Welcome back!
Being that I’m poor, and can’t really afford to eat out all the time down here, I have taken to becoming quite the mad scientist in the kitchen. Tinkering with ingredients that always taste slightly different, trying new recipes from the area, singeing my eyebrows, etc.
I would like to report one very nice success amongst all my attempts at the ubiquitous local pastry: the empanada. I tried a couple of recipes I found online, but I’ve finally settled on one that suits my lust for spicy. Tonight’s masterpiece was composed of ground beef, chopped medium onion, diced green pepper, cumin (very heavy on the cumin), garlic powder, oregano, and diced tomatoes with juice (from a can). The pastries themselves were store brand — I do have to make budget sacrifices somewhere, after all!
Those beauties you see there were taken right after I finished folding over the pastries. Some people make the crimps on the edges fancy, but I suppose I’m just more utilitarian. All you have to do after folding them (easiest if you dab your finger with water to make the edges stick) is brush both sides with a bit of oil and throw them in the oven. You can fry them if you want them more crispy, but I prefer mine baked. Give them about 10 or 15 on the highest setting (my oven only has a dial, I’m assuming I’m cooking them somewhere around 375-400 degrees) and BAM! You’ve got yourself some bangin’ empanadas.
Yeah, I’m a bit proud of myself.
I follow a lot of expat sites and blogs, and the consensus has been lately that teaching English in Buenos Aires just doesn’t pay the bills. I’ve got some thoughts on that. Back around 2002 it was probably fairly easy to just teach English and do well, but nowadays with the galloping inflation it isn’t so easy.
Pay for a native English speaker teaching at an institute tops out around 25 pesos an hour. Most schools will offer around 20. Private tutoring and lessons are more lucrative, but are very hard to come by and the competition is fierce. The school I’m teaching at pays 25 pesos an hour (little more than $8 USD). Hours vary, but I’ll probably end up with around 20-25 a week once I really get going. If I work 25 hours a week at 25 pesos, I’ll be making 2500 pesos (about $833 USD) a month. Princely living this isn’t.
All in all though, it can definitely be done. I’m living in an admittedly more expensive area of the city (I like the nightlife, what can I say?), but if you split an apartment with a roomie and make an effort to cook at home or eat at restaurants only for lunch, you can do fine. I’ve been bleeding some money these first two months, but that’s because I was establishing my budget and where I’ll be working. If you bring some savings down, you can definitely enjoy yourself.
I promise to return to my regular adventures next post, but I was tired of seeing all these people telling students my age that it can’t be done. It can be done, and I’m doing it. So if you’re reading this and debating whether or not to take the plunge, go for it!
