Easy Bake oven

Did you ever have an Easy Bake oven? I always wanted one when I was a kid, even though I was cooking on the real thing from as long as I can remember. An Easy Bake oven, made by Mattel (the Barbie doll people), is child-sized, and uses a 100 watt light bulb for heat. And, of course you have to buy the packaged mixes of foods that only kids would eat. Be careful what you wish you, you never know when you'll get it. I'm now cooking on what Stuart and I call the Easy Bake oven. The only difference is that this one is adult sized, and uses a 75 watt bulb. We bought a mix for brownies this week, thinking that some warm brownies would be a tasty treat after dinner. Hey, I had oil, eggs, water, baking dish and oven, right? The instructions on the box said to bake for about 20 minutes, at 350. Well, first, the oven temp is not calibrated, so who knows what the temp is. But, with what we already know about the BTU delivery on the burners, I just turned it to the highest temperature. Two hours and 20 minutes later, we took the brownie soup from the oven, poured it into the little pan that is in the toaster oven, and baked it a little while longer in it. So, when the manufacturers of any packaged mixes tell you that the food will turn out no matter WHAT you do, their is some truth in their claim. The taste was surely chocolate, and the texture was close to what we expected, but it sure did take a long time to get there.

We learned the first night here that there is a gas delivery problem in our apartment...Augustin thinks the gas tank is too far away from the stove. Stuart and I think there is a crimp in the line. The end result is that I can practially use only one burner on the stove top at a time, and don't even think about using the oven. OK, it's a great plate warmer. The one burner on the stove top doesn't get very hot, either, but eventually water will boil. I talked again to Augustin, who is most congenial, and he asked me to email our landlady, Bettye. Bettye lives in MA, and is also very nice. She pretty much said there is nothing we can do. Nicely.

Friday, I made caldillo de nopales, stew of nopale leaves, for lunch. Fava beans, garbanzos, onion, tomatoes, nopales and boiled ancho chile water. Delicious!

At the Santana mercado, I met Rafael while shopping for the last ingredients, and I think he'll be a good contact. He sold me the ancho chilies, and has a clean, well-lit stand, selling mostly non-perishable stuff. We agreed that we could both use practice with our language learning, and will probably learn lots from each other. Later, Stuart and I walked around to the MELL, returned and checked out some books. We stopped at the local chocolate shop, too, and took a cup of hot chocolate to a bench in the St.Lucia park. Alvara, a middle-aged local man sat down with us, and wanting to practice his English, asked us where we were from. He told us good things to see and do, and the name of a good locals-only restaurant.

It was a cloudy, cool day for the Fiesta of the Virgin of Guadelupe. Alvara suggested we go to St. Christobal that night, instead of to Santana, which is closer to home. So, about dark, we headed south of the big mercado, walking with about half the city who all appeared to be GOING somewhere. The sidewalks were packed, the stores were all busy, the bus stops had waiting lines, and the traffic cops looked like they were in fast forward. The good part of all this is that with the crowds, it was easier to cross the streets without being singled out for an accident.

The St. Christobal church was at the end of a dark street that had been closed to traffic, beside the little carnival that was set up in the usual park...there is always a park beside a cathedral. Community centers, essentially. The church was beautifully lighted with white, green and red lights, and there was an over-flow crowd for the evening service. While we were there, the crowd got bigger around the open doors, and the crowd at the carnival got bigger at the same time. The carnival crowd was quiet, but I suspect that would only last until the pilgrims began arriving from the pueblas.

The Virgin appeared to a peasant, working in the fields. There is more back story, google it if you want more details. One of the ways to celebrate this most-important religious day is to dress little kids like peasants. The little boys always have a mustache painted on their faces and a tiny sombrero, and the little girls always wear bright colored skirts and white blouses, ribbons in their hair. They stand, screaming or fake-smiling for the ubiquitous photos for parents and grand parents, in front of an altar with enough candle power to light a small city. in other places we've been, there was more costume participation than we saw here, but like festivals everywhere, they take on their own importance.

We heard that the sight to see here is not the cute kids, but the barefooted runners, who run long distances from the pueblas, to pray at this particular church. Alvara advised us to arrive early, in order to stake our spot in the huge crowd. Well, the crowd was growing slowly, and we walked around for a while before deciding that an adult beverage was more appealing than being the lone gringos waiting for a photo op that may not appear for several hours. Besides, it was getting cool, and the wind was promising another surprise rain. The preacher was still going, too, and showed no signs of getting tired.

We had dinner in an old house, close to the Plaza Granda, the sole dinner patrons. Senor Alberto's great-grandfather moved to Merida from Lebanon, and we were served flat bread with our decidedly Yucatecan dinner. Very tasty, and we enjoyed some conversation with Sr. Alberto afterwards. He told us of the changes to the city in his long life, and I peeked around the courtyard and dimly lit restaurant before we said 'buenas noches', promising to return for another meal and conversation.

So much for the big festival for the Virgin of Guadelupe.

Still can't post photos, and my host is not telling me what the problem is...I'll get on it, maybe, manana...