After six months in the Caribbean (Grenada and Barbados), we thought it was time to take a break from the tropics, so we came to Uruguay in its springtime.
I also want to take my Spanish to the next level, and Uruguay happens to be right next door to Argentina, where I first started learning the language in 2009.
We're living in Punta del Diablo, on the north-east coast, close to Brazil. It is a sleepy fishing village most of the year, but in the holiday season from Crimbo to mid-February it is swamped with holidaymakers, mostly from Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil.
On this page, I'm going to experiment with quick-fire, short updates, hopefully accompanied by photos most of the time.
2 October, 2022: Slow and steady short rib
Beef short rib is a cut of meat that I wasn't very familiar with before I came to Uruguay. But over here it's ubiquitous in butcher shops, and it seems to be a favourite for barbeques, so I gave it a go.
The first couple of times I made the mistake of cooking it fast over very hot coals, like you do with a steak. The result was a very tough piece of meat.
And then the penny dropped when I looked at the design of a typical Uruguayan barbecue: a grill with a "fire basket" next to it, so that you can feed the grill with coals dropping from the bottom of the basket. This enables you to cook stuff slowly over low heat.
Beef short rib done this way is delicious! The slow cooking (I do them for more than an hour) makes the meat come out juicy and tender, and this is the most flavourful cut of barbecued beef I've ever had.
If someone were to point out that this is also an extremely fatty cut of meat, my response would be, "You say it like it's a bad thing."
24 September, 2022
Lazy Saturday afternoon view from the hammock.
22 September, 2022: A walk around our 'hood
Punta del Diablo has one paved street - the rest are all dirt roads. The last picture is not where we live - I'll post something about our digs later.
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