We Reconciled Our Marriage at Johnny B. Good

When Zach and I got married in New York in 2012, we thought it was going to last forever. Then the stress that came with moving abroad to Argentina tore us apart. We separated, and our 12-year relationship, of which we had spent a year and a half married, came to an end.

During our 8-month separation, we realized that we still loved each other and needed one another to get through the challenges we had faced since moving here. So we are officially back together!

To celebrate, we went to a restaurant that I had been dying to try since we got here. It’s called Johnny B. Good, and it is located in the heart of Nueva Cordoba.

The restaurant offers a variety of American dishes, which is why we chose it. The first thing we noticed when we walked in was how much it reminded us of Uno’s Chicago Grill or Chili’s, which are two of our favorite restaurants back home.

We got to the restaurant at noon, but we were not sure if they were serving yet. We have had some previous experiences with other restaurants in Cordoba where they would not serve you unless it was 1 p.m. I am not talking about fast food restaurants, of course, but the more formal ones. So it was very nice that Johnny B. Good opened their doors at 12.

The menu had an assortment of appetizers, main courses, and my favorite, desserts. Zach and I started with the potato skins. They are not exactly like the ones they serve in the States, but they were close enough. The inside was stuffed with cheese, and there was no way to ignore how thick these puppies were. Potato skins are usually thin, with cheddar and bacon bits sprinkled on top. These were gigantic, but still delicious.

Then I went ahead and ordered the Philly cheesesteak, which I haven’t had in ages. They call it the Golden Baguette here and it only costs 83 Argentine pesos (9.86 USD as of the 9/8/14 exchange rate).

Zach had a burger with huge onion rings, not those scrawny, shriveled things they give you at BK. The bacon was not really bacon because, at the moment, it is hard to find in Argentina. They have something similar here called pancetta, but the texture is not the same. It is softer and feels almost raw in your mouth, but Zach loved the burger just the same. The cost was about the same as the Philly cheesesteak.

We were stuffed but decided to go ahead and push our stomachs beyond their limit and order some dessert.

Zach had something that looked like an Oreo ice cream cookie with vanilla sauce on the side, while I had a brownie cup, which was… well, it is kind of difficult to explain. The first layer was whipped cream with a layer of fruit, followed by a layer of dulce de leche, a caramel-like spread that is very popular here, and a brownie crumbled at the bottom of the glass cup. Alright, so maybe it was not that difficult to explain after all.

With drinks, non-alcoholic, the bill came to 425 Argentine pesos, about 50 USD based on the 9/8/14 exchange rate.

All in all, it was money well spent to celebrate our reconciliation.

Afterwards, we went walking around Nueva Cordoba and other areas of downtown.

Eventually, we saw that the annual book fair was in full swing in Plaza San Martin. I covered the last two fairs, but this year I felt there was nothing new or special to report.

Debating whether or not to go into the book fair

Zach and I went through the fair rather quickly. We were looking for novels in English, but since they don't sell many of them here, the bookstores that take part in the fair did not bother bringing their small selection.

The fair did serve one purpose, and that was to kill time until our movie started. In case I have not mentioned it before, we have a history of going to the movies over the last 12 years. Our ticket stub collection is almost as big as the thousands of DVDs we own. We watched the comedy Sex Tape with Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz. We were the only people who laughed at the jokes because we are used to that type of humor, but the film itself was sh*t.

Before I end this post, I have a short update on some of the things happening with our friends and loved ones back home.

The big news is that my husband, Zach, recently became the proud uncle of a beautiful baby girl. I guess that by marriage, that makes me an uncle too. We would like to take a moment to congratulate his brother and his wife on their new addition. Whether we will get the chance to meet our niece remains to be seen. His brother and I don't really get along, and even if we did, we don't exactly have the money to go back and visit.

On my side: I would like to congratulate my very dear friend Amber and her husband Chris on the birth of baby Nathan.

We love and miss our friends and family back in the States, especially given how disappointing some of the Argentine and expat friends we thought we had made turned out to be.

At least we still have each other, and in the end, that is what counts.

Going Global at Cordoba, Argentina's Global Village

Global Village is an event that was held at the Studio Theater in Cordoba Capital, Argentina in 2014. It brought people from diverse cultures and backgrounds together to share and celebrate their uniqueness with music, dancing, information and most importantly, food!

There were tables representing Spain, Croatia, Paraguay, Cuba, the Middle East, Poland, Germany, Canada and Italy (and if I’m forgetting anyone I am deeply sorry).

There were performers entertaining us with Polish dancing. Performers from other countries like Germany and Italy performed as well. Here's this short video I made of the event, which I hope you'll enjoy.

I loved that everyone at the event respected the different cultures present at this event. I’ve recently dealt with three separate situations here in Cordoba City, where this was not the case, leaving me a little disheartened. So, Global Village was a very refreshing experience and frankly it gives me hope that it will open people’s minds to allow those from all cultures and walks of life to express themselves freely without the fear of prejudice here in Argentina.

I'm looking forward to the next event and hopefully, other cultures not present at this year's event, will be encouraged to participate as well.