For the best shortbread, to go Cindy's in Penzance. Buttery, rich, flaky and honest, we have never eaten better. For tango, of course, there's no place like Buenos Aires. We've been here three days-and the nights are even longer than the days. It has been an extraordinary experience.

Within 12 hours of landing, we were having an early (for Buenos Aires) 10 pm dinner at La Vineria de Gualterio Bolivar in the San Telmo district, a 12 course tasting menu which lasted 3 ½ hours. It was the food, however, not its length that was memorable.

It reminded me of a dinner 30 years earlier at L'Archestrate in Paris. The guide book cautioned that it was very, very expensive however adding, "you may never eat like this again". I never forgot those words and that meal.

I had the pleasure of dining at L'Archestrate once more that same week never to return to Paris. Alain Senderens, the young chef on his way to stardom was to head Lucas Carton with three Michelin stars; and the memory of those two meals remain with me to this day (especially his foies gras en choux)

The dinner at La Vineria de Gualterio Bolivar reminded me of those meals 30 years ago. The chef has worked at the famed El Bulli in Spain and it is evident in his cooking. Art lives and it can be consumed today in Buenos Aires.

Tonight we were at the 11:15 pm tango show at the Café Tortoni. The show sealed our appreciation for this city. Tango-a potent mixture of pomade, pinstripes, sex and passion is its offspring. This city is a keeper.

There is a pain, however, evident in Buenos Aires. It has not yet fully recovered from its severe debt crisis a few years ago; and if the US comes through what lies ahead with any semblance of the grace and beauty that BA has done, we will be fortunate indeed.

We will soon see what our fortune will be. In the meantime, if you've got the time, spend some of it in this vibrant magnificent city; and, if you don't, make the time. That's what life is for.

Darryl Robert Schoon

http://www.survivethecrisis.com/

www.drschoon.com