Lo Saldes - A local bakery

About three blocks away we have one of the better, I think, chain bakeries, Lo Saldes.  Rob and the kids were disappointed that the facturas (a group of pastries) that we eat in Uruguay and Argentina were not part of this culture but have gotten accustomed to the local baked goods.  They seem to favor things with manjar (dulce de leche) and meringue and often have more of a doughnuty rather than crunchy texture.  The cakes are highly-influenced by German cakes and are often tiered with at least one layer of manjar but also layers of what I think is bakers cream (creme patissiere) and fruit also show up.  This bakery also serves coffee and you can sit inside or out (with free wi-fi). 

Doughnuty things with cream or manjar inside

Other goodies also filled with cream or manjar and topped with fruit or chocolate

Meringe thingy

These kind of look like little pacmen but they are doughnuts loaded with manjar (dulce de leche)

Bins of fresh bread - you see these at bakeries, supermarkets, and corner stores, even the 7-11 equivalents

Empanadas

Looks like a pizza but.....

two pino and three cheese

A quick word or two on empanadas.  I think that you see them in most Latin American countries but each one has a different spin on them. The name comes from "empanar" which means to coats with bread.  The two pictured above are pretty typical although you do see them with mushrooms, seafood, plain meat, and other things.  The cheese ones above have a flakey crust that Renee and I prefer.  The pino ones have more of a baked pizza-ish dough.  It is the most typical type of empanada here. Inside is a mixture of beef, onions, raisins, black olives and hard boiled eggs.  Renee prefers the cheese, Jonathan prefers the pino and Elisa can go either way.  Mama is just happy that she can get away with a quick and easy "meal."

We are headed to Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning for five days.  I am sure we will have many empanada and factura pictures to post from our visit.  Rob has spent the past week pumping everybody up for good food and desserts.  We may just eat our way through the city.....