The Journey to the Museum

The Dolores Olmedo Museum is noted for its collection of paintings by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  I visited the museum many years ago.  I'm not going to go back and search, but I think I visited before I had started writing this blog.  The museum has been closed for many years, and there were plans to move the collection to a more central location in Chapultepec Park.  However, Dolores Olmedo had stipulated in her will that her collection was not to be moved from the former hacienda that was her home.  After much wrangling, the museum was finally reopened earlier this year in its original location.  I have been meaning to go there, but I kept putting it off because it is quite a trek to get there.  It is located in the far southern borough of Xochimilco, and it takes an hour and a half to get there by public transportation.  Last week, however, I decided to go there.  The journey in itself is a bit of an adventure, utilizing three of the city's transportation networks.

I set off shortly before 11 AM, after rush hour was well over, and the buses and Metro would be less crowded.  I walked a couple of blocks to Insurgentes Avenue to the Poliforum Station, my closest stop to catch the Metrobus.  (If you have read the blog over the years, you know that the Metrobus is an articulated bus with its own dedicated lanes and stops.  There are seven lines running throughout the city.)

However, instead of taking Line 1 which travels the length of Insurgentes, I took Line 2 which after a couple of stops heads to the east.

I really timed it correctly, because my Metrobus was almost empty!  The pink seats at the front of the bus are reserved for women and small children.

I took the Metrobus for nine stops and got off at Xola.  I then walked a block and turned the corner to go to the Xola Station of Line 2 of the Metro.  (The Metro, as opposed to the Metrobus, is the subway system.  However, in this part of town it runs above ground.)  The Xola station is located on the busy Calzada Tlapan, a major thoroughfare heading south.  A few stations to the north is where the city government built the new "Floating Garden" that I discussed here last month.

Looking down at Calzada Tlalpan from the pedestrian bridge that leads to the Metro station.

I have mentioned before that the Metro stations along Line 2 were all renovated for the World Cup Games.

This new mural in the Xola Station is a rather abstract image of a palm tree.

The icon for the station is a palm.

(Image taken from the internet)

At one time there was a house not far from here that had a very tall palm tree in the courtyard which was a local landmark... hence the icon for the station today.

I was in luck once again, and found a seat on the Metro!

I took the Metro southbound all the way to the end of the line at the Tasqueña Station.  Tasqueña is a major transportation hub.  It is located near the southern bus terminal from where you can take buses to places such as Acapulco.  There are also connections here to a trolley route, and to my next leg of the journey, the "train ligero", the light rail line.

More new mural paintings in the station

I had no trouble at all finding my way to the light rail.

The light rail was completely renovated with new trains in time for the World Cup this summer.  (One of the stops along the route is the Azteca Stadium where the games were held.)  

The train runs all the way to Xochimilco, the far southern district that is famous for it canals.  Since those canals are the home to the salamander-like creature known as the "axolotl", it is appropriate that the trains are colorfully painted with images of those animals.

Since this is the beginning of the line, I had a seat.  The train is pleasant although it is slow and has many stops.  After fourteen stops (nearly to the end of the line) I got off at La Noria.  From there it was an eight minute walk to the museum.

 It was a journey of about an hour and a half, but I reached my destination without any problems.

The Dolores Olmedo Museum is an important museum, and I will devote several blog entries to it.

More from the Kitchen

I was looking at recipes on the internet and ran across one for stuffed peppers.  I thought to myself, "I haven't had stuffed peppers in ages," and decided to try making them for last Friday's supper.  In Mexico, "chiles rellenos", poblano peppers stuffed with cheese, are a staple, but I doubted that Alejandro had ever had the stuffed peppers that we "gringos" are familiar with.  (I believe that our stuffed peppers have their origins in Eastern European cooking.)

A bell pepper is known in Spanish as a "pimiento morrón".  The ones at Walmart are generally too soft, so when I went to the "tianguis" (the weekly street market in the neighborhood) on Thursday, I bought four nice, firm red bell peppers.  The vendor threw in a green pepper for free, so I prepared a fifth stuffed pepper to put in the freezer.

The peppers are blanched in boiling water for a couple of minutes and then set aside.

I cooked the rice which is used in the stuffing.  I used pre-cooked, brown rice which was done in ten minutes.

Next I prepared a tomato sauce.  At stores here I have never found cans of tomato sauce, so I used a carton of crushed tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, added some sauteed chopped onion and garlic and Italian spices.  It came out quite tasty.

 

Then I sauteed some more onions and garlic, added ground beef, the rice and the tomato sauce.  I seasoned it with some salt, pepper and sweet paprika.

  

I cut off the tops of the bell peppers, scooped out all the seeds and membranes, and filled them with the meat mixture.  I left enough room to top each one off with shredded cheese.  The recipe called for mozzarella, but I used Manchego cheese.

I was able to prepare the peppers in the afternoon and then put them in the fridge.  Alejandro called me when he was on his way to the apartment.  I covered the peppers with foil, and baked them for thirty minutes in a 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 C) oven.  Then I took off the foil and baked them for another ten minutes to brown the cheese.

I was just finishing when Alejandro arrived.  I had never made stuffed peppers before, so I was a bit nervous about how they would come out.  But they were very good, and Alejandro really liked them.

 

Patriotic Plants

I was at Walmart last week, and they had houseplants for sale.  The plastic pots were covered in red fabric and decorated with little sarapes, the brightly colored blankets that are traditional to Mexico.  There were also little bows in the colors of the national flag.  They were, of course, for Mexico's Independence Day which is less than two weeks away.

I bought one.  It was some kind of succulent.  I searched on Google, but I was unable to identify it.  Then, this weekend I went back and bought another plant.  I knew what this one was, and it is truly a patriotic plant.  The "nopal" or prickly pear cactus plays a role in the legendary story of the founding of the Aztec capital, and the eagle, perched on a cactus, devouring a serpent, is part of the national coat of arms and flag.

  

Patriotic September

In front of the World Trade Center there are flags from many different nations.  But yesterday, as I walked by, I noticed that the flags of other countries had been replaced with Mexican flags.

It took me a moment, but then it registered.  This is September, the month of Mexico's Independence Day (September 16th).  All month, homes and businesses will be decorated with the national colors.

I turned around and saw that the entrance to the World Trade Center was decorated with patriotic banners, flags and a sign saying "Viva Mexico".

Later, around the corner, I saw a vendor who was selling Mexican flags and other patriotic trinkets from his bicycle.

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.