=7.5= (my lists)

(10 11 13 14) Things I like about ol’ Mexico (in no particular order):
1. cactus grass instead of grass.
2. being able to take a two-hour flight to Cancún (in fairness that's after a 3-hour bus ride).
3. spending all the weekend long with my girlfriend and doggy.
4. how making a little better than $1,500US a month makes you a friggin’ cash-money superstar/legend, unless you want to buy a BMW or practically anything thrice imported from the Mexican Pier 1.
5. food ‘n drink/booze—tortas, tequila, chilaquiles, tacos, micheladas (with OYSTERS!)— are cheeeeeap and goooood* (see below list for a related caveat)
6. utilities—including cable and internet—are reasonably inexpensive.
7. Bird, seemingly the only labradoodle in all of Mexico, foments our status as all-stars in these parts.
8. ¡¡¡FRONTON!!!     
9. I feel ok about (temporarily— I promise to buy all the good stuff when I get back) stealing music online because I can’t get it anywhere around here :\.
10. late January evenings in Mexico feeling like late summer evenings in Nebraska.
11. brightly-colored Mexican artisan stuff— pottery/dishes, clothing, bags, etc.
12. actually conversating with the dear, dear people of Mexico who aren’t trying to sell you something or run you over with their cars or bodies.
13. how cheap commodious bus travel is.
14. how much more it means to get mail/correspondence from home.

And, the other side of the coin (these could be a bit longer ‘cos I kinda have to complain a bit about each—isn’t that just life? Read this article a friend of mine posted on Facebook for more insight):

1. the way people drive around here (good CHRIST!); good luck, American pedestrians, visiting this land of lawless right-of-way. 
2. the way people walk around here (I swear people walk AT you instead of walking around you).
3. getting stared at like the 6’4” freak of Gringolandian nature (with no evident haircut) that I am.
4. how much it costs to fly. Period.
*5. getting sick for the better part of a week on a tuna empanada— previous to the water being shut off, fortunately, ‘cos I needed the sink and the toilet simultaneously for HOURS on a Sunday night.
6. the apparent definition of “urgent” for the water utilities and just the general lack of regard for timeliness or the accuracy of time-related statements (We were quoted between 1 and 30 days for internet [they came within 2-3 weeks] and just 10 days for cable; they showed up over 3 weeks later. :\).
7. that many of my wonderful friends and family members do not live here as well.
8. having to work long-ass hours and making sh*t-fifty an hour to do so (this has improved— lots.)
9. not having a washing machine/getting the crap kicked out of your clothes each time you take them to the lavandería, where they seem to inject them with urinal cake scent before dusting them with a fiberglass/asbestos hybrid and bagging them up.
and 10. having work schedule issues that prevent Sally and I from spending as much time together as we’d like/we thought we’d have, though this one is, in its way, a good thing too ‘cos we could be totally sick of each other like some of the other things on this list.
Oh, and 11. when it friggin' rains here— and it seems to rain for days at a stretch in the non-rainy season, like now— Mexico becomes a third world country.  There is little-to-no sewer drain capacity (my boss says because the drains are all filled with littered garbage of all shapes and sizes), and so it's near impossible to avoid shoe and sock-drenching puddles whether you're going long or short distance.  My American mind can't help but feel like it's kinda ridiculous :\.   

Overall though, I'd say at this point that I am grateful for what works (in some cases better than how it is back home), and also for the fact that who I’m here with makes all of the stuff that in some cases I quite fervently hate all the day long melt away at the end of each day.  Bird included.

=7=

There.  Dishes are done.

Another weekend in Querétaro, but this one is special.  It’s longgg.  Well, three days long (therefore the three g’s), but still better than the usual two for me and my darling Sally.  If we have one mutual complaint/disappointment thus far regarding our Mexican experience/-ment, it’s that we don’t have enough time together, but spend too much time at our respective workplaces :\.  For the time being, and I think the time being for now means through Semana Santa here (Easter is stretched into a week-long vacation for most language schools and many Mexican businesses here in Catholandia), we’re just gonna keep our noses to the grindstone and get some cash saved up— I just got a raise that about doubled my former salary— and see where we want to go from there.

Some really, truly wonderfully great news since I last wrote is that my family has purchased tickets to come for a 10-day visit over the aforementioned Holy Week!  I don’t know how much religionating we’ll do, but, with our meeting place in Cancún the 27th of March (the 26th for my crew), I suspect there’ll be a bit of sunbathing, pyramid ruin scoping, seafood eating and maybe even a bit of tequila imbibing ;).  My dad is currently searching for rental homes in the Puerto Morelos area, and Sally and I continue with info reconnaissance from various friends and acquaintances as to what to see and do.  With T-minus 56 days and counting, you could color us a little (if a bit prematurely) excited…

Another spot of good news, though this time born of utter misery, is that we, after not having it for nearly four full days, have water that comes out of our very own faucets!  That’s right, we can poop, pee, shower, wash our hands and dishes right from the comfort of our very own home!  What had happened, evidently, was that as our house had been empty for a period of months, and despite the fact that our landlords had shut off the water line, the water company— not believing that the house could not be consuming water— continued to charge them for imaginary amounts of water consumed.  Though she (the landlord) had already attempted to deal with the problem two times previously— she showed us her complaint file numbers, etc., to prove it wasn’t their fault— the water company still shut off the water late one Saturday night while Sally and I were enjoying first Sherlock Holmes (that sh*t was a lot of fun) and then some late-night sushi on the way home— without bothering to call and warn us.  Great folks, those water company ass-bags.  Well, we called and called, and only a little over 24-hours after we were notified we’d been put on the “urgent” list, someone bothered to come by and turn us back on. 

I’m only a little bitter still about the overall experience, but it does provide some nice segue for a blog post Sally and I have been discussing for some time: things we like/don’t like about Mexico*. 

* ‘Cos Sally has warned me that if I include those lists right now your attention spans would wane, I’ll post them later this week and consider it multiple posts toward my “at least once every 2 weeks rule” :).

In touch soon, dudes and dudettes--

Elotes (Mexican Corn on the Cob)

As a girl who grew up in Nebraska, I make it a point not to eat corn from anywhere else.  Once you’ve tasted those brilliant kernels of white and yellow perfection, every other corn just tastes bland in comparison and not worth the trouble of getting it stuck between your teeth.  Yet sometimes, we are forced to make exceptions to our rules, as is the case when you live in Mexico and walk by street vendors who slather steaming ears of corn with mayo, cheese, lime, and chili and then serve it on a stick or scrapped into a cup all jumbled together.  How could you pass that up?  In Nebraska, I might have thought it sacrilege to eat corn slathered in anything but a little butter and salt and pepper, but here I figured it could only make it better, and boy howdy does it ever.  The flavor is love at first bite (except when you are eating it for a second time from a strange, drunk man in a Cantina - see Anders' blog post on January 10 for the full story).

Notice how cold it is in Mexico!  We are both wearing two coats and a scarf.

 Elotes (Mexican corn on the cob)

Adapted from Homesick Texan

There are many ways to enjoy this treat: grilled, roasted, steamed, or broiled.  You could even go the easy route and roast frozen corn.  Experiment and see what works best for you.

Serves 4

4 ears of corn (or 2-3 cups frozen corn)
4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
4 lime wedges
1/2 cup of cotija cheese, crumbled (or if you prefer, Parmesean cheese)
Cayenne to taste

2 tablespoons of butter (optional: most elote that we have eaten in Mexico does not use butter, but if you prefer a creamier taste adding butter is a good option)

In an oven heated to 350 degrees, cook the corn in husk, with silk removed (no need to soak corn) for 25 minutes.

After taking corn out of the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes, and then pull husk layers down, leaving them attached to the base of the cob, which can act as a handle.  If you want to blacken your corn, you can either put it under the broiler for five minutes on each side or hold it over your stove’s gas burner. Be careful to keep the husk away from the flames!

While warm, spread 1/2 tablespoon of butter (optional) and 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise all over the cob.  Next take about an 1/8 cup of cheese, and sprinkle it on cob, then sprinkle on some cayenne pepper and squeeze the lime over the cob (the lime is the key to making this recipe pop!).

Note: Instead of using the husks as a handle, you can stick a wooden skewer into the base or scrape the corn off the cob and serve it in a bowl or cup.

Michelada Recipe

When it comes to beer cocktails, Micheladas top the list.  I prefer to consume mine while walking the streets of a quaint Mexican town, but they are also a delicious accompaniment to an afternoon snack of chips and guacamole.  The recipe is simple and can be easily adapted, so feel free to mix it to your own personal tastes.

Michelada Recipe
Adapted from Serious Eats

Makes 1 serving

1 ice-cold beer
1 dash of salt
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1-2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice (I think this is the best part so I add more)
2 dashes of Tabasco or your favorite hot sauce
1 dash of soy sauce
1 dash of Worcestershire sauce (Maggi is the preferred brand around these parts)
1 pinch of black pepper
ice (optional)
lime wedges for garnish (optional)

On a small plate, mix together the salt and chili powder.  Then, rim a beer glass with a little lime juice and dip it in the salt and chili powder mixture to cover the top of the glass.

In the bottom of the glass, add lime juice, hot sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper.  Slowly pour in the beer.  If you want, you can give the glass a big stir, but I think it is best to let the beer do the mixing when you pour it over the top of the ingredients.  Add more beer as you drink and enjoy! Some people like to add ice, but I think if the beer is cold enough or if you serve it in a frosty mug it is unnecessary.

=6= or, the discovery of symbols

Man, I’ve only posted 5ish (Vish) lousy times since September??!  What a bum I am.

You know, it seems a pretty reasonable goal to post enough such that an apology is not necessary to begin each blog post.  So reasonable, in fact, that I think I’ll go ahead and enact it right now (call it a resolution, if you like-- what with the season and all):

I will post at least once every two (✌) weeks for all y’all friends, family and supporters of lo de sally ‘n anders.  I’ll do my best to keep m’self honest, but if I lag, feel free to let me hear about it for the rest of my life.  Or in the comments section.

SO, an update on life of late:

X-mas day on the ol' cactus reserve!

- We celebrated Christmas in San Miguel de Allende with old friends and new (old: Mathias Svalina & Jules Cohen [pictured above]; new: Jules’ ‘rents and bro, Adam), enjoying the more intimate comforts of old friends (intimate ≠ sex in this instance) but in an exciting new(er) setting.  We drank micheladas on the streets (recipe time, Sal?), cooked and ate yummy homemade meals, visited a cactus reserve X-mas day and drank tequila shots before bed.  We were even able to give our gracious hosts a short tour of Qro after they dropped us off in time to receive our second round of guests the following day(!) when…

Check their passports-- these two could be illegals!

- … STACEY AND BERNADETTE CAME TO MEXICO!!!  In fact, they’re still here (as of the initial time of writing, this was true, but as of 00:45 last night, Stacey moved on to Puerto Vallarta to spend her last few days in Mexico in/on the sun/beach instead of the rain/streets ☹)!  My employer/pal Adam was kind enough to drive us to Mexico City— and to get lost on the way back.  We got home around 2a and proceeded to spend the next two weeks showing off what we’ve come to know of Qro, Mx, and some of the surrounding area.

X-mas time spectacle miracle at a big ol' church.

Fortunately, with Stacey’s self-employed schedule, she was able to visit during a time when we were both largely free of work duties and therefore able to do some tripping nearby.  Tequisquiapan was a first for all of us— a sweet little town where we did a little shopping, touring and had a delicious Italian meal on the last afternoon of 2009.  Another highlight was the following weekend when we revisited our standing favorite of Mexican towns, Guanajuato, though this time we were bold enough to bring along our four-legged white fluff of personality, also known as Bernadette.

Fear not, Mom, she got none. ;)

Bernadette has been something of a celebrity in her short time in Mexico; her breed does not seems to exist here, as people are always curious as to her raza (breed) and hopeful that they might get to touch her coat.  It’s been a great vocab-learning experience for gushing dog-related cutisms; unfortunately Bird has yet to pick up on/appreciate (seemingly) any of the many enchanting nuances of her second language to-be… 

Back to Gto, though!  Yes, we were able to get Bird on four (✌ x ✌) taxi rides, a couple of 1st class buses (poor thing got to ride along with luggage in her kennel down below) and into the hostel we’d stayed at in Gto the first time.  She has now visited— in Mexico— one federal district, three states and three capital cities, plus a couple other little guys.  Though it was a real pain to convince the taxi drivers of her hypoallergenic/no-shed qualifications, she was a real labradoodlian trooper and seemed to enjoy the adventure of walking and sniffing the numerous unwalked/-sniffed locales of ol’ Mexico.

On the way to visit el Pípila (hope that isn't too much butt-hole for you).

We ate, ate, ate in Gto, and though it rained, rained, rained on Saturday, we still had a lovely time.  We had delicious coffee at an American-owned spot called Café Tal (and took a kilo of the dark roast to go), ate beautiful lunch at La Capellina, took Stacey for her first elote (there ended up being another given to both her and Sally after we stopped into a dude-infested cantina— more on that in a moment) and dinner at a burger stand our friends Chris and Veronica had taken us to (Chris, if you’re reading this, the burgers were delicious again ☺), where we considered taking an extra burger to go so that we could dissect it to determine just what made it so damn scrumptious (though now we’re pretty sure it’s the carrot spread/stuff with cinnamon in it on top).  We topped the rain-soaked evening off by stopping into the aforementioned cantina— the ladies’ idea, FYI— where upon sitting down in the last available corner spot, Sally and Stacey quickly took note of the rather conspicuous pisser/trough in the corner of the entirely open room, and the fact that a number of fellas just came in off the street, used it, and then bounced right out of there. In its figurative corner, though, the place did have some cold-ass beers.  It wasn’t long before some friendly, mostly older gentlemen took an interest in “us” (I was largely the mouthpiece so they had to go through me, I who claimed to be their bodyguard) and started chatting us up.  One younger fellow— rather drunk, this one— told me of how beautiful he found them both, hovered for a bit, and then disappeared.  Not ten minutes later, he was back with two foil-wrapped Mexican corn(s?) on the cob, (elotes— RECIPE, Sally!) which of course made us all laugh and the two of them even more full.  We left shortly thereafter and were laughing at least as hard as I have so far during our time Mexico. 

It was a really great and easy time having Stacey here, and we’re so, so grateful to her and already miss having her here. :’(

Ah, would love to be back there, sipping café...

- On the biznass front, Sally started work!  She’s holding things down about a 15-minute walk from our place at a well-reputed language school called United English.  Her schedule is the traditional split English teacher schedule: mornings from 7-9a, then a good long break until 4 or 5p when she goes back in until 8 or 9p; and she seems to getting the hang of the work experience at UE and is glad to have some non-house-related responsibilities to fill her day.  We view it as money, another opportunity to meet and make friends and a new brand of teaching experience for a skilled and experienced English teacher whose students are undoubtedly lucky to have her.  ¡Vaya Sally!

With that, I’d consider you all more or less caught up with lo de Sally and me.  Again, I’ma do me best to make this a once every couple of weeks-type project (at least), as reading my depressing off-season Royals blogs and kicking major ass at Bejeweled are all well and good, but keeping up with our friends and love ones who we miss (and missed!) this time of year is infinitely more valuable and rewarding— unless of course the Royals win the AL Cental and/or I win some kind of cash award for breaking the 500k mark in Bejeweled.  I’m off to make coffee and to take Bird to go pee under the arches— making Queretaro’s most famous landmark that much more famous-er!

¿Fudge = Diablos en español?

Love to you all, hope you had a Merry Christmas and are experiencing a quality start to the new year!  Go snow! ☃

Best x 3,
Anders

Home(?) Again?

We meant to put up a blog about Thanksgiving in Queretaro.  How we woke up sad because we were so far away from home.  How it was just another day of school and work for us.  How we decided to eat our feast on Friday because of the promise of the weekend.  How we visited two grocery stores, one frutería, one pastelería, one mercado, and one little corner spice shop and still could not find all of the necessary ingredients for our meal.  How we planned a Mexican-American menu (turkey tortas, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, and sweet potato buttermilk pie).  How two friends joined us at the last minute for the feast so we it was our own little version of bringing our harvest meal together between two groups and getting along with one another.  But instead, the news we received on Thanksgiving sidetracked us: Your apartment is ready for you to move in.

Not2B4gotten: Sally's pay feroz with homemade crust and seasoning 'peños 

After living in a hostel for over a month, this gave us much to be grateful for.  Little did we know the cleaning project that awaited us in our new home, however.  A brief picture of the filth: smashed dead bugs on the walls, some sort of gravy-like splatterings on nearly every surface of the house, dirt covered floors, a bathroom with a shower full of mildew and soap scum and ceilings covered with unknown substances, and more daddy-long legs needing to be killed than I thought I could handle (Anders did not approve of the large wads of Kleenex I used to kill them, but it was the only way I felt capable of the task).  After two full days of cleaning we had not yet left the kitchen, and I had contracted some sort of infection from the copious amount of dirt I had inhaled that left me sick for over two weeks and made it compulsory for me to wear a mask for the remaining three weeks of cleaning.  Yes, it took us three weeks to clean the place to our liking thanks to the place being abandoned for six months.  I will admit that we both happen to like a spick and span place to the point of slightly obsessive compulsive behavior, but the place really was vile.  When guests came over their jaws would often drop and the only nice thing that they could find to say was this place is really big for 4,000 pesos.

PHOTO BOMB!

You can probably notice the small variation in cleanliness here.
It isn't perfect-- and never will be-- but it's part of our family now,
and we do our best to treat family well. 

 

And here is she who provided that small variation in cleanliness (not! the opposite!) 

  Sally was just saying how the "clean" one didn't look clean 

(below), but then she saw the other one (above). 

Never mind the facial cleaner for old-people skin.

They said swine flu could be lurking behind each tile 
or even in the grout. We didn't want to take any chances.
 

Needless to say, we are not living in the lap of luxury, but this is one of those times in life when we are choosing to give up some of the comforts of home in return for a once in a lifetime experience.  And the place is ideal for its location, price, and large living areas (there are two spare bedrooms for any visitors who happen to come for a time, and we promise the place is now clean).  The first week as I scrubbed (literally) from the floor to the ceiling while coughing up my dirt-encrusted lungs I thought this place would never feel like home, but three weeks later and one party down we are starting to feel good about the place.  The night we finished cleaning we bought ourselves our first bottle of tequila to celebrate our victory over the filth and have happily been drinking Palomas (see recipe below) ever since.

Ha! These are titled "only cool shot" (above) & "nasty II" (below).
I'd say they do a pretty succinct job at summing up our place, 
so bienvenidos, dudes!

Paloma cocktail
makes 1 drink

Palomas are similar to a margarita, but the grapefruit soda makes it a bit easier to toss back and the carbonation adds a little something extra as well.  We prefer to use Squirt, but any grapefruit soda will work.  We tried substituting grapefruit juice combined with a simple syrup and soda water once, but ended up preferring Squirt, perhaps with a bit of experimentation it would be better than what we produced.

1 lime
salt
2 to 3 ounces of tequila
 (or stronger if you are Anders)
ice
Squirt or grapefruit soda

Fill a glass with ice. Squeeze in juice of half of a small lime. Sprinkle salt over top or salt the rim of the glass, then pour in the tequila and top with Squirt or grapefruit soda.

La Peña de Bernal

After one month of camping out in our hostel, we decided it was time to do some exploring outside of Queretaro.  So last weekend we strapped on our sneakers and boarded a bus to the city of Bernal where we climbed the world’s second-largest (and third-tallest) monolith, la Peña de Bernal.  Before arriving, we had no idea what a monolith was exactly, but a bit of research (after we returned home) informed us that it is simply a giant, solitary rock, which is exactly what we experienced.  We thought we were ready to defeat this rock with our new Mexican walking legs, but half way up we found ourselves huffing and puffing and wondering how much farther we had to go.  I was just about ready to give up and consider the mid-viewpoint adequate until I spied an elderly woman using a cane getting ready to pass me.  I couldn’t let the old lady win so off we went to the top.

That’s right, we’ve buffed up our legs and our capacities for spite!  Seriously though, that caned lady was on a mission from somebody… 

On our way up, we discovered that people climb a mountain a bit different around these parts.  Vendors carry up coolers of drinks and boxes of food to serve you at various points throughout your trek and people do not always dress the part to climb a steep rock.  We saw people wearing their Sunday best including men’s dress shoes and a pair of patent leather wedges, and others who simply went barefoot.  When we did reach the top expecting a gorgeous view and silence, we instead heard Beyonce’s Single Ladies roaring out from down below.  I thought Anders may have set this up and was going to get down on one knee to put a ring on it, but it didn’t happen.

HA!  I love you Sally, but Beyoncé isn’t part of my love-inducing repetoire; maybe Jay-Z though…

            
To celebrate our victorious summit, we took the advice of our friendly hostel worker/friend/new landlord, and ate at the Italian restaurant in town.  The place was the real deal with the Italian owners sitting behind us stuffing their mouths and talking loudly over the food.  A large pizza (ironically the spiciest food we have eaten thus far in Mexico to the tune of eyes watering and mouths on fire) and a carafe of wine later, we were full and ready to head home where we gracefully passed out on the couch for the rest of the evening to recover.

No joke, that pizza was so hot it was hilarious!  We were crying from laughing, pain and each other.  Perhaps one time where a nice, chilled white would’ve been a better choice than the house tinto, but a delightful— and rather fun/ny— time still.  Between the peña and the ‘za, one might say we felt the Bern-al. ;)