Some friends of mine were looking at a trip we all did a couple of years ago to Zitácuaro to visit the hallow grounds of where the monarchs spend their winter holidays. It was truly an amazing visit as we hiked up into the mountains and as the sun rose above the trees, the skies where filled with orange and black.
It is so sad that in the intervening years the population of the monarchs has declined so greatly. I want to make a return trip maybe next year to revisit this special place.
When we are in Troncones we eat a lot of pineapples. We always try to “recycle” all of the pineapple tops and twice we have been able to get them to grow.
This one is the second pineapple we have started and it is probably four to six months of growing remaining, but hopefully it will be another juicy and tasty home grown pineapple.
Sorry for borrowing the lyrics to “Money for nothing…” and my apologies to Dire Straits, but I just drove back to Pátzcuaro from Troncones and I am a little goofy this evening.
When most people think of México they think of crowded sandy beaches or high desert. Well there is beautiful forests of tall pine trees here and you should come to visit them.
This road that we ride several times a year reminds us of the wooded forests on the climb up King Ridge in west Sonoma County in California, very beautiful.
Cycling is such a wonderful way to bond with nature.
First big day of climbing for this cycling season starting the climb at 2,050 meters in elevation and cresting the summit at almost 2,600 meters. The legs were sure not use to this yet, and the temperatures went from 25 C at the start of the climb in Erongaricuaro to around 13 C at the summit. It was a cold ride down the mountain.
Broke a spoke with 10km to go and had to finish the ride with my rear wheel rubbing against the frame, which made for a tiring return to the start.
However anytime I can be on my bike in beautiful weather, it is a great day.
Last night we made a meal of chicken jalapeno meatballs, lots of vegetables and rice. The key to a tasty meal is always in the preparation, which just can not be rushed!
Last night we experimented with another wonderful Serious Eats recipe this one from J. Kenji López-Alt. The end result was wonderful as I hope you can tell from the primary image I posted.
This recipe is up there with most recipes from Diana Kennedy in that it takes lots of ingredients and almost 2 1/2 hours of actual cooking time.
But I can say the end result is well worth the effort.
As you can see Jo Ann is looking pretty happy with her work tonight.
And this is the final product before we plated it up for dinner.
If you would like a copy of the recipe just click on the image below and it will take you to the recipe on the Serious Eats website.
There is an excellent deli/tapas restaurant in Mexico City that has locations in the Mercado San Juan, the Mercado Roma and a renovated historical building. The food was excellent (although there wine selection was very limited).
This photo was from the location in the renovated historical building, although we had eaten at restaurant in the Mercado San Juan earlier in the day.
In the mountains of central México we have two seasons, the dry (runs from mid-November until late May/early June) and then the rainy season. However last week we had a very strange weather front come visit us. It started when we were in Morelia on March 11 (about 45 minutes away by car) where we got heavy rains and hail. Ended up with something that looked like snow. Then starting the following Friday we had three days of heavy rain which dropped almost 17 centimeters of rain which is just unheard of at this time of the year.
But I guess people will still deny that there is climate change afoot.
On our hike today we came across this swarm of butterflies that looked so wonderful and at peace. What do you think?
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