Excellente' Comida

Buenas tardes!

We have been getting a lot of this stuff below. It blows in, it blows out, in again, out again. Rain came with it several days ago, but there are few clouds today and it is almost one hundred out there.

I stupidly rode new old bike to the mercado for some cilantro and when I finally got home, it was wilted, and so was I.

But it was interesting to be in town, the day before the huge Dia de Independencia celebration. Everything is rapid-fire down there, at both the Plaza and the Alameda. People are everywhere, workers are putting up even more banners. They are cleaning the streets, putting out porta-potties, the bands are practicing at a fevered pitch and cars are already circling the Alameda repeatedly, drivers yelling out at friends, beds of trucks loaded with fifteen people. Everyone is carrying a black tecate bag.

Teenagers are everywhere, and I think they are from out of town. They are a little less dressed than Alamos kids. Bare bellies, short shorts, tattoos, eyebrow rings, all things we do not see too much of here. Plus they stare at foreigners and wait for the foreigner to say hola first. Alamos kids do not stare, they smile and say hola first. There were a few large buses down on Juarez and my guess is they arrived on those. They are having a blast, running through the Plaza, laughing and squealing, good kids, just not Alamos kids. Besides Alamos kids are in school today.

So, there is another thing going up today for the celebration and it goes up on every roof top in the centro district.

The burning oil cans. You can see the wicks hanging out of the cans. In the photo below, above the canalis, you can see the little black cans. They are everywhere.

They will be lit tonight and the mayor will give his end of the year speech in the Palacio and at midnight, he will give the famous cry or 'shout' for Independence. And of course, in 1810, that cry began the Revolution.

I am charging up all the camera batteries in preparation for tomorrow. We will be going to a breakfast and then, the parade and we will see what happens after that.

Hopefully, it will not be an unbearably hot day.

Our casa has been hot, with the exception of the mini splitted bedroom. Senor broke the fan in the kitchen tool room.

Now that is where we watch '24'.

And I have been complaining that I cannot hear what is being said and I want to buy some of those 'tv ears'. Senor said................but that isn't the problem, the problem is the fan is too loud................no, that isn't the problem, i said, the sound on this flat screen is terrible, our neighbors have tv ears, they like it, i want some of those......................no, look, let me turn the fan down and i think it will make a big difference.

And that is when he turned the knob and it fell and all of the other little pieces followed and broke apart on the floor.

So, now without a fan it is too hot to sit in there and find out if the sound is better or not...............

And without the fan, I am really having to do almost all of my cooking in the morning as early as possible. Later in the evening we either eat a cold meal or I can take the hot plate outside and reheat something.

At the mercado the other day, there was a huge tub of chicken claws and another huge tub of gizzards. Chicken claws are cheap and they are considered a delicacy here. Everyone cooks chicken claws.
But for some people they might be a little unnerving to see.

I grew up in the South. Body parts of chickens do not alarm me. I grew up eating gizzards and livers and lungs and necks and there was always a headless chicken running around my aunt's house when we visited. If you have walked by an Asian food stand in a big city, meat and poultry parts are a common sight.

Okay, okay, I am preparing you for my last photo. It is a very natural way to cook here. But just don't look if you don't want to.

It is a photo of my chicken gizzard soup.

It was excellente' comida!!!!

By far, the best soup we have ever had!

Siesta time and I should make it a long one, because I don't think anyone will be getting much sleep tonight! Adios! Linda Lou