Author: iagardener55

I had the opportunity tonight, to program 6 automatic timers for Juan’s three condominiums in Cuernavaca, MX. No one is living in them at the moment, so it is necessary to make it look like someone is living in each of the condos.

It was a lot of fun programming each condo to vary the times that lights came on, stayed on, went off, came on again, for how long, went off, came on again, supposedly “while getting ready for work”. Then, in the evening, each condo comes on within a half hour of the others, stays on while someone is “downstairs watching TV”. Then someone goes upstairs to get ready for bed, while others are still downstairs doing something amazing.
Each condo has its own occupants, doing what comes naturally to those people. It was great fun, and I hope it will serve its purpose- keep intruders out.
I had to show everyone here how they are set, why there are set the way they are, and how to make each one work properly, because no one here has used these before. Ivan and I, however, used these every year, when we came down to México, in October! Now they will serve as watchmen of the condos in beautiful Cuernavaca!
If you have never tried them, I encourage you to use them this holiday season, to make intruders think someone is home when you are not. Automatic timers- once you use them you will be hooked. Let me know what you think.

Another amazing restaurant, here in lively CDMX, we “discovered“ a few weeks after moving here- Pollos Estilo Norteño®, (Chicken in the Northern style).

This being Sunday, and no one wants to cook on Sundays, people flock to places like this. Unfortunately, places like this only stay open until about 5:00 pm & 6:00 pm. So if you did not get there early enough, too bad for you. They grill between 50 & 100 spatchcocked chickens, all at the same time. Some are brushed with butter, and either S&P, or a yummy “something” that is spicy.

They have tongs that are about 30” long so they can reach across the grill without completely burning off their skin. Plus, there are 3 or 4 cooks grilling, helping each other, flipping, rearranging, cutting the chickens once cooked, and serving. While you wait, they serve you a small piece of chicken, and, either a small beer, or a soda pop. We usually opt for the beer.

The chicken is incredible, the mollejas are soft, and grilled to perfection, the sopa de médula, (look that one up yourselves), is delicious.

We also got about 1/2 kg. each of rib eye steak, and asado de tira, (roast strip), 1/2 kg. ribs, 1 L. frijoles charros, arroz, tortillas de maíz y harina, cebollas de chambray, (spring onions), tossed salad, and 3 different types of salsas.

Well, that is it for this Sunday dinner. I doubt there will be much, if anything, left after everyone serves themselves. There are rarely leftovers here, because there are, routinely, 9-10 people eating throughout a day, so quantities are large, and so are appetites. Fortunately, as you may remember, there are a plethora of parks nearby to walk through, should one have an interest. Not me, and not today. I am sitting here, typing, and enjoying the memory of Pollos Estilo Norteño®.

One day last week I decided that it was time to switch all of my electronic devices to Spanish. Somewhere along the way, I decided that the best way to learn to speak a different language was to be totally dependent upon it. And, let me just say that, as really good decisions go, that was one of my better ones.

For over the past week I have been typing messages only in Spanish, having to use Google Translator less, and less. Now that I have switched my phone to Spanish, it shows me the next word I want, correctly, an in Spanish. How neat is that?

It is so helpful to think of what I want to say, and have the words pop up, and in the correct grammatical form as well. Win, win. It helps reinforce, or correct, what I was already thinking, and planning to type.

You may not even realize the extent that this is helpful, but if you ever try to learn a different language, and only work at it as a pastime, or a hobby, it is so much more difficult to learn. Having moved here, and wanting to be able to share myself with this family, I decided to jump in with both feet, knowing all the while that my family will help me hit the ground easily, and without being hurt. They love me as much as I love them.

So, immersion. It is the only way to go.

We took my F-I-L, Juan, to La Salón Berlin tonight, and had a soup (sopa) that was incredible- simple, but it had so much flavor!! It was a chicken broth, (with a chunk of chicken, complete with rib bones, or thigh, or, whichever bone, for flavor), with garbanzo beans, onion, a touch of cabbage, and some sort of tiny, but spicy, chili!!! With a touch of lime juice, everything was calm, edible.

Heather, this is for you. We ended our botana with a small plate of “un pizco de cerdo, con verdolagas, en una caldo de cerdo!!! Do you remember what verdolagas are called? Purslane!! In every country, EXCEPT the US, it is a nutrient-dense plant that will feed hundreds of thousands of people for next to nothing!! In the US, and only the US, it is considered a weed!!!

I cannot tell you how delicious this meal was. It is everything you could ask for in a meal, and then some.

Thank you. To all of the staff at the Salón Berlin for main very Friday a wonderful end to a, probably, long week.

We took my F-I-L, Juan, to La Salón Berlin tonight, and had a soup (sopa) that was incredible- simple, but it had so much flavor!! It was a chicken broth, (with a chunk of chicken, complete with rib bones, or thigh, or, whichever bone, for flavor), with garbanzo beans, onion, a touch of cabbage, and some sort of tiny, but spicy, chili!!! With a touch of lime juice, everything was calm, edible.

Heather, this is for you. We ended our botana with a small plate of “un pizco de cerdo, con verdolagas, en una caldo de cerdo!!! Do you remember what verdolagas are called? Purslane!! In every country, EXCEPT the US, it is a nutrient-dense plant that will feed hundreds of thousands of people for next to nothing!! In the US, and only the US, it is considered a weed!!! This should tell you folks how controlling the ad agencies, and marketing people are.

I cannot tell you how delicious this meal was. It is everything you could ask for in a meal, and then some. And this is considered a botana, sort of a couple of appetizers up North. This is done, here, in every bar, and restaurant, from about 3 pm to around 6 pm. Happy hours.

Thank you- to all of the staff at the Salón Berlin for making this Friday a wonderful end to a very long week.

From last Monday to this past Friday, all sorts of things happened at the apartment. They probably are not much to you folks, but to us, even seeing the new bedroom door handles is exciting.

Here are a few photos of what is happening. I think I will put the before (April) photo immediately followed by the now (Sept) photo.

Well, those are the highlights of the remodel in week 4. Things could not be progressing any better, we do not think. More photos next week.

THEY HAVE ARRIVED!!! We were called to the apartment today to accept the delivery of the appliances- all 4 of them. Yay!!!

Let me tell you that it took five strong guys to move the refrigerator up the two, very narrow, flights of steps, removing the box, and the front door, in order to get it into the apartment!!! But in it went, without a scratch!! Immediately followed by the dryer, washer and stove.

Thanks to all of the guys that helped. I wish I as smart enough to capture a photo of them, but I was too busy supervising!!!

All of our new beauties are resting in the LR- waiting for the day they get to go to their designated spaces. We cannot wait, and, I am sure, they cannot wait either.

We were told that Luis was bringing the new stove from the apartment over here, to Juan’s house today. We cannot wait to see how it works.

It is here. We love it, but, even more importantly, they love it. Here it is, in all of its glory.

The burners all work, the oven works, the oven light works. Really, you cannot ask for more than that, right?

That is right, I am making the leap to gel nail polish. My nails having been getting longer by the week, with all of the dishes I do, 😉 and I want them to look nice for as long as I can. Therefore, I am treating myself to a monthly, at-home manicure, using gel polish, which is supposed to last 2-4 weeks, without chipping or peeling. (I will be the judge of that.) I forgot to mention that they require an LED light that “cures” them- like the new amalgam that is used in the dentists offices that requires a blue light to set the product. This gel will only “cure” under the UV or LED light, but takes only 2 minutes to dry hard. Yay!!!

When I was working, my nails would grow quickly because I washed them about 200 times every day. I needed to keep them short, however, so they would harbor as little bacteria as possible after all of the scrubbing I did. Now that I am retired, and living the dream, I only have to be a bit more cautious in my daily routines.

This does not mean that I have become a “princess”- far from it. Our lives here are much more difficult than up North. Very little is taken for granted here. For instance, there are no vacuum cleaners, no dishwashers, heck the washing machine has just been taken upstairs, but the dryer is still not hooked up. So, we either hand wash everything, and hang it all to dry, and hope someone gets it in before it rains, or, take it to the nearest laundromat, which is what we do now. We paid $500MN to have the equivalent of 5 loads done- remember, that is wash, dry, and fold. 🙂

We were asking the house keeper to do the washing for awhile, but the clothes kept drying with soap spots on them so we stopped that. They looked worse when they were dry, with spots, than when they were unclean. Anyway, the folks at the laundromat weigh the clothes we take, charge us by the kilo, and have them washed, dried, and folded, placed in neat plastics bags, and are very reasonable.

They also allow us our little “peccadillos”. You all know that I have been making our laundry soap for what, close to 10 years. And, we have only used white vinegar in the rinse, with wool dryer balls for the dryer for the pat 5 or 6 years. (Ivan developed an allergy to most laundry soaps, and most of the softeners). That was the best solution I could come up with- make our own soap, skip the softener, use the vinegar instead, and dryer balls in the dryer. No more itching, no more rashes. And no more softener smell that stays on your clothes for a month!!! The biggest plus, though, is that the vinegar keeps the washing machine clean of soap scum build up.

Did I mention all of the cost savings? It actually costs us about $0.02 per load of laundry at home. And the vinegar, keeping the washer clean, that is just a plus.

Anyway, what these nails will look like, once we start putting things away in the apartment, only the Lord knows. Until then, I am going to have some fun with gel nail colors.

Always a fun thing to do, right, buying new appliances? Not so! One of the problems with that here is, as I have mentioned before, the distance between the stores.

When we first started looking for appliances, we went to the trustworthy, local Sam’s Club, and found a refrigerator we liked. Several days later, we went to Home Depot, and saw another refrigerator we liked. Then, the following week, we went to Costco, and saw both of the same ones as in the previous two stores, but for $1,000 – $3000MN more, each. Same thing went for the washer/dryer, and the stove.

Way back in 2007, when we bought all of our appliances, we spent weeks researching, on line, multiple different brands, styles, and features, of refrigerators, washers and dryers, and stoves. After several weeks, we chose the ones we wanted, ordered them, (online, of course), and they were all delivered to the house; easy peasy. We clapped our hands, job well done! Not so now, however. Actually seeing them, hands on, in the stores, is almost too overwhelming for me. What if I say I want this one, but when we get it home, it is nothing like what I thought it was going to be? (Commonly referred to as Buyers Remorse). And ordering them from the US is, well, you guessed it, cost prohibitive.

Refrigerators- french doors, freezer on the bottom? Single door, freezer on the top? Black, white, or SS? LG, Samsung, Daewoo, Mabe? Yikes!

Stove- the stove that is in the apartment (a Mabe, 6 burner) is coming over here because their oven has not worked in ages, and ours does not have a broiler. Must have a broiler!!! We will, more than likely, end up with a countertop broiler of some sort. It is hard to find ovens with broilers here.

Washer and dryer- stacked, or side by side? Black, white, or SS? Simple dials, or computerized? Same brands for makers.

So, on it goes. I am fairly sure we are buying something soon, however- probably the stove first, then the fridge, then the washer and dryer. Probably a similar 6 burner gas stove by Mabe, then a SS LG French door, freezer on the bottom, (‘cuz we cannot find a single door with f-o-t-b), then, the washer and dryer, probably white, and Maytag, or Whirlpool. They will have dials, and they will be top loading because here, if the computer portion of your appliance goes caput, it is very hard to find someone to work on it. We are definitely not getting front loading!! It used to take about 45 minutes to one hour to wash our clothes, and another 2-3 hours to dry the darn things. No more. Now we want badda bing, badda boom. We will probably buy everything at Home Depot because of their fast delivery, guarantees, and it consolidates everything in one place.

Lastly, the running total looks to be about$61,000MN, or $3000, for 4 brand new appliances. Not bad, huh?!? **Update- we bought all four appliances for $50,250MN!! Most of them went on sale this week, starting yesterday, when we bought them. Arriving at the apartment tomorrow sometime. Now they just need to be lugged up two flights of steps.