Better Homes and Gardens

Foreigners are always asking about the cost of housing. Right here in Santa Maria de Guido,  one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city of Morelia, are two exquisite homes just waiting for the right new owner. Would you like to buy an affordable colonial home with plush and ample gardens? Or if that’s too much yard for your interests, how about an elegant Morelia residence?

Who’ll be the lucky new owner of these properties? Who’ll be my new neighbor?

Technorati Tags: Michoacan, Morelia real estate

#5 Stuff Mexican People Like – Hot Dog

Mexican people take their hot dogs seriously. Not only are the refrigerated shelves of every tienda and super loaded with enough brands and styles of hot dogs to sate a modern army, the hot dog finds its way into venues least suspected. A slice of hot dog atop a hamburger, chopped up hot dog in pasta, and finely minced hot dog in chicken soup are just a few of the ways wily Mexican cooks will sneak hot dog into practically anything short of gelatina. And it’s not just a low-class, poor folks, naco thing – I’ve witnessed hot dog-enhanced dishes at VIPS (which is not exactly where VIPs eat) and on upper-middle class tables. Mexicans deploy hot dog like Estadounidenses use Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup.

We Mexicans (Well, make that “some Mexicans,” since this Mexican loathes hot dog.) love our hot dogs so much that we even make them part of any self-respecting street fair repast – gussied up into corn dogs or blanketed in a slice of tortilla and fried. Or even sliced in half and then lengthwise so that they’ll bloom in hot oil.

Mexican cookbooks and travel literature won’t report on the hot dog phenomenon, but any Mexican will tell you if you ask nicely. It’s one of those things that we just keep to ourselves.

 

Technorati Tags: Mexican food, hot dog, franfurter, Vienna sausage

#4 Stuff Mexican People Like — Pink Fiesta Cake

Now, you’ve got your Diana Kennedy, who has been inducted into the Order of the Aztec Eagle, a prize bestowed by the Mexican government upon foreigners for really meritorious stuff, and you’ve got Patricia Quintana, the reigning Mexican queen of Mexican cuisine, who not only has her own restaurants and writes books but also markets her own brand of salad dressing. And then you’ve got the gastronomistas like Mexico Cooks! who lavish drooling praise over every morsel of la comida Mexicana.

But none of them ever mention the all-time favorite of fiesta fans — pink party cake, glued together with an industrial-strength filling. No small-town fiesta is complete without a few stands selling this culinary wonder, which means that it has to be a popular treat among, well, the crowd popular. In and around Morelia, it’s fabricated by the Cristiano folk of Acuitzio de Canje, a small town known for swapping Mexican prisoners of war for the French and Belgians back in 1865. For all I know, this hazmat dessert was something that the frogs left behind.

 

Technorati Tags: pink cake, fiesta, Mexican cuisine, nuclear waste

John Oliver’s Literature Rodeo: Apocalypse Edition

Technorati Tags: Rob Kutner, Apocalypse Now, end of the world, antichrist

No Suspicion Necessary

Your essential stuff – your laptop, thumb drive, cell phone, iPod, and even books and reading material – just got a little less sacred whenever you cross the border into or out of the U.S. And the government can keep your stuff for as long as it wants.

Read the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Policy Regarding Border Search of Information here.

It’s more than just chilling. It’s frightening.

 

Technorati Tags: Homeland Security, U.S. Customs, ICE, U.S. Immigration and Customs, privacy