La Margarita- Star of the Show Again

It has happened a few times now since I have owned La Margarita. We get a call from a TV producer who is doing a documentary on traditional rural gaucho life in Argentina asking us if it would be ok to do some filming on the estancia - we are always delighted to oblige. For me it’s an honor that they choose to come and film on La Margarita as a choice for a typical rural estancia. It happened again a few weeks ago. We got a call from Cecilio Ceballos an Argentine TV producer. He said that they were filming a two part documentary on life in and around Tapalque and would be it be possible to film on La Margarita. Our answer was an obvious yes. Last week Cecilio came and did lots of filming on La Margarita, showing life on a typical estancia. It featured Lalo working with the horses and Raquel cooking homemade bread and media lunas etc. I got interviewed for around four minutes giving me a chance to explain what we do on La Margarita. Goodness knows what the Argentines  make of my London/ Spanish accent but for me it’s always a pleasure to be able to talk about La Margarita on TV especially in Argentina

Twice last week the programme was shown on national  TV – the estancia looked great even if I do say so myself and Lalo and Raquel are once again wearing dark glasses due to their new found fame!

When we get a copy of the DVD we will put it in YouTube for you to see.

This is David Cummings alias The English Gaucho until next time 

Ok what’s the connection between Cary Grant and Estancia La Margarita?

Ok I admit it may be a little hard to guess and after I relate this story you may not care either but let’s hope so.

On the huge mantel shelf over La Margarita fire place is a picture of me when I was a little sprog of around 7 years old. It was taken on a Hayling Island caravan park outside a fish and chip stall (which is probably long gone although I hope not). The picture of my smiling boat race was taken around the year dot. I look happy in it and the reason is because I was happy in it. Hayling Island may not be the Caribbean but who cares at seven years, all that other stuff can wait till older years. All a seven year old wants to do is feel free, climb trees, eat fish and chips and play the penny arcades (well it was for me).   When the picture was taken my dad owned a caravan on Hayling Island and that’s why we went there loads – the memories are   still with me and no doubt about it I loved it there. Next to the fish and chip stall was a penny arcade.  It was a great place to hang out for a seven year old. There was one flashing light machine that was my favorite.  The idea was that you had to gamble where the flashing light would stop between four famous film stars. You put your penny in and the light would flash between Betty Davies, Merle Oberon, Kirk Douglas and Cary Grant (honest I am getting to the connection). All my sprog mates and me prayed that Cary Grant would come up cos he paid out a massive 6 pennies – he rarely did of course but it didn’t stop us gambling he would so we could away rich.

Fast forward  some decades to  few weeks ago  when I was  in communication with a chap    from the States called Mark who had sent an e mail to us on La Margarita asking if  we had availability in  our self catering units for around 12 people . I replied that we did but since at that time  we had no bookings for the  main house  I offered    him  for a bit more money to hire the main estancia  house on  a self catering basis  exclusively for him and friends. He happily accepted and last week when I was on La Margarita Mark, his family and friends arrived on La Margarita. Included in the group was Marks mother Pat. When I went into the living room to ask if everything was ok I got talking to Pat.  As we got talking she mentioned that she lived and had worked in Hollywood. I, of course, being a fanatical penny arcade gambler was immediately impressed and I asked her if she had ever met anyone famous- she said “why yes lots. Let me see Betty Davies, Merle Oberon oh and Mr. Six Pennies himself the late great Cary Grant, oh and I worked for Ronald Regan in the White House”. I was pretty impressed as you can imagine. She told me  that Cary Grant was such a nice man and that Ronald Regan was lovely to work for. It’s all a bit surreal when someone talks about people so famous. The thing is though for me the main star was Mark’s mum – she was divina (lovely) as they say here in Spanish. It was so interested to hear her talk about her very interesting  life and I can see why from her personality how she got so close to these famous people and why Ronald Regan chose her to work for him – nice one Ronnie .

So there you have the connecting between Cary Grant and La Margarita - hope it was worth it for you . I want  to say thank you Mark and to your  friends and family for coming to La Margarita - it was a privilege to meet you all and thanks for choosing La Margarita so that I could and  thank you Pat for some very interesting stories.
I just want to add a foot note to this blog in that among Mark´s group was Pablo Gonzalez from Argentina. Pablo recently wrote a book called La Argentina fuera de Si/Argentina Out of Itself: Que piensan de nosotros en el mundo/What does the rest of the World think about us. And for his efforts he won a valued literature prize. If you get time have a read it makes interesting reading –here’s the link on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Pablo%20%20Rosendo%20Gonzalez

This is David Cummings alias The English Gaucho saying hasta pronto

The Day the Bosses from the Intercontinental Hotel Group Came to Visit Us

Every year for the past five years some of the big bosses with their wives from The Intercontinental Hotel Group come to visit us. It’s always a quick visit of just 24 hours but in those 24 hours they cram a lot in. They go hunting, horse ride and fit in an assado in with some good wine. I am always thrilled that they choose

to come to La Margarita because these guys know their business and luckily they find what they want here on La Margarita. I am always a little nervous when they come because in our business it’s like having royalty visit. But really I don’t need to worry Raquel and her team makes sure that these guys and their wives feel at home and enjoy their short stay. I usually have dinner with them in the evening. They are interesting people for sure having moved around the world in the hotel business living in different countries and they certainly know their business and what they like. It’s always great for me to get tips from them of new trends and ask

them if we are doing it right. This time I had a long conversation with Jean-Pierre Etcheberrigaray Vice President of food & beverages Americas for The Intercontinental Hotel Group about food and the importance of serving fresh locally produced food. This is especially true after films like Food Inc are informing us of how some foods are produced - yuck. One thing that was really interesting they did when they were here was that the guys had gone and took an egg from our chicken coup and asked Raquel to boil it. Once it was cooked they asked Raquel to serve it on a plate. Meticulously they analyzed it – the color of the yoke, the texture of the white of the eggs and the taste. They said that it was one of the most delicious eggs they had tasted and it was fresh – umm we are spoilt here. The point that Jean- Pierre was making was that on our estancia it is obvious we serve fresh food - it’s all around us and that is very very important for many many people these days – the thing is we take it for granted here but after watching some documentaries on the production of industrial food I can see why people are looking for places that serve fresh food. While they were here these guys wandered in and out of the kitchen watching Raquel and her team bake bread, hand make fruit salad and bake cakes and make pasta hand made. They talked to Lalo while he cooked meat fresh from La Margarita. Jean-Pierre said that we are in a changing world – as regards food people are looking to go back in time not forwards. He said that our estancia is the perfect place to eat and enjoy fresh food cooked with love and skill and it is important that we continue to do so – great advise indeed from someone who really knows his food. I doubt that Raquel or Lalo know any other way to be truthful. I know for one that we are spoilt here. When I watch the team cook it is like I have regressed 40 year to the time I used to watch my gran bake bread and advise us that an apple a day makes the doctor got away .

It does seem that these days the production of industrial food is making people ill and it’s also very inhuman. On La Margarita along with other establishments like us we are doing our bit in our bid to keep food fresh – if you decide to visit us you will taste the difference I am sure and thank you Jean-Pierre for giving us the stamp of approval .
As always this is David Cummings alias The English Gaucho hasta pronto

Food Inc. urgggg

The other week someone slipped a copy of the film Food Inc into my hands and said “view it and think yourself lucky”. I didn’t feel very lucky when it happened because England had just bowed out of the World Cup sadly followed almost   immediately by Argentina.

Still a few days later when I was on La Margarita with a nice steak to eat  and a glass of Malbec red in hand I put it in the video player and settled back to   be entertained - opps. If you have seen the film you will know that the production of what is termed  “industrial food” does not make for  entertaining viewing! – more it makes  one rush to turn the video off and think about burning Mc Donald’s down ( only joking Ronald) . Just in case you haven’t  seen it it touches on   topics  such as    how chickens are kept in the dark so they breed faster -   never seeing sunlight,  how cows are fed only grains never grass and kept in  such a small space that is makes very  uncomfortable viewing and also  how what seem like tomatoes  in  some supermarkets are  not tomatoes at all  - err what !  I won’t go into all the gory details here or it will put you off your dinner tonight. 

After I had seen the film I of course realized why the person who gave me the film said view it and think how lucky you are to eat such fresh food on La Margarita. The next day, feeling a little queasy after a bad nightmare about industrial food, I went for a walk around La Margarita.   Hallelujah the cows were in the field eating the  grass, the chickens where all over the place (as were their eggs), the sheep were skipping around and some guests were trying their hand at milking a cow– yep no industrial food here thank god. But it’s not luck that keeps it that way – it’s the way we like it and so do our guests as noted by the comments they make in our comments book about Rachel’s (our cooks) delicious fresh  food she prepares. This  blog is a  big big  thank you to  Raquel  our cook for the food you prepare for us – it really is special and a long long long way from that industrial food horror  in that film – she has never seen the film and I don’t intend to give her a copy – she would faint with disgust   I am sure.

This is David Cummings alias the English Gaucho feeling very lucky indeed