Do you remember when....

I am going to try to explain to you what an evening on my patio in my hammock is like, just as it is hard to explain the word "magical" it is hard to explain the peacefulness of a hot tropical evening, but here goes; it is magical, not in the scary black magic like voodoo like magic but in the unexplainable magic way.

Do you remember when you were a kid how hot it got sometimes in the summer? It doesn't seem to get that hot anymore, or maybe it's because most people have air conditioners now, or because our homes are built differently as well, I'm not sure what it is but it just doesn't get that hot anymore....except here, it's still that hot, even when it's not overly hot....got that? Remember laying in bed thinking it was so hot but you weren't hot, you laid above the cool cotton sheets and watched the curtains move in the breeze. It's that kind of a warm feeling that is in the air here, hot but not...got that, do you remember that? That feeling doesn't exist anymore at home. I think it's because the sheets aren't cotton anymore and the curtains don't move anymore. I'm thinking the curtains don't move because they are usually not made of cotton, cotton that has been washed over and over and over again making it light as silk and just as soft and thinner than paper, the slightest breeze moved them. Most people have blinds now, and usually the window is closed (because they have air condition) or the curtains are made of some heavy fancy expensive fabric and I've even seen little weights sewn into the bottom seams to prevent them from moving....well the curtain here still move, and the sir is still hot...but not. So picture this if you could;

On a hot (but not) evening all windows and all doors on my street are open, most windows have no glass or screens, curtains can fly like sails, we live side by side and back to back, not much privacy (privacy? whats that?) It's after 6 pm and almost everyone is outside either on their front decks, or in their front or back yards, under their palapas, some of us are sprawled out in hammocks, some are lazing on plastic furniture, sometimes there is a bed full of kids under a palapa or under a makeshift roof, babies are being rocked in rocking chairs, young girls are huddled together on a front step giggling at a cell phone, men are leaning up against trees, moms are stirring pots on open fires, kids are sitting on the ground watching a television that sits on plastic table in the driveway. In the distance the tide is rolling in and out, mesmerizing us all so that we barely hear the roosters, a horse neighing 2 doors down, the sewing machine next door humming away, a cowboy whistling a tune to anyone that will listen, someone is practicing playing the trumpet up the hill, a fire is crackling in the yard behind me, a baby cries somewhere, a motorbike drives by, it's rider is chatting on a cell phone, a gecko clicks his checks above me somewhere, a kid peddles by on a bike with a bag of tomatoes swinging from the handle bars, he is barefoot, and the crickets, always continuous like the waves. So much going on but yet it's peaceful and quiet, the peace and quiet survives through the neighborhood noise. Once I am in bed the curtains move and I smile, it's a dream and I am 6 years old in my bed and I have no worries or cares, what does a 6 year old worry about? Not a lot, but I am not 6....thank goodness, I am in Mexico and here, the crickets are alive and well, the curtains still move and moms can still sent their kids to the store..barefoot....and coke is still made with sugar and hot chocolate is still made with milk and we still use pretty Pyrex dishes.......Remember these, everyone had these, what happened to them, I blame Tupperware.
Check out this site to look up your old Pyrex dishes, http://www.pyrexlove.com/vintage-pyrex-pattern-guide/  There were so many beautiful patterns. This bowl is from the Spring Blossom collection # 401 and was manufactured in the 1970s. Would love to know if you have some vintage Pyrex dishes. Do any of the patterns bring back memories. I am heading off to the Juarez Market tomorrow, maybe I'll score some Pyrex....or some cotton curtains.
I stick my tongue out at you Tupperware, can't believe I bought into you during my youth...foolish youth.

All this magical stuff did not happen today because it is cold and grey out today....not complaining just sayin is all. 

Random things

A few weeks ago I had a hankering (yes hankering) for homemade yogurt. Once you've had homemade yogurt you are spoiled forever, and once you know how easy it is to make you feel like a dummy for eating crappy store yogurt for so many years. There are many ways of making yogurt and the web is full of all kinds of instructions, here is how I made yogurt last week with limited supplies. First you need  a starter, so I went to the health food store in Mazatlan, it's on Zaragoza and I can't remember the name, across the street from the little Zaragoza plaza. Once you find your way there you buy a small container of their homemade organic yogurt which  you will use as a starter. Your starter has to be plain yogurt, no flavoring or sugar. You take 2 heaping Tbsp of it and put aside, the rest you eat. If you don't want to make yogurt right away you can freeze your starter until you are ready ready. I checked the weather forecast and picked a day that was supposed to be hot. I heated up 3 cups of milk in a pot on the stove...you must stand there and stir so the milk does not burn, heat the milk to about 180 F (never boiling) try to hold that temperature for about 5 minutes at least, maybe even 8-10....I usually get tired of stirring at about the 5 minute mark and call it good.   Now I put some cold water in my sink and put the hot pot in the cold water to cool the milk off fast, cool it until it is about 100F, then you put your 2 tbsp of room temperature starter into the milk and whisk to make sure it is stirred. Now you need an incubator, be creative. I pour the milk into a mason jar and put a loose fitting top on it (a little bowl turned upside down on the top, then I wrapped it all in a tea towel and put into a plastic bag and tied the bag shut. Then I set it out in the hot sun (on top of my fence) like so 

Yogurt incubator 

 The longer your yogurt is incubating the tarter the yogurt, I find 6 hours is perfect for me, I don't like it too tart at all. Ideal temperature for incubating 32 C. Once done put it in the fridge, warm yogurt doesn't taste very good. If you want some flavoring you can add it at the same time as you add your starter, honey is nice if you like some sweetness, vanilla is good, play with it...remember if you use any flavoring you now can't use it as a starter, always save some for a starter. If you like your yogurt firmer you can add about 4 tbsp powered milk when you add the starter, I usually do but I didn't have any.
Now on to some other random stuff.....

I'm doing a little knitting in the evenings in my hammock 

 Went Geocaching in Mazatlan with a friend, not sure what that is? Check it out here http://www.geocaching.com/ One day we ended up in  graveyard, graveyards here are like museums, full of art, full of history and beauty.

Petra lived for 99 years. 

I see this bus all the time parked in front of an orphanage on Zaragoza, it was donated by the Rotary club in Grande Prairie a few years ago. If I remember right they also donated a fire truck and an ambulance. I saw a school bus today from the Lethbridge Rotary Club at the La Vina Church. Way to go Rotary Clubs! 

Now on to the singing/whistling cowboy that lives 2 doors down. 

This is Cowboys everyday riding horse,  here he is giving his grandchildren a ride. He rides with them almost everyday. 

This is the horse that he is training, when he rides him he ties a handkerchief  (remember those) over his face

He is completely blindfolded and must trust cowboy completely to guide him.....it's been an interesting process watching the bonding between them. 

This is the horse he is teaching a lesson, from my understanding (he took his time explaining this to me) this horse likes to put his head down and his bum up, I didn't understand that all because even with the tree around his neck it looks like he could still put his head down and his bum up. But I pretended that I understood him.....don't want to appear to be too stupid. 

Moving on.....told you this would all be random. Do you remember Orange pop, the real orange pop, made with real sugar instead of corn fructose, in a real glass bottle? They still have it here, and the Coke is made of real sugar too. 

The real deal

 Now just some random shots

an artsy one

Misfortune 

Done for the day

  

Why it's called Stone Island

Workin hard on the deep blue sea

Hope

How could you ever have a bad day if you start it off like this, gratitude flows so easily at sunrise 

Pozole.....the reason for the pig

I don't eat a lot of pork, I stopped buying pork that was raised for commercial resale (most pork in all grocery stores) after I read Dr.Rex Russel's book "What the Bible says about healthy eating" and Kevin Trudeau's book "Natural Cures", both these books changed my eating habits a lot. I do not follow all the recommendations in both these books because I am just not that disciplined. Removing pork from my diet was easy because I never ate much of it to begin with......until I met Mexican Pozole. I can no longer ignore pork. I would like to believe that the pork raised in Mexico is not full of toxins like our pork at home, I"m imaging the pigs are in a large pasture and are lazily grazing and resting in freshly turned straw every night after being fed a late evening snack of organic matter like watermelon rinds, orange peel, apple cores and some oats. That's my fantasy, let me have it please. I believe the sole purpose of the pig is pozole and he is honored to sacrifice his body to it. Every Wednesday is pozole day here on the Island. There is a lady (can't remember her name) that cooks up a big pot full over the fire. She is located across the street from the carniceria. Her pot is ready at about noon-ish. Bring your own container, if you forget the first time like I did they will scramble around and find you a container, when you bring your own make sure it has a handle to carry it because this stuff is coming right out of a hot hot pot and you need to be able to carry it. It always comes with a baggie of hot salsa....oh that stuff is soo good, seriously this salsa makes the pozole do not skip this, she also gives you a little baggie of shredded lettuce. Then stop at the tortilleria and pick up fresh tortillas and at the super for a container of sour cream...do not skip the sour cream either. When you get home cut up an avocado put it in your bowl with some salsa and some lettuce, a dollop (or 3) of sour cream, pour in some soup and enjoy. I love this stuff. I love it, so please do not send me emails telling me all the reasons why my piggy fantasy is wrong, untruthful, and that I am delusional and hypercritical....I know  it's wrong which is why I call it a fantasy. Every Wednesday I am choosing to be delusional and hypercritical. Try it...you might like it too. 

All this for 40 pesos, this is 1 litre of pozole, you can easily feed 4 people with this

Venados Mazatlan

Just before Christmas I took in  baseball game here in Mazatlan, every year since 2000 I have gone to at least one game a season and every time the Deers have won, I have never been to a losing home game. This year the Deers had a very bad season, I believe they finished the season in last place, but....they won the day I was at the game 7-4 and it was a great game. I am not a baseball fan but I love the excitement that seems to flow like electricity in the stadium, it creates a sense of camaraderie...of belonging, and patriotism.....and a few other reasons....one being the sausage

opps...all gone, sorry guys, this is of course after I ate the sausage but before I licked the toothpicks

 Now to try and boost my ratings a bit here.....my favorite shot of the night

What can I say......it was all good that night

I must confess though, I didn't take this shot, I did.....but I wasn't close enough and my zoom isn't strong enough but a friend was braver than me and walked right up to this fine gentleman and was patient and waited for him to get up from his seat on the bench. Thank-you #12 Jose Garcia

Wonky Pictures

I have some catching up to do, sorry for being away so long. I have had some difficulties with uploading pictures and I know how boring it is  to read pages of text with no pictures so I just gave up an procrastinated dealing with the issue. This is what some of my pictures look like when I upload them, they look fine in my camera, they are fine on my computer and I have had no problems loading them onto Facebook, so I am convinced it is Bloggers problem. I have sent them a message and as of yet no response. Sometimes if I upload the same picture many times I will eventually get one that is not all weird, and sometimes not.

This is my excuse for being so far behind, that and life has been a bit busy...isn't it always? I did go back up north for 11 days for Christmas and a wedding, it was nice to see family and friends again but traveling so far in a short period of time is always tiring and I always feel so displaced and unorganized, especially since I couldn't stay in my own home as it is rented out....but all in all a great trip and glad to be back in the land of sun, sand and surf.....and tacos.

Happy New Years

New Years came and went fairly uneventful here on the Island. A few small fireworks and a few loud fiestas, what happened at midnight I don't really know as I was in bed way before that. I did attend a potluck New Years Eve supper at the trailer pNark at Contessa and Colin's rig  http://www.contessajewall.com/ and even managed to deep fry up a batch of German New Years Cookies, which really aren't cookies, they are more like fritters but we have always called them cookies. I rarely make these because I don't like deep frying at home and usually my mother makes them on New Years Day, but since my house here is so open and the smell doesn't linger too long I have actually done a little more deep frying here. I am having problems uploading pictures so I copied this page from  http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/  plus they are much better at photographing food than I am, and it is a great site for recipes and pretty food pictures.

I made a second batch on New Years day and invited a Mexican friend and her family but the rest of the family couldn't make it so it was just her and I. She shares her recipes with me all the time and it was nice to have something to share with her. We ate, laughed and chatted and I even taught her to play "Dutch Blitz" , A card game that you will find in almost any German house hold. At one point I left to get something from the kitchen and I come back to find my table moved...humm, apparently your table needs to be square with the world. She had positioned my table so that the corners are pointed North, South, East and West, apparently this is important, have no idea why. 

Are you square with the world for the New Year? 

This is a recipe repost from several years ago but I think it is worth a reminder today that tomorrow is the day to heat up a pot of oil, make a batch of raisin fritter batter and call your friends and family over to celebrate a new beginning to the new year.
Every year we open up our shop to our extended family.  I use a campstove to heat the oil and ask everyone else to bring something savoury to share for a late afternoon meal after the little ones have napped.

Here is Anneliese's recipe.  Pick one and begin a wonderful tradition in your home.

•  2 tablespoons yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 beaten eggs
• 1/4 cup melted cooled butter
• 2 1/2 cups warm milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4-6 cups raisins  (or you can eliminate the raisins all together as some prefer them plain)
• 7 cups flour
• additional sugar for dipping or rolling while still warm

1. Sprinkle the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar over the warm water in a large bowl.
2. Let the yeast mixture sit until it becomes foamy.
3. Add the sugar, beaten eggs, melted cooled butter, warm milk and salt and stir together really well.
4. Add the raisins and 4 cups of flour and beat hard with a wooden spoon.
5. Stir in the remainder of the flour and cover with a lid or plastic wrap and allow to double for about an hour.
6. Heat the oil to 375 and using two tablespoons drop spoons of batter into the oil.  When cooked on one side, they will naturally turn over.  Test the first few with a toothpick to be sure they are cooked in the center.  If they are not quite cooked in the middle, try making them slightly smaller. Do not overcrowd your pot.  (see photo)
7. Once evenly browned, remove them using a slotted spoon to paper towel.
8. You can roll them immediately in sugar or allow everyone to have their own technique for dipping into sugar while eating them.  If you want to freeze the leftovers, roll them in sugar first.

This has been a wonderful year for the Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity this blog has allowed us.  Without all of you who support us we wouldn't have a reason to post our recipes here or have a book that we can use to fund raise for feeding hungry children.  We are so blessed by your friendship and we pray that we will continue to be a blessing to you through sharing what God has given us in our faith and heritage.

From all of us at MGCC . ..may you have blessed new year!

Heading North

I am sorry for not keeping this updated lately, I have had some difficulty with up loading pictures and videos (I finally learned how to use my video camera) but that is only 1/2 of my excuse, the other half is that I have just been too busy living life outside the house. I just can't seem to sit in the house long enough to get anything done.

Now I am heading north for 11 days, I am going to Canada for a friend's wedding and to spend Christmas with my family there. I will miss Christmas with my Mexican friends here, regardless of where I am at Christmas there will always be someone that I will be missing, that is just how it is when you live in two countries. I am not taking my laptop with me (this is our first trip apart ever) So I will see you in time for the New Year.
Since I can't post pictures I will leave you with this. The Canadian version;





And the Spanish version;