More Liana

Second the motion for Timothy G. Ruff Welch. He's s superlative musician, director of Los Cantantes choral group, and an all-around wonderful guy. We've been friends for a long time and you'll like him a LOT. Another good contact is Jayme Littlejohn, at the new BRAVO theatre. Tell them both Cristina Potters sent you!

No. And frankly, when was the last time an ATM spit out a 10 peso coin or a 20 peso bill? Where I live, garbage collectors no longer receive a salary. The custom is to tip the garbage collector when he takes away one's garbage. The standard tip is five pesos, and I usually put out garbage twice a week. I make a point of saving 5-peso coins for just this purpose. Save your change. Take enough to the supermarket to tip the bagger. Be a mensch.

Of course I noticed. What I said still stands: take enough cash to give a tip to your bagger. How hard is it to stick 10-20 pesos in your pocket AND take your credit card?

Absolutely, still going on and actually more severe than at the time the article was published. This article simply explains the 'why'.

Pardon me, but when children and elderly people are working for tips, they need money. They can't pay their bills with a candy bar. You like the smile you get back, but you're interpreting it to your benefit. Not necessarily so. Just this week I read a long article in La Jornada (newspaper out of Mexico City) about pensions in Mexico. The standard amount for a person retiring from lifelong work? 1200-1500 pesos a month. Tip the baggers!

Lots of posters (more than 90) on a FB group I belong to are reporting problems with extortion on the coast toll road. Here's a link that explains very clearly what's going on: https://themazatlanpost.com/2019/04/19/peasants-forced-to-collect-fees-in-nayarit-on-the-mazatlan-tepic-highway-by-cartels/

The CBX website is at https://www.crossborderxpress.com/en/ The following is a screen shot from their website of how to contact them with questions. If it were me, I'd email them at the first email address listed. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9d1wrrlp84yj3uv/Screenshot 2019-10-09 13.02.06.png?dl=0

Look into Cynoff. Available in powder form, just mix it with water and spray around the outside and inside perimeters and no bugs came in. It should be available at Ferretería Jara, next to the Telmex office on the carretera.

Do you ever see on a restaurant menu "trucha salmonada"? For a long time I thought it was a name invention, but little did I know there actually is a trout by that name. The flesh is red, like a salmon, but the whole, uncooked fish is a char. Salvelinus fontinalis--brook trout, in English. Delicious.

The rainbow trout farm-raised in Michoacán is always excellent, delicious and plentiful, and featured in our restaurants here. Michoacán is the leader in rainbow trout production in Mexico. Given that Mazamitla is about 10-15 minutes from the Michoacán border, it's not surprising that they raise rainbows. It is in no way comparable to farmed salmon, thank god.

Boy are you wrong, CG. That may be true at Lake Chapala, but it is definitely not true in Guadalajara, Morelia, Mexico City, Merida, Oaxaca, Monterrey, and so forth. Fifteen years ago, the Colegio Culinario de Morelia was the first culinary school in Mexico to offer a 4-year licenciatura--now there are many. You don't become a chef at a school--at a school, you learn techniques and cooking skills. You become a chef in a kitchen, working your butt off, taking the flak, learning to work every station and manage the kitchen entirely. Working your way up the ranks. "Chef" means head of a kitchen--the boss. It's not some kid fresh out of cooking school. There are plenty of CIA graduates and graduates from other fine schools working as chefs and executive chefs in Mexico.

What David describes as "...a door like set of bars attached to the house that can be closed and locked. The slider can be left open or closed." is exactly what I had on my sliders in Ajijic. The bars opened, closed, and locked like a normal door, and as he said, the slider could be left open or closed. It was perfect. Just tell your herrero (iron worker) that's what you want.

In general, the expat population living in Rosarito is retired foreigners. A younger population--and not usually from the US--is at Riviera Maya and at Riviera Nayarit. This new wrinkle comes from the head of INM in Baja California.

https://www.sandiegored.com/es/noticias/178081/Deportaran-a-los-estadounidenses-que-vivan-ilegalmente-en-Rosarito Although US citizens living illegally in Rosarito are easy targets, I suspect that there is potential for this to spread elsewhere in Mexico, particularly to high-density areas where US expats live. My opinion only.

When I make pho, I start two or even three days before: roast a lot of bones, along with them roast an inexpensive cut of beef called chambarete (which you can buy either with or without bones, get 'with'), roast the vegetables, and simmer for about 15 hours. Strain, save the meat for something else, and go from there, continuing to simmer the stock with ginger, Mexican stick cinnamon, coriander seed, fennel, star anise, etc to season the broth correctly. I always ask my butcher to cut the actual beef for the bowl of pho in paper-thin slices. Now I want some.