A Disappointing Festival

Last weekend Alejandro read that a "Festival of Spring Flowers and Ornamentals" was being sponsored by the city government.  So, on Sunday we went downtown to check it out.  I thought that perhaps I might buy another houseplant or perhaps another orchid since I am now having better luck with the one I have.

 

The festival was held in the plaza in front of the Monument to the Revolution.

Yes, it seems that the Easter bunny has entered into Mexican culture.

There were two long tents with plant and flower vendors set up on each side with a narrow passage in the middle for the customers.

With the crowds it was almost impossible to look carefully at what was for sale.

There were quite a few vendors selling cacti and succulents, but, as far as I could see in the crowd, there were very few other houseplants.  And I only saw one vendor selling orchids.  We ended up leaving empty handed and very disappointed with the event.

From Chef Alejandro

Ceviche is a dish prepared with raw fish or shellfish marinated in lime juice.  Supposedly the lime juice "cooks" the fish, but I don't believe it.  It's still raw fish, something that can carry numerous parasites and pathogens.  So, earlier this week, when Alejandro said that he was going to make ceviche, he was quick to point out that he had a recipe that uses canned tuna.  The tuna is mixed with finely diced vegetables and dressed with lime juice and clamato juice.  It's an easy recipe, but the preparation is time consuming.  Alejandro and I spent a good portion of the afternoon chopping the vegetables.

 The ceviche was served on "tostadas", crisp tortillas.  Alejandro bought some square "tostadas" flavored with sesame seed that were especially tasty.  We topped the ceviche "tostadas" with chopped avocado and a dollop of hot sauce.

The ceviche was delicious, and I lost count of how many "tostadas" I ate.

Alejandro also prepared "sopa de habas" (lima bean soup).  Unlike the U.S. where you can buy a package of frozen lima beans, here the beans are dried.  You have to soak them before cooking them.  The soup was excellent also!

Bravo, Chef Alejandro!

Purple + Purple

 

Jacaranda and Bougainvillea

The Purple City

Japan and Washington D.C. may be famous for their cherry blossoms, but Mexico City has its own springtime display of blossoms.  March is the month when the jacaranda trees are at their height.  There are thousands upon thousands of the trees gracing the city with their purple flowers.

Some trees are already past their peak.  The falling blossoms are carpeting the sidewalks.  Within a few weeks the profusion of purple will be gone for another year.

Exhibit at the National Museum of Art

One more post of some of the artwork from the National Museum of Art's exhibit on indigenous women...

"Woman of the Day of the Dead"

by Nahual Olin

1932

"Market"

by Alfonso X. Peña

1946

"Girl Learning History"

by Angel Zárraga

1927

"Indigenous Girls Receiving Biology Classes"

by Juan Guzmán

circa 1959

"Indigenous Girls from Chiapas Reading in the Hall of a School"

by Juan Guzmán

circa 1956

"The Indian María"

by Fidias Elizondo

1923

"Woman at the Metate"

by Mardonio Magaña

undated

The metate is the stone upon which corn is ground.

"Portrait of Rosa Rolanda"

by Roberto Montenegro

circa 1926

"Fruit Seller"

by Rufino Tamayo

1938

"Mayan Potter"

by Raúl Anguiano

1972

"Pinole Vendor"

by Diego Rivera

1924

Pinole is a flour made from ground, roasted, sweetened corn.

"Water Carriers"

by Ramón Alva de la Canal

1927

"The Spinner"

by Celia Calderón

1969

More from the National Museum of Art

Here are more works from the National Museum of Art's exhibit on indigenous women...

"Aunt Anastasia"

by Mariana Yampolsky

undated

"Girl of the Taco"

by Rosa Rolanda

1947

"Madonna"

by Julio Castellanos

1932

"Woman from Tehuantepec with Watermelon"

by Olga Costa

1952

"Woman Combing"

by Gabriel Fernández Ledesma

1938

"Women Combing"

by Lola Cueto

1930

"The Ceiba Tree"

by Raúl Anguiano

1956

"Girls with a Cage"

by Agustín Lazo

1943

"Woman from the Mountains of Orizaba"

by José Justo Montiel

undated

"The Woman from Papantla"

by Luz Osorio

circa 1885

"The Harvest"

by Saturnino Herrán

1909

"Peasants"

by David Alfaro Siqueiros

1913

"Market"

by Lola Cueto

undated

Still to come... one more post of artwork from this exhibit.

 

The Indigenous Woman

My trip to the National Museum of Art last week was to see a special exhibit that I somehow missed the last time that I was there.  The show presents portrayals of the indigenous women of Mexico in paintings, sculptures and photographs.  The images presented are sometimes romanticized, and sometimes perpetuate stereotypes, but nevertheless is an interesting exhibit.  The works span the centuries from the colonial era to the 20th century.

"Malinche"

by Manuel Vilar

1852

Malinche was the native woman who served as the translator for the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.  She was also his mistress and bore him a son.

"Indigenous Family"

by José de Ibarra

1725

"Indian and Spaniard Produce Mestizo"

circa 1720

This is one of the infamous "caste" paintings which catalogued the different racial mixtures of colonial Mexico.

"The Earth"

by María Izquierdo

1945

"The Flower of the Lake"

by Manuel Ocaranza

1871

"Interior of a Shack"

by Edouard Pingret

1853

"Jarabe Tapatío"

by María Rincón Gallardo

circa 1880

The "jarabe tapatío" is the dance which we refer to as the Mexican Hat Dance.

"Indigenous Woman with Baskets"

by Alfredo Ramos Martínez

undated

"The Wake"

by José María Jara

1889

"Woman with Pineapple"

by Ceferino Colinas

1950

"Day of the Dead"

by Rosa Rolando

circa 1945 -1950

"Women Harvesting"

by Ramón Alva de la Canal

1928

"Prenatal"

by Gabriel Fernández Ledesma

1945

"Monument to the Mother"

by Luis Ortiz Monasterio

1949

"Child Mother"

by David Alfaro Siqueiros

1956

More from this exhibit in the next post.