Let the Celebration Begin!

Hola! Here is this morning's sunrise. It has been overcast off and on throughout the day. It is just starting to rain and a gentle breeze has picked up. Oh, wait a minute. I will be back....... Okay, I am here. Someone was ringing the bell so I went to check it out. It was Yolanda, the fish lady, and her son. They borrow the golf cart of a Senora here in town, load it up with their ice chests and sell door to door. I always buy. She has the best grande camarones we have ever had. Senor throws them on the grill along with poblano peppers and onions.

I pay $120 pesos for 2 kilos ( about $8.25 for 2 pounds) and worth every peso. If you buy 4 kilos you get a discount, but you have seen our refrigerator......

I just put most of them in the refrigerator, but kept these seperate because I am going to brine and smoke them.The smoke the other day was very good. I used Baja mullet that I bought at Ley. Below it is in the brine......water, salt, sugar, tobasco, cayenne pepper, garlic, lime juice, worchestershire sauce and a little minced onion. I brined this mullet for about 12 hours.

Below, they are out of the brine and washed, and getting what I call, their patina. It is really called the pellicle, but I like the word patina better.....either way, their shine.

Below is our little smoker. We had a big smoker back in the states, but when we started thinking about loading the U-haul, adding a smoky smelling smoker just did not seem like the thing to do. So, I gave that one away and bought a new, smaller one. I miss the big one................

This one, being new, was somehow missing a drip pan, so I had to improvise with some aluminum foil. I have some hickory and used that to smoke.

Fourteen hours later and we had fresh smoked mullet.

It has just poured down rain. Hopefully that will be it for at least the next few days. I love the rain, but there are big happenings here tonight and tomorrow, in Alamos. The streets are decked out in red, white and green garlands.

Tonight there will be a huge ball at the Palacio.

The Palacio was buzzing when I went there today to mail some letters.

Little children were dressed in native costumes, impatiently waiting for their parents to take photographs. Mothers were chasing children, trying to get them to sit still for just one more minute.

The mail lady was concerned because there were no decorations yet for the ball. A few men were removing some boxes from some of the rooms inside the Palacio. Women were cleaning and waxing the floors.

Outside, men were on the roof, trying to organize the fireworks.

Down the street, the secondary school band was practicing their song and march. The policia were attempting, without success, to keep the cars and onlookers from traveling through the area.

Tonight, at midnight, the new mayor, will give the plea for Independence (the grito or cry). That will begin the anniversary of the day the War for Independence (from Spain) began. Then the fireworks will begin and pretty much continue on and off until the new year..............

Tomorrow, there will be the biggest parade of the year, horse dancing at the Plaza de Armas, Mariachi music, folkloric dancing and wonderful food.

In the arroyo, there will be more horse dancing competitions, games for the kids, trampolines to jump on, trinkets and souvenirs to buy and lots and lots of Tecate.

We hear there will be baseball games at the baseball stadium and soccer games at the soccer stadium and lots and lots of Tecate.

So, I am charging up the camera batteries and will try to get up at midnight for the fireworks. Senor and I will make it to the alameda in time for the parade.

Now that the rain has ended, the band is practicing again and several groups of horse riders have clomped down and up the street outside the casa.

I will share the celebration with you in a few days! adios for now, linda lou