acquiring antiques

Big remo going on up the street at Jack's casa. He is having a new roof put on the entire place, both wings. This is the second wing with its roof gone.

The first step was to install a forest of wooden supports on the ground floor to support the ceilings.


Then the swarm of workers demolished the old roof, made of poured cement, using pick axes, sledge hammers and, for a day or so, a jackhammer. Then they installed new steel I-beams for supports, new rebar for more support, ripped out the ceilings in all the upstairs apartments, and then loaded big piles of rubble into the beds of various pick-up trucks. One day they had a front loader to relieve the guys from their shovel work!

This gentleman named Pedro, 72 years old, and his son used both their trucks load and haul stuff away to sell as "fill" for sand lots waiting to be built on out in the colonia.

The new roof will have a 12" pitch to it so the rain will run off, not pool up and weaken the structure. It is also cement but has some other materials in it to make it lighter in weight and weather resistant. It is shot out of an enormous hose attached to a machine; takes about one hour to do the roof vs. the three days it took to put on the original roof almost 40 years ago. It's been going on now for two months; another month to go and it should be finished. It's a huge job but is proceeding right on schedule.

All of the above is by way of explaining how we acquired this antique Sunbeam Mixmaster®. Because of all the work, Jack had to clean out all the cupboards and shelves in the various apartments and especially in his own. He came upon this machine that he swears he had forgotten he even had and hadn't used in at least 30 years. Did we want it? Well, Mr. C. is always happy to have a new kitchen gadget (but let's not even speak of the meat grinder!). He has been busy cleaning it up and oiling it in preparation for a baking test ("What do you need for a yellow cake?"). Both of us can remember these gadgets from our mothers' kitchens, although I think I remember one from my grandmother's, too. She had a big, sunny kitchen in her home in Pasadena and this thing sat in the corner on the tiled counter. Now this little old beauty will sit on our counter, along with the very essential liquadora and the Cuisinart®. It will be interesting to see how much we use it.

NOTES FROM A LOST WEEK

We had a house guest for a few days last week. Liz flew in from the cold of Baltimore to the warmth of Cuyutlán and we spent five days lounging around, getting caught up (she was here 6 years ago; our toddlers went to the same daycare). We went to brunch at the new beach hotel in El Paraiso; gorgeous setting, good food, good service.

As a special treat, Chuy cooked chiles relleno picadillo Monday night. I bought all the ingredients at the tianges - chiles poblano, papas, zanahorias, jitomates, ceboillas, res molida ~ and took it all to her house. At 6 o'clock she arrived bearing this beautiful olla of perfectly prepared, perfectly seasoned chiles. We all swooned. Or as my friend Patty would say, "We cried out!"


Tuesday we piled into the car and drove her (and two other Cuyutlán visitors) to the airport in Manzanillo. Then we stopped at La Posada (the pink hotel) for lunch before heading back home. Hers was a quick visit but she wants to come back and rent a place next year to get out of the East Coast winter. Who can blame her?

Fernando and Chuy are hosting a little farewell dinner party tonight for several of the "regulars" who are leaving this weekend. Marie is firing up the big outdoor oven and he will roast two huge slabs of Marlin caught by his brother. I'm taking a platter of veggies to roast also. Chuy is making pan de eloté, a cross between corn bread and corn pudding; it's quite sweet and is eaten as a dessert, frequently with some sort of (sweet) creamy liqueur pour over it.

The beer tents are starting to show up along the malecón as the town gears up for the Easter crazies. Pretty soon the disco will begin setting up and I'll go from my sweet self to a raging maniac all in a matter of minutes the first note I hear from the 15' tall speakers. But that's not until next week.

Tomorrow's opera: Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas. Good reviews in the NYT and the New Yorker. Poor Hamlet looks like he's in his pj's; can't sleep a wink. Too much on his mind, I guess. He needs a vacation, somewhere warm and sunny, without his mother.