GRUYERE

Kept in wine fridge for 2 months:

I save these plastic containers.  They have holes in so the cheese can breathe.

A little white mould?

The wooden spears keep the cheese from touching the bottom of the plastic container.

Cut in half.  El sr J thought it tasted too salty, so I tooth brushed it with vinegar and water and now it's delicious.  At 6 months it might be even better, but I couldn't wait.  Next is Asiago.

THANKSGIVING IN PATZCUARO

Although the Patzcuarans were happily unaware that we were non-celebrating there.

A couple of women in local garb.  I loved those aprons.  Coke is the human fuel of Mexico.  Even abuelas drink it.

My Thanksgiving dinner was a plate of tiny silver fried fish, heads and eyes included.  El sr J chose something else on the menu.  As you can see by my attire, it was really cold there.

We were the only people in the tour van so I requested and got a side trip to a cemetery.

Santa Clara de Cobre is a small town near Patzcuaro in which 90% of the males work in copper.  All the copper is from recycled material.  Above is a chunk of it which is going to be heated and hammered down.

The fire

The hammering.  Manly men.

We each chose a pot.

I'm willing them to my sister.

PATO DE COSTCO

We bought a frozen duck from Indiana at Costco:

We thought it would be too much meat for just us, so we invited el sr J's biking buddy for dinner.  He wasn't sure he liked the idea of eating duck, but since no other invitation was forthcoming, he accepted.  When he arrived he said he wasn't very hungry because he had eaten a big breakfast and lunch.

We used this recipe:

http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/02/11/the-best-way-to-roast-a-duck-hello-crispy-skin/

Here it is right before the glaze:

And ready to carve and serve:

We had very little left over.  Mr. B.B. had a hearty appetite as it turned out.

GRUYERE

We amazoned a small wine fridge to Colorado and carted it, with some difficulty, back to Mexico:

Now I can make cheeses that need to be aged at temperatures higher than a normal refrigerator.

My first experiment is Gruyere:

We'll see what happens to it after 2-6 months!

BADMINTON

Who knew it was a sport?  Last week we couldn't work out because the championship Caribe, Latino, Canadian badminton games were happening in our gym.  Where was the USA in this event?  Ignoring lesser nations and busy defending empire, I guess.

I only knew a few of the countries those flags hanging across the stage represented, but we watched outfit-identified players from Chile, Cuba (oh, maybe that's the reason for no USA representation), Brasil, Colombia, Jamaica, Barbados, Costa Rica and, of course, Mexico.  According to el sr J they were playing "mixed doubles" which I guess means a woman (in front) and a man.

The players seem to pretty much ignore the boundary lines and whack at the shuttlecock from wherever they can.  The shuttlecock starts with a mighty whoosh, but it peters out pretty fast.  Sorry I can't tell you who won.

DULCE DE LECHE

I follow a blog by David Leibovitz:  http://www.davidlebovitz.com.  Mr. L. used to live in Berkeley and made desserts for Chez Panisse.  We've eaten there twice and I'm a great admirer of Alice Waters and her contribution to the American food revolution.

Mr. L. now lives in Paris and writes about France and food.  What could be better?  I bought his latest cookbook when we were in Portland.  The dessert section is at the end and when I arrived there I saw several recipes using dulce de leche.  Dulce de leche is sweetened condensed milk that has been reduced, either by boiling the can (hoping it doesn't explode) or, as Mr. L. advised, baking the milk in the oven.  He said you could buy dulce de leche, already made, in Mexican markets.  Hmmmm. . . .

I've never in my long life bought a can of sweetened condensed milk.  Why, you might wonder.  Well, the idea of sweetened milk in a can is not very appealing to me.  Also, it's probably made by Nestlé, a company I've boycotted for 50 years for encouraging new mothers in non-compulsively consuming countries to use their, Nestlé's, baby formula instead of breast feeding.  Result: formula mixed with dirty water and dead babies.

But. . . Mr. L. and those recipes.  So the next time I went to the store where I buy flour I looked around and, sure enough, there was a whole shelf of dulce de leche.

I stuck my finger in and it was delicious.  Caramel tasting.

 I made one of his dessert recipes with chocolate, eggs and dulce de leche:

And I had to buy ramekins to do it.  So much for downsizing.

Speaking of boycotting, we watched the movie about Cesar Chavez and the CA grape boycott.  Very moving.  The good old days.

CALCETINES

Just finished a pair of socks for my sister:

The Pauler sisters think that matching is bourgeois.

EL GATO

I was Skyping with my mother this afternoon when I looked up and saw this:

We have chicken wire halfway up the front window to keep thieves from taking the 3 cacti plants on the ledge.  The gato climbed up the chicken wire and tried to figure out what to do next.  He couldn't drop down inside because the cacti were there.  He reached up but we have screen in the top of the window. So he stayed there while I tried to get el sr J interested in coming into the front room.  Finally, after passersby kept knocking on the door to tell us there was a cat in the window and we said it wasn't ours, would they like to take it, and they said no thanks, el sr J encouraged it with a broom to jump to the sidewalk.

EL CUMPLEAñOS DE UNA NUERA

Happy Birthday, Donna!

A pair of fingerless gloves

And a cowl to keep her warm in Chicago winters

The yarn is beautiful, soft, Japanese Noro that we picked out together on a recent visit.

MOZZARELLA

There are lots of different recipes for making mozzarella.  I used one from the internet that sounded easy and used the microwave.   We haven't eaten it yet, but I don't like the texture much.  Too gummy.

4 liters of milk for this little piece of cheese.

You can imagine hot much whey I had to find room for in the freezer and fridge.  And, to complicate matters, el sr J was making a big batch of posole at the same time.

AMIGOS

My sister wanted to see a photo of our friends, Richard and Kim.  Here they are in front of an abstract  painting of their relationship done by Kim:

XILITLA

We took a Primera Plus bus on a very long (5 hrs.) and winding trip to Xilitla to see Las Pozas, Edward James's surrealist sculpture garden.  James claimed to be the grandson of King Edward VII and was incredibly wealthy.  He chose to spend most of his money on surrealist art and his large property in Xilitla.  Youtube has a number of videos on him and Las Pozas.  When I asked the guide if there were any women surrealist artists at Las Pozas, he said Leonora Carrington.  I'm embarrassed 

to admit I hadn't heard of her.  She died in Mexico City a few years ago.

On Sunday there was a big market in Xilitla.   I couldn't resist a few purchases:

The avocados there were different from the ones in Qro.  We have Hass (thick skins, good for shipping) and criollo (almost black thin skins and a buttery taste--our favorite).  These from Xilitla are light green and thick skinned.  Dried red peppers in the back.  The other red things are tomatoes, believe it or not.  Thick skins, not much pulp inside.  Hmm. . . .

QUESO

On a recent trip to Chicago to celebrate my three score and tenth birthday with our older son and his family, I ordered some cheese making stuff that I can't find in Mexico.

A book

A cheese thermometer

Mesophilic and Thermophilic Cultures

And a cheese press which I'll show on another post.

I was able to find rennet and citric acid here in Qro:

Enough rennet to last several lifetimes

Ricotta done

Ricotta on left, cream cheese on right

Lots of whey leftover for soup

LECHE BRANCA

I didn't know the word branca and it's not in the online Spanish-English dictionary, but if you pass the Leche Branca Expendio at the edge of El Tepe market you will see that it means raw or fresh milk:

That's el sr J. on the right.

I'd been planning to purchase some raw milk for making cheese and I thought I would have to bring in some large bottles to transport it home.  Silly me.  Mexicans are nothing if not resourceful.  They put many liquids in plastic bags, including 5 liters of milk:

It's pretty heavy and difficult to pour into a pot.  I had to put the bag into the pot and cut a hole in it.

This is inside the expendio.  The milk is in the galvanized tub ("like one I used to wash the dog in," says el sr J).  The bags are on the table.  Everything looks spic and span.

This is the woman who dips the milk.  She and the cows live in Colorado, a small town nearby.  The milk is 11 pesos a kilo.

Cheese making tomorrow.

DAY-O

We have a banana tree that's about 2 years old:

The banana plant is an herb, not a tree.  I learned this from the British quiz show, QI.

As you might be able to see, the "mother" plant has various sized offspring growing around its base.  I suppose if it ever bears bananas we'll have to to cut down the main plant and let the babies take its place.

Here comes a new shoot up the middle.

LA PERGOLA

Rafa and his men built us a pergola in two days:

cement bases

Up the steps with the wood:

Rafa:

Detail:

Done:

More detail:

Now we need to cover the top with sun-blocking cloth.