Ancient Mexican Super Foods

I've been craving Butter lettuce or anything made with Kale or Chard. Dark leafy greens are not in abundance around here the way Iceberg lettuce is and I find myself longing for my River Dog Farm veggie box and the fresh produce from Geoff's garden.

Recently, however, I was introduced to a local shrub called Chaya; tagged as the Mayan miracle plant. It grows along the side of the road in San Pancho in front of the Zen center. I make it a point to harvest a few leaves after each yoga class and the woman who sells fruit was fascinated that I used it in my scrambled eggs. I'm in the process of sprouting some to plant in the back yard here and hopefully we will be able to harvest it here at Casa Joya along with the bananas, cocos, and papayas sometime soon.

Here is an article on the benefits of the Chaya plant.

The second craving was for flax seed oil, just a little sprinkle on a salad or in Quinoa. While researching the Chaya plant I found that the similarly pronounced Chia seed is an Aztec super food. I was able to find the small seeds during my last shopping excursion in Puerto Vallarta and now they go on top of everything we eat. I do wonder one can OD on Chia seed!

Here is an article on the benefits of the Chia seed.

And so the eat local challenge continues with new and exciting options around every corner.

Fish, Pork or Chicken

Today as I approached my usual surf spot I noticed an unusual number of dead fish on the beach. Looking at the water, I realized there were 1000’s of dead fish floating there. Their white underbellies were floating above the surface of the water glowing in the morning light. There were so many dead fish that the seagulls were just eating their eyeballs and moving on the next fish. I guess that is the good part.

The waves were marginal, so I decided against paddling out. While this may seem like an obvious decision, the dead fish did not prevent lots of other people from surfing. In fact, Mexican fishermen, floating in inner tubes, were collecting the dead fish to eat.

Swine flu, thus far, hasn’t become an issue in our area of the country (or so we read). It is truly difficult to get an accurate idea of the risk through all the hype. From the ground it looks like it usually does with the exception that some people are wearing masks. Today there were actually fewer masks than yesterday and most masks appear to spend more time around the wearer’s neck than their mouth. There seems to be an ongoing background dread, not knowing what is really up or how bad it will get, it kind of limits the party so to speak.

On a lighter note, they were selling these brightly-dyed chicks in the market for Easter. I don’t know why but I love colored chicks.

The chicken or the egg

Many of you have heard me joke for years about raising hens in our backyard in San Francisco. An idea I've been fascinated with since reading article about a guy in the neighborhood who has hens that he calls the omelet sisters. I thought how great would it be to have fresh eggs right out the back door as a complement to the lemon tree, Geoff's garden, the worms, and our organic veggie box delivery! Oh and then there was talk of bees for honey, but that is another post.

Well, here in our new home it seems I've just been given the chance to gather fresh eggs, and now I'm not so sure I'm up for the challenge.

About 10 days ago I decided to dig up a dead plant in a pot outside of our front door. About an hour after I finished the job I found a rooster and a hen taking a siesta in the pot. The following day I found a brand new egg, and each day after that, another and another and another. Every day I'd check the pot, document the progress, and ask the same question; the chicken or the egg.

We were up to 8 when I checked the pot and found the hen had come back to stay. It is too late to choose the egg, but it seems I knew the answer all along.

They say it takes about 21 days for chicks to hatch, 19 days and counting...

Muy Caliente

As we begin to experiment in the kitchen with our local produce we are bound to make a few mistakes here and there right? Nothing is labeled and everything looks beautiful, big bins of brightly colored fruits and vegetables for pennies a piece.

The other night on our way home from the beach we walked passed the veggie truck, we decided to make a salad for dinner and picked up some tomatoes, cucumbers, and at the last minute a few of the most perfect peppers we'd ever seen.

I knew that the variety was probably spicy, but I'm usually up for the challenge. I like my food covered in black pepper, I'm a big fan of hot sauces, I frequently use chilies in my cooking, but I don't think that anything can prepare you for the heat of a Habanero. After slicing and seeding them I took the tiniest piece and barely brought it to my lips before realizing I was in big trouble.

Of course I couldn't experience this alone and coaxed Alex into trying a piece as well, surely he would never believe how incredibly hot they were. Needless to say it took about an hour or more for our tongues to come back to life and probably another day before I could touch my skin with my hands and not feel it burn. The Scoville heat index of a Habanero chili can range from 150,000 to 350,000.

The moral of this story is when purchasing peppers from a truck, always ask if they are "caliente?" and when told si, just ask one more time "muy caliente?" to be sure what you are getting yourself into.

These beauties stayed out on our counter for days, untouched, making a fantastic centerpiece.

Scrounging for Phones

Kim scrounging for Wifi on our roof.


Internet connectivity, if you can get it, is pretty good. Every rental property in town claims to have Wifi, but what they really mean is there are Wifi networks in the area which you might be able to connect to if the wind is blowing in the right direction.

The problem is phone lines, there are not enough phone numbers available for the growth of the town (so we're told) and consequently a wait list for phone exists. Of course, no one gives up a phone number once they have it, so a secondary market in phone lines exists, where locals will sell their phone number to youtube-deprived gringos for a few hundred dollars.

Then there is the Pringles Cantenna solution. I don't know if the Mexicans invented this, but it is typical of Mexican innovation on an extreme budget. People claim they pick up wireless signals a mile away.

The place we're moving into has its own phone line and Wifi already in place.

No Fear of Litigation

There is nothing like spending a little time in Mexico to make one appreciate how the fear of litigation (or the lack thereof) shapes a culture. I went to a fair in Sayulita the other night and nearly every attraction exhibited something that would not fly in the US.

The bumper cars left trails of sparks both from their electricity poles and from the metal undercarriages dragging across the floor. There were shaky, two-story trampolines (I still don’t understand how those worked). A massive, inflated slide for kids was surrounded on either side by shooting booths where they hand out real BB guns.

Far and away the best, most highly-addictive and most egregious attraction was the Throwing-Rocks-At-Bottles-For-Beer booths. For about a dollar, you pick 3 baseball-sized rocks from the table and huck them full speed at a wall 10ft away that has 100s of bottles turned upside down on spikes. A broken beer bottle nets you a beer, two bottles, two beers and if you shatter 3 bottles, you win a 6 pack. Between you and the wall, kids dodge rocks and shattering glass and to replace the broken bottles with whole ones.

Jarabe de Maíz de Alta Fructosa

As many of you know, I cannot resist talking about the evils of high fructose corn syrup. While it is a bit easier to avoid here in Mexico, Alex still spent a good 10 minutes reading labels on ketchup and syrup bottles, because most brands are imported from the U.S.

It seems the official Spanish translation is jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa, but we have been told it could also be listed as fructosa as well. Since we are still trying to weed through and translate most of the ingredients listed on the labels of pre-packaged foods, we've decided to keep it simple and stick with products that are just sweetened with good old azucar. Coca Cola happens to be one of these, and an ice cold coke with a taco every now and then is a nice treat.

Anyway, I just came across another article to fuel my no high fructose fire, which I'm sure we will be hearing more about as the debate continues;

Researchers find traces of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup

Big Drama in Our Little Town

One of the most charming parts of San Pancho is the main street, El Tercer Mundo, which runs from the highway to the beach. It's a combination of cobblestone and interlocking brick lined with shady trees, taco stands, shops, galleries, and houses.

The notices were posted at 4:00 PM on Thursday afternoon and work began early Friday morning; with less than a 24 hour warning the brick street was gone and and rumors of the county's plans for cutting all of the trees began to spread. By noon on Friday the residents and shop owners were protesting.

Mexican Residents Stage Sit-In to Halt Destruction of Local Trees

We have already been recruited to paint Adopt-a-Tree signs; but it's probably too late. Several trees were cut down today and the trucks are still a rollin. The new plan is to lay concrete slabs and line El Tercer Mundo with palms, ready or not Puerta Vallarta here we come. Alex is making plans to open a Senor Frogs or two or three.

The One and Only

San Francisco, California vs. San Francisco, Mexico

There is that expression about rubbing salt in a wound; Mexy-style includes salt and lime.

I know it's cliche and we don't want to discourage any would-be readers, so consider this the one and only time we'll write about the weather in San Pancho and we'll allow the images to speak for themselves.

My favorite is the "Sunny and delightful" weather we'll be having on the 18th.

Mobile-Mart

Here is a short list of things we have found you can buy from the back of a truck!

1. Shrimp the size of your arm
2. Tamales - three varieties with salsa on the side
3. Brooms, but not dustpans
4. Every vegetable you know and many you don't
5. Oysters & Octopus
   
6. Mattresses & Bed Frames
7. 5 Gallon jugs of H2O
8. Propane
9. Ceramics
10. Tires

If you wait long enough it seems as though just about anything you want will eventually drive by your front door. Makes it easy to decide what to have for dinner.