The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for December 22 - January 4, 2008
Christmas in San Miguel

I made it there, had a very nice time, and, miraculously, made it back too.
Chris's brother Karl had a grand time as the birthday boy (he just turned 50 and a bunch of his friends went to Mexico to celebrate with him). I told you I'd take some snaps for you so here goes:

This is the biggest Pointsettia tree I've ever seen. There are not so many pines there, so they create things out of other things. All beautiful. Our Hacienda decorated an Agave shoot (right before they die they send up dramatic stalks) and plucked natural red and green things from the area, making it all very festive and lovely.

The Main Entrance

Hacienda de las Trancas is a spectacular place. Around 450 years old, this fort has been restored by some folks who moved there from here (imagine that). Our group took over the whole place, taking full advantage of the massages, excursions to nearby towns, horseback riding, bike riding, and fabulously wonderful meals (I can't remember the last time I was presented with three meals a day for a whole week!)

Avocado Ice Cream

In Dolores Hidalgo, a small Colonial city near the Hacienda, the vendors make and sell the wildest ice cream I've ever seen. I, being fond of vanilla, branched out a bit and got their "special vanilla" which was studded with, much to my surprise, prunes!

Faster than imaginable, the ice cream folks urge tastes of all the flavors, thrusting spoons full with a lick or two of all the odd creations.

"Here! Try the "Beer" one! Chile! Mole! Chicharron (crisp pork skins)!" We dutifully tasted them all, intrigued by their differences and, truthfully, their similarities to their titles. The beer one was probably the oddest. Frosty, yeasty, and scooped, like vanilla, right into a cone. Not for me.

Dinners to go

Dinners, as you know, come with a freshly-made green salad, salad dressing of the day, and made-right-here bread of the day. We take reservations until noon or so. Please order by phone (252-1500), by FAX (252-02002) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.

As a reminder, every time you order a dinner to go you are eligible to enter our drawing. Just drop a card in our drawing jar (a business card works or fill out one of the cards that we have right here) and, at the end of the month, we'll pull one card which will be good for two free dinners-to-go.

Maybe you'll win next month.

Order a lot? Enter a lot!
Good luck!!

We're closed for the Christmas week and will reopen right after New Year's Day. Here's the menu for the remainder of the first week of January:

Wednesday, January 2 Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola and Spinach 14.75
Thursday, January 3 Indonesian-style Chicken 9.95
Friday, January 4 Crab Burgers with Avocado Aioli 13.25

Our website
Special casserole of the week

We make a special casserole each week, usually on Wednesday. Order before noon and we'll have yours ready to pick up between 4:30 and 6:00 that very afternoon. (Yes, you can order in advance too.) Order a full for 9 portions or, if your gang is smaller, opt for the half-sized one, which serves 4 or so.

Say, we'll happily make a salad and provide bread for you if you like, just let us know when you call and we'll get you all set up.

The Casserole for January 2
Greek Shrimp, Chicken and Orzo Pie
Whole: 38.00
Half: 19.00

Chiles en Nogada

Here is one of the special dishes of the region (the country, I guess).

Resembling the Mexican flag, a chile (green) is stuffed, and graced with a sauce made of grounds nuts (white), and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds (the red).

This particular version was delicious! My chile relleno, the thing I always order, was terrific too, but I think that Chris's sister Janie, won the ordering prize this time.

Wild Peppers

The trees around the Hacienda were loaded with these red berries. If you squished them your hands smelled like pepper, and, though they are not the black peppers, they drew us all in. Pepper trees! Amazing!!!

Our hosts stuck clumps of them in displays all over the place, especially here, in the entryway. (Gosh, it was beautiful there.)

"Pegaso"

We could ride two times a day if we liked. I rode four times. Well, three times plus one time which turned into an "adventure in horsemanship" (I'll tell the story in a moment - in my "note").

Anyway, the cast of characters for my story are:
Me, pictured in the foreground here.
Pegaso, my white steed.
Juan Antonio, our guide, pictured in the background, with his horse.
Pepe, Juan Antonio's cousin.
Juan, Juan Antonio's father.

You can't see Zanny, or her horse, Cadete.
You also can't see Skip, and his horse for the day, Midnight.

But more about that in a minute.

A Note From Laurey


December 22, 2007

Oh my. Here we are. Last newsletter of the year. Last day of work for us this year. The kitchen bustles. Folks come in, pick up their orders and last-minute gifts (our shelves are not as crammed full as they were last week, that’s for sure!)

I flew in late on Thursday night after the week in Mexico with my partner Chris and her family, all gathered to celebrate her brother’s 50th birthday. The week, as I’ve shown you, was full of food, fun, excursions, new vistas, and all kinds of fun and nice things. But, as my inspiration Garrison Keillor, says, no one buys the books about all the stuff that went right. Here, then, is a little story of a day that was a bit different.

So: the Hacienda has a troop (group? herd? collection?) of horses for its guests. And though I grew up with riding lessons, and have a sister who is an amazing rider, I have steered clear of riding since the last time I rode with her, the time when “Hollywood” skipped or tripped or did something and I fell off and broke a rib or two. That was a painful thing and I’ve not felt drawn to riding since.

But this seemed different. It seemed tame enough. I mean, how difficult could it be, to go out with a guide for a walk around some flat land with a bunch of people who most certainly had less riding experience than me. On my first time out, I got used to the Mexican saddle, and enjoyed a very manageable ride on Pegaso (Pegasus)with the other guests. Juan Antonio led us, mostly walking, down to the river and then up to the flat land on the other side. We had a leisurely hour walk and, occasionally, a trot.

On my second ride, things were similar. The soreness from my first ride had abated, I was more comfortable on the saddle, and even encouraged Pegaso to trot. And once or twice, when he hopped into a canter, I stepped up right along with him. I was liking this! I was liking Pegaso, was understanding his name more and more. His moments of fleetness WERE like flying. This was nice! I was back in the saddle, indeed!

But the third time things were a bit different. On the first two rides, Pegaso had maintained third position, seeming content to follow behind Juan Antonio on his horse, and then Cadet and Midnight. But on day three, Pegaso kept nudging forward, pushing and shoving and asserting himself. We walked down to the river and up on the other side. Pegaso tried a few times to take the lead but neither Cadet nor Midnight would let him. I tried to hold him back, and was pretty successful. “Let’s just stay back here” I said.

On top, finally, we stretched out a bit. Juan Antonio took the lead. Cousin Pepe followed behind. Juan, the dad, pranced alongside, telling stories of the Hacienda, of his visits to the US, of this and that. Cadet (ridden by Zanny) and Midnight (with Skip on top) jockeyed for position. At one point both horses wandered to the left of the path and Pegasus wasted no time, quickly trotting up to the front, right behind Juan Antonio. Cadet was not happy, nor was Midnight. Trying to settle everyone down, I signaled to Pegaso to hold back, and, given the opening, Cadet skipped back up to the front of the line. Midnight came right behind, sidling in right next to Pegaso, trotting and showing off as if to brag to Pegaso that he was on his way to being in front too.

At that point Pegaso did something subtle to really anger Midnight and Midnight gave Pegaso a little kick in the side. Skip, on Midnight, didn’t seem to notice, but Pegaso sure did, seizing the moment to give Midnight a feisty return kick, no small thing this time. Midnight hurried ahead, happy to be in front, and not too troubled by the kick. All was fine with him and Skip, but I, not really ready for Pegaso’s little retaliation dance, had lost my balance, and before I knew what had happened, was on the ground, rolling onto my shoulder in the dry grasses (not on the cactus – thank heavens). Everyone stopped to see if I was all right, which I was, and then looked up to see about Pegaso.

Pegaso, surprised right along with me, took off at a fast walk, then a trot, then a canter and, before any of us could do anything (what COULD we have done, really?) roared away at a full gallop, taking off across the fields. Juan Antonio, after a glance at me to see if I was hurt (I wasn’t) took off too. Both horses flew to a corner of the property, turned right on an old road, and ran as fast as they could, Juan Antonio in hot, unsuccessful pursuit. Pegaso turned one more time (the land is divided into quadrants that are probably about a square half mile) and started galloping back toward us. At that point Juan joined the chase, taking off to see if he could help head Pegaso off at the corner. Pepe never spoke and never moved, staying with me and Skip, still sitting on Midnight and Zanny, still on Cadet.

Though Pegaso came toward us, once he actually saw us he headed back down toward the river, Juan Antonio and his father and their horses all still behind him, running at a full gallop.

The rest of us decided to walk back to the Hacienda. I was happy to walk. And I was worried about Pegaso and Juan Antonio and, well, about all of them (and us.) Midnight and Cadet walked too, Zanny and Skip asking, often, if I was okay. I was. Still.

After some time Juan joined us, saying that Pegaso had gone back to the Hacienda on his own. But after about ten more minutes Juan Antonio appeared over the hill, on Pegaso (not on his own horse!) Pegaso looked proud and pranced around, panting, in front of Cadet and Midnight, seeming to glow about his adventure. Skip by then had decided that HE didn’t want to be on a horse anymore either, so I got up on Midnight for him. All of us walked, walked, walked back. Juan Antonio, after checking back in with us, took off again, off to fetch his horse who, it turned out, had fallen from the exertion of his chase. It was a big mess all in all.

We did all make it back to the stable. Skip walked on his own. I rode Midnight. Zanny rode Cadet, who behaved himself. Juan walked his horse, and Pepe walked with his too. Juan Antonio led his horse, who was completely soaked in sweat, while riding a still swaggering Pegaso.

Two days later I did ride again, but Pegaso got ridden by Juan Antonio, not me. Juan Antonio’s horse took the day off. I was on Calsetine (“Sock”), who behaved himself. Everyone respected their positions. We walked all over the Hacienda property. A long two hour ride. No trotting. No cantering. No galloping. No kicking. No sweat.

My little scraped shoulder is almost healed. And the whole thing is mostly just a fine story.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. May your days be fine, fun, safe, lovely, merry and bright. I’ll see you next year..

Mexican Birthday Fireworks

Karl's birthday night finished with some hilarious and wonderful fireworks. If you look closely, you can see the igniter, climbing up this precarious wooden framework, on his way to lighting the next series of whirling wonders - with his cigarette!

The final, right after the "50" lit up for everyone to see, was a halo-like construction of the lightest possible bamboo, ringed with flaming, whistling twirlers. As the fireworks almost wound down, the halo ignited in one final burst of fire and - took off into the sky, spinning and screaming (along with all of us) and getting tinier and tinier until it flamed out, by then only a wisp of its former fiery glory.

We howled, hooted, yelled, and cavorted right along with the dancing Mariachi band and the children from the village. What a night! What a blast! What a time. Happy Birthday Karl.

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