Ushuaia, Argentina + Mexico City, Mexico
Lulu cannot remember what episode it is...again. There's a first time for everything, as today we have not just one, but two guest googlers. We are so excited to have Jerome and Adam of OneUp here with us. If you don't know about them from The Voice, then you've been living under a rock, quite possibly. Watch their audition, and their battle song. They are beyond incredible. And handsome. And they are a couple. We hear all about how they met, and how they became a duo. You are going to want to listen to this story. They knew it was it when they met, and the girls are just doe-eyed about the love they are seeing between Jerome and Adam.
Hearing about their experience on The Voice stage was so moving. In addition to being a duet, which is unique to The Voice set-up anyways, they are the first gay couple to be on the show. Alison was sobbing watching their blind audition when she was catching up on episodes on Hulu. Their families came on the stage, and that was the first time their parents had met. That's a lot happening all at once anyways, but also Jerome's mother was on her death bed, but was determined to make it to see her son perform, and their performance motivated her to take her health into her own hands, and is now cancer-free. For Jerome and Adam, what has been most meaningful is how their journey has inspired the LGBTQ+ community, especially the youth of today and their parents. They get letters from kids, parents, people in all kind of situations. Jerome and Adam talk about what an incredibly humbling experience it is to just be yourself, to love each other, and just by that impact so many. This room is full of love and happy tears right now. The message of love having no boundaries, and that it is the most powerful and healing tool we have in this world that is currently so divided has Alison full on crying.
Alison declares her obsession to be OneUp, "and the love that they have for each other"! Oh, and Oat Milk Cortados. Lulu challenges Alison to describe both of her obsessions with the same words. Rich and flavorful describes both of those obsessions. We'll give that to her. Alison thinks that cortado is espresso, and she's half right. A cortado is espresso with an equal portion of steamed (but not frothed) milk, we discover thanks to our guest googlers. And as far as dairy alternatives go, oat milk in your cortado is so much better than almond milk, and we're not the only ones who think so. Also of note, Alison and Lulu surprisingly know a lot about dairy-free milk alternatives. Jerome is obsessed with crablegs and crawfish from The Boil on waverly in NYC Lulu aggressively questions him on all the details because she loves cajun food and is very familiar with how a boil should be presented, eaten and everything in between. Jerome correctly answers all her questions, so Lulu now understands why he goes 2-3 times a week.
Lulu is obsessed with Ashley's blanket scarf because its not so close to a blanket that it looks like she's wearing a blanket. It's size is between the size of a scarf, and the size of a blanket. A blarf or a skanket are the new names the group comes up with. You can get the blanket scarf, excuse me, the skanket, on Amazon for $15! Yes, you read that right. We suggest the coffee color and the wine red color. Adam is obsessed with Cheddar Jalapeño crunchy Cheetos. They are so crunchy, which he gives you an example of on air. Any excuse to snack, ya know?
Lulu wants to try the Blue Bell Christmas Cookies ice cream that everyone is freaking out about on Facebook. Adam, because he is "very practical, but also a tiny bit fancy", is wishing the brand new Buick Regal Station Wagon. Alison wishes the dongle didn't exist. Switching between her phone and computer, she constantly loses the adapter for her headphones...yes in case you were wondering, that is what a dongle is. Who named it that? You can't escape the first thoughts you had about that word. Jerome wants a remote control airplane, he's wanted one for something like 20 years. Here's the best one according to GearHungry.com, it's the perfect gift for kids, or adults who wanted one when they were kids! Will someone buy it for him? 20 years of gratitude would be coming your way.
These pronunciations are just, WOW. But, with the help of our helpful guest googlers, Jerome and Adam, we figure out the correct way to pronounce Ushuaia. Hint: it sounds really sexy, and Alison is worried her day isn't sexy enough to measure up to the correct pronunciation. Well, here goes. The pronunciation trouble continues with the place she booked, Arakur. She gets the triple room with a valley view and hot tubs filled with water from glaciers melting. Bahía Lapataia is where you can officially say you've been to the end of the world. Wait, isn't the end of the world Antarctica? Or Montauk claims to be the end of the world as well. "You can stand on any point in a circle and pretend that you're the beginning and the end"...states Lulu. Well that got meta real fast. Bringing it back, Alison tells the group that there's a sign that says Bahía Lapataia is the end of the world and you can take a photo by it, so Alison is fine with saying it is so. Isla Martillo translates to “Hammer Island”, but it is known as the island of penguins. Alison takes a boat ride to the island where you can walk with the penguins and take photos of the experience.
Next she buys out a four-wheeler off-road adventure in Tierra del Fuego National Park, in which the guides take you to rarely accessed parts of the park and treat you to a lakeside barbecue lunch accompanied by a local Malbec wine. Alison is always here for an experience that provides the wine. Oh, and you get to see all the beavers in the world. Alison states this fact so confidently, because they have no natural predators there, and she just copy and pasted from the website. But beavers live in other places, we know this without having to put our guest googlers to work. Maybe it's like "you're every woman in the world to me", but with beavers. No, just, no. Can we hit rewind on that? No? Okay, then let's move on quickly.
She heads to Kalma Resto, where fuegan staples like crab and octopus are presented in a creative way. They describe the sea bass as "wearing" a tomato sauce. So at least creative in wording. They also describe their food as "gourmet without being pretentious". As lovers of luxury, we don't mind a little pretentiousness. Ushuaia has a number of casinos, so she heads to "The Casino at the End of The World" - Casino Club Ushuaia. They have all the usual games, plus shows at night. Just a suggestion, you guys should book OneUp. Now, since it is so cold in this location, Alison calls ahead to the bar at the hotel and has them make her ALL the hot drinks. And we mean ALL of them. We're talking Mulled Wine, Hot Buttered Rum, Fireball Hot Toddies...and more she gave found from this list on Delish.com. Jerome suggest she also get something specific to the region she's in, and via google he discovers that Yerba Mate is the drink most popular there, so could she make it alcoholic? They decide she could add whiskey. Because how great is it to take something meant for health and detoxing, and add booze to it? Love it.
Lulu is very excited to be staying in the luxury suite at the St. Regis. For breakfast Lulu heads to La Esquina del Chilaquil which is technically not a restaurant, but more of an assembly line. People line up for the delicious breakfast sandwich that consists of a short baguette (bolillo) hollowed out, a smear of refried beans, a breaded chicken cutlet (milanesa de pollo), your choice of chilaquiles in red or green salsa, followed by a squirt of crema and a topping of cheese (queso fresco). The group wonders why there isn't a fried egg on top. Lulu counters that always having to have an egg for breakfast is a very western thing, but technically Mexico is in the west. We'll settle for adding an egg to our attempt at recreating this at home. Lulu goes on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. Mexico City has something like 20 million people, it is even considered a megacity! So she wants to take a map and just hop on and off at her leisure. After her exploring, she eats lunch at Restaurante Nicos, which she is excited to tell us has table side guacamole, table side caesar salad, AND table side coffee services. Anytime something is made for her at her table is a good time. They also have a mezcal cart, and while Lulu doesn't like mezcal, which she describes as "funky tequila", she's willing to give it a try. Now, while all tequilas are mezcals, not all mezcals are tequilas, but Lulu probably learned this while tasting her mezcals.
She leaves from there for the Frida Kahlo museum. Some of the group is unsure who she is talking about, until Lulu clarifies, you know, "the Mexican artist with the eyebrows?". She shares some of the stories she's heard about Frida, her artist husband Diego Rivera, and their time in The Blue House. There's lots of drama she says. There's also quite a bit of tragedy in her story, and she is an inspiration to many overcoming illness and other obstacles of life. Oh, and Penelope Cruz played her in the movie, says the group. Nope, its Salma Hayek. She wants to try all the Mexican Hot Chocolate, so she goes to every place she read about in this article: "15 best places for hot chocolate in Mexico City". Apparently she is thirsty, as next is a private mezcal tasting tour with Paco Bernal. She buys bottles of artisanal mezcal from Paco, and some Mole spice blends from a market (mercado) to be souvenirs, how kind.
She is struggling to reach 10K, so she decides to hire a mariachi band from Mariachi Ollin Yoliztli School to write an arrangement of the 10K Dollar Day theme song that introduces each episode. She is so inspired by the music that she buys a guitarron made by Roberto Morales, which costs about two grand, and the similar Viuela, and has them delivered to her hotel. Next she does the tasting menu in a private room at Pujol, which is number 20 of The World's 50 Best Restaurants. And if you thought all the mezcal in her day wasn't enough, don't you worry, she heads to speakeasy-style bar, Baltra where according to CondeNast Travler, "the crowd is young, beautiful, and achingly hip". She's sure she won't fit in, but she gets a drink there anyways.
CHECK OUT THE CHARITIES WE FOUND IN THE CITIES WE VISITED:
HEY, FRIEND! IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY, FOLLOW US!:
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. For a full understanding of how we use affiliate links on our site, please visit our Policy Disclosures page. Thank you! :)