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Nancy in Pátzcuaro

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Everything posted by Nancy in Pátzcuaro

  1. I'd watch Frances McDormand take out the trash. She's a chameleon--a brilliant actor who's different in every movie.
  2. I like that--the size of a blueberry. I would also like recipes that tell us actual amounts rather than "a medium onion." And then there's "chili" vs. "chile." One is something you make for a cold night's dinner, and the other is a pepper.
  3. Have you guys ever camped in Quartzite? From what I understand it's a small city in the winter but clears out completely in the summer. Is it a free for all in terms of sites, or are there organized areas? I admit to being a little curious.
  4. * that would be me, the day my credit card was refused (it had been compromised, but I was unaware at the time) and I had to rummage through my purse for cash….including coins…and figure out where the heck to insert them. I felt like such a dope - hey lady, you’re at the grocery store, is it a big shock you need to pay! That was me, last summer. For some reason I didn't have my card with me and had to pay cash. Trying to find the place to insert cash was embarrassing--I had to ask for help. I kept saying, "I usually pay with a credit card, so I didn't know where it was!" The employee told me that a lot of people have the same problem. Clearly the store wants us to use credit cards, so that's the most noticeable and convenient location for the card.
  5. And then there's proofreading. My part-time job in college was proofreader for the local paper. Mind you, this was in the days of hot type and linotypes--in other words, in the very distant past. But it did teach me to spell. My pet peeve is that human eyes apparently never see the content, so the spell checker is only looking for words spelled correctly, not that the word is the correct one. So you get some pretty peculiar usage. Or sometimes there's an ingredient in the instructions that doesn't exist in the ingredient list, or vice versa. Re-reading the recipe doesn't help, because no one at the publishing house even looked at it. This is most common in on-line recipes, in websites that seem to proliferate like rabbits on the internet. The worst offenders are the ones that assume we're all mindless idiots who don't know which end of a spoon to pick up. Sorry--a little cranky this morning.
  6. My husband dislikes them. He always says he wants to go to the regular checkout lanes "to make sure a human has a job." I, however, prefer the self checkout system because I understand it and it takes less time. Until it became so popular it always meant a quick process. Unfortunately there will usually be something that doesn't scan properly and requires human intervention, but the employees who monitor the area are always cheerful and helpful. I always thank them for their help as I'm leaving. Most people don't, I've noticed.
  7. I have the same problem--allgoneaphobia. As a result my pantry is full of little jars of oriental seasonings, among others. Or I'll read a recipe that has a specific ingredient, so I'll search for it. Once I have it I've forgotten the recipe--the reason I bought it--and so it languishes on the shelf. I'm not sure why I bought that sesame paste, for instance.
  8. Sure is a lot of bacon in those photos. Good thing--both the dog and I love bacon.
  9. I'm with you, Heidih. There are things we shouldn't put in our mouths, much less swallow.
  10. We know "fly agaric" or amanita muscaria as the indicator species for boletus edulis when foraging in the Colorado mountains. They grow in the same habitat, so when you see the amanitas, which are pretty noticeable (being red and all), you start looking for the boletes. I wouldn't eat amanitas, but they are helpful in holding down the fly population (hence the name). Some people use amanita muscaria as a hallucinogen, but I don't think anyone ever described them as "delicious."
  11. I make a lot of crackers with my sourdough discard, and you've just given me a new flavor profile. Would you use the fresh leaves, or the dried? I think I'll try using the fresh leaves first. Like you I have a very large--one might call it "huge"-- thyme plant. Thanks for the idea.
  12. That was Bellas Artes. The theatre seats are pretty small and you have barely enough room for your gringo knees, but the performance and the exquisite Tiffany curtain make you forget about all that. I have loved ballet folklorico from the first time I saw it. Just recently we attended the high school graduation of 2 young students, and the school has its own troupe that performed at the end of the ceremony. They were very impressive.
  13. I wouldn't obsess too much about weather in Mexico City. For one thing you won't have to worry about hurricanes, though the occasional earthquake may disrupt plans. If you haven't already gone, the major concern is pollution, which makes the skyline disappear at times. Mexico City isn't really a walking town--too big--but someplace like Condesa or Roma is manageable. A trip to Coyoacan and Casa Azul (Frida Kahlo's house) is worth the trip. Go around the corner to see where Leon Trotsky spent his last days for a real contrast in housing and comfort. Coyoacan is a nice area that used to be a separate town but has been swallowed up by the metropolis. There are many wonderful museums to visit, the best of which (for us) is the Museo de Antropologia that displays the vast wealth of Mexican archaeology. A tour of the enormous Mercado de la Merced (you'll need a guide to keep from getting lost) is fun. Tenochtitlan, a major archaeological site, is very close to the zocalo and the Cathedral. This was the city that Cortez conquered, though much of it is buried under the city now. Lots of buildings have important murals done by the Big 3 (Rivera, Orozco and Siquieros). Bellas Artes on the Alameda park has a good display of work, plus being a remarkable example of Art Deco (on the inside, the outside is more Arte Nouveau). Try to see some Ballet Folklorico in the theatre with its Tiffany glass curtain. Enjoy yourself--it's one of the major cities of the world, full of good things to see and do.
  14. Elk is one of my favorites. I first had it a zillion years ago in a Bavarian restaurant in Black Hawk, Colorado (now replaced by yet another casino) and loved it at first bite. A friend has a swoon-worthy recipe for elk with porcini, but it's been a few years since he was able to get an elk during the season. Which is just as well, since my stash of dry porcini is pretty much depleted.
  15. For years I've reduced my homemade chicken stock to a jelly consistency and frozen it in ice cube trays. I don't have freezer space for all the water of regular chicken stock--I can always add it later. One ice cube of the reduced stock makes one cup of very respectable chicken stock. When I make the original stock I use carrot, celery, onion, and add thyme, garlic, whole black peppercorns, a fistful of fresh parsley, and a bay leaf or 2, depending on the amount of stock. Strain out the solids and reduce the stock further, then chill and scrape off the fat. Works like a charm and I always have a lot of chicken stock to work with. I suspect it would work with beef or other meats as well.
  16. Not to be pedantic and all, but the bird you IDed as an osprey in Loreto is actually a frigate bird. Unusual to see them sitting still--most of the time they're airborne and sailing over the coast. They also steal food from other birds, especially seagulls. They spend a lot of time on the rigging of fishing boats hoping for a snack. Beautiful in flight but nasty the rest of the time.
  17. I would process them. Depending on altitude it could be as short as 15 minutes for sea level up to 30 or more minutes at higher altitude. I live at 7,000 feet so I do 30 minutes at a good rolling boil in the canning kettle. This way your preserves will last for much longer than if you didn't process at all. Remember that bad bacteria isn't always visually or otherwise perceptible. I only use a thermometer if I'm using pectin, though I can't quite get the mixture hot enough at this altitude without a pressure cooker, which I don't have. I make a lot of jam these days, with the availability of very good fruit. Papaya jam is amazing.
  18. Unfortunately the fridge is about a year old (LG) and has never given us a moment's concern. No, I think something fell over and spilled its guts. Clean a fridge is not my favorite activity, though it does give me a chance to discard the science projects in the back. As an old friend (deceased, alas) used to say, "Should we throw it out now or chill it first?" At moments like this (cleaning out the fridge) I still remember that. Words to live by.
  19. For some reason there often seems to be a reddish/brownish splotch that has dripped down from the top shelf to every other horizontal surface, food containers included. I'm puzzled about this--I don't have a huge container of maraschino cherries that has sprung a leak, and everything else in the fridge seems kinda earth toned. Where does this stuff come from? And how does a refrigerator get this yucky in such a short time after the last cleaning? Oh well, we're heading north in about a month for our annual visiting friends and families/shopping/camping trip and I have to make sure that the fridge is clean before I leave. Otherwise--I don't even want to think about it.
  20. The last time we drove through the coastal region of Nayarit, a state in Mexico north of Puerto Vallarta, we noticed the return of tobacco fields. Not many, but still noticeable. Years before the entire region was full of tobacco plants, but slowly over the years they were replaced by watermelon, beans, corn and pineapples. Tobacco is an attractive plant--too bad it's not just decorative.
  21. Many (and I really mean "many") years ago I worked with a woman who bragged that she could make a different jello salad for every day of the year. Yep--365 of 'em. She had worked at a smorgasbord restaurant (remember those?) and was called upon to come up with a new jello concoction for every day. I was too young (teenager) at the time to have the courage to ask her about them. I wish I had--surely there were some that would fall under the category of "regrettable." I do remember being impressed, though.
  22. There's a baker here in Patzcuaro who makes the absolute best bolillos (small football-shaped loaves) because he does what Alamoi suggested. Which is, he saves dough from the previous batch. Of course, this bakery has been in business probably for decades, so the amount of wild yeast on the walls is probably a significant factor. There's a faint sourness to the bread itself. Because the "old dough" has had a little more fermentation time than the "new dough," it transmits a bit of that improved flavor to the new batch. The baker is a short man, dressed in a tank top, jeans and study boots, wields a long narrow peel on which he's loaded up the bolillos. These are then shoveled into a very hot wood-fired oven. People have been known to drive to the bakery with butter and honey to get the bolillos hot from the oven. He makes a limited number per day, so one has to get there early. The bakery is hard to find--it's in a residential neighborhood near the railroad tracks. There used to be a huge palm tree in front, but several years ago it was cut down. Naturally there's no sign.
  23. My sister, who grows a huge garden and grows a lot of chiles, processes her Anaheims and other chiles in the food processor until they're chopped. She puts them in freezer bags and flattens them so that she has a flat slab of chopped chiles, and pops them in the freezer. This way, when she wants some chile for her recipe, she just breaks off a chunk. How spicy are your chiles? I find jalapenos too variable in hotness to be reliably useful. As someone mentioned, they tend to be more like mildly spicy bell peppers. I rarely use green bell peppers because they, shall we say, "repeat" shortly after eating. So I generally use serranos if I'm not using our local chile peron (in other parts of Mexico they're called chiles manzanas, or apple chiles because of their round shape).
  24. We've stayed in our share of Walmart parking lots. The best, however, was on the way home from buying our Pleasure-Way van (from Tampa to Colorado). We inquired at a small truck stop if we could park overnight, and they said OK. So we maneuvered the van into a level spot kinda in the middle of a big open lot. I don't even remember where this was. It had been a long day figuring out how to drive the van, how to hook up, how to winterize on the fly (this was in early January, and there were freeze warnings as far south as Biloxi.) So we climbed into bed and immediately fell asleep. The next morning we opened the curtains and realized that we were surrounded by semis, some of them running their generators. Fortunately we had a path to get out. Adventures in RVing! The first of many in our case.
  25. My grandfather was born in El Paso in 1895. Every time I think about that I can almost imagine the dusty streets and the hot dry climate. He rode a horse as if he'd been born on horseback. Time marches on, however, and El Paso has too.
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