My husband gave me worms for my birthday!

Not just worms, but ants and grasshoppers too.

I celebrated my birthday, I'm not saying which one, during a Los Vagabundos trip to Oaxaca. As a treat for me, and incidentally for him, Erich made a reservation at Casa Oaxaca el Restaurante, one of the best restaurants in Mexico. We ordered the menu degustación, the tasting menu, which actually was not on the menu. Apparently you have to know about it and ask for it. We have dined in many excellent establishments around the world, and we can say with all honesty that this was one of the best meals we've ever had.

Tasting menus can be over done and much too heavy, but Chef Alejandro Ruiz has a light touch. The dishes were creative, elegant, perfectly sized, and after seven courses plus the opening appetizer everyone receives, we were pleasantly full but not stuffed.  The menu will vary depending on what is fresh and in season.

The meal started with a waiter creating a salsa at our table.  All ingredients used in the restaurant are organic and locally sourced.  

Squash blossoms

The first course was squash blossoms filled with ricotta cheese and wrapped in crispy sweet potato with a sauce with honey and epazote herb. Totally delicious.

Next came a toasted corn tortilla covered with a colorful array of agave worms, grasshoppers, chicatana ants, guacamole, cepiche herb and radish.  Yum.  All of the insects were well fried and crispy and there was nothing at all icky about it.  We really did like it. Honestly. Oaxaca is famous for its insect dishes, so everyone should try it.

Bugs

Course number three was a thick fried corn gordita with filled with pork, and cheese, avocado, habanero chili, coriander and pickled onions on top.

Pork gordita

The next treat was frijolon bean soup with conejo herb, avocado, fried tortilla strips, fresh cheese, and pasilla mixe chili.  We were served a bowl with all of the ingredients and then the bean soup was poured in.

Bean soup

Mahi mahi

After that, we had the catch of the day which was mahi mahi served on lettuce and squash blossoms with a delicious tomato puree with capers and then more caper sauce on top.  The fish was cooked perfectly.

Confit of suckling pig

The next to last dish was a confit of suckling pig with fried plantain, and a mole made from 28 ingredients.  There were some other tasty little things but I don't know what they were.

Finally we had dessert and an espresso.  The dessert was guava mousse, one with meringue, rose petal ice cream (on the right), a red fruit sauce and a fabulous mint sauce made to look like a tree.  It was wonderful.

If you are ever in Oaxaca City, be sure to go to Casa Oaxaca el Restaurante, Calle de La Constitución 104-A, Centro. https://www.casaoaxacaelrestaurante.com/  It is an easy walk from the Zócalo.  

OMG! I'm an internet sensation

Unbeknownst to me, someone who saw my blog post from last year, the one about me being a look-alike for a Playboy centerfold, posted the photo and a description on Reddit in a subgroup called r/OldSchoolCool. This is the description of the group which has over 15 million members:  **History's cool kids, looking fantastic!** A pictorial and video celebration of history's coolest kids, everything from beatniks to bikers, mods to rude boys, hippies to ravers. And everything in between. If you've found a photo, or a photo essay, of people from the past looking fantastic, here's the place to share it.

Here is what was posted in the group: This is a 1967 photo of high school student Cynthia Blanton holding a copy of the March 1967 issue of Playboy. She was mistaken for Miss March ‘Fran’ by the boys at school. Having a great sense of humor she had her friend the school yearbook photographer take this picture!

Someone told me that this story was blowing up with many comments and gave me a link to it.  I had heard of Reddit but had never looked at it, so I followed the link to see what was going on.  To my astonishment, this story had over 800 comments, and today there are over 1000.  Plus, when I checked my blog stats, my original post has over 4,000 views, compared to the usual 100-200 for my other posts. Almost all the comments in this Reddit group are friendly and some are even flattering, so the group appears to be mostly people who enjoy nostalgia for days gone by.  

It is kind of weird to read what people are saying about you and the assumptions they make based on almost no information.  Some figured out my age and wondered if I am still among the living.  Another commenter who had looked at my blog reported that I am alive and well and living in Mexico.  A couple of folks copied the rest of my blog post that described the prank I pulled on my mom and readers loved it. 

Being me, I felt compelled to respond to some of the comments.  One obviously young person asked how anyone could do a hair style like in the photo.  Another person said, "Back in the day, they used big soup-can rollers, then put their hair in a pony tail and spread it around."  I replied, "Yep.  I'm the lady in the photo and that's pretty much how I did it."  I replied to several more comments which freaked people out: "Oh wow.  I never expected the real Cynthia to show up here."  A couple of people asked for a current photo which I politely declined to provide.

I don't fully understand how Reddit works.  If you like a comment, you can "up vote" it and/or give an award.  I got two rewards and tons of up votes so now I have 1,200 karma points.  I have no idea what that means.

Overall, this was a strange but amusing experience and most commenters were very nice.  The only negative is that someone crossposted the story to r/AgedBeauty which upon inspection is a porn subgroup featuring older women.  Sigh.

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For original blog post, just search this blog for Playboy.

SMA Writers' Conference and Dead Bodies

The San Miguel Writers’ Conference is another reason why I love this city.  My husband and I attended in person in February of 2020, purchasing the Readers’ Package since neither of us is a writer, although I make a pretense of it from time to time in this blog.  In 2021, we attended virtually.  The keynote addresses both years were wonderful, and this year, there have been many new online programs and workshops which are continuing throughout the year.  My favorite program, and the first writing workshop I have ever taken, is called Silent Write.  It takes place once per month and is a non-critique session designed to get people to let loose creatively and just write.  The moderator gives the group a prompt and we have 5 minutes to write something.  For the second and third prompts, we have 10 minutes to write followed by a 10-minute period where we can clean up the earlier stories or write something new. Then we can share our stories if we wish.  It is great fun, and I’m always astonished at what pops into my head as a result of the prompt.  Here is an example:

10 minute prompt: the ring slipped off her finger and fell down the drain

My story:

Disposing of bodies isn’t easy.  I usually put them in a bathtub and perform some, well, let’s just call it surgery.  I always keep something as proof that the job has been done, and I was planning to keep her ring.  To my horror, it slipped off her finger and fell down the drain.  Her husband, the one who ordered the hit, wanted it back since it was sizable and probably cost a small fortune.  I guess he was going to hock it after a suitable mourning period.  Oh crap.  It’s always something.

The double thick plastic bags were filled now and the surgical saw was back in its case, so I contemplated how to get the ring back.  There were no tools in this cheap motel, of course, so I went out to my car to get my emergency kit.  The screwdriver wasn’t any use, but the pocket knife let me pry the metal rim up from the drain.  I tried to reach down inside but my fingers were too thick, so I had to come up with another method.  Duct tape, of course.  I put a small wad on the end of the screwdriver and poked around in the drain.  I could hear the ring, but I just couldn’t get it to stick.  Maybe some wire would work better.  I had a piece in the kit, so I fashioned a hook and started probing again.  Finally, I managed to snag it.

Now for the bleach all over the tub.  Carry the heavy bags out to the trunk and then retrieve my emergency kit and saw.  Take yet another look around the room to make sure absolutely nothing is left behind.  

Driving away in my car with stolen plates, I peel off my rubber gloves and tear off my fake beard, remove my baseball cap with the long hair attached, and sigh with relief.  No, it was more than relief.  There was a fair bit of pride in that sigh.  Another job well done.

The moderator commented that I seemed to know a lot about the subject.  “Research”, I replied.

For information about ongoing online programs and workshops, go the San Miguel Literary Sala, the sponsor of the conference.  https://sanmiguelliterarysala.org/  Also, you can get on their mailing list to be informed about the next conference.

Mushrooms and fireflies and food! Oh my!

Last week my husband Erich and I spent a marvelous two and a half days of mushroom hunting, firefly watching and enjoying fabulous meals which constituted "The Gourmet Symbiosis Event of Mushroom Expert Arif Towns Alonso and Lic. Chef David Jahnke." The event, limited to 8 people, took place on the private Rancho Calixto in the mountainous region near the Magical town of Amealco de Bonfil, about 85 miles from San Miguel.  The area is gorgeous and reminded us a tiny bit of Switzerland with the forested hills and chalet-style homes.  (Click on photos for larger ones)

The ranch is owned by a lovely gentleman named Clemente who is committed to maintaining the area in as natural a condition as possible. Most of his land is a sanctuary and will never be developed, and he does not allow any non-native species there. He and his staff work very hard to preserve the forests, and he even has a herd of endangered native white-tailed deer. As the herd expands, he sends some of them to other ranches where they will be protected from hunters. We were pleased to view them quite closely as they were being fed.

The ranch is also a sanctuary for fireflies which light up for about an hour for only a few days during the mating season in July. We went for a hike in the dark and were able to see a lot of the camera-elusive little creatures. No video despite my efforts. 

But the purpose of the trip was mushroom hunting and dining. Arif Towns Alonso knows everything about mushrooms and supplies many local restaurants and stores with wild ones collected from different states in Mexico. He showed us samples of many of the edible varieties from the area, but he also showed us the toxic ones, and let us look through his reference books. To our eyes, they looked much too similar, so despite the very informative instruction, we will never try picking them on our own.  (Arif leads mushroom tours through the season.  Contact information for the people and places mentioned here will be at the end of the post.)

Samples, reference books and Arif

Good ones

Good ones

Bad ones

We made two hikes looking for mushrooms and greatly enjoyed the experience even though we did not find an enormous number of them since we were near the beginning of the season. We found more than enough for Chef David to incorporate into our meals. On our second night at the ranch, he delighted us with a terrific "demonstration" dinner where he showed us how to make each dish, all of them cooked over a wood fire and and most of them involving mushrooms. He started off with a delicious mushroom soup and then made Flammkuchen with mushrooms, a type of German pizza.  Then we had mushroom tempura with a light, crunchy coating, Wagyu beef meatballs with broccoli and cauliflower followed by Wagyu burgers topped with béarnaise sauce.  Although we were stuffed, we made room for a Flan Napolitano for dessert. Dinner on the first night was also excellent as were the breakfasts and lunches, all prepared by David.  

David describing mushrooms

How to slice mushroom

Soup on wood stove

Flammkuchen in wood fire oven

On the second day, we had the afternoon free so we went to the nearby town of Amealco de Bonfil and visited the market and a store famous for various kinds of honey.  We planned to visit the doll museum, but it is closed on Wednesdays. The town is known for its dolls, so I picked out a pretty one to buy. Our touring was cut a bit short due to an unbelievably loud thunderstorm and downpour which sent us scurrying into a café on the edge of the central square called El Kiosco where Arturo, the manager with a lovely voice, sang to us when the electricity went off. He turned a potentially boring episode into a fun experience. 

Arturo singing for us

My doll

All in all, an excellent adventure.

Contact information:

Chef David Jahnke

david.jahnke@gmail.com  https://www.sanmigueldeallendecookingclasses.com/

cooking classes in person and online.  Over 250 free YouTube videos: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClJQ_s_1zXFw9N_EdXS95Cw/videos

Arif Towns Alonso

Mushroom tours.  https://www.facebook.com/simbiosissma

WhatsApp: 52 442 110 4306‬.     simbiosissanmiguel@gmail.com

Rancho Calixto 

https://www.facebook.com/RanchoCalixtoAmealco/?fref=ts

52-448-111-1290.  ranchocalixto@gmail.com

Cabins and camping. Firefly tours are available during the season.

The main road to the ranch, where Google Maps and your GPS will direct you, is under construction and probably will be for quite some time.  We hired a taxi in Amealco to guide us along the alternative route.  Well worth it for only 150 pesos.

View from our cabin living room

Cabin tucked into the woods

Kitchen

  

Sunday Hike, July 4, 2021

The San Miguel Hiking Group has begun Sunday hikes again and we were delighted to join the group on the 4th of July. We drove a short distance to the little village of San Marcos de Begoña and set out on foot on a foggy day. The recent rains brought all the wildflowers to life, and the spectacular Man of the Earth, a type of morning glory, were in full bloom. The ground was covered in them.  

How I longed for a real camera with a macro lens instead of my iPhone.

We were near the large lake formed by the Presa Allende, the dam which controls the River Laja, as well as smaller bodies of water formed from older dams. This is the old dam which we walked across. A little tricky due to the uneven stones.

There were many lovely scenes along the way.

A view down the canyon behind the old dam with the railroad bridge and the big lake in the distance.

All along the almost 4 mile hike were tons of wildflowers, many too small to photograph well.  

Fairy Dusters are among my favorites.

It was a lovely way to spend the morning.

[BTW, I have nothing to do with the administration or leadership of the hiking group.  I’m just a happy, occasional hiker.  To join the group and receive information about hikes you need to go to https://www.sanmiguelhiking.com/contact.html
Just fill out the little form and you will be added to the email notification list.  There is no commitment on your part - you will just receive emails about the different hikes.
You can also read the guidelines and description of the hikes and the difficulty of different levels.  https://www.sanmiguelhiking.com/guidelines.html  ]

Megan becomes Max — A Tail of Gender Dysphoria and Reincarnation

Megan, our Miniature Schnauzer, thought she was a boy. She always lifted her leg to pee, patrolled the backyard like a Marine, and "marked" every light pole, fire hydrant and rock during walks around our Canadian neighborhood. In keeping with her male self-image, she thought she was big and was ready and willing to defend herself against much larger aggressors.

Although our long-standing credo was "No children, no pets, no indoor plants," we happily took Megan into our home when I inherited her from my father as he moved into assisted living. We fell hopelessly in love with her then decided she needed a companion and brought puppy Molly, another Miniature Schnauzer, home one day. The four of us lived happily for several years until Megan became ill at age 13. Helping her cross the Rainbow Bridge was the hardest thing I've ever done and was, absolutely, the worst day of my life.

Not long after this tragic event, we moved to Mexico bringing little Molly with us. Thinking she might like a companion, we vowed to adopt rather than buy although we knew it was highly unlikely to find a Miniature Schnauzer needing a home. For almost two years, we had no luck but just a couple of weeks ago we got a call from a rescuer who knew of our quest. Sadly Max, as we call him since nobody knows his former name, ended up in a shelter after his human died of Covid. We were astonished when we met him because he looks almost exactly like Megan - the same coloring, same big expressive eyes and the same straight as opposed to the more common curly hair found on Schnauzers. But he's big for his breed, bigger than Megan and huge compared to Molly.

We adopted him and after having him for about two weeks, we are totally convinced that he is really Megan reincarnated as she always saw herself - a big, male dog. The resemblance in appearance and behavior is uncanny and despite ourselves, we keep calling him Megan. The poor guy is probably going to have an identity crisis to go along with his separation anxiety.

Megan

Max, or Megan reincarnated

Yes, it will take some work to make Max a very good boy. He pushes Molly out of the way when we pet her, plays a bit too rough with her, gets upset when we leave and commits indiscretions in the house. We put the two dogs in my office where we don't care about the rug and where I wrapped the lower sections of the furniture in plastic, but while we were out for a couple of hours, Max marked twice and pooped once. Our vet friend thinks Prozac may help, we assume for the dog or maybe for us too, but we draw the line at weekly doggy therapy sessions. Despite the problems, Max is loving and affectionate, very generous with his kisses and cuddles and once again, we have fallen in love.

Max

Megan

Gratuitous doggie photos

Molly as a puppy

Molly in the snow (I knit the sweaters)

Megan in the snow

Little Molly and Max in bed (the beds are the same size)

Notice to People Receiving This Blog Via Email

Sadly, Google is discontinuing the subscription service that allows folks to read this blog via email.  I haven't yet found an alternative service, so if you would like to receive notifications when I post something new, just let me know.  Send me an email at cjblanton at me.com (no spaces and use the @ sign) and I will send you a link whenever I add a new post. I do have a list of subscribers so you may receive an email from me about this issue. Sorry about the hassle.  

Gardening and Cooking

One of the benefits of living here in Mexico is the availability of delicious, very fresh produce.  Although almost everything we could want is easy to find in stores, we decided to grow some food of our own in a rooftop garden.  We had these custom planters installed on December 22, 2020 and began harvesting lettuce and kale on February 18.  Stuff grows like magic in the abundant sunshine.

Just planted - December 22, 2020

First Harvest - February 18, 2021

Today - March 22, 2021

In addition to my husband's work in the garden, we have been taking cooking classes with a wonderful local chef named David Jahnke.  We were taking in-person classes, but when Covid put an end to that, David started giving online classes.  So far, we have taken about 120 classes!!!  He teaches all cuisines, not just Mexican, and we have been having a great time trying all sorts of new recipes.  Now with the garden producing fresh ingredients, we have been incorporating them into our meals.  Here are some examples:

Mandarin Spinach Pasta Salad with spinach and mandarin oranges from our garden.

Salmon salad with lettuce and edible nasturtiums from our garden.

Tamarind soup with kale from the garden.  Chef David's recipe.

Tamarind soup ready to serve.

Jalapeño Poppers stuffed with cream cheese, cheddar and panko.  Chef David's recipe.  Nothing from the garden, but good.  I used a blowtorch to roast the peppers so they could be peeled.  Faster than on the stove flame, LOL.