"Carnaval"

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, or "Mardi Gras" as it is known in French.  In Spanish, the pre-Lenten celebration is known as "Carnaval".  In Mexico City, the revelry cannot compare to the festivities in New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, or some Mexican cities such as Veracruz.  However, in some neighborhoods there are groups known as "comparsas" which dance through the streets in costume.

The "colonia" where Alejandro's family lives, happens to be one of those neighborhoods.  Every year, if I happen to be at their home on the final days before Lent, I will see a "comparsa" parading down the street.  Monday evening, we could hear the band playing as it approached, and we went outside to see them dancing.  The women are dressed in fancy ball gowns, and the masked men wear top hats, poking fun of the wealthy.

Concert at the Palace

Our anniversary weekend celebration continued on Sunday when we went to the Palace of Fine Arts for the first concert of the 2026 season by Mexico's National Symphonic Orchestra.

(selfie taken by Alejandro)

The concert was held in the beautiful main concert hall.  It seemed quite different, however, because the famous Tiffany glass stage curtain was raised and out of sight.

High above the audience, a stained glass dome

Mythological figures decorate the proscenium arch.

 

The first half of the program featured standard works with which I was familiar...  Tchaikovsky's Polonaise from his opera "Eugene Onegin", Dvorak's Slavonic Dance #2, and George Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody #1.

After intermission, the orchestra played a piece by the Mexican composer Manuel Enríquez entitled "Latin American Rhapsody".  It was a medley of tunes from different Latin American countries, some of them familiar such as the tango "La Cumparsita".

The final work was Maurice Ravel's hypnotic "Bolero".

No, they are not in the same class as the Cleveland Orchestra (yes, I am a bit of a snob when it comes to my old hometown orchestra), but it was an excellent and enjoyable performance, and I am sure that I will have no difficulty in convincing Alejandro to attend more of their concerts later this season.

Anniversary Dinner

Getting married on February 14th is very romantic, but restaurants are generally packed on Valentine's Day if you want to celebrate your anniversary with a nice dinner.  That's why we usually celebrate on the weekend before or after the 14th.  However, this year Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday.  We were thinking of having our anniversary dinner on Sunday... but, short of going to Burger King, where could we go that wouldn't be jammed on Saturday?

We had a big breakfast on Saturday morning, so it wasn't until about 6 PM that hunger pangs began to set in.  We have three very good Italian restaurants within walking distance of the apartment.  We decided to try one of them... a little place called "Mangiatore"... that usually is not too crowded.  Our timing was good.  We were in between the afternoon dinner crowd, and the late supper crowd.  The place was busier than usual, but there were plenty of available tables.  Later, as we were enjoying our meal, more people showed up.

To drink, we ordered a pitcher of "clericot", a popular wine and fruit beverage that is somewhat similar to "sangría".  

As a starter we ordered their signature soup, "crema Marta", a cream soup of mozarella, parmesan and gorgonzola cheeses with sliced grapes.  It sounds like a rather unusual combination, but it is very good.

Alejandro ordered spaghetti and meatballs.  We know it's not an authentic Italian dish, but rather something created by Italian immigrants to the United States.  However, Alejandro said that it was very good.

I ordered the rigatoni in a spicy "arrabiata" sauce.  Also very good.

For dessert, we shared a serving of panna cotta, a creamy gelatin with a compote of fruits.

So, we unexpectedly ended up having a very nice supper on our actual anniversary date!

(photos taken with Alejandro's cell phone)

Wuthering Smut

I was looking forward to seeing the latest remake of Emily Bronte's classic novel "Wuthering Heights".  It is the story of a doomed love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff, a love that would have repercussions even after their deaths. 

(image taken from the internet)

Generally, I am not a big fan of remakes, but the male lead Jacob Elordi was so excellent in last year's remake of "Frankenstein" that I wanted to see him in the role of Heathcliff.

Then I started to read that critics panned the movie.  However, there were others who praised it.  So, on Valentine's Day, we went ahead to see it.  The criticism of the movie by many was entirely justified.  I thought the movie was a disaster.

Even though it has been decades since I read Bronte's novel (for a book report in the ninth grade), I could tell that the movie was not faithful to the book.  First of all, the film only covers the first half of the book.  Secondly, many characters have been eliminated completely... for example, Cathy's brother Hinton is mentioned but never appears.  Other characters have been changed.  Cathy's father, Mr. Earnshaw, is a kindly man.  In the movie, he is a cruel alcoholic who nearly beats young Heathcliff to death.  I was willing to accept these changes.  After all, none of the film adaptations, not even the classic 1939 movie with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, have been faithful to the book.

But what really turned me off, was what one reviewer called the "smutification" of the novel.  In the book, aside from one kiss, the two lovers never consummate their passionate desires for each other.  In the movie, Heathcliff and Cathy (now married to Mr. Linton) have sex again and again ad nauseum.  There are sex scenes between two of the servants and between Heathcliff and Linton's sister that are strongly sadomasochistic.  I felt like I was watching soft-porn instead of a classic of English literature.

The director, Emerald Fennell said that the movie reflects the way she felt when she first read the novel when she was 14 years old.  Well, she must have been a very dirty-minded teenager!

   

The Route of Enterprises

Over the years Paseo de la Reforma has seen numerous displays of fiberglass figures painted by local artists.  Most famous are the "Mexicráneos", the large painted skulls placed on the boulevard for the Day of the Dead.  A display of cow figures was called "Cows on Parade".  Last year there were prickly pear cactuses in commemoration of Mexico City's 700th anniversary.  One year in honor of the World Cup, there were giant soccer balls.  (I wonder if this summer there will be soccer balls once again.)

Right now there is a less intriguing display... simply a bunch of painted spheres forming what they are calling the Route of Enterprises.  Each of the spheres is sponsored by a companies that are based in Mexico or have offices here.  The display is not nearly as large as the others I mentioned.  There are 17 spheres (representing Earth) along one section of the boulevard.

Here are some of the painted sculptures...

Knorr

The German company has a large factory in the State of Mexico.

Danone

The French yogurt company Danone is known as Dannon in the U.S.

Gayosso

Gayosso is one of the major chains of funeral homes in Mexico.

Liverpool

Liverpool is one of the major chains of department stores in Mexico.

3M

3M (the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) has four factories in Mexico City.

Alpura

Alpura is one of Mexico's major dairy companies.

Whirlpool

Whirlpool has five factories in Mexico.

Grupo Modelo

Mexico's largest brewery (makers of Modelo, Corona, and other brands) shows football fans being responsible and drinking alcohol-free beer.

I was surprised the "Grupo Bimbo" was not represented here.

 

Speaking of Chocolate...

In 1989 writer Laura Esquivel wrote one of the most beloved novels of modern Mexican literature... "Como Agua para Chocolate" ("Like Water for Chocolate").  The title is a Mexican expression that describes someone whose emotions are about to boil over.  The book was a best-seller in Mexico and was translated into 20 languages.

The novel is an example of "magic realism", a literary style that originated in Latin America.  It  weaves elements of fantasy into an otherwise realistic story.   The main character of Esquival's book is Tita, a young woman who has an extraordinary talent for cooking and is able to transmit her emotions to others through her food.  She is in love with Pedro, and they wish to marry.  However, Tita is the youngest of three daughters, and it is the family tradition that the youngest daughter never marry in order to care for the mother in her old age.

In 1992 the book was adapted into a critically acclaimed motion picture.  It won ten Ariel Awards (the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards) including best picture.  In the United States it was the highest grossing foreign language film ever released up to that time.

I bring all this up, because HBO has made a series based on the novel and film.  I did not realize that Alejandro has a subscription to HBO, so the last several nights I have been watching the six episodes of Season 1.

First of all, the acting and cinematography are excellent.  Especially outstanding is the performance by Irene Azuela, who plays Tita's mama, doña Elena, a villainess that you love to hate.  The scenes showing the preparation of  food (each episode features a different traditional recipe) are scrumptious and made me hungry.

 

However, the book is a relatively short novel of around 250 pages, and the original movie, which was quite faithful to the book, ran under 2 hours.  Each episode of season 1 of the HBO series runs between 40 and 50 minutes, so I have already put in almost 5 hours watching this series .  And how many more hours will there be for season 2?  Obviously the writers put in a lot of extra stuff to fill in all that time.  The book was set during the era of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, but the revolution is a presence that is mostly in the background.  This is first and foremost a love story, and the tale of Tita's struggle against stultifying traditions that prevent her from attaining her true love.  In the HBO production the Revolution is front and center almost to the point of pushing the love story to a secondary position.  And I must say that the timeline of the historical events seems askew.  The first two episodes were fairly faithful to the book, but then the writers went crazy, adding events, characters, flashbacks and entire story lines that never appeared in the novel.  At times I would not have even recognized this as an adaptation of Esquivel's book.

It is quite telling that Laura Esquival is not happy with the series.  She has stated, "This is not my book."

The second season premieres this weekend, but I don't know if I will even bother watching any more episodes.  HBO also has the original movie, and I started to watch that.  I've seen it several times before, and it seems like an old, familiar friend.  In so many ways it is superior to what HBO has done to this beloved novel.   

Valentine's Day

 Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers.  In Mexico the day is also called the Day of Love and Friendship.  It is also our third wedding anniversary.  The good thing about getting married on Valentine's Day is that you will never forget your anniversary.  The bad thing is that the restaurants are all jammed.  We will have our celebration tomorrow instead.