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!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Restaurant Lotto
San Miguel has a lot of restaurants: some good, some bad, some so-so. You can find Asian fusion cuisine, Italian, Chicago-style pizza, French, Tex-Mex, New Orleans style, organic, burgers, chain pizza, authentic Mexican - you name it, there's probably a restaurant that has it. The restaurants themselves fall into several categories: elegant, comida-style, deli, hole-in-the-wall, family-run, hamburger stands, cafes, take-out, taco stands, tapas bars - I'm sure we have at least one of every kind you can think of here in SMA.
Of course with most of these restaurants catering to the gringo population, survival can be a struggle. The Civil List - a Yahoo group forum with nearly 5,000 'listeroos' - features announcements of new restaurants, menu changes, chef changes, and glowing reviews from patrons. One sometimes wonders about the well-meaning patrons of restaurants and other businesses who post their reviews, just as one wonders about such announcements which omit addresses and thus require someone to ask for the address and the first poster then writes back with the address (copying the original announcement/review, of course).
As a co-moderator, I read all the digests of the daily posts assiduously, looking for my specialty: the second 'for sale' ad placed by a particular poster within a current month. This imposed review makes one a bit cynical over time - but I digress.
So today we walked into a newly opened restaurant looking for lunch when we were immediately pounced upon by a woman who demanded whether we were there for 'the best bagels, ever.' As it turns out, she was not a principal in the restaurant, but an avid fan and customer hyped up on caffeine after two weeks of bed rest. We nearly ran.
We're glad we didn't, even though - as the only other customers at that point in time - we had to carry on a conversation about SMA, San Diego theater, chocolate, dogs, you-name-it until she finally went off to her gallery, commenting that SMA was like an out patient waiting room. [Oh, how true!] Once our luncheon arrived it was wonderfully delicious - and we had a nice conversation with another diner who was studying silversmithing.
I'm even considering posting on the Civil list about the place - it was both good and under patronized. Another listeroo posted before going; we can tie in an 'after' report for the fourth unsolicited review!
Of course with most of these restaurants catering to the gringo population, survival can be a struggle. The Civil List - a Yahoo group forum with nearly 5,000 'listeroos' - features announcements of new restaurants, menu changes, chef changes, and glowing reviews from patrons. One sometimes wonders about the well-meaning patrons of restaurants and other businesses who post their reviews, just as one wonders about such announcements which omit addresses and thus require someone to ask for the address and the first poster then writes back with the address (copying the original announcement/review, of course).
As a co-moderator, I read all the digests of the daily posts assiduously, looking for my specialty: the second 'for sale' ad placed by a particular poster within a current month. This imposed review makes one a bit cynical over time - but I digress.
So today we walked into a newly opened restaurant looking for lunch when we were immediately pounced upon by a woman who demanded whether we were there for 'the best bagels, ever.' As it turns out, she was not a principal in the restaurant, but an avid fan and customer hyped up on caffeine after two weeks of bed rest. We nearly ran.
We're glad we didn't, even though - as the only other customers at that point in time - we had to carry on a conversation about SMA, San Diego theater, chocolate, dogs, you-name-it until she finally went off to her gallery, commenting that SMA was like an out patient waiting room. [Oh, how true!] Once our luncheon arrived it was wonderfully delicious - and we had a nice conversation with another diner who was studying silversmithing.
I'm even considering posting on the Civil list about the place - it was both good and under patronized. Another listeroo posted before going; we can tie in an 'after' report for the fourth unsolicited review!
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Perfect Climate
As all good things eventually do, our perfect climate has changed: it's cold in San Miguel! When I was stationed in Bavaria it snowed in time for Hallowe'en, and that hasn't happened yet. Dia de Los Muertos was cool but comfy.
For the past few days it has been chilly. Our cement houses retain heat from the daytime and coolness from evening hours to even out the temperatures for us. Unfortunately, we've only had coolness as of late. Barely warming to the low 70s during the day, it has fallen into the low 30s at night. It's 2 am right now and the temperature is about 36 degrees with cooler temperatures promised before sunrise. It may be darkest before the dawn; it sure is cooler, too. [These temperatures are in Fahrenheit; it's even more exciting to see them in Centigrade!]
Highs in only the low seventies doesn't do it when it's so cold at night. When your homes have cement/tile walls, floors, and ceilings, they don't have a chance to warm up enough during the day to temper the evening hours. Our home office, which has both its ceiling and western wall exposed to the sun, usually requires the use of a ceiling fan. Today it required the use of a heater.
We wore our robes and jammies and whatever we thought would keep us warm around the house. [Why didn't I order those comfy slippers last week?] Once dressed (Pedro was coming to refit some electrical things around the house) it was time for layers. Going out for dinner required both layers and jackets to keep warm on our 1250-step walk to the restaurant. We had been told to expect cool weather in January/February; this caught us by surprise.
We did haul out the electric radiator (we don't have the gas version) and it followed us around from inhabited room to room. We are planning on picking up a second heater from a local store so that we can make at least two floors comfortable. The heaters are a bit too heavy to haul up and down the stairs with grace, and aren't particularly pricey. We don't need one for the first floor as we seldom use the first floor's living room.
Can't wait to see our bimonthly electricity bill. At least the electric, oil-filled radiators require only throwing a switch to have them functioning. We had enough fun relighting the pilot on the gas water heater after our recent vacation.
Our second line of defense is the low-voltage warming mattress pads on all the beds. They provide a subtle heat that gently warms you through. We finally turned them on this week. [The pads have been on the beds all the time; they are plush-topped and rather comfy year around.] Topped with a fluffy duvet, it's heaven. But one can't stay in bed all the time....
Fortunately the weather should take a turn for the warmer later this week (highs in the 80s and lows in only the 40s) when we have guests arriving from the US. Checking their local weather forecast, it seems it's to be rain and chill there today. At least it's still dry here and an 80/40 split should warm us up again.
Perhaps we'll be able to maintain our 'perfect climate' reputation after all.
For the past few days it has been chilly. Our cement houses retain heat from the daytime and coolness from evening hours to even out the temperatures for us. Unfortunately, we've only had coolness as of late. Barely warming to the low 70s during the day, it has fallen into the low 30s at night. It's 2 am right now and the temperature is about 36 degrees with cooler temperatures promised before sunrise. It may be darkest before the dawn; it sure is cooler, too. [These temperatures are in Fahrenheit; it's even more exciting to see them in Centigrade!]
Highs in only the low seventies doesn't do it when it's so cold at night. When your homes have cement/tile walls, floors, and ceilings, they don't have a chance to warm up enough during the day to temper the evening hours. Our home office, which has both its ceiling and western wall exposed to the sun, usually requires the use of a ceiling fan. Today it required the use of a heater.
We wore our robes and jammies and whatever we thought would keep us warm around the house. [Why didn't I order those comfy slippers last week?] Once dressed (Pedro was coming to refit some electrical things around the house) it was time for layers. Going out for dinner required both layers and jackets to keep warm on our 1250-step walk to the restaurant. We had been told to expect cool weather in January/February; this caught us by surprise.
We did haul out the electric radiator (we don't have the gas version) and it followed us around from inhabited room to room. We are planning on picking up a second heater from a local store so that we can make at least two floors comfortable. The heaters are a bit too heavy to haul up and down the stairs with grace, and aren't particularly pricey. We don't need one for the first floor as we seldom use the first floor's living room.
Can't wait to see our bimonthly electricity bill. At least the electric, oil-filled radiators require only throwing a switch to have them functioning. We had enough fun relighting the pilot on the gas water heater after our recent vacation.
Our second line of defense is the low-voltage warming mattress pads on all the beds. They provide a subtle heat that gently warms you through. We finally turned them on this week. [The pads have been on the beds all the time; they are plush-topped and rather comfy year around.] Topped with a fluffy duvet, it's heaven. But one can't stay in bed all the time....
Fortunately the weather should take a turn for the warmer later this week (highs in the 80s and lows in only the 40s) when we have guests arriving from the US. Checking their local weather forecast, it seems it's to be rain and chill there today. At least it's still dry here and an 80/40 split should warm us up again.
Perhaps we'll be able to maintain our 'perfect climate' reputation after all.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Dias de los Muertos
So here we are on Hallowe’en and the whole town’s focused on All Hallows Eve. Who’d a thunk?
Mexico has traditionally celebrated the two days of Dias de los Muertos rather than the American Hallowe’en with visits to their families’ gravesites, decorating them with flowers and pictures, and sharing a meal with them. It is one of the largest religious and cultural events celebrated nationwide in Mexico.
In the far past, the dates were not November 1st and 2nd, but with the coming of the Spanish and the Catholic church, the celebrations were moved to more ‘appropriate’ days in the church calendar. It takes two days of celebration: the first day is for infants; the second day is for adults.
Both yesterday and today even expats are visiting our local cemetery and spiffing up the graves of past expats of whom we have only heard tell. Since many expats have no family in Mexico, the responsibilities fall upon the current expats, and some gladly accept them.
Hallowe’en, however, is overtaking the traditional celebration as youngsters find running around with their friends getting candy is more fun than sitting in a cemetery with your family. We’ve been warned that if we go to the Jardin Monday night, to have plenty of hard candies (dulces) on hand to distribute to kids in costumes trick-or-treating.
We were supposed to join a group cleaning the headstones on Saturday morning at the currently used cemetery, but grocery shopping got in the way. We’ve recently gone to a nutritionist who is setting up a plan for living that will result in effective athletic activities and eating right. We began the plan today, so yesterday was shopping for the good stuff we’re to eat, as opposed to going out all the time, eating (and drinking) the wrong types of foods (witness our slow weight loss since moving SoB).
And, of course, last night was a pizza party at two friends’ house with wonderful homemade pizzas: traditional (the Works), roasted veggie, arrachera and chimichurri sauce, and Moroccan chicken with a ginger-honey glaze. All followed by homemade ice cream, including a Mexican chocolate with espresso and cinnamon.
What a way to start a new way of eating, right? There were several new folks we met and we ran into one of them this afternoon on our way back from the Jardin where we’d been checking out the big Dias de los Muertos altars being set up. We had shared a shuttle to the airport with another. It’s a small world here in SMA.
For those planning on visiting us over the holidays, don’t worry: we’re eating out every meal and having more than the one-drink-a-day that we’re allowed. Wouldn’t want to feel deprived, would we? High times all around!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
And Yet We Walk
Relatives and friends continue to mention that they would love to visit us here in SMA. And we would love to have them visit. There is a lot to see and do in this writers’, artists’, actors’ historical colony and we would love to show it off.
However, although one blogger refers to SMA as a Disneyland, it ain’t. Disney would never let the sidewalks and streets exist in the conditions we ‘enjoy’ here in SMA. They have people who design walkways, studying the possible layouts, colors, and textures needed to create a walkway that contributes to the ambiance of the location while still mindful of moving people along efficiently and safely.
The streets and cobblestone streets of SMA are much as they were hundreds of years ago when pedestrian safety was not at the top of the list.
Another fellow blogger* described them thus:
These sidewalks are very narrow, made of limestone slabs that are very old and, thus, polished and slippery from centuries of footsteps. They are pock-marked due to erosion. There are holes, broken slabs, meters sticking up at odd angles, steps up and down, light poles in the center. Every day each business is swept and mopped; then the mop water is poured on the sidewalk and swept, making them even more dangerous. In any given block there are hundreds–nay, thousands–of opportunities to inflict serious bodily harm upon oneself.
I’m not sure it would be appropriate for everyone who has expressed a wish to visit, but you don’t pick up the flavor of the place when you’re constantly being ferried about by taxi or car. It’s sort of a sterilized version of SMA.
And yet we walk. Today we took a bus into Centro (busses are another story) then walked across downtown and out on Ancho, turned up Cardo past St Paul’s and along the new Rosewood development, then turned right, walking up and along Aldama, following the crest of the hill for some distance until we came to the 5th of May and thence downhill to Ancha de San Antonio again. [We never found Parque Juarez, but the way, our announced goal.] From there we walked back into Centro – stopping at the little tin shop – until we reached Canal and caught another bus for the short ride to the base of our Colonia, then walked up the hill to home.
With a stop for a bite of lunch, it took about 2 hours and I had a touch of heat prostration or something – but I did pretty much keep up the pace. Altitude and a sedentary lifestyle has presented its challenges. We did decide that we needn’t go to the gym today!
So here I am, fully recovered, working on my blog before dinner. We’re planning on going to the Pocket Theater for the second showing of A Single Man (we seldom went to films in California so there are many to catch up), then off to La Azutea for our special pizza and a margarita or two.
Because of the condition of the streets and sidewalks, we’ll be taking a taxi home tonight.
*Our fellow blogger is at Dorita Loca Blogs San Miguel and generously shares her posts.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Oh, We Couldn't Be Happier.....
Wish I had something pithy to say - or even just something to say.
Our lastest angst involves our computers. When we returned to SMA from the cruise/WDW vacation, we plugged everything back in (power surges and drops, etc are a fact of life here so one disconnects everything in one's absence) and the computers ran swell until we noticed that there were some websites we could no longer reach: aeromexico, volaris (both SOB airlines), bancomer (our bank), CFE (the electricity company), and a few on the NOB side, too.
Troubleshooting the system found nothing. Our internet provider, Cybermatsa.com, said everything was fine on their end and that we should contact the individual websites to resolve the problems - like we could do that without internet access?
We finally called in our computer geek who set up our network for us. When there was nothing he could do to help over the telephone, he came out to the house and checked things out. Conclusion: Router problems.
Went to Office Depot this morning and bought a new router. Tried to install it but got stuck. Telephone call to our geek failed to help. Arranged for him to make a house call.
At the end of the house call (the new router wasn't cooperating; lots of flashing lights), he hooked the old one back up so we could at least be on the internet and reach some websites.
When he hooked everything back up the way is was originally: lo, and behold, everything worked! All the websites we couldn't reach before - both Mexican and foreign - were coming in loud and clear. So tomorrow we return the new router.
I'm sure there's a moral here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it would be. Just happy that the system is working again!
Now if Volaris would post those nicely-priced flights from DF to SJD soon (as that nice man promised they would), we'd be even happier.
As Glenda sang, "Oh, we couldn't be happier....No, we couldn't be happier...."
Our lastest angst involves our computers. When we returned to SMA from the cruise/WDW vacation, we plugged everything back in (power surges and drops, etc are a fact of life here so one disconnects everything in one's absence) and the computers ran swell until we noticed that there were some websites we could no longer reach: aeromexico, volaris (both SOB airlines), bancomer (our bank), CFE (the electricity company), and a few on the NOB side, too.
Troubleshooting the system found nothing. Our internet provider, Cybermatsa.com, said everything was fine on their end and that we should contact the individual websites to resolve the problems - like we could do that without internet access?
We finally called in our computer geek who set up our network for us. When there was nothing he could do to help over the telephone, he came out to the house and checked things out. Conclusion: Router problems.
Went to Office Depot this morning and bought a new router. Tried to install it but got stuck. Telephone call to our geek failed to help. Arranged for him to make a house call.
At the end of the house call (the new router wasn't cooperating; lots of flashing lights), he hooked the old one back up so we could at least be on the internet and reach some websites.
When he hooked everything back up the way is was originally: lo, and behold, everything worked! All the websites we couldn't reach before - both Mexican and foreign - were coming in loud and clear. So tomorrow we return the new router.
I'm sure there's a moral here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it would be. Just happy that the system is working again!
Now if Volaris would post those nicely-priced flights from DF to SJD soon (as that nice man promised they would), we'd be even happier.
As Glenda sang, "Oh, we couldn't be happier....No, we couldn't be happier...."
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Nippy weather we're having
I think we have to be having a taste of winter weather now that it's mid-October. The local temperature is 60F right now (10:45 am) and it got down to 42F overnight in town - 35F out in the campo. (It did warm up into the mid-70s yesterday and should again today.)
It's times like these that makes one pine for central heating! But, alas, most Mexican houses - including ours - has neither heating nor cooling. One usually doesn't need it: the construction of the homes retains the heat of the day to warm the house in the evening, and the coolness of the night is carried over to cool the house in the daytime. Most of the time we also enjoy a pleasant, mild climate here in SMA, but last night's temperature is causing us to dig out the heater for the bedroom.
Luckily, we have just found (duh!) that our duvet cover has ties sewn into the seams so that we are able to tie the corners of the duvet into place and prevent it from shifting. This made last night much more comfortable for both of us (I prefer to sleep with the terrace door open a bit for fresh air, but even the dogs moved from the bedroom into the office last night). Neither of us was too cold or too hot from the duvet migrating within the cover from one side of the bed to the other!
Our bedroom and the third-floor studio do have gas connections for heaters, but we may just go with the oil-filled electric radiator that we brought from Los Angeles, where we used it in the guest room when it was serving as a puppy nursery. A local store has them in stock if we need one more for the guest room/studio. Of course, we've placed furniture in both rooms without much regard for where gas heaters may need to be connected to the gas supply....
Late last January/early February SMA was unusually wet and cold. We're hoping that it doesn't repeat itself this coming year or we may need to upgrade to the gas versions!
We still love it here. At least it didn't get anywhere near the 119F of the San Fernando Valley last August nor is it snowing as it was when I arrived in Germany one October.
It's times like these that makes one pine for central heating! But, alas, most Mexican houses - including ours - has neither heating nor cooling. One usually doesn't need it: the construction of the homes retains the heat of the day to warm the house in the evening, and the coolness of the night is carried over to cool the house in the daytime. Most of the time we also enjoy a pleasant, mild climate here in SMA, but last night's temperature is causing us to dig out the heater for the bedroom.
Luckily, we have just found (duh!) that our duvet cover has ties sewn into the seams so that we are able to tie the corners of the duvet into place and prevent it from shifting. This made last night much more comfortable for both of us (I prefer to sleep with the terrace door open a bit for fresh air, but even the dogs moved from the bedroom into the office last night). Neither of us was too cold or too hot from the duvet migrating within the cover from one side of the bed to the other!
Our bedroom and the third-floor studio do have gas connections for heaters, but we may just go with the oil-filled electric radiator that we brought from Los Angeles, where we used it in the guest room when it was serving as a puppy nursery. A local store has them in stock if we need one more for the guest room/studio. Of course, we've placed furniture in both rooms without much regard for where gas heaters may need to be connected to the gas supply....
Late last January/early February SMA was unusually wet and cold. We're hoping that it doesn't repeat itself this coming year or we may need to upgrade to the gas versions!
We still love it here. At least it didn't get anywhere near the 119F of the San Fernando Valley last August nor is it snowing as it was when I arrived in Germany one October.
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