Food recipes

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Guanajuato II Part 1. In the back of my mind.

We are back in Guanajuato city. I’m all sore. Hilly Guanajuato is welcoming us with a reality, we are so out of shape. Staying at a place at the top hills of the city turned out to be a burden, but what can you do, if you want to reach a place to sleep. Ha!  The geography is different to what we are used to in flat Shorewood or San Luis Potosi and the view from the house is extraordinary. The sounds are different, being so close from downtown we hear the bells of churches calling to mass and the multiple dogs barking and roosters singing tells me that I cannot participate in their conversation and by the way the whole neighborhood is listening to. We need groceries. There are few supermarkets here. Lots of little convenience/groceries stores around every corner, where some owners still prepare your bill writing the prices of what you are buying in a piece of paper and adding the numbers with no electronic device, just their head and the math they learned in elementary school. Old ways in the city. At the end of the walking alley on the right there's one. This view is Plaza Mexiamora, an enchanting place to sit and watch a grandma feeding the doves with tortilla shells and life passing by.


One of the places I love form this city is Cafe Conquistador, a humble cafe, next to Santa Fe Tunnel, to my eyes the best in town. Last time I was in this city I enjoyed coffee here but I left the city without a sketch of it and believe or not, it has been in the back of my mind. Finally, yesterday I sketched it, a fond memory of its roasted coffee beans which I can smell blocks away and the delicious coffee of course, trapped in my sketchbook. Oh Guanajuato, how I am going to enjoy you.


If you want to read about my last visit to this city in 2015 click here or click here for Part 2.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Hidalgo Part 6/6. Pastes

One of the influences of English in Mineral del Monte was the food. Pastes are to the order of the day. They are everywhere, specially on Hidalgo street, the main street in town. Pastes are empanadas. I didn't even know myself such a delicacy existed until few years ago. The word paste was adopted to Spanish from the English word pastries. Pastes  filled with shredded potato and ground beef are the traditional flavor. Other flavors are offered, savory and sweet. During our days in Mineral del Monte and surroundings we visited many places where pastes were prepared and sold, and it was interesting to see and taste variations of the same traditional flavor. We ended up "pasteded" for eating so much. The owner of one of these places allowed me to sketch the kitchen/bakery, which one can see from the front desk, where you order pastes to go. 


The bakery / kitchen had a roller machine (back in yellow) which allows them to roll and flat the dough faster and easier. There was a red English telephone cabin, just as decor, and on the left of the sketch there are piles of boxes where they wrap the pastes and empanadas in paper (never plastic because the dough gets moist), pastes are quite popular you see. This Pueblo Magico is indeed magic. The traditional red laminated roofs host cozy restaurants like this one. The last sketch I am sharing with you is a view of the Hidalgo Street, the main street. Farewell Mineral del Monte, beautiful town in the high mountains of the state of Hidalgo in Mexico.


Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Hidalgo Part 5/6. Lord of Zenontla festivities.


Bob and I arrived to Mineral del Monte after the festivities of their Saint Lord of Zenontla, they have a sanctuary named after him. The main door was adorned with a big board made of bright patterns framing it. I got close to the board and what I though were flowers, was actually plastic in the shape of flowers! A great use to recycled plastic! Inside the sanctuary they were celebrating a novenario, which it is a tradition of celebrating nine masses in consecutive days after the dead of someone.  A huge amount of floral arrangements in white and yellow roses covered every wall and surface. Flowers are donated by the population in town. I've never seen this devotion before. A big figure of the Lord of Zenontla was in the middle of the hallway and at the base of the platform the figure was surrounded by fresh yellow, green and red apples. The whole sanctuary was a dream of mixed smells of flowers and fruit which overwhelmed our noses. Of course we were happy. I didn't sketch the interior but the last night we were in town I tried, however the church was closed. So we went to the main church, on the same street, a block away, to the Iglesia del Rosario. This church was empty but the ornaments were the same. Inside there was a Virgin figure holding a baby equally set with apples. I sketched it this time before they close the church and asked us to leave few minutes later.

  
Thankfully I took a photo to finish it. Customs from place to place are different, still a wonderful thing to witness. Click here for last Part.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Hidalgo Part 4/6. The English Cemetery

Mineral del Monte is at 2700 m (8900 ft) altitude. In the mid 1800's, English took over the mining companies from the Spanish. Several generations of English miners worked and died here and wanted their own cemetery (or Catholics didn't want Protestants or Methodists in their Catholic cemetery, who knows what the deal was). The thing is that Mineral del Monte has an English cemetery. The main gate dates the year 1862.

Carmen, our guide, assured us this is the first one in all the American continent. There are people buried here from different nationalities who came here in search of a better life. 


Prince Charles and his wife Camila came to visit this cemetery in 2005, a grave in particular. A soldier named John Vial was born here in the state of Hidalgo and served the English Air Force during the WWI. We died in action in France and was buried there. He was 22 years old. They set a symbolic grave in the English cemetery of Mineral del Monte. The top of the column in his grave has a diagonal cut which means he had an unfulfilled life. Oh, did I mention that this cemetery is full of Masonic graves?




Carmen is also the keeper of the cemetery. Her father was a keeper too. She told us her father was granted by the Queen Elizabeth a certificate and a medal as a member of the British Empire for his hard work for 40 plus years at this cemetery. I couldn't believe this extraordinary fact until she showed us the certificate and photos of her father with the English Ambassador to prove it. The certificate shows and I quote "Grant of the Dignity of an Honorary Member of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire to Mr. Inocencio Hernandez Lara". Shame on me for not believe her at first. 

Carmen told us everybody in town gossip about her salary paid in Euros or Dollars. She said she receives a humble salary from the Municipality in town. That meant we should give more than what she asked for her services as a tour guide, we did with pleasure. Later  she allowed me to stay longer, I returned and sketched more beautiful graves. Click here for Part 5



Thursday, January 19, 2017

Hidalgo Part 3/6. Mina La Dificultad in Mineral del Monte



Mineral del Monte in the state of Hidalgo, is one of many little towns denominated Pueblos Mágicos (Magical towns) in Mexico. Like many others it was a mining town. This is Mina La Dificultad (Mine The Difficulty). Water was always a big problem for the mines in this area. Water needed to be pumped out of the mine to keep extracting the minerals. This particular mine got its name because it was very difficult to bring a water pump from Germany. It took a year to transport the pump by land from the port of Veracruz in the Golf of Mexico to Mineral del Monte at 8,900 ft high in the mountains. It took a lot of money, time and effort to run the mine under the English administration after they took it from the Spanish in the mid 1800's. They sold the mine to Americans after 25 years and left with a loss. The best part of this mine is the fancy chimney. It is octagonal, made of brick with a typical English architecture and it is well preserved. It is an interesting  place. I had fun visiting it and sketching a place which shows part of the industrial revolution here in Mexico. Click here for Part 4.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Hidalgo Part 2/6. Basaltic prisms near Huasca de Ocampo


If Mother Nature could talk (and I don't mean Julia Roberts) would certainly tell me I'd never be her official painter to represent its 2.5 millions year work. I am a firm believer that anything that M.N. has to offer, you better got to see it in person. No film, photo, painting, drawing or sketch can't beat her, but I needed my souvenir so I dared to sketch. This is my second attempt to sketch the basaltic prisms near Huasca de Ocampo Hidalgo en Mexico. The overwhelming web of hexagonal columns are depicted as little circles, so I could finish the  sketch. I was hesistant to post my first attempt which is the sketch below, but here it goes. Not even Bob liked it, and he is my biggest cheerleader! Oh well Mother Nature, don't take it personal. I promise I'll keep practicing landscapes.Click here for Part 3.


Monday, January 16, 2017

Hidalgo Part 1/6. Atlanteans figures of Tula


There's a book about Toltec philosophy called The Four Agreements, quite famous, if  you haven't read it, please do, it will take a lot of garbage out of your head. Curiosly today I visited an archeological zone of where the Toltecs built their main city. I finally could put an image to the book I like. On top of the main pyramid I sat on the floor under the blasting sun. The figures or statues are proudly standing, which are high hierarchy Toltec warriors. The one on the left is a replica and the other three are originals, it's quite obvious since they still have some residues of red color in the porous volcanic stone. It was until I started to sketch  them that I saw all the details these warriors had on them. I started with the head, wow, lots of feathers. The butterfly shape shield in their chest, a circular shield in their back, the bands in their arms and so on. I was in awe how rich these warriors were dressed . Also, important, the sculptors didn't forget the anatomy of the rear cheeks. Worthy of Mr. Universe. Ha!



Aqfter our visit, we had a snack at the parking lot. A street dog came to us and stood quietly next to me. I shared part of my ham sandwich with it and it ate it, then I gave it a piece of Sacher as dessert, it ate too, and then a wedge of a mandarin and the picky dog didn't eat it. That's ok. He layed down and I sketched it while waiting for Bob to finish his snack. We had a good day. While I'm here in the state Hidalgo of my beloved Mexico, I'll try to sketch as much as I can because sketches are the best souvenirs, don't you agree? Click here for Part 2.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Palm crickets


There's no need for me to look for something to sketch, sometimes it just jumps at you. Walking the streets of the city of San Luis Potosi, I saw a beautiful craft made by a couple of craftsmen. They had several crickets made of fresh palm leaves on the floor. I thought they were so cute but didn't stop and passed them. Few steps later I turned around and bought one for one USD. They assured me it will last 20 days green, then it will start to dry and become brown, but with care, it can last for a while. The couple was nice. 

She started another one by waving the strips of a palm leaf and he was finishing another by gluing the eyes. I took a good look at them and thought they were so interesting. He was wearing a hat with a cricket on top, which I thought it was smart, the man was exhibiting his product for sale. I asked if I could sketch them and they were happy to pose. While sketching them they told me they are from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. They learned the technique from someone else and now they are touring the country to sell their crafts, in San Luis Potosi for now. After I showed them the sketch, they were so happy and posed for a photo. They gave a hummingbird over a rose made of palm leaf as well, in return for sharing them my sketch. They have a FaceBook page, click Engrillarte if you want to see more of their crafts. German and Karina, it was pleasure meeting you today. Your cricket will make me smile for a while.


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Not the same


I made this sketch from a photo of a food stand I took at a street light today at dusk. Streets get busy at night here, specially when is time for dinner and one can smell food cooking, specially from food stands, so close to the street. There was nowhere to park. Too much traffic. Wrong time? Not really. Too dark to sketch? No. It was pure laziness which made me take this photo as an attempt to appease my itchy hand. Sketching from a photo reminded me that there is a big difference from sketching on location. The process was boring. Having to look at a screen where I couldn't see as many details as you are able when you are there is frustrating and couldn't find emotion. It was done automatically. A line here, a line there, add color..... whatever.... There's something about sketching on location that makes the process of sketching exciting. I think the right word is connection....yes. A connection with the moment I was living at that time and putting it on paper. No only I am sketching a moment, I am registering a memory that can trigger feelings, sounds, even odors. It is all this what makes a sketch made on location rich and complex for the one who draws it. This is beautiful. Do not forget it Adriana.

Monday, January 9, 2017

The house with two numbers


The city of San Luis Potosi in Mexico still has old residences which shows which architecture styles were on in the past. Most of the old residences of wealthy people located along one of the still main avenues have been demolished and replaced by modern and commercial buildings. This house is located in a secluded street off a main avenue. I found interesting the style of the house and that it has the three stories. 

Overtime, the city changes the name of streets or re-number the houses to catch up with the population's growth. I  don't know if this happens in other countries but it does in Mexico. This house is old enough to have two numbers, 4 and 106, it was probably re-numbered by the city but the owners kept the old number. Confused? So do I. Another funny thing of my beloved Mexico.  22.149504, -100.993883

P.S. I don't know what day I live on. The sketch shows it was made on January 10th, but I sketched it today, the 9th.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

My first sketching meet up in San Luis Potosi city.


Esdras is a young man who contacted me earlier this year and we met today in downtown San Luis Potosi city, Mexico. He was interested on watching how do I apply watercolor techniques to my sketches, information that he said could be useful for his personal project. He's a Physical Engineer, working now in his master degree. We met in Teatro La Paz in Plaza del Carmen. The view from the stairs of the theater is extraordinary. Right across the theater is located the National Museum of Masks. A place I have sketched indoors and published in this blog, click this link to see it. Today I had the chance to sketch the exterior of the museum with Esdras which is the building on the left. On the right, a partial view of Carmen Square. Today I used Daniel Smith watercolor paint. Wow! I'm liking it... and liking it a lot.

Thanks Esdras for joining me today.  You were gracious and attentive towards my work. It was fun meeting you. Until next time!


Sunday, January 1, 2017

My cute Chritmas gift.





I continue trying some new sketching materials. And one of my nieces Christmas gift was the right subject. The handmade envelope made with recycled materials was very cute and inside, an also handmade ring fit my finger nicely. I liked that she took the time to make this, it is well appreciated. So to remember this gift I sketched it using another sample of Stonehenge watercolor paper. This time I tried the 300 g. It's a very comfortable paper, it has the right balance of water absorption, allowing to work wet in wet and graded washes easily. I used as well my Daniel Smith watercolor essential set for the first time. It's sooo rich in pigment. LOVE IT! Daniel Smith you arrived to stay. 

Happy New Year to everybody!