THE RAINY season changes everything hereabouts. The mood, the grass, the feel, the temperature.
The daily rain was reluctant to start this year, but I think it’s finally worked up some enthusiasm. It rained gently most of last night and, as I write this in late morning, it’s still falling quietly and steadily, the rain. Nice.
Speaking of mood, usually, after our morning bagels or croissants, we step from the dining room into the living room and sit on the sofa, which is nice and soft. I put my feet up.
Sometimes incense and/or music.
We finish our coffee and talk. Okay, truth be told, she talks. And I listen. She is female, after all. And I’m not.
God created them to talk. Us to listen.
That lasts 15-30 minutes till we get up and start chores. There are always chores. We have no maid.
Life’s been pretty slow since we got back from our anniversary trip to Mineral de Pozos about a week ago.
Last weekend we hopped into the Honda and headed around the lake to an eatery I simply call The German Restaurant even though the real name is Campestre Alemán.
The German Restaurant offers grub you won’t find anywhere else in these parts, this world of endless tacos and cheese.
There is Bavarian sausage, for instance, and goulash too. I always order the Bavarian sausage, which comes with sauerkraut, something else you rarely encounter locally.
I took this photo of my Bavarian sausage and sauerkraut. Just beyond is the bunny my wife ate. I consider eating bunny appalling, but she does it anyway.
It’s still raining as I wind this up, which means there will be no morning exercise walk around the neighborhood plaza. I guess I’ll just shave, take a shower and put my jeans on.
It’s almost time for Breakfast #2. Cereal.
Real bagels? That’s about the only thing I had trouble finding in Mexico. I sucked it up and adjusted. Did find great croissants.
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Steve: Both our bagels and croissants come from Costco. The croissants are excellent. The bagels aren’t bad. The main problem with the bagels is the lack of variety. Costco offers just three: plain, seeded and cheesy. We eat the seeded. The bags have the Einstein Bros. label on them, but they are lame compared with the Einstein bagels available above the Rio Bravo.
Often one just has to make do down here. It’s an imperfect world.
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Their bagels are an acceptable substitute, but it would be nice if they were about half the size. Those things are huge and a little too much for me. Their salmon is good, what would we ever do without Costco?
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Tancho: Half the size? Are you bonkers? They are about the regular size for bagels. I’d like them to be a bit bigger.
Yes, Costco is a Godsend indeed. Keeps one sane.
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I am impressed that you learned any Spanish by having the opportunity to only “listen” to women.
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Carlos: If you listen to nonstop Spanish for 17 years, you pick it up. I do get a word in edgewise on occasion.
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Falafel is probably the second most available restaurant food aside from pizza in Berlin. Then there is Asian. Tourist hotels have foods of Germany.
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Carole: I like falafel. I’ve never been to Germany, but I would have liked to. Some things never happen.
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I am surprised there are no mid-Eastern fast food places in Michoacan. Falafel is cheap to make.
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Carole: Maybe there’s falafel in the state capital, but I’ve never seen it.
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I Googled: Falafel Morelia” and voilá!
http://tinyurl.com/y8cyu3sd
Not that I would eat the stuff. Every time I do, I feel awful.
(Groan here.)
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
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Señor Cuevas: Thanks for doing this obvious effort. It reminded me that I have driven by the kebob place and always tell myself we have to try it out. As for Espartakos, I’ve eaten there a couple of times, and I need to return. As for falafel, we’ll see. I like it. It does not make me feel awful.
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I ate two 1/4-lb., all-beef hot dogs at Costco. The first was dressed in a regular way, that is, mustard, chopped onion and jalapeños.
The second was deviant, with a line of mayo, catchup and jalapeños.
My beverage was a large Pepsi, which was okay, but I prefer Coke.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
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Don Cuevas: You consider it deviant to substitute mayo and catchup for mustard and dropping the onion? I’d label that a substitution, nothing more. In my mind, it becomes deviant when the locals toss pineapple chunks on it. Pineapple has no business on a weenie.
I prefer Pepsi to Coke, so we differ in that. But I don’t recall the last time I drank a Pepsi — likely years — and I rarely drink Coke either. When I do, it’s almost always with my wife’s green pozole. Goes together real well, for some inexplicable reason.
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Pineapple can be a luscious fruit, but it has no place on a weenie. Maybe on pizza, say about once every 20 years.
I like green pozole, also white pozole, red pozole is o.k., too. But green is a favorite.
Orange soda goes well with seafood. Why is that? Or a michelada.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
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Don Cuevas: Green pozole is my fav. Red, so-so. White, not much. Orange soda? Yuck! Michelada? Never drink beer.
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Is that a woman in a yoga pose? Interesting.
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Connie: I was wondering if anyone would notice that “woman,” and you win the prize. The “woman” is wood, and her pose is that of someone scrubbing the floor, or you could make something salacious of it as my friend Al Kinnison (R.I.P.) did on numerous occasions. It scandalized him. He was an old-school fellow.
She was handmade hereabouts, and we purchased her years ago. Her back is flat, and she is intended to be a table base, but she has never reached her full potential, realized her purpose. There is no glass atop her, so she eternally wipes the floor and adds an art touch to the living room.
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Felipe: It’s not often you see a woman on her “all fours” these days unless it is for something salacious! The modern woman certainly isn’t down there scrubbing the floors.
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Don Cuevas is spot on. Hot dogs should NEVER be eaten with mayo or catchup. Only mustard and onions are necessary. All of this is best at a baseball game. Any other time is simply imapropriate. It is a hot dog. Why would anyone order something like that otherwise?
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Ray: And what of us who never go to baseball games? Are we to be deprived of the joy of weenies? Are you ready for this? I do not recall going to a baseball game in my life. Ever. I was an odd child and remain odd to this day, well into adulthood.
Yet I love hot dogs. Mustard and onions are great. Relish too. If someone tossed on mayo or ketchup, I would wolf it down though ketchup (catchup, catsup) would not be my choice right off the bat.
These days when I eat hot dogs, which is rare, I always do it on the main plaza downtown. There are weenie stands there, and they serve some pretty fine hot dogs. Cheap too.
Lots of Mexicans put pineapple on hot dogs. Pizza too. It is an abomination.
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Yes, you should be deprived. I shall not think that my friend has never been been to a baseball game. It is more than I can bear.
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Ray: I’ve seen snippets on TV over the years. You know, as I was flipping stations. But that should count for something. Half a weenie once a year on the plaza?
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I suppose. It is outside, so you get partial credit.
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I suppose you get partial credit for being outside. But the baseball thing is still a major blow.
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Ray: I had what they call today an absent father. Perhaps had he been less absent he would have taken me to ballgames, and maybe I would have developed an interest. But that was not to be.
I have been to many football games, however. Just high school ones. It was because I was in the marching band. Had I not been in the marching band, I likely would never have seen a football game either.
I am a worthless individual.
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Not worthless, just deprived. Never too late. Some good baseball played in Mexico.
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Ray: Too late for me, I fear. But you’ve led me to an interesting phenomenon. I generally avoid events here where Mexicans are inclined to be imbibing. I imagine a baseball game would qualify.
Why? Out in public, an inebriated Mexican — usually there are far more than one at any given moment — invariably wants to be my best amigo and, if possible, practice his Spanglish with a slurred tongue. They can be almost impossible to get rid of. Being that I am quite tall and clearly a Gringo, I stand out like the proverbial sore thumb.
So, public fiestas of any sort are things I go out of my way to avoid.
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What instrument did you play? One of my sons played the French horn and he still plays when time allows. My other son played the trumpet. I think exposure to music is so important for young people. Keeps them well rounded.
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Connie: I played both the clarinet and the alto sax. I was pretty good too. I wish I had kept it up. However, it did not keep me well-rounded. I have never been well-rounded.
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Warmed sauerkraut is a desirable addition, if available.
DC
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Not a fan of sauerkraut, good sir, but it is on the acceptable list.
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I just had a corned beef sandwich with sauerkraut and stone-ground mustard on toasted rye bread for lunch. All of the ingredients were purchased at a local grocery. (I think some of it must be re-sales from Costco.) It is far easier to find culinary variety in Mexico than it was during my first trips in the early 1970s out of Laredo. And that makes me happy. Mexico continues to be a great place to live.
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Señor Cotton: Mexico gets better daily, and the food options too. We are not so much restricted to tacos and cheese as we once were. Thank the Virgin for that.
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Bah humbug! Three consecutive days of nearly non-stop rain is intolerable. The rainy season sucks.
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Andrés: What’s been going on the last few days is due to a tropical mess in the Pacific. The rainy season usually drops rain about 30 minutes a day, and it’s nice, keeping things sweet and cool. I love it. Well, until late August when it starts to get on my nerves.
Satellite map indicates this almost constant rain of the past few days is petering out. We’ll get back to normal. Patience, mi laddie.
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Hola Felipe,
I have to second your comment about drunk Mexicans wanting to be best buddies. One evening in Plaza Garibaldi, this guy wanted to be my best friend and just wouldn’t leave me alone. He kept talking about wanting me to come and spend time on his “rancho” in Chalco (far southern Mexico City). I don’t think he was gay, but he was just amazingly persistent.
Funny thing.
In any case, you aren’t the only one who attracts this type.
Saludos,
Kim G
Redding, Ca
Where no one’s dying to be my best friend, haha.
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Kim: I would not think for a moment that I’m the only Gringo that happens to. I imagine it’s common. I just don’t have even the slightest patience for it.
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