In Search of the Perfect Virgen: There's No Place Like Home!

Of course, I don't have to travel very far, to find examples of the Queen of the Americas.  This one is sitting in the niche, in the Inner Patio of Casita Laberinto one of the two "GREEN" houses that we built and are selling.  This Virgen is carved from Cantara, a stone used for statuary and decoration around buildings.  We had been searching for a statue of the Virgen to put in this niche and found her in Dolores Hidalgo (along with numerous of her sisters).  Simply carved out of the pink cantara, we bought her, brought her home and added just a touch of color.  She, along with the plants and our fountain, make the Inner Patio seem like a mini-sanctuary.


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In Search of the Perfect Virgen: They're everywhere!!

In the Bus Station in Mexico City.  Waiting for the Bus to Oaxaca.  The bus ride was an adventure in itself.  There is a box in front of this statue to put money in.  If I'd known what kind of ride we were going to have, I'd have paid a bribe to this one.


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In Search of the Perfect Virgen, Again!

     The Search for the Perfect Virgen can take us anywhere.  This Paper Mache Virgen was part of an art exhibit of over-sized figures of folk catholic saints and sages.



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The Serch For the Perfect Virgen......... etc!

This is an image of Mary, in what some would call the classic Virgen del Rosario pose.  This one was taken in a small church in San Miguel de Allende.  My favorite description of her comes from Beverly Donofrio's book Looking for Mary, or The Blessed Mother and Me.  She wrote that this statue, with a golden haired Mary (and golden haired Jesus) and puffy dress looks much like Glinda, in the Wizard of OZ.  And so she does.  The chapel is small and cozy, and it has a feeling of spirituality that the larger chapels don't impart. 

In Search of the Perfect Virgen, Again.

Many of the Virgin Mary's Apparitions are from the European Tradition.  Our Lady of Sorrows, is one that is depicted often, in statues in many of the Churches.  She is very prevalent, however, in the time before Easter.  This is particularly so on Viernes de Dolores, the Friday of Sorrows, on the Friday that precedes Palm Sunday.  Typically, she is shown in a Purple Habit, with her head down turned, as she contemplates past events (such as the flight into Egypt) upcoming events of her son's sufferings (such as his crucifixion.


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In Search of the Perfect Virgen: The Search Continues!

Not all of the Goddesses in Mexico are post Spanish Conquest.  This pre-Columbian one was sitting on shelf with numerous other artifacts.  Modern versions of this are seen in a modified, less stark state, in artisan stores around Oaxaca.  And the search continues...................

In Search of the Perfect Virgen!

     Here is another in the series of Searching for the Perfect Virgens in Mexico:  Our Lady of Solitude, Nuestra Señora de Soledad.  She is the Patroness of Oaxaca.  And featured in her Song "La Cumbia del Mole."  Her image is all over Oaxaca City.  I took this one at the entrance of one of the restaurants.  Below, Lila Downs in "La Cumbia....

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Celebrating Mary! In Search of the Perfect Virgin! Part 1

     In Mexico, when Spain had conquered the indigenous people, the tale is told that the Virgen de Guadalupe, an apparition of the Virgin Mary, appeared to a native convert, Juan Diego, and told him to tell the Bishop to build a Chapel on the hill at the site of the encounter.  Juan Diego obeyed and was met with skepticism by the bishop.  The bishop asked for a sign.  Juan Diego went back to the site and the Virgen had Juan Diego pick some roses that, as it was December, shouldn't have been blooming on the hill.  Juan put them in his cloak and took them to the bishop.  When he opened his cloak, the roses fell out and there was an image of the Virgen on the Cloak. 
     A shrine was built on the hill; conveniently it was over ruins of a temple to the indigenous goddess, Tonanzin, that had been destroyed during the Spanish Conquest.  Historically, the Catholic church has, in the name of conversion, been able to absorb the beliefs of their converted flocks and help them align with the prevailing dogma.
     The Virgen has since been called the Queen, the Mother, the Empress, the Patroness of the Americas, by the church.  Being a Catholic nation, Mexico revers all forms of the Virgin Mary.  To celebrate that celebration, periodically I will post pictures of the Virgin as she appears in churches, plazas, mercados, on wall, in niches.  Part One is Guadalupe herself at a site in San Miguel:

 Que Viva La Virgen de Guadalupe!  Que viva!

What To Do When The Networks Aren't Social

     Yesterday, the Internet was down all day.  Because we are in the process of selling our homes, I spend a couple of hours a day, pushing buttons, tweaking advertisement, making changes to the Website (Check out our Website and Pass it on to Interested Parties You Know), Twittering, Facebooking ("LIKE" Casita's Page), Writing e-zine type articles, and Blogging.  And, of course, wasting some time each day just web-surfing.  But it was not meant to be, yesterday.
     Instead, I did do some writing on the computer, made meals, read, and did my socializing with the out doors.  A good deal of every day is spent outdoors, as it is.  But, not having an Internet connection gave me a little more time to finish projects that were in limbo (this limbo being the non-spiritual euphemism for procrastination). 
     Today, we are back on-line, but have been busy, busy.  We spent morning in town, buying supplies to bring back to our home here at Casita Dos Arbolitos, in the quiet countryside of Mexico.  Quiet in the campo, the countryside, is a bragging right, especially in May.  The whole month of May is a fireworks fest, celebrating many holidays and the feast of Santa Cruz.  Each weekend, the fireworks are being set off, early in the morning, and late in the evening.  From our countryside vantage point, the sounds are muted.  Town people are always commenting on the fireworks; and we're always pointing out the peace of living out here.  Especially in the morning; fireworks begin around 5AM, sometimes earlier; while we are still sleeping.  We get up early and have coffee in the Patio Room, while listening to the faraway sounds fireworks and muted crowing of roosters of the roosters in the village.  As the sun begins to approach the horizon, various birds begin singing.  First, is the Poorwill, chirping its bouncy cadence.  Then doves and Scotts Orioles and others join in.  As the sun breaches the horizon, the woodpeckers start complaining about the fact that we have wrapped out wooden patio cover posts in mesh so that they can no longer dig holes in the posts.  The mesh doesn't stop them from trying.  Tag-teaming, the male and female take turns sitting on the posts, tapping a few times, then giving up and letting the other try.
     When we came home from town, we spent the next four hours in the kitchen.  Firstly, I had to restock my cookie supply.  Today's (and for the next few days) offering: Oatmeal Sesame Candied Sunflower Seeds Chocolate Chip.  After that, we were busy making our next Mexican Cuisine Dinner.  Tonight's Dinner was Tamales made with the Amarillo Estofado of two days ago; the sauce used to moisten the masa, and the meat and some sauce and a little Oaxacan string cheese were as filler.  Dessert was guavas basted in cinnamon syrup and filled with Coconut Creme.  I was prep cook drilling holes in the Coconuts, saving the water, then cracking the shells and saving, and then skinning, and then shredding the coconut meat.  We chilled the Aqua de Coco and added chilled rum and ice for a refreshing beverage, on this hot day.
     Now, the reverse of bird calls has nearly finished.  While I was writing this, the tiny sparrows that live in the jasmine vine on one of our Patio Roof Posts flew in and began their evening chatter.  This lasts just a few minutes then they are silent for the evening.  This evening ritual is a small scale version of the larger scale Grackle evening home coming; a tradition that has finally come to an end.  For decades, if not centuries (I'll have to look that up), the Grackles would come to roost in the large trees growing in the Jardin Principal, across from the Parroquia.  Unlike our tiny birds, with their sweet chirping that lasts a few minutes, the Grackles are big-voiced birds, with lots to say.  And while they were saying it and settling in, they would perform their evening toilet, literally, which dropped down onto the benches below and people sitting there.  As San Miguel de Allende grew into its own as a World Class Tourist Town, the Grackles were deemed a nuisance.  They had to go.  Nothing drastic, unless you were a Grackle that liked nesting in the Jardin.  The trees were modified, opened up to make them undesirable for sleeping in.  And so the Grackle moved on. 
     Just now, the sun is fully dropped below the horizon and the Poorwill has begun its evening song.  A good place to end.

On Flowers and Food.

     There is a hurricane, Hurricane Bud, off the western coast of Mexico.  For those along the coast, there are warnings of things to come, as early as today, but probably by tomorrow.  While the weather is a threat to the beaches, it is a promise to the central part of Mexico.  The rainy season---or potential thereof---begins with the hurricane season.  Farmers here in the highlands are looking forward to hurricanes driving near enough to both coasts to push clouds and rains upward and inward.  These first rains are crucial to "cool" the earth, la tierra, after the heat of April and May, and before the final furrowing and then planting can begin.  The three important food crops, corn and beans and squash, which still sustain many of the countries people will be planted when the earth is sufficiently moist.  Then the hope for continued rains, throughout the growing season, begins.  The word for hope is esperanza, from the verb esperar, to hope or to wait, or both.
     At Casita Dos Arbolitos, we also are waiting/hoping for the rains.  Much of our own gardening plans, beyond the Shelter Garden areas that are filled with greens and herbs, count on the rain, as well.  While we are waiting, we are always busy with one aspect of the Garden or the other, planting, watering, digging, making compost.  The most pleasurable part of the garden, however, is the walking through, the looking at, the touching, enjoying the sights and scents and tastes (especially when our Fig Tree is producing).  This week, one of our succulents celebrated spring by producing what we call its 'Little Shop of Horrors' flower.  Part of the pleasure of walking through the Garden is making these discoveries.  The flower opened Tuesday and gave a magnificent display.  That day, it also had a scent that I didn't find that appealing, but attracted numerous bees to immerse themselves in its pollen.  Today, it has become a fading star, mostly limp, soon-to-be-gone.  But in its one day of full glory, it was spectacular:

     Besides celebrating our Garden, we Celebrate Mexican Cuisine in our Kitchen.  We have many cookbooks about Mexican Cuisine.  Two are by the author Diana Kennedy.  She has lived in Mexico much of the time, since 1957.  Because we spent some time in Oaxaca, we are enjoying making thins from her Oaxaca al Gusto cookbook.  We bought it before our trip, when she was here in San Miguel de Allende for a book-signing.  The recipe for today is Amarillo, which is to say Mole Amarillo, an "esotfado," a stew made with chiles and spices, potatoes and chayote, masa, chicken and pork.  The amarillo part means it's supposed to be yellow, but the chiles that we have aren't exactly like those from Oaxaca, so the stew is more orange than yellow, but still delicious.  Que Rico!  How Rich!

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Buen Provecho! Good Eating!

Chop Wood, Carry Water, Stop Wood Peckers!

     This is just a note about how living a Sustainable Lifestyle helps to create a new way of thinking, a new way of looking at things.  One of the concepts of Permaculture, one of the Sustainable Living Philosophies, is to use "Stacking," wherever possible.  Stacking is the only form of multitasking one should implement.
     Regular Multitasking, doing numerous things at once, like answering phones, cooking, Tweeting your latest recipe, and washing your dog, all at once, is distracting and doesn't allow you to........oops, I have to go check to see if the cookies are fully baked yet.  Just kidding!  Multitasking doesn't allow you to focus on each individual action, giving it the attention that it needs to be completed successfully.  Multitaskers will tell you that they CAN do five things at once, completing them all successfully.  However, when put to the test, multitasking individuals, if successful with their tasks, use as much or more time to complete them; it just seems that they are doing it all at once and, therefore, faster.  Usually, they just make mistakes along the way.
     Stacking is a form of multitasking only in that, when properly designed, a system does two or more jobs at the same time.  A classic example is a gray-water system.  If designed correctly, every time someone does the laundry or takes a shower, the water is then channeled to a plant well or green area.  This system creates a three-way multitask: washing; a reuse of water; and plant watering.  The system save, as mentioned in other posts, water and time.
     Today's multitasking event occurred as we were trying to stop the woodpeckers from destroying the wood poles that hold up our patio roof.  At the base of each pole, we have vines growing and have been stringing them up to encourage their vertical growth.  The woodpeckers are trying to make their homes further up the poles, above the vines, by testing various spots and making lots of holes.  On one pole that has fully grown to the top, the woodpeckers stay away.  To discourage their continued hammering and hole drilling, we looked around for something that might work.  To that end, we found some wire mesh that was leftover from the construction of the house.  By cutting strips of the mesh and wrapping them around the upper parts of the poles, we performed an act of Stacking.  We were able to accomplish three things: the close knit mesh keeps the birds from being able to peck the wood; the mesh will, when the vines reach it, give them a tentacle-hold; we were able to use most of the leftover mesh, thus not wasting it.
     So, there you have it.  Stacking.  The only form of multitasking you should be doing.  Now how are those cookies doing............?

Chop Wood, Carry Water Part 107.35 Still waiting for the rains.

     Because we chose to make a conscious effort of live a sustainable lifestyle, we built our house to function simply.  Our water is "captured" when the rains hit the roof tops and are directed to our cisterns.  The water is pumped up to a tank on the roof.  From there, gravity does the work and sends the water back down to the faucets and shower head, and outdoor spigots.
     Because we have a compost toilet, we don't use water to flush out human waste products.  These compost into a dry material which we use as a safe material to supplement the green and kitchen composts that we spread under trees.  By using a composting system for human waste, the water saved can be directed elsewhere, as needed.
    Besides saving water, we also reuse water.  All shower, dish and laundry "gray-water'' is directed on to plants and trees and bushes.  This second usage, save water (by not having to rely solely on first water usage) and time (the gray-water and gravity do the work; the water flows directly onto the intended area).
     While we are waiting for the rains, we are careful with our water usage, to avoid, where possible, supplemental water purchases.  Still, May is a month that we want our plants to get through without stress, so we are giving them what we can.  According to one of our campesino (a person who lives in the countryside) neighbors, Genaro, the rainy season has started, even if the rains haven't appeared, yet.  At first I thought that this was some country wisdom that he was passing on, but he clarified it and told me that he had heard it on television.  So much for romanticizing country living.....

Waiting for the Rains!

     It's May in the Campo, the Countryside, here in San Jose de Gracia.  As you can see from my last post, I have been neglecting my "Corazon" of Mexico; this, having abandoned it for the quicker Social Medium of Twitter. [See my Twitter Feed on the Right Hand Side]  Still, as we wait to sell our houses (visit our Website Our Homes For Sale!), we are enjoying our time here and have declared a creative sabbatical.  To that end, we are following our own creative urges.  Each of us has different "art" forms that we like to pursue.  Two areas where we come together are cooking (and eating, of course) Mexican and Mexican Fusion Cuisine, and Gardening.
     In terms of cooking, for example, tonight we are having one of our favorites, Stuffed Chile Poblanos.  When the the Chile Poblanos are filled with cheese, dredge in an egg batter and fried, they are the well known, served in every restaurant, Chiles Rellenos.  But Poblanos and other chiles, both fresh and dried, can be stuffed with a variety of fillings and baked, or fried with or without a batter.  A few nights ago, we had Poblanos stuffed with shrimp and goat cheese and served with a Chipotle reduction sauce.  Tonight, the chiles are being stuffed with a mixture of fried potatoes, sauteed onions and garlic, goat cheese, and the ubiquitous and delicious sausage called chorizo.  To complete the plate, we are having slices of mango, black beans with feta cheese, and a roasted tomato/serrano chile marinara.
     Gardening at this time of year is mostly watering our trees and plants, and planting and growing a limited food garden in the sheltered areas that are shaded and have walls blocking the fierce winds.  Our fruit and olive trees are all trying to hold on to their fruit, until the rains; these are due anytime between now and the end of June.  Our prodigious Fig tree is in a holding pattern, with numerous figs ready to spring forth at the rains.  Even though it is getting regular water, it requires that extra measure to encourage it to make its final push.  Until the, we'll wait for the rains and dream of fresh figs and fig chutney and fig bars and..........

And Check out Spring in Our Garden: Spring 2012

Just a Quick Note!

You can see by the Twitter Feed, that we have been to Oaxaca and back.  Now, we are preparing for Spring and taking what we've learned from previous years and applying it to this year's Garden.  In the meantime, we have had 4 inches of rain this year and the drought the devastated last year's nopal cactus crop has been mitigated.
 The early rains have refreshed the cactus and encouraged them to leaf out and bloom.  Both of these are important, as they are both food crops as well as high plateau forest greenery.  We have already had our first helping of fresh nopales, onions and tomatoes.  We'll be harvesting more throughout the month, while awaiting the ripening of the "tunas," the prickly pears.
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Time to Cozy in for the Night.  There is the potential of some rain coming our way.  And, if not, the Thunder and Lightning show that is beginning will provide a nice evening's entertainment.

Casita Dos Arbolitos---The FaceBook Page!

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Thoughts About Sounds, On a Cool Autumn Afternoon.

The Light of Autumn, the golden-tinged light, was shining throughout the morning and afternoon.  It gave an auric glow to the landscape.  Now, clouds are gathering.  Thunder has been rumbling for the past hour.  Because we had a short rainy season this year, we are hoping that these clouds, blowing from the northeast, rumbling in, will be more than the tease of last night.  Then, there were all of the dramatics of the false prophet, promising the end of the world, by deluge, when all we got was a few minutes of sprinkles, which were quickly soaked up by a thirsty earth.

The above paragraph was written just before it was time to stop for Dinner.  Dinner, last night consisted of homemade Guacamole.  This made in one of our Molcajetes.   And Tacos de Carnitas, with Homemade Tortillas.   During dinner, and throughout the evening and night, the gathering clouds kept their promise and delivered some rain; 8/10 of an inch!  

My thoughts, yesterday afternoon, were musings on the sounds of the countryside, the "campo" outside of San Miguel de Allende, where we live.  The sounds here, coming mostly from nature, differ from the hustle and happenings of SMA.  There, are the noises of cars and buses and trucks and commerce.  On any given day, there is celebration and fireworks; these from simple "cuetes," fire crackers, to bottle rockets and grand displays of pinwheels and facsimiles.  There are musicians playing in the Parks and Gardens and restaurants; sometime creating a cacophony, as mariachis compete with Spanish flamenco guitarists and the jukebox of the kids break-dancing on the bandstand.  Vendors calling out selling newspapers and cooked "elote" (corn) and the tin whistle of the knife sharpener.  And a siren or two, punctuated by the band whistle of the transit police, trying to find the people who have double-parked along the main streets.   And, for many who live and visit SMA, all of these are a part of its charm.  For me too; this, mostly because I visit SMA when I choose.  The rest of the time, I'm out here at Casita Dos Arbolitos listening to sounds out here.

We have no fewer sounds than SMA, mostly just different, and more natural.  There are some "industrial" sounds, if you will.  If one is awake at 5:30AM, the sound of the school bus honking the "claxon" (car horn) is hurried summonig the secondary-grade students.  From our house, it is a bit faint and only heard if we're awake.  A bit later, the Poorwill sings its plaintive to condensingly bouncy song, as the dawn breaks.  In the distance, a rooster or two crow to the awakening day, a few dogs, barking at an early delivery truck.  Other birds take over, as the sun begins to appear on the horizon and the Poorwill finishes its morning solo; later, as dusk begins, another solo performance will be staged, as the birds begin to quiet down and settle in.  At some point in the morning, the high plateau drylands sound a bit like a jungle, as the cactus wrens and woodpeckers begin their callings to one another.  And there are the doves who coo and "mourn" during the morning and early evening.  And the screech of the jay.  And chittering of the towhees.  And the beautiful song of the thrasher, a song that belies its sinister yellow-eyed appearance.
Besides the birds of the campo, there are the domestics.  The roosters, as mentioned, comment throughout the day, mostly in the morning and evening, and at abrupt changes in light and temperature.  Yesterday, the cattle on the hillside to the south of Casita Dos Arbolitos, in full view from our Patio Room, were carrying on some indecipherable conversation,  occasionally punctuated by the braying of a donkey in the village.  During the early afternoon, one of the villagers was moving his flock of sheep through the arroyo, looking for a little green for them to nibble on.  The sheep added to the domestic dialog, though not as much as they do during the time their children are still suckling.  Then, there is a bit more calling, back and forth, as mother and child try to locate each other; the children, as children of all species are wont to do, having wandered off to explore, instead of staying close to their Mamas.
At various times, throughout the night, throughout the year, coyotes yip.  Their reasons not fully understood, though some times they sound lonely and others more celebratory.  And, on occasion, the hoot of an owl breaks the silence of the night.
There are more industrial sounds.  There is a rhythm to them, throughout the week.  In the next post, I'll tell about them and their place in our village, out here in the campo.

This isn't Kansas, anymore, Toto. Or how we got here.

The Short Version:  1977, my then future wife and her soon-to-be first husband are touristing around Mexico.  They stopped in San Miguel de Allende.  For my wife-to-be (after marrying and then leaving said first) it was a literal "love at first sight."  Over the years, she and he, then they (family and children), came for visits.  Then she bought some land in SMA with $$$ from and inheritance.  And then, in 1991, she met me.
And the me she met didn't seem like an SMA guy, so she sold the land.  And then we came to SMA.  It, high on the high plateau, the alto plano, seemed to me, a California coastal dweller, too far from seas, East and West; being, thusly, midway in-between the two.  But SMA has charm, to which millions attest.  And I became one.  And we found some land, just safely away from city noise, but close enough to go and play.
And we came and built and lived, and loved our home.  And love it still.  And still, California, beckons again.  And we put on the Red Slippers of Real Estate Sales.  And from our website, we click.
Click Here----->>>>   Ruby Red Slipper Heels  Once is enough (three times takes you to Kansas and Aunty Em).

Volcanic Rock, ROCKs!!

For years, both here in Mexico and for decades in California, I have made Guacamole.  I have made, what I and others considered, a good guacamole.  Certainly it was homemade with fresh ingredients; a good starting point.  And, most certainly, it far exceeded the typical Mexican restaurant in California and even some in Mexico.  Still, it never reached the point at which I considered excellent----a melding of flavors that I had found only in some very good restaurants in the US and many here.  Now, thanks to the goddess, also known as Diana Kennedy, I have the key---albeit a heavy stone one---to perfect guacamole.
Guacamole is, of course, that blending of avocados, onions, chiles, cilantro, tomatoes, and a dash of salt that is shuttled to the mouth by means of a tortilla chip (called "totopos" here).  It comes from the Nahuatl (the language people spoke here before they were "discovered.") word for avocado sauce.  And, like most "moles" or sauces, before there were blender, and Cuisinarts, there were grinding bowls call Molcajetes.  A Molcajete is a mortar made from volcanic rock.  It is used with a pestle, called a Tejolote (or "mano") also made from the same substance.  Both are hard and heavy.  The Molcajete is carved out of the gray or black volcanic rock in the shape of a bowl on a solid tripod.  The Tejolote is shaped like a round-bottomed cone or a cylinder rounded on both sides.  To test a Molcajete, before buying, the goddess suggests pouring a little water into it to see if it drains out too quickly; also, using the Tejolote to grind a bit in the bowl of the Molcajete, then checking for excessive dust/particles (a little dust before curing is not bad).  Either too much drainage or dust is a sign that the Molcajete will not serve you well.
Once you have you Molcajete, it must be cured before using it.  The tradition is to take a handful of rice and grind it in the Molacjete, until it is powdered.  Dump the powder, rinse and dry the bowl and repeat this until the rice is more white than gray.  When I cured my Molcajete, it took 4 grinding; and then I did another.
And now the bowl is ready for making the perfect guacamole:

2 Medium Avocados, pitted and halved.
1 Medium Tomato
1 Small Onion
1 1/2 Serrano Chiles (seeds or seedless, depending on your heat tolerance)
Some Cilantro Leaves
Some Salt
2 Cloves of Garlic (optional, but the way I like it)
1/2 a Lime (again, optional, but it adds complexity)

Roughly chop half the Onion, the Serrano Chiles, half the Cilantro, and the Garlic and place it in the Bowl of the Molcajete; add a dash of Salt .  Then grind the ingredients to a paste (and this is where the magic happens, this is the key, this paste whose flavors are distributed throughout).
Add the Avocados, a half at a time, and grind them into the paste.
Chop the Tomato into fine chunks.  Add half to the mixture, squeeze the lime over it and folding it in.  Taste and add more Salt, if necessary.
Chop the rest of the Onion and Cilantro and mix it with the rest of the Tomato and sprinkle it over the Guacamole.
Serve immediately (No, really, myths aside---like the pit will keep guacamole fresh for a long time---it's at it's very best when made and served.  Buen Provecho!!
One of the YouTube Videos (See the Rest Of Our YouTubes, here), which I posted, yesterday, features the molcajete.  Look for others, here; this along with recipes, both Mexican and Mexican-fushion cuisine.

Here Is A First Taste of Mexico. Buen Provecho!