Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

You cannot guess what I did this week; for the first time in ages.

If you guessed that I actually cleaned something, you would be correct. That was mean of you, but not the surprise.

I found an app called Fitter, that is taking me, slowly, back into exercising. I did one fifteen minutes of tabata the other day which left me short of breath but not really feeling better. Yesterday I did fifteen minutes of Fitter, and, today, I feel more compact, less Jobba the Hutt.

This time, I feel that I am in the correct mindset to see this through. The warmer weather is going to be here soon and I do not want to endure it at thirty pounds overweight.

Now, for those of you that guessed I actually cleaned something, shame on you for thinking such a thing. That said, let me show you what I did. Hopefully I have a “before” to go with the “after”. Nope.

We were hardly able to get through from the kitchen to the pantry. There was stuff everywhere. After an hour, or so, I finished, then had to lie down for an hour.

I still have trouble with dizziness, looking up, putting something on a shelf above my head; or, if I am on my knees, looking around for something underneath something. I break out in a dripping sweat, am nauseated, feel like I am going to lose control of my bodily functions, on top of my already spinning universe. Good times, right?

Fortunately, a good lie down helps, after about an hour or so.

I have yet to finish cleaning the bathrooms, and dusting. I hate dusting. I need to finish, though, before the end of the week.

Luis texted yesterday that he, and Martín, are finished with several of the pieces we contracted, and we be here to install same.

While we wait, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Happy birthday Mom.

Over the past weekend, Ivan, and “the guys”, Enrique and Jesús, went to the Carnitas shop, again, and bought a ton of carnitas, which were promptly distributed amongst the throng. Philanthropy, if it can be called that, especially during a pandemic, is essential.

They bought buche, (stomach lining), maciza, (the loin), cuerito, (skin, but not fried into chicharrón). They got blue corn tortillas, which were beautifully warm, and fresh; red, and green salsas, chopped onions, chopped cilantro/parsley mix, (yuck), and a liter of Coca Cola.

It is such a pleasant surprise to eat carnitas. And, who does not like pig? I think I would eat pork more often than beef, any day of the week. And do.

Not much more to report today, so I will end with my mantra. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

The other day, after replenishing our staples, I used the half purple cabbage we bought, and, made a small batch of sauerkraut with it. I added some peeled carrots to it as well.

Very simple recipe: shred your cabbage, weigh it, place it in a container big enough to mix it around, add three tablespoons of salt for every five pounds of cabbage, and mash it down every thirty minutes. It will give off water, so you need to mix it up then mash it. Continue mashing it until it is a softer consistency. Do not drain it, however.

When it is soft, place it in whatever container you would like, (I put it in a half gallon jar so I can watch it ferment). The contents need to be submerged completely, or they will spoil. I have put one of my new shower caps (I bought one hundred, the smallest amount I could find online), in the top of the jar, on top of the cabbage, and filled it with water, to maintain pressure. This will allow the carbon dioxide bubbles, that are given off during the fermentation process, an escape.

This will take about two to three weeks to ferment to a point when I want to taste it. Hopefully, it will be sour enough to be enjoyable. I will let you know.

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

Happy birthday Dad.

After finding the Oriental store, and, buying our necessaries, we went to an Asian restaurant called Izakaya-Sushi. It is a restaurant we pass every single time we go to the store. We have seen it dozens of times, but never stopped to consider the cuisine.

This is the front of the restaurant, the valet parked garage as well.

Below is the ramen bowl Ivan got; it is called the Tori Karague Ramen, with chicken karague, (breaded, and fried), purple onion, cilantro, pieces of lime, and sambal oelek, which is the red stuff ; a chile pepper sauce. (I tasted a bite of the chicken- weird texture).

Next, is Enrique’s bowl of a classic, Chasu Ramen; it has pork belly, pork loin, a medium boiled egg, spinach, cabbage, scallions, and naruto, (the white with pink swirl,.

Lastly, my bowl is a Spicy Duck Ramen; in it is duck, (it does not look like much duck, but I had some with every bite), spinach, egg, naruto, (the white with pink swirl), duck fat, (the white cube), cabbage, and, shichimi. The shichimi is the red stuff, next to the egg. It is a spice mixture that is supposed to make this ramen dish “spicy”, though it was not too much so.

This last photo is of our view, from our table, out towards the road we drive when we pass this restaurant. The tree with the purple flowers is called a Jacaranda, and they are all over the city. They are, as you can see, coming into bloom, again. In fact, when we go down this street next week, the whole street, for more than a mile, will be in bloom, both sides. It is gorgeous.

We cannot wait to be “forced” to go back to Izakaya, to say the least. We will force ourselves; for your sakes. Until we do, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

If you ever want to visit, or, better still, retire, to Mexico, you need to learn patience. If not, you will never survive here. You need to leave your Northern personality at the border.

Everything, and I mean that with all sincerity, everything takes so much longer to accomplish here. There is no sense of urgency whatsoever. For us, that is no longer a problem. We are retired, and, have more time than money. So, have at it, I say.

Once I let all that go, it was smooth sailing. Every once in awhile, however, I have to remind myself that we are here, finally; exactly where we have dreamed of being. Everything else is of little, or no, consequence.

When we have to wait in line everywhere, at the bank, the stores, etc., then, we do. I used to get upset, even angry, having to waste so much of my “precious time”, but, back then, I still had my Northern personality firmly attached.

Today, we have been driving around, looking for a good Oriental market to finish buying our supplies for making Oriental food. Fortunately, we were able to find a nice, big store only a few kilometers from us.

It does not look like much, but we were able to pick up a few things we needed, and, will soon be on our way to having lunch at an Oriental restaurant we pass on our way to Costco. Who knows what we will find there to eat?

While we are on our way, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Yesterday, after visiting the dentist, after shopping, again, at Costco, and Soriana, we, that is Ivan, our friend, Enrique, and I, had to go to Toks for an early dinner.

It was almost four thirty pm, for crying out loud. I was melting into my shoes, like the wicked witch of the West. We were able to eat at a table outside, which was perfect. There was a cool breeze blowing, we were sitting under the cement canopy of the mall, out of the sun; perfect.

For our dinners, Enrique, and I had the fish, with the red chile sauce; white rice; green beans; and, a carrot sauce, as in the photo below.

Ivan had the Mahi Mahi, that was covered with a slightly spicy sauce containing pineapple; rice, with greens in butter; in photo below. All three of us had a cup of chile poblano soup; a refreshing drink of tamarindo with ginger; and a cup of coffee Americano. Yum.

Below, is a photo of the piece of carrot cake Ivan, and Enrique ate, with the coffee. The cake was huge.

Ivan ended up bringing more than half of that bad boy home. He also had to bring home most of his fish plate, as he had to save space for the piece of cake!!

This is a photo of the cake for which he was hoping, for which he was saving the space!

When the time came, they were out of it! They both had to settle for the carrot cake. Too bad, so sad.

I have made a list of a several things I need to get done in the next few days/weeks. Until I get them all done, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

We went to the dentist, again, this past week. I had a cracked molar that broke off the last time we were in Los Altos

It was around the holidays, if you will recall. While out on Jesús’s father’s property, he roasted some fava beans on the fire, and gave us each one. It was not something I knew anything about, so, when I tried to chew it, without, first, breaking off the shell, it broke my tooth. I did not realize it until the next morning when the broken piece came out while I was eating breakfast, however.

Anyway, la dentista removed the rest of the tooth, made me a temporary crown, which she will exchange for the permanent crown when it is made. So nice not to have that hole in my tooth. I really do not like holes in my teeth.

We are on our way to Costco, and Soriana again today, to finish up buying what we need. Here is what we bought yesterday.

Before we went to store, the fridge was almost empty. Now, we have no room for anything else, until we start dividing this up with our family, and friends.

Below is a photo of the lettuce we bought, see photo number two above. It is organic, with the roots wound up around the base of the lettuce head.

I put cling film around this plastic bowl, cut three squares in the top, unwound the roots, and put them in the water. (I circled one of the larger openings on the left, there are two, the second across from this one, and the smaller one at the bottom, in the next photo).

The finished product. The third, smaller square, is to add water as needed. I cannot wait to see if I can sustain them.

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

Yay! We are actually outside the condo. The sun is shining; the temperature is a moderate sixty two degrees, and we are loving life.

And on our way to the grocery store. Our list of produce is over half of the list. We are out of everything perishable. Not to worry; we are going to the bank to get some money and will be that much closer to rectifying this situation.

I was so excited this morning- we got up at seven twenty, showered, had coffee, I fed the sourdough, watered the plants, and put on some makeup. I cannot remember the last time I wore makeup. My face was always so puffy and bloated from drinking. Now that we have stopped that, my face is getting better. I am still overweight, but, hopefully, not for much longer.

Today I am restarting my exercise routine with a few HIIT minutes of what is called tabata. It is only a few minutes, once, or twice, daily, and is a bit intense.

While I wait, patiently, for results, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

I got around to making a new batch of kombucha the other day. Only had canned pineapple, and not much of that even. We shall see how it goes.

I did remember to leave the portable heater in there so the fermentables are all going along swimmingly. I am going to try to stagger my kombucha batches, maybe two weeks apart. We shall see on that front as well.

The starter that I fed twice yesterday, and now, twice again today, raised to its full rise, and held there for six hours. What a win. Tomorrow’s rise should be at least that good, maybe better. Time will tell.

Tomorrow I am going to try my hand at fermenting some cabbage and carrots, to make a sauerkraut. That should be ready to eat with a couple of weeks. Cannot wait to see how it turns out.

While we wait on sourdoughs rising, and kombucha fermenting, stay happy, stay healthy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

This batch of sourdough has got to be the strongest yet. It is not ready to bake bread yet, but it is getting there; quickly.

I will post a series of photos, taken throughout today, and show you what I mean. It will show you the starting point, at one o’clock pm, the rise, until three thirty pm, when I removed the lid to see the top of the starter, but when I set it back down on the counter, it completely collapsed. I stirred it with a SS chop stick, and set it back on the counter. The rest of the photos show its progression back to the height of being double in volume; from three thirty, until just now, at six pm. Cannot wait to see how strong it will be by the end of the week. Here are the photos.

I will continue to feed the starter twice a day for the next few days, and go from there. Until then, you already know what to do. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.