Just a little bit of dining out over the last couple of weeks. As regular readers probably know, from early November until the end of the year we tend to be swamped here at Casa S with both public and private dinners, ’tis the season and all that, so I’m not getting out as much as usual, neither for food nor just enjoying the outdoors. You’d think someone who sets their own schedule would have more control over it than I sometimes seem to. I guess I just don’t like to say no, for a variety of reasons.

Henry and I continue to make El Burladero a regular spot for a nice evening out. It can be pricey, as I’ve noted in the past, though they do have a great lunch deal. Still, we’ve found that we can have a delightfully satisfying night out sitting at the bar and splitting a paella valenciana and not break the bank.

So many of us here in the expat community keep hoping that someone will open up a decent Mexican restaurant here. And time and again, we try them out and are, once again, disappointed. Taco Kau, an offering we spotted on BA Delivery, didn’t make things any better with an incredibly delayed delivery time that ended us up with cold, soggy, greasy enchilada, burrito, and quesadilla wannabes. Not even close – no spice, mediocre ingredients, and just a clear lack of understanding of what any of those three dishes should be. At this point, I’d take Taco Bell over what’s on offer in town. At least it would have some sort of childhood nostalgic value. [Closed]

You all know I love to get out and walk. I set out one free day a couple of weeks ago with the intent in mind that I would just walk randomly, letting the traffic lights decide my direction as I went (I ended up putting in just over eleven km), and that every five minutes I’d stop and take a photo of something that seemed interesting. I got bored, it seemed like there was nothing interesting at each five minute point – other than a pastry shop. So I stopped doing that. But, the other thing I’d thought about was that wherever I ended up at the end of an hour, I’d eat at wherever I was…

And, interestingly enough, at the moment when the one hour timer beeped, here I was, cross-corner from La Mamma Rosa, one of my favorite spots for Italian food in town – though I definitely have a preference for lunch hour over the madness of dinner hour.

Any place that plops a plate of mortadella down alongside the breadbasket has my attention, and it’s one of the things I like about this place. They also have individual sized bottles of wine, just perfect for lunchtime.

I was thinking back to my various visits to the place and realized I’d always ordered one or another pastas and never tried anything else. A quick look at the Foursquare listing and how could I pass up the glowing review “increible” for their matambrito en roquefort – slow cooked pork flank in a blue cheese sauce. When it arrived I can’t say that it immediately screamed out to be eaten – the sauce looked a bit gloppy, the whole thing seemed a bit of a mess, but I have to echo Mariano L’s assessment – incredible! Falling apart tender pork, beautifully salty and slightly sweet and creamy blue cheese sauce, perfectly cooked potatoes, and a huge portion. I’d been thinking I could have one dish and then maybe something else an hour further into the walk. That wasn’t happening after eating this, and I those followup kilometers were definitely needed to work this one off.

More walks down the line… of course.