Yes, we are travelers, but one ritual William truly loves is relaxing with his morning coffee.
As the apartment does not have a coffee maker, Friday evening we create a plan to go to the cafe next door for morning coffee. We carry our laptop and iPad out the door at 8:30 am only to find that the cafe and indeed all of the small restaurants in the area are closed. Oh, it is Saturday and they must cater to the workers in the nearby offices and only open Monday through Friday. Ouch!
We meet a tour guide waiting for her client and she tries to help by searching on the internet, but finds that most nearby coffee shops/restaurants that are open on the weekends at best begin serving at 10am. The highest possibility is a McDonalds on the pedestrian street (Sarandi). Somewhat depressed, we return our electronics to the apartment then begin the six block walk to McDonalds. Luckily we see that a local restaurant a block past McDonalds is open. The waiter is a little surly when William attempts to order an omelette along with his coffee - the only food they serve before 11 am is chivitos (sandwiches) or bakery. Sigh. This is going to be tough for a low-carb guy.
While having coffee we develop a plan to go to the TaTa store (it's a South American chain that is a smaller grocery, home goods and clothing store) to see if we can find a coffee maker. Alas, we find that TaTa does not sell coffee makers and the other home goods stores in the area are closed for the weekend. Time for Plan B. We buy components that allow William to approximate a pour-over coffee maker. There's a small fine sieve that fits over a coffee cup, standard coffee maker filters and of course, coffee.
I know I'm skipping ahead a bit, but William gets to try out his home made pour-over coffee solution on Sunday. His conclusion: it will do in a pinch, but if he's going to make coffee in the apartment going forward we should buy a small french press.
As the apartment does not have a coffee maker, Friday evening we create a plan to go to the cafe next door for morning coffee. We carry our laptop and iPad out the door at 8:30 am only to find that the cafe and indeed all of the small restaurants in the area are closed. Oh, it is Saturday and they must cater to the workers in the nearby offices and only open Monday through Friday. Ouch!
We meet a tour guide waiting for her client and she tries to help by searching on the internet, but finds that most nearby coffee shops/restaurants that are open on the weekends at best begin serving at 10am. The highest possibility is a McDonalds on the pedestrian street (Sarandi). Somewhat depressed, we return our electronics to the apartment then begin the six block walk to McDonalds. Luckily we see that a local restaurant a block past McDonalds is open. The waiter is a little surly when William attempts to order an omelette along with his coffee - the only food they serve before 11 am is chivitos (sandwiches) or bakery. Sigh. This is going to be tough for a low-carb guy.
While having coffee we develop a plan to go to the TaTa store (it's a South American chain that is a smaller grocery, home goods and clothing store) to see if we can find a coffee maker. Alas, we find that TaTa does not sell coffee makers and the other home goods stores in the area are closed for the weekend. Time for Plan B. We buy components that allow William to approximate a pour-over coffee maker. There's a small fine sieve that fits over a coffee cup, standard coffee maker filters and of course, coffee.
I know I'm skipping ahead a bit, but William gets to try out his home made pour-over coffee solution on Sunday. His conclusion: it will do in a pinch, but if he's going to make coffee in the apartment going forward we should buy a small french press.
We were in Montevideo in March, 2014. During that trip we visited Mercado del Puerto every 4-5 days. It is an old train station which was converted into ~ 15 small restaurants which cook over firewood grills. Back then we dubbed Mercado del Puerto the Mecca of Meat, and we've been thinking of it for months. We choose to do our main meal at lunchtime and stroll the 1.6 km from our apartment to the Mecca of Meat. After scoping out several restaurants and their grills we choose a restaurant in one of the corners. The owner/chef acts as our waiter and provides us with a complementary chorizo sausage to share while we sip our vino and cerveza - we're celebrating. :-). The entrecõt steaks arrive and are very good. The salad is crisp with tomatoes that have that fresh-out-of-the-garden taste.
After a large meal at lunchtime we feel that a little exercise is in order. We take the long way home and walk along the Rambla, enjoying the river views.
RSS Feed