A Gross Item

Sometimes, when I am shopping I come across items that shock me. The other day I happened to see an  item and could not believe that anyone would name a product with such a name. I knew I would never buy such a product, even if its benefits were proven to me. The name alone turned me off!  Moco de Gorila is on the front of the odd shaped bottle. For those of my readers who do not speak or read Spanish, it means Snot of a Gorilla. It seems to be a hair gel that is indestructible and holds hair however you decide you want to to stay! The color green is for a handsome fellow or ladies man. (Galan) The purple bottle is for sports persons and the red is for a rocker (punk). In small letters, in English I read: gorilla snot gel. I thought the whole display was awful with the picture of a weird gorilla on the front.  When I read the name of the hair gel I wondered why anyone would think that something so tasteless would sell!

I then saw a You Tube video showing a young girl raving about the hair gel and how it keeps your hair styled however you want., yet it does not leave any residue. The product is made in Mexico and does not have any Gorilla mucus. Perhaps this is one of those generation gaps that seem to pop up, more often than not!

 

A Reminder

Sometimes I need to be reminded that love can be found all over.I have found rocks in the shape of a heart. I have seen clouds that look like hearts. There is love of self, of God, of family, of friends, of pets and of strangers. A smile, a prayer, a kind word, or hug are many ways of showing love. This morning, my soap let me know that there is lots of love in the world, I just have to look for it. As I washed my face, soap splattered on the mirror. When I saw the splatter, my first thought was of the many loves that are always around us!

"If so many men,

so many minds,

certainly so many 

hearts, so many

kinds of love."

Leo Tolstoy

Raw Fish

My Peruvian sister-in-law used to prepare a white fish with onion and lemon juice. Supposedly, as the juice marinated the fish, it cooked the fish. The dish is called Ceviche and Peruvians love to eat it on a corn tortilla. Maybe a bit of hot sauce sprinkled on the top. I never got used to eating the "raw" fish. This was before Sushi became so popular! I loved eating other dishes she would fix and yesterday some friends and I went to a Peruvian Restaurant to try some of the Peruvian dishes.

The restaurant is in the Highlands area of Denver and is called Cebiche.  We were not disappointed as we tasted a lot of good food.  It all began with one friend ordering the traditional Peruvian drink called a Pisco Sour. It is  made with a brandy called Pisco, lime juice, sugar, water, egg whites and angostura bitters with a sprinkle of cinnamon. I thought it looked like a dessert! A Dos Equis beer was ordered by my other friend and I had water with lime.

We then looked at the menu and tried to decide which wonderful and different dishes we would have. For appetizers we ordered a papa rellena (mashed potato ball rolled in some kind of  crust) on a bed of rice.
The Yuca Frita was strips of fried yuca and a yellow-spicy-tasty-cheese sauce for dipping the yuca. Both appetizers were excellent!

My entree was white fish in garlic butter with rice. The other two dishes were Aji de Gallina (shredded chicken in a rich creamy Parmesan walnut sauce also served with rice and a Linguini with vegetables and meat. The dishes were tasty and we enjoyed every bit of what was served on our plate!



Dessert was ordered with three spoons as we tasted
the arroz con leche (rice pudding) and another pudding with some fruit on top. Someone said it might have been blueberries.

 

The restaurant is painted red and white (colors of the Peruvian flag) and throughout the restaurant there are rug hangings and pictures from Peru. It was an enjoyable evening as we tasted and ate food different from our normal fare!

"I am a serious food lover

and Peruvian cuisine is one

of the best in the world."

Helena Christenson

A Miracle

My daughter creates beautiful gourd art. One of her pieces was Our Lady of Guadalupe. To me, it was a wonderful work of art because I love Our Lady and my daughter made it! At one of the art shows, the figurine was displayed but no one seemed interested in buying it. When the originators of the art show came by and informed my daughter that a past member of the arts was dying of cancer and  asked if she cared to donate a piece of her art to be sold to benefit the sick lady, my daughter gave them Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Time passed and my daughter received a package with Our Lady and a note saying the ill lady had recuperated (gone into remission) and there was no need to have a sale to raise money for her. My first thought that it was a miracle or something very close to a miracle!


At the next show, Our Lady again did not sell, though many of my daughter's other gourd pieces were purchased. Our Lady returned home with my daughter. She decided to keep our Lady of Guadalupe for herself.  Since then, my daughter has made other Our Lady of Guadalupe figures, each one similar yet different, and they have sold, but the original one graces a shelf in my daughter's art room.

"Let not your heart be disturbed

...am I not here who is your Mother?"

Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego

Elephants in India

A group of travelers returned a few weeks ago from India. One if the pictures posted on Facebook was of three of the travelers on top of an elephant. It reminded me of a pin that I have had for years that had been given to me by an Indian friend. I can't recall his name but I found the pin one day in an old jewelry box.  It is a pin of  five elephants and I hope it is not carved from ivory.

In India, it is believed that the elephant brings good luck and prosperity. They are a symbol of power, dignity, intelligence, wisdom, loyalty, strength, fidelity and longevity. I have seen documentaries on elephants and I would add creativeness and family oriented. It saddens me when I read about how they are mistreated and handled in a cruel manner.

When I visit a zoo, I enjoy watching the lumbering animal eat, splash water or toss dirt. I have watched baby elephants hanging around its mother and how the little elephant can walk underneath its mother. It seems sad that some of the elephants are confined to small areas. Seeing an elephant perform in a circus is even sadder and I wish they would be banned from appearing in circuses.

It appears that in India, a previous task force on elephants member, Suparna Baksu Ganguly, said, "all Indians, culturally, have love, respect, and great devotion for the elephant." It would be nice if everyone felt the same way toward the large animals.

Burn or Hang?

At 2nd and Charles Book Store, I happened to see a book that looked interesting. Calligraphy of the Witch by Alicia Gaspar De Alba. As I began reading, the vulgar scenes in the book made me wonder if the book hadn't be written by a man. To me, it did not sound as if a woman had written the novel. After a few pages, I was hooked into the story of pirates, slavery, Puritans, religion, Indians and witches. The descriptions of the area and the people left nothing to the imagination and I could picture the characters in the book and how they were dressed.

On the front pages I read: This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Once I got into the book I found it difficult to put it down until I reached the last page. A sad and emotional story.

The story takes place in and around Boston and Salem.  It covers the cruelty of slavery, Puritans against anything different and witchcraft. How the Puritans hated the Papists as they called those of the Catholic faith. A quote I found in the Internet about how Puritans felt about Catholics: "...More obstinate that a Quaker and just as ignorant as a savage." I found it interesting to see how other people viewed life and mistrusted anyone who did not speak their language or was different. Descriptions of Mexican food and how the names were changed to fit the English way of speaking is humorous. I couldn't help but think that everyone in the story believed they were correct and doing the right thing!

I put the book down after reading the last page and felt sad that things could not have turned out differently and happy that the main character (Thankful Seagraves, Concepcion Benavidez, Jeronima , Mistress Tobias Webb) was free and living her life as a man away from all the pain and suffering she had endured.

 Not too long ago I visited Salem and saw the place of the witch hunts of 1692.  I did not enter the museum because of the throngs of people visiting that day. Salem is now a tourist attraction and people will visit the area wearing costumes! I Googled and found out that some of the characters in the story were real people. What I had thought was a fictional novel turned out to be a bit of a historical novel. A blog, (La Bloga) featuring Hispanic writers, had a review of the book on March 25, 2008.

I would recommend this book which covers, among many things, the witch hunts, trials and how easy it was to convince someone that certain people were witches. Even though I had heard about the witches of Salem, I had always thought witches were burned at the stake. Yet, in what I have read, the witches of Salem died by hanging.

"Both Catholic and Protestant churches persecuted witches. 

The only difference being the form of execution. 

Catholics burned witches, Protestants hanged them."

Unknown

Book Club Meeting in Three Courses

A Book Club member invited us to meet at her home. The house was beautifully decorated and our first course was juice, tea or coffee in Christmas glasses or mugs. I could hear lots of chatter, people greeting each other, taking coats to a back bedroom and putting the pot luck surprises on the decorated table.



The second course was helping ourselves to the tasty dishes brought by the different members.  Two types of quiche, ham and cheese breakfast sandwiches, tamales, apple cake, cranberries rolled in sugar, cheese, crackers, fruit, casserole, nut bread, and cookies. The food looked appetizing on the large table decked with a red and white tablecloth.

After a lot of ooohing and aaahing about the delicious food, we began our discussion on the book, Aftertaste, A Novel In Five Courses by Meredith Mileti. It seemed that everyone had enjoyed the book and some of the characters were liked better than others. I liked what I read on the cover of the book about the best thing in life happens off the menu! So true.

As in many of our talks about books we have read, the conversation veers off to travel, different foods, cooking, cook books, and favorite foods. I found it interesting the travelers to different countries had encountered weird (and unappetizing sounding) food. Octopus, guinea pigs, birds, horses, dogs or cat dishes were mentioned by those who had traveled to countries where they eat such things. When someone asked if there was a special cook book that was liked, there were many responses. I did not have much to say since cooking is not at the top of my list of fun things to do. I thought about mentioning that at my shower before I got married, I was given a book by a lady named Smitty. She had written on the top of a page in the book, "With my best wishes and remember that the recipes in this book will keep your husband happy." I used that book until it fell apart. The pages were splattered, torn, and some pages were stuck together. A few years ago I tossed the tattered book into the trash because I now can Google a recipe if I feel like cooking. During the time I was married and my children were growing up, I prepared food from my Better Homes and Garden book that Smitty gave me. On the Internet I found a picture of a vintage book like mine!

Third course included dessert of fudge or cookies or getting up and having seconds. Many thanks go to our hostess, to the many good cooks and for a great discussion!

Bon Appetit!