Author: iagardener55

We could not believe it, and neither will you!

With the new inventory list I have been making, to help us keep our panty organized, (and waste less by using what we have on hand), I have been collecting, and documenting, the prices for the common items we will need to buy to restock our new kitchen. This could not have come at a better time.

We discovered that, for instance, the small limes, which we use everyday, (the little round ones, not the ones that are the size of lemons), are 19.8 pesos per kg. (about $1.04/kg, or $.47/lb.) at our local store, Soriana. The limes at Soriana are sold in large bins, not in bags, so you pick, and pay for only the amount you want. At Sam’s Club, they come already in bags of 1.5kg, and are 66.3 pesos a bag, about 44.2 pesos per kg. ($2.31/kg, or about $1.05/lb.) At Costco, they are in bags of 2kg. and cost 87.88 pesos, or 39.94 pesos per kg.($2.09/kg, or $.95/lb.)- both more that double the cost of Soriana, (if I did the math correctly).

Until I started this inventory list, and was taught to look at the base price for all products we buy, we had no idea that we were paying so much for this one product. No one else here did either. We all thought that by buying things at the wholesale clubs would, by default, make them less expensive. We were all wrong!

We went to Costco earlier this afternoon, and I spent most of the time taking photos of all of the different meat prices, the milk prices, the vegetables, cheeses, alcohol, etc. Then, when we got home, I put all of those prices into the computer, on my inventory sheet, so when we need to start buying food for our home, we will be able to look for the best price at all three stores. I still have to take photos at Sam’s Club, and download all of those prices, but, even though it is a time consuming undertaking, it has already proved to be worth it.

With the prices in pesos, it is too difficult, at the moment, to remember what we pay in this store versus that store, so this will be a big help to us in the foreseeable future. It has already paid for my time by just letting us in on the price of limes.

It will be here in the next week – el Día de los Muertos, or Halloween, for you in the North.

Día de los Muertos is actually celebrated on both November first and second down here. It came to be a celebration by combining both All Saints Day, and All Souls Days, which were minor celebrations in the Catholic Church. Celebration is fun, joyful, and quite a sight to behold we are told. We are both looking forward to seeing, for ourselves, what this is all about.

I only have a few photos at the moment because we have not had to go downtown for the last couple of weeks. When we do, I will add more photos. Until then, I will include some photos from last year when we were here visiting.

All around the city, workers have planted these huge groups of large marigolds, to bring color for el Día de Muertos. All along the boulevards are these groupings. Unfortunately, we are usually driving too fast for me to take more photos of them, but they are everywhere. One of these days (soon) we will go back to the downtown area to see if the calaveras (skulls) are on display yet, or not. Those, and the beautiful, handmade creatures above. Here, however, are a few of the hundreds of calaveras from last year.

Until tomorrow.

We got a call from Luis this afternoon to come over to the apartment; he had some things to finalize in the kitchen. When we got there, so much has been completed. I will add photos and you can see what progress has been made.

In the above photo, note how high the towel rack is? No one that is wheelchair bound could reach a towel placed there. We have asked Luis to move it to the wall, on the left, as you come in the room. Everyone will be able to reach it there. The same with the toilet paper holder- probably on part of the wood frame of the sink. We shall see.

We are going to buy new, smaller toilets, that will allow even more space in the bathrooms than we have already gotten. In this bathroom, however, every inch counts. To be in a wheelchair, or using a walker, one needs as much space as one can get. plus, we want to get the most bang for our buck (peso). But in this bathroom, along with the smaller toilet, we are going to see if Luis can angle it slightly, to give more leg room in front of the toilet. I tried sitting on it as it is, and I did not have enough leg room. He can decide how to best make it work.

We finalized the placement of the refrigerator, which turned out to be quite large for the smallish space, however, when the cabinets get put in, and everything is in place in the kitchen, I will be sure to add photos.

Luis said Martín is bringing the kitchen table, the folding table, soon, so we are anxious to see it. The chairs are in the second bedroom, also waiting to be used.

The chairs, in the photo above, had been sitting outside at the shop where we purchased them, but sheltered. You might be able to see the scuff marks on the bottoms of the legs, and the unfinished staining between the ribs, where they attach to the seats. Those have all been refinished, and they are all so pretty, and pristine looking. We cannot wait to use them.

Well, that is about it for this update. More another time.

I have been watching a number of Youtube videos in the last few days, mostly dealing with menu planning. That is something I sorely need- to start planning my meals for the week, and cooking with the things on hand, not running to the store, last minute, for this or that.

I discovered a channel called “fun, cheap, or free” by a woman named Jordan F. Page. As it turns out, she is married to her best friend, is the mother of 6, (though soon to be 8, as she is pregnant with twins), is a practicing Mormon, and the author of several books, blogs, video channels, etc., on subjects such as cooking, meal planning, organization in general, finances- well, you get the idea.

Once I started watching her channel, I was hooked. Her ideas about using what you have on hand to prepare your meals for the week caught my interest. That is something I have always wanted to do but do not have the skills, yet, with which to do it. I did not know where to begin. But, since we have to restock our entire fridge, freezers, and pantry, I thought, why not start now?

So, this morning, I got up, took my notes that I made while watching her videos, and made an inventory list of all of the items we will need to buy to start cooking. She suggests you write down the unit price of everything you purchase, from every store you might purchase those items, so you can see if a “sale” price at the local Costco, or Sam’s, or Walmart, is actually a better price than the regular price you pay at your local store. It has to be the unit price for each item, ounces, pieces, whatever is the base price for the item.

I am anxious to get started making our my pricing list, because, since everything is in pesos, it is difficult for me to remember what the cost of, say, bananas are at Costco, versus what they are at Soriana, our local grocery store.

I have my work cut out for me, but I want to save us as much money as I can, as often as I can. Not everything has to be the least expensive, because some things are worth their cost. But where less expensive does not matter, then my price comparisons should help us make better choices.

Again, my loving husband volunteered me to make dinner tonight. We bought two huge pieces of freshly caught salmon, at Costco, yesterday, and decided to try a similar lemon butter sauce, but with roasted veggies, instead of the horrible steamed veggies I made last time.

Here is dinner- finished with lemon butter sauce, with butter, lemon juice, white wine, capers, garlic, honey, and cream. It turned out quite lovely.

Roasting the salmon at about 140°C for 15 minutes is magic! All of the 13 pieces cooked slowly, at the same time, and were done in the time it took to make the lemon butter sauce, approximately 15 minutes. They were soft, and moist, in the center’s and not overcooked. Everyone enjoyed it.

Ivan is doing very well, this post op day 1 (Sunday, the 20th). He was able to sleep some last night, though not a deep sleep. He told me this morning that he had been too hungry to sleep! Poor guy. Yesterday, all he got was a scrambled egg before his surgery, then ice water, and pills the rest of the day and night.

Today, however, he got up, I made him a scrambled egg, and Paty warmed up a cup of chicken broth for him. Now, this afternoon, she made him an apple shake. He is still hungry, however, we do not want to give him something that might get lodged in the implants, and become infected.

But, he is, for the most part, pain free, taking his meds, and doing his mouth rinses as directed. We will find out next week what the next step will be.

Dental implants, people! Dental implants. Ivan is having his top dental plate implanted this month. Saturday, the 19th, he has the 4 posts implanted in his top ridge line, at the office. Then, after that has had time to heal, he will have the prosthesis to use. We cannot wait- me more so than him, probably, if you ask us! But I do not care. He has the nicest smile, and I miss seeing it.

He had a top denture plate that was not fitted properly, and made him gag. The next one, that was made here, did not stay tight, and kept coming loose, so he would take it out, and not wear it. So, the last alternative was to have it implanted, so that is what he is doing.

I must say that I cannot wait for him to be able to actually chew food decently again. There are so many things he cannot eat that he always enjoyed; soon he will be able to do so again. That, and to smile again, teeth showing.

We were so pleasantly surprised tonight by what we saw when we stopped by the apartment to drop off a few things that we received today from Amazon.MX. The bathrooms are close to being finished; the handicapped bathroom door has been hung; the thick glass block wall is almost done in there as well; both vanities have been built, and ours installed, with our sink.

I just knew Martín was building stuff; I just did not know what. Here are some photos to show you how things have progressed, just since Monday. Luis said the other day that the cabinets and countertops should be ready next week for the kitchen. You will be the next to know.

In the photo, up above, with the two guys on the team? They had placed a large cardboard piece over the vanity, and were eating their dinner. When they started to remove it, (I thought they were trying to be polite), I told them that we did not mean to disturb their dinner. They smiled, all the while knowing what was under the cardboard! Needless to say, I squealed like a like girl.

I have seen plenty of very pretty vanities in the past few weeks, but to have something like these two, made by hand, just for us… it was unbelievable! They are both just exactly what we hoped for.

Well, that is it for today’s update. I hope you are enjoying the transformation as much as we are. He project should be finished in the next few weeks, and I will show you everything as it comes to completion.

Every day we seem to be drawing closer to our moving day, however, it continues to elude us.

We stopped by the apartment last evening to see what progress had been made since last week. To our anxious eyes, very little. We are thinking that Martín is possibly fabricating the cabinets, so very little can be done, now, until they are ready. They cannot bring the granite countertops until they have the cabinets on which to place them. Same with the sink, faucets, and drains. The bedrooms, on the other hand, are all but completed. The kitchen, and the bathrooms are all that is left. The washer and dryer are in place; they need only to make a small hole in the window behind the dryer for the vent.

So, I suppose we will just have to keep our hopes up, and not get discouraged. We will be in the apartment by the end of November, and, hopefully, be ready for family by the Christmas holidays.

Speaking of the holidays, there is a Mediterranean dish that has become quite a Mexican tradition, being served at the Christmas holiday season. It is called Bacalao, or, Bacalao a la Viscaina, (Basques style Cod fish Stew). And there are as many versions of it as there are families, all over the world, that prepare it.

There are a few “must haves”, however, such as salted cod, potatoes, romeritos, (similar to rosemary in the North), olives, tomatoes, red peppers, capers, onions, and garlic. The key to using the salted cod, versus fresh, is the desalination of it. And that takes several days, so one needs to plan accordingly.

I am finding more, and more receipts to try, and now that we have new appliances, the wait is getting overwhelming. We are going to live without a microwave, however, for as long as possible, because, I think, we have the ability to function without a coffee warmer!! It seems that is the only thing we use a microwave for- reheating a cup of coffee. Now, we have a new Breville Espresso machine, and, a new multifunction Breville Smart Oven, that also has air fryer capabilities.

The last toys I bought were two new attachments for our Kitchen Aid mixer- a vegetable sheet maker that came with a noodle maker. How cool is that? So, maybe you can see why I am so anxious to start cooking on our own again. It seems like forever, but it has only been 5 months. I am not sure where to start, or, what to make first, but I am sure it will come to me. I am frequently inspired by what we find in the stores. I will let you know, of that you can be sure.

I must say that, for the first time since we arrived, we went out to eat, and had the most tasteless tacos I have ever had the misfortune to eat.

Normally, the food here has such incredible flavors that they stay with you, if not in your mouth, at least in your memory, for hours. Not yesterday. We went, (because I remembered going there 40 years ago), to a place very close to Juan’s first house, called Los Güeros. I tasted absolutely nothing except the textures of the different cuts of meat I had ordered. I could not taste the different salsas I used, nor the onions and cilantro- nothing. I had a taco of steak, one of “al pastor”, and one of longaniza, which is quite spicy, not hot spicy, but flavorful spicy, similar to chorizo.

When we left I had absolutely no idea what I had eaten as I had no flavors in my mouth whatsoever. Since tacos here are only 12 pesos, about $.55 each, we did not break the bank. However, the expectations were….. well, as can guess, rather high.

A lesson learned, and no harm done, but what a disappointment. We will have to go somewhere else, and soon, so my tastebuds can get recharged.