A new Norm

It seems I have been here so long now that things that used to seem different or news worthy or photo worthy now have just become so normal that  don't whip out the camera anymore and I don't write home about it anymore either. Hence the long silence here. Forgive me. Also, I have been very busy. Aside from my part time job at my sister's restaurant, I have had 2 weeks of visitors that I've toured around and introduced to "My Mexico", this helped me see some things for the first time again, through other eyes....does this make sense? Here are some things that deserve pointing out...they are important.

1. The messier the food is to eat the better it tastes, most Mexican food is finger food....no utensils required, you need to have quac and salsa running down your arms and dripping from your elbows....that's good food.

2. Here in Mexico you can have a fire in a plastic pail.....for light when the power goes out

3. When the power goes out it is business as usual...changes nothing, except it's dark

4. The bus is never full

5. Don't put the toilet paper in the toilet...unless you want to call a plumber

6. The plumber is also the electrician and masonry guy

7. There is no end to the different ways of getting your stuff from point A to point B here...this is very entertaining to us North Americans

8. You must eat every couple of hours here in order to try all the food in one week...and still you will be short a few days

9. You could entertain a 3 year old on a Mexican city bus for days

10. Mexico is loud 

11. Stone Island is quiet at night

12. It takes almost all day to do nothing here

13. It dirty and dusty here but yet the whites on the wash line are whiter than at home....how do they do that?

14. It's impossible to have clean feet here for longer than 12 minutes

15. Why are pedicures $80 - over a $100 at home? Why? When 100 pesos gets you a wonderful pedicure here.

16. Where else can you trade a baby stroller for a whole fish?

17. Why is a jar of Vicks $18 in Canada but 53 pesos here? Shipping? It's just as far from China to Canada as it is to Mexico.

18. Why do we need such big houses in Canada? And such big cars?

19. Not everyone thinks getting on a boat to go to town is fun.

20. Mice are tricky to catch in a trap here, but you can coax them into a beach towel

21. Most public bathrooms are so small you can't change your mind in there, putting toilet paper into my back pocket is just a daily habit for me now

22. Apparently the whole Island smells fishy

23. Mexicans are laid back and relaxed...always, unless....they get behind the wheel of anything motorized.

24. Picking a basket full ...(which was really just a sweater bunched up to form a basket) of limes on the side of the road is always thrilling no matter how often you do it.

25. Old Mexican ladies are beautiful, regal and proud ..... genuine ladies, they are the monarchy queen of the family.....I want to be one when I grow up. My grandmother is one, so I think I stand a chance of inheriting that honor.

Mexico is loud....and can be chaotic at times but if your soul is at peace it will ride through the chaos in perfect harmony with your surroundings. Like what this cat was sleeping through, the lens on the camera was not wide enough to capture the chaos surrounding this peaceful moment. 

Still here

Here is prove that I am still here. Just had a few weeks of busyness....all is back to normal now, if you can call life here normal. Bear with me. Don't leave me ....please. 

The perfect pot of rice

I have watched my Mexican sister make the perfect pot of rice over and over and it has never failed. The key here I think, is the pot. She has an old cast iron pot, she says don't even try to cook rice in anything else. I have given up making rice with a pot on the stove some years ago now and have used a n electric steamer for many years now and have always liked it, but the rice here is always soooo much better. I think when you steam it some flavor evaporates....that's my theory anyway. The rice here is just so flavorful.So, get a good old cast iron pot, the best place to get one I think would be at a second hand store, that is where I am going to look as soon as I get home. Here, I plan on going to the Juarez Flee market one Sunday to find one. Don't let anyone talk you into getting a non-stick or fancy tephlon crap, or a so and so expensive cooking set....plain ol' cast iron.
Once you have your pot, you are ready, seriously, do not try this will any other pot. I really think the pot is the secret.Forgive me here as I have no measurements, if you use the same pot all the time and make the same amount of rice each time...like they do here, you can always eye ball it. When the women here cook they always make the same amount in the same pot, with the same ingredients and they know exactly how much it costs. Always always, same same. Don't mess with what works and fits. You may have to experiment a bit with this.

First she put some oil in the pot and the rice, enough oil so that when stirred all the rice was saturated and there is still a little bit of oil at the bottom of the pot, with the lid off, you fry your dry rice, stirring occasionally. You fry it until each grain of rice looks individual...not sure how to explain this, some grains will become a light brown...you don't want dark brown, they don't need to be brown at all, stir more if they are becoming brown. Once they all look very "individual" or defined, you add your water. Again I have no measurement, there was about an inch of water...maybe a wee bit more, above the rice. Then she also put in a bunch (you decide how much you want) of diced, carrots, onions, celery, and peppers and some Knorr caldo de pollo (chicken bouillon), she gave it all a big stir and put a lid on it. She turned the heat down a bit. She never touched it again. Never even peeked. I tried to peek once and was told "I'll tell you when it's done, keep the lid closed". In another words, "get away from there!".

Rice done frying in the oil, if  you click this you can enlarge it to see how the grains of rice look "individual".

Vegetables cut up

and added to the rice

it is given on big stir to mix the rice and vegetables

Water and bouillon is added

She just knew when it was ready, this will require some practice. I can't imagine not peeking or stirring, she never stirred it. I keep thinking I wanted to time this but always get busy and forget. Once it's done she gives it one big stir to fluff it up and it sits in the pot with the lid on all day...as it slowly disappears. Can you believe I forgot to take a pictures of the finished rice? Terrible reporting...I know.

The beans;
Even easier than the rice, again I think it's the pot. She uses an old pressure cooker pot, without the lid. She likes pinto beans the best, not sure what her reasons are, her beans are awesome so I don't care why.

Put the beans in the pot and cover with water and about 4-5 inches extra and one onion just cut into quarters and a few chilis (you choose how many) This pot is always put on the fire with a lid on it, just a lid laid on top, not even sealed. And it is just left alone for about 3 hours. 

Then in a pan with some oil she fries up some onions and garlic, once the beans are done she then takes as many beans as her pan will hold and mixes it in with her onions and oil, just to blend the flavors a bit and then pours it all back into the bean pot. She has a hand mixer that she then puts into the big pot and purees the beans. Everyone has a preference as to how pureed they like it and how runny they like the beans, if you like it runny you leave the excess water in the pot if you don't you drain the water out. Her beans are not super runny and she doesn't puree it totally, some beans are still left intact. I like it this way as well. If you do not have a hand held blender you put the onion and oil mixture with some beans into a blender and then pour back into the pot.
There seems to be a perception out there that the Mexicans use lard in their beans, maybe some do, I have never seem my sister or my Tia use lard, just a bit of cooking oil to fry the onions in.
These beans with some rice and some fresh tortilla is so good, I can see how the Mexicans have been eating this for 100s of years and they are still excited when it is served...every day. Seriously, I have seen her brothers and her boys (who are men) come in from work and just inhale this and throughout the whole meal talk about how good it is.
I find that the people here are much more enthusiastic about their food, even just about beans and rice, where as in my other country you have to serve up something really spectacular to even get any reaction. Maybe it's because we take food for granted, we feel we've earned it, whereas here most people will acknowledge that it is a gift from God, regardless of how faithful to their God they are.
 This is the standard recipe for the regular beans, there is another bean dish called frijoles de puerco, this has a few more ingredients in it and I haven't witnessed the whole process for that, When I do, I will report. It is super super yummy as well. 

Still here

Just letting you all know that I am still here, haven't gotten electrocuted or anything. I am writing stuff just don't have anything ready to post yet. All I have today are some shots from my evening beach walk. It was a gooder.

And I BBQed some sausage and potatoes, my BBQ still doesn't look very artsy but it is functional. My fisherman has left on his tuna ship and so my construction has stopped....I may hire someone else. I think my plumber/electrician is also a brick layer, I might ask him, I know he is busy on Mondays but maybe he can come on Tuesdays.

Not very grounded

My shower had stopped producing hot water shortly after I got here but it was not a big deal as it was so bilitzen hot and a cool shower was wonderful...but then the weather changed suddenly and hot water was needed. Here is how you hire a plumber;

I happen to walk by a house one day and you see a guy working on a hot water tank, it is not his hot water tank because I just happen to know who lives there, so he must have been commissioned to fix it, so he must know what he is doing. Makes sense to me. So I stop and ask "are you a plumber?" He answers "what do you need fixed?" and I take that as code for "yes I am a plumber". I explain my chilly situation and he promises he will be over as soon as he is done here. I think "pff, will never see him again".
Well, he shows up as promised and fixed my water heater thing, I had a  great hot shower, it was hotter than it had ever ever been, I'm thinking this is great. I go to turn the heat down a bit and as I touch the knob I get a wee little shock...or was it a shock, it felt like a little shock, but maybe it wasn't, so I touch the knob again....yup, it was a shock. Yup, in the shower, wet and of course sin clothes, they make horror movies with scenes like this...I think. End of shower.

So I find my plumber guy again and this is how the conversation went, in Spanish of course.
Me: Hey Mr (because I couldn't grasp his name the other day) my shower is great, it is very very hot, hotter than it has ever been but when I touch the knob I get a little shock....here I also act out getting shocked because I forgot to look up the word "shock" and couldn't think of a substitute.
Mr: Oh that's normal
So I think my acting was bad and start acting this out again, seriously, there is only one way to act out getting shocked, you don't need to be no Meryl Streep to do this. I'm pretty sure I nailed it this time.
Mr: yes, that is normal
Me: No I don't think so
Mr: oh yes I have the same system in my house
Me: I don't like it much
Mr: It's because you are tall like me (he was very tall) and your head is so close to the shower head.
Me: No, I don't think that's why, it never used to do this before
Mr: were you barefoot?
Me: chuckling...yes,  of course (no need to mention naked too)
Mr: if you wear shoes it won't do that anymore
Me: Shoes? I need to wear shoes in the shower?
Mr: Not shoes, just flip flops will do
Me: I don't like this, I don't want to die in my shower
Mr: laughing...has never happened,
Me: can this be fixed, I don't want to be the first?
Mr: I'll come look on Monday

This conversation took place about 2 weeks ago, Mondays have come and gone. I have been wearing flip flops in the shower and have never gotten a shock since...but, the water has also never been as hot since...go figure.

A week after this conversation he comes to the restaurant to eat and when he sees me he says "oh, you're not dead yet, you're still here"? He laughs and  I call him a clown....I can do that now, I have learned how to call people names in Spanish, that has opened up a whole new world for me.

Here is my electric shower, many north Americans here call it the "suicide shower", When it works properly I think it is a genius idea, it eliminates having a hot water tank and only uses electricity when in use. To fully appreciate this genius contraption you have to first forget everything you have ever heard about having electricity n the shower...this takes a while. 

sunset shots from the hammock at the "old bull". 

Happy New Years!

The day before new years eve the beach was hoppin busy, I help out at the Old Bull all day, it was a great day for the restaurants on the beach, the atmosphere was electric. We hadn't seen that many tourists on the beach this winter yet and you could feel the moral of the locals had lifted. There was singing in the kitchens, laughing, everyone was effected in the new positive vibe, it ran through the palapas like electricity, right from the guy that rents boogie boards, to the lady selling beaded jewelry to man selling Mexican blankets to the guy delivering tortillas, to the water guy, to the man selling hats, even my Mexican cousin that delivered the coconuts was dancing and laughing...he did have a lot to be singing about, he almost free felled (is that a word) off a coconut tree that morning, he were laughing so hard when he was telling the story I could hardly get it all. He was on the tree with a rope tied around his waist and his assistant was on the ground holding on to the rope, when he was ready to  lower himself to the ground, he yelled "are you ready?" the guy said "yes" and then for some really funny reason he let go of the rope, I couldn't understand what happened to make him let go of the rope but dude on top had a fast fall until he hit the tree beside the tree he was on and then the other guy got a hold of the rope again. Everyone laughed and laughed, except for the guy that had let go of the rope, he was just sitting there sheepishly grinning. We joked  that maybe he wasn't paying his assistant enough. He replied that maybe he should start charging for delivering coconuts every morning and then he was reminded of how often he eats here without paying. We joked throughout the day that the price of coconuts might go up. End result, just a very bruised leg.....and a funny story to tell.

I am getting better in the kitchen now, my sister can actually send me for stuff now and I come back with the right thing...almost always. Now when she asks me to hand her a knife I don't bring her a spoon anymore. When the waiter asked me for an extra plate I bring him a plate and not a banana, I know how to unplug a drain with a straw, I know not to throw the eggs of the fish into the trash with the rest of the guts (fish eggs are yummy) I know how to make a band aid from an onion peel, and I am much faster at peeling shrimp without losing the tails. This is Spanish immersion at its best. I even know how to say "you are such an ass" in Spanish, teehehe.

As the day ended it started getting really windy and cold and a pot of hot chocolate was put on the stove. After we had cleaned up and closed up we pulled a little table into the kitchen in front of our fire and 5 of us huddled in around it and ate our supper, we hadn't had a chance to eat all day. Past the palapas you could see nothing but darkness, you could hear the ocean but not see it. The beach was pitch dark. We had a single light bulb hanging above our table as we ate rice, beans, tortillas and some left over shrimp and sipped our hot chocolate, we reminisced about the day and thanked God for the business that he had blessed us with. It was a very cozy and peaceful setting.
As we are getting ready to leave sister got a text from a friend in Culiacan that said a storm was heading our way. The wind had really picked up and it did feel stormy. We made sure the fire was out, normally we just let it die on its own, but we didn't want the wind to spread a fire through the palapas. We secured everything that could possibly blow away. We went home to wait for a storm.
The storm never came, it was windy all night and we got a few little showers of rain throughout the night and the next day, it was just miserable enough to keep the people off the beach on New Years Eve. A very disappointing business day. We prepared as usual in the morning, built a fire, made a pot of rice and beans and a batch of salsa....these are the staples in a Mexican restaurant and home. We did not have a single customer, but as family members stopped in throughout the day the food disappeared. We sat around and chatted all day. I had brought my big book of 501 Spanish verbs with me a few days ago and they helped me  and gave me tips. At one point the waiter jokingly told me to sit at the table with my book and not get up until I was fluent, I asked if he was willing to bring me food for a year or so, although I think it will take me longer than a year to master 501 verbs. I almost made a new years resolution to master one verb a day for the rest of the year...almost.

I did learn how to marinate beef for carne asada tacos.....this, along with the rice and beans recipe will change my life. Will share this information on a separate food blog post.

The locals celebrated New Years Eve with small family parties/gatherings at their homes, not a lot of fus and mus, I was invited to a few different gathering but declined all. I have a hard time with Spanish when there are big groups of people all talking at once. I was in bed by 9 pm and at midnight I did wake up to fire crackers and fire works and I think some pistol shots (even though no one is allowed to have a gun here on the Island), the noise lasted for about 1/2 hour and then I fell asleep again. At about 2 am someone realized that they forgot to set off their fireworks and decided better late than never  so there was about an hour of banging and that was it.....Happy New Year to us all!

I'll leave you with some unrelated photo, I know I don't like reading a blog post without photos.  

I bought this vine off of the plant guy that drives around with his truck full of plants,  no idea what it is called . I am still hoping to make a trip to a greenhouse to the mainland. 

I found a new water jug, just like the one I broke a few weeks ago, except with a pink flower, I preferred the other but I can live with this. Now I can stop storing my water in plastic yogurt containers, the price was right at 50 pesos. I think it holds about 4 litres of water.

My poinsettia is still alive 

If I had  a Mexican nickle for every time I've seen a child being transported in a milk crate I would have ......a lot of nickles.

Finally one flower in my garden, fighting the ants is a never ending battle

It's a small world

United States	74
Russia	52
Canada	44
Mexico	30
Malaysia	8
United Kingdom	4
Germany	3
France	2
Ireland	2
Australia	1

Blogger has a page that keeps the stats of my bog for me. . It tells me how many pages were viewed, it tells me how many hits I got on each post, it also tells me from which Country I got hits from, this one is the most interesting for me.  It of course doesn't tell me who the people are and for all I know they may have come upon my blog accidently and then just left, without even reading anything. I find myself thinking of these stats as game stats and of course I am always cheering for Canada, but they are rarely on top, usually somewhere after The United States, Mexico and Russia. I find it interesting that the Russians are hitting my blog a lot...many times they are even ahead of the US, I don't know if this is by accident or if they actually reading my stuff. Is it one person repeatedly hitting my blog or is it many people....I don't know this. All I know is that this week 52 pages were viewed by Russians (chart above) I would like to think I have a friend in Russia  and one is Australia this week, and 8 in Malaysia and so on, but chances are they are accidental hits...I can always hope. If they are friends and are reading I often wonder what brings them to my blog? I have had some anonymous comments which I always love, it tells me my viewers are real. When anonymous comments are posted it doesn't tell me where you are from, unless you reveal that in your comment. I would like to encourage my readers to post comments, even anonymous ones.....because it thrills me, no other reason, I would like to know where you are from and what brought you to my little space, if you choose to reveal that. For instance, what am I writing about that would interest someone way over in Russia or in Malaysia? If it's the food that I write about I could write more posts about food, if it's my gardening in the north, or is it my rambling on and on about cotton curtains? I bet it's my sunset pictures. Or is it my knitting? I just started a painting, maybe I should share that if there are any artsy people reading this. I always cheer when a new country shows up, that thrills me too.
Whoever you are and where ever you are....welcome.
For the sunset lovers here are a few for you

For the Foodies out there, I have learned how to cook the PERFECT pot of rice from my Mexican sister, so perfect that I believe it will change my life...seriously. And of course I have pictures.....and will write about it soon.

Oh and.....YEAH for the US, you're ahead today.