international meal

Menu: Mexican tacos de pescado, German cole slaw (sort of), Chilean wine.

The Patient loves fish tacos. I bought two small Pargo filetes at the pescadoria this morning. Then we nipped over to the Presidencia to pay the taxes and water for 2009 = $230 US, up about 7% from last year.

At the indoor market I bought a half head of cabbage. My daughter Alex makes THE best cole slaw ever. At least for my taste. It's crunchy, flavorful and tart. I don't like creamy, sweet dressing on my slaw, although the Patient prefers this type. I asked her for the recipe and here it is:

shredded celery, onion, carrot, cabbage (purple and white)
celery seeds
mayo, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar

Combine, let sit several hours or overnight.

I haven't omitted measurements; she didn't send any. Here's what I used:

1/2 white cabbage (I would use half red, half white if I could find red)
1 large stalk celery
1/2 medium onion
1 large carrot
2 T caraway seeds (don't have and can't get celery seeds)
2 T mayo
2 T mustard
1/2 cup vinegar

I also added 1/2 medium jicama, shredded


The Patient went up to the Rube Goldberg tortillarilla and brought home a quarter kilo ~ about 14 tortillas.


I sautéd the fish, put them on warmed up tortillas, and along with the slaw we called it dinner.


Restaurant review: the fish was tough and the slaw was not sweet enough for the Patient. Next week's fish will come from Dago's father-in-law's fish market. I should know better than to buy my fish anywhere else than where Dago buys his. As for the slaw, the Patient wants to add a bit of sugar to the mix and see what happens. It can't hurt!

This afternoon we drove up to the airport in Manzanillo to drop of two gringas who had been vacationing here for three weeks. On the way home we stopped in Santiago at an artisania shop to look for a new lamp. My most favorite lamp got broken when the Patient was carrying it upstairs by the harp and the whole mechanism came loose. No luck. We'll look up in Tlaquepaque when we're there at the end of the month.

Tomorrow's opera is another glorious Puccini offering, La Rondine.

After my 11 AM massage I will drag my relaxed body upstairs to wallow in this beautiful musical offering. In case you miss it, here's the story: bad girl meets good boy (see above). He tries to convince her to be good. She tries. She fails. She returns to her bad ways with a bad boy. In between is some truly sublime music.


11 days until 1/20/2009: End of an Error