dance to the sun
a kiss to the earth
embrace a stone

come the small black book
come the brandy cask
one strange disease
the well-worded paper
signed by the drunken
hands of thieves

and suddenly
they were told to leave

as the snake uncoiled on a road
the length was eighty miles
wagons’ weary horses
lead the feverish exiles
barefoot in the early snow
on a ridge
where they beheld their home
coarse and barren
not the haven
promised by the Father

Jaksa Chula Harjo*
Jaksa Chula Harjo
Jaksa Chula Harjo

the Red Sticks first and
the Dancing Ghosts were
pierced with arms of fire
and the weeping widows
left could not avenge
so the Western Star manifest its will
drove them clear into the Pacific O

gone the way of flesh
turned pale and died
by your god’s decree

for he hated me

(* Cherokee name for Andrew Jackson the 7th president of the U.S.A. )

And here’s live video:

It may not last more than an hour. Or a day. Or 4 weeks. I’m cheating in another way…I’m still getting notifications when people post on my wall or send me emails and invites and stuff so I’m not *totally* out of touch. It’s like peeking. I know.

I guess I’ll see you when I see you, eh?

> Download (5 MB, PDF)

Servings:

10 servings

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

I wanted to jot a few things down before I forget them. We ate very well the whole time and I didn’t take a single photo of that stuff, for example. In an effort to practice my travel writing, I’ll be expanding on several ideas for articles.

These are just some of my notes about the weekend. I figured I’d go ahead and put them down on the personal blog and follow up with articles on the biz blog later.

Food
Sierra Madre Brewing Company: Microbrew pub with a wide selection of food. We had the sampler of their beers–the dunkel, brown, and pale ale were tasty (surprisingly, the pale ale won for me that day); the pilsner, the light pilsner and the lager did nothing for me. Enjoyed the Pepito de Filete (steak sandwich)…though it was just good microbrewery food. What struck me was the variety of food offerings…there were sandwiches, burgers, pastas, pizzas, and salads–and at least 6 options for each.

Cabo Grill: Really reasonably priced seafood in the ritzy area of town. Had the only ceviche I’ve ever liked there. OMG. It was perfect. I think it was the use of key lime in the right proportion (every other ceviche I’ve had has had WAY too much lime) and the size of the cut of the shrimp and fish were actually quite small and it had been put together for long enough that the flavors had melded nicely w/o losing individual character. Had an excellent marlin taco on probably the best corn tortilla I’ve ever tasted and a really wonderful gobernador taco with shrimp. All washed down with Don Julio. Nice.

Gran San Carlos: They’re known for their Carne Asadas…I was ready to eat off my forearm by the time we got to the restaurant after our hike up Chipinque. As soon as the chips and salsa appeared I was too busy scarfing to remember the name. Anyway. They also brought us an incredible plate of refried beans with perfect nuggets of chicharron on top. I could have eaten just that with the thick corn chips and salsa, and the not too sweet/not too tart/not too watery limonada. Ahhhhhh! But I ordered the Filete ahuja norteñas which I thought was going to be a kebab but it wasn’t. It was kinda like a short rib in the cut–but it only had one bone across the top. It was fine…nothing to write home about but then everything changed (for the better) when, on the last bite, I squeezed key lime juice on it. Who knew? I also had a tostada…apparently for the first time in my life. A Mexican tostada is not the same as its American counterpart. It was grilled, much lighter and flakier in texture, white corn flour.

Neuquen (Barrio Antiguo location): The Mate Picante empanadas were damn fine! It was a traditional Argentine empanada (ground beef, olives, onion, and egg) that they jazzed up for Mexican tastes by including…chile del arbol? The dough was really good but I wanted it to be cooked toastier than it was. The terraza where we sat was really nice–great breeze, tree covered though on a street corner, cool lanterns/ambiance/lighting. Even the music worked really well–I was told it was a bossa nova underlying beat with electronic music–until they started playing remakes of Rolling Stones done that same way. “Brown Sugar” should never be heard that way.

Jac & Ray: So we ended up having to eat in a mall food court one lunch. Oh well. I would seriously say that was the best torta I’ve had…it was the bread. I was told the torta had been Americanized. I begged to differ. It was La Regia. It had ham, salami (sopresseta, I think), sliced hard-boiled egg, sliced avocado, cheese, tomato, lettuce, chipotle mayo on wheat bread (? pan negro) that had been grilled. It was enough of each to get the flavor but not stacked 3 inches tall. The hard-boiled egg and perfectly ripe avocado was the surprise flavor/texture combination for me. I could eat that on that grilled pan negro everyday!

Attractions
Parque Fundidora: Wonderful urban park built around an old foundry. Includes an extensive waterway (with “riverboat” that takes you out to the Paseo de Santa Lucia–Monterrey’s burgeoning riverwalk), an art movie house, several event spaces and musuems, a zipline ride down a stream through a bird sanctuary, purple trees (what were those trees with pale lavender/blue-ish flowers whose leaves look almost fern-like?).

Mirador de la Bandera: A scenic 360 degree overlook of the city and the Sierra Madres. Sunset on one area is said to look like the scene of Mordor.

Parque Ecologico Chipinque: I am now blood-bound to Chipinque and the Sierra Madres. I’d like to find out more about this gorgeous park in the midst of Monterrey’s most exclusive neighborhood.

MARCO: Saw the Spencer Tunick and Filemon Santiago exhibits at the Contemporary Art Museum.

Public Art: There was a ton of public art…in particular I want to find out about a piece near the MARCO. Should have taken a picture. It was black and brick red during the day. And when lit up at night, it was blue and (I would swear) white or pale pale blue. How do they do that??? Also, I want to find out about the statue of the Huntress.

Macroplaza: I want to find out about the structures around the Macroplaza. Since I went with little time to research beforehand, and I was able to rely on a guide, I never bothered to look closely at a map. I’d like to do that now.

Article Ideas
* The Extreme Rich and Extreme Poor
* A Comparison of Monterrey to Houston–they’re roughly of the same size, big art and culture scenes, river/bayou, university/technology/industry towns, great restaurants, similar hot/humid climate.
* Where would I take someone if they came to visit Houston unexpectedly, at the last minute, with no time to prepare? What would I tell them about?
* What is up with key limes?! They squeeze it on everything! And not that this should be a big surprise, but it was, the key lime is way different than a regular lime…and therefore when ya squeeze it on something–like meat–it’s not the same flavor sensation. Duh. Maybe a couple of recipes or 10 things to squeeze a key lime on that you wouldn’t think of if you’re me.
* What’s it like to live in a city where the ‘good’ cops are getting killed daily, the military is driving around in open vehicles, armed to the teeth? And what the hell is that war all about?
* Don’t forget to tip. And don’t forget to throw your toilet paper in the wastebasket and not the toilet. And other helpful hints I wish I reviewed before I went to Mexico.
* How to send a text message from a US phone in a foreign country to a local cell.

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There are lots of lists of great scholarships out there, which made us realize, we need to narrow our focus. He’s not going for athletic scholarships. And right now he’s not going for academic scholarships.  That still leaves us with tons of scholarships for other things–like science projects, essay and speech contests, etc.

What I suggested to Jacob is:

1. That he start a spreadsheet to keep track of the scholarships he researches. It might include columns for:
   * Name of the scholarship
   * Name of the organization giving out the scholarship
   * URL for scholarship info
   * “No” column to check off that he researched the scholarship and decided not to do it (so he doesn’t end up duplicating his research later)
   * “Yes” column to check off if he wants to pursue it
   It should also include columns for:

   * Amount of scholarship
   * Type of work to do (research project, essay, etc.)
   * Notes
   * Deadline date
   * Submission info (mailing or email address, online submission form URL, etc.)

2. That he then start looking at scholarship descriptions and pick out the ones he thinks he might be interested in pursuing and put them into the spreadsheet.
3. Then we can look at the scholarship description and start filling in the spreadsheet.
4. And once we find a few scholarships he wants to apply for, we can start grouping them. Let’s say there’s a scholarship for an earth science project and another for an eco-awareness project. He could design a project that would support both scholarship requirements, collect whatever data or do whatever research that would support both, and then tailor the final report for each.Better yet, I suggested that many of his assignments at school might be the perfect launching tool for a scholarship. If he has to do a project or research for a school assignment, he can leverage or expand on the work he’s doing for school to use for his scholarship work too. It just seems like a more efficient use of his time and effort.

Since he seems to “forget” his notebook that I gave him to keep track of all this stuff, I suggested he use Google docs to post the spreadsheet online so he can access it from anywhere. I suggested that he even keep his notes and scholarship to-do lists up there so he can’t use the excuse that he forgot his notes at home and doesn’t remember what we’re working on. (What? That’s not evil of me really, is it? I know he’s young but I gots no time for his excuses. I’m too busy making up my own!)