Month: September 2019

Only a few photos to show you, but of those few that I do have, I think they are pretty dramatic. See for yourselves. Let me know.

So, how was that for dramatic? We are bringing the stove over here, because the oven does not work over here, and they would like to be able to bake things. We are probably going to buy aa countertop broiler. It is hard to find a stove/oven with a broiler here. Ivan thinks we might be able to take a small grill over to the park and grill out there. We will see. Countertop broiler for the foreseeable future.

So, everything you see, and do not see, will, soon, be replaced with oak cabinets, from the “floating” bases, to the granite countertops, and from the normal upper cabinet to the ceiling.

The lower cabinets will make an “L” right where the blue bucket is, going towards what is currently the microwave stand, (which has been removed from photo #1, and is wrapped for resale).

In the lower cabinets, again in the corner, (blue bucket), Luis has already purchased, and will install when appropriate, a lazy Susan for us, (see photo above) so we will have easier access to whatever gets put in there. The lower cupboards will also all be pull out shelves, (see photo below) because yours truly is so very tired of getting on her knees to find, and rescue, the odd pan necessary to prepare the odd dish. So much so that she leapt when her husband suggested it. (Yay, Ivan.) Martín will be building the cabinets himself, which will “float” on the concrete supports underneath.

As you can see in the photos, they are painting the door jams a color similar to the oak of the doors. The open third of the closet in the photo above, will also have an oak door and shelves on the lower right. As a bonus, they are removing the popcorn ceilings from the entire apartment before construction begins. Yay!!

I think you get the idea. Things are going very smoothly, and in a good time frame. Under budget thus far as well. More later.

I just had to show you the photo first. We bought these Mixed Veggie Chips at the local Sam’s Club; they are made by Tropical Fields. They are light, and airy, and really crunchy with only about 4 net. Carbs. per 30 gm serving. (This is fairly close to a 30 gm. portion). I have no recollection what they cost, but they are worth every peso.

They are lightly salted, and practically melt in your mouth. I did not think I would care for the broccoli, but it is actually quite good. They all taste like what I imagine the air-fried versions of the original vegetable would taste like- only with a bit of salt. I highly recommend these folks. If you can find them, try them, and let me know what you think, will you?

We did it! We made it, hopefully for the last time, to the Immigration office here in CDMX, at 8:05am this morning, where I had a 50 minute interview, mostly in Spanish, regarding my residency status. Now, all we have to do is wait 20 days, more or less, to learn if they think it is ok for me to remain here, or if I need to go back to the US.

I must say that this has been quite the process. I retired on March 12th. of this year, 2019, and we have been on the go ever since. We had to sell one of our vehicles, our 2005 Toyota 4 Runner, travel 6 times to, and from, and, around, Chicago to have our household goods verified, our marriage license apostillated, etc., (check that out on Google). Plus, we had to buy another vehicle, our 2011 BMW, in Downers Grove, IL., because both of our Toyotas were assembled in Japan, and the second one was a 2012. (Immigration law states that any vehicle being brought into México has to be assembled in the US, and must be of the year 2011, or older). We spent 5 or 6 weeks packing all of our belongings, having given away more than half of our things to family and friends. We closed the sale of the house the first week of June, then moved into a long-term stay hotel in Davenport, IA, for 3 weeks. The beginning of July found us driving a 20ft. UHaul truck, (which we had to drive to Galesburg, IL., to get). Then we drove to Comanche, IA., to pick up our car transport, driving on to Laredo, TX., some 1800+ miles, taking us 3 days, and 2 nights, to, once again, stay in a hotel for another 1 1/2 weeks. We moved here the 15th of July, have spent tons of money, just to get this far; not only on the process, but finding places to live during the process.

Now that we are here, we have been downtown to the Immigration office countless times. On the fourth, or maybe the fifth, trip, however, we ran into one of Ivan’s cousin, Viridiana, there, at the Office of Immigration. And let me just tell you how auspicious that was. Without her help we would still be arguing with someone-someone who is unsure of what, exactly, this government wants with regards to its forms, its documents, and its regulations.

Now that we are reaching what we are, fairly, sure is the end of this chapter, we want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way. You all know who you are, and so do we. We cannot thank any of you enough, but know that we will always be grateful to you.

The different species of plants here is nothing short of amazing. I know, I use that word often, so, you should be getting used to it by now. But, I am telling you, the flora, and fauna, here is completely different than up North.

For example, we, [Ivan, Enrique, Marco, (brother to cousin Juan), and I], took the Metro, again, this morning, going downtown to the government building where I need to register to change my residency status. Right now I have temporary residency status until December. By then, though, I have to have made arrangements to either return to the United States, or show good reason why I should be allowed to stay, and live here. Having chosen the latter option, we have made two copies of every document we can find that they might possibly need, along with, now, having paid a total of $7540 MN, ($377). We have another appointment in the morning, at 9:00am., so we (see the list above) will, once again, go downtown, but, this time, at 6:30am., and by taxi!!!

Now, to show you some incredible vegetation, here are some photos of the different plants in the park by the apartment, and a couple of photos of the different plants used in hedges here. Let me know if you know the names of the plants.

Those are some of the photos I have at the moment. I had a photo of holly being used as a hedge but it has disappeared. I will retake it when I see it again. It, too, is fairly prevalent as hedge material.

I hope you enjoyed a quick view of some of the different vegetation that is here. Amazing.

Ivan has a plethora of cousins here in CDMX- well, all over the world, actually. But the other day, I had just gotten up from my sick bed to go to the bathroom, when I heard lots of voices downstairs. I could not just ignore them, and go back to bed, so I went downstairs, so I could say hello to “the girls”, as I call them. They are sisters, and cousins, to each other, and cousins to everyone here. Let me show you their photo(s).

I tried to listen to the multiple conversations going on around me but, alas, I was unable to follow more than one, or two. I just did not have enough strength, as everyone talks simultaneously. It did garner me some much deserved sympathy, however.

It is great fun when they all come over, but the time goes by exceedingly fast. I do not believe many of them live close enough to come over more frequently, so it is even more fun when they do. We cannot wait to get settled, and have everyone over for coffee, or a cook out. They are always such fun.

We are going over to the apartment sometime today, (read this weekend, or this coming week) so I will have the opportunity to take more photos of the remodeling going on.

Well, that was a quick look at the apartment as of last week. Since I was too ill to go over until this weekend, it is sure to be a surprise when we go back. More to come.

Ivan and I were talking the other day about my Gramma Manda, and the pork chops and sauerkraut she used to make once a year. It was a dish worth remembering, let me tell you.

The simplicity of the dish, first of all, was amazing in itself, but then you got to taste it. Even for a young, uneducated palate as I had, it was bursting with flavors. She browned the pork chops, (the ones she chose had to be thick enough to withstand some skillet, and oven time, and have a sufficient amount of fat along the edges to make plenty of nice brown bits that stick to the bottom of the frying pan), then used a bit of the juice from the kraut to lift those bits off the bottom, and add a richness to the dish that would have otherwise been lost.

She drained, then rinsed, the sauerkraut, added a teaspoon, or so, of caraway seeds to the kraut, placed the chops in the bottom of a Pyrex bowl, added the sauerkraut, and a couple knobs of butter, covered it with aluminum foil, and baked it for about 30” – 45”. She removed the foil, added the Bisquick™ drop biscuits she made, right on top of the sauerkraut, baked it again for, probably another 30”, until the biscuits were cooked. Then we got to eat it. I really only remember eating this two times, and one of those times was with my husband.

After we got to talking about this, and the different spices she used when she got to cook, Ivan started searching the internet for sausage shops here in CDMX hat might sell German-type sausages, and, out of nowhere, he discovered this shop where a, I believe he is British, gentleman, has started a sausage company called Simply Sausages™, and THEY DELIVER!!!! Now, how is that for good search results?

We went earlier this evening, to a local high end store, (one of those stores that imports food from all over the world, for all of us expats living away from our motherlands), and bought 3 packages of Classic Bratwurst, and a single package of British Bangers. Each package of brats has 4 sausages, the Bangers package has 5 (yay), each weighs 500gm, and costs $115, and $105, respectively. (Relax, that is in pesos.) So, that is a package of brats that weighs 1 lb. and costs $5.00! (That one is dollars.) Not bad for handmade sausages, right? I cannot wait to, first, try the meat, then, have this stuff delivered. There are so many choices, and so little time. Simply Sausages™. Thank you. We are grilling out tomorrow. (Any excuse, really!!)

And, for future reference, I will designate pesos as $115. MN. Here that means Moneda Nacional, or National Currency. I think you are all quick enough to know we would not spend $105.00 on 4 sausages. Right?

Ivan just reminded me that we will be putting the little beauties in a saucepan, with a beer, and butter, to bathe in after they are grilled. Yummy!!

Here, there is an amazing chain of restaurants called Toks that are affiliated with one of our favorite grocery stores called Soriana. Enrique introduced us, this morning, to Toks, and are we ever glad he did.

We have driven by a number of these restaurants hundreds of times over the years, and always wondered how the food tasted. I am here to tell you that it tastes great!

We all started off with a cup of Cafe Americano, which was pleasantly strong, and even more pleasantly large. I cannot remember what Enrique ate because Ivan and I had a wonderful machacada con huevo, en salsa Mexicano, con frijoles negros, y tortillas de harina. All of the aforementioned was eggs, with a special dried beef that is famous here, cooked in a small cast iron skillet with pico de gallo salsa, and black beans with manchego cheese on top. Of course I forgot to take a picture, because I was trying to convince myself I had an appetite sufficient to consume it all, but, alas, I did not. But neither did Ivan. We took our little packages home for another go later on- maybe in the morning.

Toks- a place we will be visiting, repeatedly, in the future.

Well, thanks to Paty, I survived the horrendous bout of diarrhea. She got back in town Sunday, saw the condition I was in, went to the pharmacy, and bought me a box of Nifuroxazida 200 mg combined with Metronidazol 600 mg, an antibiotic specifically for enteritis. She told me to take them twice a day for 4 days, so I am. This is the start of day 3, and I must say, it is doing the job rather nicely.

Yes, we made it to the Embassy, and, yes, I was able to fix, for the most part, what I needed help fixing regarding a few SS issues. My “appointment” was 8am -11am, however, unbeknownst to us, the Embassy does not open until 8:30am. So, from the house here, we, (Enrique drove us), had to drive North, to downtown CDMX, which, with all of the other early commuters, is a good hours drive. We left the house at 6:30am, arriving at the Embassy at 7:30am. We parked the car in a nearby parking garage, and walked a block, or two, to the front door of the building. We were then told to show our papers to the “people under the green umbrella, at the end of the building”. Did I mention that everything was in Spanish. At the US Embassy?

At the green umbrella, we were asked why were there, what department did we need. Responding with “Social Security”, a young man told us to go to the end of some line, and indicates a line to my husband, already 20 ft. long, or more. Of course, he is in no mood to stand in a line behind people that are sitting, and appear to have been doing so, for quite some time. He says that we will stand in the line that is actually moving, the two of them have “words”, but we continue to stay where he put us. He was, once again, told we were in the wrong line, and, after more words in which he indicated that this was the US Embassy, and that we are US citizens, and that if we are not allowed in with the next group of people, he would consider making it an “emergency”, (the only way you can even hope to just walk into an Embassy is if it is an emergency), and then we would be allowed in immediately. (The lady ahead of us turned, and gave him a show of her approval- all he ever needs). After about 15 seconds, we were issued little blue 2”x 2” tickets, with some silly numbers on it, and in we went.

Of course, you have to go through the usual security check in, just like at any government building, depositing everything into a tub that gets run through a scanner. (I forgot I had brought my knife, a 3”blade Ivan gave me some time in the past. I almost always have in my purse, but I always have it with me when we go downtown. A person cannot be too careful!) They gave us an ID badge to wear, and a card with a number on it corresponding to the number on the torn Ziplock bag were we were told to deposit our keys, phones, and my knife. They told us what room to go to, so off we went.

We sat in the waiting area about 2 minutes, when a very nice lady called my name, and in I went. A few minutes passed, and a gentlemen from the Embassy came in the room, and asked me for the aforementioned card for our belongings. He told me that my husband needed to get something out of it, so I gave it to him, giving it little thought. A little over 1 hour later, I was done.

Reunited with my husband, we left the facilities, on our way to find our friend Enrique, who was waiting in the lounge of the hotel next door. As we were having a lovely cup of coffee, he told me that the guards wanted him to take the knife out of the Embassy, so he took it to the hotel, and gave it to Enrique to hold. After everything, it was another hours drive home, then back to bed for a bit. I kid you not, here it truly is the survival of the fittest.

Let me, briefly, describe the last four days of my life, the 12th, until the 16th.). Fever, chills, and diarrhea. Every muscle, hair, bone, and inch of skin has been incredibly painful, in between bouts of Ibuprofen, that is. Sounds like fun, huh?!? Nope. Not even one minute. This is the result of not disinfecting the greens, and that includes the cilantro I used for a garnish the other night.

Last Saturday evening, I made three Spanish tortillas, one with mushrooms, one with chard, and one, in the classic form of just eggs, onions, olive oil, and salt, which we ate on Sunday. Monday, I made some delicious Pechugas Rellenas de Jamon y Queso en Crema de Champiñones, which translates to Chicken breasts stuffed with ham and Manchego cheese in a creme of mushroom sauce made entirely from scratch. Turned out really nicely. Did I think to get a picture of it? No. Tuesday, I made the Birria de Res, which was amazing. Then, the highlight of my five nights cooking for the family, was the most fatal, but, mostly, only to me. We started the first course with a bowl of some of the best Sopa de Fideo soup I have ever made, complete with a small garnish of cilantro at the last few minutes of cooking to completely brighten the taste. (Not to worry, that cilantro had time to cook.) Next, was a beautiful, 4 oz. piece of Norwegian salmon, cooked approximately 7 minutes on the skin side in Olive oil and butter, and approximately 4-5 minutes on the presentation side. This was served with a butter sauce, infused with white wine, lime juice, minced garlic, and cilantro, (the cilantro was added off heat while making the butter/wine reduction- not cooked.) Along side this were the hand-mashed potatoes with plenty of butter, and steamed mixed, fresh veggies, also in butter. I had chopped onion, and cilantro, to garnish the soup, at the table, but forgot to disinfect the cilantro. It is something I doubt I will ever forget, if I live long enough.

You should be reading this on Thursday, the 19th. We should already have been to the American Embassy here in CDMX, and we should have gotten a few things straightened out with our Social Security Administration. I hope to be very much better by then.

I leave you with the familiar quote from one of the Star Trek movies , “resistance is futile. You must comply.” This is a lesson I will never forget- if I forget to disinfect the cilantro, and it is not cooked, thereby killing the bacteria, there will be consequences.