I know, I know. This is not the USA and why would there be American style coffee shops here? We knew that this wasn’t the same kind of coffee culture as the USA. It’s just taking some getting used to.

I love coffee shops that sell a variety of baked goods, roasted coffee beans and fresh coffee- to enjoy there or TO GO in big, big cups. I am historically not an espresso drinker because it’s gone in two sips. For me, a 16 ounce coffee is good, but 20 is even better. Not that Starbucks is a favorite, but we used to live right above one in Minneapolis and it was a frequent stop for us.

In Montevideo, you can go to any of the standard fare restaurants or confiterías and get an espresso, café or cortado in a beautifully presented little cup, but not to-go.  They may offer some really fabulous pastries, but it is just not the same. I want to settle into a comfy chair with a gynormous cup of coffee in hand and enjoy some alone time with the newspaper. For now, that will have to be done in the comfort of my own home.

The best alternative that we have found in Montevideo if we want a coffee “para llevar” (to go) is–please don’t laugh here–McDonald’s. The restaurant side of McDonald’s sells coffee or café con leche in a to-go cup.  It is not the best, but it’s all we’ve got here if you want it to-go.

One huge surprise for us has been the McCafé- it is an actual cafe attached to the McDonald’s restaurants in Montevideo and quite impressive one at that. The McCafé has higher-end finishes, free wifi and an upscale attitude, serving pastries on porcelain plates and coffee in glass. We have enjoyed some time at a McCafé, but the sizes are smaller and prices are quite a bit higher than the to-go coffee in the McDonald’s restaurant. Rightfully so, as the cafe is much more civilized than the standard McDonald’s.

We have stumbled upon two places lately that may become close stand-ins for our beloved coffee shops in the USA. More info and reviews to follow in the coming days.

With the occasional visit to the McCafé or the other shops we’ve found lately, more frequent stops at McDonald’s for a paper cup of joe and daily coffee at home, we’ll do just fine. The differences here in Uruguay are also leading us to some welcome changes in our lifestyle. We slow down, take a seat and enjoy our coffee and conversation for a while instead of grabbing our to-go cup and running. Not a bad change at all.

We’re so happy to have a strong Expat community in Uruguay to make our transition to life here easier. We have every intention of integrating into local culture here but in our months starting out, it is a great resource to have friends who speak your native language and have been through the same things that you are going through.

Through our network of fellow Expats, we’re received referrals for all of the people who work for us, as well as many of the services and resources we use on a daily basis. Our realtor, housekeeper, babysitter, Spanish tutor and daycare are all Uruguayos to whom we were connected  by other Expat families living here.

Our social events are a little heavy on the Expat side right now, but have a mix of Uruguayo and both native-Spanish and native-English Speaking Expat families attending.  We attended a beautiful Asado at a friends home last weekend and had a wonderful time speaking to an older Uruguayo gentleman for most of the evening. Yesterday we were at the home of a Re-pat (an Uruguaya who returned to Uruguay after many years in the United States) to share an outstanding Indian dinner. There were 10 couples attending with more food and drink than you could imagine and we all had s great time. Brad and I were so excited to be a part of the evenings festivities, partially due to the lack of Indian food since we’ve been here, but more so the opportunity to get out together and learn about a variety of people- including (but not limited to) Re-pats, Brazilian, Argentine and native-English speaking Expats from Canada, the USA and New Zealand in yesterday’s group.

Thanks to all of our network here in Uruguay that has helped us in this transition. Hope that we can do the same for all of you who may be interested in this great country.

As a person with Type 1 Diabetes though, I have an unusual relationship with sugar (and all carbohydrates for that matter). Contrary to popular belief, I can eat sugar, I just have to be diligent and count exactly how much I am consuming, then give myself the proper corresponding amount of insulin. Alternatively, I’m not a fan of aspartame and lean towards sucralose if I do need an artificial sweetener.

I was not prepared for sugar popping up in all sorts of unusual places in Uruguay.

Ground Coffee. While not a coffee connoisseur, I like the stuff enough to drink every day. Since arriving in Uruguay, I have purchased a variety of ground coffees from the grocery store. Never in my wildest dreams did I think to look at the contents of a bag of ground coffee. If you see the word “Glaseado” on the label, sugar is the #2 ingredient. I found one brand of ‘cafe natural’ that advertised no sugar. I was thrilled but unfortunately I find the coffee somewhat bitter. The Mellita brand also has unsweetened ground coffee.  Pay attention to the name because there is also a Melita (one ‘L’) that has sugar.  

Fruit Juice. It was brought to my attention a few weeks ago that the fruit juices here contain added sugar. While doing some investigation, it appears to be a variety of sweeteners in juice: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame or sucralose. Not extremely unusual, I guess, but I would hope for at least a few unsweetened options.

Correction: I have found a few of the Dairyco brand juices in the refrigerator section do not have added sugar (or other sweeteners).  The Naranja y Manzana (Orange & Apple) juice is really nice.

Tomato Sauce. I just want plain tomato sauce or tomato paste.  No salt, no sugar, no luck.

Yogurt. There is one giant jar of plain, unsweetened yogurt of the ‘Claldy’ brand. Everything else is one of the sugar/aspartame/sucralose trifecta.

There are also plenty of items in Uruguay that have high fructose corn syrup.  Coca Cola here is unusual in that it is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup in the USA and sugar here.  In this case, I’d take the sugar.  This is the reason that people in the USA seem to like the taste of  ’Mexican’ Coke.  It’s that wonderful sugar…

The whole point is, lots of things in UY are ‘dulce’.  Fortunately most of the grocery products list their ingredients. Spend some time and read the labels.  You may just be surprised at what is in the food that you eat.

*When needing to add a sweetener to food, there is a natural alternative available in Uruguay. Stevia is an extract of a plant grown in Paraguay. It is available at the larger grocery stores. Thanks Franklin for reminding me of this!  I also love Agave nectar, but so far I have not been able to find this in Uruguay. If anyone knows of Agave in UY, PLEASE send a note!!

I found what I believe to be the ultimate frugal feria score: approx 2 kilos of Soup starter vegetables for just over $1 US.

It included:

1 leek

1 large potato

1 large sweet potato

2 small celery stalks

2 small zuchinni

1 onion

1/4 head of cabbage

1/4 squash

1 small turnip

1/2 ear of corn

large bunch of parsley

2 carrots

1 red pepper

All the produce was in great condition.  I expected “soup-grade” vegetables and was pleasantly surprised.  The turnip was the only exception.  It was pretty small with wilty greens, but we used it anyway.

You can imagine what we had for dinner:  An amazing fresh vegetable soup full of all the wonderful produce from the feria this morning.  Along with a fresh loaf of crusty bread from the bakery down the street for another $26 pesos, you wouldn’t know we had only spent $2 US on dinner that will last us a few days.

]]> http://urmovingwhere.com/2009/07/01/feria-vegetables/feed/ 3 http://urmovingwhere.com/2009/06/16/rocco-resto-a-restaurant-review/ http://urmovingwhere.com/2009/06/16/rocco-resto-a-restaurant-review/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:23:44 +0000 Lisa http://urmovingwhere.com/?p=672 Continue reading →]]> We’ve been to restaurants in the area, but a  place called Rocco Resto always met with a bit of reservation.  It claims “We Speak English” in the window and has seemed like a tourist trap to me since first seeing it last year.

We were invited by friends who frequent the place and in fact the husband plays guitar there every Friday night.  The food was great, service was extremely friendly and Geneva and her new friend were able to run around freely (with mommy being the only obstacle for Geneva).  I am looking forward to going back for a proper meal as this one was strictly apps and drinks.  Maybe on a Friday night so we can enjoy some great live music.  Just not too much GNR, please!

Rocco Resto, 21 de Setiembre 3098 esq. Francisco Vidal

tel: 710 70 07

www.roccobar.com

A new friend and Geneva playing on the step inside Rocco Resto

Deli Singer is a Jewish deli that  has all sorts of prepared foods as well as wonderful bulk nuts, dried fruits and grains, peanut butter, and other lovely sundries that tend to be hard to find here.  I  am thrilled that it is so close and they have a great variety.  Tonight we enjoyed some amazing cashews from Singer and would have had sundried tomatoes as well, but I forgot to add them to the lasagna I made.  

Deli Singer’s hours are 8 AM-2 PM and 4 PM-8 PM  Monday through Friday and 8 AM-4 PM on Saturday.  

Deli Singer, Scoseria 2607 , esq. Luis de la Torre 

tel: 712 12 75

Note to Brian and Chrystal: You have to check this place out. They have large bags of almonds, and not far away from you!

Jules: ”What?”

Vincent: ”It’s the little differences. I mean, they got the same sh*t over there that we got here, but it’s just, just, there it’s a little different.

Pulp Fiction, 1994. 

Well, that goes for just about anywhere in the world that you visit, whether it is Europe, or Asia, or South America. And it’s not that things are different as in “weird”, just different than what we are used to. 

1.) Bugs.  We come from a cold weather climate of MN.  Sure, there are bugs there like mosquitoes, ticks, flies and spiders, but this is a little different.  It is not like when we were in the Amazon in Peru, but here the creepy crawlies are still a lot bigger and scarier than MN.  I’m generally not squeamish, but when I turn the light on and two “things” that are about an inch-and-a-half long go scurrying for the cover of darkness, I get a little freaked.  Ewww.  

2.) Other warm weather differences: There are indoor/outdoor spaces here. Our back courtyard is nearly an indoor space, except it is open above.  Perfect for entertaining, for cooking on the large brick parilla, for the dogs and G to play in and for doing laundry.  Our washer is out there (no frozen pipes!) and there is no clothes dryer so everything gets hung up on the line.  Single pane glass on the windows is also different.  Not wild about this because it lets in more noise, but hey, we’re used to noise.  No window screens.  I could go on…

3.) Food in bags.  I’ve talked about the BioBolsa shopping bags from Disco grocery store, but food is also packaged in bags.  Milk is in liter bags, mayonnaise is in bags and olives also come in little bags. Plastic and glass recycling is limited here, and food packaging bags take up a lot less space in the landfill than the alternative of glass or plastic containers, I suppose.  Plus it would be less weight to transport.  I still don’t like plastic bags one bit and I’m working on finding other options. 

4.) “Industria Uruguaya” on almost everything.  How can a country about the size  and population of Oklahoma make so much of its own food/products?  It is incredible that so many items display these two key words so prominently. It’s the full gamut of foods and products, too, including but not limited to: flour, fruit, coffee, beef, wine, beer.  There are some imports as well and not surprisingly most are from from Argentina or Brazil.  

5.)  We really don’t need a car at all.  We only had one car for the past several years in MN (the beloved MINI), but here we really have everything we need within walking distance so a car is completely unnecessary.  I love that.  If we need to go further, taxis are everywhere and the bus system is extensive. We can also rent a car if we need a weekend away. 

6.) Smaller sizes of most products.  The US is a bigger-is-better, bulk society. Here, you buy 4 rolls of TP at a time  and 2 or 4 rolls of paper towels instead of 12 or more.  I have not seen 24-packs of soda (although there are 1.5 and 2-liter bottles of the big brands).  The only big sizes I have seen are beer (1 liter bottles are standard, at grocery stores and restaurants) and restaurant serving sizes are gigantic for nearly everything.  

7.) Vets making house calls and most everything can be delivered.  We had a vet visit Paloma when she was being boarded and Pablo’s medication dropped off for us once we got into the house.  SO nice.  Grocery stores also deliver, as do many restaurants, storefront fruit stands and food shops.  We have yet to employ those services, though.   

8.) Our microwave freakin talks to us!  In Spanish or English.  It is really cool and I’ll have to post a video sometime. 

9.) Bidets.  This is a bidet culture much like many parts of Europe and areas of the world. The US is not a bidet culture and in fact, in my years in the Interior Design industry, I have  had only one request for a bidet and at the time had a giggle about it (This was 10 years ago, give me a break!)  The bidet is an integral part of any main bathroom in UY and I am sure it would be viewed as odd here to not have a bidet as it is in the US to have one. 

10.) Other things we’ve explained before: the late dinner hour, rental process, etc.  

Really, though, these are all the things that make exploring a new country so much fun; Taking everything that you know and turning it on its head and finding different ways to accomplish the same thing.  These are all priceless experiences.

        X  Expat Travel Technology Series, Part 2: “How do I get my mail?”  Brad’s weekly update on our tech tools.

        X  Setting up Daycare:  Two places that we’ve looked at, including our thoughts and prices for 5 half days per week in the post “Daycare Options”

        X  ”Furnished or Unfurnished?” and why we chose what we did for our new home.

        X  Creepy Crawlies: Post took the form of “It’s The Little Differences”  to discuss lots of small things that are different in UY from those which we are accustomed.

1. Firing up the Parilla: Our first attempt at an pseudo-Uruguayan Asado (pseudo because it was vegetariano)
2. Photo/Video gallery via SmugMug

If there is anything you absolutely cannot wait to see, please send us a note.  We can pull some strings.

We will be updating this list to link to the topics after they are posted. 

Today was a completely different scene (above). I was out walking throughout the day today and it was like a different world.  Few cars on the streets, barely anyone walking.  I have no idea where everyone went, but it’s a great long weekend for most every Uruguayo to enjoy. 

This afternoon as I took Geneva to the park (no injuries, I am happy to report), I noticed that a few restaurants had opened and they were packed.   We cooked at home today, then got the baby to bed, and we had time to enjoy a “Pilsen Stout” (Dark Uruguan beer) and some US television.  Hopefully we’ll have episodes of 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother…. if we can get the stream to buffer.  Nonetheless,  a nice, quiet holiday Friday in Montevideo, Uruguay.