Today is the 30th

One of the first things I learned here in Argentina was that there is a lot of tradition behind the foods prepared here. There's also a lot of Italian influence in the way people eat and how they gesture when they talk.

I have known about the tradition of ñoquis on the 29th of the month for quite some time, but I've never observed it.

^{slightly bastardized version of the tradition.}

Last night I have it a try! The above picture shows my impression of the tradition as I heard it many years ago. I have also seen people doing this in restaurants so I know that it's kind of right. If not, I'm sure @hosgug or one of my other staunch Argentine friends will correct me in the comments.

When I first started working here I was shocked to find out that everyone who lives in this country has to wait until the end of the month before they get their paycheck. Then you get this lump sum and you have to really be careful to spend it wisely throughout the month so you don't run out of money. Something I definitely did not have to experience in the United States.

That is not where the tradition started but it is that way today and has been so for at least 50 years as the country continues to destroy its money, then release a new kind of paper money, then destroy that one, rinse and repeat.

Because the end of the month usually brings hard times, and a lack of money, it is said that people only had some potatoes and some flour in the house the day before they got paid. So the end of the month meal became ñioqis.

They look like noodles but they're not. They are somehow made out of potatoes and you pour sauce over them. My version has cheese on top which melted over the heat of the meal. Above, I noted that my version is a bit bastardized because I recently made chili, and American dish, and I used some of that sauce on the ñoquis instead of whatever the traditions are here.

The 29th of the month part of the tradition is in honor of Saint Pantaleon, who achieved Sainthood on July 29th of some year back in the 8th century, that's the gist that I got anyway.

Because Pantaleon had performed many miracles related to the poor and the lack of money toward the end of the month, people put money under their plates expecting miracles related to money.

My son suggested that I put Bitcoin and Hive under my plate but I couldn't figure out how to do that. So I ended up putting dollars in pesos under my plate. Maybe I'll get more of those!

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