The Saturday Organic Market

San Miguel has a lot of Foodies as well as people concerned about the quality of the food they eat. Several of our restaurants source local produce and cheeses. So where there is demand . . . Yep, supply will follow. Several farms around San Miguel have started to raise organic produce. I'm sure the restaurants have arrangements with some of the growers but what about the rest of us. Now you need to get the demand and supply together. There are a couple of small markets that specialize in organic foods or local cheeses. But we also have a Saturday Organic Market not too far from our house.  It is on the back 40 of the Rosewood Hotel property. The market is really more than just organic produce.

When you enter one of the first things you see are tables and chairs under some shade trees. And the first thing you smell are tortillas on griddles and pottery pots of all sizes filled with tinga, chicken in green mole, razas with egg, lamb stew, chorizo and egg and even more pots. Are you hungry yet? Thirsty? There is coffee in a pot or fruit juices of beautiful colors standing in big glass jars. Go get what you want to eat and sit down at one of the tables. If you haven't already seen a friend or two, I bet you will before you leave the table.

After eating a few tacos or quesadillas you can stroll through the rest of the market. You will find skin care products made of distillations of certain cactus, chocolate, homemade breads, empanadas, sweet rolls, donuts, medicines made from nature's produce, handmade shawls, rugs and aprons. And, of course, you will find the freshest organic produce that is available that day.

Today's Tianguis

Never a Dull Moment

My the time flies. There have been stories I could have written for the blog but other stuff just took first place.

A week ago was the Chili Cook Off. I was great fun. As you can see lots of people came out. San Miguel is staying right abreast of the rest of the world because we had a flash mob dance during the afternoon. There was lots of music, dancing, food and of course the opportunity to taste many pots of chili and charro beans. The Cook Off was held on the grounds of the Real de Minas Hotel and for me the biggest surprise of the day was all the families who had spread blankets to sit on but spent most of their time chasing toddlers. I knew we had some gringo families here but really had no idea that we had so many with tiny children and besides the gringo couples there were a lot of families where Mom or Dad was Mexican. So if you have thought about coming to Mexico to live with your toddlers, come on down. You'll find plenty of other young families.

Also last week as I mentioned in the previous post, Candelaria opened. All the paths in Parque Juarez are loaded with flower vendors. It is so beautiful. You are bound to run into friends there who are either out to buy or just taking a walk among the beautiful flowers and plants.

One day a week I'm helping in the library that was started in Los Ricos out in the campo in conjunction with the English classes that are sponsored by Feed The Hungry. I've done this for several years and it is really fun to see the kids as they move through the elementary grades.

We went to the Tuesday Tianguis and then stopped for comida. Dinner out one night with the teachers and spouses from Los Ricos. Date night. Cooked dinner for friends. There is all the regular shopping and picking up mail. I finished one book and started another. And of course, I still have my photography work to do. There is never a dull moment!

Name This Fruit

We saw this fruit in the tianguis on Tuesday. We asked what it was but never understood the answer. I thought that maybe it was some variety of Cherimoya but I've looked on the internet and haven't found a variety that has the little bumps or is shaped like this. So, can you name this fruit?

What Is That?

Yesterday as I walked through the tianguis I was carrying my BIG black camera over my shoulder. While this little girl has probably seen a lot of point and shoot digital cameras, I don't think she had seen anything quite like mine. I could just see those little wheels turning in her head as she was trying to figure out exactly what it was. As I passed by I snapped this picture of her without ever raising the camera to my eye. Isn't she adorable?

A Lot Going On

There has been a lot going on since I blogged on Tuesday. We went ran errands in the car on Tuesday. We don't usually get the car out but this time it was needed. First a stop at Soriana to get wine. We could have gotten wine in a lot of other places but since we were driving past Soriana to get to another place we were going to, why not stop.

As a side note, we are seeing the price of imported wines increase due to the peso being down. I've been thinking that we wouldn't feel the peso being at 14 to 15 to the dollar because we weren't planning on buying appliances or things like that. I didn't think about wine. Now it is definitely going to affect my pocketbook. Still, the Chilean and Argentinean wines are a good value even at the increase in price.

A stop to fill up the car with gas. Then a stop at the locksmiths. We wanted to see the lock that the locksmith had talked to us about installing. The locksmith's shop sells locks, keys and cleaning supplies. The locksmith is a woman and she was out on calls but the interesting thing was that there were no locks in the shop. The salesperson got her on the phone and she said she would bring the locks to the house later in the afternoon. You think this is unusual? NOT. Things like this happen all the time.

From there we headed across the highway to mail a birthday card to Dexter who will be four in a couple of days and then on to the Tuesday Tianguis. I love the Tianguis. There is no seeming order to the layout of stalls but most of the time the same vendor is in the same place. We bought a new gold fish and two algae eaters for the pond, some fruits and vegetables, chicken breasts, and then a kilo of shrimp. I think that the shrimp that we buy in the Tianguis are better than shrimp I've bought anywhere else. Not just here in Mexico but in the USA as well. They are just delicious. Then we had to have chorizo tacos while we were buying some chorizo for breakfast. Mmm....delicious.

A friend sent us some photographs of a litter of three puppies that were abandoned. One was really cute with a white face, chest and front paws. She was a San Miguel dog, a mutt but she was really cute. I have to admit I thought about going over to see her but I don't think either of us is quite ready. I haven't been sleeping well and I keep thinking I hear Taylor moving around on his bed and I look over to check on him. I've made a list of things we 'want' in another dog....short coat, small dog, etc. I don't think she fits any of them but she is cute.

On Wednesday...out to the campo to be the librarian at a little school. Dinner with friends a couple of nights and a pot luck luncheon yesterday. Every minute that I wasn't doing this 'stuff', I have been sitting at my computer trying to figure out all the techincal issues for doing Solo Foto Book Month. More about that in another blogging entry. A lot going on....some physical but a lot of it is mental and that always just wears me out.

Seafood

We aren't close to either coast. In fact I guess you could say we are pretty much in the center of Mexico. So for a long time I was wary of buying fish or shrimp, even eating it in restaurants. I tried to like a fish market that is close to our neighborhood but sometimes I didn't like the smell of it and a few times when I bought shrimp they had been treated with or frozen in a salt solution that made them salty and they were simply not "ocean fresh."

For all these years I have resisted going to the Tuesday Tianguis because I heard tales of people's pockets being picked or of going through piles of clothes looking for shirts and jeans. I didn't want to have either of those experiences but finally for some reason that I can't remember now, we went to the Tianguis. We had a great time. Ned stopped at all the hardware stalls and I stopped at the fruit and veggie stands. We ate tacos there. I found chorizo verde. A bird cage. And there was a seafood stall and a chicken stall. I didn't buy seafood or chicken the first time but since then I've been buying from these two vendors. The shrimp we have gotten there have been as good a shrimp as I've every had for about $6.50-7.00 a pound (that is dollars). They are fairly large shrimp. We haven't bought any fish yet because I can't get past the shrimp but we will be buying some soon because they look very fresh also.

This week we bought shrimp again and this time we had shrimp creole. It was really, really good.

Solola, Guatemala

The holga was hanging around my neck. I saw this beautiful woman approaching in her embroidered huipil. I tilted the camera without bringing it to my eye and pressed the shutter release. I didn't know at the time if I would have her in the frame or that the colors, shapes and forms in the background would work. See.....I keep saying that sometimes the holga angel can be on your shoulder.