guarnición' (with garnish). Typically when you see the word 'garnish' you'd probably think green vegetables, but not here, it means it comes with potatoes only. You will get to choose how you want your potatoes though: papas fritas (fries), puré de papa (smashed potatoe), papas noisettes (in ball shape), papas regillas (waffle fries), papas al horno (baked potatoe), papas españolas (scalloped potatoes) etc etc.

I do love potatoes but sometimes you do wonder would that be too much potatoes for my body. The ultimate potatoe dish I have had so far has to be this one that's called Fideos Chinos. It has chinese in the name so I was like ok, that's interesting... Asked the mozo (waiter) what it was, he tried to explain it to me which I couldn't really understand perfectly but then he said 'es muy bueno' (it's very good) which I totally got it, so I decided to give it a shot.

Since I wasn't sure what I was expecting, I was a bit confused when it arrived at my table. It looked pretty much like a Chow Mien but the mien (noodles) were noodle-shaped po-tA-toe! Thus its name Fideos Chinos ('Chinese Noodles')! LOL So just like a typical chow mien, there were some kind of meat (they used ham), eggs and veggie (peas in this case). It tasted fine but it did get heavy real quick. Argentine's food is pretty straightforward in general but I have to give them an A+ for creativity on this one. They do look like udon in this picture don't they?

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