Food in Mexico – This Week's Offerings

I have been a fan of Mexican food since my college days. The only Mexican food in town at that time was served at Taco Grande, similar to Taco Bell. Mexican food, to us college kids who didn't know better, was hard-shell tacos, burritos, nachos, and taco salad. While these were delicious (and cheap!), I had no idea there was a whole world of wonderful food waiting to be sampled.

When I moved to Dallas after my college graduation, I found a Mexican restaurant on almost every street. The food was similar to Taco Grande, but there were a few more choices…like fajitas, chimichangas, flautas, enchiladas, and sopapillas. I thought I was eating the traditional foods that Mexicans eat in Mexico.

Then, my husband and I moved to Mexico and I discovered that traditional Mexican food is not at all what I thought it was. There is far more variety and far more exotic foods than I ever imagined.

One traditional food that we love is Sopa Azteca or Tortilla Soup. This is a hearty, spicy soup that is often served in restaurants as the first course of the comida corrida (meal-of-the-day), but is really a meal in itself.

Tamales are another traditional food that we enjoy. The size, shape, and ingredients vary from region to region throughout Mexico. Some people say that the Mexican state of Oaxaca has the best tamales in the world.

Food in Mexico – Ingredients that may be unfamiliar

Ancho chile – This is a Poblano chile that has been dried. These can be fried in oil or ground into powder. Removing the veins and seeds before using will reduce the amount of heat they give the dish.

Queso asadero – This is a mild white or light yellow cheese that melts well. It is sometimes called Oaxaca cheese, as it is believed to have originated in that state. If this cheese is not available in your area, you can substitute Muenster or Monterey Jack cheese.

Queso adobera – This is a fresh cheese similar to Queso asadero or Oaxaca cheese, but is soaked in an adobo chile marinade. This marinade usually consists of tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, salt, and spices.

Crema – Sometimes called Queso crema, this is not cheese but a heavy cream similar to crème fraiche, a soured cream that is thicker and less sour than the sour cream you may use on baked potatoes.

Food in Mexico – General Recipe and Regional Recipe

Guanajuato, Mexico and Book Writing

When we moved to Guanajuato more than five years ago, one of the things I wanted to try was "writing." Some of my "readers" wished I hadn't. One fellow, a gringo, told me to my face that I was a "fourth-rate talentless hack." Just imagine.

Now, I never in my wildest imaginings ever had any sort of delusions about my writing. I had creative writing professors, writer's workshop moderators, professional writers, and even someone who was an editor in an International News Service tell me my writing was worth pursuing and gave two of my books favorable reviews. But, then what do they know anyway, right?

Seriously, I am my own worst critic and have struggled with the face-to-face Gringo comment: "Doug, you hideous hack" comment over last five years. I have contemplated giving up writing, which I am sure would bring great joy to the Gringos in Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende who not only would throw a party over my never writing again, but would also help me to that final goal by killing me.

I've had genuine, bona fide death threats from these people.

And yet, I still write.

Do I need professional help or what?

An example of my being a glutton for punishment is my newest book:

A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL: A Guanajuato Travelogue

I began this project as a sort of Swan Song in the Spring of 2006. We had really, truly had the experiences, as I say in the book, of helping not only monolingual Gringos, but also Latinos through the city even though we always seemed to find them clutching maps in their hands. The maps, in my view, are worth less than the paper they are printed on, and only confuse visitors.

Try watching the park signs in Embajadoras that have arrows pointing to nonexistent pathways. There we've managed to be the greatest help to floundering Gringos on the verge of nervous breakdowns or murder or both!

So, I wrote the book...

A travelogue of sorts that, if used with the all-but-worthless map, could be of great help to travelers.

My book gets you around town using landmarks.

I did a "trial balloon" with the book. I printed out galleys and circulated them among visitors to Guanajuato. I got email reports back that not only did the book work but also that never once did a tourist get lost and waste any time trying to find something in the city.

The book will be officially released for Christmas.

If it is a success will I keep writing?

I really don't know. It seems that my target audience, or at least a significant portion of them, have this thing that if they pay for something it gives them the right not only to offer a critical review but also make a personal attack. One lady who read my first book actually posted a comment on Amazon.com threatening to come to Guanajuato, find me, and to hurt me physically. (That first book, by the way, in its first three year's run, paid the rent and light bill for us.)

Is it worth it all? I just don't know.

###

A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL: A Guanajuato Travelogue; Doug Bower; 2008; Unlimited Publishing

GUANAJUATO TRAVELOGUE

A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel

A Guanajuato Travelogue

By

Doug Bower

NOW AVAILABLE Click Here

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (SEPT 2008)

Guanajuato, México (SEPT 2008) New Book offers visitors travelogue description of city.

Guanajuato, México – A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue and Memoir is for American, English-only Europeans, and Canadian travelers who have grown weary of the typical Mexican vacation. Traditionally, these groups have spent their vacation funds in the resort areas of Mexico—Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, and Acapulco are but three. Vacationing at these resorts can grow tiresome after a visit or two. Though they are beautiful, they will easily suck up every dime of your vacation budget in only a few days. Also, the issue becomes one of wondering just how many times you can sit on the beach, swim with the dolphins, and drink margarita after margarita while watching humpback whales have sex. Many American and Canadian tourists are beginning to ask, “Is there more to Mexico than this?” A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue and Memoir answers that question with a resounding, “Yes!”

A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue and Memoir will be a travelogue-memoir with strong guidebook features about the city of Guanajuato (the capital of the state of Guanajuato). It will also cover the surrounding areas, like San Miguel de Allende, that will appeal to American and Canadian tourists. It will be a travelogue featuring me walking through the city of Guanajuato and describing the areas of interest to tourists. I’ve spent more than a year interviewing tourists who come to my adopted Mexican hometown. I asked them, “What would you want to see in a guidebook about Guanajuato?” Most have told me they want “A book that tells what Guanajuato's sights are and how to get to them. Also, we want a book directed at the tourist who only has a limited amount of vacation time.”

Market / Audience

All those interested in learning more about Central Mexico.

Both the tourist who is fluent in Spanish as well as the tourist who does not speak Spanish.

Potential expatriates, study abroad students, and retirees to Central Mexico.

Businesspeople who have to travel in this area of Mexico

Someone who wants a different experience from what one experiences in the traditional resort areas of Mexico.

Number of Pages: 314
ISBN: Pending
Publisher: ULIMITED PUBLISHING LLC
Year: 2008

Contact Information:
Unlimited Publishing LLC
Post Office Box 3007
Bloomington, IN 47402
CONTACT PUBLISHER

NOW AVAILABLE Click Here

Paradise Lost?

For most of the average Gringos living in Mexico, the news comes a bit too late. That's what happens when you are monolingual.

When bilingual, you can not only read and listen to the news, you can ask everyone you encounter what they think of current events.

A current event weighing heavily on the minds of the Mexicans in Guanajuato is what happened in Morelia, Michocan during the country's Independence Day celebration.

"The 2008 Morelia bombings took place on 15 September 2008 on the occasion of the independence day anniversary when thousands of people were reunited in the Plaza Melchor Ocampo, the main square of the Mexican city of Morelia, Michoacán. Shortly after the Grito in that city, led by Governor Leonel Godoy, two blasts were reported, killing at least 8 people and injuring more than 100." - Wikipedia

The whole shebang is being seen as either the La Familia Cartel trying to make The Zeta Cartel look bad or the other way around. The competition for making Michocan the La Familia or The Zeta's staging area for their drug smuggling is fiercely deadly.

Now, they attack civilians to get across their terrorist agenda.

An anonymous observer sent me this:

"The news, by the way, is terrible. Apparently, the attack in Morelia, & the gun battle in Leon are linked, same people, and reveal that the whole thing was masterminded in Guanajuato, by La Familia. It also appears that inside the one of the police corporations, there is collaboration with one of the cartels to put the heat on the rival, causing the manipulation of evidence and some kind of obscure, muddy cover-up smell pervades the whole thing. Keep your head down. And add this to your vocabulary: "!Pecho al suelo!" - !HIT THE GROUND!"

The sad thing is when you talk with Gringos they have absolutely no clue any of this has taken place. Most Gringos stay out of the local loop living in their bubbled, scripted existences. The Mexicans here can be equally sad. They say outright that "it can never happen here." Well...it is happening here. The two hour car chase and the hail of gun fire happened on Guanajuato soil.

We are also hearing of the good people of Michoacan, Gringos and Mexicans, being threated to fork over "Protection Money" -- It is a "do it or else" kind of threat.

Analysts have been saying for some time now that Mexico is on the verge of becoming the next Colombia. Some are saying it has already happened.

###

New Book Release December_2008

My Newest Book Coming Out This Year

A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel

A Guanajuato Travelogue

By

Doug Bower


INTRODUCTION

A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue and Memoir is for American, English-only Europeans, and Canadian travelers who have grown weary of the typical Mexican vacation. Traditionally, these groups have spent their vacation funds in the resort areas of Mexico—Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, and Acapulco are but three. Vacationing at these resorts can grow tiresome after a visit or two. Though they are beautiful, they will easily suck up every dime of your vacation budget in only a few days. Also, the issue becomes one of wondering just how many times you can sit on the beach, swim with the dolphins, and drink margarita after margarita while watching humpback whales have sex. Many American and Canadian tourists are beginning to ask, “Is there more to Mexico than this?” A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue and Memoir answers that question with a resounding, “Yes!”

About the Book

A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue and Memoir will be a travelogue-memoir with strong guidebook features about the city of Guanajuato (the capital of the state of Guanajuato). It will also cover the surrounding areas, like San Miguel de Allende, that will appeal to American and Canadian tourists. It will be a travelogue featuring me walking through the city of Guanajuato and describing the areas of interest to tourists. I’ve spent more than a year interviewing tourists who come to my adopted Mexican hometown. I asked them, “What would you want to see in a guidebook about Guanajuato?” Most have told me they want “A book that tells what Guanajuato's sights are and how to get to them. Also, we want a book directed at the tourist who only has a limited amount of vacation time.”

The city of Guanajuato is difficult to navigate because of its topography. Maps are almost useless. I propose to walk the areas I have come to know well after living here since August 2003. I will offer an easy directive travelogue/guide, complete with landmarks, to the sites traditional guidebooks such as Lonely Planet and Fodors tell you exist but do not tell you how to get to. Though popular guidebooks exist on the market that tell about Guanajuato, they only give it a few pages among hundreds of pages about the whole country. I often see tourists fumbling with huge, bulky guidebooks that cover Mexico in its entirety but only have 30 pages (or fewer) on Guanajuato. These guides list everything Guanajuato has to offer. A tourist with a week’s vacation cannot possibly see everything. My book will give my opinion of what to see and what to avoid as a waste of time. Most importantly, I will tell the reader how to find the various sights.

Features

·The author is a permanent resident of the city of Guanajuato. This offers a huge advantage over all the existing guidebooks, even the big players such as Lonely Planet. Since the author lives in Guanajuato, he can offer the readers his expertise about places worth exploring as well as those sights to skip when one is on a trip with a limited budget and a limited amount of time.

·The book will be written from the perspective of an American author who has lived in the city since August 2003.

·The book will be written with an easy, appealing style and will offer personal accounts and opinions about the city and its culture.

·The book will aid a vast audience of potential tourists, many of whom are not fluent in Spanish, to get along in a region of Mexico not yet as Gringo Friendly as are the traditionally visited resort areas.

·The book will offer not only the author’s enthusiasm and love for Mexico and its culture but also a realistic view of how Mexico could change for the better. The culture will be examined critically as well as favorably. The book will major in specifics and not generalities.

Market / Audience

·All those interested in learning more about Central Mexico.

·Both the tourist who is fluent in Spanish as well as the tourist who does not speak Spanish.

·Potential expatriates, study abroad students, and retirees to Central Mexico.

·Businesspeople who have to travel in this area of Mexico.

·Someone who wants a different experience from what one experiences in the traditional resort areas of Mexico.

Benefit to the Customer

The book will provide a way for the tourist to navigate a central Mexican city even Mexicans find difficult to navigate. It will show tourist traps, how to deal with beggars, which hotels to choose or to avoid, which restaurants to frequent or to avoid. It will save the tourist time, money, and frustration.

FREE Chapter #4

Notes From South of the Border

My Thoughts, My Opinions, My Editorializing on My Life in Central Mexico

Peaceful Quality of Life

The appeal of México is immediate. Whether it is the long, warm sandy beaches of Puerto Vallarta with its marvelous nightlife and eco-jungle tours, or whether it's the mountain life of México's highlands with stable year-round temperatures and provincial conservatism, México is an appealing place. More than one or two couples have come for a vacation and have ended up buying property on an impulse. This happens more than you would think.

When we came for a Spanish study vacation one of the many things that caught our immediate attention was the lack of tension in the environment. You know exactly what I mean if you are an American. There was not the wild-eyed sense of stress that seems these days to dominate America. We didn't see the same stresses causing the prevailing rage that causes such havoc on American streets.

Do not misunderstand me here. I've written of this in past books and articles and get such rancor filled e-mails from my fellow Americans who think that I consumed with bitterness against America. I am not. I am neither bitter nor angry. One of the reasons why I am not either of those things is because I live in a country in which these negative and life-wasting emotions are replaced by a different worldview and it is, thank God, contagious.

Whatever the cause, let's face it: There is an attitude of rage in America that dominates our lives. You cannot go the supermarket, the mall, or drive down the street without seeing it or being a victim or perpetrator of it. My purpose mentioning this is not to harangue about the faults of America. I've left the United States and no longer living there have, in a real sense, forfeited the right to complain and gripe about the country of my birth. All I am doing is making an observation. I am saying that one of the most attractive things about where we live, in the center of México, is the lack of public rage that once made us too terrified to leave the confines of our home in America...Click Here to Read More

Notes From South of the Border

My Thoughts, My Opinions,My Editorializing on My Life in Central Mexico

Chapter 3 The Language Barrier

Stretching Your Horizons

Expatriating to colonial México, especially where English is not going to be widely spoken and there will not be a huge American sector to help you adjust, you really have to have a strategy for survival. The areas of México where Americans traditionally expatriate have such a large English-speaking sector that I cannot possibly imagine much of an adjustment in moving to one of those cities. It is just too easy to live in those areas, I've been told more than once.

If you were to take a fancy to an area like Dolores Hidalgo or where I live, Guanajuato, you would have to think very carefully, what you were going to do with yourself in these places where you can go months without seeing another expat gringo. Without the American sectors and "Gringo Landias," you are on your own. It is you and México and you have to plan for this.

Let me honest. I cannot possibly fathom how someone can do it—live in these areas without a high degree of spoken fluency in Spanish. I get how they can do it in San Miguel de Allende or Puerto Vallarta but not in Guanajuato or other areas in the Heartland of México. But…they do.

Click Here to Read More

***

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Checking Out My Terrorist's Profile

Am I terrorist? No, I am not. I wouldn't know the first thing about being one nor have I ever read a job description. I've not run across any how-to ebooks either. However, the U.S. Federal Government apparently thinks I might be one.

A few days ago I was looking at a feature on my web site's control panel to check my stats. This is where you can find out who is visiting your site and from which country. This is a handy little device that can help you in marketing your site to a country or state that seems to be clicking a lot on your site in the search engines or directory listings.

While looking at this info I found that the United States Federal Government has been snooping on my site since its creation. The breakdown looks like this:

1. U.S. Military

2. U.S. Government

3. U.S. Defense Department

Anywhere from 4 - 24 times per month I've had visitors from the computers in this three U.S. government entities.

This floored me.

Why, I pondered, would information on how to live in Mexico and learn Spanish be of any possible interest to this government agencies? Is what I've written that subversive?


Anyway, in today's news I found this story:

Social Networking Sites Not Just for Friends — It’s Also for the Feds

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

By Jana Winter; Foxnews

Guess who may be checking you out on Facebook, Wikipedia and MySpace?

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are poring over non-verifiable profiles on the Web to help decide who should be allowed into the country and who may pose a threat to national security.

Information is even being collected through Google searches, DHS and FBI sources confirmed to FOXNews.com...Read Whole Story Here

FREE CHAPTERS - 2

All the hyper-links will lead you to more info about the titles.

Notes From South of the Border

My Thoughts, My Opinions, My Editorializing on My Life in Central Mexico

All Rights Reserved @ 2008 by Douglas W. Bower

This book is publicly offered contingent on the reader’s prior understanding that the reader should always independently confirm with other qualified sources the information presented in this text. The author(s) and publisher(s) accept no responsibility of any kind for conclusions or perceptions reached by readers of this ebook. The perceptions you have and the conclusions you draw from the unique opinions of these authors, are your own and you accept total responsibility for them. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISBN: 978-1-4357-0936-2

LuLu Press

OTHER TITLES

The Plain Truth About Living in Mexico
The Expatriate's Guide to Moving, Retiring, or just hanging out!
GUANAJUATO, MEXICO
Your Expat, Study Abroad, and Vacation Survival Manual in The Land of Frogs

ADDITIONAL TITLES AVAILABLE AT:
http://astore.amazon.com/amazoncomaffi-20

Chapter 2

Water

A typical day in the life of an American expat living in Mexico will include trying to find drinking water. This might surprise you but not everyone knows that you cannot “drink the water in Mexico”. This refers to the fact that you cannot drink the tap water in Mexico. Probably every American adult already knows that you cannot drink the tap water. But does the typical American adult know just how one obtains drinking water in Mexico?

In a word: bottles.

The day in and day out routine in Mexico to obtain the liquid of life, that which is absolutely essential for survival, is that you must have bottled water. To meet this need, two companies where I live, Guanajuato, have sprung into being. To say that they are in competition with one another for customers, competition as Americans would define competition, would be a misnomer. That is to say, I think so... READ MORE

Reader's Comments -- OH BOY!!

A READER'S COMMENT:

By your logic, the only proper way to relocate to Canada would be to live in an igloo on Baffin Island. That would be cheap, uncomfortable and inconvenient.

The Three "C" explain why American Real Estate developers are targeting Mexico for the invasion. Some of the expats, real expats, in San Miguel de Allende tell me that the developers there are calling the state of Guanajuato America's 51st state. The plans are for something they are dubbing "The Golden Corridor". There are plans for building a "Theme Park" to attract the Americans and Canadians who will in turn buy real estate.

If you really want to make a more intelligent comment on my "logic" go to my website page SUSTAINABLE EXPATRIATISM. Then try to read more than one or two blogs. I've written several books, and more than 400 articles on this subject. Try that before giving such an hyperbolic response.

If the average Guanajuatense wants little to do with you, Doug, perhaps its because they've read your blog. I imagine a lot of american expats feel the same way. You're pretty hard on both groups. I doubt very much that you or any other expat can ever fully understand the Mexican culture and all it's myriad nuances. It's really not enough to be able to speak the language. You also would have to be Catholic.

First of all, you've missed the point. If you would bother to read the bulk of what I've written about living in Guanajuato, you would have read that my observations have been confirmed over and over again by MEXICANS. Did you miss that point, perhaps? Just as Americans living in New York would offer such opinions based on God only knows what prejudice about living in the Arkansas Ozarks so do other Mexicans from other parts of Mexico offer the same about life in Guanajuato.

Guanajuato, by comparison, is as provincial as a New Yorker would label Clarksville, Arkansas. And I loved living in Clarksville, by the way. Mexicans who do not come from at least 3 generations of Guanajuatenses are not generally accepted. We've heard this too often from too many Mexicans living here who never get invited into other Mexican's homes in the same neighborhood. From an ethnographic point of view this is an amazing thing to learn.

And to offer as a counter point: "If the average Guanajuatense wants little to do with you, Doug, perhaps its because they've read your blog" is almost too absurd to respond to...however:

Since the average Guanajuatense does not speak or read English why would you even use that in your argument. Knowing what I do of the regional culture, of the xenophobia (an observation made by a Mexican), some would probably be offended. But, to be offended would not be proof whether it is right or wrong. It is an observation made by Mexicans which I've reported and, as you have proven, I get blamed for the observation.

And your comment, "I imagine a lot of american expats feel the same way." ...Don't imagine, offer proof.

I will tell you the group of Americans who "feel the same way". They are those who want to live in a socially isolated bubble which the Mexicans call, Gringolandia. The Gringolandians are offended at anyone offering an objection to their monolingualism, cultural imperialism, and using the bilingual Mexican like a hand held translator when the Gringolandian is forced to interface with the culture.

(I am wondering just what is your experience in Spanish and living in Mexico?)

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN THE ANGLO WORLD?

By YOUR "logic": It's really not enough to be able to speak the language. You also would have to be Catholic makes me wonder if you are a monolingual? All cultural analysts I've read agree unanomously that language is the portal to the culture. So this begs the question if you are fluent in any language and specifically in Spanish to be able to offer an intelligent comment: "It's really not enough to be able to speak the language."

In the practice of SUSTAINABLE EXPATRIATISM language in a country in which they speak something different than your own is EVERYTHING.

Also by your logic: You also would have to be Catholic... this is akin to saying that to understand the fact that a woman menstruates each month you would have to be a woman to intelligently discuss it.

By your error in thinking, male doctors could not be gynecologist and enthnographers and anthropologists who specialize in Mexican culture could never offer any intelligent observations about life in Mexico since they aren't Mexicans or Catholic.

So, ...Sounds like you have a lot to learn...

Just who shall we apply this to?

(By the way, the word AMERICAN is ALWAYS capitalized.)