UCHENNA

A colleague and friend from N.C. came for a visit:

We couldn't get the delay function to work on the camera, so el sr J. and I have separate photos with her:

As people of a certain age are wont to do, we spoke of health issues.  Uchenna remembered that an old Mexican woman, now deceased, had told her that alpiste (canary food) and jamaica (hibiscus) were good for high blood pressure.  Uchenna preferred my sister's remedy, vodka and fruit juice, but I went for the bird food and jamaica.  There are two kinds of alpiste, one for birds and one for humans.
I found this at the local naturista (health food store).

Already ground.  Add 2 T. to a glass of water.

The jamaica can be bought loose, by the kilo, or as a tea:

 

My blood pressure hasn't been high since I lost some weight, but these home remedies can't hurt.

PORK BELLY

I got a recipe for Christmas from my nephew who cooks for Magpie Restaurant in Sacramento.  I found this pork belly at Costco.

Fatty side:

Lean side: 

  

Brined, scored and dry rubbed:

Cooked for 4 hours:

 

Fried on all sides:

 

Tender and delicious. 

 Thanks, Yarrow

TORTILLAS

Some of our Mexican friends have told us that the best tortillas are the hand-made ones.  I was skeptical--same ingredients, just made by hand instead of by a machine.  But it didn't matter because we had never come across a tortillería that sold hand-made ones.  That has now changed.  This is what we found a couple blocks from our house--in a direction we generally don't walk:

The machine-made tortillas are 12 pesos.  The white, yellow or blue hand-made ones (cooked on a comal) are 17 pesos.  So we bought half a kilo of the yellow ones.

 

Here's a shot of the woman making them:

They were sooooo much better than the machine ones--tender and delicate with a more subtle corn flavor.  We're hooked!

The machine ones.

  We bought some totopos too:

Can't wait to go back for more.

THE GREAT VODKA DRINK OFF: PART 1

El sr J and I started with 4 tastings from our current stock:

#1  (from left) Zubrowka.  Polish.  The "original bison grass vodka," a stalk of which is included in the bottle.  $276 MXN

  #2 Wyborowa.  Polish.  Rye.  $127 MXN

  #3 Stolichnaya. Latvia.  Wheat and rye.  Don't know price.  Probably around 250 MXN.  The small bottle came free with a long-gone liter bottle.

  #4 Oso Negro.  Mexico.  Doesn't say what it's made of.  Hopefully not bears.  I'm embarrassed to  

        say we also had this one on hand. We used it to make slivovitz, which we can't seem to find here.

El sr J's preferences were:  2, 1, 3, 4.  He must have been Polish in a previous life.

Mine were: 4, 1, 2, 3

So we both like Wyborowa best!  And it's really cheap!  However, there are many brands left to try.  We should live so long.

TORONJAS

PLATANOS

Yes, we have some bananas:

SOLAR

Our new solar collector:

The water tank (tinaco) had to be raised above the collector, which is why it is now perched on a metal platform.  Bonus:  more pressure in the gravity-flow water supply in the house.  There are 15 tubes to catch the rays--plenty for a family of 2 as well as for our guests.  In the (unlikely) event of consecutive overcast days, we can divert the water from the collector to our stand-by gas hot water heater to ensure plenty of hot water.  The savings on our gas bill should be about 80%.   Cost?  About 10,000 pesos.  Typical monthly gas bill?  About 350 pesos.  Payback time?  About 3 years.  And a small step toward less fracking.