Such a relief.
It now rains most evenings in San Miguel de Allende, somewhere between 5 and 7 p.m. I could almost set my watch by it, if I had a watch.
We got caught in a downpour last night in Colonia San Antonio as we were leaving a nearby Italian restaurant, Denver’s Los Olivos, with some friends. Juan Miguel (Denver) always delights — a very old-school chef with traditional recipes and a dining-in-the-kitchen feel.
Continue reading
We were in Mexico City, enjoying coffee and a bite to eat at a corner restaurant just a block off the expansive Parque de Mexico, in the popular Hipódromo, Cuauhtémoc, neighborhood.
The young and athletic hostess Ayse Lang, who had seated us at the sidewalk table of Barrio Café, stopped by to see how our late-morning coffee break was going.
Continue readingSunday, July 21
8 a.m. — Doggie day out
Elsewhere it may be the Dog Days of summer but not in San Miguel! Plaza La Luciérnaga is celebrating a happier Dog Day by inviting you and your pooch out to the shopping mall for a day of activities, prizes and lots of fun. Bring your pet.
10 a.m.–5 p.m. Artisan fairs popping up
In the Plaza de los Insurgentes, popularly known as “Plaza Garibaldi,” you can find products for the home, decoration and gifts such as mirrors, lamps, rugs and hearts, even high-quality jewelry and great designs, all made by San Miguel families from a wide variety of communities, neighborhoods, and colonias.
From July 24 to 28, a new edition of the “San Miguel de Allende Artisan Fair 2024” will be held around the esplanade of the Jardine Principal. It will offer “maximum face-to-face exhibition of the color and beauty of local crafts and labor, before thousands of local and foreign visitors.”
DiscoverSMA has the details!
Walking Moppit the Philosopher Dog this morning and she was adamant about turning up Aldama as we left the main entrance to Parque Juarez here in San Miguel de Allende.
Normally we engage in a powerful battle of wills.
Moppit will want to go left when I want to turn right.
She wants to turn around and head home for a doggie treat while I want to press on for a few blocks more.
She wants to stop and sniff every pee-drenched corner when I don’t want to break the rhythm of my steps.
She wants to stop at Cafe Hortus for a croissant while I prefer walking over to Panina for a rosemary and raspberry scone.
Continue reading
So, today was officially “Meatless Monday.” You should be so lucky.
Rose made a delicious Moroccan carrot soup and a spinach salad with nuts, cranberries, egg and so much more goodness in it. I forgot what meat is. But the highlight was her homemade dinner rolls. I think I had three and a half, so I need not waste time explaining how good they were.
They were. See for yourself:
The rest of the day was taken up with a continuous series of non-starts. Nothing to write home about. Or in a blog.
WANTED – PIED PIPER: Two rats playing in the patio drain this morning. This I know because the screams from downstairs told me so. Imagine doing yoga when the soothing tones of your online guru are over-ridden by an incessant “Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!”
They were big — horror movie big — and shy. They ran down into the covered drain when I tried to photograph them. The grill on the drain kept them from getting into the yard.
I think.
I hope.
I dunno.
SUPERWOMAN: The late-blooming highlight of the day was listening to several videos of anti-racism activists and educator Jane Elliott. She is fierce. She is clear. She is plain-spoken. She speaks in absolutes, no ambiguity about her.
You will love it.
Do a search for “Jane Elliott” on YouTube and listen. You will be glad that you did.
Then spread the gospel of Jane Elliott. She just might save us all.
(The first of a three-part interview is above.)
SPACE BALLS: If you want a break from how badly everything sucks at the moment, I recommend “Space Force” on Netflix with Steve Carrell and John Malkovich.
It is more than a laugh-out-loud poke at one of Trump’s stupidest and most expensive ideas ever. It is just a funny, funny, series with well-envisioned characters and relationships that grow and blossom right in front of your eyes. Smart writing. Ten episodes that get stronger, the deeper into it you dive.
KNOCK KNOCK: And because you both have been so good to read this far, I give you some San Miguel doors. One thing we have here is lots and lots of very interesting doors, many deliberately so. Some not so deliberately.
Ever wonder what is behind them?
A lot of you have been asking me, “Bob” you say, “how did you come up with the award-winning and fabulously successful reality TV cooking show “Dark Pastry.”
To date, my natural gift for modesty has kept me from spilling the beans on the cooking/horror reality show but so many urban legends and out-and-out lies by a very jealous POTUS have forced my hand.
Is it my fault that my reality show has been so much more-fabulously successful than his ever was?
Yes.
Yes, it is my fault. Continue reading
Pulitzer Podcast: Last week, the radio program/podcast “This American Life” won a Pulitzer Prize. It is the first-ever awarded to a radio program. The honored program, called “The Out Crowd” is steeped on original reporting, boots on the ground, at the U.S. Mexican border. It first aired in November 2019 and is rebroadcast now with critical updates.
Most dispiriting update of all — the atrocities first reported here are largely going on unchanged and unchecked. Continue reading
My guest video blogger Caira Button is the Catrina on the right. Her lovely assistant is Catrina Rose Alcantara. Facial art is by our talented friend and neighbor Jimmy Hickey.
Good news, Musings & Magic fans, we have a guest blogger today!
A guest VIDEO blogger.
Let me introduce Caira Button, daughter of my dear wife, Rose Alcantara, and an accomplished video blogger who lives in Chicago. Continue reading
The collection of images in this post have no specific relevance to this post, other than they are “things” I have noticed since Thursday’s Literary Sala. For example, how often to you see a Sue Grafton book sitting on a window ledge? Especially themed well with the window display was “K is for Killer.”
I went to the Literary Sala this week to learn about urban sketching and Mexican cuisine but, more than that, I learned how to see San Miguel through new, fresh, and exciting eyes.
Susan Dorf has been drawing San Miguel scenes and people for a decade and many know her through the colorful sketchpad images that appear in the weekly bi-lingual paper, Atencion. Her eye for detail is extraordinary and her ability to capture the essence of street scenes in ink and watercolor rivals the hundreds of iPhones trying to do the same.
Patricia Juana Merrill Márquez is a San Miguel native with roots going back 400 years. She is an architect, a hotelier, and a champion for Mexican cuisine. She also collects dichos — Mexican idioms and aphorisms that open a window onto this unique culture. “The Buen Provecho Book,” is a mix of recipes and lively insight into Mexican culture.
I guarantee that few of us see the same San Miguel as these two. Continue reading
Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 