A Kitchen Experiment

I found a recipe on the internet for something that was described as "avocado bread".  It contains no flour, and it sounded interesting.  I decided to try it.

There are just a few ingredients... an avocado, an egg, a small carrot and cheese.

The recipe called for parsley, but I didn't bother with that.  However, I did add some sauteed onion and garlic, which several people in the website's comments section said they did.

In a bowl I mashed up the avocado with the egg.  I grated the carrot and cheese into the mixture, and added the onion and garlic.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper.

You are supposed to form two "pancakes" with the batter on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  Well, I don't have a baking sheet, and I could not find parchment paper in the supermarket.  So, I used a large oven-proof frying pan that I have, and coated it with a bit of olive oil.  My "pancakes" were oblong instead of round.

The recipe says to bake the "pancakes" in a pre-heated 350 F oven for 20 to 25 minutes.  The problem is that the ovens I have used in Mexico do not have a pre-heat setting, so I simply had to guesstimate when the oven was hot enough.

The result is supposed to be like bread.  In fact, the recipe suggested using it to make a sandwich.  The finished product, however, was very soft and loose.  I was barely able to get each slice out of the pan intact.  If I were using my oven back in Ohio I might have used the broiler for a few minutes, but Mexican ovens do not seem to have broilers either.

Even though the consistency was nothing at all like bread, and it would be impossible to make a sandwich with it, it was very tasty.  I garnished the slices with cherry tomatoes cut in half.

I tried making it again for Alejandro.  I added a little bit a flour to the batter, and left it in the oven a little longer.  It still was not anything like bread.  However, it did taste very good.

Another DVD

Yes, I am a dinosaur.  One of the few pieces of furniture that I had shipped from Ohio when I made the move to Mexico was the cabinet which holds my collection compact discs of music and the DVDs of photos from my travels.

The top four shelves are filled with DVDs, each one of a different trip that I made. Before I moved, I bought a new DVD / Blue Ray player and a large supply of blank discs and cases in case those products should become obsolete.  I figure I have enough discs to last for my remaining years of travel.  Since my laptop does not have a disc drive, I bought an external drive so that I can burn new discs.  And, yes, every so often I will pull one of those discs from the shelf and watch it.

I recently finished another disc to add to the collection... one of our trip to England this summer.  I have a "video studio" program on my laptop to produce these picture shows.

I selected my best photos and video clips and organized them.  The program allows me to add musical background (which I select from my compact discs).  I have lots of music from Mexico, but selecting appropriate music for a travelogue of England is a bit more difficult.  For the grandiose architecture of London I used some pieces by Baroque composers recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.  On another CD I have some pieces by the British composer Edward Elgar.  For lighter music, I used some cuts from a disc I have of the flautist James Galway.  (Yes, I know he is Irish, but close enough.)

After finishing, I then burned the show onto a disc.  Here's a snippet with pictures of the interior of the medieval Christchurch priory and music by Elgar. 

Now it's time to work on the photos of Switzerland.

Nice Looking Curtains

Last month I wrote that we had gone to a fabric shop to order new curtains for the living room since the old ones were looking shabby and torn.  We ordered them on August 8th, and they were supposed to be ready for pickup in 20 to 25 business days... in other words, the first half of September.

Last Thursday, August 27th, I received a message that the curtains were ready.  On Saturday, Alejandro and I took the Metrobus to go to the store.  I was afraid the curtains would be bulky and hard to carry on the bus.  After all, we're talking about full length curtains for a window thirteen feet in width.  However, they were neatly rolled up in a package that fit into a large shopping bag.

When we got home, we moved some furniture and the house plants, got out the step ladder and hung them without difficulty.  We were really happy with the way they look.

 Detail of the fabric

They really brighten up the room, and, even though they have a woven pattern, they seem to let in more light than the old ones.  At the equivalent of about 60 U.S. dollars, they were a bargain.

Truck Art

Every Sunday there is a large "tianguis" or outdoor market held in my neighborhood.  It stretches for blocks along Filadelfia Street.  Some of the vendors arrive with their merchandise in trucks that are parked on the nearby streets.  Some of those trucks have interesting paintings on their sides.  Last Sunday, when I left the apartment early to watch the marathon runners, I saw a couple of trucks that I had not noticed before.

  

Here Comes September

Time to turn the calendar to September.  This month's picture on my calendar which features photographs from my travels to Germany is of the Church of Saints Ulrich and Afra in the city of Augsburg.  

A church has stood on this site since the 8th century.  The current structure dates from the 15th century.  In the 1930s it was given the status of a basilica.  Augsburg straddles the Catholic and Protestant regions of Germany, and the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 established the peaceful coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany.  Thus, it is appropriate that a Protestant church (in the foreground) is attached to the Catholic basilica.

Runners Take Over the City

Usually we see billboards advertising the Mexico City Marathon weeks ahead of time.  This year we didn't see any, so we were surprised to learn just a day ahead of the event that it was being held yesterday.  The course runs from the Olympic Stadium on the campus of UNAM (the National Autonomous University of Mexico) to the city's main plaza, the Zócalo.  As in past years, the route goes along Insurgentes Avenue just a couple blocks from the apartment.  The race began very early in the morning, with the wheel chair competitors starting at 5:45 A.M., the women at 5: 50 and the men at 6:00.  I got up early and was at Insurgentes by 7:00.  The competition was already well under way.  There was a steady stream of runners for as far as the eye could see down the avenue for the entire thirty minutes that I watched.  Around 30,000 people participated this year in the event.  There were men and women; those who are physically fit and others who were not so fit; young, middle aged and some senior citizens.

There were spectators along the avenue, and as you can hear in the videos there was a constant cacophony of cheers, applause, horns and noisemakers.

The list of winners was dominated by participants from Ethiopia.  They took second and third places in the men's competition, and all top three places in the women's competition.  The top spot for the men, however, was won by a Peruvian.  A Mexican won in the wheelchair division.  It was sweet revenge for him because when he competed last year he had an accident due to a pothole in the street.  (To me that seems to be gross negligence on the part of the city government!)

I got a chuckle from the sign that this spectator across the street was holding.

"The last one buys the tacos."

Another Historical Novel

I just finished another book.  This one is another historical novel, "The Coming of the Wolf" by Elizabeth Chadwick.

Chadwick is a British author who writes historical fiction set primarily in the Middle Ages.  The novel is one of her early works although it was not published until later.  It stands as a prequel to her first best-selling novel, "The Wild Hunt".

It is set in England in the years after the Norman Conquest of 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded England.  Although William has taken the crown, his rule is contested by English, Welsh and Norse insurgents.  The main character is young Lady Christen, a member of English minor nobility.  When her husband, who is 30 years her senior, is murdered and the castle pillaged by the Normans, the Norman - Welsh warrior, Miles LeGallois proposes marriage to Christen in return for sparing the life of her rebellious brother.

Chadwick's historical research is excellent, but at times the book feels like a bodice-ripping romantic novel.  It is a bit hard to believe that Christen so quickly forgets her murdered husband and begins to fall in love with Miles after just one night of steamy sex.

It was a fairly enjoyable read, and with a length of only 284 pages, I finished it quickly.  It was not, however, one of the best historical novels that I have read.