#10: Tens across the board

This week’s newsletter - 🥂 the 10th edition of Tutti Frutti! 🥂 - is sponsored by the chaotic energy coursing through my veins thanks to the (d)evolution of Brat summer and state of global current events. Also, Argentina won the Copa América, which of course resulted in a 2:30am visit to the Obelisco and subsequent Monday hangover spent consuming any and all Scaloneta-related content.

So much has been happening lately. It’s like when you’re driving over a big hill and your stomach does those flips that are kind of scary but also kind of fun. And you kind of want to go even faster but also maybe want to ask your mom to slow down a little bit?

I find the renewed vibes extremely invigorating, but I do know that at some point my introverted Libra self will require 5-7 business days of absolute solitude to compensate.

🧐 The Weather-Mental Health Correlation Is Real, Apparently

I thought I was depressed, but it turns out it was just cloudy.

It’s extremely plausible that this uptick in my mood and outlook on life can be attributed to something as simple as the weather. For what felt like an eternity, Buenos Aires was blanketed by stubborn, obstinate clouds that really dulled the city’s sparkle.

I love a cozy grey day as much as the next gal, but I didn’t realize how much the lack of sunshine would affect me until after about week four. I also got really tired of saying to taxi drivers “con este clima londinense, que al menos cobremos en libras!” 🥴

In that vein, below you’ll find some of my favorite songs for to listen to while stomping around the city on my anti-SAD hot girl walks because we live in the Southern Hemisphere and it’s cold here, but not that cold.

I compiled the recommendations into a playlist, so if I were you I’d click on over and start listening.

🐼 Ten Years of Pocho

📯 Milestone alert! 📯 This time in 2014, Pocho flew down from heaven with his little angel wings and unexpectedly came into my life. My neighbor Mili scooped him up late one July night, lost and disoriented among the cars whizzing by on a busy Palermo avenue. When no one came forward to claim him, she put him up for adoption.

Since then, Pocho has been my constant companion. He’s amassed a social circle larger than my own, with friends at every café, bar, lottery, and apartment entrance in a 30-block radius. The vet proclaimed him Most Dramatic Patient™️ thanks to a histrionic response to nail clippers, and he’s so popular that local trattoria La Alacena sent him a special delivery of meatballs during quarantine because they knew how much he loves them. Also, let’s not forget that he was featured in a full-page fashion spread in Vanidades magazine in 2016.

Though he was named - not by me - for footballer Pocho Lavezzi (since he was rescued during the World Cup), I prefer to think of him as Pocho la Pantera. However, I find it especially hilarious when older porteños hear “Pocho,” immediately associate it with Perón, and seriously consider reporting me for animal abuse because who in their right mind would do such a thing?! (Literally, one of my former neighbors actually said that to me.)

Pocho was there during my post-separation Folklore era (Popi, if you could read this, I’d apologize for making you listen to me sob with exile on repeat) and is always up for a coffee and tostado at La Rambla. I’d be lost without him, and love watching how he brings so much joy into the lives of everyone he meets. All dogs are good dogs, but Pocho is without a doubt the best one of all.

👷‍♀️ She Works Hard for the Money

In the face of these Unprecedented Times™️, my coping mechanism has shifted from fingir demencia to go-do-create-move-go-make-try-keep moving on loop. So far, it’s working! Rather than sit with my anxiety I might as well channel it into something that feels personally rewarding, if not productive.

There’s also this sense of urgency? Like, if not now - when? It’s finally starting to click in my brain that any step forward, no matter how small, is better than going in circles. I felt like I’d reached a point where I’d worn down a metaphorical path in the metaphorical dirt, and the grooves were starting to get a little too deep for my liking.

Make no mistake, there are plenty of days where I am 100% Tyra Banks’ character Eve Doll in the 2000 cinematic masterpiece, Life-Size.

Anyway, since I’ve been ~ vibing ~ a bit differently as of late, I figured I might as well muster up the confidence of a mediocre white dude (sorry not sorry) and put myself out there a little more.

To me, that means sharing more detail about some of my current projects. So, um, yeah, here we go:

• Travel Consultant & Custom Itinerary Planner: Are you, your friends, family, neighbors, enemies, pen pals, birthday twins, celebrity crushes, etc. keen to visit Argentina? I would love to plan an unforgettable experience tailored to your tastes (e.g. “as many dogs per day as possible” or “infinite glasses of Patagonian pinot, por favor”) and needs. You can explore some of my free resources on Thatch, but please reach out directly for something more personalized. 💅

• Wild Terrains Argentina Trip Leader: There’s nothing I love more than having a captive audience. OK, maybe I love sleeping for an uninterrupted nine hours and also an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet, but that’s beside the point. For the last three years I’ve led groups in Argentina with Wild Terrains, a company that organizes exclusive, curated travel experiences for women around the world. For ten days we explore Mendoza, Buenos Aires, and Patagonia, and I couldn’t love it more. My favorite part perhaps is collaborating with our incredible partners - award-winning winemakers, ranch owners, designers, Michelin-recognized chefs - and sharing their work with my beloved campers. 🇦🇷
  

• Freelance Journalist / Gal About Town: I miss the halcyon days of writing about food and lifestyle for The Bubble (RIP, they really did you dirty bb), but at least now I’m better paid and not stuck having to deal with fragile male egos. Luckily, the periodismo door never shut in its entirety. I’m once again dipping my toes into the paddling pool, experimenting with writing more in Spanish for TimeOut and Cuisine & Vins, with a few other projects making their way through the ether. I've realized how much I missed it and how nice it feels to be back. 🥲

Alright, enough self-promotion for today. (Or is it? Honestly I can never tell.)

🫒 5 Delicious Things I’ve Eaten & Drank Lately

Consider this space a virtual palate cleanser that can also serve to whet your appetite.

💗 Pielilopez Rosé: Two very different - yet equally iconic - wineries joined forces and combined styles to produce this disruptive blend that promises to challenge rosado as we know it. Relative newcomer Pielihueso changed the game by introducing orange (also known as skin contact) wine to Argentina, and López has been served at Argentine tables since 1898. One of my favorite discoveries of the year, sin dudas.

🍜 Pho Bo at Corriente: Unlike beloved cartoon character Mafalda, I love soup! And more restaurants in Buenos Aires need to incorporate soup into their menus! Please someone hear my prayers! I had a surprisingly flavorful and aromatic pho at Villa Crespo’s industrial-chic Corriente a couple of weeks ago, and it proved to be the perfect antidote for a biting winter evening. My only complaint? The bowl could have easily been 3x bigger and I still would have slurped down every last drop.

🍹 Daiquiris at Oh No! Lulú: A tiki bar might seem like a tough sell in melancholic Buenos Aires, but it’s actually the greatest thing ever? Oh No! Lulú is run by Ludo de Biaggi, who quite literally grew up behind the bar at the epic Danzón before manning the show at BASA. Lulú is pure tropical fantasy, a kitschy-cool space with carefully-crafted cocktails and a crazy delicious bar menu (fish tacos tkm). Sometimes you just need to close your eyes, drink something strong and rum-based out of a ceramic shark, and pretend your water bill hasn’t gone up 200% since last month. Trust me on this one.

🍏 Porchetta with Roast Apple at Casa Cavia: What a dish! While trying the new winter dinner menu at Cavia last week, I struggled to pick favorites from such a stacked roster, but the porchetta was absolutely bonkers. A combination of technique, creativity, and high-quality ingredients, it was such a delight to tuck into. The whole roast apple served on the side - a recipe from head chef Juli Caruso’s grandmother - was just cheeky enough without being gimmicky. If you’ve got a special occasion coming up, or are simply in the mood to #treatyourself, you know where to go.

🥕 Carrot Cake by Pame Villar: I love carrot cake, but it’s notoriously hard (read: impossible) to find here. Sure, plenty of bakeries and cafés try, but the result is almost always a massive let down. Over the weekend I literally tocar-ed el cielo con las manos at a festival hosted by the Palacio Duhau’s patisserie. Renowned guest pastry chefs set up alongside the hotel’s in-house team in what was essentially a race to enter a diabetic coma. Pame Villar, no stranger to pastry-related fame, took the cake (pun intended, heh) with her carrot creation and I will never be the same. I wish I’d been clever enough to sneak a Tupperware into my bag so I could squirrel away a couple of extra pieces for future Paige. Alas.

🫂 Shout-Out to the Amigos

Remember how I told you about Día del Amigo in the last edition of Tutti Frutti? Well, the day has come and gone but it’s still a good excuse to think about #friendship.

To keep the vibes high, I present you with two of my favorite fictional Argentine friend groups.

Okupas

This series, which premiered in 2000 and is currently streaming on Netflix, is a cult classic and, in my humble opinion, obligatory viewing for anyone living in Buenos Aires. Following the trials and tribulations of an unlikely group of friends sharing a dilapidated squat house in downtown BA, Okupas was an almost too-real representation of the era, when the city was a powder keg on the verge of imploding. Of course, my favorite friend/character is the dog Severino, whose real name was Stompy.

Bonus track: If you need some inspo for motivational self-talk, here you go.

Los Simuladores

Clearly I’m nostalgic for Argentina’s early aughts. Los Simuladores premiered in 2002 and ran for two seasons; it revolves around four “associates” who create and ~simulate~ sophisticated (and often over-the-top) scenarios to solve “common people’s problems.” Like Okupas, it quickly became a cult classic thanks to its brilliant characterization, witty dialogue, and creative screenwriting. It’s also available on Netflix, which means you have something else to watch while rotting in bed this weekend.

Apropos of Friend’s Day, please enjoy this clip that never gets old.

Phew, we did it Joe! (Ugh, that meme has taken on new significance in the last 72 hours, hasn’t it?)

I don’t really have much else to say except thank you for reading the newsletter (and sharing it with fellow like-minded freaks, please!). I love having a reason to sit down and create in a space of my own design, and I hope you enjoy what emerges as a result.

Until next time,

Paige

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