MISSING: DON QUIXOTE

For the past several years, Don Quixote has resided at Casa Knapp's on Calle San Jorge in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  He has had a wonderful life.  He had a spectacular view of the city on the top of the hill.  He had his own private balcony on the second floor. 

After having a great life, Don Quixote decided he still wanted to try and save the world.  He believes only what he chooses to believe and sees the world very differently from most people.  About 10 days ago, he dissapeared without any warning whatsoever.  In the middle of the night he vanishes.  When Atisidora arrived to work (she is the Knapp's bratty maid) she found Quixote gone.  His traveling partner and body guard, Sancho Panza is also gone.  It is a real mystery because Rocinante, Don Quixote's barn horse is still here.  Instead, he decided to take a different mode of transportation...an elephant.  How in the world did Don Quixote excape San Miguel on an elephant without anyone seeing him?

A report has been filed and a couple of local gringos are on the hunt.  Gail and Jim have promised the Knapp's that they will work day and night to find Don Quixote.  During their investigation, Mercado, the owner of Restaurante Mercado Ramirez, told Gail that he saw this guy on an elephant on the beach of the Port of San Antonio.  He yelled at the guy but all he could make out was something about going long tube snorkeling.  He was using the elephant's trunk as his snorkel.  Mercado said he just ignored the guy because he seemed too weird and crazy.

A day or two later, Jim was at the beach talking with Stubby, the guy from Idaho with missing fingers and owner of the local french fry stand. Stubby told Jim that Don Quixote dumped that dumbo elephant, and he and Sancho got into an argument.  Sancho took off on Dapple, his donkey and told Quixote that he could have his wife, Teresa Panza.  If you haven't seen Teresa, you are really missing something.  She is a model and beauty.  However, no one knows where Teresa is living. 

Atisidora pretends that she is in love with Quixote.  She has been seen at the Jardin asking for him.  Jim and Gail will contine their search.  Perhaps the local paper's management team, Atencion, will have to get involved.  Stay tuned for further developments on Don Quixote. 

PRESERVING CORN'S SWEETNESS

One of the things that Bob and I discussed before coming to San Miguel was the possibility of missing certain foods.  Sweet corn was one of those foods.  I know I posted the other day about sampling a couple of kinds of local corn.  As I mentioned, the sweet corn was a winner hands down. 

Today we walked to the local tienda and purchased some local sweet corn.  I decided that I would blanch the corn, drop it in ice water, dry it, and put it in the freezer.  I have read that it will stay fresh tasting for up to 6 months.  We hope this works because it will certainly be great to have some good corn this winter.

It was so easy and simple.  Depending upon how much room is in the freezer, I may buy some more.



PIEDRAS DE POMA

Yesterday, we walked over a mile for these "Piedras de Poma".  Would you?  What would you do with them? The cost was 3 pesos...about 35 cents.

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Today was a busy day.  We actually had to set the alarm.  It went off at 6:15 a.m., to a local Mexican radio station.  We hit the snooze button once and got up just as the church bells were ringing.

We started our day with a friend, Eli, picking us up at 8:10 a.m., so he could show us how to get to the school where he delivers food every Tuesday from Feed the Hungry.  We will be substituting for him in a couple of weeks.  First we went to the new location for Feed the Hungry.  They moved into this new building at the end of April.  It was really well organized.  We drove into the big warehouse, opened the back of Eli's SUV and a couple of volunteers loaded the crates and bags of food.  We were introduced to one of the volunteers.  When he heard that we would be the substitute driver, he gave us a great map of the community, La Campana.  Campana means bell.  Eli told us at one time there was a big bell in the community.

So off we went.  It was a beautiful drive.  This time of the year, the country side is lush green.  Eli said he has had this route for about two years.  We got to the school around 8:45 a.m.  The children were in class.  There was one little boy (not sure of his age) who came up to the SUV when we opened the trunk and he immediately started to help us unload the food.  When we were done, he continued his walk on up the street.  We wondered why he wasn't in school.  We wondered where he was going? 

We headed back to San Miguel.  Every Tuesday is the Tianguis (open-air market).  Eli asked if we minded if he stopped to the Tianguis to pick up a few items.  We were thrilled (actually Sam was thrilled).  Eli wanted to get some roses for his wife and some carrots.  He makes carrot juice for her every morning.  He paid 30 pesos for a dozen roses ($2.56) and 10 pesos for a big bag of carrots.  Sam saw some Flor de Calabazas (zucchini squash flowers) and purchased a bunch for 7 pesos.  They are very popular this time of the year.  She had a recipe that she wanted to try.  As we were walking back to the SUV, Sam saw a guy sitting on the back of a pickup truck selling ears of corn.  We walked over and were going to buy two ears.  In Sam's best Spanish, she asked the guy if it was sweet corn and he said yes.  Sam pulled back the husk and noticed it wasn't yellow.  He said it was "red corn".  Sam politely thanked him and passed on the purchase.  As we were walking away, he gave us two ears for free and asked us to try them.  WOW...something for free!

Eli dropped us back to our home.  We checked a few emails and were off to do some more local shopping.  Sam needed to get the rest of her ingrediants for dinner.  We went to a local vegetable tienda, stopped at another tienda and bought some fresh fruit and cheese.  Inside that tienda, Sam spotted some corn and asked if it was sweet corn.  The lady said yes.  Sam pulled back the husk and sure enough it was yellow sweet corn.  We were both delighted.  We were still looking for some fresh squeezed orange juice.  Sam suggested that we walk to another neighborhood where we used to rent.  The little fruit and vegetable stand would always have fresh juice for the school children.  So we headed that way.  But first we had to make a couple more stops.  Sam needed some frijoles and Bob wanted to go to Don Pedro's (the local hardware store).

By the time we got home, we were hungry and needed to rest our feet.  We had lunch and hit the pavement to walk into town to get our mail.  We stopped at a local art gallery on our way home as we still need some artwork.  When we got home we both took a rest. 

Sam started prepping for dinner.  She decided to make Quesadillas de Flor de Calabaza, Guacamole, Salsa, and Refried Beans.  Also, she decided we would have a taste test with the different types of corn.  Dinner was simple but tasty.  As to the corn taste test...the yellow sweet corn won hands down.  The red corn was tougher...one may call it field corn.  Sam won't be seeking the guy in the back of the pickup truck next Tuesday at the Tianguis.

So, all in all, we had a very nice day with a lot of exercise.

POLLO ANCAS

It has been a long time since we posted to our blog.  There is so much to talk about.  We really need to back up about 6 months.  Believe us...we will keep you posted.

We wanted to share with you something that happened to us today.  We ran a lot of errands.  We ended at the local grocery store.  We decided to have chicken on the grill tonight for dinner.  We were looking at the chickens in the counter.  Some were marked "Pollo Ancas" and some "Pollo Comersa".  They both were cut like Bob cuts them, in an albino style.  We must have stood at the counter for over 5 minutes checking out these chickens.  The "Ancas" style was cheaper than the "Comersa" style.  We looked at the package dates, weight, etc.  All of the "Ancas" packages were lighter in weight.  We couldn't figure it out.  We figured we were purchasing a very young chickin.  So of course, Bob selected the "Ancas" style.

When we got home, Bob opened the package of chicken to clean it only to find out the chicken didn't have any breasts.  Sam looked up the work "Ancas" in the dictionary and it said, "haunch, hindquarter".  So, there you go...no breast meat!

We learn something new every day!