Easy banana bread

Not the best foto but bread was excellent 

I decided to postpone my yeast bread attempts and tried Lorena's suggestion of banana bread. No yeast, just baking soda and it was so easy. Luckily I had a little vanilla left but when I went for the almonds I found the kids left me 5. We ate most of it last night and Nahina wants to come over for one more piece today. No that's not a machete, it's a bread knife. Will make more of it but need to go shopping. 

What's up in the garden

The garden has become pretty prolific this year. It's just about the end of the season for the Carambola (star fruit) but have had lots and the neighbors got their share. 

The papaya is really taking it's time, both trees. The one in the foto is tied to the wall due to being top heavy and heavy rain.

Two banana plants and they both have about as many bananas as in the foto. They too are taking their time. They grow in such a large clump I can't remember if they are the small super sweet ones or the  regular ones

The lime trees are also very slow and produced very little this summer. The first year I couldn't eat them all soo neighbors got some. Fingers crossed this year because one tree is full of flowers.

The Hoja Santa is huge and new plants are popping up around it. The roots send out runners. Asked my Canadian neighbor if she wanted one and she said "No Way" ..... they will take over your garden. Still haven't tried cooking with the leaves. You can wrap just about anything in them and then grill or bake them. Supposed to have an almost root beer flavor. Wiki gives these as possible flavors - eucalyptus, licorice, sassafras, anise, nutmeg, mint, tarragon and black pepper.

Christmas in Mexico

Rosca de Reyes 

I've been finding lots of ideas about Mexican Christmas. Lorena says it's the 24th when they eat pozole and open presents. I'm looking forward to the pozole. One knowledgeable site even suggested they eat a Rosca de Reyes but I thought that was only for Three Kings Day in January. I'm going to check in town later today and see if anyone is selling them.

On the 24th or “La Nochebuena” many families attend Misa de Gallo or midnight Mass, and enjoy the last day of “Las Posadas” and “Las Pastorelas.” On Christmas Eve, the families gather to eat “La cena de Nochebuena” and to share in the opening of the presents.

La Manz and Pedro's fish tacos

Glen and I have been wanting Pedro's fish tacos so he drove us up to La Manzanilla yesterday. Quite a lot of people and activity as we walked around. A few new things and the town was clean. the crocodiles are still there waiting for their chicken dinner.

We finally made it back to Pedro's, sat on the beach and enjoyed a nice breeze. Last time I had one of his tacos was a few years ago and I thought they were bigger. Big enough I could only eat one. Now they bring three in an order and I could only eat two. Got one in the fridge for later today. Best fish tacos I've run into around here but the ones on the waterfront in La Paz are the best.

Hannibal Lecter and Trump

In his latest cabinet appointment, Donald Trump announced that Dr. Hannilbe Lecter will be Director of Health and Human Services. Just one more on his list !!

Kids cleaning the beach and real fries at Titos

These three kids were running up and down the beach gathering hand fulls of lirio and making a pile of it. I saw no sign of parents around that might urge them on. Community spirit or just having fun?

Glen ordered these fries and I ate about half. Titos definitely has the best fries on the beach.

Pot pie

I heard the Happy Cow (Vaca Feliz) had prepared meals but no description of them. The woman brought two out of the freezer and I was surprised to see they were all pot pies. 100 pesos each but I had to try one. They have a list on top of the counter and one mentioned sourkrout and I thought it would have the most taste. Sadly there was no sign the sourkrout or anything else I recognized. I will say the crust was great. The first half I did in the oven thinking it wouls crisp the crust but it didn't turn out well. Last night I put this half in the microwave and forgot about it. I'll try the micro again today.

New asador

We had a carne asada party a week ago with Harris and Audrey and the construction crew. We used his big asador even after putting it under the overhang because of rain. They live on the third floor and have a small balcony so small is good, They told me they bought a small one like above at Cristaleria Gladys for 90 pesos but they had no more with legs. I ended up with the Cristaleria just down from Hawaii. They wanted 139 pesos and I had to buy a grill for 60 pesos.

Harris bought some marinated pork (like carne asada) and it was super good. I bought some and tried to pan fry it and it wasn't even close. I had a large asador but the sheet metal bottom burned and rusted out. I decided to buy the one above. That's the grill, starter fluid, and the carbon. 3 days now and have yet to use it.

It's cold out there

Lorena's dog - Burro

It's been in the mid 60's (18C) at night and Burro is dressed for the weather. My fan over my bed is turned off and I cover myself with a sheet. Neighbors are all bundled up. Winter is definitely here.

Virgen de Guadalupe festival in Cihuatlan

Coming back from the airport yesterday Danny and Linda wanted to stop at the bank in Cihua. We found ourselves in the middle of the Virgen de Guadalupe festival. I parked up by the church and Lorena took the camera and the kids to get a closer look. Boom, boom boom was the dancing music and the very large and loud church bells started to compete. My ears were ringing sitting right next to the church. This is Mexico.

What a rain

Coyota slept in the bodega to avoid the rain

Look like a river bed? It was last night

Sewer pipe uncovered

We should have paid attention to the Internet weather because our backyard carne asada party got rained out yesterday. We cooked under the overhang and took all the food inside. Still had a great time and good food.

The big holes (charcos) coming back to Pinal Villa were full of water and as we came into Pinal it turned into a river. I turned into the community to avoid the section of road in the fotos. The water was easily over a foot deep and really moving. It rained again early this morning but the weather channel says it's over. Sun for the next week. Relief because I'm picking up friends at the airport this afternoon.