My first week ends tomorrow. The days have been overwhelmingly full. Here are two moments that I've captured in film to share. Thursday was Karina's Birthday and Kristina brought the basic of every Feliz Cumpleanos celebration: pastel de tres leches. This one was filled with a layer of flan. Yummm.
Las Mañanitas
Estas son las mañanitas
que cantaba el rey david
hoy por ser día de tú santo
te las cantamos a tí
despierta mi amor despierta
mira que ya amanecio
ya los pajaritos cantan
la luna ya se metío
que linda esta la mañana
en que vengo a saludarte
venimos todos con gusto
y placer a felicitarte
ya viene amaneciendo
ya la luz del día nos dío
levantate de mañana
mira que ya amanecío.
A la bim-bom-ba,
a la bio, a la bao,
a la bim-bom-ba,
Karina,
ra-ra-ra!
Tonight Nora cooked a fabulous dinner for her family.
Menu
Hot tortillas, queso requeson, queso oaxaca, and guacamole with the pit
Soup of mushrooms and oysters
Seared tuna with seseame seeds, green salad with fresh yellow and french beans from the ranch, and pureed golden potatos
Amaretto ice cream with almonds; chocolate ice cream with nuts
After dinner shot of expresso
A long beautiful evening in what Nora's dad correctly called, paraiso: paradise.
viernes, 29 de junio de 2007
miércoles, 27 de junio de 2007
Salsa Verde
Nora took me on a walk through the ranch yesterday, checking on the man cleaning the chive beds, the group harvesting green beans; on the way she asked Esteban to pick cilantro for our lunch. The cilantro bloomed out of my hands into a bouquet.
tomates: tomatillos quarter enough to fill a blender
cebolla: onion 1/2 inch thick round slice
serrano chile
sal: salt to taste
Blend down; you can blend it for a long time.
Add a around 5 stems of cilantro, a small bunch. Blend again.
So far I've had it on: the most tender piece of carne asada I've ever had in my life, my morning egg, and quesidillas deliciosas.
S
tomates: tomatillos quarter enough to fill a blender
cebolla: onion 1/2 inch thick round slice
serrano chile
sal: salt to taste
Blend down; you can blend it for a long time.
Add a around 5 stems of cilantro, a small bunch. Blend again.
So far I've had it on: the most tender piece of carne asada I've ever had in my life, my morning egg, and quesidillas deliciosas.
S
Demasiado: too much
Demasiado...I've been repeating this word all day long. It has been an amazing, full first day.
I have been welcomed into the family. Nora spent the drive from the airport to the office explaining Mexico City to me and naming all the barrios/districts of the city: I need to look at a map immediately so I don't waste all the time she spent. We also talked about our families. Her and her husband both have children from previous marriages. I met Lorena her youngest daughter who has a beautiful modern corner office; Lorena is so very charmingly annimated--I love listening to her tell stories. Then there is Jade who has a two children. When we first came into the office Luis was talking to his son in China. Luis' office is full of treasures. Half of the walls are covered by book shelves with the most beautiful book collection: gorgous old faded books and an endless supply of large coffee table arte history books. I spent the majority of my day either on his sofa or in his chair behind the huge mahagony desk. I was entranced as I watched the daily business play out in Luis' office. Nora pulled out her laptop and sat in one of the arm chairs facing her husband's desk for the day; at one point she was sharing her husband's chair as she edited a project on his computer; the rest of the time she would be standing somewhere around the office. At one point Luis was editing a paper for Nora: I assisted him with the spelling of commission: "it has 2 m's and 2 s's." Family and conversation: to go back to the conversation with Luis' son in China shows how the office is all day long. Luis was sitting in his chair and talking via the computer. Nora would slip into the conversation including sending "abrazos y besitos: hugs and kisses". Alejandro, Luis' brother would wander in and out all day long. Even business discussions with clientes were held over speaker phone with everyone in the room listening. At one point Alejandro, Luis, Nora, and Alejandro's son Oktavio, and I were all listening to Luis explain the process of entering the international market to a man sold women's shoes. People are constantly talking over each other: during that particular business call Alejandro and Luis conferred straight over the top of the man's explaination. I was witness to absolutely all business that took place; there was no closed door. The family at the office all came down to the dining room for dinner at around 4pm. It was wonderful wonderful family conversation. I guess I didn't realize until just now that except for one or two Nextel conversations...the meal conversations were virtually work free: past vacations, future vacations, and jesting Oktavio about eating 4 eggs earlier in the afternoon at the time we American's would have ate lunch (it was difficult to dissern what exactly was humorous in the jesting, but with eggs and balls being the same word in spanish...) Dinner was cooked and served by Elli at a dinner table which was beautiful painted from Michoacan. We started out with soup that was made from the flowers of the calabaza(squash) and followed by a plate of beautiful mole enchiladas with a tiny scoop of white rice and a tiny scoop of beans. Then she cleared our things and brought dessert out to those who wanted it. Nora, Luis, and Oktavio had their after dinner cigarettes and Luis left for his coffee: black black real coffee. This summer looks to be a long way from the instant-coffee Mexico of last year.
S
I have been welcomed into the family. Nora spent the drive from the airport to the office explaining Mexico City to me and naming all the barrios/districts of the city: I need to look at a map immediately so I don't waste all the time she spent. We also talked about our families. Her and her husband both have children from previous marriages. I met Lorena her youngest daughter who has a beautiful modern corner office; Lorena is so very charmingly annimated--I love listening to her tell stories. Then there is Jade who has a two children. When we first came into the office Luis was talking to his son in China. Luis' office is full of treasures. Half of the walls are covered by book shelves with the most beautiful book collection: gorgous old faded books and an endless supply of large coffee table arte history books. I spent the majority of my day either on his sofa or in his chair behind the huge mahagony desk. I was entranced as I watched the daily business play out in Luis' office. Nora pulled out her laptop and sat in one of the arm chairs facing her husband's desk for the day; at one point she was sharing her husband's chair as she edited a project on his computer; the rest of the time she would be standing somewhere around the office. At one point Luis was editing a paper for Nora: I assisted him with the spelling of commission: "it has 2 m's and 2 s's." Family and conversation: to go back to the conversation with Luis' son in China shows how the office is all day long. Luis was sitting in his chair and talking via the computer. Nora would slip into the conversation including sending "abrazos y besitos: hugs and kisses". Alejandro, Luis' brother would wander in and out all day long. Even business discussions with clientes were held over speaker phone with everyone in the room listening. At one point Alejandro, Luis, Nora, and Alejandro's son Oktavio, and I were all listening to Luis explain the process of entering the international market to a man sold women's shoes. People are constantly talking over each other: during that particular business call Alejandro and Luis conferred straight over the top of the man's explaination. I was witness to absolutely all business that took place; there was no closed door. The family at the office all came down to the dining room for dinner at around 4pm. It was wonderful wonderful family conversation. I guess I didn't realize until just now that except for one or two Nextel conversations...the meal conversations were virtually work free: past vacations, future vacations, and jesting Oktavio about eating 4 eggs earlier in the afternoon at the time we American's would have ate lunch (it was difficult to dissern what exactly was humorous in the jesting, but with eggs and balls being the same word in spanish...) Dinner was cooked and served by Elli at a dinner table which was beautiful painted from Michoacan. We started out with soup that was made from the flowers of the calabaza(squash) and followed by a plate of beautiful mole enchiladas with a tiny scoop of white rice and a tiny scoop of beans. Then she cleared our things and brought dessert out to those who wanted it. Nora, Luis, and Oktavio had their after dinner cigarettes and Luis left for his coffee: black black real coffee. This summer looks to be a long way from the instant-coffee Mexico of last year.
S
martes, 26 de junio de 2007
De mangos
I watched men embrace barley,
horsemen sink into sky,
and laden wagons pulled by lowing oxen
travel down to the coast fragrant of mangos.
De Biografía para uso de los pajaros
Jorge Carrera Andrade
Nací en el siglo de la defunción de la rosa
cuando el motor ya había ahuyentado a los ángeles.
Quito veía andar la última diligencia
y a su paso corrían en buen orden los árboles,
las cercas y las casas de las nuevas parroquias,
en el umbral del campo
donde las lentas vacas rumiaban el silencio
y el viento espoleaba sus ligeros caballos.
Mi madre, revestida de poniente,
guardó su juventud en una honda guitarra
y sólo algunas tardes la mostraba a sus hijos
envuelta entre la música, la luz y las palabras.
Yo amaba la hidrografía de la lluvia,
las amarillas pulgas del manzano
y los sapos que hacían sonar dos o tres veces
su gordo cascabel de palo.
Sin cesar maniobraba la gran vela del aire.
Era la cordillera un litoral del cielo.
La tempestad venía, y al batir del tambor
cargaban sus mojados regimientos;
mas, luego el sol con sus patrullas de oro
restauraba la paz agraria y transparente.
Yo veía a los hombres abrazar la cebada,
sumergirse en el cielo unos jinetes
y bajar a la costa olorosa de mangos
los vagones cargados de mugidores bueyes.
El valle estaba allá con sus haciendas
donde prendía el alba su reguero de gallos
y al oeste la tierra donde ondeaba la caña
de azúcar su pacífico banderín, y el cacao
guardaba en un estuche su fortuna secreta,
y ceñían, la piña su coraza de olor,
la banana desnuda su túnica de seda.
Todo ha pasado ya, en sucesivo oleaje,
como las vanas cifras de la espuma.
Los años van sin prisa enredando sus líquenes
y el recuerdo es apenas un nenúfar
que asoma entre dos aguas
su rostro de ahogado.
La guitarra es tan sólo ataúd de canciones
y se lamenta herido en la cabeza el gallo.
Han emigrado todos los ángeles terrestres,
hasta el ángel moreno del cacao.
horsemen sink into sky,
and laden wagons pulled by lowing oxen
travel down to the coast fragrant of mangos.
De Biografía para uso de los pajaros
Jorge Carrera Andrade
Nací en el siglo de la defunción de la rosa
cuando el motor ya había ahuyentado a los ángeles.
Quito veía andar la última diligencia
y a su paso corrían en buen orden los árboles,
las cercas y las casas de las nuevas parroquias,
en el umbral del campo
donde las lentas vacas rumiaban el silencio
y el viento espoleaba sus ligeros caballos.
Mi madre, revestida de poniente,
guardó su juventud en una honda guitarra
y sólo algunas tardes la mostraba a sus hijos
envuelta entre la música, la luz y las palabras.
Yo amaba la hidrografía de la lluvia,
las amarillas pulgas del manzano
y los sapos que hacían sonar dos o tres veces
su gordo cascabel de palo.
Sin cesar maniobraba la gran vela del aire.
Era la cordillera un litoral del cielo.
La tempestad venía, y al batir del tambor
cargaban sus mojados regimientos;
mas, luego el sol con sus patrullas de oro
restauraba la paz agraria y transparente.
Yo veía a los hombres abrazar la cebada,
sumergirse en el cielo unos jinetes
y bajar a la costa olorosa de mangos
los vagones cargados de mugidores bueyes.
El valle estaba allá con sus haciendas
donde prendía el alba su reguero de gallos
y al oeste la tierra donde ondeaba la caña
de azúcar su pacífico banderín, y el cacao
guardaba en un estuche su fortuna secreta,
y ceñían, la piña su coraza de olor,
la banana desnuda su túnica de seda.
Todo ha pasado ya, en sucesivo oleaje,
como las vanas cifras de la espuma.
Los años van sin prisa enredando sus líquenes
y el recuerdo es apenas un nenúfar
que asoma entre dos aguas
su rostro de ahogado.
La guitarra es tan sólo ataúd de canciones
y se lamenta herido en la cabeza el gallo.
Han emigrado todos los ángeles terrestres,
hasta el ángel moreno del cacao.
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)