Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Pic-of-the-Week for February 16, 2016

Hola, Amigos,

A couple more weeks have passed, and we just continue to have adventures with guests, and adventures (and challenges) with living here!  

I finished the baby quilt for my friend who lives in Guadalajara.  And I thought that making the quilt would be the hard part!  Ha!!!  Getting it to her is proving to be an interesting challenge.  

We were in Cabo San Lucas the other day, where they have various delivery companies like Fed Ex.  So, I took it to one called Estafata, and I said "I need to send it to Guadalajara" and they told me I first had to go to Aduana, which they said is a "normal" procedure.  Aduana is Mexican Customs.  Sigh.  I went next door to Fed Ex, and they said the same thing (but he did give me a free box!) "Go to Aduana."  Why?  Baja California is "frontier", and we have special rules and advantages to living here.  So, to send things to the mainland, everyone has to go through Customs!  We didn't have time that day to try and find Aduana, so I gave up.  Yesterday, I tried it at our local post office, and she said the same thing.  Take it to Aduana (where they value it, and maybe charge you duty), and then take it on to whomever you want to send it for you.  I finally gave it to a friend of Ryan's who lives in Cabo San Lucas, who said "of course I can do it for you".  Thank goodness, but "Sigh......" You'll get it one of these days, Michelle!  

On the other hand, we found a fantastic deal on juice oranges recently.  Our Mexican friend Claudia said her son's school in Santiago sold oranges...30 kilos for $100 pesos!  Unbelievable.  She said anyone could go there and get some, so we tried it out last week (after checking how many of our friends would like 30 kilos (about 60 pounds) of oranges!)  We bought 3 bags, and while there, noticed they had avocados as well.  Yum!  We bought 3 kilos of avocados for 30 pesos.  Everyone was very helpful.  They even recruited a few of the high school boys to haul the orange sacks to our truck.  I didn't do too bad with my Spanish!  We think the school was built in an old orchard, and they reap the benefits of the fruit by selling it to the public!  By the way, the juice is delicious! Another fact:  with today's exchange rate, that was about $5.30 US dollars per 30 kilo bag.

Last week my cousin Tom and his wife Karan arrived, ready for some sunshine and relaxation.  Walks on the beach are now daily activities for them, and they especially like to visit the Round Bar at Rancho Buena Vista, and take siestas afterwards!  

They also visit the burros regularly, as they hang out near where they walk.

Where are our treats, Karan?  They just came right up to her.

We plan on trying whale watching again the end of this week, and then back to Cabo San Lucas for our two night stay at the fancy resort.  Hopefully, we'll all stay healthy and we'll get to see some whales at Magdalena Bay.  AND, the good news is that our favorite musicians are in town for a week or so; Miguel de Hoyos and Alex DePue!  Hooray!  We have two evenings booked to listen to them.

Ben has our other camera this morning while he and Tom are out and about, so I'm a bit short on photos today!  Here are a few photos I took from around our garden.  My beans are ready to string!  


Ben saw this gardening idea on Facebook the other day, so we're trying it out.  I transplanted some lettuce and spinach, and planted some cucumber seeds which produce lovely cukes, according to neighbor Marsha who had better luck with the first planting than I did!  We're anxious to  see how this works.  

More photos are in my 2016 February Picasa album, and I will add more when Ben brings back the other camera!  (I just found out today that Picasa will be going away soon, and I'll have to learn a new place to put my photos. "Planned obsolescence"  Ugh!)

Hasta la proxima vez!
Tus amigos de Baja
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey




Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Pic-of-the-Week for February 2, 2016

Hola Amigos,

Happy February, and Groundhog Day.  We don't have any Groundhogs here...we just look out the window and see that the sun is still shining and there is no snow on the ground, and we're happy.  And yes, the flowers are still blooming!!  (Happy 8th Anniversary to our daughter Rebecca and husband Tim!)



This is one of my very favorite Hibiscus plants.  The flowers are dinner plate size, and bright orange with some yellow highlights.  It's too bad that they usually face to the east, and the sun, away from our entry sidewalk.  We just have to detour over through the garden paths to enjoy them.  

We had a three day break between company; enough time to clean up the guest room for the next guests and get a few things done around here.  Gary and Debbie haven't visited us before this, so it was great to spend some time with them.  



We took them on some back roads, visited our friends Mel and Kate out at Frailes, had lunch at Cabo Pulmo.  We also took them to our favorite hot springs, which was as wonderful as usual.  Too bad the road to them was miserable!  I don't think there's been a grader there since some of our heavy rains earlier this winter.  



We had the best intentions to take them whale watching at Magdalena Bay, and traveled all the way to San Carlos and spent the night to be ready to go early the next morning, but both Ben and Debbie ended up with food poisoning from the restaurant where we ate that night.  Ugh.  Double ugh!!!  We cancelled the whale watching, and they both spent the day in their beds trying to keep down some water and 7-up.  Probricitos!  Gary and I lounged around because the sickies wanted us close by in case they needed anything.  At least I had my Kindle with me so I could read a book.  So, no whale pictures......yet!  We might go back in a couple weeks to try it again.

Last Saturday, when Ben took Gary and Debbie to their vacation condo in Cabo San Lucas, I had the opportunity to attend a cooking class at Buen Provecho  cooking school in San Bartolo.  What fun!!  The head chef, Denise,sings in our community choir, so it was great to see her in her "element".  We had a class in appetizers, using things commonly found here.  Several of the items needed pie crust, and she taught a new recipe to us that I think will be fantastic for me to use with my pies, using cream cheese, butter and flour.  Here are some of the things we made:

This table has Fried Cheese with San Bartolo Fruit Ate (on the skewers), Roasted vegetables and Ham Quiche, Marinated Olives and Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Roasted Peppers over Feta or Queso Fresco, Sweet Potato Rounds, and Mini Chipotle Chicken Tacos.









The middle photo is Sweet Potato Rounds topped with Bacon and Pecans, and the bottom photo is Rustic Dijon, Potato and Vegetable tart (using the pastry recipe).  

Of course we sampled everything.  I think it was about a 4 course afternoon, making and then stuffing ourselves with our cooking efforts.  YUM!!!  

One of the things I really liked about this class is the Mexican gals in the background of the first cooking photo who washed ALL our dirty dishes.  I told her I needed her at my house, because how many of you like to cook, but hate the clean-up???  

We have another week before cousins Tom and wife Karan show up.  Being from Oregon's Willamette Valley (think RAIN and COLD), they are looking forward to sunshine, which we promise they'll have in abundance.  We have had some fantastic calm days lately, but today and the next few days are windy.  Very windy!  

I'll leave you with the church in San Antonio so you can appreciate the blue-blue sky, and then a  photo of a whimsical sculpture of Jacques Cousteau in La Paz.  





More photos are in our 2016 January album (because all of the photos were taken in January!) 

Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos en Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey