DOMINGO CAMINANDO

We usually go for a long walk on Sunday.  Here are some photos from this morning.

An interesting, or maybe scary, front door:

Any kind of piñata you might want:

Looks like a Royal Poinciana/Flamboyant.  They are both common and beautiful:

An unusual kind of evergreen (perhaps a relative of the Japanese Black Pine), if it makes any sense to say "evergreen" here, where most everything is:

The orange trees are ubiquitous, but they still take my breath away:

An apple tree.  No so ubiquitous:

Invasive morning glories, but they sure are pretty:

TAJIN CLASICO Y CHAMOY

There are various brands of salt/chili/dehydrated lime seasonings here.  Tajín is the one we like best.  Tajín also makes chamoy, a liquid seasoning of the same things plus sugar and apricot paste.  It's supposed to be good on fruit.  Now that I've tried it and liked it, I'm going to make my own blend using the recipe below.

Chamoy
2 to 3 morita chiles
1 -  10 ounce jar 100% apricot fruit spread
3/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon salt
approximately 1/2 cup sugar depending on the sweetness of the apricot spread


To prepare the chamoy.  In a dry, non-stick skillet over medium heat, toast the morita chiles using a metal spatula to press them down against the pan for several seconds on each side. They will change color slightly and become more pliable.  Remove from the skillet, submerge the chiles in hot water and let them soak for 30 minutes to soften.  Discard the stems.  Place in a blender along with the apricot spread, lime juice, salt and sugar.  Combine until smooth.   Store in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for later use.


El sr J says it will be good as a stir-fry sauce.

ESPERANDO

Waiting.  Hoping.  What do you do while you're waiting and hoping to settle on a house?  While the seller is waiting and hoping for the exchange rate to become more favorable for her?

El sr J makes plans for our new kitchen:

I'm crocheting down my yarn stash.   After ruminating for a while about what to make, I decided on some pillows.  I found a shop that sells upholstery supplies.  I didn't know the word for pillow stuffing, so I looked it up in my on-line dictionary.  Unclear.  Could it possibly be the same word as in chiles rellenos?  I asked the clerk if they had relleno for pillows and waited for her confused expression.  Instead, she turned around, went into a room and came out with samples of three different kinds.  I bought the kind that feels like cotton candy, but el sr J is reluctant to touch because it may contain some nasty chemicals.  I bought a kilo, which turned out to be a very big bagful. 

So here are the pillows.  They don't really match each other or anything else, but they've kept me busy.

Front:

Back:

Front

Back and side:

Front:

Back:

If the house business isn't settled soon, I'm afraid I'll smother us in pillows and all those kitchen plans will have been for naught.

CAPITAL TRABAJANDO

Mexicans' tax dollars at work.  It seems like the centro is undergoing a massive facelift, and the sounds of chisels on paving stones and the beep-beep of dump trucks backing up compete with the fireworks and church bells.

Below is the new roundabout they're making on Universidad, close to where the house-that-is-not-ours-yet is located. 

This is what 16 de septiembre, near the theater we frequent, looks like.  The new paving stones are impressive and much too heavy for demonstrators to throw.  I wonder if, like the French students in 1968, the workers chant "sous les pavés la plage." 

5 de mayo is all torn up.  It's the principal access street to the Plaza de Armas, and getting there by car is no fun:

The explanatory sign below refers to solutions.  Yesterday muddy water from a broken pipe flooded the street.  Not the solution the government had in mind.

I thought the refurbishing of the Plaza de Armas was finished, but it wasn't!

Recycled plywood sheeting, carefully re-assembled so as not to disturb the artwork; directions to the street vendors, access to whom is no longer self-evident; and another explanatory sign, depicting the wonders of the finished product:

All this work involves many men, working mostly with hammers, chisels, wheelbarrows, and a lot of dirt and stones.  Around 1:00 pm they break for lunch and a little snooze, sprawling out over the sidewalk in any bit of shade they can find.  We tiptoe around them.  Who could begrudge them a descanso after working so hard.

LA SINFONIA. . .

has started its new season.  Friday we heard a cello solo by Asaf Kolerstein, an inmigrante from Israel via the US, heralding the impending statehood of Palestine.  Well, we hope so anyway.

OTRA CENA DE CHORIZO VERDE

Q:  What is longer than it is wide?
A:  Green chorizo, for one.

This is tonight's dinner.  Green chorizo in a roasted tomato-garlic-ancho pepper sauce with fried potato slices, red and yellow peppers, onion, and mushrooms, topped with cilantro.  The salad is diced jicama, roasted red pepper. and cucumber in vinaigrette.  The red wine is cheap.

BERNADETTE DEVLIN

Speaking of revolutionary women, here is one that you readers of a certain age will remember:

Her autobiography is not on Kindle.  Too bad.