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Monday, March 29, 2010

Pátzcuaro's Specialty Food Shops

It may come as a surprise to newcomers that somewhat provincial Pátzcuaro has several specialty food shops. If you are looking for Asian sesame oil, or sushi rice, rice wine vinegar; where do you find them? What about fromage chevre or smoked provolone? Daikon radish? Eggplant? Brussels Sprouts? In this series of blog posts, I'll describe where to find these items. They are not to be found in the Centro Mágico, but in a workaday neighborhood, not far from the railroad tracks.

It used to be that you'd at least need to go to Morelia or Mexico City to locate these foreign foods. But it seems that the owners of a flourishing tienda de abarrotes in "off-Centro" Pátzcuaro realized that their more affluent clients wanted these foreign items, and made great efforts to obtain them.

The tienda is "Don Chucho's", well known locally, but unlisted in any guidebooks. It has been operated by the same family for over 50 years, the day to day operations having passed from the eponymous Don Chucho to his son, Octavio Mendoza Servín and wife Delia Guzmán Júarez.

Octavio Mendoza
Delia Guzmán waits on customer
The building itself is over 100 years old, though, of course, remodelings have taken place over the years, most recently a doubling of the sales space in about 2007. Several generations live in the house behind the store.

The Don Chucho building many years ago

The customer base still consists of local people from the neighborhood around "La Estacíon", the old passenger railroad station just to the north of the store. The store itself is on a corner of Avenida Saltillo, (the "libre" highway to Uruapan) near a brightly yellow-painted pedestrian bridge.

The store stocks an amazing inventory of staple foods, canned goods, basic automotive needs (see the fan belts hanging from the ceiling), bulk spices, bottled salsas, canned goods, ice cream treats, charcutería and productos lacteos. I first learned of the store from the late Will Chapman and Jimmy Blackfeather Rose. It was recommended to me for its higher quality butter, made without aromatizantes. It was true, but additionally, there are two or three varieties of chevre and sometimes smoked provolone. Overhead, ropes of chorizo hang: a drier type, made elsewhere and a moister type, Don Chucho's custom chorizo de la casa.

Chorizo hangout
Nearly every inch of wall shelving has some product on it. But we are there to see what kind of foreign foods they have. I'd first noticed Hershey's Cocoa Powder, but that's not too unusual, as several supermercados carry it. There are the aforementioned sushi ingredients (less the fish!) including nori; the sesame oil, various grades of olive oil, specialty vinegars, including  raspberry and balsamic; instant frijoles in a pouch! Just add boiling water? (Oh, well).

There's also a small liquor department.

And this big, 4.5 liters bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label is offered at only $2300 MXP.

The price for these delicacies is a little higher than you'd find in Morelia stores, but you have the convenience of shopping closer to home, so it's worth it.

In the deli case near the "natural" butter is a delicate queso de yogurt of lacy texture. Every visit to Don Chucho's reveals more products, as you will discover.

Don Chucho's carries a small but select line of produce, displayed on the counter top, but if you want more, there's a nice little produce stand just outside, around the corner.

Need more and different cheese? A brand new, shiny Fábrica de Quesos opened across Av. Saltillo late in 2009. So far, the crema has proved to be outstanding and rich, and the cheeses we've sampled are good, but typically bland in the style favored in Michoacán. I mean to try their butter, when I have a chance.

If the sight of this food makes you hungry, you'll find several outdoor fondas along the streets, offering inexpensive meals. I've only sampled the fare at one; a plate of cerdo en salsa negra con frijoles, which was excellent, barring the belated arrival of utensils until I was halfway fnished. (I ate with tortillas.) Look for which fonda has the most people eating, and decide for yourself.

To complete (or better, to begin) your epicurean visit to this area of Pátzcuaro, go to Panadería La Espiga, a short walk from Don Chucho's, which I described in detail several years ago. It has the tastiest, wood-oven baked teleras in Pátzcuaro. Just be sure to get there before 10 a.m., earlier if possible.

Don Chucho's opens at 8:00 a.m and closes for a descanso at 2:00 p.m.; then reopens at 4:00, Monday -Friday. On Saturday and Sunday it closes at 2:00 and doesn't reopen until Monday morning. (The hours of operation may vary.)

View Pátzcuaro's Best Eats in a larger map

Saturday, March 27, 2010

The New, Spring Look

It's Spring time, and I'm regenerating energy by taking a rest from blogging for a while. I have some topics lined up that will engage my attention and, I hope, yours.

Meanwhile, I was browsing the Templates section of Blogger, where I saw a new, attractive Spring outfit I just couldn't resist. After trying it on, I decided to buy it, an incredible bargain at only $0.

For those who are interested, it's a variation of "Simple". I think it's easier on the eyes.

Just to keep this food related, a new restaurant, "Regina's", has opened up in the variously named Eco Hotel on the Calle Al Estribo Grande in Pátzcuaro. I haven't been there yet, but we got an email from "SFC Ric" that stated:

Regina's Pizza & Wine at the Eco Hotel on La Subida Al Estribo Grande #48 is operated by Gonzalito Leal, the head chef at La Surtidora (The Office) on the Plaza Grande; opened last weekend.  The service hours are: Thursday and Friday 5 p.m. till 1 a.m., Saturday 9 a.m. (breakfast is also served) till 1 or 2 a.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. till 7 p.m.
I'll be interested in how long that gruelling schedule will stay in effect.

The dinner menu includes grilled meats, of the quality of SuSazón, a fine meat purveyor in Morelia. The view is first rate.

Hasta prontito,
Don Cuevas

UPDATE: How could I forget to mention that our seafood favorite in Pátzcuaro, Mariscos La Güera, now offers free wi-fi to its customers? So now, you can check your email and browse your favorite web sites while peeling your camarones.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

La Mesa de Blanca

Rumors had drifted to us of a wonderful restaurant located in a small town with a hard-to-pronounce name. "Ziracuarétiro", somewhere between Pátzcuaro and Uruapan, 5 kilometers off the Autopista al Sol toll highway.

Among the rumors was that it "was the best restaurant in Michoacán."
The chef, Sra. Blanca Vidales Vega, is a prizewinner in regional and national concursos.

With stories like that, we had to visit it and dine there. At the suggestion of our friend and fellow foodie, Ron, we made a date to drive to Ziracuarétiro on Sunday afternoon. It was a very nice way to celebrate the arrival of Spring.

The restaurant, called "La Mesa de Blanca", is a delightful surprise to find, in beautiful, agricultural countryside of avocado, peach and mango orchards. The road debouches in the town, its skyline dominated by the bell tower of the church. After getting directions locally, we located the restaurant without much difficulty.

The restaurant La Mesa de Blanca is located on Avenida Ferrocarril. The approach via a tracks crossing, after passing through a typical, small Michoacán town streetscape.

Soon after crossing the RR tracks and leaving the pavement, we were encouraged to see a large, attractive building ahead. There was an ample parking area to the right.

At the big door, we were greeted by Sr. Rodrigo Lemus, husband of Chef Blanca, and some of the colorfully garbed staff.

There are several dining rooms in this very large restaurant, most of which have green plants, open views to the town below and the green hills beyond. The main dining room has aquaria holding carp and perhaps goldfish. There is a big table with a display of choice bottles of wine, attractively flanked by antique kitchen implements.

We saw two kitchens; the first, located in the broad entry hall, is an area for making carnitas, grilling meats, and the hand making of tortillas.
The second, principal kitchen, centrally located bewteen the entry hall and the main dining rooms, is dominated by big pots and many more cooks than the other kitchen. Pretty waitresses, clothed in colorful outfits, waited there to pick up orders.

Our hosts led us to what, if I recall correctly, is called "El Refugio", an elevated dining room beyond the service bar, with comfortable seating, cloth draped tables and a nice view. We were brought a dish of salsa, some nicely made pickled vegetables (crisp tender cauliflower, carrots, onions and rings of surprisingly mild chile perón.) There was also a dish of batons of jícama, with a small pool of a fruity salsa picante, When we asked, we were told that it was chile guajillo, but no fruit.

After taking our drink orders, mezcal for me and Doña Cuevas, after a tasting of two varieties; plus an agua mineral and a glass of vino tinto for our friend Ron. Later, we ordered a jarra de agua fresca, which, considering it was made from ripe zarzamoras (blackberries), a fantastic choice. In some ways it was a highlight of the meal. It was the best agua fresca de fruta we'd ever had. Ron also had a bottle of agua mineral.

The Botanas (Entradas) section of the menu held some interesting possibilities, among them Chiles Chipotles Rellenos de Queso; 3 pieces, of which we were assured that they were not muy picante; Tacos Mineros; 4 pieces filled with softened chicharrón; and although we were tempted by Chiles Capones Relleno de Queso, it was too similar to the chipotles, so we settled on some Guacamole. There, in the heart of the aguacate growing lands, what would be more apropos than a dish of a simple and excellent guacamole?
Also available were a couple of soups, a pasta carbonara(!), and an Ensalada de la Casa.

In choosing los Platos Fuertes: Ron decided, with my encouragement and the waiter's description, to have Mixiote de Cordero, seasoned lamb or borreguita steamed or baked in a parchment like pouch of the inner membrane of the penca ("leaf") of the maguey plant.

Doña Cuevas chose Enchiladas con Cecina.

I looked over the menu, ignoring the Pescado Empanizado and Pechuga Empanizada as too ordinary; and I didn't want arrachera, as we'd just had it at home last week; I'm not a big fan of chamorro (pork shank); there's a small list of seafood cocteles, but those are something we eat all the, I ordered Lengua a la Veracruzana.

Service was excellent and attentive. We had the attention of one older, experienced waiter and a very helpful younger man who spoke English.

Now, our evaluations of these dishes.
We all agreed that the Chiles Chipotles Rellenos de Queso were the best of the three botanas we had. They were spicy but not fiery. The Tacos Mineros were good tasting as well as being very attractively presented. The guacamole was fresh, simple, and had crunchy chicharrones with which to scoop up the guacamole. The portion could have been a little more abundant.

Of the platos fuertes, Ron loved the mixiote after it "grew on him" a bit.
I tasted the savory juices and it was something like birria in a maguey bag. This was probably the outstanding dish of the three we ordered.

Doña Cuevas said the enchiladas were simple but good, accompanied by cubed potatoes and carrots, nicely garnished, and there was a large piece of thin, crisply cooked cecina to the side.

My Lengua a la Veracruzana was a satisfying, homey dish. The lengua was very well cooked and tender and the savory but not picante sauce had a generous quantity of capers, as it should. Oddly, there were no olives.

Ron and I split an order of a very nice, light, Pastel de Macadamia for dessert, and I had a pretty good, if overly large café express.

The bill came to about $862 MXP for the three of us, plus a nice tip.

After dinner, Sr.Lemus and I chatted, in Spanish, English and German (he did, not I.) and I learned that his wife, Chef Blanca, was away that day, giving a talk in Aguascalientes. I wondered to myself if the food is even better when she is present. Ron, in particular, is always interested in specials of the day or of the season. I thought that if Chef Blanca were there there may have been yet more interesting items. So, we are obligated to return, with great pleasure and anticipation. We are also thinking of trying more botanas and drinks and maybe checking out the cocteles de mariscos.

Sr. Lemus also told me that they operated another, breakfast only restaurant toward the center of town, which he said "it's even better than this." It's called (are you ready?):

"El gorjeo de los aves en la mañana de abril."
(The trill of birds in the morning in April.")
Open every day, 8 a.m. to 12 noon.
I'm now wondering where to stay in Ziracuarétiro besides the pricey looking Hacienda Caracha. A resort whose Flashy website doesn't show prices, always a warning sign for me.

Our tentative ratings of La Mesa de Blanca:

Food: ****
Service: *****+
Ambience: *****
Price: $-$$
Restrooms: *****

Location and hours:
Avenida Ferrocarril s/n
Ziracuaretiro, Michoacán (ZC) 61700
*Open Thursday-Sunday only*

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Restaurant La Lupita

In the Autumn of 2009, the Restaurant Cha Cha Cha (C3) in Pátzcuaro, closed its doors. Last Winter, rumors flew that Rodolfo, who operated the restaurant at the Gran Hotel on Plaza Chica, had taken over the C3 premises and with his wife, Lupe, as Chef, would reopen the restaurant with a new name and menu.

Hopes bloomed in expat hearts that Lupita's, as the place is named, would fulfill their expectations for a new, pleasant dining spot in Pátzcuaro.
We have had lunch there twice now, and I had breakfast once with the R.O.M.E.O. breakfast group. I think I can now review it in a reasonably fair manner. I have firmly decided not to compare it with C3 which would be fraught with pitfalls.

The first occasion was about a month ago, within two weeks after Lupita's opened. We went with friends Shirley and Ernie and had a nice lunch. The patio setting is bright and simple. The management is redecorating the rooms and patio. The patio has umbrellaed tables to shade diners from the sun.
Several popular and experienced waiters from the Gran Hotel Café came over to Lupita's with Rodolfo.
On our first visit, we were brought some warm tostaditas with tinga de pollo, shreddded seasoned chicken, as an amuse-bouche, which was nice.
There ws also a basket of warm, garlic type bread, which unfortunately was soaked in excessive melted butter. It was much better on our second visit. No amuse-bouch on our second visit last Friday.

We ordered a jarra of agua fresca de papaya, and it was heartening to see that it was made of fresh fruit with lots of pulp, and not from some concentrate.

We ordered a wide variety of plates. Doña Cuevas requested the Ensalada Lupita; Shirley, Hamburguesa y Papas Francesas; Ernie and I both Mole de Pollo Especial Lupita's.
La esposa and I both started with Sopa Tarasca, which is for me a sort of creds check for local restaurants. Let's start with there. Let the analysis begin!
The Sopa was attractive, with the requisite strips of chile pasilla, totopos and crema. I don't recall any sprinkles of cheese, but that's not a necessity.
We enjoyed the Sopa, but it was not in my Top Ten Tarascas of all Time for me, due to a very noticeable taste of Knorr-Suiza beef base. (O.k., I use that at home, but I pay less for my own, informal cooking.) Also, there was no puree of frijól, which for me is the foundation of a good Sopa Tarasca. We can take up that controversial subject another time.

The main courses arrived in good order. Shirley reported her hamburger to be fine, and "just like those frozen patties from Costco." Probably was purchased from there, in my suspicious opinion. (I use the same at home, and they are o.k.; but not in the same league as a hand-patted burger made from freshly ground meat.) The hand cut fries were small but good.

Doña C's Ensalada Lupita turned out to be a sort of yácata of diced chicken, jícama, granos de elote and such, bound with mayo. She says it was o.k. but bland. A dab of the salsa casera of chile perón sparked it up.

The Mole de Pollo was impressive; a brick-red pool of mole with a chicken breast (you can choose which part you prefer) flanked by a golden field of excellent Sopa Seca de Arroz. There was a lot of the rice, and it was among the best I've eaten anywhere.

The Mole itself was sharp, and redolent of cloves, cinnamon and chile. It was not a sweet, chocolatey mole. I do prefer the less sweet, more picante moles. This one was emphatically sharp. The cloves had been applied with a heavy hand. The chile component was good, but gradually mounted into a fierce burn. I'd been under the impression that a good mole should not taste any single component, but should blend harmoniously into one whole taste experience. The Mole at Lupita's was a tasty and spicy dish, but one that failed the harmony test.

We passed on dessert, nor were we even offered coffee or dessert.
I don't recall the exact bill, but it was reasonable.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Today, a Pretzel in New York; Tomorrow, your Margarita!

~This is from my Private Reserve Blog, reposando until the right moment. No blog shall be released before its time.~
Warning: reading this blog may be hazardous to your health.

(A few months ago)
I was reading the New York Times Online, and I saw that the health puritans of New York City's Bloomberg administration once again wish to impose their dietary restrictions upon the citizenry. After making smokers into pariahs; eliminating trans fats, (but inconsistently), they now want to reduce the salt intake of the citizens. What's more ominous about this effort, is that this time, they hope to influence U.S. food processors/manufacturers nationwide to reduce the salt content of their products.

Will there be salt inspection checkpoints at the New York City lines?
This next one may alarm our friend Felipe. Note the desperate, salt-craved look on the Subway customer's face, desperately clawing the glass case.

In 2008, New York City began forcing chains like Subway to post calorie counts, a requirement that restaurants resisted.
(NY Times photo and caption)

Please don't get me wrong. I think reducing one's sodium intake is a good idea. I have seen the terrible effects of strokes, and I'm strongly in favor of prevention. I only disagree with having our personal dining choices mandated by a city council with apparently nothing better to do than to interefere with our free choice to smoke, to eat fats and to ingest salt.
I mean, REALLY! We're not talking hard drugs here.

But, I'm not worried. It can't happen here in Mexico. Here, we have the freedom to eat all the fat and salt laden comida chatarra (junk food) we want, anytime. A bag of salty snacks and a soft drink are a cherished snack combination for many Mexicans. One can even eat the crappy food of your choice while riding unhelmeted on a motorbike. That's true freedom. Only in Mexico.

(Oh, but smoking in most public places was banned in Mexico City last year. Surely they wouldn't infringe on our freedom to eat unhealthy foods??)

Can you imagine a michelada or a margarita without a salt rimmed goblet? Barcel and Sabritas would have to go out of business.

Citizens of New York! Hear me! Guard your freedoms, because the next step will be to ban the salted pretzel or bagel. What about Kosher chickens or meat, which are heavily salted to remove the blood? Will a religious exemption be made? (I can see the ACLU getting involved in this.)

You'll never miss your bad eating habits until they are taken away.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Gourmandizing Mexico City Part 7- The Final Days

Monday was our last full day in Mexico City, with the morning devoted to shopping,at Mercado San Juan, where I looked for fresh shiso leaves for Ron. One vendor had them, in a locked refrigerator, but they were $5 pesos each, and very perishable, so I didn't buy any. Nearby, I foolishly agreed to pay $26 MXP for a tiny bag of mustard powder, perhaps 100 grams. I didn't really need it as I can restock more cheaply while in the U.S. this June.

I got some better pics of beautiful Oriental vegetables, then went to the Spanish deli stand called "La Suiza", and admired the salamis and cheeses. I got a small section of salami, which was actually produced in Mexico. It's delicious. They also had some nicely packaged soup and stock bases, in large, and very expensive containers, but they were willing to sell me a small sample bag for about $30.

By this time, Doña Cuevas had left the building to sit in the park, pleading ennui, but in reality, unable to face our retirement nest egg dribbling away in mustard spoons.

I forged on, boarding the platform along the length of the three refrigerator cases of "La Holandesa". There, an genial owner, gladly chatted with me about the hanging jamones serranos de bellota, the Queso Manchego Español ($800 a kilo), and other delights. He allowed me to take many photos of what for me were tempting delicacies at unaffordable prices. I did succumb to purchasing a half ball of Queso Provolone Ahumado, at $58! It's terrific, a rare treat in Mexico.

With that, and my head spinning from the elevated prices, I exited to the park and Doña Cuevas, and we resumed our shopping excursion elsewhere.

On our return walk from the Far Eastern Region of the Biblos and the Garment District, we'd stopped for a refresher at Bar Salon Corona, on C/ Bolívar 24, Centro. (There is another one, in a cross street, not far away.)

The Salon and its entrance have been remodeled since this picture was taken, some years ago. Anonymous wrote that that is actually the Bar Salon Corona in San Miguel de Allende. Here's a photo of the exterior of the Cd. México, Bolívar Salon. Since I have a few principles, and of the two, one is not to borrow photos from blogger brethren, so I'll just give a link. Click here.

Salon Corona is noted for its cold draft beer and its tortas. So I had the famous Torta de Bacalao (prepared salt cod and potatoes) and Doña Cuevas the Torta Gringa (carne pastor and melted cheese). The bacalao was pretty good, but I don't see why it's famous. It's a good snack. The beer was fine, the waiter congenial (and English speaking), and the Salon Corona is worth a stop if you are nearby, but it's not destination dining.

Food: ***
Service ***
Price $-$$
Restrooms: clean

Later that Monday afternoon, our friend and former neighbor, Larry W. arrived at the Hotel Pal. After he had time to freshen up, we again set forth on the trek to the mero Centro Histórico, with El Huequito on Bolívar our goal.

We retraced our earlier path through the Barrio San Juan, where, upon emerging from the park, we found the Pulquería Las Duelistas.* I'd read a note recently by Nick Gilman about the pulquería, which has been repainted and revived, and is once again a local hot spot.

*If you can get ahold of a copy of "The People's Guide To Mexico" by Havens, Franz and Rogers, read the section on Cantinas and the one on Pulque. Great stuff.
As we approached the Pulquería, we noted the inclusion of a supine male figure on the sidewalk outside, sleeping off an excess of pulque. We thought it was a nice touch to add to the "Real México" ambience.

La Doña was hesitant to go inside, wondering if nice ladies were welcome, so I peeked over the swinging doors and saw several very nice ladies already inside, lifting their tarros of pulque and holding their own with the machos.
"It's ok. Let's go in."

The noise level of some unknown, primeval music was near the audible pain threshhold. That was complemented by by lurid murals in screaming colors of Aztec motifs, mostly on the theme of the Tzompantli. That's the rack where the skulls of sacrificed victims were displayed. (I am not making this up!)
Were the murals the Mexican equivalent of the Surgeon General's Warning on Pulque?

Our amiable host led us to a table which we shared with a young couple already well into a large, plastic pitcher of pulque. We introduced ourselves and exchanged business cards. ;-)

They were helpful in explaining the various "cures" or flavors of pulque available. They were drinking a "Campechana", which is every flavor mixed except for beet. I asked to try "natural", which you already know is pulque without added flavors. Our waiter brought a small glass of the fizzy, slightly cloudy liquid, which was tart and yeasty, just as I remembered it from previous tastings.

Our companions offered us a sip of their cinnamon-flecked pulque, and Larry accepted. When our waiter returned, we ordered, shouting a tarro for two of avena pulque, which is oats with a dash of cinnamon. It was somewhat sweet, and not unpleasant, but not my drink.

I plunged in and ordered the pulque curado con apio, a luminescent, green beverage flavored with celery, a squirt of lime juice and served in a salt-rimmed mug. Mmm! Tart and refreshing.

It was like Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray Mexican style, for adults.
We paid our very low cuenta, said our goodbyes and resumed our walk. I could feel a light buzz in in brain and Larry also reported mild effects of borrachismo. We made it in good form to El Huequito.

(Two doors to the left of Las Duelistas is the wonderful spice and condiments shop, "Molinera de Chiles El Progreso", where we bought a few things. They have an extensive price list/catalog to give out and I recommend this place, but I won't describe it here as we didn't buy much. Prices seem reasonable.)

El Hueqito.
I'll try to make this short and get down to the elements.
Larry and I shared an order of Medallones de Filete de Res Al Limón Inglés. Two tender and juicy filets of beef, French Fries and Guacamole. Very good.

We also ordered a plate of Costillas BBQ, which were o.k., but to us Southern Living Gentlemen, the ribs did not compare with those Down South of the Mason-Dixon Line but North of the Mexican-U.S. Border. But not bad.

Mi Esposa wisely ordered an Ensalada Especial El Huequito, which was all vegetables except for the very good strips of bacon on top.
We also shared two bowls of the excellent Frijoles de La Olla.

I can't remember what we drank. It didn't have alcohol in it. I also can't remember what the meal cost, but somewhere around the mid 500's seems right.

Food: ****
Service: ****
Price: $-$$$
Restrooms: Very clean.

Outside again, it was dark. We eventually hailed a cab and returned to the hotel.

Tuesday morning, we walked the few blocks to Cafetería La Piccolina (our 3rd vist in 4 days) and had full breakfasts. The Huevos Rancheros, Enmoladas and Chilaquiles con Pollo were fine to excellent. The café con leche was a bit less cargado than previously, but still excellent.
I don't recall the total, probably around $260.

I'm going to skip the star ratings this time, saying only that when in that area of Mexico City, La Piccolina will be our coffee and breakfast place from here onward.

Thanks to those of you who lasted this far for your patient attention. I will need to rest and recharge for a few days now before blogging again.

Don Cuevas

Monday, March 08, 2010

Gourmandizing Mexico City Part 6- Will Shop 4 Food

We didn't spend all of our time in Mexico City eating. We also shopped for food. We had a modest list, augmented by requests from our friend Ron in Pátzcuaro. He was interested in green, (unroasted) coffee beans, fresh shiso leaves, and date molasses. I was fairly certan we could find those items within a two block radius. The date molasses required a longer search, but it was fun.

I wanted to augment my supplies of Pimentón de La Vera, an essential seasoning. I had some vague idea of sampling some embutidos Españoles (Spanish charcuterie). But the most pleasurable part of shopping is the hunt and the serendipitous discovery of new delicacies.

Our hunter-gatherer instincts drew us to the area of Calle Ayuntamiento, between López and Luis Moya. The fabulous Mercado San Juan (basket icon) lies a couple of blocks south of Ayuntamiento, on Calle Ernesto Pugibet, under the shadow of the ugly Torre TelMex.

View Mexico City, D.f. in a larger map

We delayed visiting the Mercado San Juan until Monday, with the thought that we might be carrying somewhat perishable items back to Pátzcuaro. Meanwhile, we occupied ourselves by shopping at La Europea, a chain of wine and liquor stores originating in the area. They also carry delicacies in jars and tins. I bought a large tin of Pimentón de La Vera "La Chinata" (my favorite brand because it's good, but it's also packed in a Chinese Red color tin. There were a couple of brands of fine conserves, and we bought a jar of Spanish "La Vieja Fábrica" Seville Orange Marmalade.

We then walked east to the corner of Ayunatamiento and Aranda, anchored by several coffee roasting companies. The first is Café Cordobés, right on the southwestern corner. There we purchase a medio kilo of café verde, grano entero from Veracruz, at $35 MXP. Immediately next door is the Café Colibri, which looks more trendy and less traditional. (As we were already well stoked from a cafe con leche stop at La Piccolina, C/ Luis Moya 93, we didn't try any of the brews offered.)

Catty-corner on Ayuntamiento is the Café Villareal, with a sharp aroma of coffee roasting. This shop is dedicated to selling the coffee, both whole and ground, without any frou-frou brewhaha. There we scored some café verde de Chiapas at $41 MXP the half kilo.

We continued our food quest in the eatward eastward direction, headed toward the true Centro.

Soon, we crossed (with the light!) the broad and bustling arterial street, Eje Central 3, AKA San Juan de Letrán.

We wove our way through a less attractive barrio to the lovely and renascent neighborhood centered on Calle Regina, of which one long block is pedestrians only. The stately Iglesia de Regina Coeli is the centerpiece of the street.

Our goal was Café Jekimir, on the corner of C/ Isabel La Católica and Regina. This bustling, Arabic inflected coffee house was first brought to our attention by Nick Gilman in his book, Good Food In Mexico City (a recommended guide for the food lover to Mexico City.)

There we rested, sipping an apple-spice tea, while having our shoes shined. I went to buy some coffee beans for us, but the prices were considerably higher than over on C/ Ayuntamiento, so I passed. Maybe it's because Jekemir is famous, or to help pay for the free wi-fi available in the shop. Anyway, it's a nice place.

We asked about date molasses, but they don't sell it. The man at the check out offered directions to Biblos, Productos Árabes, of C/ El Salvador, a little east of the corner of C/ Correo Mayor. This is east of Av. Pino Súarez, and southeast of the Zócalo.

We continued to it, pushing on eastward into new territory for us. This seems to be one of Mexico City's garment districts. We found the Biblos Productos Árabes in the Pasaje Balvaneda at C/ El Salvador # 152, Local 29.
It's a small store, but has a nice selection. We didn't find date molasses, although we did get a large bottle of Jallab of rosewater and date syrup to make drinks. There are good olives, some spiced and others not. We bought some extra heavy fig conserves for ourselves.

Then, a long walk back to our hotel, stopping in at the Paraiso de Fumador (Hermanos Petrides) and at Mazapanes Toledo to buy some turrón for our friends Luz and Paco.

When we got back to our hotel, I realized that I hadn't bought any coffee beans for us. No matter; we are quite content with the coffee from La Surtidora in Pátzcuaro.

I'll describe my visit to the Mercado San Juan in Mexico City: The Final Day, coming soon to a computer near you.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Gourmandizing Mexico City Part 5 -Boca Del Rio

Restaurante Boca Del Río, on Ribera de San Cosme, Colonia San Rafael, is a cherished Mexico City dining spot. It began operations in 1942 as an ambulant cart on the streets. Since then, it has grown to include the original restaurant, #42 San Cosme, and a new branch in la-di-da Polanco.

The restaurant was far out of our walking range of our hotel*, but our dear friends, Luz Ma and Paco came by in their car to carry us there. First, we paid our cultural duties with visits to el Museo de La Geología, at La Alameda de Santa María de La Ribera; then, a walk through the Museo de Arte San Carlos, on Avenida Puente Alvarado. (Which is actually the same wide street as San Cosme, but it changes names at Avenida Insurgentes.)

*We could have arrived there by taking Metro Balderas to Metro Hidalgo, transferring to Linea 2, direccíon Cuatro Caminos, and exiting at Metro San Cosme. But it was nicer to ride in the car, looking at impressive buildings, especially along Paseo de La Reforma.

Another highlight, pre-comida, was the wonderful Kiosco Morisco in the Alameda de Sta. María de La Ribera.

View Mexico City, D.f. in a larger map

After some skilled navigating, Paco got us to the estacionamiento behind the restaurant. We entered through the utility and delivery entrance, past prep tables and check-in scales. I liked that.

The dining room is vast, and I estimate that it could hold several hundred diners. The style is 1960's glass, Formica and chrome trim, on a background of stainless steel.

The menu, as anticipated, was lengthy. It can be seen on Boca Del Ríos own website, but it's more accessible on

I already knew that I wanted something chilled, and relatively light, so after very little consideration, I ordered a large Ceviche Vuelve a La Vida, sin ostiones. Raw Mexican oysters and I have a bad history that goes back many years.

Luz Ma requested one of her favorites; Filete de Salmón asado. Paco ordered a Coctel de Jaiba, sin cilantro, and then a nice Mojarra Dorada, bien cocida.
Doña Cuevas started with a small Coctel de Camarones al Natural. (Simply, peeled cooked shrimp in a glass.), and for a main course, Pescado Empapelado. She asked the waitress of what species of fish was it made, and the favorable answer was "mero". In our opinion, the farmed blanco de Nilo filets used by many seafood restaurants, including our querido Mariscos La Güera in Pátzcuaro, are devoid of both taste and texture.

Slides, please!
Coctel de Jaiba
Coctel de Camarones al Natural
Ceviche Vuelve A La Vida

I enjoyed the ceviche, but I would have liked it less condimented. It was difficult to distinguish the individual flavors of the parts.

Everyone liked the dishes they had chosen. Señora "Ojos Grandes" couldn't finish every bite of her pescado empapelado, it was so much.

Pescado Empapelado

We skipped dessert and headed back to the hotel. A little later, la Doña and I went to the Parque Tolsá, across Balderas, and I smoked a fine Puro Robusto Maduro de San Andrés Tuxtla, Veracruz. I'd bought it at "El Paraiso Del Fumador" (formerly Puros Hermanos Petrides), in Centro, on Calle Uruguay.

Ratings for Boca Del Río
Food: ****
Service: *****
Price: $$-$$$
Restrooms (Hombres): Slightly rough around the edges and in the cracks.

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Gourmandizing Mexico City part 4- Las Comidas

                              ~ Casino Español ~

Although there are a wealth of upscale dining choices in Mexico City, few of interest to us are in the barrio where we stayed. But it's a 20 minute walk to the mero Centro, where a wondrous world of dining unfolds. Or, you can take the Metro for 2 or 3 stations, and walk upstairs into the grand and dazzling space that is the Zócalo. We chose to take the Metro, boarding at Balderas and exiting at Isabel La Católica. From there, we walked approximtely 10 -12 blocks north to the Casino Español.

For about 2 years now, we'd wanted to dine at the Casino Español, a palatial edifice on Calle Isabel La Católica, between Avenida Madero and Av. Carranza. No architecture student myself, I can't pin down the elaborate style of the vast, vaulted halls and salons of the building. There are a lot or Moorish elements and stained glass. Fortunately, the dining room, on the primer piso, reached by elevators or a Grand Staircase, is much more conservative and soothing in mien. It's tastefully painted in calming tones of beige and pale yellow. The ceiling has numerous attractive recesses. The ample space is broken by only a few support columns. A somewhat incongruous note is the bank of industrial strength Carrier air conditioners flanked along the window wall.

After a brief wait in rococo but comfortable chairs on the mezzanine level, we were escorted to a nice table. We passed a service cart with two jamones serrano awaiting carving into those thin, tasty slices. (But although I like jamón serrano, I don't order it in restaurants because it does not in anyway demonstrate the creativity of the kitchen. Plus, it's costly as hell.)

Once at our nicely linen-draped table, our waiter pressed the wine list upon us. I deferred ordering the wine, as I prefer to know first what main course we'd be having. We were already very inclined to all seafood, as we'd already consumed an unusual quantity of meat in two days. We were brought crusty bread, herbed butter that looked a bit tired and filmed over, and a dish of lovely green olives.

So, we ordered a bottle of Albariño from Galicia ($350 MXP) and began making our choices from the extensive menu. Our waiter brought a wine bucket with ice, and made sure that the bottle was chilling nicely.

Among the entradas, one stood out for us: Pulpos a la Gallega de Feira. We'd last had that wonderful simple dish prepared properly while overlooking the Mar Cantábrica, in the tiny fishing village of Puerto de Vares, the northernmost point in Spain. Since then, other attempts in marisquerías in Mexico had left us unsatisfied, for their interpretations were more in the nature of sauteed octopus with sweet peppers,
But the pulpos at Casino Español were tender perfect, served in the classic manner with a little olive oil, a sprinkle of coarse salt and a dusting of picante, smokey, Pimentón de La Vera. (The last is one of my favorite condiments.).
The only small flaw was that the accompanying boiled potatoes had been cut very small and were overcooked. But, it was a great starter, in spite of that.
                      Pulpos a la Gallega.

We both ordered soups to follow the pulpos. Doña Cuevas had a Sopa Castellana, which is basically a Sopa de Ajo, plus bits of chorizo and jamón. She enjoyed it, but wished the bits were a bit bigger.
I had a modest but good Caldo de Mariscos, thankfully bone-and-shell-less. It was nice, but not somethng I'd order again. The stock was a bit oversalted.

It was very difficult to choose a plato fuerte. We finally decided on Lomo de Huauchinango estilo Muiña. At least, if I recall correctly, that was its description.

It was plated on a "mirror" of a saffron sauce and garnished with a few shrimp, a couple of clams and a heap of surimi anguillas. The latter were striking to see, but had little taste. I ordered some arroz blaco to help take up the delicate but tasty sauce.

We ordered two bottles of agua mineral, and they were long in coming. Actually, when the first came, they were "still" water, not sparkling, so we sent them back.

Dessert was not on Doña Cuevas To Do List, but out of a sense of duty to my blog readers, I ordered a Tarta de Almendras Asturiana. It was essentially the same as Tarta de Santiago; a gooey almond tart, in a pool of Cream Inglesa accompanied by a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, We also had cafes Americanos, which were of good but not great quality.

We had prepared our minds for a staggeringly large bill, but it came in at "only" $980 MXP, of which you'll recall, $350 was for the wine. We gave a generous tip, not enough for our waiter to retire on after the shift was over, but he gave us a pleased look.

Food: **** out of 5
Service *** 1/2 (We had to request several small things more than once. Noted, the restaurant was very busy.)
Ambience (special category):*****+
Restrooms: Fine. Attendant present. Bring change.

PS: There was live music, from a rousing, hearty troupe of estudiantinas, but we were not fazed because we were finishing up as they started their good and hearty fellows rounds. A classical or Spanish guitar player would have been preferred, but it wouldn't have reached across the vast dining room.

Friday, March 05, 2010

Gourmandizing Mexico City part 3-The Breakfasts

In our wanderings up and around the Barrio San Juan, we missed a few things. (Come on, how much can two people handle?!)

After we got home, a post on the Mexico Forum, by "StreetGourmetLA" directed us, belatedly, to Ricos Tacos Toluca, a fabulous taquería specializing in the chorizos and embutidos of the Toluca region. We probably had passed within a block of the place.
Well, hopefully, there will be a next time.

I then did a routine Google search, and rediscovered Nick Gilman's post on the area, in his blog, "Good Food In Mexico City", which I recommend to you. It has been my inspiration on many occasions. His focus was on Calle López, which we crossed several times, but didn't explore bottom to top.

Since it's breakfast time here, I'll describe our various breakfasts over the weekend.

Usually, I'd get up early, and check email at the desk in our suite while drinking Nescafé (for medicinal purposes only!) with some pan dulce from the Panificadora "Las Palmas", just down the street, between Revillagigedo and Luis Moya. It's a neighborhood place, but has rico pan dulces. I liked the "peinitas", or combs, a sort of cheese filled bearclaw.

Later, about 9 a.m., we'd go out for a walk and have breakfast. Saturday morning, we walked all the way to El Huequito, on Calle Bolívar. But we had to fuel up with good coffee before getting very far. Fortunately, the path was lined with coffeehouses. We stumbled upon the great little neighborhood place, "La Piccolina", at the corner of Luis Moya and Marqués Sterling, across from the Hotel San Diego. We received a warm welcome, especially from the Señora customer who takes her regular seat at the barra. The café con leche was rich and strong. We returned on Tuesday morning, for a full, hearty breakfast of enmoladas, huevos rancheros and chilaquiles verdes con pollo. With 3 or 4 coffees and a large jugo de naranja, it all came to about $260 MXP, if I recall correctly.
Below, the Café Con Leche.
Below, the Enchiladas al Mole

Food and drink: ****
Service: ****
Price: $-$$
Restrooms: Good, but tiny.

But on Saturday, we stopped only for a recarga de cafecito. We were heading for El Huequito, a classic taco restaurant and an old favorite of ours. (I forgive them their silly and annoying Flash animated website.)
It's in the true Centro Histórico, and east of the Barrio San Juan, on Clle Bolívar, between Rep. de Uruguay and Calle El Salvador, about a 30 minute walk from the Hotel Pal.

Although you can have eggs, any style, or a cup of fresh fruit with yogurt (as did Doña Cuevas), I went for the Tacos de Bistek Inglés, succulent and tender slices of filete de res in a lemon-Worcestershire sauce. To fill things out, I added a bowl of frijoles de la olla. They are some of the best I ever had. When la Doña tasted some of mine, she ordered a bowl, too. The frijoles are tender, whole, in a slightly thickened broth and deep, earthy flavor.
Below, Tacos de Bistek al Inglés
Below, Frijoles de La Olla, El Huequito

We returned on Monday night to El Huequito for dinner with our friend Larry. But that's another story.
Food: *****
Service ****
Price: $-$$
Restrooms: clean

Sunday morning, on a tip from the owner of the Cocina Ángel on Arcos de Belén, we walked back up Luis Moya (which had become our main route to the gastronomic heart of the Barrio San Juan) and at Calle Ernesto Pugibet, turned right, there to find the Cocina Vianey, which features barbacoa on Saturdays and Sundays. This was a great, family place in the neighborhood. We were offered a fat taco of barbacoa de borrego as a tempter, and we sat down at a rear table with a gentleman customer.

We both ordered consomé de borrego and another taco each. I, one of pancita, which was subtly different. The tacos were rich but the consomé was primal. I had another half bowl, as well as a taco of espadilla, another cut of borrego. Total: $50 MXP
Service: *****
Price: $
Restrooms: didn't look.
A great little place of authentic, traditional Mexican fonda food, not to be missed. For non meat eaters, there are also quesadillas.

We passed on the Nescafé at Cocina Vianey, and went seeking some power coffee at La Piccolina. Alas, it was closed on Sunday morning. So we walked back toward Arcos de Belén and stopped in at the quirky Cafetería Doña Barbara, run by an ex lucha libre wrestler, "El Panda". It's an eclectic place, with a feel of the 40's, walls covered with photos of hollywood stars of that era, as well as El Panda memorabilia. We just had two cafes con leche, and they were fine. We haven't tried the food.

Monday morning, we stayed close to the hotel, as we were meeting our friends Luz Ma and Paco for a visit to some museums in Sta María de La Ribera, to be followed by lunch at Restaurante Boca Del Río. (Coming soon, to a blog near you.)

We breakfasted at Cocina Ángel, on Arcos de Belén, between Revillagigedo and Luis Moya which has had a number of names under various past owners. The owners' affability is not equalled by the food. It is inexpensive, though. Unrated.


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Katherine Boehm

My work is rooted in philosophy and play with a niche in sound and invisible interaction. As an new media artist, creative technologist, musician and improvisor, I aim to stimulate thought and reframe elements of our present to better understand our relationship with each other, with the world and with our future both near and far.

Udit Mahajan

I am a creative technologist, interaction designer, electronic musician and artist with a background in electrical engineering. I use technology for digital and physical interactions, narratives, experiences and interfaces.

Emanations is a series of spatialized sound experiments using physical gestures and movement, turning human body into an interface for audio perspective control.

These experiments serve as interactive playgrounds, creating introspective, emergent and performative experiences within the potential/limits of human body without any wearable sensors, as well as an investigation in embodied music cognition; generating connections between the individual, their body, movement and gestures through sound, allowing for a new analysis and understanding in the roles of performer and audience.

The sonic representations of the human gestures and movement develop as processes of technogenesis on a continuum of awareness of body as interface; from personal to performative.

Deriving its roots from the philosophy of nothingness to guide the methodology of invisible interaction and lack of instruction, these poetic experiences reveal themselves to their users in layers offering the right mix of abstraction in narrative and freedom in interaction to create an unguided, improvised and unique experience.

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London Boat Show 2014

Thanks for visiting us at the London Boat Show

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting our various stands at the London Boat Show. Our Brokerage stand (above) was a huge hit and we are thirty percent up on 2013 in terms of enquiries and new boats to list. These extra listings should see our brokerage inventory increase to over 330 boats in the coming weeks.

There is no better median to finding buyers and seller than exhibiting at an International Boat Shows. Since 2010 MGM Boats have taken our brokerage listings to Europe's top boat shows including Dusseldorf, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, London, Southampton, Vilamoura and Cannes. This has proven to be hugely successful for us and has helped us to expand our database and increase our brokerage listings. There is no doubt that the best form of communication is face to face.

MGM Boats Brokerage. We take your boat and showcase it to the world.

Aquador boats on display at the London Boat Show.


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Expeditors International of Washington, an international freight forwarding and logistics company, and its Brazilian subsidiary, Expeditors Internacional do Brasil, are under investigation by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice.

Expeditors has received an administrative proceeding (AP) from the Brazilian government, alleging anti-competitive behavior on the part of Expeditors and one of its employees. If Expeditors is found to have committed an infringement against Brazil’s anti-competition laws, the company may incur material fines and penalties.

Expeditors says it plans to vigorously defend itself against the allegations.


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Health Library Explorer
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School's Out! Teens and Summertime Work

Is your teen ready for work? It's a big step for many kids. And it can be tough to juggle sports, family, friends, leisure time, and work. Here are some things to think about and discuss with your teen.

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A Summer Sipper: Strawberry-Kiwi Spritzer

Combine tart kiwi juice and fresh strawberries over ice and top them with seltzer. A refreshing drink to sip around the pool, or serve for a brunch on the patio.

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Summer Fun, Summer Sun

Quiz yourself on your sun sense before heading out into the elements.

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Psoriasis May Hit Men Harder

This skin condition affects men and women equally, but men tend to have worse symptoms.

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You may wonder what all the fuss is about exercise. Simply put, inactivity is hazardous to your health. Physical activity can help you prevent chronic disease, manage your weight, and stay mentally fit. The best news is that it's never too late to adopt a more active lifestyle.
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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a name given to a group of diseases that limit the flow of air in and out of your lungs. COPD includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Long-time cigarette smoking is the most common cause of COPD.
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Stay healthy and vigorous into old age by eating right, getting plenty of exercise and following recommended disease prevention practices.

    Eating a healthy diet is essential for people of every age. But as you age, doing so is especially important. To assess how much you know about good nutrition, take this quiz.

    BMI, or body mass index, uses weight and height to calculate weight status for adults. BMI for children and teens also takes into account gender and age because healthy body fatness differs between boys and girls and changes as they grow. This BMI calculator will help you determine if your child is at a healthy weight.

    This short assessment will help you find out if you have major risk factors for ovarian cancer.

      Scoliosis is a condition that causes the spine to curve sideways. It can develop during childhood or adolescence and can range from mild to severe. This video explains how scoliosis occurs and what treatments are available.

      Plastic surgery is becoming more popular, with the most common procedure now breast augmentation, or enlargement. Contrary to what you may think, women with breast implants aren't immune to breast cancer.

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

End of semester joys

As much as I love school, the weight of its responsibilities can become difficult for a little while, which makes the summer even more refreshing than sitting around doing nothing normally would. In the last couple of weeks, I have written three papers (20-page, 15-page, and 12-page), graded 120 assignments, and taken care of several other assignments along the way. By the end of the week, I need to turn in a paper, grade 60 written assignments, translate a 10-page article from French to English, grade 60 final exams, and study for finals in Baroque survey and the Burgundian court music seminar. On top of that, I have to sing four concerts in the next five days—two choral, two vocal.

I really do love the lifestyle, though. I am learning a tremendous amount of information and feeling more and more confident in my field.

This evening's concert at 6:00 at St. Alban's chapel will include 14 lovely choral pieces that the LSU chamber singers have prepared in six rehearsals, each one by a different conductor. This brings the year's total number of pieces sung in chamber singers to 80. That choir is good for the brain.


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Trump’s Press Conference With British Prime Minister

屏幕快照 2017-02-06 11.08.09

British Prime Minister Theresa May, the first foreign leader that President Trump has hosted at the White House, joined Trump in a joint press conference at the White House on January 27th. In addition to discussing NATO and trade, Trump was asked about his relationship with Mexico and his views on the use of torture.

Saudi-US Ties Reflect Vibrancy of Commerce

Saudi Arabia plays an important role in the economy of the United States, largely because of its position as one of the most influential members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and because of its progressively growing trade and investment relations.

The delegation led by US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker underscored the close commercial and economic relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Pritzker spoke at a luncheon hosted by the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council in Riyadh, where the guests included Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Prince Abdulaziz bin Ahmed and more than 300 businesspeople from the United States and the Gulf.
“Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the US-Saudi relationship is the vibrancy of our commerce,” Pritzker said, noting that Saudi Arabia is America’s 10th-largest trading partner.


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8 Game Changing Ways To Re-wear a Bridesmaid Dress
Dust off those dresses and give them new life! Use these quick tips to re-wear and re-style those bridesmaid dresses living in the back of your closet.
Let's be honest — bridesmaid dresses have gotten a pretty bad rap. (If I had to point fingers, I'd blame that cringe-worthy closet scene from "27 Dresses") And whether you love, hate or completely forgot about your own growing collection, we're confident that these quick tips will help you get your money's worth AND plenty of wear out of those frocks. So free up some closet space, and get ready to play stylist!

Belt it

A cute sash or a pretty statement belt will instantly add definition to your waist, giving you a sexy hourglass shape à la Sofia Vergara!

Pair it with a casual jacket

A jean jacket, a leather jacket or a structured blazer are the ultimate ways to dress down your look just enough for a dinner party with friends.

Layer, layer, layer

Love the skirt of your dress, but not the bodice? Stack a chunky sweater or chic printed scarf over top for an instant revamp.

Take it to the tailor

Whether you want to give that floor-length gown a chop or say goodbye to the straps, a tailor can give that old dress a brand new vibe with just a few snips.

Add some bauble

Break out your prettiest bling! You'll be surprised how a fun statement necklace or dangly earrings can instantly transform your look.

Get a dye job

And we're not talking hair! If lemon yellow or bright magenta aren't exactly your colors, give that old dress new life with a little bit of dye.

Wear it to another wedding

Or a baby shower. Or a holiday party. The point is, if the dress fits the occasion, don't be afraid to re-wear it! Style with the tips above.

Scrap it and start anew

Last but not least, start fresh! If you absolutely can’t stand to style that frock with any of the tips above, make sure you at least up-cycle the fabric. Use that pretty lace or wispy chiffon to make a fun maxi skirt or chic headband!

Bonus: Bridesmaid Dresses They'll Actually Want to Wear!

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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

"Set your sights high, the higher the better. Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now. Realize that nothing is too good. Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way."

Eileen Caddy
1917-2006, Author

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CNC Swiss

Our Citizen CNC Swiss machines are best suited for parts up to ¾” diameter that may require cross and or back working tools.  All of our machines are equipped with long work piece attachments allowing length capacity of 24”, high pressure coolant pumps for machining more difficult materials such as 300 series stainless or alloy steels and magazine bar loaders for higher volume production parts.

  • ¾” Diameter capacity
  • 24” Length capacity
  • Simultaneous front & back machining
  • Live Tooling for cross work or milling
  • High Quality Finishes (as low as 15Ra)
  • Tight Tolerance capability (+/- 0.0003)
  • Excellent for parts with long turns


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Orbit charts, and why you should use them

What I propose to call “Orbit Chart” is rarely used in manufacturing today, and I think it should be. This chart tracks the path followed by a system or an object in a plane where the coordinates are two of its characteristics. In earlier applications, there were geographical coordinates; in current ones, they may be the numerator and denominator of a financial ratio like Return On Net Assets (RONA), metrics of productivity and quality, or physical characteristics, like the depth and diameter of a drilled hole.

Most data visualizations in manufacturing are limited to simple charts, that show how one parameter varies by category, in  bar graphs or continuously as a function of time in line plots. Charts that show more dimensions require more effort both to generate and to the read, but reveal information that you would not otherwise find.

For details, click on the following:

What is an “orbit chart”?

When you have an object moving in a plane, you can separately plot each coordinate against time, but the juxtaposition of the two plots would not show you the path followed in two dimensions. When you want to study a possible relationship between two parameters from a table of values where both are measured on the same objects, you usually start part generating a scatter plot, from which you try to infer some form of correlation between the two. When you do this, however, you lose the sequence information. When you consider two neighboring points on your scatter plot, you have no way to tell whether they are measurements on two units of product made consecutively or with many others in between.

On an orbit chart, you connect the points that succeed each other in the sequence, and label each point with its sequence number. As a result, what you plot is no longer a cloud of points, but a path followed by your object in the plane of your two parameters. On a road trip, the sequence of your locations at the end of each day are not independent: where you are tonight is where you were last night plus today’s increment. In machining with a tool that wears out, its condition after the 50th workpiece is what it was after the 49th, plus the effect of the 50th. The orbit chart is a visualization tool for this kind of phenomenon.

Let us assume that you are plotting the quality performance of a production line, as represented by its first-pass yield, against its productivity in terms of units/operator/shift. If you are practicing management whack-a-mole, you improve quality at the expense of productivity, by adding inspections and rework, or productivity at the expense of quality, by pressuring operators to cut corners. In this case, you can expect the orbit of your production line in the Quality versus Productivity plane to be a cycle, looking somewhat like a figure eight, and showing no real improvement.

Orbit chart of Quality versus Productivity Whack-a-Mole

Orbit chart of Quality versus Productivity Whack-a-Mole

On the other hand, if you are practicing Lean, quality and productivity improve together, resulting in a chart that does not loop.

Plotting an orbit, of course, is not always meaningful. In the following example, we show a scatterplot of two parameters measured on a sequence of independent events. The scatterplot lends itself to correlation and regression analysis of the two parameters, but tracing the path of the values in the sequence of points as on the right is meaningless.

The orbit chart is meaningless if the points are independent

The orbit chart is meaningless if the points are independent

Examples of orbit charts

The examples below are not from manufacturing but from military history, nuclear power plant maintenance, macro-economics, and ecosystems analysis. 25 years ago, radar charts were used in magazine like Britain’s The Economist, to compare parameters like inflation, unemployment and growth in multiple countries, but were unknown in factories, where they now are commonplace. Such may be the fate of orbit charts as well. The caveat is that, like radar charts, they are richer and more sophisticated than the usual charts  you find on performance boards, and may be difficult for operators to relate to. As a result, they may be more useful as an analytical tools for engineers and managers than as a communication tool on the shop floor. The only way to find out is to try.

Minard’s Russia campaign chart

Perhaps the best known example of an orbit chart is Minard’s map showing the path of Napoleon’s army in 1812 Russia, on the offensive in brown, and retreating in black, with the thickness of the line showing the size of the army. It is annotated with dates, and with a temperature chart below. It was drawn in 1869, and Edward Tufte brought to the attention of readers in The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, as the most eloquent summary ever written about this disastrous campaign, and the mother of all infographics. Please click on the picture if you would like to enlarge it and read the text, knowing that it is in French.Minard's Russia campaign chart Tufte calls it a “narrative of space and time.” I prefer to call it “orbit chart” because (1) it is a shorter name and (2) the x and y coordinates do not necessarily represent space, nor is the index of the points always time. In manufacturing, for example, x and y could be quality characteristics,  indexed by the serial numbers rather than time.

Unplanned versus planned downtime in nuclear power plants

I used the orbit chart below on p. 282 of Working with Machines, to compare the maintenance performance of the Japanese and French nuclear industries in the 1980s:

France versus Japan nuclear plant downtime stats 1979-1989

Jean-Pierre Mercier, from the French electrical utility EDF, published this chart to compare the evolution of nuclear reactor downtime in Japan and France. Each node on each of the orbits indicates performance in a given year, in terms of planned unavailability on the y-axis, and unplanned unavailability on the x-axis, and the sum of the two gives the total unavailability, so that diagonal lines indicate a constant total value. The orbits enable us to track year-by-year progress, and improvement is marked on the chart by movement towards the origin. The Japanese and the French orbits both show improvement over the years but are so different that they do not even intersect, which begs the question of why. What did the Japanese and French industries do so differently that it produced such radically different results? Once the chart prompts you to ask the question, it is easily answered:

  • France has one national utility company, with reactors of just two designs all made by the same supplier. This company reduced downtime by redesigning components or subsystems that failed in one reactor, and retrofitting the changes to all sites of the same design.
  • Japan has nine private utilities and reactors with many different designs, which made the French approach impossible. Instead, they overdid preventive maintenance in the beginning, and gradually improved it, eventually achieving almost the same performance as the French utility.

GINI index versus GDP in Brazil and the US, 1980-2011

This was back in 1990. Fast forward to 2013, and I am reading a new book by Alberto Cairo, called The Functional Art, about the design of information graphics and visualization. On p. XIX of the Introduction, I find the following chart of the orbit of Brazil’s economy in terms of GDP on the x-axis and the GINI index of inequality on the y-axis through five presidential administrations: Brazil GINI versus GDP chart As explained on Wikipedia, the GINI index is a cleverly defined ratio, which is 0 if every member of a society has an equal share of its wealth, and 100 if it is all in the hands of a single individual. Worldwide, among the countries for which data is available, Sweden’s GINI index of 23 is the lowest, while South Africa and Lesotho have the highest, at 62. The US has gone from a low of 38 in the late 1940 to 47.7  in 2010. The GDP is a better known metric, and is here shown as evaluated in constant US$ by institutions external to Brazil, like the World Bank and the IMF.

Assuming the underlying Brazilian economic statistics are credible, this chart tells quite a story, from the peak of inequality with low growth during hyperinflation under Sarney to sustained growth with steady reductions in inequality under Lula, the only pause in growth coming with the financial crisis of 2008. Would we see anything similar from plotting the same chart for the US economy? I tried, and the result is as follows: US-Gini-index-versus-GDP-1980-2011What does this chart tell us? The first obvious conclusion are:

  1. Regardless of economic circumstances or the political affiliation of the president, inequality has steadily increased in the US for over 30 years.
  2. We must always be wary of highly aggregated numbers. The  US census bureau warns us that the formula for calculating the GINI index was changed for 1993, and that before-and-after comparisons are therefore not meaningful. On the face of the charts, it appears that even the high point of 47.7 for the US is lower than the low point of 53.8 for Brazil, but we would have to assume that the numbers are calculated the same way, which is doubtful. The formula was changed in the US; it may be different in Brazil and, unbeknownst to us, it may have been changed as well along the way.
  3. We can see, at the Bush(43)/Obama juncture, that the crisis of 2008 had a bigger impact on the US than on Brazil.
  4. While still roughly one sixth  the size of the US economy, Brazil’s is growing faster. Back in 1980, it was less than one tenth.

Populations of predators and preys

For a long time, orbit charts have been used in population dynamics, with the x-axis being a prey population and the y-axis a predator population. Orbit charts can represent both theoretical models and actual data, when these are available. The following example, from a course taught at Portland State University,  shows a simulation starting at the bottom right-hand side with a large prey population and few predators. This stimulates population growth for the predator, which depletes the prey population. This leads to a food shortage for the predators, causing their population to collapse, which in turn gives preys the opportunity to multiply again…

Orbit chart - Predator-prey limit cycle

Predator-prey limit cycle

Eventually, the two populations spiral down not to a stable point, but to a repeating loop called limit cycle.

Parker Hannifin’s “North-by-Northwest” chart

Parker Hannifin is a diversified manufacturing company that included the following orbit chart is in its 2012 annual report:

Orbit chart -- Parker Hannifin North-by-Northwest chart

Given the type of publication, the axes are unlabeled. Internally, this chart is also generated by division and monitored by General Managers. The black straight line represent constant RONA, and the desired movement is upwards and orthogonal to it, hence the nickname of “North-by-Northwest chart” given to it by managers. When it was first introduced a decade ago, it was not immediately understood, but it has taken root in the organization. I would connect the dots and annotate it as follows:

Orbit chart -- Parker Hannifin North-by-Northwest chart annotated

We can also see on this chart that, while the RONA improvements of 2010 and 2011 involved movement along both axes, in 2012, it was only a reduction in Net Assets/Sales, which is no doubt meaningful to someone familiar with the company’s operations.

Orbit charts for spacecraft

The term “orbit” of course is from astronomy, and I found a great example of an orbit chart drawn by NASA’s George Resteck of the path of the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes sent to explore the solar system in the early 1970s. As we can see on the chart, Pioneer 10 “only” managed to fly by Jupiter; Pioneer 11 flew by both Jupiter and Saturn, but crossed the other planets’ orbits far from where they were.
Pioneer 10 and 11 flight path
Only Voyager 2, launched 5 years later, managed to get close to all big four planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The closest I could find to a similar chart for Voyagers 1 and 2 is as follows:

Voyager 1 and 2 flight paths

It is the same general idea, but with less details particularly on planet positions over time, and less information on scale. You can also find animations of their paths, but Resteck’s chart for Pioneer 10 and 11 still gives you the most information at a glance.

Recovery from crisis at Toyota versus GM

The following orbits of Toyota and GM profitability as a function of number of vehicles produced in recovery from crisis were included in a previous post:

GM sales and profits chart

Toyota sales and profits chart 2001-2011

The first shows GM through the growth of the twenties and the great depression; the second, Toyota through its 2001-2008 boom, followed by the financial crisis, the mass recalls of 2010, and the Fukushima earthquake and Thailand floods of 2011. It also shows how the economics of the auto industry changed in 80 years. In good times, today’s mature automobile industry yields profit margins that are barely 1/3 of what they used to be, on volumes that are many times higher. In the worst year of the great depression, 1932, GM made only 28% as many vehicles as in 1929. If the worst of the current crisis was in 2009-2010, Toyota’s drop in volume, while similar in absolute terms to GM’s in the great depression, was much smaller in relative terms, at barely 15% off from the 2008 peak.

The Toyota chart further shows three distinct periods:

  1. From 2001 to 2004, profit margins and volume rose together, suggesting that Toyota was enjoying some form of economies of scale.
  2. From 2004 to 2008, volume kept rising rapidly, but profit margins were flat. Toyota was criticized during that time for pursuing faster growth than it could manage.
  3. From 2008, the dominant effect is the financial crisis and recovery. with the 2010 recalls further reducing volume.

Janet Yellen’s orbit chart of inflation versus unemployment

David J (Joe) Armstrong pointed out to me an article from the New York Times on 10/9/2013 about Janet Yellen’s analysis of inflation and unemployment in the US since the Great Depression, using orbit charts and animations. The overall chart is as follows:

Inflation versus unemployment in US 19690-2013

See the articles for animations and explanations of the different segments.

Lora Cecere’s orbit charts of  inventory turns versus operating margins for Colgate, P&G, Walmart, and Target

David J (Joe) Armstrong also pointed out to me an article from Forbes Magazine on 12/13/2013 about supply chain collaboration, using orbit charts to show lack of progress. The charts are as follows:

Colgate and P&G inventory turns versus operatings margins

walmart versus target inventory turns versus operating margins

Read the article for Lora Cecere’s analysis of the significance of these charts. My first question about them is whether these companies compute the plotted parameters in the same way. Only if we can be sure that they do, can we venture some conclusions from the charts. No units are given on the operating margin axis. Given that it is a ratio, I assume “0.06” means 6%.

The key point is that, in 12 years, none of these companies moved towards the best scenario of a high number of inventory turns and a high operating margin. In the case of Walmart versus Target, they seemed to have had “orthogonal” strategies, with Walmart moving up and down in inventory turns without any large gains in margin, while Target was moving back and forth in margin without major changes in inventory turns.

I think there are many factors that these charts don’t show, such as the impact of the competitive environment and the financial crisis. While neither manufacturers like P&G and Colgate nor retailers like Walmart or Target have shown much progress, the impact of inventory on their operations is quite different. Overall, the manufacturing companies buy materials and generate their margins from selling finished goods; they may have some items on consignment, but only a minority.

By contrast, if I understand how very large retailers work, their income does not come from markups on products but from the float in accounts payable. They pay suppliers a month or two after collecting revenues from selling to consumers, which adds up to  a very large float, and the companies’ profits come from the income generated by this float in financial markets. In essence, their inventory is on consignment and their holding costs are nothing like the manufacturers’. They still have the costs of operating warehouses, but their own money is not tied up in materials paid upfront. On the other hand, their margins are sensitive to the health of the financial markets.

How to generate orbit charts in Excel

No matter how great orbit charts may be, not many people in manufacturing will use them unless they are easy to generate with Excel. Generating the orbit itself is not a problem. With Excel 2007 or 2010, all you have to do is, under the Insert tab, select Scatter and click one of the two options for Scatter with lines and markers.  Then you can use the various formatting options to refine the axes, gridlines, etc. Most of the charts in this post were generated this way.

Selecting scatter chart with straight lines and markers on Excel

Selecting scatter chart with straight lines and markers in Excel

As you can see in the following example, Excel does not mind the curve looping and spiraling:

Looping and spiraling chart generated with Excel

Looping and spiraling chart generated with Excel

Labeling the points on the charts is trickier. If there are few enough, you can manually add text boxes on the chart, which is what I did, but it would not work for thousands of points. In fact, for any large number of points, your only options are:

  1. Labeling every n-th point.
  2. Making labels pop up next to a point when you hover on it or click on it.

The labeling option in Excel charts will display the numeric values for x and y or the name of the data series next to each point, which doesn’t tell you anything you don’t already know. You want to label each point with the value of its index in the data table so that, if it is time, you can know when each point was generated. Excel won’t do it, but Microsoft Support provides a Macro with which you can, with the result as follows:

Orbit chart with date labels affixed by Excel macro

Orbit chart with date labels affixed by Excel macro

In  Alberto Cairo’s chart, the successive presidencies of Brazil were marked by a different color. In Excel, you could achieve this effect by have having a separate data series for each presidency, which you could then color as you wish.

Orbit charts for multidimensional data

Visualizing two dimensions of the evolution over time of a group of machines or the output of a production line is an improvement over plotting just one. But what if, instead of two, you have fifty or even ten characteristics of interest?

You cannot see a point with 10 coordinates, but you can use dimensionality reduction techniques to work around this problem. Principal Component Analysis, for example, projects these multidimensional points onto a plane so that the projections contain most of the variability of the full multidimensional cloud. Linda E. Kavraki provides the following illustration of the concept:

a) A data set given as 3-dimensional points. b) The three orthogonal Principal Components (PCs) for the data, ordered by variance. c) The projection of the data set into the first two PCs, discarding the third one.

a) A data set given as 3-dimensional points. b) The three orthogonal Principal Components for the data, ordered by variance. c) The projection of the data set into the first two Principal Components

The coordinates on this plane are two uncorrelated linear combinations of the full set of coordinates called first and second principal components. Then you can plot the orbit of your population in this plane. Technically, it is straightforward, because you will easily find software packages to perform Principal Component Analysis. Minitab does it, and so does the XLSTAT add-in to Excel.

The challenge is making sense of the orbit chart. When you just plot the projection of your cloud of points onto the first two principal components, you may notice a small clump of points off to the side and identify them as outliers. But, when the points are generated over time, following the orbit may not tell you much because the coordinates are linear combinations of the original coordinates with no obvious meaning. The first principal component could well be three times the length of the ship minus half the captain’s age.


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An update and a question

It’s been awhile since I made a post here. I want to inform everyone of the progress I made in my mini Nano WriMo in April. I had set a personal goal to be finished with my current manuscript in one month. With only a few days left, I am proud to say that I am sooooo not going to complete this manuscript when the clock strikes midnight on April 30.

I think I’m handling this revelation pretty well, don’t you?

Anyhow, lots of things happened to cause major distractions in my life. But you will be happy to know that I have gotten 14 chapters written (will have number 15 done by tonight) - with four of those chapters revised and edited. I averaged about 1 chapter a day, or 13 to 17 pages a day.

That is a lot written if I do say so myself, which I just did. 196 pages written with an estimated 168 pages left to go.

Okay . . .

Of course this has nothing to do with the title of this post. I discovered that the characters in this story have unique and disturbing personalities. I believe this may be the reason that I’m working so fast on this manuscript. I’m excited to find out what is going to happen next. This brings up an important question in my mind.

If the plot consumes your attention completely, does this make it a good story?

I have been wondering about this. Sometimes I will work fast on a project to get it out of the way, leaving minor errors and not caring a flip about it. I would hate to think that I am deluding myself wit the false belief that I am only writing for the laurels of having written something and not for the story itself.

So, where is the line between when you work fast just so you can brag about having another project finished, and when you work fast because the project has so engrossed you that basic needs such as eating, sleeping, and bathing become meaningless?

Hmm . . . makes me wonder.

Now, if you will excuse me, I really need to take a shower.

Switching POVs

While waiting to hear back from the agents over the requested material for my manuscript, “Our Perfect Thorn,” I have started my new project, “The Stoneman.” I’m already up to chapter 5, and I’m going to push myself into finishing this story by the end of April. I’m giving myself a month’s time of work - like a NANO WRIMO in April. An estimated 25 chapters to finish in four weeks.

I have no idea if I can do it.

But I’ll try. I’m really enjoying this story even more than the others. The more I write, the better I get - at least this is my belief (hope). And I feel more in touch with these characters than any of the other stories. Here’s why:

I once did a manuscript in third-person narrative. I won’t say it was a total disaster. I did finish the story, which is an accomplishment in itself. Yet I never connected with the characters. I never ‘became’ them enough to give everyone unique, individual, personalities. In essence, I was a mere observer in the room giving a clinical detachment to the patients of my story.

This lessened the experience. In fact, every time I pick it up telling myself to do revisions, I grow disgusted with the story and the time I waste on it.

So I switched over to using first-person narrative for my next manuscript. I connected with the character, fully. She had personality. She had spunk. I’m hoping an agent will like it enough to take on the project.

But . . .

I still felt I could have done more to flesh out the storyline. “Our Perfect Thorn” is a simple suspense/murder mystery. Since there are only a few characters in it, staying within the main character’s head was fine. Yet it turned out to be a short book because I stayed with one character.

I want to expand myself.

So I began writing “The Stoneman.” It has everything I could have wanted. Suspense. Multiple characters to create several plot arcs. A flawed main character who has liveliness and surliness and ‘realness’ as he goes through his struggles. Also, there is a wonderful unexpected ending that (I hope) will leave people going back to the beginning and reading the story often.

But which point of view should I take?

I began with first-person so I could get in touch with the main character. It worked, with even greater depth than I could have imagined. Yet I had other characters that I could also develop - other personalities to add their own spice to the story. They would allow me to create a longer, and intense, manuscript.

So I changed it to third-person.

Now I sat on the outside looking in again, afraid to lose something in the process. I’m afraid of losing faith in this story. I tossed and turned at night, wondering what to do. How do I make the characters come alive for the reader while I can still stay in touch with my own writing?

My decision: Switch between POVs.

My first draft for each chapter is first-person. I type in which character the chapter is about right at the top of the page. Then I become the character and write from his/her point of view. Once corrections are done, I go back in and switch it to third-person.

Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Yet this process is working for me. I don’t mind the extra time it takes to switch from first to third. I’m happy with the results. I’m experiencing the main character’s angst. I’m conniving like the money-grubbing fiancé. I’m tense like the distraught, naive mother. I’m calculating like the sheriff. I’m even losing a bit of my sanity like the crazy aunt. I’m experiencing them all without staying in one person’s head.

I’m enjoying myself, and isn’t that what writing really means?


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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Update on Noah...

So it appears that my big guy is pretty much back to his normal self. No more breathing issues at night... he is happy as can be... and last night he finished both his pizza and Evelyn's. His appetite has definitely returned!!

It was such a strange illness... I mean, he had a cold a couple of weeks before the breathing issues started... and all of his cold symptoms were pretty much gone by the time the wheezing started... other than when he would wheeze at night, you couldn't tell that anything was wrong. Pretty sure that everyone at my birthday party would be surprised to know that he spent time at children's hospital over the weekend. He seemed perfectly fine during the day. I'm just glad my sweet boy is feeling better :)

Monday, April 27, 2009

One Crazy Weekend

Not sure where to even begin with this one... this past weekend was definitely a roller-coaster ride for my emotions. We ended up taking Noah to the doctor Friday evening (because he was having a hard time breathing) -- he went to Children's Hospital that night. After being monitored for 5 hours, and trying a couple different treatments (5 rounds of albuterol & oral steroids) they sent him home. He was diagnosed to have bronchiolitis again -- he had this when he was around 2-3 months old also (but didn't have nearly as much wheezing or problems breathing that time)

Saturday morning Noah thankfully seemed to be doing much better. I went to swim lessons and learned a few things... one of them being that I have a TON of work to do!!! I started doing the math in my head... we were swimming in a 25 meter pool... I need to swim a half mile for the triathlon... 800 meters divided by 25.... that is 32 lengths!!! I definitely felt more confident about the swim portion of the triathlon before my swimming class... I guess ignorance really is bliss :)

On Saturday night Travis had a surprise birthday party for me at our house. Isn't he the best husband ever?!?It was the perfect way to celebrate the entrance into my 30's. A lot of our great friends were there... including fellow bloggers Melissa, Brianne & Taryn. Thanks ladies for helping me celebrate!!! Here I am with my friend Sarah who I used to work with: Here are Jim, Melissa & Lucy:Evelyn was able to enjoy her own pony rides during the party courtesy of the Tampa boys:

And here I am with my little girl -- she loves birthday parties for one main reason... CAKE!!
Saturday evening, after everyone went home, Noah had a hard time breathing again. Travis took him back to Children's Hospital and they admitted him for the night. After monitoring him through the night and into the morning they discharged him. Thankfully he seems to have gotten through the worst of the bronchiolitis -- he didn't have any problems at all Sunday or Monday night.
What did I tell ya -- quite the weekend, huh??

Friday, April 24, 2009

30 going on 13?

I have two big events happening this weekend....
1) I turn 30 tomorrow
2) I start swim lessons tomorrow

30 doesn't seem like a big deal (not today, anyway) -- I mean... I am married, two kids, nice house, good job, lots to be thankful for, blah blah blah... (Although Travis did warn me today that my body might look different tomorrow, since I am turning 30 and all.... thanks Trav!!)

It does get me thinking about age though... some days I feel like Travis and I are an old married couple. We eat dinner at roughly the same time every night, are in bed between 10 and 11 every night, I can't remember the last time I was up past midnight, and I feel it the next day if I have more than 2 drinks...

On the other hand, I am taking swim lessons starting tomorrow... no, not with the kids... just by myself. I am taking an adult class to re-learn the breaststroke, crawl, etc. I figured that since I need to start my swim traning for the triathon, it would be a good idea to learn proper form for these strokes and learn how to swim laps properly in a pool. I have to admit -- I am nervous for my first lesson. Travis was laughing at me yesterday... he said it was like being nervous for the first day of school. I think he was right.

So, even though I turn 30 tomorrow, I am still feeling a little bit like a 13 year old nervous for her first day of school :)

Monday, April 20, 2009

Some days you got it...

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap buildings in a single bound.... it's superwoman!! Why is it that some days you feel like superwoman -- able to handle anything, do it with a smile, and look great doing it... and then some days the littlest things can make you want to go back to bed?

After having a tough weekend, I am very thankful that today was a superwoman day :) I dropped the kids off at daycare, worked, came home and ran 3 miles, washed the Jeep by hand, picked up the kids from daycare, made dinner, put the kids to bed -- definitely feeling pretty accomplished :) I just wish I could bottle up some of my superwoman powers and save it for the next rainy day...

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Crabby Little Sandbox

My mom and dad bought a sandbox for the kids -- unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate when my mom was in town, so they played in it for the first time today.

They loved it... but I learned that bath-time immediately will follow all sandbox time.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Grandma's Visit

My mom came for a visit last week for Easter and Noah's birthday. It was great to have her around and the kids absolutely love her!! I wish we were able to be together more often. She was a big help with meals, cleaning, and babysitting (Travis and I were able to enjoy a special "date night" together) Here is grandma cuddling Noah:
Here is grandma reading to Evelyn --- she spent the majority of her visit doing this... Evelyn LOVES books and will bring them to you to read to her for hours on end. Evelyn also received her kitchen set during grandma's visit. My parents had got her this around xmas/her birthday, but we decided to save it for later in the year... she loves to "cook". It is funny... we will ask her if she wants to go do something else and she will shake her head and say "I'm cooking". Just a cute pic of the kids after our trip to Costco. I wish you could find these double seater carts everywhere!!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Happy Birthday Noah!!

It's my birthday and I'll sleep if I want to.... It sure is hard to be ONE :)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Noah's Pre-Birthday Party & Fun at the Park

We had a small celebration over the weekend to celebrate Noah's first birthday (April 9th). Here are a few pictures from Saturday night --

Noah intrigued by the balloons:
Evelyn "helping" Noah open his presents:
the always popular cake photos:
Here is a video of Noah swiping the birthday cake before we could even cut him a piece!! If you enjoy baby laughs, here is another video of Noah giggling and bouncing around with Nana.
We had some beautiful weather this weekend -- here are a couple pictures of the kids enjoying playtime at the park:

That is all for now... I am taking vacation this Wed, Thurs & Friday because my mom is coming into town. YIPPEE!


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jueves, 14 de julio de 2011

I've come to realize that nothing is worth doing if you don't begin in an organized fashion! I also realize, now, that I'm probably the most unorganized gal around! I try...really I do! I visit blogs that give me some terrific ideas and I hoard magazines that are valuable havens of organizing information! So, here I sit...wondering why my house is so unorganized at the best of times. Well, I suppose I can blame it on "life".

Today, I decided to organize some things.

My vintage sewing supplies! They were all over the house; displayed here and there and now...they're together where they belong! I think that it just showcases these beautiful pieces of needlecrafting history in a better way!

Next on the agenda...my pantry! It's a large pantry and it has some great shelving but there are times when I feel overwhelmed by it. I don't want to store food items as it's open to the kitchen...nobody wants to see that! So,

I've turned it into a sort of display room for all of the other vintage items that I've simply got no room for in the rest of the house! Large tins, several Pyrex bowls, casserole dishes, etc., vintage toasters, sifters, egg beaters, dust pans as well as all of the kitchen gadgets I just HAD to have that I only use every so often and a shelf, FINALLY a shelf, for my cookbook collection!

My thread supply! I bought this clear plastic display case at a yard sale and decided it would be a great way to organize and showcase the beautiful vintage threads I use for making my teddy bears! Sitting on my sewing table next to a bright window makes the colors pop even more!

Today, I managed to do a bit more organizing than what you see here but I think you get the point!

When I organize my kitchen, I want to cook and bake. When I organize my collections, they make me want to stand and admire them and when I organize my sewing room, I want to create. Nothing moves my creativity along like a well organzied sewing room.

With that being said, it's time to go and get my creative juices flowing again!

In the meantime, if you've not met him yet through my Facebook Fan Page or visited him in my Etsy Shop
, here are some photos of my latest bear, "Raphael"!

Raphael is made of red and cream plush! Sometimes I find plush a littl intimidating to work with but he was so fun to make and I hope that he will be able to find a new home very soon!

Here's to organization! And creativity!

Have a great week!

What Happened to July?

As I write this, I'm stunned! July just whizzed by so quickly and to think I hardly accomplished a thing!

Well, not true. I did have the opportunity to create two more bears and maybe, just maybe if I work hard enough, one more bear might be able to become a reality by the end of the month...4 days away! Eeeek!

Today, I listed "Nigel" in my Etsy shop! He's one of my "Antique Style" bears made from gold and ruby red mohair, is fully jointed with his head being wobble jointed and he's stuffed firmly with a mixture of excelsior and upholstery stuffing!

Please say hello to "Nigel"!

There are still some great deals to be had in my Etsy shop from Free Shipping on all of my handmade teddy bears until the end of July (I may extend that!) to reduced prices on select items! I hope you can take a moment to hop over and check them out!

One of the reasons I have been sort of MIA lately is that I've been madly working in the gardens and cleaning and organizing my home before my mother comes for a visit in a week or so! I'm excited as it's been a long time since she's been here and with her recent diagnosis of the early stages of Alzheimer's...every second I can spend with her is precious.

Also, I recently found out that my beautiful daughter, Brandi and her boyfriend are expecting a baby in early 2012!

I'm thrilled at the prospect of welcoming another grandchild into my heart! As you know, my granddaughter, Cierra is truly the light of my life! Even though I don't get to see her as often as I would like to, her amazing mommy, Nancy keeps me updated daily with a never ending supply of incredible photos!

Thanks for visiting! Have a great day!


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And She Goes

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Saturday, March 21, 2015

Guess Who? Challenge - March 2015 - ANSWERED

The Guess Who? Challenge is posted once a month, and is
a post of an old picture of... well, give your best shot at it!
Leave a comment with your guess of who is in the picture,
and the answer will be revealed a week after the original post.

Who do you think this might be?

This is MELODY!

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