Category: Initial post

Before I continue with this post, let me express my sincerest condolences to all of those involved in the horrific events that took place, on this day, in two thousand and one; specifically, the bombing of the World Trade Center, in New York City. We will never forget.

Moving forward, we went to the wonderful bakery, Esperanza, the other day; una panadería maravillosa. It is a bakery that is excelled by few, anywhere in the city.

Here is a photo of a few of the semisweet offerings we took to Juan’s house. (Better them than us).

The two large, round pastries on the bottom left, one chocolate, and one, vanilla, are called conchas, (shells). The heart shaped one next to the conchas, is called orejas, (ears). To the right of that, the round one, bound by another round pastry, (my personal favorite), is called an ojo, (eye). Above that, the double white pastry, with jam in the middle, is a beso, (kiss). The small, dark chocolate pastry is called a chocolate garibaldi- sorry, no translation. Last, but not least, is a muffin with, I think, pecans, no translation needed; a muffin is a muffin. 😉

Notice, if you will, that nowadays, everything is wrapped individually, for everyone’s safety. Hopefully, it will remain the same in future. Why go backwards? BTW, most of those pastries are less than one dollar each. Nice!

The bolillos, (in the photo below), are still one peso, (five cents) which, I think, is phenomenal! It is the only item not wrapped, mainly, because it is, usually, purchased en gross. Most folks that purchase these buy about a dozen, or more. They make the best sandwiches.

Down here, the bolillo has a delicately crunchy outside, and, a pillowy soft inside. What is not to like? Up North, they are much chewier inside; more dense, if you will.

Yesterday, however, I made my first two loaves of ciabatta bread that will, soon, become herbed croutons. I do not wish to be dependent on the croutons from the store, which are usually hard as rocks. Here is how it went.

I have, once again, been bitten by the bread baking bug, (or, in this time of quarantine, the BB virus). I have been feeding my sourdough culture for at least four weeks now, and it is quite healthy. Right now, however, it is resting in the fridge as I was unsure how it was going to go with the ciabatta bread.

I wish I could explain how wonderful the loaves smell. They actually woke Ivan up from his nap!!! He came to the kitchen, asking what that wonderful smell was!!! I cannot blame him, that he did not recognize it; it has been over three years since I made a loaf of bread. Wow. It has been too long!!!

I feel that the ciabatta was a success, thankfully, so, I will continue to produce more loaves, and, hopefully, have enough folks willing to eat said products. We will stay hopeful.

Until that happens, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

Post script: I just made a bacon sandwich from the bread loaf on the right, and, some lovely little roasted tomatoes on the vine. Suffice it to say I will wait a while to change these into croutons. The bread, this morning, is just the perfect amount of softness; enough so that Ivan might even be able to eat the inside portions. Cannot wait to see if he likes it. Yum!

Today, we are, once again, at the dentist office. Ivan is having two of the four posts reimplanted; they will hold the top denture plate in place. Over the course of several weeks, after their original implantation, the two posts on the right side came out. The bone in his jaw enlarged, just enough to allow them to slip out. His new posts are here so Dr. Priscila is implanting them.

Her office has been completely remodeled, and, looks wonderful. I think I have both before, and, after photos. Do not go anywhere. I am going to look for them.

Found them. Here they are.

A few days later, Ivan is doing well, as expected. He is eating scrambled eggs, sometimes with a piece of soft white bread. He is taking his meds as prescribed, and will follow up in the office in a few days.

¡Ya Abrimos! (We are already open)!

All over our part of town, signs, as above, are going up; more each day. Everyone announcing they are, once again, open for business. Come in, and, help us get back on our feet, they seem to say.

We are happy to comply. Getting out of the condo, even if only for a short while, is a treat.

Now that we have eaten so well, it is safe for us to head over to Superama to pick up a few veggies for soup. While we do that, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

While we were waiting, the other day, for the tires to be balanced, we went across the street, to the boulevard, in the middle, and, sat, listening, and, watching the vehicles pass by. They were loud, and, much more frequent than the past months.

The day was as beautiful as it could possibly have been. The temperature was seventy two degrees, and, a lovely breeze was passing us. We sat in the shade, and became one with our surroundings. It was so lovely getting outside, especially on a day like that.

Sitting on the tree surround, I was able to take the following photos of the most commonly used plants in this area. They are all of African origins; easily grown here, as well. Let me see what I have.

Once again, I wanted to show you how beautiful the boulevards are here. This is one of my favorites, but there are many just as beautiful; some, even more so.

We are still waiting for the tires to finish balancing, so, while we wait, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

Post script: the balancing cost us nine dollars and seventeen cents.

It was sixteen years ago that my dad, Robert L. Nelson, passed away after having had multiple strokes. He was seventy six years old, and, far too young.

This is Labor day weekend, for those of you up North. Down here, it is just another weekend, in the time of the CoVid virus quarantine. Every day is just another Saturday, or Sunday, right now. Boring.

We do one little thing daily, because we do not want to have absolutely nothing to do for the day. If we got everything caught up, what would there be to do?

We are on our way to have the new tires balanced on the Mercedes, after having dropped off the older tires at Juan’s house. We can enjoy a bit more of the beautiful weather before having to go home.

While we wait to finish this latest episode of our continuing saga, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

We have come to Costco to have our new tires put on. In the same parking lot is our favorite restaurant, Toks, so, because it is only nine fifteen, of course, we need to have coffee, and breakfast. No better place away from home than Toks.

This time, instead of splitting a plate of machaca con huevo, with Ivan, I had the Huevos al Albañil con Arrachera. I will try to show you a photo.

Arrachera is incredibly tender fajitas, huevos are eggs, and, albañil is to build. So, you are building your eggs with salsa and fajitas. The little nest on the plate is a small corn tortilla, holding a cut serrano pepper, and sliced, sautéed onions.

The tires were installed successfully, and we are taking only two of the four older tires with us. Here is a photo of what they do with the tires you take out.

Neat, huh? I do not know if they do that up North, but I think it is great. Now, when they are taken out of the trunk, our clothes will not get dirty. Win-win.

While we were having breakfast, we were able to communicate with Luis, our friend, and, contractor, who says they are coming down next week to continue the remodeling of the condo. We are anxious for them to continue.

While we wait for them, be sure to stay happy, stay healthy, and, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

We celebrated quite well the other night, for Ivan’s birthday! To say that none of us was able to go about our daily business the next day is an understatement!

The four of us, Ivan, the birthday recipient, (no, he is not a birthday boy!), Enrique, Marco, and I, shared two lovely bottles of vino tinto, (red wine), one from Argentina, and one from Baja de California, and, then, had a fine, not yet spectacular, dinner.

We, each, had a goodly sized portion of thirty day, medium rare, dry aged sirloin steak; a jus with butter; lovely mashed potatoes; a tossed salad, with cherry tomatoes, and, avocado, (with diced hard boiled egg, and, diced purple onion, on the side,), and, asparagus, grilled, with olive oil, coarse salt, then drizzled with Vinagre de Balsalmico!

There was very little to send home with “the guys”, but I did manage a bit. Each got a bit of potato mash, asparagus, and, whatever was left of the steak they had eaten. Not such a bad deal, I had to think!

Did I tell you how well my husband cleaned, and arranged the rooms, to accommodate the party? I hope I have the photos to show you what he did. (I just made the two dozen flour tortillas, potato mash, asparagus, steaks, and, salad. We share the load. It is the only way!)

These next forty, plus, birthdays, for both of us, are, and, will be, so special! Each one signifies another year of wonder, learning, exploring, learning, living!

We have found our Shangri la. There is no other place in this world we want to be. We are so at peace here, next to the beautiful parks, in the fresh air, the beautiful sunshine, the amazing people!

It is like nothing we have experienced before, except when coming here on vacation. But it is more than that; it is a new life experience! We are happy to embrace the lifestyle, the culture, the experience. This is why we are here.

Soon, in the next year, we are wanting to start traveling; within México, and, around the world. Until we do, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

I do not understand what is wrong with me. I wonder if I am losing what little mind I have left?!

So far, in just these two days past, I have misplaced a large, red, handheld fan from Japan, a gift, and, my small leather coin purse, full of coins!

Of course, I have not gone down to the cars, to check them; that is too much work. When Ivan goes out tomorrow, to get the new tires for the Mercedes, he will check the cars. Much easier that way. Of course, I will have to, at some point, go down, and check them myself. Either of us could be looking for an object that we cannot find, only to have the other one comment that it is in the other ones hand!!!

Such is life, eh? Until I find the dang things, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: I am going to try my hand at some sort of bread, or, rolls using some of the sourdough for leavening. I will let you know, good, or, bad, how things work out.

Can I write, just briefly, about the joys of constipation?

I have started making our own flour tortillas, and, let me just say- WOW. They have stopped me up like a plug in the sink. TMI- I know, but that is why you love me.

Now, we are finally outside, on our way to the grocery store, and, with all of the bumpy streets, my intestinal status is changing. Rapidly. If we do not get there, and, fairly quickly, well, I am not sure how to finish that thought.

Whew! Everything is fine. As an adult, I was able to control myself, therefore, all is well. We are on our way to drop off some groceries at Juan’s house, then, to Telcel, to check on our phone bill, and lastly, to Soriana, on a reconnaissance mission.

I have been trying to import King Arthur AP flour, but am unable. Now, I will have to start using whatever the best flour is here, locally. Should be interesting.

Until I can find all of the things I need to bake organically, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: after we dropped off the groceries at Juan’s, we stopped to chat for awhile, and, yes, business taken care of.

We did it. We cut up the thirty day dry aged beef primal of sirloin, and this is how it went. (This post will be mainly photos).

What an adventure. We started this on the twenty eighth of July, finishing today, the twenty seventh of August. Took up a bit of real estate in the fridge, but well worth the time, the space, and the expense.

I cannot recall how much we paid for the primal cut, but we gained two hundred fifty to three hundred dollars worth of steaks. They are going to be so tender, and delicious, we cannot wait.

The trimmings will be vacuum sealed and placed in the freezer. When we have enough room in the freezer to make some more ground beef, we will incorporate pieces of the trimmings as we grind the meat, which will impart deep, beefy flavor into the ground meat. Cannot wait!!

We are not going to eat the steaks until Saturday night, because we are going over to Juan’s house tomorrow night to have NY strips with them. Sacrifices.

I will let you know how they tasted, be assured. Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.