Impresiones

We have reached Acapulco, where we are staying for 3 nights in a hotel right in the middle of the Bahia de Marques. Below are some pictures I took in Morelia and La Huacana. Tomorrow we will head back to La Huacana. Next week, we plan to visit Guadalajara. I have a film of Toño dancing a son de tierra caliente but I'll have to wait for a faster internet connection to do upload it. Later from México.

El olor y el color de la cocina mexicana

Huarache
"sandal"

Huevos con jamon y frijoles fritos

Pollo guisado con pimiento moron rojo

Quesadilla con nopalitos fritos

Ceviche
Raw chopped fish with lime juice

filete de pesacdo
somewhere underneath the potatos

Uchepos

Chiles rellonos

Ensalada de manzana y uva con torresnos y pollo frito

Gelatina de durazno con rompope hecho en casa

Morisqueta

Tacos al vapor con verdura en vinagre

Carne asada

Tostada de tiras de pesacado de agua dulce

Caldo de camaron

Caldo de iguna

Filete de pescado asado
again hidden at the bottom

Helado de piña

Calso de ollo

Buganvillas

We are quite privileged here in México City. We are staying in a lovely clinker brick house in a small gated community covered in bougainvillea plants and ivies.



Although close to the center it's absolutely quite. You hear only chirping birds.

In a few hours we will head to Morelia, were we will stay at a busy street crossing in the city centre with no bougainvillea plants in sight but a lot to see.

These Colours

What I especially like about México - besides the fact that Toño was born and bred here - are the light and the colours. I was not able to take some pictures in the mellow late afternoon light. So I show here the first two pictures of the day, which I took indoors.





With my alabaster like Western European complexion I'm very limited in the range of colours I can get away with. I'm rather jealous of Toño's possibilities in that respect.

Right now, Mexico City is especially beautiful. There are blooming Jacaranda trees everywhere.

On Leave

We are on leave. No, my mind is a bit too ahead of the time - actually, we are still at the coal face. We will be on leave. In 24 hours our plane is supposed to push back and bring us to México where we will be staying for 1 month. A long flight. Luckily, I had accumulated sufficient miles for a business class treat both ways. But what will we do with a month at hand?

Well, we will be spending a lot of time with Toño's family ...



and there will be a new niece of Toño to be cuddled ...



and there will be a lot of real Mexican food to be enjoyed (maybe I will pass on menudo) ...



and we will spend some time at the sea (Acapulco) and I'm longing to see Guadalajara...



and maybe we will even find time to pay the Virgen de Guadalupe a visit.



I may go cold turkey on the Internet. So see you on May 4. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!

Gay Rum

Two of our swim buddies spent three month travelling through the Americas. The last month they spent cruising on a sailing ship in the Caribbean. From there they brought exactly what we were looking for to celebrate their return:



Exactly, the oldest rum in the world.

Swimming Class 80 Years Ago

Witzerland

Who says the Swiss don't have a sense of humour? I admit, it's a rare quality. So rare, that it's a collectable item. Today, the Swiss National Museum opens the exhibition WITZERLAND*, which is dedicated to what the Swiss laugh at, what they consider amusing and what they dismiss with just a gentle smile. The show will run until September 13. After that, Swiss humour will again be hard to find.



* get the pun with the dropped S.

Asparagus, Nonetheless 4 Times

I honour season and I honour buying local. Sometimes one just cannot adhere to these principles, such as when the asparagus season is about to clash with our holidays in México. Not wanting to miss the pleasure of asparagus dishes, I had no choice but buying specimens which were imported from México and the U.S. of A. Just another mark on the shovel already waiting for me.

I don't get my titties in a twist for the classical French style version of serving asparagus, where boiled or steamed white asparagus is combined with hollandaise sauce. The best asparagus I've ever had were slim green ones marinated and fried in olive oil. That was in Valencia in the small restorán Pata Negra. I tend more to the green version, were the asparagus provides the flavour and not the sauce.

That is what I made Toño preparing with the asparagus I brought home from the market:

Pasta Primavera



The pasta is cooked in saffron flavoured water. Roughly chopped turnip cabbage and asparagus are braise lightly in butter. Everything is mixed, seasoned with lemon juice and zest and grounded cheese, heated up and sprinkled with chervil. A good way to start spring.

Plov



Plov is also called pilaf, polao, pilau, pilav, or pulao. Plov is often considered to be one of the oldest preparations of rice. I ate my first real Plov in Baku at the Caspian Sea back in 1988, when I travelling Central Asia. Rice, vegetable and lamb make the best combination. We topped it with yoghurt, which was flavoured with butter roasted garlic. Probably not a dish you should serve before an extended kissing session or on a first date.

Asparagus Soufflé



I just remember that I did this. It's surprising how the soufflé mass enhances the flavour of the asparagus. I never would have expected this.

Boneless Chicken with Asparagus and Morels



It was a bit difficult to get fresh morels, but it was definitely worth the hassle. We will make this dish again. Luckily, we made enough then you just can't stop eating this.

Divided On Tuna

There is probably no food I both loath and love so much as tuna.

I can't stand canned tuna. I can't stand its texture, I can't stand its colour, but worst, I can't stand its stench. I even have to stop breathing through the nose when somebody next to me is eating canned tuna.

However, if you offered me a tuna steak, briefly grilled or fried in a bit of olive oil or clarified butter, I act like Pavlov's dog.



Toño served the tuna steak with a self-created sauce made of shallots, dill, white whine and cream.

I *heart* Boskoop

There are many apple varieties. But only few are suitable to cook and bake with. One of the most grateful is the Booskop, a.k.a Belle de Boskoop.



This was probably the last time, I baked with Booskop for a long time. Boskoop are best between December and March. The ones I'd used had already clear signs that their season will have passed soon.

Quince Yoghurt

A while ago, I plugged Amselspitz yoghurts. They really brought the fun back into eating yoghurt. But like every novelty, the fun has worn of quickly. Just when I was starting to look around for the next yoghurt sensation, Amselspitz managed to turn the wheel around by introducing a quince yoghurt.



However, I had to postpone my exuberance by an entire week, since Toño simply ate the one I bought a week ago. Nevertheless today, Toño had to work and I actually got an opportunity to taste it.

Celebrating Success

Within any successful organisation one of the key criteria of that enabled their achievements is their ability to celebrate success, as we all learned in one of those dull team-building seminars.

However, our brass prefers to celebrate values. Values which haven been commanded top-down. So a week ago, we were invited to celebrate the four values our caring employer has recently given itself. In a year, our personal qualification (and thus bonuses) will be based how we lived those values. It's as silly as it sounds. Whatever, I kind of forgot to go. I was still recovering from the India trip.

Yesterday, we started again a small grassroot movement to celebrate the right thing. The colleague, who spent the most time with me in India, brought some bottles of Gewürztraminer. I went to the Indian take-out around the corner to get some portions of samosa and pakora. Together, we invited who was around of the team to celebrate the success of out latest project in India.

Rotten Socks

The other day I recommended Fritz's Apple Mint Organic Ice Tea. There was none available at the good conscience take-out I went to grab a tandoori chicken sandwich. So I took the Rooibos & Passion Fruit version. Wrong move! I don't like it. It kind of tastes like made of rotten socks.

Where's The Sky?

My caring employer has decided that it's time for me to move to another office. There is a positive side of it. The new one is bigger which is in favour of my areal filing system. However, there are some negative sides too:

• A vending machine is in crawling distance. Not good for my love handles.
• It's on the second floor. The old office was on the fifth floor. When avoiding the lift, this was a free workout I was even paid for. And, it's also not good for my love handles.
• I can't see the sky without breaking my neck.

Old view:



New view:

Salmon Topped Rösti

I'd asked for something with potatoes and Toño surprised me with a rösti.



Toño grounded some apples to the potatoes to add freshness and topped the rösti with Scottish salmon and a mustard and dill dressing.

Probably to compensate for the bad concious of serving aquaculture fish, Toño proffered an organic Terra Sávia Chardonnay to accompany the rösti.

And there is some left for my lunch :)