Vegetarians, you have been warned. Don't go to Arg!

This is the symbol of Argentina. As soon as I see this ad, I know I'm in Arg. I hadn't seen this for over 2 years, so when I first saw it 2 weeks ago at the Argie restaurant, I almost burst into tears. But I restrained myself, don't you worry about that! Last night I had one of my farewell dinners with my best mates and Mum at the All You Can Eat Argentinian charcoal grill restaurant. I intentionally had not eaten anything substantial the whole day (just a small brekkie to tie over those cravings). This is Argentina's finest beer, pronounced "Kill Mess" (Mess must die! hehe) and this is the beverage that my Mum got plastered with last night, coz she very seldom drinks and doesn't require much to set her off, which left me pissed off coz when Mum is pissed, she really sets off and lets us all know what's on her mind, particularly stuff that she either never revealed to anyone before, or just blatantly lied to me about. Just warning you now that this blog is part rant/part review. You're smart enough to figure out which one is which.

We got to the restaurant early and were waiting for Jackki and Bill. My Mum doesn't go out very often and she just got under my skin a bit with some of the things she came up with, and this was even before we got to the restaurant. I'm guessing it's a generational thing though, but let me know what you think: I suggested that we wait inside til they arrive, to which Mum just went off on a rant about waiting for everyone outside so we could all go in together: and this was before she even had a drop in her system. The convo went something a little like this:

Mum: We should really wait for Bill and Jackki outside, so we can all come in together as a group.
The Gorgeous One: It's 2008, not 1956. These days, we just wait inside and meet up with them in there, so we don't have to be inconvenienced with such a wait. Plus we can have a look at the menu while we're in there.
M: But it's just wrong to go in without the whole group. If we all came as a group, we come in and we leave as a group.
TGO: But if they are running late, it's not our fault. We came in early, so we get to go in first.
M: But it's plain rude not to wait for your guests
TGO: But it's plain rude to be late...(and it just went on and on in circles like this. I have often asked Mum if she is sure we are related, seeing as I have picked up a lot of my traits from my Dad, despite the fact that I have lived with my Mum my entire life, and I remember seeing my Dad only twice - the last time being 13 years ago. Unfortunately we look alike, so there goes my idea...damn)

Ordering was a pain as well. We had discussed getting the all you can eat, but I knew it would be too much for all of us to get it, so my mates got the all you can eat, whereas Mum and I shared asado (BBQ) between 2. She then discretely kicked up a big fuss (now I hear you ask, "Andy, how can someone discretely chuck a spaz?", just have a look at my mother's passive agressive looks that she gives me!) She told me in front of everyone, "You said we were going to get the all you can eat, now you've changed your mind....bla bla bla". True, I did change my mind, but I do that. It's not that I'm indecisive, but I just don't have my heart set out on one thing - I like to vary things up. She doesn't get that. She was just being a royal pain in the butt. And things got worse when she drank. She can be cool, but I was saying farewell to my friends and wasn't in the mood for keeping an eye out on her when all I wanted to do was have a nice dinner with my friends. I'm in a bitchy kind of mood at the moment, but I know pictures cheer me up, so here they are:

The all-you-can-eat parrilla (grill) with yummy bits of meat. YUMMY!

Decor of the place (ponchos everywhere, it was cool)

The food came quite quickly, but the meat was really salty. Usually salt is used really heavily by my Mum, but even she said it was too much. Last time it wasn't that bad, so I'm not sure what happened. A pissed mother just kept apologising to my mates, even though it wasn't our fault. Then she said she would never eat there again, but I would. And even though I didn't have the all you can eat thing, I still managed to steal some food from Bill and Jackki. Another victory: for the first time in 11 years, I ate more than Jackki. If you've eaten out with us, you know what I'm talking about! This girl has the fastest metabolism I've ever known. Perhaps it was the skipping of all meals, aside from brekkie, that got me starving!

Postre (dessert): Pancakes with dulce de leche (caramel)

Bill with his flan (like a jiggly creme caramel)

DESSERT TIME! Thanks to the stuffing of my face, I wasn't hungry for dessert. So Mum and Bill had their fix of sweet things whilst I got to catch up with my bestie. Mum had pancakes with caramel - just as she makes them. They were awesome (apparently, but I had them the first time I went there, so I knew what I was missing. My stomach wasn't about to risk it though!) Bill had his Spanish flan. I think it was good, from the pic anyway!

We all went back to my place, drank lots of tea to get it all down and played 'guess the movie' when we couldn't be assed getting the tv guide to tell us what was on tv. King Kong was on, but we thought it was Master and Commander; Dukes of Hazard was on the other channel and we all guessed it. I faux passed pretty badly on one of the actors in that movie. I was convinced Billy Bob Thornton was in Dukes. And I even bet Bill and Mum on it, even though Bill said it was 100% not Billy Bob, but in fact, Burt Reynolds. That's why I'm not a movie fan! I guess I'll be forced to watch some sort of movies while I'm flying to LA in 13 days...hmmm.......I'll play 'guess the actor' with myself and see how far I go!

Sunday I did nada. Zero. Bubkus. Spoke to my boy, cuz, aunt, uncle and bestie in Arg and a bit to Chris. But I'm glad I did nothing, coz I'm working a 43 hour week this week, then my weekend is packed out - and I haven't even started packing my stuff yet. I'll do that soon. 13 days to go...............................

I'm gonna have a shower and wash my new "Marcie" haircut. It looks ace! Maybe not like Marcie, maybe Lucy. Either way, I have short hair now and am loving it!

Chau all!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: All that I need to know in any given moment is revealed to me.