Weekend Getaway

 

Me:   I'd like to go see this Annie Leibovitz exhibition in Mexico City. You interested?

My Friends: You bet. Let's go!

 

And so 12 days later we were in Casa Gonzalez which is just a couple of blocks from the US Embassy and the Paseo de la Reforma in the heart of Mexico City. It had been about 25 years since I had stayed in the Casa Gonzalez guest house so it was such a treat to go back and see how it had changed. There are more rooms, wifi, better, much better mattresses, more gardens and outdoor tables and chairs but still the same charm and intimacy. The breakfast is fabulous although now you pay for it separately, the cost is quite reasonable. In fact the cost per night is more than 25 years ago but still unbelievable reasonable.

 

We dumped our luggage and went off to find something to eat but finding something to eat in the area around Casa Gonzalez is not difficult. There must be at least three restaurants in every block. Everything from a taco stand to an elegant restaurant.

 

In addition to the Annie Leibovitz exhibition we had made reservations for the Jessica Lang Dance Performance at Palacio de Bellas Artes on Friday night. We had great seats in about the third row center. The production was beautiful and the performance was amazing. Lithe, beautiful bodies that seemed to hang in the air or carry another person across the stage as if they were light as a feather.

 

Saturday morning we walked across the Reforma and into the Colonia Juarez to the building housing Leibovitz's exhibition, Women: New Portraits. The exhibition wasn't hung on the wall but was more of an installation on big banks of LCD screens showing one portrait at a time. This reminded me of a recent talk with a Gallery Owner who told me that she expected to see more and more photographs shown as an installation. Hard for me to believe because I still want to see a print but maybe that is just my age showing.

 

A nice comida and then back to Casa Gonzalez just before the afternoon rain.

 

I always want to try new restaurants and this time we headed out in the rain and back across Reforma to Havre 77 that has been open for about six months. The food was delicious and we got to talk to the chef-in-charge Gerado Ramos who previously worked here in San Miguel.

 

The next morning after another wonderful breakfast we were in the van and headed back to San Miguel. It seems like I always leave Mexico City before I'm ready to leave. So I'll go back again soon, even if only for a quick weekend getaway.  

Sicilian Cooking

While I was in Sicily I had some good meals but overall I thought that there was more potential in the dish than the preparation presented. In the restaurants where I ate, I never had the feeling that there was a chef who was taking the traditional recipes and ingredients and re-interpreting them for today's taste such as we see with some of the innovative chef's in Mexico. 

Sicily is an island so you would think lots of fresh seafood but just about every menu was limited to swordfish, tuna, octopus, squid and prawns. I was surprised because when we were in fish markets there was a wide variety of fish, most of which I didn't recognize from the Italian name nor from the look but certainly more varied than the menus reflected. There was always a dish prepared with squid ink. I tried a risotto in squid ink garnished with a marvelous Sicilian ricotta cheese. It was delicious but so filling that I probably only ate one-third of it.

Another thing about Sicily is that the country has been occupied by so many other countries that I expected more Middle Eastern  and African dishes. There were some items on the menus that included meats with fruits and nuts and if there were others they have been incorporated into our international cuisine to such an extent that I didn't recognize them as different.  

Always on the menu were two salads. One was mostly lettuce with grated carrots, maybe tomatoes and olives. The other might include arugula and romaine lettuce with grated carrots, tomatoes, olives, corn and maybe another vegetable or two. The corn in the salad kind of suprised me but it was good. One day in a Sicilian restaurant in San Miguel I had a salad with oranges and olives and I don't remember what else but when I found an orange salad in Sicily, I ordered it. I was disappointed. It had slices of orange not wedges of orange and lots of olive oil but not a dressing.

I kept thinking about the orange salad and when I went to the Saturday organic market last week and I saw fennel and arugula I knew that I was going to make an orange salad. When I got home I looked up recipes for fennel, arugula and orange salads and found several. So the picture is my version of the salad with a dressing of orange and lemon juice, olive oil, a bit of diced garlic, a 1/4 teaspoon of mustard over fennel, arugala, onion, olive and orange wedges. It was good.    

I'd like to have a Sicilian cookbook and I've been to Amazon to look for one. There are a lot of them but before I buy one I want to be able to at least look at the Table of Contents so see what is going to be included. 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Sicilian Cookbook?

Mercer Christmas Tradition - Jalapeño Quiche

A reader requested the recipe for Jalapeño Quiche so here it is. Of course I make a few changes. I do make it in a pie plate most of the time.  I use 1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese and ½ cup of swiss cheese.  I put in ½ of the jalapeño peppers and leave the rest for the pepper heads to put on top. I don't measure the onions and probably use between ¼ to ½ cup. I slice the tomatoes very thin or use Roma tomatoes seeded and chopped.  I double the recipe but use three pie shells. If you do this then you need to make enough onion and tomato for three quiches. This quiche is usually a Christmas morning tradition but this year since we were all together it shifted to a Thanksgiving morning tradition.

Jalapeno Quiche

Quiche pastry – enough for a 10” quiche pan or a frozen 9 ½ inch pastry shell

1 ½ cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

¼ cup chopped onions

1 tablespoons butter

1 cup cream

5 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup chopped jalapeno peppers

1 sliced tomato

Place well-greased ring on greased quiche pan.  Roll out quiche dough and gently lay into pan.  Line dough with foil.  Fill foil with pie weights and bake shell at 350 for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile saute onions in butter until golden.  Evenly distribute sauteed onions and tomato slices on bottom of shell.

Beat eggs and cream together, stir in salt, pepper and cheese.  If you are feeling brave and like “hot” food mix in your jalapenos now.  If not, save for a garnish.

Pour mixture into shell, bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Cool for 15 minutes.  Gently remove ring and serve warm.

Special Request for Thanksgiving Dinner

I'm in Houston at one of my son's houses and the cooking has started. I've got sweet potatoes in the oven roasting and onions parboiling for the golden creamed onions. The onions are a pain to prepare. You have to parboil them, then clean each and every one of them. After that they are best cooked slowly and gently stirred until they turn a lovely golden caramelized color. I wasn't going to do the onions but one of the "boys" wasn't going to be happy without creamed onions for Thanksgiving.

Also on my to-do list is Jalapeño Quiche for either tomorrow or Friday morning while we are all together. The Jalapeño Quiche is usually a Christmas morning thing but we will not all be together on Christmas morning so again a "special request" from one of the "boys." Of course, I'm sure you realize that the "boys" are actually 50 year old men but to a Mom they are always her boys.

My sister-in-law is bringing oyster dressing because it is good and her family can't imagine turkey without oyster dressing. She is also the fudge and french silk chocolate pie maker. In fact, there are some 50 year old boys that might send her back home if she didn't bring those desserts.

Daughter-in-law, Betsy, is making a bread/sage dressing that her family always made. She will make her cranberry sauce and a wonderful pumpkin pie from a new recipe that she has already tried on her family.

Then from Gary, turkey gravy, green beans and wonderful yeast rolls requested by a nephew who could eat a dozen of them when he was a little kid. Now that he is in his 20's he has cut back to ½ dozen. Dotye will come and bring her Mom's chocolate cake that was always present at every family gathering when Kackie was there.

The family can't all be together for every holiday meal and what I miss most even though I have a lovely dinner with friends, are the old recipes and traditions that bring back such wonderful memories of all the times that we have been together. I'm especially thankful for this Thanksgiving and being with my family.

What are some of the absolutely must have recipes on your Thanksgiving table?

The turkeys in the picture…..they will be on someone's Thanksgiving table tomorrow.

Pozole Rojo

Yesterday as I walked back from Don Pedro it was about time for comida. I was hungry and was trying to decide if I would stop at a tiny new restaurant I'd heard about or go home and make a sandwich. I was leaning heavily toward going home but there was a sign in the doorway of Victoria's Comida Mexicana that read Pozole Rojo. I haven't had Pozole in a long time. That sign changed my mind. I stopped.

There are four tables and the restaurant looks so bright and clean. They brought me a menu. I looked at it for informational purposes but I already knew I wanted Pozole. They had both rojo and verde. I chose the rojo. They had bowls for chico or grande. Even though I was hungry the chico looked grande enough for me. They asked if I wanted the lettuce, radish and onion in it. Yes, yes I did indeed.

I met Maria who was in the tiny kitchen that is separated from the tables by a counter. She and her sister Victoria own the restaurant. Maria speaks English and she is a charming woman. I didn't get the exact address of the restaurant but it is on the same side of Ancha de San Antonio/Salida a Celaya as Don Pedro and is across the street from Los Faroles Restaurant. They are open from 10 AM to 7 PM everyday but Sunday. The rest of the menu looked delicious and the prices were reasonable but I don't know whether I'll ever try the other items. I think I may be stuck on their Pozole.

Playtime

 

I was looking at the cutting board today after I cut a tomato for lunch. The light was hitting the pulp and seeds left on the board and I thought it was beautiful with just the touch of green from a cilantro leaf. The thought ran through my mind that I should photograph it but just as I was putting that out of my mind because it was so tiny that I couldn't make a photograph of it that would show a close-up the translucent gelatinous pulp when CLICK! Yes, yes I could. Well maybe I could. I have a new close-up filter that I recently bought but had not tried. I raced upstairs and put it on the camera. That was the beginning of Playtime. Yes, I do like to explore so you are probably going to see some more images with that piece of equipment.

Sugar High

Don't let your kids see this. They could get a sugar high just from looking at it. We are still in the Christmas Season here in San Miguel. January 6 is the Three King's Day which is the traditional day for giving gifts and family dinners. Today the markets were filled with toys, clothes and treats. I fell in love with the candy colors.

Cooking Quinoa

In keeping with my goals for 2014, I made this salad for dinner. I want to explore more grains, seeds and nuts in my diet this year. The salad has spinach, roasted tomatoes, roasted beets, toasted walnuts, blue cheese, green onions, quinoa and a olive oil/raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. I was going to use Kale for the green but the only kale I found looked past its prime and the spinach looked like it came out of the ground this morning. I would have perferred a feta cheese but I have some blue cheese that needs to be used up.

Now about the Quinoa...this is the first time I have cooked it or eaten it and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I know it is suppose to be the super food of 2013 and I don't doubt that it is nutritional. Every cooking magazine seems to have a recipe or a whole article about quinoa. I think it is kind of like bulgar wheat or couscous or pasta. It is a mop for the other flavors you put with it.

You may be surprised that I found quinoa in San Miguel. Bonanza had it. Boxes of red or black of quinoa for $189 pesos and a couple of varieties of flavored packets for about $65 pesos. I forgot to look but I think the boxes held 12 or 16 ounces.

If you have cooked quinoa, tell me what you think of it and how you use it. What is your favorite recipe with quinoa? And someone, please tell me what you have to pay for quinoa in Central Market or Whole Foods in the USA.

The Lost Recipe

The first cheesecake I ever made was back in about 1979. I made it from a recipe that I got at a kitchen store in Houston named Drummond's. Drummond's has been gone for a long time but back in 1979 it was my Williams Sonoma store of all exotic cooking things. I picked up the recipe in the store and bought the pan to go with it. The cheesecake turned out fabulously, are least I thought so at that time, so that Christmas I gave my Sister-in-law, Betty, the cheesecake pan and the recipe. Somewhere along the way, I lost my recipe and I didn't remember that I'd given Betty the pan and recipe. Since the Internet came along I've even done a few google searches for the Drummond's cheesecake recipe but no luck.

I was at Betty's for Christmas dinner this year and she pulls out this faded recipe with splatters and the edges of it are disintegrating. She wanted me to help with the glaze for the cheesecake she had made. She had my recipe! Well, not MY recipe but a copy of the recipe. I made a copy of her faded recipe and as soon as I got back to San Miguel I retyped it. I wanted to try it out to see if it was still as good as I remembered it so I made it for a New Year's Eve Party at the home of some friends.

As usual in Mexico, you have to make a few adjustments. I didn't have Graham crackers so I used the Maria cookies for the crumb crust. Cream cheese packages in Mexico are not 8 ounces but 190 gr. or 6.5 ounces. Another problem I had was I have a 9 inch cheesecake pan and it would have cooked better in a 10 inch pan like the recipe calls for.  Although the recipe says to use a food processor, you need a large bowl food processor because the cheese and sugar filled my processor bowl and I had to transfer the mixture to my stand mixer to add the eggs and other stuff. The cheesecake is rich and it will serve 12 to 14 not 8 to 10 unless they are eight teenage boys.


DRUMMOND’S CHEESE CAKE
September, 1979

Crust
1 package graham crackers (I used Maria’s cookies, Need about 1-1/4 cups of crumbs)
1/4 cup sugar
6 T melted butter
½ cup pecans or walnut pieces
Use steel knife. Turn on Food Processor.
Drop Graham crackers through the feeder tube.
Add Sugar. Pour in melted butter.
Add nuts.
Process 5 more seconds.
Stop!
Press mixture into bottom of the lightly greased 10" cheese cake pan. Refrigerate while mixing filling. (Cooked mine in 9" pan because that was all I had. 10" would be much better.

Filling
5 packages (8 oz. Each) cream cheese (Mexican Philadelphia cream cheese is only 6.5 ounces so you need more than 5 packages)
1-3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 egg yolks
5 eggs
peel of 1 lemon (I used the peel of a lime because I didn’t have a lemon)
1/4 cup heavy cream
Use steel knife. Turn on Processor and alternately add 2" chunks of cream cheese and 2 T sugar until all cream cheese and sugar are in work bowl.
Add Lemon Peel. (Don’t worry about grating it. The steel knife will do the work!)
(This is the point that I had to transfer the mixture to the stand mixer.)
With the processor still on. Drop egg yolks and then eggs, one by one into work bowl. (Stop at least once and scrape down sides.)
Add the flour immediately followed by the cream. Process 5 more seconds. Pour mixture into cheese-cake pan.
Bake at 475 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 degrees continue baking for 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn oven off. Open door and let cheesecake set in open oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Decorate top with concentric circles of fresh strawberries and or sliced peaches.

Topping
1/3 cup strawberry jam or peach jam (I only had Strawberry Preserves)
3 T Cointreau or brandy (I used Presidente Brandy)
1 T cornstarch
Heat in small saucepan. Pour over fruit. Refrigerate at least 6 hours prior to serving! 8 to 10 servings.

I'm Back

Just in case you wondered what happened. Why no blogging? I've been to Texas and back. It has been an interesting month. Not like most of my Christmas Past but that is okay. Things change. The worst thing about the trip was the weather. It was dreary, windy, rainy and cold most days. Then I come back to San Miguel and it has been dreary, windy, rainy and cold. What's up with the drizzly rain in December in San Miguel?

I had planned to spend five days in Port Aransas working on my Mercer Log project and some friends were going to be there as well so I was really looking forward to it. With a weather forecast of 12 to 20 mile an hour wind and some rain, the friends backed out. I backed out except for two days when I had some appointments that would keep me inside.

I shopped, had lunches and dinners with friends and saw as many movies as I could. At this point I think the best movie I saw was Nebraska but I also like Dallas Buyers Club. American Hustle was a good movie. Twelve Years a Slave was ten years too long. Judith Dench in Philomena gave another one of her great performances. The Coen Brothers latest movie, Inside Llewyn Davis was a downer. The Book Thief followed the book and looked like it was made on a theater set. I still have a lot more movies I want to see before the Academy Awards ceremony.

I went to Austin and saw my grandsons and I planned to go back for Christmas Eve until I came down with a cold/sinus thing. I wasn't bedridden but I couldn't expose my Daughter-in-Law who is in the middle of chemo for breast cancer. I really, really missed being with them. Well, there is always next year.

Mike and family went skiing for the holidays so Christmas Dinner was at my Sister-in-law's house. It was so wonderful to be with them.

Now I'm home. Celebrated another birthday last night with friends who arranged a special dinner at Frienze's. Wow! We had oysters prepared two ways, a pumpkin ginger soup, watercress salad, seared scallops on a bed of pecan rice and a lovely chocolate dessert. The dinner was special and so are the friends. That is Sam and me in the photo but Bob, Tom and Linda were there as well.

Brussel Sprout and Carrot Slaw

A comment I made on Facebook about making a slaw brought a lot of comments. So, I thought I would try to give my readers a recipe....well, you know MY recipes are more like guidelines because I'm not too good at actually doing exact proportions. With a lot of stuff, that is good enough but it wouldn't be so good with baking. Slaw? I don't think 'mas o menos' amounts is a problem with slaw. I made the slaw one night to go with a chicken breast and I had leftovers so the next day I combined it for a sandwich. It was good both ways but I'll definitely make it again to go on chicken or pork tenderloin sandwiches.

I'm going to give the amounts I used which I think would serve two for dinner or make 4-6 sandwiches.

4 nice firm green brussel spouts
2 medium carrots
1 or 2 tablespoons diced red onion that has been soaked in cold water and drained
dried cranberries
seasoned rice wine vinegar
drizzle of roasted walnut oil or a good premium olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Dice about 2 tablespoons of red onion in a small dice and put in cold water with a pinch of salt to soak for about 15 minutes. drain and pat dry with a paper towel. Add about half the diced onion and wait until the slaw is put together to taste. Add the remainder if you want a stronger onion flavor.

Cut off the bottom stem end of the brussel sprout and split it lengthwise, Slice each half into thin strips. You can use a mandolin if you have one. I don't, so I slice.

Peel the carrots and grate on a coarse setting. Mix in with the brussel sprouts and onion.

Dried cranberries? I think I added about a handful but you make the judgement on how much you want. They are pretty in the salad but they also add a nice punch of sweet that is really good.

Again I didn't measure how much seasoned rice wine vinegar but it was enough to season but not enough to make the mixture drippy. The same with the oil. It was a drizzle but not a lot. You can always add more if you think you need it after it sits for a while.

Salt and pepper to taste. I usually add a little at this point and then when I take it out of the fridge before serving and after the flavors have had time to meld, I taste again and see if I need to add more.

If you make this slaw, let me know what you think....even if you didn't like it. Also let me know how you would adjust the recipe the next time you make it.

If I served this with sandwiches, I would use a sliced rustic loaf or a baguette and spread a mixture of Dijon and mayo or a garlicy mayo on the bread.

The Lunch for the Ladies

It was time for a Ladies Luncheon at my house. I had a menu in mind so I invited The Ladies.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Bacon and Leek Tart
Grilled Asparagus
Roasted Tomatoes
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce

The menu wasn't a difficult menu. It was recipes I had cooked before but the preparation turned out to be a little difficult.

I've written before about how the best laid plans can go awry when you have a menu in mind here in SMA but you can't find the ingredients when you need them. That happened. I started gathering supplies early so that I could readjust if I needed to. I bought the cheese, tomatoes and the stuff for the ice cream early in the week. And while I was shopping I stopped at the oil and vinegar store to buy a wedding gift. I found a raspberry balsamic vinegar and the information about it said it was great drizzled over premium ice cream. Well, my homemade ice cream is definitely premium...at least in my opinion. So I decided to use it instead of the Hot Fudge Sauce.

It was the end of asparagus season. Actually past the end. I knew that, so my fall back plan for the asparagus was a salad. Two of the ladies said they would shop for asparagus for me since I was having a hard time finding any that looked okay. I told one of them if they saw haricot verts at Costco I could use them. So I ended up with asparagus and haricot verts and dumped the idea of the salad. I substituted the haricot verts for asparagus and split the asparagus with my friend who bought it.

Every time I pass by the veggie man at Espinos he has leeks. He had leeks on Tuesday but when I wanted to buy them on Wednesday, he didn't have leeks. He assured me he would have them Thursday. He did not have them Thursday although he assured me that they would be there soon, like 15 minutes. Mmmm....my inner voice was saying don't wait. I hopped into a taxi and headed to Mega. Thank goodness they had some great looking leeks.

Now it is time to cook. I've made the bacon and leek tart a number of times and although I'm not good with crusts that savory tart crust recipe has always worked so well. Not this time. It was a mess with cracks across the bottom. But at this point I had to go with it. Then I made the filling. I'm making two tarts so I need to double the filling. I doubled the bacon, leeks and cheese but with the custard I only made one recipe. This didn't dawn on me until it was already in the oven cooking.

Well, the bottom line is the Tart was okay. The Ladies liked the lunch. They thought it was colorful on the plate. And the ice cream with the raspberry balsamic vinegar drizzled on top was a big hit.

The best thing about the luncheon was the conversation. Mexican politics. US politics. Real Estate...you always talk about real estate in SMA. Health and Medical Care. Travel. Yes, we covered some of the same subjects we would have at a dinner party with the husbands present but there was a difference and I can't exactly find the words to describe that difference but it was good conversation.

In spite of all my trouble putting this luncheon together, I want to do it again. Soon.

This Morning

Looking out the kitchen window at 10 o'clock this morning the mountains are still shrouded in a fog although the sun is shining in town. It is a beautiful morning, clear and cool. A soft rain last night left a wet footprint on the patio and the colors are vibrant. I love my little patio. It was one of the things I fell in love with the first time I saw this house.

There is something so special about the mornings in this house. One morning last week I woke up and looked though the tree foliage outside my bedroom window. The sky was a neon blue. Really, neon blue! Such an amazing color that I was afraid to move for fear it would disappear. I don't think I've ever seen that color in the morning sky before.

I have made breakfast, had coffee, read emails and now, a loaf of banana nut bread is in the oven. It is filling the kitchen with warmth and a wonderful smell that is so comforting.

It was just a week ago today that I returned to San Miguel and the return this September is so different this year than it was last year when I came back for the first time after Ned died. Then I wasn't sure if I would stay in San Miguel or not but within a week or two I was pretty sure that I would. This year there were not any questions in my mind about living here. I truly came home.

Every morning last week when I woke up, my soul was filled with peace and joy but it was not a shout-out-loud joy. It was more like a sense of being in the right place. I do not know what tomorrow will bring but I am so thankful for this moment; the smell of baking bread, my hands in warm soapy dishwater, the view out the kitchen window, the birds chirping away on the patio, Carly napping near by. I am blessed.

A Tasting Dinner

I joined friends and supporters for Feed The Hungry for a tasting dinner in the Moxi Restaurant at the Hotel Matilda. It is the first time I have been in the hotel since it was the Jacaranda. What a change. Very sleek and contemporary but still it felt like a comfortable space. Beautiful lighting and sparkling table settings. It was a lovely elegant evening.

I assume that Enrique Olvera the Chef and Owner of Pujol in Mexico City is still associated with Moxi/Matilda. The current Chef in residence is Alejandro Cuatepotzo.

There were six courses but I'm just showing you four of them. Clockwise from top left:

Tomato and Lettuce Salad from Purisima de Jalpa, worm salt.

 

Mixed vegetables and goat cheese wrapped in corn husks, grasshopper salsa.

 

Octopus "Veracruzana" style, Mexican salsa, olive sauce, coriander pesto.

 

Baby goat from "El Capricho" braised in agave paper, mashed mayflower beans, spiced rub.

 

I have to tell you that I'm finding some of that worm salt. We wondered if it was a typo for warm or if it really could be made from worms. Whatever it was we like the taste so I looked it up when I got home and sure enough it was "worm salt."  

 

I hear that Moxi has a very good Sunday Brunch. I'd like to try it.

 

Good food from taco stands to places like Moxi. Just finishing up a Film Festival and the Chamber Music Festival is about to start. This town is amazing.

Pickles

This post isn't just about pickles. It is about living in San Miguel.

But I will tell you about the pickles because they made me very happy today. Eleven years ago I couldn't find a pickle in any store in this town and if I went to Costco in Celaya or Queretaro I could find one gallon jars of sliced dill pickles but that was it. I used to bring pickles back to San Miguel when we drove back from Texas. Actually I brought back sacks and sacks of grocery items that I couldn't find around here. Here is what I wrote back in 2007 on Billieblog about bringing groceries down from Texas.

I have used up my stash of pickles and when I went into Bonanza today I found pickles. Pickle relish, Sweet Gherkins, Dill and Bread and Butter Chips in regular household sizes. They were a little pricey but since I'm not driving back and forth anymore and I want pickles and I don't want to can my own pickles, I'll just have to pay the price.

When I look back at the things I listed on the Grocery List in the link above, I realized that I can find most of those things here now or I've found some substitute. Feeling like I can cook American or Mexican with the products I can find in a store is a nice feeling.

But living in San Miguel is more than just being able to cook anything I want.

Today I was talking with my financial advisor who has vacationed in San Miguel. He was asking if I still felt safe. I told him that not only do I feel safe but I find that my life is very rich and rewarding. I told him about some of the cultural things going on here. If you don't read Babsblog, click on her post about all the things that are going on here in the next few weeks.

Besides the cultural events, I have lunch or dinner with friends several times a week. I'm in a drawing group and I'm about to start a drawing class. I'm learning to play Mah Jongg. I go to Yoga and to a cardio/weight class a couple of times a week. I'm working with a personal trainer one day a week as well as doing some cardio walking three or four days a week. I'm in an investment/social club. I have my photography and I meet up  with some other photographers about once a month just to talk about what we are doing. Yes, my life is full of activities but most of all is the blessing of having so many friends here.

When I try to think about going back to Houston I can imagine buying a high-rise condo and getting it furnished. I think about seeing my Houston friends and family more often but then my imagination runs out. What after that? Could I find things to replace the activities in San Miguel? And if I did, could I afford them? Would it be as easy to keep meeting new people and making new friends? I don't think so.

And so, with each day that passes, I become more sure of my decision to stay in San Miguel. Although I do realize that there are things that could change that decision, they are just too terrible for me to worry about. I'll just stay in the moment and keep on being excited about pickles showing up on the grocery shelves. Now if Bonanza could just get in refrigerated horseradish.....that would be another red letter day.

My Weight Gain Plan

As usual when I come to Houston I follow a weight gain plan. I can't help it. Houston is one of the great restaurant cities in the USA. I always have to hit some of my favorites and try a few new ones as well.

I'm sure that anyone who followed Billieblog isn't surprised at seeing raw oysters when I write about eating in Houston. This is from my usual place, Goode Company Seafood. I wasn't sure I was going to have raw oysters because May isn't a month with an R in it. But I went and sat at the end of the bar where the oysters are being shucked right before your eyes. The Shucker wasn't eliminating very many oysters when he hit them with his knife. I'm not sure what sound he hears that means it isn't a good oyster but I always figure it is good sign if there are very few oysters in the bag that are thrown away. I also checked out the size of the oysters. I don't like them really, really big but then I did not want to order a dozen if they were as tiny as clams. Everything looked good so I ordered a dozen oysters on the half shell. Oh my, they were really, really good. Another day I stopped at Goode Company for the Campechana which is a giant seafood cocktail of shrimp and crab. Oh, so very, very delicious.

My Dear DIL took me to Torchy's Tacos in Rice Village. I had a shrimp taco and it was huge and very tasty. I like the tacos better that Berryhills. It is a franchise that I think started in Austin. There is another Torchy's or two in Houston and I predict that if you are in Houston or Austin you will probably have one near you before too long.

I went to see my friends Guy and Debbie. After a bit of wine in their garden we walked to Brazil's at the corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy. We have been there many times before because I love it and I love the mix of customers. Everything from students to artists, to writers to professionals.  It is another neighborhood place that serves good food at a good price. You want a great salad....they have it. You want pizza.....they have it. You want pasta.....they have it. You want coffee and a pastry.....they have it. You want a nice glass of wine.....they have it. You want to eat outside.....you can. You want a little live music....they have it several nights a week. You want to sit with your laptop.....no problem. Yeah.....I like this place and I think you would too.

Local Foods on the corner of Kelvin and Dunstan in Rice Village is a fairly new restaurant that focuses on local products. My favorite items at Local are the Coconut Thai soup and the Banh mi sandwich along with two amazing sides. You always have a choice of seven or eight sides but I usually have the kale raisin salad. I know that there are a lot of other tasty things on the menu but I've never been able to go there without ordering one of these two things. The problem is that the Coconut Thai soup is a random daily special. I've been known to open the door and look at the menu board just to see if I can get the soup.

Okay this shrimp salad isn't in a restaurant, it is lunch at a friend's house. Life can't get much better than visiting with a friend and then joining her at her table for a delicious lunch.

I've eaten at a bunch of other places as well. I don't have a scale to step on and I'm not sure I'd want to. I'll get off my Weight Gain Plan when the plane touches down in a few days in Mexico.

What Do You Want for Breakfast?

I love to go somewhere to eat breakfast. Not everyday but sometimes. Today was a day to eat breakfast out. Texas does BIG breakfasts. Isn't this fun....you can look at a menu but how about looking at the actual breakfast plate as well.

It is the Empire Café on Westheimer. I love it for lunch too. I think the building started life as a gas station. Now there is a big canopy and tables out where you would fill your gas tanks. On the side they either added a long room on or it was the service bay. I guess the Empire Café has been around more than 20 years. After they became popular you couldn't find a place to park but eventually they bought the house behind them and made a parking lot. Still sometimes I have to park down the street because the parking lot is full.

They make great coffee and for breakfast they have about four people grinding the beans and steaming the milk. I love the funky laid back atmosphere and I love the people watching.

After breakfast I headed for Baseball USA to watch Will's baseball game. His team, the Wranglers, won. It is really amazing how much these 13 and 14 year old boys know about the game and that they are aware of how many outs and where people are on base and where to throw the ball. It wasn't that long ago that their heads weren't always tuned into the technical aspects of the game.

After the game, I stopped at the grocery store. I think the family is headed off to several places tonight so I'm going to take advantage of being alone to make me a salad of crab meat, romaine lettuce, black olives and celery and I'll dress it with a light vinaigrette.