que rico!

today's breakfast...

today was a good day at school...i seem to have a very hard time remembering the spanish words for numbers over 200 but if given time i seem to sort it out...then again, sometimes not. sometimes it's about getting it all slowed down to the big dummy's speed - that would be me. 'mas lento, por favor' is your lesson for the day my friends. and they don't mind, the people you're asking to slow down...because generally it's because you're giving them money and they want it, for food they've made for you, so waiting a little and telling you slowly how much you owe them, seems to suit them just fine - god bless 'em.
after classes today i met with luiz - the local who is part of the inter-cambrio, and we went and hung out while trying to help each other with our new language trials and tribulations. his english is very good - though he thinks not, but, as i told him today, he could easily go to any american or canadian city and do just fine...no problema. he and i went for lunch and talked for a couple of hours and he corrected me, wrote words down for me, told me how better to say certain things and i taught him how to say some very important things...like, 'dirt nap'. as in, john took a bullet in the chest and is now having a long dirt nap. he liked dirt nap. but not as much as he liked the term 'shit tickets'. at first he was confused, and who wouldn't be and then as i explained that it was a term for toilet paper...he laughed so hard he could barely plug the words into his phone. he's a good guy...i like him. he wants to go for drinks on friday...one more way to learn - drink with the locals. ok. i'm game. i told julie and zack that luiz was gonna wear me out. but maybe i'll learn a little more spanish along the way. good trade.
i think i made a very important connection today...
it's good to have a 'local'...be it a local bar you frequent, or butcher or...i have decided that the place i have had breakfast the last two days is my go-to local eatery for breakfast...i was there yesterday and had a great little breakfast- chilaquilles - and then asked her if she made the same thing but with huevos. she said she did and i said i would be back manana...and i was. except, when i walked in, she suggested what i should eat...and today was enchiladas oaxaquenas. sure. i'm up for that...so basically it was tortillas, under a deep red/brown chili sauce, with crumbled cheese and fried eggs...awesome. no mucho picante but more sweet hot. i told her 'yo soy canadiense. estoy estudente en la escula espanol." she was cool with that and told me her daughter was going to try and go to school in canada for english. nice. so i'm going to go there and get a little extra dose of one on one spanish in the morning before school, then school, then luiz in the afternoon...and the food's pretty good too...bueno.
today in cooking class, and you'll have to forgive me but i have forgotten the recipe name but, we made tortillas from scratch, desde cero, and black beans, and a salsa made from garlic and local dried peppers soledad - the woman who teaches us - cooked a little more and then transfered to a pot of hot water and then to a mortar and pestal and we all took turns crushing it up...in the end we had these little corn tortillas filled with the black been, salsa and cheese...wicked.
ok. tomorrow's another big day at the school...maybe i'll learn something...garvie just sent me a couple of very nice pictures so i know all's well at home...the other night i skyped with the garbs and mishi - i had never done that before so that was cool...they'd like the garbs down here...
hasta manana.

te amo.

garncarlos

xo

zack gets down to business de-seeding chili's

and then later crushing the peppers, tomatillos and garlic and water into a salsa.

more de-seeding.

plates of corn tortillas that came off the grill and then had a little (poco) dark lard spread lightly on them.

just to prove i am here...a pic of me and our wonderful teacher soledad.

more mixing.

a young woman from washington - who's name i have forgotten right now - and julie, zack's wife and soledad. julie told me she was in the san francisco symphony not philharmonic.

this is (jose) luiz my mentor...we're gonna go drinkin'. apparently.

more goods for the food we made.

and the finished product.

the corn dough.

after the tortillas are made they're loaded up with food stuffs, in this case beans, salsa and cheese, and then put back on the grill to melt the cheese and crisp them up a little.

snack time.

cassie's hand taking it's/her turn crushing the salsa.

bill gives it a go.