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Goodness gracious. We are going to have to save up for our new “forever” Christmas tree, from now until October.

We found one we like at Costco. It is nine feet tall, and will look gorgeous in our living room. That is one thing our “living area” has, and that is a high ceiling. It is, easily ten feet high, I do believe. We are going to put it in front of the windows.

Speaking of Costco, there is a huge Soriana grocery store in the same parking lot, so we stopped there to get the veg we need for the pozole we are making tomorrow. (Keep reading; you will read all about it). We have never stopped there before, I cannot say why not, but today we did.

It is amazing. It has almost everything we need, except shallots. No one here seems to use shallots. Or, scallions. There are spring onions, which, if you can find the smallest ones, they can be used as scallions. Works for me, anyway. Improvise, adapt, and overcome.

Completing that thought; in two days it will be the sixteenth of September, which is México’s day of Independence, when México first became a country.

Lot’s of things going on in the city. We are going over to Juan’s house to make, and, then eat, of course, pozole. It is, I am told, traditional.

Made with different parts of the pig for flavor, we bought several pieces from the head, the face, and the legs. It is made with hominy, and broth; some use chicken, some beef broth. Personal preference. We are bringing the condiments; the lettuce, onions, and radishes. All prepped for service.

We are, (read I am) going to chop up the onions, and radishes, then thinly slice the lettuce, before taking them there for dinner. Last year, (Ivan and I always chuckle when we remember it), the radishes, and onions were in big chunks, making it a bit difficult to eat as they both have a bit of heat.

I will try to remember to take photos of the dinner, and post it for you.

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

Post script: second paragraph was wrong by miles. We will be getting the seven foot tree and loving it for half the cost. We will pretend it is nine feet tall. 😂

This post will give you a bit of follow up, on things, here, at the hacienda.

These small plants all came from off shoots from the garden at Juan’s house, which I was able to transport, in a small container, here, to our place.

Three pieces of the wandering Jew, however, somehow managed to find their way into my purse! They must have found their way there while we were sitting on the tree surround, waiting for the tires to be balanced. That was a few posts back. I do not know how it happened. They were just there, in my purse, when we got home. Hummm.

As it happened, I put them into a small glass of water, and, within four days, all three pieces had enough root development to be planted. I found my very small terra cotta planter in the pantry area, (do not ask, I have no idea), and, transferred the jade into it. That gave up the slightly larger planter for the WJ. Excellent! (If you look, closely, at the recent photo of the jade, it has two new leaves, petals, on the top. Success.

Now, the pepperomia; that is another tale. If you look at the first photo of the three plants, the pepperomia has the round, thick leaves, and is quite tall. I cut off the top two leaves, when they were large enough, rooted them in water, then transplanted them into the planter, when they had developed roots. You can see the transplanted leaves in the photo; one is in the front of the planter, while the other one is in the back. The plant is quite a bit shorter, for now. It will get taller, and more full, over time.

While we are waiting for these plants to grow more lush, and, vibrant, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

The following photos are testament to just a few things that have been happening around here. Let me know what you think. (Truthfully, it is a lesson in the making of the delicious, probiotic filled drink called kombucha. Better than soda, and, even better for you.)

First, you have my one, and, only two gallon container of my kombucha, complete with its SCOBY “mother”, resting on top. The bubbles are produced as a byproduct of the SCOBY, feeding on the tea and sugar, in the container, which is fermenting. The SCOBY will, in essence, completely seal the top of the fermenting tea, and, produce another layer of SCOBY.

What is a SCOBY, you ask? Well, let me help educate you; it is an acronym, (yes, I had to look that up, ok?) for the following: Symbiotic Colony Of Yeast and Bacteria. It is the “mother”, just like the mother in a bottle of unfiltered vinegar- see Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. It is the thing that, if you contain it, and, feed it, you are able to make more from whatever you took it.

I have (finally) discovered that, in this altitude, it takes less than a week for the kombucha to ferment, and, equally as fast, three, to four, days, max, for the second ferment. The second ferment is simply the process of decanting the kombucha from the large container, into individual bottles that contain whatever flavors of fruit you have decided to try in that batch. You also need to be aware of what fruits contain sugar, because you need the sugar, in the fruit chosen, to continue to feed the tea, to continue this second fermentation process.

Once the second ferment is decanted into flip top bottles, it needs to sit on the countertop for a few days, then, goes into the fridge to relax a bit. Yes, it is still carbonated, (see photo above), but is less carbonated than when it was still on the counter. The amount of carbonation decreases significantly, once refrigerated, because the fermentation process is retarded with the cold temperature of the refrigerator.

Let me say, here, and now, that the first batch was awful! Did we drink it? Of course we did. Probiotics are probiotics. However, now that we only have one large container of kombucha, I do not need to worry about us drinking up all of the bottled kombucha before we need to bottle the next batch.

That said, it also gives us the freedom to try several, different, flavors of this amazing drink. We did not appreciate the combination of blackberries with mango, but, really, did like the pineapple, with just about anything!

We are, soon, going to make another batch, but, while we wait to do that, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

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!

Here is something to ponder.

I was complaining to Ivan about the quantity of Ibuprofen we are able to buy down here. The largest box I have seen has one hundred forty tablets of two hundred milligrams, and, is two hundred, and some, pesos, or, approximately, ten dollars!

What? This is the county that is supposed to have cheaper drug rates. Just not Ibuprofen, I guess.

So, as you can see, from the photo, we are definitely able to purchase a much larger quantity on Amazon. The shipping, however, is untenable. It is no wonder that Juan used to ask us to bring Ibuprofen down with us when we came down on vacation!!!

Conversely, you can buy packages as small as ten tablets for twenty pesos. Who needs only ten tablets of Ibuprofen, I have to ask?

Of course, I have made a plea to my favorite family member who has graciously heard my plea. I will order a plethora of Ibuprofen from Amazon, have them sent to her house, then she will send them to us. Win, win, as I am close to immobile without them.

While we wait for our “stash”, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

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.