ERLUM #2

A local restaurant was having another wine/food evening, so we decided to go:

Los Vinos: 1° Tiempo Ostato Crianza 2008, Rioja España 2° Tiempo Vega Real Crianza 2006, Ribera del Duero 3° Tiempo Quinta Monasterio, Tempranillo 2009, Valle de Guadalupe, México El Menú: 1° Tiempo Pulpo a la Gallega papa, paprika, ajo, chorizo y perejil 2° Tiempo Salchicha de Borrego hongos, mostaza, queso de oveja, almendras y tomillo 3° Tiempo Lomo de Cerdo puré de camote, tocino hecho en casa, miel maple y malvavisco

The restaurant is a family affair, a young couple and the woman's mother.  Here are two of them; the chef is in the kitchen:

El sr J and I and Mary Lou were the English speakers speaking Spanish.  There were five Mexicans in attendance.  We sat across from Monica and Lupita, who study anthropology at the local university:

I got so hungry listening to the lecture on wine that I forgot to take a photo of the squid, the first course.  Here's the second course, homemade sheep sausage with mushrooms, cheese, almonds and thyme:

And the third course, pork loin, camote (think sweet potato) and homemade bacon:

Dessert:

Good company, good food, good wine:

LA CAMERATA

The Camerata performed in a small "experimental" performance space just around the corner from us.  It is part of a recently constructed municipal sports/instruction/entertainment complex, and the public may not be familiar with the space or its cultural offerings.  There were about 30 people in the audience.

Here is what they played:

Most of the musicians are also in the symphony:

We hope the space continues to be used for musical performances and that more people are drawn to it as they become familiar with the programming.

BARTOK

The local Philharmonic's season is divided into three sets of concerts.  The musicians get a brief holiday in mid-summer, and the rest of the year they are hard at work doing weekly perfomances.  Friday was the initial concert of the third (and final) set. We enjoyed the Bartok and the violist, whose height and slimness are not conveyed in the publicity photo:

ALAIN

Remember when Alain and Mimi came to visit us when we were in the casita?  Alain is an artist and he took lots of photos here and made them into a work of art.  We asked him to make a print for us and we picked it up when we went to the US.  Here it is:

And in context in the dining room:

When we unwrapped the print, we found this poster.  Alain knew we would love it because we're all revolutionaries.  We're going to hang it in our hallway, which used to be useless but will now be named "Revolution Hall."

This is a print of one he did celebrating the 2008 election, before Obama cozied up with Wall Street, bankers and torturers:

And finally, some scenes from his and Mimi's house in Parsons, WV.  Mimi's bread and hands are in the middle.  She's a baker:

We hope they come to visit again soon.

EL MOLINO DE CARNE

Los Jubilados have given up consuming various foods during their fifty years of marriage.  The reasons are varied:
     1) political, such as grapes from California, orange juice from Florida, anything from South Africa under apartheid and Chile during the Pinochet regime.
     2) bacterial contamination, such as alfalfa sprouts, packaged lunch meat, hamburger.
     3) exposés on the way the food is prepared, such as hamburger (again), hot dogs, cereal, yellow chicken, hormone-laced beef.

The list goes on.  Thankfully, we always had a large organic garden to eat from.

So when I occasionally mention to el sr J that I'm hungry for a hot dog or a hamburger or meatloaf, he gives me an appalled look as though I've betrayed a sacred agreement that we swore to abide by.

He did, however, agree to eat hamburger if we bought a grinder and made our own from beef purchased at the local market.  So that's what we did.  We bought a big piece of sirloin at market and ground it up.  Then we had meatballs and hamburgers.  Who knows, we might even make sausage.  Not Jimmy Dean.

First the meat:

Then the fat:

Put 'em together and whaddya got?

Several kilos of ground sirloin.

DE VUELTA EN MEXICO

Los Jubilados have returned to Mexico after a two-week visit with family in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.  We arrived a day before our two checked bags.  My bag had a document which said that my little envelope of seeds from Pine Tree Garden Nursery had been seized and destroyed.

The seizure got me thinking about what the world would look like if no one had been allowed to carry seeds from country to country, continent to continent.  Yes, I know that kudzu was bad for the South and ice plants are a pest in CA, but didn't governments, rather than individual gardeners, bring those plants in?  I can't imagine Opalka and Black Krim tomatoes spreading across Mexico.  I can barely get them to produce in my gardens.  How about hollyhocks?  Do you think they could jump my wall and pop up all over the place?  Wouldn't that be a pretty sight.  And, by the way, didn't Mexico allow genetically engineered corn inside its borders?

This invitation to the official opening of the renovated Plazuela de los Platitos on the corner was in the mailbox when we got home:

We made plans to go at the scheduled time of 7:00 p.m.  The refurbishing is lovely:

Unfortunately the weather was uncooperative, although the participants, including this woman proudly showing the historical figures on her dress, were prepared:

Marring the view, perhaps, according to one's taste, is the sign for the beauty shop where I had my hair done for my grandson's wedding by Antonio/a.  I hope to have a photo of him/her in the future when I have the nerve to ask him/her:

Some brave audience members:

We left before the event began. At 7:45.