So once again the weather is back to normal for this time of year: highs in the low 80s; lows in the middle 40s. Facebook brings news of family and friends with pictures of snow and reports of gusting winds. Brrrrr....
And yesterday was nothing special - stores were open, people went about their business as usual - unless you're an ex-pat and then it's Thanksgiving! Folks who post on the Civil List forum have been in a tizzy over which turkey to purchase (44p/kg frozen at Sorriano; 150p/kg 'fresh' and 'organic' at a specialty store and everything in-between); how frozen a 'fresh' turkey should be (even the USDA - which doesn't apply here in Mexico - allows 'fresh' to be maintained at 32F which can easily slide into the freezing zone, so 'where's the beef?' to mix metaphors); where to find cranberries - especially fresh ones for their favorite sauce for the turkey. One person's turkey arrived with only some of the giblets inside; this generated a whole series of postings about exchanging 'parts' if your turkey had any extra. The final poster reported that she was an old lady and looking for an extra bladder!
We opted to accept friends' invitation to join them at a small restaurant that was serving a traditional T-Day feast late in the afternoon. The restaurant owner had recently given up her location in Centro and had converted the lower level of her house and patio into a restaurant in Colonia Allende. ['Lower level' was still a storey-and-a-half above street level, which provided a lovely view over SMA, particularly as the sun set and lights came on.]
We had offered to drive our friends who live near us to the restaurant rather than take taxis, so we made a trial run to find the location in the morning. Good thing we did as it's the penultimate house at the top of a dead end street with no room for our van to make a turnaround. We had to back down the hill for 2 blocks until there was a road into which we could maneuver for a 3-point turn. As a result, we each took taxis to dinner. I wouldn't want to think about backing down the street while full of food and wine!
Our friends told us that they approached three different taxis before they found one that would take them to the restaurant. We were lucky and our first taxi agreed to deliver us there. He did charge a bit extra, but it was worth it to avoid the parking/turnaround problem.
The dinner itself was great: four appetizers [panela (a cheese) baked with herbs, marinated mushrooms, crudites with a dill dip, and a lovely green salad], several side dishes [wild rice & mushroom dressing, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes & gravy (good on the dressing and turkey, too), mashed sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts & carrots, and a tart cranberry sauce], and, of course, tender, moist turkey baked in a pizza oven [with everything else, we never reached the deep-fried turkey]. Dessert was pumpkin pie and a fruit (perhaps prune?) crisp, both served with mounds of lightly-sweetened whipped crema (we don't do whipping cream down here). A nice blend of traditional and Mexican-interpreted dishes.
And the best part was dinner with good friends and no preparation or clean-up! We think of our friend in California who probably did herself in cooking a terrific feast for her family who don't really care much about food.
The attendees yesterday were, as you might expect, all ex-pats who didn't want to miss their Thanksgiving Day feast. One ex-pat did bring a Mexican friend and politely introduced her to each table. Otherwise it included the usual assortment of folks. The ex-pat community here may be large, but one sees many of the same folks regularly. Don't know where the others hide. We recognized a few of them from the Farm and Dairy tour we took when our friend Diane was in town last week. And our friends knew more, of course. Our table was just chatter, chatter, chatter for the whole three hours.
Afterwards we walked down the hill to the main street and caught a cab to the Jardin for drinks at La Azotea where the weather was so pleasant the awning was retracted and the plexiglass barriers behind the bougainvillea plants along the edge of the terrace had been removed. Ah, San Miguel!
We then toddled off home to feed the dogs and sink into bed. They did not get turkey - and I hope they weren't anticipating last year's leftovers. Maybe that's why Miyake decided to bark most of the night until I enticed her downstairs to watch television together?
Ah, well - another day in paradise!
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