Mendoza Day 5 & 6

Mendoza Day 5 & 6

Day 5…. Its my birthday … yeah.. yeah.. yeah.
































I woke before everyone else in the house and used some of our overripe bananas and made banana bread. I had located a recipe online, but had no measuring cups or measuring spoons. I also needed to convert the 350F oven to South American gas mark 4. The house did not have a loaf pan, so I made it in a tube cake pan.

It did not take long before the smell of freshly baked banana bread to waft through the house…. With a good cup of coffee, and a spoon of caramel (which they call milk jam here) and a slice of warm bread, we were in heaven.


Lazy day, but we were hungry around 2 p.m. The birthday dinner at 743 Bistro was not until 930 p.m. and we needed something other than banana bread. After wandering through town a bit, we stopped in a café to have pizza, French fries with peppers, onions, sausage and a fried egg on top, salad and more empanadas. I ordered a salad. I had always been told to avoid fresh produce, especially lettuce, in a foreign country, but I needed something NOT beef and NOT cooked….

The food started arriving and we realized the fries were each enough for 4 people… The small pizzas were enough for the group… but we also had 12 small empanadas, and a salad. We asked for a pizza to go box.

Headed back to the house. I napped for 3 hours.


815 p.m. Dave had purchased a sparkling wine from Lopez to have before the birthday dinner.. we had it served in chilled wine glasses. The Montchenot brand was a traditional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend.

830 p.m. Oscar arrived on time to transport us to the dinner location.

915 p.m. As the 743 Bistro (http://743bistro.com.ar) does not publish a physical address, it took Oscar a couple of minutes to find the right street. The directions only say to look for the light. It is a white globe with colored circles on it… I thought we were going to a full restaurant and the light would be a large identifying light, but we were on a residential street with the light being only the size of a small soccer ball. Oscar rang the bell and we were let into a small courtyard and then into a small room. The room had a large table set up for our party and 2 other smaller tables to either side for wine and supplies. That was it. Further into the room was a step down to a wall of seating and a cozy fireplace. Silly me wanted us all dressed in black, to walk through a buzzing restaurant, but here we were in what appeared to be someone’s living room.

We were 15 minutes early and the host gave us the run of the evening – 15 courses paired with 5 wines. Although I am not the biggest Beatles fan, there was a mix of songs redone by other artists playing in the background. The dinner started.














Wine 1 – Setpima Chardonnay – Semillon blend

Course –
1. A spoon of Arugula Ice Cream with shaved Parmesan cheese.
2. A terrine of Apples and Cream with parsley oil and red pepper oil with bread crisps
3. A small Parmesan cheese crisp with a spot of quest fresco and topped with a spicy basil pesto.











Wine 2 - Tobiano 2003 Merlot

Course
4. Roasted Eggplant and Ravioli with roasted tomato sauce
5. Roasted Pumpkin Puree with Dried Plums with thin bread crisps.
6. Fingerling Potato Slices layered with homemade hummus and topped with mozzarella cheese.











Wine 3 – Kella 2006 Malbec

Course
7. Spicy quinoa with tomatoes and chicken
8. Homemade Ham with Roasted Tomato
9. Creamy Lentils with Pork Ribs and Chorizo














Wine 4 - Pulenta Estate 2005 Pinot Noir (YES… we toasted Ana!! )

Course
10. Smashed Corn Cigar in a crispy crust
11. Tea and Mushroom Risotto topped with a ragellando cheese that I did not like… (THE ONLY THING HERE THAT I DID NOT LOVE…. But Dave had 3 servings)


Palate Cleanser
12. Strawberry Mousse with Black Pepper









Wine 5 – Norton Late Harvest Chardonnay

Course
13. Roquefort Flan with Apple Puree
14. Candied Kumquats





Coffee –

Course
15. A Chocolate Cake with one (not 40) candles.







Between courses, the gang offered 3 gifts –
A chocolate brownie – for pleasure
A bingo game – for play
And a wooden frame with a personalized note from each person there on a small card – for passion.

When we were leaving, our host gave me the Beatles Mix CD he had been playing. How fun!

We were exhausted, emotional, full and in love.


















Mendoza day 6 –

UGH… 40.. we all started to fret on how to get the over 100 bottles back to the US. It seems that to ship via UPS / DHL or FedEx, you must have an import license, even if it is for personal use. We also did not think to leave enough room for extra purchases in our luggage and between Bill and Dave, we have more than enough Styrofoam wine shippers, but no one thought to bring them. We started strategizing. Before the activity tonight, Oscar was going to stop by Wal-Mart for some reasonable luggage.

Megan and I decided to head to Mendoza earlier than the gang to take advantage of the incredibly beautiful spring day. It was sunny and 70…. Wow! We visited the Mendoza historical museum where we learned about the earthquake from the 1930s that destroyed the entire city and how the new city was layered on top of the existing city’s ruins.

Mendoza has 5 major parks in a satellite patter with 4 smaller parks a couple blocks from the main square in a grid pattern. We visited each of the 4 parks; one for San Martin, the military general who led Mendoza to freedom from the Chileans. One dedicated to Chile, one to Italy to honor the Italian immigrants and one to honor the Spanish immigrants.

She and I decided to have dinner at the M Bistro of the Park Hyatt Hotel before heading to the Al Magen de Tango, a tango show that discussed the history of wine and tango in the Mendoza region, to meet the others. The restaurant did not open until 830 p.m. and the show started at 10. We wanted the chef’s tasting menu, but were not sure we could do it in the allotted time. The waitress assured us we could, so we did. It was 5 courses paired with wine… NICE!!!



























Course
1. Shrimp sautéed with spices, a mushroom crepe covered in ground almonds and a small salad. This was served with an Argentina based Chandon Reserved Chardonnay sparkling wine.

2. Pea Soup glazed with garlic foam and a bruschetta of roasted tomatoes and jamon on sun dried tomato bread. This was paired with a Semillon


3. A large bowl of Pumpkin Gnocchi with asparagus, mushrooms and smoked bacon paired with an unoaked chardonnay

4. Grilled beef sirloin with Parmesan polenta and sun dried tomato puree, grilled eggplant and rosemary foam. Paired with a Malbec.

5. Pistachio tart with red current honey and bitter chocolate ice cream and vanilla sauce. With this the Sommelier offered us either a sparkling rose or a late harvest Torrontes. We chose the Late Harvest… WOW!!!













TOOO full, Megs and I rushed to the tango show to meet the others. The show was Great…. We had front row seats. Dave and Melissa was called up to enter a visitors competition. How fun!

Back at home with new luggage in hand… we were exhausted.