At the "Rancho"

Returning to the story of our weekend in San Miguel de Allende, on Saturday we were invited for lunch at the home of Al and his husband Stew, a retired couple who have lived for the last fifteen years in a home they built near San Miguel.  As I have mentioned before, Al is the author of a blog called "El Rancho Santa Clara" (you'll find it in my Blog List to the right).  After following his blog for quite a few years, we finally met when Al and Stew took a trip to Mexico City for the Gay Pride Parade. 

We were supposed to be joined by Barbara, another retiree living in San Miguel and the author of "Babsblog", a blog that I have also followed for years.  Unfortunately, she was not able to join us, so it was just Alejandro and I.  Al had given us very good directions to get to the "rancho", but we made a wrong turn leaving the hotel, and we had a round-about route driving on San Miguel's narrow, cobble-stoned streets.  Once we got on the highway heading east out of town, we were fine, but we arrived about a half hour late.

With our hosts Stew (to the left) and Al (to the right)

Al (short for Alfredo) was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. as a youth.  Stew was born in Iowa.  They have been together for 50 years.  They decided to move to Mexico when they retired and found a piece of land for sale in the countryside near San Miguel.  The neighboring farmers thought that they were crazy for buying this rocky property that nobody wanted, but it was an idyllic location for their retirement home.  Because they were in a location without city services of electricity or water, they designed a sustainable house with solar panels and a large cistern for collecting rainwater.  They named their home "Rancho Santa Clara" after Al's hometown in Cuba.

They served us a delicious meal on the terrace, starting with a tasty soup that included squash blossoms from their garden.  Squash blossoms are a staple ingredient in Mexican cooking.  Ever since I ate a squash blossom quesadilla many, many years ago, I have avoided anything that included them.  However, this soup was really good, so I guess I have to rethink my opinion of squash blossoms.  The rest of the meal was very "gringo"... in fact, it was like a late Fourth of July cookout.  We had hamburgers cooked on the grill, and corn on the cob (not the white "elotes" that Mexicans eat, but yellow sweet corn).  We finished with lemon sorbet.

I was a wonderful meal, but even better was the company and the spectacular view of the countryside from their terrace.

Notice the prickly pear cactus to the right.  It has loads of fruit, known as "tunas".  ("Tunas are very tasty, and although the fruit is full of little seeds, it is a wonderful flavor for beverages or ice cream.)

The area around the home is beautifully landscaped with trees, cactus, agaves, and flowers that they planted.  It almost... ALMOST... made me homesick for the garden I had back in Ohio.

 
It was a perfect afternoon.  Muchas gracias, Al and Stew.  We look forward to seeing you on your next visit to Mexico City