This Week...

Disclaimer: Every Friday, my plan is to review the highlights of the past week. Since Mexico City is such a 360-degree sensory experience, it seems like a good idea. Oh, and I sort of copied loosely this idea from one of my favorite websites.

Eating: Look at this beauty! Isn't it gorgeous?! Recently, I read that if you're in Mexico City in September (the month in which Mexico's independence is celebrated), you must try this dish: Chiles en Nogada. I'm going to quote wikipedia's entry, because it does a beautiful job explaining this exquisite dish. The entry states, Chiles en Nogada "...consists of poblano chiles filled with "picadillo" (a mixture usually containing chopped or ground meat, aromatics, fruits, and spices) topped with a walnut-based cream sauce and pomegranate seeds, giving it the three colors of the Mexico Flag: green for the chili, white for the nut sauce and red for the pomegranate."

"How did you, Christine, a pescetarian, eat this meaty dish?" you ask. Well, one of our favorite vegetarian restaurants had a vege version (its "picadillo"--awesome word, may I add--contained soy protein instead of the meat).

The dish was very sweet (almost an entree and dessert in one), and the sauce was cold. It was amazing.


Seeing: Walking down Avenida Reforma, a big street that cuts through many different neigborhoods, is an experience. The road itself is huge. It seems to have a billion-and-a-half lanes, and it's pretty stately. There are monuments in the middle of the road that cars must circumvent, and there are nice sidewalks for lowly peds (like us). On the sidewalks, there are lots of public sculptures. Matt and I love this one. I have no idea what it's called, but it's very Where the Wild Things Are to me, and I like that.

Hearing: Oh man, the list for this category could go on and on. There are so many funny, amusing, and annoying sound-bites happening in this city on a daily basis. There are vendors who come around every single day (at roughly the same time every day), and yell a chant, blow a whistle, ring a bell, etc., to get your attention. You learn what mode of attention each one uses, thus, after hearing the proper sound, you can run out the front gate and catch them to say, "I need that!" I'll post more about this soon. One of my favorites, though, comes around every night in our neighborhood at about 8:20 p.m. This sound bite consists of a man selling tamales on his bike,riding up and down the streets. Instead of yelling about his goods, he plays a LOUD, repeating tape, that in a robotic voice, elucidates on his tamales. It saves his voice, I guess, but it's very funny. Someone posted it on youtube; you should really listen. We hear this EVERY NIGHT WITHOUT FAIL. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhhM2F2S8tk

Wearing: This section will soon, I hope, be full of all the cool artisan goods I purchase. Unfortunately, I have not yet bought a single tchotchke (nor has Matt). Therefore, I'll post a picture of my very cool spatter-paint Swatch watch. It was a birthday gift, and it comes in handy when continental time (i.e. 18:36 o'clock) just doesn't make sense. I'm trying hard to decode the time on public clocks, but it's still a calculation. And after I've walked four miles and am standing in a beastly hot subway car, I just don't have the wherewithal to figure it out. Oh boy, life is tough, no?