tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478180357579602782023-11-16T05:14:51.277-08:00Barbara's travel diaryAway from Australia for 5 months, I have decided to try a travelblog instead of emails to friends and family...Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-75776276031782541292011-09-18T17:53:00.000-07:002011-09-18T17:53:30.448-07:00<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On the air again - a quick catch up</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I don’t know why I only use this blog when I am travelling –
I suppose because it is after all named Barbara’s Travel Diary. Particularly this past 12 months, when we
have spent so little time at home in Australia, I found myself thinking that my
adventures at home are as worthy (or not!) of a blog post as my overseas
adventures. But in any case, lately I have seemed way too busy doing
blog-worthy things to have any time to blog about them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> I am starting this post on the plane en route to Berkeley in late July, 2011, but who knows when or if I will finish it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last month or so that we spent in Berkeley in 2010 we
did lots of things that might have been of interest, but I never got around to
writing them up. Barry’s J1 Visiting
Scholar’s visa and the J2 I get as his spouse only lasts for 30 days after his
teaching term ends, and we knew we needed about 8 weeks as we planned to be in
New York for the birth of our first grandchild, due in mid-January.<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>So after the end of his teaching and admin duties around Xmas,
we headed to Toronto for a few days so we could re-enter the US on a tourist
visa. We caught up with some old academic friends of Barry’s, enjoyed the bits of Toronto we got to see,but then<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>we
got snowed in on our way to New York in the post Xmas blizzard that hit the
East Coast. Therefore our
Toronto-Washington- NYC trip took an extra day.
Our airline told us all flights were cancelled for the next 4 days, so
we called Ben and he booked us seats to NYC on Amtrak the next day (by
which time we hoped the tracks would have been cleared) ; a friend in DC who we could have stayed with
still had a house full of Xmas guests
who had been unable to leave due to the snow, so we had to find hotel accommodation; then our luggage went
missing at the airport for half a day; we took the wrong shuttle bus for the
hotel we had chosen; etc. etc. We took a
car service to Washington Penn Station for our train from the hotel we had stayed in close to the airport, and there was not a snow flake to be seen on the ground or in the air, but when we hit New York many streets
were clogged with uncleared snow and it was hard getting uptown from Penn
Station to the apartment we were staying in for our first 3 weeks. We gave up on the taxi queue and negotiated in Spanish with a gypsy cab - Ben had met us at the station to help with the luggage, and later very pregnant Lissy joined us for a quick Greek meal at a place she used to frequent in her student days. Melbourne Greek food is better!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gemma's First Day - Barry Barbara, Gemma, Lissy and Ben</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delighted Booba having First Cuddle with Gemma</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ben and Lissy’s daughter Gemma arrived a little early (Lissy’s water broke while they were out to dinner celebrating their second wedding anniversary) so we were able to enjoy her for about 6 weeks before returning to Melbourne. That was a very busy and stressful time , as all new parents and grandparents know. We spent time staying with various old and new friends as well as at Ben and Lissy’s for a bit, and getting to know our new baby was as wonderful as all grandparents will tell you. Leaving her was a real wrench, even more than it always is when we head for home leaving our only son and daughter-in-law in New York.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had a very busy time when we returned to
Melbourne. Ben arrived for just over a week to attend a wedding four
days after we got home, so there were a few family get-togethers to
arrange.</span> </td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbiLFHmTSK4iGXi46AQ70T7xVGczcSO-KyhkyCHuizXJW6NlWz-lYi36hq3Y-jTlXkNrc4Ew8-blajLOcqgYTYt_85Zx9ePUNeKvrhewzAQ6h1tlOnweOhitU9bnoyx7NDU-U9QaqfqVlw/s1600/IMG_4697.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbiLFHmTSK4iGXi46AQ70T7xVGczcSO-KyhkyCHuizXJW6NlWz-lYi36hq3Y-jTlXkNrc4Ew8-blajLOcqgYTYt_85Zx9ePUNeKvrhewzAQ6h1tlOnweOhitU9bnoyx7NDU-U9QaqfqVlw/s320/IMG_4697.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our cousins Noah and Jacob Burrows at Family Picnic in Albert Park</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then there was the usual flurry of getting our financial affairs in order, catching up on the economy and the performance of investments in the complex world of our superannuation funds and direct investments, and doing the tax returns before the deadlines. Then the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and related Fukushima nuclear plant emergencies happened, and our Berkeley friends Philip and Sonya, who had been planning a trip to Japan a couple of weeks later, agreed to come to Australia instead. We had the pleasure of their company in Melbourne in a couple of tranches, on either side of their trip to Tasmania. And Passover came in the middle of their visit, which is always a very busy time. We also managed to get lots of our friends over to meet them, though in small groups over a meal rather than any big parties. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sonya and Philip at the breakfast table (chocolatissimo birthday cake for Sonya)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Barry’s brother, Ron, who lives
in the NSW Southern Highlands, reached an age and state of health where he needed to move into
supported accommodation, so there were a couple of trips to assist getting him
settled in a place near Bowral, and
Barry also had several trips to Canberra for academic purposes. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barry's brother, Ron Carr, in his room in the aged care facility.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Next, Ben and Lissy arrived with Gemma for
two lovely weeks, though they were in Sydney for some of that time. We got to know Gemma all over again at 4
months. Again, time to organise various
get togethers for family and friends. </span><br />
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<br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> A couple of weeks later Barry’s cousin
Tamar and her two primary scool-aged kids, Tom and Lee, who live in Mackay, came to visit during Queensland school
holidays. They had a list of touristy things to do - the zoo, the MCG tour, Eureka Tower, St Kilda Beach and the Acland Street cake shops amongst others - some of which we did together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Then in a couple of weeks we were off to the US again – spending
a few nights in Berkeley with Philip and Sonya , signing some documents
on campus and meeting our future landlady at the house we will be renting from
mid-August till late December, before heading off – me for new York to spend
time with Ben, Lissy and Gemma and seeing friends, while Barry went to
Austin, Texas and then on to Mexico till we both met up to begin the Fall
Semester on August 14. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we only spent less than 5 months in Melbourne, I feel a
little short-changed. There wasn’t time to do as much as I would have liked,
even though we packed in lots.
Increasingly I want to spend time with my friends, who I miss so much
when I am away. We caught a few operas but no live theatre, missed the major
exhibitions on at the National Gallery, saw just a few movies. I again have missed the Canto Coro choir
season in its entirety, and only got to sing with the Nitzanim singers
once (plus one rehearsal). Mind you, I
did get in regular exercise classes, swimming, book club and Why Is It So at
U3A, while dropping out of my U3A Spanish conversation group through lack of time.
Also I didn’t manage to do any Jewish Studies, as I missed the first part of
the term and knew I’d miss more classes due to other activities. I do need to ensure I get more intellectual
stimulation as I am starting to notice how much less sharp I am than I was, and
my memory is not as good as I’d like.
Feeling like I am temporary somehow diminishes my commitment to serious
intellectual effort. I find I give up
reading long articles or other non-fiction because I feel too rushed. Maybe
blogging again will help – or maybe it will be something else to avoid putting
time into. My preferred activity seems
to be many games of Scrabble on the iPhone, the equivalent of many games of
solitaire on the computer but more enjoyable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-28446105183556434512010-12-23T21:37:00.000-08:002010-12-23T21:37:21.667-08:00A weekend in the country<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3VVdS6FRuBgrlr-RVgPiVP1DNeppTdGrwdj71G-vsNMBVk7gGfoQukTykM8vTCWwpTTIi4Hio6IaRC-Av6isEHf2E4LamVsuDeoYYYkjpLmKvU1aSyzjt4lUKJVGTHVKUsY5KZbGAi6xI/s1600/IMG_4472.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3VVdS6FRuBgrlr-RVgPiVP1DNeppTdGrwdj71G-vsNMBVk7gGfoQukTykM8vTCWwpTTIi4Hio6IaRC-Av6isEHf2E4LamVsuDeoYYYkjpLmKvU1aSyzjt4lUKJVGTHVKUsY5KZbGAi6xI/s320/IMG_4472.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philip lights the fire.</td></tr>
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Sonya and Philip invited us to spend the weekend after Thanksgiving at their cottage in Forestville, about an hour and a half's drive from Berkeley, in the Russian River area of Sonoma County. The forecast said the rain would stop late Saturday and the next couple of days would be fine, so we chanced it (sightseeing is less than great in the pouring rain) and though it was pretty wet when we drove up there, and there were just a few more rainy episodes on the first day, Sunday was fine and Monday was brilliantly sunny. I have put some photos on Flickr - Sonya and Philip and the house; the Ferrari-Carano vineyard we visited on Sunday, which has wonderfully landscaped gardens and some sculptures dedicated to the wife of the founder; and some shots from the coastal route Philip took to drive home, enjoying the views from the cliffs above the beaches and the marina at Bodega Bay, where we stopped on the way back for clam chowder and a crab sandwich. We had a lovely time, including a very fine dinner at The Farmhouse Inn in Forestville on Saturday <br />
night - (you can look it up and check out the menu) at <a href="http://www.farmhouseinn.com/restaurant.html">http://www.farmhouseinn.com/restaurant.html</a> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIHhgpNIQEkmvNw5pi-oFJMOmmRcAKqy3wtAWkfzKvB4q736x2nHzq_dAnVvjiCs-O-0p_7-BE3Jg0uuvYxAb5hiNCL8f-BWWOkzD8MNF3lBirMrG1fkrElkrvdepSh_MjxDBtimLku3Z/s1600/IMG_4514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIHhgpNIQEkmvNw5pi-oFJMOmmRcAKqy3wtAWkfzKvB4q736x2nHzq_dAnVvjiCs-O-0p_7-BE3Jg0uuvYxAb5hiNCL8f-BWWOkzD8MNF3lBirMrG1fkrElkrvdepSh_MjxDBtimLku3Z/s320/IMG_4514.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the decks at the cottage</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HVskOLWsAuTQTGqen3rxBOkVVnk_32OLOsAggwjKMF03jRr8V49bUSwMKsp-rMv6F5ORS6TaFE_jjmX8ACkL7zbF-SgnthrQgoeUD-QoAAo43W9F9gAcndUGD_q3yOkhF3rHdjycwnj3/s1600/IMG_4515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HVskOLWsAuTQTGqen3rxBOkVVnk_32OLOsAggwjKMF03jRr8V49bUSwMKsp-rMv6F5ORS6TaFE_jjmX8ACkL7zbF-SgnthrQgoeUD-QoAAo43W9F9gAcndUGD_q3yOkhF3rHdjycwnj3/s320/IMG_4515.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approach from the street to the cottage</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Philip loves rhubarb so I had made a surprise rhubarb and apple crumble for him (and the rest of us had some too), and had brought up pumpkin and leek soup from home also. Sonya had some home made challah and a delicious cranberry relish she had made for Thanksgiving, and we had lamb cutlets and smashed potatoes, asparagus and salad on Sunday night, as well as delicious breakfasts. We really enjoyed the wine tasting and rather spectacular tasting rooms at the vineyard (where the woman who assisted us turned out to have a son and daughter-in-law teaching at universities in Brisbane) and the subsequent drive into Healdsburg, where we had lunch at one of the many restaurants in this very foodie haven. I had been thinking I had strayed from my Weight Watchers path since Chanukah - but writing this I realise I started on this deviation much earlier - starting with all the chocolate at Halloween, then Thanksgiving, etc. etc. My jeans are too tight again, and drastic action is required. Weight Watchers has started a new plan, though the old one worked just fine for me, and even thinking about changing has rather derailed my eating from its familiar track<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful landscape at Ferrari Carano vineyard</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqSmfHlzs17YVKY9kOhyphenhyphenH82kRMcX2vgWnu7WxYUEZi2E2aMSgmMODHG5857NilyWtuHDF5MXf_2gyur_GOrkEJlezpa6B2JBT5p18wluRe9eTdx3fZQFJ9Qvu3nYEOKLHyffV_zL3_Klvx/s1600/IMG_4524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqSmfHlzs17YVKY9kOhyphenhyphenH82kRMcX2vgWnu7WxYUEZi2E2aMSgmMODHG5857NilyWtuHDF5MXf_2gyur_GOrkEJlezpa6B2JBT5p18wluRe9eTdx3fZQFJ9Qvu3nYEOKLHyffV_zL3_Klvx/s320/IMG_4524.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><br />
If you are interested, you can see all the photos from the weekend (with captions) at<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157625660192334">http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157625660192334</a>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-84264649650871090242010-12-16T16:47:00.000-08:002010-12-16T16:47:08.092-08:00The weeks up to Thanksgiving 2010<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LPHKDlA0UteeYhX_dA8TsAfKOYv9YGyOBul1pNA-tSH7Kc8KVIFbF08R0dmDRnFn9hTrRoIWnWH3VJvvTKGuQnrmobIyTzY_AdLwnf-akpcniosWvbaRMcM5gcC5Pp68BAH_0vPd8loH/s1600/IMG_4397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LPHKDlA0UteeYhX_dA8TsAfKOYv9YGyOBul1pNA-tSH7Kc8KVIFbF08R0dmDRnFn9hTrRoIWnWH3VJvvTKGuQnrmobIyTzY_AdLwnf-akpcniosWvbaRMcM5gcC5Pp68BAH_0vPd8loH/s320/IMG_4397.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking along a palm-lined street up to the mountains from Santa Monica</td></tr>
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On Monday of the week before Thanksgiving, Barry was invited to give papers at USC and Scripps College in Pomona (both located in suburbs of Los Angeles). I decided to join him in LA for the long weekend. We had initially planned to spend our first night with Larry and Barbara, cousins who used to live in San Francisco but have been in LA for several years (and whom I last saw at Jackie and Bob's place in Santa Clara last December, though they visited Barry in Berkeley while I was on the East Coast this year). However, Barbara had the flu and it was deemed inadvisable to see them while we were there, let alone stay with them. Instead, we spent the 3 nights in Santa Monica, at Nora Hamilton's place. She is a long- time colleague and friend of Barry's, and we enjoyed her hospitality greatly, though she seemed very disabled by a fall she had had a couple of weeks before. The scans and so on had showed nothing broken, but it was clear she was in a great deal of pain and could barely walk. Her two-storey apartment would have been very difficult to deal with but for the fact that she had had a stair elevator thingy installed several years earlier when she was recovering from hip replacement surgery, so could use that and the walker and other aids left over from that time to help her get about. (Subsequent tests revealed she had in fact fractured her pelvis, so it is no wonder she was so uncomfortable!)<br />
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We had one meal out together, with me driving us in her car to the great seafood restaurant she had chosen, and I also drove us to USC on Monday for the first of Barry's talks. We had delicious breakfasts at home - in fact I took to buying berries again when I returned to Berkeley, as Nora's had been so luscious, but I found the local ones disappointing again. For other evening meals we got in take-away - Indian food our first night, which Barry picked up as he needed something from the drugstore a block away, very close to the restaurant, and another night we had Thai food delivered. Nora lives just a few blocks from the beach. The weather was balmy and I managed to convince Barry to join me on my daily walk down to the beach, but I didn't have a short-sleeved top to wear, so got a bit overheated most days. One day after we hit Ocean Avenue, an elevated drive above cliffs or palisades overlooking the broad sandy beach below, Barry parked himself on a bench in the shade and I walked on down to the Santa Monica Pier. Santa Monica, at least in the 15 blocks between where we were staying and the beach, contrary to the image of Los Angeles as a place with no-one on the streets, was full of joggers, people walking dogs, parents with kids in strollers, lots of bikes. This is just on the regular streets, apart from the pedestrian malls and the funky shopping strips. There is lots of ice cream to be had, cafes and little shops - and there were buses also. The palm trees and many eucalypts gave it a very St Kilda vibe, and I always love to be out amongst it where there is sunshine and blue skies. I have posted photos on Flickr: look up the photostream for bjoymarsh, for Santa Monica etc. or use this link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29461072@N07/?saved=1">http://www.flickr.com/photos/29461072@N07/?saved=1</a><br />
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We managed to locate cousins who we had lost touch with, Julie and Eric - it is more than 10 years since I have seen Eric and their daughter Camille, though I have seen Julie on visits to Melbourne, most recently at her nephew's barmitzvah or her cousin's wedding. They have recently moved to a new house spectacularly located in a deep ravine with a very steep staircase down, fortuitously fitted with an elevator chair (2 in one weekend!) which Julie, who was recovering from foot surgery, used. We had lunch together and a great catch up on all the news on both sides, and got the chance to meet Camille, who is now in college - last time we saw her I think she was about 8 years old. Eric picked us up and dropped us off again later, and though we had been invited to a party in the evening, we were not so enthusiastic about going and neither was Nora, so we stayed in that night. <br />
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On Monday, I wandered around the USC campus while Barry was giving his talk (I've heard it several times already), and took the photos you can see on Flickr. Is the yo-yo making a comeback? There was a guy doing a yo-yo demonstration on stage in the centre of campus, and a not very good but extremely loud band, and some students getting around on unicycles as well as masses of bikes and skateboards. Basically the university seems to occupy what originally was a few city blocks, which have now become self-contained. There were interesting plaques all over the place, originating from a university history project, telling about the growth and transformation of the university as an aerospace research institution under one of its Presidents, and relating how the student body and later the campus grew hugely after WW II, when the returning GIs were able to go to college thanks to the GI Bill. But the film school really told me I was in Southern California!<br />
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On Tuesday night we went into San Francisco to see Janacek's The Makropulos Case at the Opera House. <br />
We went in quite early so we could go to the talk before the performance, as the opera was completely unknown to us before. I think a version of the talk we heard is on the audio tab on the SF opera link below. We stopped for Greek food at a cafe very near the Civic Centre BART station, where we have eaten before, but this evening the place was incongruously full of very glamorously dressed opera goers. It is really quite a greasy spoon, but we have figured out if we order one Shish Kebab platter and one Greek salad and share, we both have a delicious meal for under $20. The bourghul and rice accompaniments are particularly delicious, the salad is fresh, the lamb is tender and the yoghurt dressing which accompanies it is basically tzatziki, not a term we hear used much here. I guess we have never been there at this hour before.<br />
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It was a really outstanding production, completely gripping through the first two acts, a little less so in the third act. This had a lot to do with the diva, Karita Mattila, who turned on an absolutely stunning piece of acting and singing as the opera singer who has been taking an eternal youth potion for 300 years. The first link is the SF Opera's official site, but the audio is not of Mattila. <br />
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<a href="http://sfopera.com/Season-Tickets/2010-11-Season/The-Makropulos-Case.aspx?gclid=CL3yrvmK8KUCFQRubAodVH2w1Q#media-audio">http://sfopera.com/Season-Tickets/2010-11-Season/The-Makropulos-Case.aspx?gclid=CL3yrvmK8KUCFQRubAodVH2w1Q#media-audio </a><br />
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The next link is a review of the performance, with which I pretty much agree.<br />
<a href="http://sfist.com/2010/11/17/sfist_reviews_the_makropulos_case_a.php">http://sfist.com/2010/11/17/sfist_reviews_the_makropulos_case_a.php</a><br />
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On Friday evening we were invited to eat at Joan Sprinson's - she is the woman who offered me a lift to the Tertulia the week we arrived in Berkeley this year. Chatting with her then, having noticed The Mexico Reader on her coffee table, I mentioned that Barry had co-edited the Cuba Reader in the same series. One thing led to another; I mentioned what Barry was teaching at CAL this year, and as she was particularly interested in Cuba, she contacted him and arranged to audit his course on Cuban History. She also took us shopping at the Monterrey Market before we had a car, but I have barely seen her since as I have missed so many tertulias this year as the night hasn't been fixed and we have had clashes. She cooked a delicious dish based on spaghetti squash: the one time I tried to cook one at home years ago, I must have undercooked it - now I have an idea what the texture should be like, I will try again. It also featured some really good mushrooms. We had a very interesting evening chatting and getting to know each other a little.<br />
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The rain had set in that day and for several days: it got much worse the next evening. Sonya and I were going to an all Handel concert that Nina, a friend from our YMCA exercise class, was singing in, and Philip and Barry, who were less keen than we were, had decided to go to the movies together. When Philip and Sonya arrived, Philip said "whose idea was this anyway" - why didn't we just stay in and have some drinks in the warm, maybe play Scrabble or watch a DVD. I was tempted, given how it was bucketing down, but Barry really wanted to see the movie they had planned (Conviction - I still haven't seen it, but they thought it was well worth seeing and would recommend it) so we headed off in our respective cars to our respective destinations. There were multiple churches on the blocks near campus where we were seeking the church where Chora Nova was performing, and after driving round several blocks in the pouring rain, Sonya and I eventually parked in a spot we found in the church car park - only to discover it was the wrong church. But we left the car there anyway, and it was still there when we returned at the end, when the rain had abated a little. Appropriately for the weather, the concert was titled "Let the Winds Blow!", and the first piece was titled Der Sturm, so of course the MC could not resist quipping about the weather, as we sat there with umbrellas and raincoats dripping onto the pews and carpets! The concert was excellent, the accompanying musicians and the soloists in the Mass in Bb were very good, and the choir is an entirely different proposition to my Nigunim Chorus, where we all have fun and there are very few trained voices, though we all probably love to sing as much as each other. You can find some Chora Nova clips on youtube if you are interested, though not from the concert we attended. We came back here to a cuppa (or G&Ts in some cases) and some cookies before Philip and Sonya went home.<br />
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We were invited to join Myrna and Garrett for their family Thanksgiving dinner this year, which we really enjoyed. Here is the cake I made and few photos from the day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk6xqq0H6sdtXn70G8p3-vEcwhMn8R7HCIfGjlZJmIBRZaDGlS5nKseDSPN_Uossx7VvHui24ZQSP_RPLZvKBGOYGzBP9KdBC77G1r8jmemhQZy-iV4EFIEAK-oGFG4QR4m5B9mkDB_w7U/s1600/IMG_4450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk6xqq0H6sdtXn70G8p3-vEcwhMn8R7HCIfGjlZJmIBRZaDGlS5nKseDSPN_Uossx7VvHui24ZQSP_RPLZvKBGOYGzBP9KdBC77G1r8jmemhQZy-iV4EFIEAK-oGFG4QR4m5B9mkDB_w7U/s320/IMG_4450.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raspberry Marzipan Tart in front of the window</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABk7JA2JqQ1u755j65FPlVAVLlc_3RmgJ8O1meT-GcJvAXMjSYtaHwJGEFWNgUGPQi0og7Xv_VARe5x2072VsU3t0zg3fz5ANzzxVv2T6gqJXunNZ0pw4duHY1W1v5uTq0qhHCrhfpsfR/s1600/IMG_4452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABk7JA2JqQ1u755j65FPlVAVLlc_3RmgJ8O1meT-GcJvAXMjSYtaHwJGEFWNgUGPQi0og7Xv_VARe5x2072VsU3t0zg3fz5ANzzxVv2T6gqJXunNZ0pw4duHY1W1v5uTq0qhHCrhfpsfR/s320/IMG_4452.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the two tables set for Thanksgiving Lunch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlGv0y8QF-mfolmDSq14waCg8Up9QUKInfCSoWqDjiQGlxnKv8DKUAoGgleYfg_qSA8Q9qOT4IQ7XiowLfIkk6JHwOescGs1mi-HVtry-6v9EGcieH0tFws9nb7I3inKnN07H8cmEh0Ks2/s1600/IMG_4454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlGv0y8QF-mfolmDSq14waCg8Up9QUKInfCSoWqDjiQGlxnKv8DKUAoGgleYfg_qSA8Q9qOT4IQ7XiowLfIkk6JHwOescGs1mi-HVtry-6v9EGcieH0tFws9nb7I3inKnN07H8cmEh0Ks2/s320/IMG_4454.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<br />
Garrett with friend and colleague Peter<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVBmhp83WOC7WbKT8MRHrT4ZXdstY2d-IXY1akmpYmboF3B3Ht2Kiz5D6Gwh_GgLFlFgtR3Z_7nbWA4i62-GXSxwujJCjt2auLP3hZI2JZr3U_tfuOJPHoldvPZlJ5ce-H1eehg3iJhYx/s1600/IMG_4461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVBmhp83WOC7WbKT8MRHrT4ZXdstY2d-IXY1akmpYmboF3B3Ht2Kiz5D6Gwh_GgLFlFgtR3Z_7nbWA4i62-GXSxwujJCjt2auLP3hZI2JZr3U_tfuOJPHoldvPZlJ5ce-H1eehg3iJhYx/s320/IMG_4461.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Myrna(red top), Garrett and some of her family on their front steps</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-89883314654101394882010-11-30T22:52:00.000-08:002010-11-30T22:52:03.899-08:00Berkeley, November 2010<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3NhylH1mw2qikFSh2rGxShiSJ7YVhTUAvi2EItsJ0e3ykSXJPbT0tZ-Mue6kXtREIy5p4sM7LwA-N5oKQOJvipA1DNdd9m6uxjpqV4C229dtekRFQO3QmHbRn-23umMzBMuy73Avf3lUB/s1600/IMG_4393.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3NhylH1mw2qikFSh2rGxShiSJ7YVhTUAvi2EItsJ0e3ykSXJPbT0tZ-Mue6kXtREIy5p4sM7LwA-N5oKQOJvipA1DNdd9m6uxjpqV4C229dtekRFQO3QmHbRn-23umMzBMuy73Avf3lUB/s320/IMG_4393.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barry and I with some characters at the Dia de los Muertos concert</td></tr>
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One Thursday I noticed they were doing flu shots at the JCC right after my exercise class, so spent $25 to have one. These are free at home for people over 60, but I thought with our plans to visit NYC and stay close to our very pregnant daughter-in-law and shortly thereafter her baby, it was a no-brainer. They were advertising them at this price at the University Health Center, but the JCC is closer. Barry forgot to get his there, so he had one recently at the local drug store for $30. A friend tells me her doctor charged her $40!<br />
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The next evening we decided to see the movie "Social Network". We went to the El Cerrito multiplex which is a little further afield than the 3 or 4 cinemas we frequent, and we discovered that you can order a meal and drinks to consume in the cinema. There are broad benchtops between the rows which serve as your table top when they deliver your food. In fact Charlie, our neighbour, had told Barry about this place during our first year here, but somehow we have never gone. And this evening we had eaten dinner before we went out, so stuck to an ice cream for Barry and a decaf coffee for me, but we resolved to go there again and try it out, just for the novelty value. I saw some healthy looking veggie plates with hummus as well as pizzas and burgers, so if we do go we'll need to get there a bit early to check out the menu. We enjoyed the movie, though it would be hard to like Mark Zuckerberg as he is portrayed. I suspect the version of reality depicted in the film will come to be accepted as the true history of the origins of Facebook, irrespective of what actually happened. I have been looking at Facebook a bit more frequently since. I started this blog as a substitute for emailing my friends about our travels, and no sooner did I begin than social media began to replace this form of communication. I don't really do a web log: I am too far in arrears, too wordy, and not interactive, but it works as my travel diary. I don't really want to use the features such as "liking" stuff and twittering about it, but am intrigued by how my "friends" who do manage to find the time. Despite a long career in the computer industry (or maybe because of it?) , I just don't "get" Facebook. I am still an old media fan, I guess, rather than a native user of new media.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYIfFlO-44cDKYApfbtxEqRfGrtjhZK-WPXG-1t_JeT-pP1O2aWS1Ek5Lsuxqwt0shHyUSpZXfSKh8PHebJlw7WbHspudnvU2_F4ZW_YfP2KEC96cXQ2P2XyPDEGFFYPhl0sZhMZTOgMA/s1600/IMG_4379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYIfFlO-44cDKYApfbtxEqRfGrtjhZK-WPXG-1t_JeT-pP1O2aWS1Ek5Lsuxqwt0shHyUSpZXfSKh8PHebJlw7WbHspudnvU2_F4ZW_YfP2KEC96cXQ2P2XyPDEGFFYPhl0sZhMZTOgMA/s320/IMG_4379.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Church of Saints Peter and Paul, North Beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVciAE-Y0RLY675rOb_7bMF-T6KcsT37y8dDyv-V3w4kuhuza_7Ph3rlmlJizm76aJYgXb7DeZxlg_8xtbtMP_VKgzk_L2ah-Jwr0xszJsR-TR_Va4rwhn2Lf5Phy6bS7_-z0OImbDyaod/s1600/IMG_4378.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVciAE-Y0RLY675rOb_7bMF-T6KcsT37y8dDyv-V3w4kuhuza_7Ph3rlmlJizm76aJYgXb7DeZxlg_8xtbtMP_VKgzk_L2ah-Jwr0xszJsR-TR_Va4rwhn2Lf5Phy6bS7_-z0OImbDyaod/s320/IMG_4378.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tai Chi in Washington Square</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>We had arranged to go to a Dia de los Muertos concert at Davies Symphony Hall on Saturday afternoon, with Guy Emerson, a grad student from ANU who is here for a couple of months and enjoying Berkeley very much (he had joined our dinner for the GSI's the week before) . We decided to take a walking tour of the North Beach area in the morning - usually we don't choose morning walks that start so early as we like a leisurely start to the day on weekends, but to make the most of the day got ourselves out of bed and met Guy at the North Berkeley BART station quite early. Rather than find the bus stop and pay 3 fares, we shared a taxi from Montgomery Station in downtown SF and got to North Beach early enough to grab a coffee in this <br />
very Italian restaurant-rich neighbourhood. There were several groups of mostly elderly Chinese doing Tai Chi in Washington Square in front of the church (Sts Peter and Paul) where the tour began - I took several photos of larger groups but however slowly I thought they were moving, the photos must have come out blurred as apparently I deleted most of them which must have been really awful, and only this not very good one made the cut.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQHb9slc5LY84hKhMOwVH-5ghEvQINQ6AXkpb1aGyYyhydChuZ5NrldeJa4hC8tU6V1fkPf3eD2PYGtFs9rCChGiYHltFv9BidvzF5xkNpvc5Flp74N_zcWbbm7BSoHwUdIulw6t-hZWtp/s1600/IMG_4381.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQHb9slc5LY84hKhMOwVH-5ghEvQINQ6AXkpb1aGyYyhydChuZ5NrldeJa4hC8tU6V1fkPf3eD2PYGtFs9rCChGiYHltFv9BidvzF5xkNpvc5Flp74N_zcWbbm7BSoHwUdIulw6t-hZWtp/s320/IMG_4381.JPG" width="320" />on </a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mural featuring musicians, writers, boat builders of San Francisco</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>We have had this Walking Tour guide before - he led the Gold Rush City tour that we took with Ben and Lissy back in 2008. I thought we spent way too much <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYHq_4QkgpMJd1JXf5KM5TNReO3S8ByGwX7m0hwwY5d9GK4RkxIF3npTmQ_CI-ooTQjrHMSza-gnNEthUfpySU7kUPB1X6DNXT-vbCc2fMqmVdxQaZLcmGHas518tuGecx2GPJXpz9cqrw/s1600/IMG_4382.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYHq_4QkgpMJd1JXf5KM5TNReO3S8ByGwX7m0hwwY5d9GK4RkxIF3npTmQ_CI-ooTQjrHMSza-gnNEthUfpySU7kUPB1X6DNXT-vbCc2fMqmVdxQaZLcmGHas518tuGecx2GPJXpz9cqrw/s320/IMG_4382.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Literary sculpture: looks like birds up there but it's books...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYVa4iE1QK2CtcQAXRM5vK1RrKJJKq4NFMh50FybRnRpvpGvHFaz5rqjj7Huo7mm_BSfXJ9CkjeFhFIkYgCYSyheBk3Lm9oed_MHPM2knp66f88IVSpJOUsOXEzvGOBm3tWMSz_xeh20w/s1600/IMG_4384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYVa4iE1QK2CtcQAXRM5vK1RrKJJKq4NFMh50FybRnRpvpGvHFaz5rqjj7Huo7mm_BSfXJ9CkjeFhFIkYgCYSyheBk3Lm9oed_MHPM2knp66f88IVSpJOUsOXEzvGOBm3tWMSz_xeh20w/s320/IMG_4384.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">..and these words have fallen to the pavement from the books!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>time in the church looking at all the sculptures and hearing about the origins and quirks of the different families and communities who had a hand in building it, and too little time looking at temples of the Beats such as the City Lights Bookstore - we didn't even visit the store, got no closer than across the road. But then I am much more interested in the cultural history than religious history. And if Barry had gone into the store, judging by past experience there, he might never have left to continue the tour! Too much talking, not enough walking - and I just read my blog post about the earlier tour and discovered I said the same thing about that tour. I think this guy teaches history at a local community college - maybe I want a little less historical depth and more colour and movement. We wandered about the area and were shown places (former tea rooms, ex-hotels, cafes, park benches) where the Beat poets hung out, wrote and read their poems, drank, listened to music from the '40s to the '60s- Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Bob Kaufman, Jack Kerouac and others. To encourage participation, the guide had prepared a little handout with significant landmarks and a poem by Bob Kaufman. He asked us about what one line ("Mexico Mexico, fill my nostrils") might mean - Barry volunteered that these guys had been fond of travelling to Mexico for the drugs as well as the boys, so it wasn't exactly a mysterious line! We heard how San Francisco had seemed a paradise of liberalism and freedom (as well as sunshine) to these guys from the mid-West and the East coast. He shared with us his own discovery of the Bay Area and and generally managed to ignite some fellow feeling amongst us (especially the tourists ) for their excitement at finding a like-minded community in the Bay Area and never returning to their original home.<br />
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After the tour we walked a couple of blocks into Chinatown and chose a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch pretty much at random. We continued our quest for dry fried string beans to equal the first ones we ever tried in NYC's Chinatown over 30 years ago : these were not terrible, maybe a 6/10 . They came with a tasty brown sauce and were clearly not a real version of the dry-fried dish, but we like green beans anyway. Then we walked half the way to the concert through Chinatown - there was a funeral procession in train so no taxis about on the street we were walking along, but we wanted to get there early as there were various activities with Mariachis, demonstrations of making <i>pan de muertos</i> (the special bread eaten on the Day of the Dead, formed using the knuckles) , which we missed, though we did catch various folkloric groups in costume once we walked a few more blocks and got a taxi - see the photos.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgUsDiEjN3_MSrHh4h5UtJLMlJnxW8rPhjDufda7TCpI1NJiPY9O1w0TCUQ6XAfM7jlhF8SVWNsPEcSG3cPwQHNI0uoevxw4ODvCSHVG5k5mNm4gMolPwT3VA2_IzUXakvsHovasgoyis/s1600/IMG_4395.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgUsDiEjN3_MSrHh4h5UtJLMlJnxW8rPhjDufda7TCpI1NJiPY9O1w0TCUQ6XAfM7jlhF8SVWNsPEcSG3cPwQHNI0uoevxw4ODvCSHVG5k5mNm4gMolPwT3VA2_IzUXakvsHovasgoyis/s320/IMG_4395.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">La Coronela</td></tr>
</tbody></table>There were displays of <i>papel picado</i>, and various reproductions of Posada's famous engravings, including <br />
some in 3D. There was Mexican hot chocolate to sample and many multi-generational families there for the concert with kids dressed up for the occasion. The <i>coronela</i> pictured was particularly relevant as the concert ended with an abridged version of the music and ballet from Revueltas's <i>La Coronela</i> - the music and dancers told a story of the workers' triumph over the decadent bourgeoisie. Ballet (and dance in general) is not my favourite art form, and without the programme notes I would not have had the faintest notion of what the ballet was about. Even with the notes, it was pretty unclear to me, though it received a standing ovation, but most things we see seem to - I think the San Francisco audience is a cheap date! The one other piece that received loud applause was Rosas's <i>Sobre las Olas</i> (Over the Waves), and it also a kind of collective sigh at the point where the introduction ends and a familiar tune emerges. I found a Russian army orchestral version on Youtube and can't resist putting it here: do have a listen and the tune will stick with you all day!<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrFhfPYPUl4&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrFhfPYPUl4&feature=related</a><br />
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All of the music was by composers who had significant connections with Mexico, whether born there or not, and was very easy listening though we had only recently heard Revueltas's <i>Sensemaya</i> last time we were at Symphony Hall. There were lots of children, and I was surprised that most of them were very well-behaved through quite long stretches of classical music (though one little boy on the other side of Barry was rather wriggly and obviously very bored).<br />
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After the concert we wandered back to Union Square, found an authentic looking, if reconstructed, diner (complete with classic car) where Barry ordered a hot fudge sundae (with 3 spoons) and we each had a drink, then Barry and I got the BART back to Berkeley, after pointing Guy in the right direction for his next set of San Francisco adventures. Two activities in one day were enough for me, I guess I am getting old and lazy!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwlyCPCgza6y_3rR9lYGDB8BxQjNe8iGe7uAOaJW6HzokVP48ZWFiEycLISLZcCFIOXGSFrCMM0AiRI1dKJZQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A couple of characters in costume : and note the<i> papel picado</i> in the background.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>After last week's all star cast in Compulsion, my next brush with famous performers was at the SF Opera the following Tuesday evening, to see Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac, featuring Placido Domingo.We drove in with Sonya and Philip and their friend Judy and encountered less traffic then we had expected (with five of us in the car, we sailed across the Bay Bridge in the car pool lane) and had time to kill at a bar before we ate, only I was not drinking so I could have some wine with dinner and not risk falling asleep at the opera. <br />
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We had a beautiful dinner first at Jardiniere, the very classy restaurant near the opera house where we have eaten with Sonya and Philip several times. It is always difficult to choose what to eat - it seems a good idea to have two starters as they always sound wonderfully delicious, but the mains are tempting too. And the desserts are particularly good, though I usually just sample OPs (other people's!)<br />
Get a typical menu here:<br />
<a href="http://www.jardiniere.com/menu.html">http://www.jardiniere.com/menu.html</a><br />
<br />
The opera itself was very well-staged, most of it recitative with no memorable arias. Domingo, 69 years old, was in very good voice (though we thought his prosthetic nose was way deficient as he didn't look at all ugly), and Roxane, sung by Ainhoa Arteta, a Basque native who is something of a protegee of Domingo's, was also excellent. The standard of the productions here does set the bar quite high, even though the stage is quite small. Again, I was struck by how only the designers or occasionally other non-singing members of the production team have ever worked in Australia - in the three years we have been attending performances, I don't think more than one or two of the dozens of singers profiled in the programme notes have ever been seen down under. It certainly leaves me questioning whether we are as world class in these arts as we like to think. There was, however, a tribute to La Stupenda in the programme for the final opera of our season, so some Australians make the grade!<br />
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You can hear some excerpts from the production and see a photo of Placido Domingo's nose at:<br />
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<a href="http://sfopera.com/o/296.asp">http://sfopera.com/o/296.asp</a>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-25400617995916020892010-11-25T18:49:00.000-08:002010-11-25T18:49:27.087-08:00More Berkeley, October- Early November 2010<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxeZ_W8rBZbWgqY3z2Gp8SfW2CnOMJETH9ioFys9-G187snJzd9RP5unthOp8xhOrLN6GTpkSexuu8PEGG_ow' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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It is the season for the figs to ripen: the tree is very large and now that the rain has set in, the ripe figs sometimes split, and some ferment a bit where they are damaged. And the squirrels and birds get the earliest ripening and choicest ones near the top of the tree. I took the video above from the kitchen window, before many figs at human level were ripe yet. The squirrels here are very well fed, as you can see, and quite a bit larger than the ones seen in Mexico City, where the squirrel population in the <i>Viveros </i>is huge (I think I heard that they had imported few hawks or falcons to reduce the population recently). They are very scrawny compared to the Berkeley squirrel population, and also differently coloured - lots of black, grey and brindle squirrels in Mexico City, here they all seem to be brown. Now (November) I go out every few days and pick up to two dozen figs, and am using them in salads a lot and eating them as I pass them sitting in their wicker basket on the kitchen bench (or in the fridge on warm days, of which we are having fewer lately) . I give them away as well, and put out a bowl whenever we have visitors. They concentrate their flavour after a few days, though I eat the ones which are split or otherwise damaged quickly, and there is always a percentage that go straight from tree to mouth - ah, the benefits of an organic garden! Two years ago when we were in this house, I think we had a bigger crop and found a few different ways to cook them: my favourite was to cut a cross in the stem end, stuff in some soft goat cheese and a sprig of fresh rosemary from the garden, drizzle with a bit of honey and a grind or two of black pepper, and run them under the griller for about 5 minutes. Lovely hot or cold, great at breakfast.<br />
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Though back in the routine of 4 exercise classes, 2 swims, choir rehearsals, etc., I haven't attended many Tertulias this semester. Being away on the East Coast for a month didn't help, then I had a few clashes with operas or plays. But I managed to get to one in mid-October. I car pooled with Anne Shapiro and a Latin American friend of hers to Oakland - we misread the instructions, and got slightly lost - nothing whatever to do with me for once! It was a very hot night, and most Berkeley/Oakland homes don't have air conditioning as it rarely gets so hot, so I was wearing a very light and open top and I sat near an open window and enjoyed a bit of fresher air. I found an article in the New York Times about all-time favourite pot-luck recipes, and modified the potato salad one below using multi-coloured teeny potatoes (including a purple kind which has purple flesh, not just purple skin, along with pink and yellowish skinned varieties) , which I left whole in their skins.The visual appeal was really good, everyone was fascinated, as much by the interesting potatoes as the taste. I was missing some ingredients so I substituted others, and didn't measure anything. I've made the salad again as part of a vegetarian dinner,and followed the recipe more precisely with better results - there were no leftovers at all! Here is the recipe:<br />
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<div class="posttitle"><h2>Warm Fingerling Potato Salad</h2><div class="post-info">July 8, 2010 by <a href="http://operagirlcooks.com/author/operagirlcooks/" title="Posts by operagirlcooks">operagirlcooks</a> </div></div><a href="http://operagirlcooks.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/sam_1045.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-534" height="375" src="http://operagirlcooks.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/sam_1045.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="SAM_1045" width="500" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>As featured in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/10/10/magazine/potluck-recipes.html#/warm_fingerling_potato_salad-1/">New York Times Magazine</a></b></div>If you scour the internet (or your cookbook collection) long enough, you’ll find that potato salad recipes are divided into two main camps — chilled and slathered in mayonnaise, or warm and dripping with bacon grease.<br />
I chose to go another route. My potato salad is sumptuous, savory, vegan, and gluten-free — how’s that for mass appeal!<br />
I used fingerling potatoes, which hold their shape well when steamed, making them perfect for salad. They are dense and buttery as is, and coated with a warm cider vinegar dressing, they become irresistible. Capers, Dijon mustard, and kosher salt ensure a well-seasoned salad, and fresh parsley and chives really liven things up, cutting the richness of the dressing. Served at a potluck, this salad will disappear before you know it. You might want to double the recipe. Oh, and it gets better the longer it sits. What more could you ask for?<br />
<b>Warm Fingerling Potato Salad</b><br />
serves 6<br />
1 1/2 lbs. fingerling potatoes<br />
3 Tbsp. olive oil<br />
1 medium red onion, diced<br />
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar<br />
2 Tbsp. capers, rinsed and drained<br />
2 tsp. Dijon mustard<br />
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper<br />
1/4 tsp. kosher salt<br />
1/2 C. chopped parsley<br />
1/4 C. chopped chives<br />
1. Steam the potatoes for 20 minutes, or until you can easily pierce them with a paring knife.<br />
2. While potatoes are steaming, heat the olive oil in a medium (10″) skillet over medium heat. Add the red onion, and saute until onions are softened but not browned, about 10 minutes.<br />
3. Turn off the heat under the skillet and add the vinegar, capers, mustard, pepper, and salt. Set aside.<br />
4. While they are still hot, slice the potatoes into 1/4″ rounds.<br />
5. Add the potatoes, parsley, and chives to the skillet, and stir gently until all potatoes are coated evenly. Serve warm or at room temperature.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://operagirlcooks.com/2010/07/08/warm-potato-salad-recipe/">http://operagirlcooks.com/2010/07/08/warm-potato-salad-recipe/</a><br />
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More music after my YMCA exercise class on Monday - Anne Shapiro, whom I originally met 3 years ago at the seniors' exercise class at the JCC and who introduced me to the Spanish Tertulia group, was singing at the Etude club, held in another Hogwart's style hall near here in the Berkeley Hills, at lunchtime. I don't belong to clubs at home, so have no idea if this kind of organisation exists in Melbourne - it seems a bit quaint and olde worlde to me, though at their procedural meeting before the concert started, they were discussing establishing an email list! Sonya and I heard her lovely renditions of the Spanish songs she had chosen, along with a piano recital and a harp and piano duet. Anne's diction is very clear, and assisted by the text of the songs and a rough translation, it was easy, and very gratifying for me, to be able to follow the Spanish.She was a little concerned about her voice , having caught a bit of a cold, she thought from the fierce air conditioning in the car on the way to the Tertulia the previous week. <br />
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Barry's academic activities here are always in full swing throughout October and November. He went off to a conference in New Orleans for a few days and I dropped him off and picked him up again at Oakland airport. The run there was easy and fast on a workday around lunchtime, and I even found my way back from the airport to an X-Ray facility in Oakland without getting lost. Mind you, there was awful traffic, apparently often experienced on this route, the Sunday afternoon I picked him up, so it took more than twice as long getting there this time - he would have arrived much faster had he taken the Air-BART bus-train combination from the airport! (in case you are worried about the X-Ray, it was a check to establish whether there were any structural problems underlying my various episodes of back pain prior to going to see a physio or chiropractor, and there was nothing beyond the progressive wear and tear I have known about for ages.)<br />
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While he was away, Marisela Fleites-Lear came to stay for the weekend, as a close friend from Berkeley had passed away and she will be unable to attend the formal memorial service a bit later in the year. I last saw her about a year ago when we visited her and John in Tacoma (I think there is a blog entry about our visit). She therefore had some commitments but we managed to get in a walk along the fishing pier at the Marina (I neglected to take any photos, however), dinner on Solano Avenue, and to catch the Woody Allen movie "You will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger". We each had a fish dinner at a place I have seen but wouldn't normally have chosen, but the menu looked good and the fish was well cooked and presented with very nice vegetables, with very affordable wine by the glass. Very Weight Watcher friendly, too. It was right across from the movie theatre at the bottom of Solano. We finished eating in time to walk all the way up to the top of Solano Avenue and back again, noting all the delicious smells emerging from the more interesting ethnic restaurants we probably should have tried. The movie itself was the same comedy of manners movie he has been making the last few years, with some excellent performances from an all-star cast, even if most of them played rather unlikeable characters. Gemma Jones, who made an impression on me many years ago as the Duchess of Duke Street, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and various lesser lights all were looking for love, or more likely, escape from themselves. <br />
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The next week Myrna Santiago invited me to join Barry at a talk he was giving for her students and others at St Mary's College where she teaches. She included me in the dinner she had organised for the academic staff who have an interest in Latin America to meet Barry, at an excellent Thai restaurant in the nearby village of Rheem (I couldn't suppress an urge to sing "Install a Rheem..". For those non-Australians reading this, a company called Rheem supplies many of our gas water systems, and they have a catchy jingle. ) We took BART to a nearby town, a different line and direction to our usual service, and the train was very crowded as I guess it was the afternoon commute time. But whatever country we could see from the train looked really beautiful, and also what we saw from Myrna's car when she picked us up at the station and drove us to the dinner and on to the campus was lovely. We really don't do any local exploring to speak of - if Barry is not working on a weekend we tend to gravitate towards San Francisco rather than other regions around the Bay. I guess we are both urban creatures - we don't often get out into the country in Melbourne either, much as I love the scenery when we do get out. The talk was well attended and went well, and Myrna drove us home when it was over - she and Garrett live in El Cerrito, quite close really. Just on a geographic tidbit proffered by a former librarian from Cal, who gave Barry a lift home one day and was admiring our view over coffee and cookies, <i>el cerrito</i> means the little hill - which we can see clearly from our kitchen window and today it is actually Albany.<br />
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One of the other activities Barry was involved in was a short conference on Mexico: The Unfinished Revolution, held at Berkeley in conjunction with an exhibition on Mexico at the Bancroft Library (I haven't seen this yet so can't comment about it. I tried posting something from the Bancroft's home page here, but I couldn't manage to insert it and continue adding text, so I had to delete the post and start again. I will attempt a kludge shortly, but if it doesn't work I will post the link instead. As you can see, I got the cartoon but I can't blow it up enough to read and translate the contents of the speech bubble for you.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0ke3QXZALsx0ekEUrwCRqcDRFj9gFh___u3uRv9EygwLv3qlNg8plhWU6m6nchph6pMKOFpmUc7h-TyupIvpMoxEPl3EXZv0rn8QYzDPt8G31Y9Hw6kiWfQne4dV-XiA04jokA4koQn6/s1600/image+from+bancroft+exhibit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0ke3QXZALsx0ekEUrwCRqcDRFj9gFh___u3uRv9EygwLv3qlNg8plhWU6m6nchph6pMKOFpmUc7h-TyupIvpMoxEPl3EXZv0rn8QYzDPt8G31Y9Hw6kiWfQne4dV-XiA04jokA4koQn6/s1600/image+from+bancroft+exhibit.jpg" /></a></div> As well as the academic papers which are Barry's domain, there were two events I participated in. The first was a public screening of "The Storm that Swept Mexico", a 2-hour documentary about the history of the Mexican Revolution in which Barry was one of the talking heads. His commentary was filmed last year at Berkeley, though the film has been 11 years in the making. The film even included interviews with several Mexicans who had taken part in revolutionary battles (who were very old then and have since passed away), lots of archival footage, and many different heads, talking in Spanish and English.<br />
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The film will be screened on PBS television here next May. It had its premiere at a conference at the ANU in Canberra a few days before we left Melbourne. Kenn Rabin, one of the co-producers who is a well-known film maker and renowned archivist , was a guest at this conference, at Barry's suggestion, and brought an early copy of the film, not the final cut, to show there. I had been too busy at the time to go to Canberra with Barry to see it, so it was my first viewing. It has quite detailed historical coverage of the first 10 years of the Mexican Revolution. Very informative, lots about Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata and early presidents and dictators - Barry thinks it will be very useful for teaching about the Mexican Revolution, though the later years, covered thematically rather than in detail, interested me more. When Kenn came to Melbourne for a few days (and fell in love with our fair city, very gratifyingly) we had dinner together and I got to know him a bit, so it was nice to renew our acquaintance at the reception before the screening, and to be introduced to other key figures like the co-producer, and the writer and arranger of the music (which is really good). Both at the reception and at subsequent meetings with Kenn, the difficulties of getting finance for making and distributing such an ambitious independent film project have become much clearer to me. Any angels out there who would like to help out - please get in touch and I'll pass on your details to Kenn!<br />
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Sonya and Philip came to the screening and we went for coffee and cake afterwards - it was their wedding anniversary. Learning more than you wanted to know about the Mexican Revolution is probably not the most romantic way to spend an evening, I felt a bit guilty for inviting them to come!<br />
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This was on Thursday evening, and then on the Saturday night I joined Barry at the closing dinner of the conference, a very nice Mexican-themed meal in the Faculty club, another Harry Potter/Hogwart's type of room. A month later I am still looking at a vase of chilies, the last remaining parts of one of the very fetching floral table decorations which were offered to various people after the dinner (it felt like I had been at a Barmitzvah, taking home a floral arrangement!)<br />
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<br />
Golden Gate at Sunset from Marin looking back to San Francisco<br />
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The next day I hosted an extra rehearsal for the altos from the East Bay Jewish Folk Chorus. We are quite a large group this year, nine of us, and we seem to have a lot of the melodies. Some of the more experienced singers amongst us are a bit disappointed, finding the harmonies more interesting to sing, though I like it. In any case, there are quite a few new songs and new people, so the extra practice is welcome, and I have space here. Someone brings a keyboard and we work quite hard, taking only a little time for some nibbles or cake and a cuppa or some wine. We get to know each other a bit better, which I am sure helps us sing better. This first rehearsal was quite hard to coordinate, but now we are in a groove with a fixed time, so it's a lot easier to get us all together, or at least whoever isn't busy at 4.30 on Sunday afternoon.<br />
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Then Barry was off again, this time to a Mexican historians conference in Queretaro, Mexico, and for a whole week. I managed to get a ticket to see Compulsion at the Berkeley Rep on the Wednesday night, which took a lot of calling and a fortuitous visit to the theatre box office after my swim the day before, just as someone called in a cancellation, as the entire season was booked out. Sonya and Philip and two of their friends were going that night, and we all had dinner at a Chinese restaurant before the play. It starred Mandy Patinkin and was a very interesting play indeed. He was absolutely stunning- my seat was in the middle of the front row - Berkeley Rep is theatre in the round and I have never been so close and felt so overwhelmed by the sheer force of a performer. There were two other actors, each of whom was also very good in multiple roles, and marionettes which worked brilliantly. The play is based around the story of Meyer Levin, who brought the Diary of Anne Frank to the attention of the English-speaking world, though the protagonist is called Sid Silver. Anne Frank is portrayed by a marionette and voices off. The play raised a whole lot of questions about truth and fiction, universal versus Jewish values, obsessions in general. I thought it really worked well - one of my best ever nights at the theatre. Quoting from the an interview with the playwright,Rinne Groff in the playbill:<br />
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"Meyer Levin wrote a book called <i>Compulsion</i> about Leopold and Loeb<br />
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Here is a link to get you started if you are interested in the play. I do hope it comes to Melbourne - I am certain it will come to New York.<br />
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<a href="http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1011/4543.asp">http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1011/4543.asp</a><br />
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On Friday of that week I had invited Betsy, Nancy and MD (the car poolers to my Y exercise classes last year and occasionally again this year) and Sonya to lunch - the Friday morning class was cancelled as the Y was preparing for their Halloween festival, but we decided that shouldn't stop us having lunch anyway. I made mushroom soup which was a big hit. At the Monterey market they have so many varieties of mushrooms that I am stunned into indecision and end up choosing the familiar ones I feel safe with. But when I went shopping for stuff for the lunch, I noticed they were selling big bags of exotic mixed mushrooms, probably yesterday's, very cheaply, maybe only $2.49 a lb, so this solved my dilemma. I also bought an assortment of fruit that looked and smelled good, including some imported blood oranges from Australia. I made a lot of soup using sauteed leeks and the carefully washed and sliced/chopped mushrooms, with stock and powdered skim milk, lightly thickened with a roux, and it was really delicious. I also served some <i>spanakopita </i>with a salad of various mixed leaves and some cherry tomatoes and some figs from the garden. Betsy avoids eating members of the shade family (eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes) as doing so assists her arthritis, but I figured she could avoid the tomatoes and didn't include anything else dodgy. I made a fruit salad and popped in a couple of ripe feijoas from the garden, and served orange and almond cake on a plate with some of the sliced blood oranges. We sat on and on around the table talking about plays and shows and operas we had seen, books we had read, the state of the nation etc - most enjoyable.<br />
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A day after Barry returned from Mexico we had his Graduate Student Instructors from this year and last and a couple of others for dinner. Most were vegetarian or preferred to eat kosher, so I prepared a vegetarian meal, which made for a relaxed evening for me as I had done most of the preparation beforehand. As well as another pot of mushroom soup , <i>spanakopita</i> and a mixed salad, I made the potato salad, sticking more closely to the recipe this time. I also was planning on making some kind of ratatouille, but when I was at the market I saw the most appealing little yellow and green button squash, so decided to make a "deconstructed" ratatouille: I prepared the onions/eggplant/ multi-coloured capsicums/tomatoes (no mushrooms as we had the soup) as in ratatouille, incorporating lots of herbs from the garden, but used that as a bed and laid out the vivid frilly-edged little squash on top and baked the whole thing in the oven the day before. Then I crumbled a little bit of tasty cheese on top when I reheated it on the night. It looked really nice, really showing off the fall produce to advantage. One of the guests brought a fruit salad for dessert and I made an apple cake with grannies from the garden, another nice evening. Two of the guests had newish babies but only Sarah brought Eleni - Bea and Dani left Emmet with her parents, I think, so although they had a more relaxed evening, I didn't get much granny practice in.<br />
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</div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-15290393657976055052010-11-12T14:20:00.000-08:002010-11-12T14:20:40.163-08:00Berkeley in the FallI got back from the East Coast to a very busy time, and to mostly lovely weather. October 1 is Barry's birthday, and he had booked us into a very well reviewed "Cat on Hot Tin Roof" and a pre-show dinner at a fancy seafood restaurant in San Francisco for the day after, a Saturday. But on Friday evening he got a call from the theatre saying the performance was cancelled because the lead actor had been in an accident, and although they refunded our tickets, we were left on Friday evening trying to find seats for the next evening to a show we both fancied. We tried various performances we liked the sound of, but couldn't find anything available, so decided to try something different, a Magic Bus Tour through space and time back to San Francisco in the '60's. We thought it might be something like one of Rod Quantock's shows (a Melbourne reference, never mind, it can't be explained), but basically it was a bus which picked us up in Union Square which had blinds on the window serving as projection screens. Films (a collage of historical documentary footage, TV interviews and other linking commentary) were projected onto these and while the bus was in transit and when the bus arrived at a destination of interest, up went the blinds and we watched the streetscapes to a recorded commentary. At one stage the hostess on the bus donned a costume for a few minutes. There was footage of the Summer of Love, the psychedelic shop fronts of Haight Ashbury, happenings in Golden Gate Park, the British Invasion and the impact of Rock'N'Roll on the generation coming of age in the 60's, the civil rights movement, drug culture - though we also looked at at important economic institutions in the Financial District, Chinatown, sites of demos etc. The several themes - the advent of youth culture, the generation gap, the music, the anti-Vietnam War, anti-draft movement, the psychedelic experience were explored from different angles and it was all quite well done. The written programmes handed out were in 3D as was the paint job inside the bus, but we had to take our special specs off to watch the video as that wasn't. <br />
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This was a mid afternoon trip, and so we had a little time to kill before dinner at Farallon, which we wasted wandering about, though it was quite chilly. San Francisco was very much cooler than Berkeley that day. With no play to go to, we had longer to spend over the meal than we had planned, so we told them when we arrived and they seated us in a different area where we had a great view of everything going on and were able to enjoy the meal with no sense of urgency or rush. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjd5tBcVaJn9O7tTkcp92pJS_YQdPjNT3v4JvyhWofQdPOaBzafsn4ZB3ONCwGuozFJ32hP2ll0hkBZLaYp7bNHcyB-O40_TdUafuScbfEFd1wr6wudcgNeqid-z3tr0jXThqiNcQlAtUb/s1600/chanuka+concert+flyer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjd5tBcVaJn9O7tTkcp92pJS_YQdPjNT3v4JvyhWofQdPOaBzafsn4ZB3ONCwGuozFJ32hP2ll0hkBZLaYp7bNHcyB-O40_TdUafuScbfEFd1wr6wudcgNeqid-z3tr0jXThqiNcQlAtUb/s320/chanuka+concert+flyer.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I had missed the first rehearsal of my choir (the East Bay Jewish Folk Chorus), which was on my birthday while I was in NYC, but started my season by going to the rehearsal at the JCC on Monday night. As always, it was sheer pleasure to be singing and seeing my friends again for the new season. I had listened in advance to some of the music, which Achi, the Director, posts on a web site so we can download the scores and the MP3s of our parts. I was already a bit familiar with a couple of the Hebrew songs and one of the Yiddish ones, Lomir Ale in Eynem, which it seems to me is always sung at Jewish weddings and Barmitzvahs in Melbourne - though none of the other singers had ever heard it, so presumably it is a lot less popular in California! We have a couple of concerts scheduled for the beginning of Hanukkah, and Barry thinks Tom Lehrer's "I'm Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica" will bring the house down. Here is a youtube of the song - and I think Achi's four part choral arrangement will sound pretty good. <br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSCmZU0eFJg&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSCmZU0eFJg&feature=related</a><br />
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As we each had periods when we knew we'd be travelling, we had booked operas and theatre to fit around the absences, which at time perhaps led to a greater concentration of arts than is ideal. In this week, we had an opera on Tuesday evening (a lovely performance of the Marriage of Figaro at the SF Opera House, see the link below:<br />
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<a href="http://sfopera.com/o/295.asp">http://sfopera.com/o/295.asp</a><br />
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The conductor, Nicola Luisotti, took it all at breakneck speed, and the sets looked just a little bit tired, but I always enjoy this Mozart romp and the singers pretty much did it justice without being spectacular. The subscription department rings you up and very charming young men talk you through the options for making up your season, and though we decided it was too expensive and we wouldn't subscribe this year, we have ended up with even more expensive seats this year, having vowed not to go back to the still expensive but very uncomfortable seats we have had in the past two years - no leg room for us, and we're not that tall! At least in these seats we are comfortable.<br />
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Then on Thursday night we went back into San Francisco's Civic Centre area to a Symphony concert, the first half celebrating Latin American composers Revueltas, Villa-Lobos and Varese, the second half Beethoven's 7th. The Varese piece, Ameriques, was scored for a very large orchestra indeed, including nine percussionists, one of who plays both a siren and sleigh bells. I quote from the programme:<br />
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In <b>Music Since 1900</b> , the encyclopaedist Nicolas Slonimsky, famous for his ability to compress much meaning into few words, summed up <i>Ameriques</i> by remarking that it was "titled in the plural to embrace all Americas, abstract and concrete, present and future, scored for a huge orchestra and set in dissonant harmonic counterpoint built of functional thematic molecules, proceeding by successive crystallizations in the sonorous mass of organized sound."<br />
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The audience at its premiere in 1926 certainly wouldn't have expected to hear anything like this at a symphony concert, and as I hadn't looked at the programme in advance, nor did I, but I liked it. Michael Tilson Thomas (or MTT as he is generally referred to), the director of the SF Symphony, conducted Beethoven 7 at a cracking pace, but maybe not as fast as I expected from having heard him before. It is a lovely work and I hear new things in it every time I hear it performed, however familiar it is.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp1r7xM6Bq-5Pd5QnlveO_t7SaYYv_1xW_U_OrL8IROqfOOMmjJuUFMvs4KYcfJUQlf_ClNysjlbC2rNsRcTEMNB7U2bL2NCI94-g1Jt2c3EuyQigaMCjoyV7Bp_hPmYJVVDHocibb-_Tk/s1600/electric+minicar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp1r7xM6Bq-5Pd5QnlveO_t7SaYYv_1xW_U_OrL8IROqfOOMmjJuUFMvs4KYcfJUQlf_ClNysjlbC2rNsRcTEMNB7U2bL2NCI94-g1Jt2c3EuyQigaMCjoyV7Bp_hPmYJVVDHocibb-_Tk/s320/electric+minicar.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute little electric run-around parked in our street</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Last time I mentioned the opera neighbourhood, I may have posted a photo of the electric car share parking spots. In our very own street there are now two electric cars, both seem to belong to the same house - the smaller one is advertised for sale, and is a sweet little thing with lightweight mesh seats which caught my eye as it was very badly parked near a busy corner. Lately I have seen it parked in the carport where you can see the larger car being charged.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WOfhl6zPKDDrZxvHY2GHRqP2INFql_5AF4QOoc1FxGxav8kfRBW5EPoKDPl-mqMufZQJnHw_SjBRVHKfMUaM_4Uor8wR-RUqfgacseg5txg9mNhyphenhyphenLC7iAmX9mKKCCs5QiKYOdlBUR8yT/s1600/elec+car+charging.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WOfhl6zPKDDrZxvHY2GHRqP2INFql_5AF4QOoc1FxGxav8kfRBW5EPoKDPl-mqMufZQJnHw_SjBRVHKfMUaM_4Uor8wR-RUqfgacseg5txg9mNhyphenhyphenLC7iAmX9mKKCCs5QiKYOdlBUR8yT/s320/elec+car+charging.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More conventional-looking electric car charging in carport.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our young cousin on the Marsh side, Stephanie, recently went on a Birthright trip to Israel and met a new friend there who lives in San Francisco. She was visiting Ilana for a long weekend and came to spend Friday with us in Berkeley. We had breakfast together, then Barry gave her a campus tour while I went off to my exercise class and to give blood at the Albany Y (the post-donation snacks at the Melbourne Blood Bank are much healthier, and the staff are friendlier too, I must say). Then I picked her up and we had lunch at home and spent a couple of hours getting to know each other a bit ( we last met when Steph was a teenager - now she is finishing off her MA in Arizona). We headed off to get some sea air, in short supply in Phoenix, with a walk out along the fishing pier and through the Berkeley Marina, then went off to College Avenue to look at the shops. We parked near the famous ice-cream shop Ici, and ogled the queue along the street and the flavours of the day posted on the lamp post outside (see shot of this I took with the iPhone) when our phones started ringing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbeErhBN9pZ2DegtPu_UypNZ5FXYxf6WjltLKn7DZ91tLPH_vHyqMMbyooYdH6D30xfh5esTg9tnaVmqD9FIHlUTH1pWFm2N4EWumeWEHflYlenOE4W0lUVQUDZ65mzJKh7GEmaXXhCwP_/s1600/ici+flavours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbeErhBN9pZ2DegtPu_UypNZ5FXYxf6WjltLKn7DZ91tLPH_vHyqMMbyooYdH6D30xfh5esTg9tnaVmqD9FIHlUTH1pWFm2N4EWumeWEHflYlenOE4W0lUVQUDZ65mzJKh7GEmaXXhCwP_/s320/ici+flavours.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flavours of the day at Ici on College Avenue.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We got a series of calls from Barry (who had been into San Francisco to meet a colleague) and Ilana, who were each coming in from San Francisco to join us for dinner and a show. We left the Elmwood area where we had been wandering and picked them both up from the downtown Berkeley BART station (and in all this gallivanting, I didn't get lost even once - very proud of myself!) We ate at one of Barry's favourite restaurants, Adagia, across the road from campus, and walked down for the show afterwards. A few days earlier Barry had spotted that Circus Oz was performing at Zellerbach Hall on the UCB campus, and we had booked tickets because we thought it would be a really different experience for the girls in particular. And it was - really a lot of fun, amazing feats of balance, tumbling, juggling, music etc. Some of the dialogue or commentary was a bit hard for us to hear, let alone understand - and we speak the language - but the words were not the main source of entertainment. The girls seemed to enjoy it and we all laughed a lot, and gasped a fair bit too. Afterwards we dropped them at the BART station to return to San Francisco, after a very full day all around.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ilana, Barbara, Stephanie, Barry at Circus Oz</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Lincoln and Nina, some neighbours that Sally and Monica had briefly introduced us to, invited us over to their house for drinks on Saturday evening, which was extremely pleasant: sitting on their deck a few houses higher up the same hill we're on towards sunset, looking at the magnificent view, discovering interests in common and listening to the deer crashing about in the woods below. Lincoln is an archivist, writer and collector of political posters. He has a studio with great capabilities for reproducing and digitising images - this is another field that has been transformed by the advent of the Internet and all the digital technologies which are enabling the preservation of what are, after all, essentially ephemera, but which tell so much about popular culture and popular movements all over the world. He highlighted how in the post war years in the USA, with McCarthyism and the stultifying conservatism of those years, there was virtually no political poster making at all, and that it was with the rise of youth culture and music that poster art came roaring back. Reminded me of our mystery bus tour!Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-87874380458603699412010-10-17T20:37:00.000-07:002010-10-18T16:36:44.089-07:00East Coast trip Part 3: New York<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIBWeHYMUUHOMYOM1xVxaPQ440AQm5E75cNMM4k3RG7i0qQQkDf7eZWpfcRpNUSoOvqZmJcOAk5leymH2lLRDIO_XoIhW2h0-dGHNIjMz_UwLMRljp7pVsUr_QMfVvdKKr8GBmQeTmecE6/s1600/IMG_4342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJo-63a-9jEXubRc9FQb6Z-U0vTZPcB1sFpM3iva_6gQQHwpEuRSfQgOKXA0IacLuoW5t_qn7GHRk0bAbepk3UglhmTkeYplKBTchwKmHuH6DFs48mo6shQ-Vj2FwE9sNSGYJOn4omTV2/s1600/IMG_4345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A birthday candle in my dessert at Fish Restaurant in Greenwich Village</td></tr>
</tbody></table>In what is now a familiar ritual, Yaacov dropped me off at Penn station in Baltimore in plenty of time to get the Amtrak train to New York. I have now figured out where the elevator is so I don't have to schlep my suitcase down the stairs to the platform. There was a strange-looking carcase on the tracks: the consensus of my fellow travellers was that it had been a deer which had probably travelled some distance on the underside of a train and got partly roasted before being deposited here! Not sure about the quality as I snapped it with my iPhone. Usually if you click on an image in the blog it will enlarge it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strange deer carcase on the tracks at Baltimore Penn Station</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIBWeHYMUUHOMYOM1xVxaPQ440AQm5E75cNMM4k3RG7i0qQQkDf7eZWpfcRpNUSoOvqZmJcOAk5leymH2lLRDIO_XoIhW2h0-dGHNIjMz_UwLMRljp7pVsUr_QMfVvdKKr8GBmQeTmecE6/s320/IMG_4342.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leiba Marsh with baby Dina</td></tr>
</tbody></table>When I got in to Jay and Ellen's, I called Lissy and arranged to go down there the next day to make honey cakes for them, for the in-laws and a small one for Jay and Ellen. Ben, whose palate is rather discriminating, said the cake was not up to the usual standard, and we singled out the cause as the canola oil, which might have been a bit older than desirable. At home I never buy huge containers of oil, flour, etc. despite the unit price seeming much lower: we don't use them up fast enough to maintain quality, and it's false economy if you end up chucking it out! But the cakes all got eaten - they were not bad, just not as good as usual. Next day, I took the train to Lissy's parents' house for the pre-Yom Kippur meal, and accompanied the family to their Temple in New Jersey on Kol Nidrei and Yom Kippur. We broke the fast at Lissy's uncle and aunt's house - Isaac and Melanie are wonderful hosts and I feel so included there, it is really lovely. We stayed over as the day after Yom Kippur was a Sunday this year, so there was no need to race back to Manhattan for work the next day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJo-63a-9jEXubRc9FQb6Z-U0vTZPcB1sFpM3iva_6gQQHwpEuRSfQgOKXA0IacLuoW5t_qn7GHRk0bAbepk3UglhmTkeYplKBTchwKmHuH6DFs48mo6shQ-Vj2FwE9sNSGYJOn4omTV2/s320/IMG_4345.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Nephew Moshe with oldest daughter Chaya</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We had arranged to visit my nephew and his family in Lakewood, and borrowed Bernard's car for the drive. It was much quicker than getting a bus from the Port Authority Terminal in NYC like we did last year. Leiba turned on a splendid lunch for us, and we enjoyed a bit of time with the kids including the newest baby, Dina, who you can see smiling away as she dances about with Lissy on the video below.<br />
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<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=b4lof6aab&et=1103781911244&s=5908&e=001zcA3IfCzKbgUeJb1oCXMnq2lPobHNQgzvdu6B8coKJSV-9to4qBETKJd8pDLnPIau4cdrfM73GOMaEwrcrnGWhIQ3EiUWy6H29K8OJBMiL2bx_aMOieXrTcowkmUtoHj_7FcXt3T0SkCpOp4pWaIK3IOABLFpoHP0JxDQNle5CyLEjzmafkJygIZYUV_mVffJ3SMqtWdi4PzzfBXCU66vc70tnvgtUa947ugmTM9BG7bjsMehVf0TigMRf25L4uiKyCetixJE9Ik7H9nTUPhtHKr_2CU-QKcDDSBU6vE85-ozrOI8j7445lFTMijwJ6Dezzr9tgGpjE9ok_qY99ETMxhffUaovddhTMYucvWHkbob4K2gnjG2y_p51ipjHEPan624LXwyYyXADzT30wx_I0MW6qLBIsfgJHMycCD7kpl3Hd4XhA5BwIAo-oSL0UFKeMcsH_2exduzDKq3QRGlzNM4P9adekF" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #cc5500; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bjoymarsh/2010_09_1927LakewoodWhitePlainsNYC#5526657845540762178" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bjoymarsh/2010_09_1927LakewoodWhitePlainsNYC#5526657845540762178</a></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicYl73oYlVt9jTZ5bCIeHwuYXLsQKnTkCc23QZvltj-WJXPOVaGrPiQUW9h90bg5f-_pFkUNJgVrl-Iivlj6LRXMB51K5c0gDmxo4Nw1N4PTrPt_bOhd9bonbKoY4kLJbdkkvlx8oMtoS/s320/IMG_4343.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leiba with middle daughter Shifra</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The older girls took me outside to show where they had planed some dried beans from the package they use for cholent - they assured me they would grow into peas, as the neighbours' had. I tried explaining about peas and beans being different plants but I got the distinct impression they had no idea what I was talking about - I guess I need to brush up my communication skills! Still, any gardening is a good thing - right? I had trouble getting Yisroel to keep still for a photo, and the video with him and his friends playing is very chaotic so I haven't posted it here.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I spent a bit of time in New York looking at 2-bedroom apartments to rent on the Upper West Side with Lissy and occasionally with Ben. The lease on their current 1-bedroom expires November 1, and they need the extra room for the baby, and want to be near an express subway stop on the Broadway line for Ben’s shortest possible commute to the Financial District. We saw some dumps for not much less money than some pretty nice places, mostly older buildings but some new developments. Only in New York could two-bedroom apartments starting from $4500 a month be considered middle income rental housing! I am well aware that house prices in Melbourne are far higher than in much of the USA, but at least you get a bit more space, indoor and outdoor, for your money. But Manhattan is a very desirable place to live and there isn’t much space, so I guess it is all about supply and demand. As I write this post, they have signed a lease, so I know where we will be staying when we return to NYC in December.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The house-hunting occupied quite a bit of time, but I did get to one museum I hadn’t seen before, the Frick Collection on the Upper East Side. It reminded me a bit of the Barnes collection that we saw in Philadelphia about 3 years ago – housed in a purpose-built mansion, selected and arranged by an individual according to his own taste – but without the didactic purpose so apparent in the Barnes. Also the Barnes collection is much larger and the art works mainly date more from the Impressionist period through cubism and early modernism, leavened with some African work from many periods whose influences Barnes detected on the European works in the collection. But the quality of the works in the Frick is outstanding – Gainsborough, Reynolds, Sargent, Constable, Cellini, a Renoir, Hals, Goya, El Greco, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck. For the art lovers amongst you I would highly recommend both if you are ever on the East Coast of the USA, and here are some links for you to explore the collections:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.frick.org/"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.frick.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.barnesfoundation.org/"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.barnesfoundation.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I met our friend Ruth at the Frick – she had been in NYC for a few days at the UN General Assembly presenting on Australia’s position on bio-diversity, and engaging in negotiations around the topic as part of DFAT’s delegation , accompanying the newly-appointed Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. After an hour or so for a very quick look at the house and the collection, with no time to listen to the audio tour that is included in the admission </span><span lang="EN-US">price</span><span lang="EN-US">, we wandered around the East Side a bit, looking for a place to eat lunch. We eventually came across somewhere suitable, where we had to wait for a while but finally shared two really excellent salads, excellent bread, and some wine. The Upper East Side is out of my comfort zone. We had been wandering up Madison Avenue, but after walking Ruth to Park Avenue for a taxi to the airport I continued further east and realised we had just been on the wrong street for cheap and cheerful eats – Lexington Avenue would have suited our quest much better. Still, we did see many designer clothing, jewellery and accessories stores as we walked!</span> <br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I also took the train up to Emily and Bob’s place for a couple of days, including the second day of Sukkot when we went to Shule and to my surprise I was honoured with an Aliyah. I guess there were not so many people there and they were welcoming a stranger to be a part of things. Having grown up as a woman attending Orthodox Shules I am still not blasé about participating fully in Conservative Synagogue services, and I get quite an emotional response to being considered a fully functioning member of the kehila. It was a very nice experience, topped off by lunch in the Sukkah with some of Bob and Emily's friends from the congregation: bagels, all kinds of herring, lox, salads, fruit, even hot coffee, and I could not resist a brownie. Unfortunately I had a pinched nerve in my neck, probably from carrying a back pack slung over one shoulder on the crowded subway train and waiting in the station for the Metro North train to Pleasantville, where I had met Bob and Emily the evening before to go to a show at the Burns theatre (it was a documentary about the history of the animation unit at Disney, called Waking Sleeping Beauty. ) This is on a different train line than the Hudson line I take to their town, which is a gorgeous leafy ride alongside the river - I missed the views!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span lang="EN-US">Emily got me an appointment with a neighbour who is a chiropractor. He diagnosed the source of the pain and treated it with ultrasound and an activator (I had a chiropractor in Mexico years ago who used this little instrument well, but since then I have only been treated with it a couple of times and haven’t felt the practitioner was using it all that well.) Net effect was to partially relieve the pain right then, but over the next 24 hours I improved vastly. It probably also helped that I rested quite a bit, reclining in Emily’s special chair and reading a couple of novels from the Number 1 Lady’s Detective Agency series, and took some anti-inflammatories.</span></div><br />
We got to share a few meals in Emily's screened porch, the newest addition to the house and a lovely indoor/ outdoor place to sit, mosquito-free, and enjoy the garden at this time of year. It was just about finished last year when I visited, but since then there are a lot of potted plants and various other creature comforts, and a pretty spectacular barbecue just outside where Emily grilled marinated chicken and lots of great vegetables, including portabella mushrooms. eggplant, zucchini and red peppers, all my favourites. Yum!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhj1kC8JbdqSp2w7WAB-In560uQcvIi3DQHI5L6bsXM7x2yV1PLh3AvLoMbxbS5fBdAb0VwLLo7fUlqn15nvDdNlHcRD-8ARl7SPRRQSpueC7jop-NR7rB0HcmwA1Dn0E_Pp99hZ4-yYS/s320/IMG_4353.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ben and Lissy at Jeremy and Tara's</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN-US">My first cousin Jeremy, wife Tara and their twins Jacob and Jonathan now live in White Plains, only about half an hour from Emily's.We stopped off at the station to pick up Ben and Lissy and Emily dropped us all off and barely had time to say hello before racing off to meet Bob watch her French nephew, now boarding at a school in the area, play in a soccer game. </span><span lang="EN-US">Jeremy's sister Angela was visiting from London, so we all enjoyed catching up. </span><span lang="EN-US">We enjoyed lunch in the Succah, where it was extremely hot, and went for a walk nearby (where we took a few photos on the edge of the golf course) before taking the train back to Grand Central. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhj1kC8JbdqSp2w7WAB-In560uQcvIi3DQHI5L6bsXM7x2yV1PLh3AvLoMbxbS5fBdAb0VwLLo7fUlqn15nvDdNlHcRD-8ARl7SPRRQSpueC7jop-NR7rB0HcmwA1Dn0E_Pp99hZ4-yYS/s1600/IMG_4353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDDL9_mciGMDeq8lNtMCqO7j4jY4cbiAKiCPnR92LUW_jUu0KfnJ0XvbbZBeA0DEP_jXNyrE1dFWHoOj6qlTOL5rGYDUwC0JpCMxvAbVrCCKPOAEohqhdryfw96ivumgJviGgWabOMgTt/s1600/IMG_4358.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I also took the train up to Emily and Bob’s place for a couple of days, including the second day of Sukkot when we went to Shule and to my surprise I was honoured with an Aliyah. I guess there were not so many people there and they were welcoming a stranger to be a part of things. Having grown up as a woman attending Orthodox Shules I am still not blasé about participating fully in Conservative Synagogue services, and I get quite an emotional response to being considered a fully functioning member of the kehila. It was a very nice experience, topped off by lunch in the Sukkah with some of Bob and Emily's friends from the congregation: bagels, all kinds of herring, lox, salads, fruit, even hot coffee, and I could not resist a brownie. Unfortunately I had a pinched nerve in my neck, probably from carrying a back pack slung over one shoulder on the crowded subway train and waiting in the station for the Metro North train to Pleasantville, where I had met Bob and Emily the evening before to go to a show at the Burns theatre (it was a documentary about the history of the animation unit at Disney, called Waking Sleeping Beauty. ) This is on a different train line than the Hudson line I take to their town, which is a gorgeous leafy ride alongside the river - I missed the views!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span lang="EN-US">Emily got me an appointment with a neighbour who is a chiropractor. He diagnosed the source of the pain and treated it with ultrasound and an activator (I had a chiropractor in Mexico years ago who used this little instrument well, but since then I have only been treated with it a couple of times and haven’t felt the practitioner was using it all that well.) Net effect was to partially relieve the pain right then, but over the next 24 hours I improved vastly. It probably also helped that I rested quite a bit, reclining in Emily’s special chair and reading a couple of novels from the Number 1 Lady’s Detective Agency series, and took some anti-inflammatories.</span></div><br />
We got to share a few meals in Emily's screened porch, the newest addition to the house and a lovely indoor/ outdoor place to sit, mosquito-free, and enjoy the garden at this time of year. It was just about finished last year when I visited, but since then there are a lot of potted plants and various other creature comforts, and a pretty spectacular barbecue just outside where Emily grilled marinated chicken and lots of great vegetables, including portabella mushrooms. eggplant, zucchini and red peppers, all my favourites. Yum!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scallops with spinach</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lobster Salad</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan, Jay, Ellen, Emily, me, Lissy, Ben</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN-US">In between all the running around, I managed to spend a bit of time catching up with Jay and Ellen. I got a pass to use the Manhattan JCC, which is just around the corner from their house, for several days. They have a reciprocal agreement with the Berkeley JCC, where I am a member. So I got in a swim every couple of days in the 25 metre pool, but couldn't quite coordinate with Ellen to attend her yoga class ona Wednesday. It was my birthday towards the end of the trip, so I had an indulgent swim and a massage at the JCC, before Ben and Lissy took me out to dinner at a restaurant in the Village called Fish. At the last minute Jay and Ellen joined us along with a couple of other friends and it turned into a little party for me. Very delightful - see a couple of the dishes we had above. We shared some desserts, one of which was billed as a Chocolate Merengue Cake. The better spellers amongst us wondered if it was going to get up and dance.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I dropped in to Goldman Sachs to visit Ben at the office around 5.30 the day before I left New York </span>. <span lang="EN-US"> I don’t know about dark Satanic mills, but the hundreds of knowledge workers on his floor at their workstations with 4 to 6 screens each and just a bit of bench space did bring to mind a knowledge or maybe money factory. I saw the cafeteria with its variety of seating and views over the harbour, Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, the Financial District Marina, and some of the meeting spaces. I met and chatted with many of his team mates in the group, many nationalities, races, even a couple of women! They seems a friendly bunch, quick, smart and very well-read, but I can’t explain why there were bottles of hot sauce on many desks (Ben also had Vegemite and a chunk of honey cake, easier to explain). </span></div><br />
</div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-8671477311457152322010-10-06T20:24:00.000-07:002010-10-06T20:24:28.492-07:00East Coast trip Part 2: Baltimore<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qRgKP10A1uFp6J13b8tOvuLLRbATvmWNyqfAj1UzIUnbMfOUYr01Mbg3qx60ISoMW2vffW1rxZ2npr-6EDgyxKZl5jhZnTCTgcKjImFQv930VThO9pSGfAdl29PGTe9wKLIWX3SpZdZB/s320/IMG_4335.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chani in her stroller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>One thing I didn't mention in my Cleveland post was the pink hair. My hair had grown a bit since the extremely bad colour I had done in Berkeley, and now the roots were just pink, rather than mauve or orange. Ben, who is nearly 6 ft tall and can see the top of my head, informed me that if I could actually see the state of the colour, I'd certainly want to do something about it, so with help from Aunt Flo I found a hairdresser open on Sunday who was able to repair most of the colour damage, bringing the roots back to the same colour as most of the rest of my hair, and also "fixed" the cut, which she said was way longer one side than the other and lacked the structure it needs at the back to encourage the curl. So I felt I was fit to go out in the world again, though in my brother's world, women keep their hair covered so mere exposure is the outrage, not whether it is pink!<br />
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The SouthWest airlines flight I took from Cleveland to Baltimore on a Monday was an Embraer, a small jet made in Brazil. It was not very full, and was very cheap at under $60 including all charges and taxes (and checked bags fly free, very rare in the US). I never feel totally relaxed on these little planes, though I have not checked their safety record against that of larger planes, but it landed early and safely and my brother Yaacov picked me up. He and Miriam had to attend a funeral that afternoon, so I stayed home, unpacked the few things I needed for the couple of nights I was staying, logged in to their wireless network, and caught up on my email.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Esther, Leah and a bit of Shifra</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFCRnUVJl4EZA5cryW5v3Sd8r0u_Osj3-XAAESjfQB50WMubTFEHp97cIqdm2tAe8KoL51fOy9fOMMBcDtda1jn5HeEvt9JdGJd8PYDM5vBKnHt9q7GwO3g9FPL5VS9pBqRNmjt8qQXNgp/s320/IMG_4337.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah, Feigie and Shifra</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After they got home and we had a snack, Miriam and I started making honey cakes for Succot, when the older grandchildren who are off at various yeshivot around the country will be coming home. That evening was the only one that worked to go out to dinner with Esther's family, as there were Parent-Teacher meetings and other commitments on the next night. The cakes were still in the oven, so Miriam stayed home to take them out when done, while Yaacov and I proceeded to meet Esther, Dovid and the kids at the Royal, the extremely kosher Iranian-run restaurant which offers Chinese and "American" food, where we go for our now regular family dinner. Miriam was planning to catch the late shift at the JCC pool, so wasn't going to eat with us anyway, but she joined us at the restaurant a bit later. This was my first opportunity to meet Chani (see her in her stroller above- that is not a halo!) , Esther and Dovid's newest baby, their eighth. Their two oldest boys, young men by now, are away at Yeshiva in New York, and I haven't seen them for ages. The last three girls all look very much alike (see Chani, Leah and Shifra in the photos), and like all the children, they are very calm and quiet and really look after each other. We all ate very well, and there were lots of leftovers for Esther and Dovid to take home, as the servings are large and the kids are not such big eaters. I am delighted to be able to give Esther a couple of night off from cooking, which must become quite onerous with such a big family.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxdjValu4L0wPXigSxYCYrQCKEC2qr37i8jakO6nLAt9hkyKbFNp5vLQAjDnkUV5uzIjB0yCQhDANG4TLiCOsAbYOyYPYZkskWytSz1qG2SkL0OJAB_kD82rtYFk6nsdOJX32QG-Q7DEs8/s320/IMG_4336.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dovid</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLP1yR8IBKorhbPgfkl6hc1n6V9EkFEexLOJK6PhbKHIQFvUcZu2Va_69LnSdayZCBw3877pkVlkB-VzY6tV5Kq0XYaDRN-yKJkTUrLjRrhyyUUzB3Zj0rgZoN3hSGzWQh77_vhoNAAXQi/s320/IMG_4338.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yosef Moshe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Miriam and I swam together at the JCC during the Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon women only shifts: the pool was not very busy, especially on Wednesday when I had a lane to myself for nearly the whole hour. As I belong to the JCC in Berkeley, it is excellent that the JCC here as well as in NYC offers reciprocal rights to use their facilities for a few days. It is a 25 yard pool, where I have to be careful as I run out of pool because in Melbourne I swim in 25 or 50 metre pools - especially when swimming backstroke, I have been known to smash my head into the end of the pool if I am in the meditative state I often get into around the middle of my laps. <br />
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On Tuesday morning I had gone for a very long walk - I had intended to take a long one, but took a wrong turn - so as well as the couple of kilometres I swam, I also walked close to 10 km. All of this may help burn off some of the delicious food I over-indulged in during the trip to Cleveland! That afternoon after school I spent time at Esther's with the littlest kids - the older ones were still at school. Leah has just started kindergarten, and was home asleep on the sofa when we came in. For the first time ever I heard her crying when she woke up, and I observed Esther working with her quietly and calmly to find out what was wrong. Turns out she was over-tired and needed to go to bed for a bit. I am very impressed with how wonderful Esther is with her kids, and how calm they all seem to be in response. The baby is very cute and about to start crawling: I took some videos but I am only posting one here. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxidWh6CsMyKGGQ4PhBi4fSRiNWAbFf0ccCtjW_np1nJ3nyPJS0lRiALAlIxildKIgHSYKIgs1sVNBmBQdcVA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxdjValu4L0wPXigSxYCYrQCKEC2qr37i8jakO6nLAt9hkyKbFNp5vLQAjDnkUV5uzIjB0yCQhDANG4TLiCOsAbYOyYPYZkskWytSz1qG2SkL0OJAB_kD82rtYFk6nsdOJX32QG-Q7DEs8/s1600/IMG_4336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-58446286808587039132010-10-04T17:13:00.000-07:002010-10-04T17:13:14.737-07:00East Coast trip- 3 weeks of family and friends - Part 1: Cleveland<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvEeFuJHDn3mFtiEjACGXXnodlyPvAwaHhFGlWfm3qbZJP5nEdOtrNEGpZV6aRVfNBkwvJnPMajSWjissExeHWYD_atifTuD6kLa5nVIxa2__tz1yMtHjYYYoxUyFXxacbRR03h4YQZz5D/s320/IMG_4322.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uncle Henry and Aunt Florence at home</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvEeFuJHDn3mFtiEjACGXXnodlyPvAwaHhFGlWfm3qbZJP5nEdOtrNEGpZV6aRVfNBkwvJnPMajSWjissExeHWYD_atifTuD6kLa5nVIxa2__tz1yMtHjYYYoxUyFXxacbRR03h4YQZz5D/s1600/IMG_4322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZksYOhQpaYq69E24zxTOiPJvUcQ9mRekbXcRB-cRALFjPSRzMIyhcbY1EsrzWrHFYU9RM5NP15jEDq2SjPatis0kctdmM-OOabzHhEP8Isi3utNCMs_YKTrY13pC4HCoRV7f1d6ICXfPB/s320/IMG_4319.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very early flight to Cleveland, after a late night - called for a nap!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN-US">I left Barry to his academic duties in Berkeley while I went east for the 3+ week trip I take to spend time over the Jewish Holidays with my family and friends on the east coast - Cleveland, Baltimore and New York. As always, it was so nice to be with Uncle Henry and Aunt Flo in Cleveland , and even nicer because Ben and Lissy came in to join us for part of Rosh Hashana (they stayed at Pam and Stan’s). </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpgCp3SRWDFALxSarFgpU7ERdAP4slyc6s6ADJNa69T1vRtG43rEdWQ7cQEVd8Zsnc94ApWJazLeJdgGPa1R1aFFVm7a9SepBiq3xJ3sNIKMeDjLmube2c7J1wyY-VSh1Cw8X_Qy7m3mz/s1600/IMG_4320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpgCp3SRWDFALxSarFgpU7ERdAP4slyc6s6ADJNa69T1vRtG43rEdWQ7cQEVd8Zsnc94ApWJazLeJdgGPa1R1aFFVm7a9SepBiq3xJ3sNIKMeDjLmube2c7J1wyY-VSh1Cw8X_Qy7m3mz/s320/IMG_4320.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pam and Stan</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"> There was the regular ritual of the baking of honey cakes for Aunt Flo and Pam, and this year I also made some egg and lemon sauce from the liquid the gefilte fish had been cooked in. I remember making this kind of sauce for boiled fish with my mother, using a recipe from the bible of English Jewish cookery, Florence Greenberg. But I couldn’t find the recipe on the web. Then I realized it was about 9.30AM in Melbourne, and took a punt on Anna, one of the women staying in our house in Kew, being at home and working on her PC at that hour. She was in, and via a Skype call was able to locate the recipe for me, from the various sections of the decrepit old Florence Greenberg Penguin scattered amongst the more intact cookbooks on the kitchen shelf. </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgtTYR3WmM9TUZHm0XZpjujTSNqS7ztiTSw6aTYDgW3L-IP0m51silgMqtZg8m5BVHm87bPS7KTsqhEROwxs7Ux7OGeysSTXysq8Fxlx4X8w14Bxq5zMMNwnVJzwhN-AJsyIaZ3z2lQ7mC/s1600/IMG_4328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApZModF97qG7UH9Dc0Moi23NoZ_oXRmUh-ieu4x91rTH_ai5RRgTP9Cs9XvyspE_MgyWMXrw9cuOKpxhoNgruRhCoQJ073Pm3ueAf-b1yhL06rSuzJzWQSwkKgiIoHTGypHy24Xtc3tKo/s320/IMG_4325.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mitch with Ben and Lissy, tie-dye stall in the background</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN-US">While we were in Cleveland Ben, Lissy and I went to the Rock and Roll Museum and Hall of Fame again. I always think I will get sated here after 2 ½ to 3 hours as I do at most museums, so when we split up to do our own thing after going through the special Bruce Springsteen exhibit together, we set something like an hour and a half to wander, listen and view till we met up - and as usual we hadn’t really allowed enough time to see all the things we would have liked to. But we had arranged to go on to a craft fair, part of a special Cleveland weekend happening, where our cousin Mitch had a stall selling her tie-dyes, so we left as agreed and took the Rapid to the West Side market. It was about to rain so we helped Mitch pack up her stall, quite an undertaking. I am amazed at how much she manages to pack into her small station wagon, both merchandise and the stall and display racks and canopy etc. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApZModF97qG7UH9Dc0Moi23NoZ_oXRmUh-ieu4x91rTH_ai5RRgTP9Cs9XvyspE_MgyWMXrw9cuOKpxhoNgruRhCoQJ073Pm3ueAf-b1yhL06rSuzJzWQSwkKgiIoHTGypHy24Xtc3tKo/s1600/IMG_4325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCNz8cSI2L7ZJ6sU07gbqQ4Potw-l786cPRM7DcOeEesi_xtrbn3EvP3ar6JC46uX72G_7YLfD-9azSNg4phEPN43BYpsFn1U8s0j_INPZ3Co8K2gAk723U3VIm7pOgAav2dMOiYUz8Vg/s320/IMG_4330.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lissy, Ben. Mitch and Sara-Lila</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgtTYR3WmM9TUZHm0XZpjujTSNqS7ztiTSw6aTYDgW3L-IP0m51silgMqtZg8m5BVHm87bPS7KTsqhEROwxs7Ux7OGeysSTXysq8Fxlx4X8w14Bxq5zMMNwnVJzwhN-AJsyIaZ3z2lQ7mC/s320/IMG_4328.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4th Street pedestrian mall with bars and restaurants</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN-US">Then we checked out the covered market, which reminded me of the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, or the deli section at Vic Market, only less lively at that hour. We took a free trolley ride through some of the areas which would certainly have been no-go areas a few years back. It is many years since I have looked around parts of Cleveland far from the suburban area where my family lives, and a good deal of gentrification is going on, with all the tell-tale signs - new trendy restaurants and galleries, re-purposed older commercial buildings, and houses being done up block by block . </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span lang="EN-US">We ended up on 4<sup>th</sup> Street, where Sarah-Lila, Mitch’s 17-year-old daughter, has a part time job as hostess at a fancy restaurant where we had some drinks and snacks (and complimentary dessert!) before heading back to the Rapid to go back to our dinner date with Pam and Stan at a Brazilian restaurant with lots of small plates to share. Unfortunately the rain had set in as we raced the couple of blocks to the Rapid station, and we had just missed our train so had to wait around for more than 20 minutes in sodden jeans and squelching shoes , not a bit comfortable. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfz2DP8ZYH-ITy34ULcuKAP7rV2XwjXm50tCM2KUGXd2CBgxLZypBURRBAwScNHjqaJEyuX8JmdfMnHDpbFijZK13QgO3uhDb1KetgwGOZ3Kqpa3W5W_N7UuJcAZfgEHo89Z18M4EqBAm/s320/IMG_4324.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aunt Lil, almost 91, and me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfz2DP8ZYH-ITy34ULcuKAP7rV2XwjXm50tCM2KUGXd2CBgxLZypBURRBAwScNHjqaJEyuX8JmdfMnHDpbFijZK13QgO3uhDb1KetgwGOZ3Kqpa3W5W_N7UuJcAZfgEHo89Z18M4EqBAm/s1600/IMG_4324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><span lang="EN-US">We fitted n a quick visit to Aunt Lil, who has moved into a different section of the aged care facility she has lived in for some time. She was in fine form and she particularly enjoyed meeting Lissy for the first time. Her son Jeffrey also popped in for a quick visit at Henry and Flo's on my last evening in Cleveland.</span></div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-39850546783515389152010-10-04T16:17:00.000-07:002010-10-04T16:17:02.306-07:00San Francisco - Walking Tour of Japantown<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfAjrLXZnHziO1ds6XDAf0GkdaTAKVjpjAhyphenhyphenJkb8RiEZcWnqWBjZ3il7yn2bNRNoKu0978HIexmmlQJqCyJVilgOO5m9X3duZpwSXHWWyr8-0BpfZEgA5_GAEXjwydAtSs1R1pqKdgI1P/s1600/IMG_4285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfAjrLXZnHziO1ds6XDAf0GkdaTAKVjpjAhyphenhyphenJkb8RiEZcWnqWBjZ3il7yn2bNRNoKu0978HIexmmlQJqCyJVilgOO5m9X3duZpwSXHWWyr8-0BpfZEgA5_GAEXjwydAtSs1R1pqKdgI1P/s320/IMG_4285.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peace Pagoda, Japantown, San Francisco</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>On the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend, we decided to catch another of the San Francisco City Guide walking tours. Most on that day started a bit early for us, but with a 2PM start we figured we could have lunch in San Francisco first. We parked the car at North Berkeley BART and caught a train just as it was leaving , which turned out to be the wrong one. But we didn't notice at first because a man got on with a very big but clean and well-groomed short-haired dog, who leapt up to sit with his owner on the seat beside us. The dog looked kind of worried, and had his large head resting on the guy's lap - the guy explained the seat really wasn't big enough for him, which we could certainly see! They were on their way to a dog show and we were so fascinated by the goings on as the several kids with the man (who were relegated to other seats) were dispatched to check the maps and practised various dance moves in the aisles that we didn't watch the station names till we had gone beyond the last cross-platform transfer point. As is often the case, we couldn't make out what was being broadcast - the sound system or else the drivers' diction is unclear on BART trains. When we noticed eventually we got off, waited for a train in the other direction and retraced our steps.<br />
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We got off at Civic Centre, near the grand public buildings including the Opera House, Public Library, City Hall and Symphony Hall, and walked from there. We checked out a San Francisco art collection at the library, bought a couple of mysteries at $2 for my plane trip, had a coffee and checked out their loos. One of the first things I noticed was that on the street where I have always noticed the City Car Share and ZipCar parking slots, there is now an electric car slot:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plug in spot for a shared car opposite City Hall </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDgLndhq6o7VAmTPZmz0ThidtcODDDNnA80tBcrBP1HZejsnmfW58ogcBOg43_4oY7B0kozk5sq8aitl67FGsnN2uYIVYLurCGh8f1BS29IbsPE0VVoPNQx-MSL946P5Msrx6fLiyklyKe/s1600/IMG_4284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
We didn't wait till we got to Japantown to have a sushi bento lunch, which probably was a mistake as there were so many eateries there which looked more interesting than the place we chose.<br />
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The themes of the walk were urban renewal and racism, as shown in the shameful history of the forced expulsion of Japanese Americans, including citizens, to concentration camps, and the confiscation of their property. We began at the Peace Plaza where the pagoda, designed by Japanese architect Yoshiro Taniguchi, was given to Japantown by the people of Osaka, San Francisco's sister city in Japan.It is sited between 3 large shopping malls built in the Japanese style in the 70's.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvF8gX-tAgV-IMKUjbOBXSgWZVBwG4ZaODK4OALF-SwZaUZ4whitxNWuGduEEcRntg0vEseoClfMI2ATMJM8FyR4Q8PdWTaBKBJw1CItjbx_Q0SXIiIxXIHrK86QMEa7D2JtNcjfUW8DA/s1600/IMG_4286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvF8gX-tAgV-IMKUjbOBXSgWZVBwG4ZaODK4OALF-SwZaUZ4whitxNWuGduEEcRntg0vEseoClfMI2ATMJM8FyR4Q8PdWTaBKBJw1CItjbx_Q0SXIiIxXIHrK86QMEa7D2JtNcjfUW8DA/s320/IMG_4286.JPG" /></a>The malls were quite crowded. Currently some planners want to demolish them as they are older, inward looking with no street frontage, and not in the style currently favoured for malls. We, as always, enjoyed looking at the local branches of the famed 100Yen shops that Barry loves in Japan, only the common price was $1.50 rather than the $1 /100Yen price he was expecting (he was outraged by this!). The stores and eateries were very busy, and though very few Japanese ever returned to this district, where they largely lived before WW2, they do come to this area for the shopping and the cultural institutions. Many of the stores had Japanese chachkes on sale, and this window display was one of the flower arrangements of one shop-front where they teach Ikebana. Other shop-fronts advertised classes in dance, Japanese drumming, and various social activities for both young and older community members interested in aspects of Japanese culture. <br />
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Rather than tell you all about it here, I will refer you to the Wikipedia entry about Japantown, aka Little Osaka, where you can read a brief entry about the history of the neighbourhood, the internment etc. I was reminded of the efforts in Melbourne to save Carlton from demolition after it was condemned by town planners as unsanitary and overcrowded - large parts of Japantown had lots of wooden Victorian houses which were torn down, leaving only a few, which by now have mostly been restored as the area is gentrified (sound familiar to Melbourne residents?) The planners who want to redevelop the shopping centres are encountering significant local opposition.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japantown,_San_Francisco">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japantown,_San_Francisco</a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExtWfgQWhK3tv7ywq6ZH1rTO-koh80fP89gYaJpApkSnXpTtmFNrK74Jb3ofiv1FN2m5hTnAtb1_HooYAmiweuh8AVW_4b4exUpbWn3HS2br1cxeB9vbM_OeGPQ4_8bkqkUpT5BnWUMwl/s320/IMG_4288.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A plaque commemorating the eviction and dispossession</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExtWfgQWhK3tv7ywq6ZH1rTO-koh80fP89gYaJpApkSnXpTtmFNrK74Jb3ofiv1FN2m5hTnAtb1_HooYAmiweuh8AVW_4b4exUpbWn3HS2br1cxeB9vbM_OeGPQ4_8bkqkUpT5BnWUMwl/s1600/IMG_4288.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYj4nnCtPXU3lnWq3JC1iipqxudAjRYuy4mUHeoD41IXbsJOZmLQpRpTsgB6IJoR4EtUnLASj3U2EifS6kTia5PxFNBPvXF9e5SiJCvwMofjVhifQNvvjZFfZrkZj0IUcQX-Hw_DSujBh/s320/IMG_4291.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the finer renovated Victorians</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYj4nnCtPXU3lnWq3JC1iipqxudAjRYuy4mUHeoD41IXbsJOZmLQpRpTsgB6IJoR4EtUnLASj3U2EifS6kTia5PxFNBPvXF9e5SiJCvwMofjVhifQNvvjZFfZrkZj0IUcQX-Hw_DSujBh/s1600/IMG_4291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>These shots were taken near the corner shown below. Buchanan Street is named for the US president widely regarded as the worst ever - but at this corner you can see the challenger! (You may need to enlarge the picture to see it clearly: click on the image to do this. The Bush the street is named for is indeed a forebear of both Presidents Bush.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRofeZFnSTPfTnr2B9b4EU3vZPNjFYGVew4nJhqBSSqbzjdgXOgRDhNeC7eoFnnwOFEwZscrAJU5qHZjtrO7Kxvmy_qwhVrJbk9v83zlEUDnoBl3qUWos3bgQuVqixM3qe38HwGqrLLFz/s320/IMG_4298.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Intersection of Buchanan and Bush.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRofeZFnSTPfTnr2B9b4EU3vZPNjFYGVew4nJhqBSSqbzjdgXOgRDhNeC7eoFnnwOFEwZscrAJU5qHZjtrO7Kxvmy_qwhVrJbk9v83zlEUDnoBl3qUWos3bgQuVqixM3qe38HwGqrLLFz/s1600/IMG_4298.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLo1v8NHEQgyWKQRmXvlT-v7nwGUQThnPdoOV3dtup7aFGUtwsIkyA3jYx52PTI21kPANLJq32bOKdIb78KzUB33vBySi1vvfxx2W-guxB5vsAOG-ph14B1xg19K1dJIoGnxdfQzFp_UR/s320/IMG_4296.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just loved this street tree with its hanging golden trumpets</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLo1v8NHEQgyWKQRmXvlT-v7nwGUQThnPdoOV3dtup7aFGUtwsIkyA3jYx52PTI21kPANLJq32bOKdIb78KzUB33vBySi1vvfxx2W-guxB5vsAOG-ph14B1xg19K1dJIoGnxdfQzFp_UR/s1600/IMG_4296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
One of the other little aspects of local history our guide covered was the story of Mary Ellen Pleasant, another of the colourful characters that abounded in 19th Century San Francisco. She was an African American woman, a former slave who could pass as white, but later in life changed her official racial designation from White to Black, and who had a long association with helping slaves escape via the Underground Railroad. When she got to San Francisco after her first husband died, she ran boarding houses and restaurants for businessmen, listened to their tips, invested in the share market based on this inside information, and made a fortune. Later she was part of a somewhat unusual household with a man officially married to someone else, and was the target of a great deal of vilification. She could be considered the Mother of Civil Rights, as she fought and won several legal battles including one to desegregate public transport in San Francisco, many decades before Rosa Parks. Her Wikipedia entry is pretty bare bones, but there are other sites with more information is you Google her name. We stopped at this plaque outside her former mansion, amidst a row of huge eucalypts she planted, and heard her life story in brief.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwLys0rwDbA9gKnZ81AAGuLkWsEt3IbWe7ck27lEOZIxl6PRURCMKVGqCyyr4zSmv5Rmqer49vlWhJaUWYep0Jl_gjMVqfOROIMLvjRnjsT3MSm4o7QTcwFbxSZjGNmICrlQUjn4m2Gw3/s320/IMG_4303.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Memorial Plaque to Mary Ellen Pleasant.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwLys0rwDbA9gKnZ81AAGuLkWsEt3IbWe7ck27lEOZIxl6PRURCMKVGqCyyr4zSmv5Rmqer49vlWhJaUWYep0Jl_gjMVqfOROIMLvjRnjsT3MSm4o7QTcwFbxSZjGNmICrlQUjn4m2Gw3/s1600/IMG_4303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-5315264434776408012010-09-04T22:56:00.000-07:002010-09-04T22:56:15.736-07:00The Real Food Festival<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcakxQTGZ0JiT19nlBahG1pnvvZS-HHsy-Zy9iY-_Zezk54SSSpoi07DBSoPBUGIL_CThuQDqvJtYgfA_jhJNsEjbPG4ckQnc9X7OQlLJwbwiA4B9t-b820c6NBI-tLWxFX4MWUz5RSLre/s1600/IMG_4281.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcakxQTGZ0JiT19nlBahG1pnvvZS-HHsy-Zy9iY-_Zezk54SSSpoi07DBSoPBUGIL_CThuQDqvJtYgfA_jhJNsEjbPG4ckQnc9X7OQlLJwbwiA4B9t-b820c6NBI-tLWxFX4MWUz5RSLre/s320/IMG_4281.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bike-powered blender in use!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
During our first weeks in Berkeley, especially if we have no car, we often go to Oakland by public transport, to its interesting Chinatown or to whatever street festival is on, or maybe to get the ferry to San Francisco from the terminal on the waterfront in Jack London Square, as we did when Maguie was here last year. This year we took in the Real Food Festival at Jack London Square, vastly expanded this year after an apparently successful launch last year. As an outing, it was bound to be pretty much a write-off for someone on Weight Watchers. Although there was not so much as a fried Oreo in sight, and not much seemed to be deep fried at all, at a festival devoted to food it is very difficult to be abstemious (not only that, but it's also hard not to eat too much!)<br />
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If you look at the photos and video on the link below, you'll see some of things that caught my eye: the endless tacos, various hot dogs or other sausages in rolls, pizza etc. were old hat and mostly not worth photographing, let alone eating. Some of the queues were very long and even if we quite fancied the food, we didn't fancy the wait. What we had to take the edge off our hunger was billed as "Bhel Puri". Years ago we ate at the Bhel Puri House somewhere near Euston Station in London. The food came with very large puffy bread of some kind - Ben, then about eight years old, famously remarked that it looked like a satellite dish! No bread in sight here: they tossed a mixture of crispy puffed rice, lentils, finely chopped tomato, onion, cucumber, and a kind of green salsa with coriander and mint and some chili, made in a blender powered by a stationary bike driven by volunteers from the crowd. It was like a savoury breakfast cereal, very fresh and tasty with wonderful crispy crunchy textures. (It takes a very long time to upload a video direct to this blog, but now it seems Picasa can upload a video to a my photo website website much faster, so I've put one there showing the guy mixing it all up .) I followed with a potato and spinach knish, the very thin dough containing the filling fried crispy on a griddle rather than deep-fried. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumfynP0hIDglJznJW4-_iY3kn6lEY1MpQREs83Lpdoqntrk8lL4hDjnm_HaB2HUDzFZ4huWiRWDG2gIfb6fmDkLxJN2NOGMJBtz5Itjcd6S4tK_5pcKS44j5F5Xdi-_36vxhB9nPG2iWx/s1600/IMG_4279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumfynP0hIDglJznJW4-_iY3kn6lEY1MpQREs83Lpdoqntrk8lL4hDjnm_HaB2HUDzFZ4huWiRWDG2gIfb6fmDkLxJN2NOGMJBtz5Itjcd6S4tK_5pcKS44j5F5Xdi-_36vxhB9nPG2iWx/s320/IMG_4279.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heirloom tomatoes featured in this Panzanella</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Barry had assorted steamed dim sum, and later on, tried a panzanella with a variety of heirloom tomatoes, fragrant fresh basil, really good parmesan, and chunky garlicky croutons made from excellent dense bread. He also managed several glasses of wine (I had a Naked juice, rather like the Nudie Juices at home, not sure which hit the market first), and he finished with some melon ice-cream which I had tasters of.<br />
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There were demos of cooking , brewing beer, butchering, milking goats - see a partial list here:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKjzNhjBH1rbPswHFxYUmz-CgNp6bLXuzc1qjG97F0xI14U7ZAdpkwnLYV_u2AuM_WVplfaC-PO8_PWCDPxP8ovekK2nD0WcEF_SfC12xPL5VwDrqLhUGzO1h03LeLXLJlDqIYJkfR5_W/s1600/IMG_4274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKjzNhjBH1rbPswHFxYUmz-CgNp6bLXuzc1qjG97F0xI14U7ZAdpkwnLYV_u2AuM_WVplfaC-PO8_PWCDPxP8ovekK2nD0WcEF_SfC12xPL5VwDrqLhUGzO1h03LeLXLJlDqIYJkfR5_W/s320/IMG_4274.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A poster listing the demonstrations (click to see it enlarged) </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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At one of the stalls where they were selling barbecued pork there was a guy Barry spotted in the queue with a tattoo which looked to us like a pig marked out into butcher's cuts - I couldn't manage a photo and thought it might not be altogether wise to ask him to pose for me. You can see all the photos I took on Picasa:<br />
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<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/20100831RealFoodFestival#">http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/20100831RealFoodFestival#</a>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-41178781996707279062010-09-04T22:15:00.000-07:002010-09-04T22:15:46.020-07:00Settling in Again<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K_5D2V2Tnux_Ew3IXv0fvR6g20ccXcQp1OUBRO0hxgPJHTVIMd1Fai7Tzi2g-8IAo3TxUc2Pg2Ti9-E0iOH2ltLw6BVmVy_BfrbTytN6ARzDvu1o4Mzf6h6uQiUBF9Nzb2ZFEN_XX8Vl/s1600/IMG_3399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K_5D2V2Tnux_Ew3IXv0fvR6g20ccXcQp1OUBRO0hxgPJHTVIMd1Fai7Tzi2g-8IAo3TxUc2Pg2Ti9-E0iOH2ltLw6BVmVy_BfrbTytN6ARzDvu1o4Mzf6h6uQiUBF9Nzb2ZFEN_XX8Vl/s320/IMG_3399.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view across the bay at random from my beautiful walk along Spruce St to Campus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The first couple of weeks in Berkeley has almost become routine on our third trip here - the trips to the supermarkets, Berkeley Bowl and Monterrey Markets; getting used to the house; re-acquainting with friends; establishing a timetable of when Barry is teaching, when I have my exercise classes and choir rehearsals and Tertulias; booking tickets for the Opera, concerts and theatres...and there are welcome functions for various of Barry's academic connections. There is always a party at Margaret and Irv's, where we meet up with the new and continuing Latin American history students and staff. Talk about a baby boom - I don't remember anyone being pregnant last year, but this Sunday there were two new babies (8 and 11 weeks old) and another one is due at the end of September (and Irv's daughter was not there, but is due in 2 weeks also). So I spent a bit of time holding babies and talking about them, getting in training for my own impending grand-motherhood, due to begin in January. I asked about what was the age at which the young women in Berkeley are having babies, and was told there is a mini-trend of giving birth while still in grad school and before getting on the tenure track, rather than deferring ever longer for career reasons. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNaxobfVAiJgNbYXRaaRBUkXQW5uh6Zgh-4PTr6IP4vnwOJtKnps3pKXrPgmFH3pp5tmqWWmhc7ZaQ3y0zC9emvpk9bDLZVrdgMds9P_uPfcbbxHv3wX5KvykmvUGjTcUmhSzoiM_oH_t/s1600/IMG_3398.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNaxobfVAiJgNbYXRaaRBUkXQW5uh6Zgh-4PTr6IP4vnwOJtKnps3pKXrPgmFH3pp5tmqWWmhc7ZaQ3y0zC9emvpk9bDLZVrdgMds9P_uPfcbbxHv3wX5KvykmvUGjTcUmhSzoiM_oH_t/s320/IMG_3398.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my favourite houses I pass on the way to campus.</td></tr>
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The other party to launch the academic year is the CLAS (Center for Latin American Studies) event, and this time rather than having it in the confines of the CLAS building, an old house just off campus, it was held in the Grand Hall at the Bancroft Hotel. This Hall, maybe a bit less grand than the Hall at International House where we attended the meeting for International Scholars and spouses a week or so back, similarly makes me think of Harry Potter - real Hogwart's style of great halls with vaulted ceilings and lots of dark timber and some stained glass. I guess they were built in the first part of the Twentieth Century, so I don't know exactly why they remind me of Hogwarts, but I half expected the sorting cap or Fawkes the Phoenix to come flying about. We ran into Javiera, the Chilean grad student who had an apartment in the converted garage of the house we rented in Walnut Street last year. We shared a few meals with her and some of her friends last year, and got to know her quite well. She was pleased to tell us (well, mostly Barry I guess) about her revised thesis topic, and that she's off to Chile to do her field work in a month or so. Plus we caught up many of the academics and grad students we have got to know over the past couple of years, and of course a few new and interesting people, many of whom seem to have originated from the East Coast, like so many Berkeley academics and professionals. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6oaeE78cK12q-n6oLK-cOa6c-avlGX_Spfn1L5vfe7Oi9beDFWAi142leJxTrWtqrUWA7Nx6eTh42qhjjO8O7QQZkuQwEggPLyKBDKjfGjh99YqtPdi14U4Cn8XeASIPDgeI8WGRNIbl5/s1600/IMG_3541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6oaeE78cK12q-n6oLK-cOa6c-avlGX_Spfn1L5vfe7Oi9beDFWAi142leJxTrWtqrUWA7Nx6eTh42qhjjO8O7QQZkuQwEggPLyKBDKjfGjh99YqtPdi14U4Cn8XeASIPDgeI8WGRNIbl5/s320/IMG_3541.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> "The girls" at Betsy's house for lunch last December</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>It is only a few days now before I head off to the East Coast for the Jewish Holidays. I am trying to catch up with lots of people before I go. Luckily there is a choir get-together just before I leave. I have a Scrabble game booked with Laurie and Dana, two of the altos, and last week had lunch with the little tribe Betsy drove to the Y exercise classes last year. (In photo from left: MD, Betsy, Sonya, Nancy). I saw a lot of Sonya last week but as they are entertaining a nephew from New York this week, haven't spent time with her and Philip this week. They'll be off on some local travel and then to Canada with Sonya's sisters and will be away when I get back, but we still have time later in the year.<br />
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I have done a bit of clothes shopping this year, though I am not sure what I will take East with me. The 10-day weather forecasts seem to indicate it will be hot this year, rendering the choice of Synagogue-appropriate clothes I have with me a bit problematic. And just this evening Garrett brought over his old car (he just bought a new Prius) which we will be borrowing for the rest of our stay here - now I have to get used to driving a manual car again, a skill which is a bit rusty but will come back, I am sure- certainly I will get lots of practice at handbrake starts driving in the Berkeley Hills!Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-62192144421082543532010-08-27T22:20:00.000-07:002010-08-27T22:20:38.251-07:00The Ice Man Cometh<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCH6OKYReo48MI1YHFxYeWolU2cDR2CWsAwCKZkMBZ5wkF7cFBerienNULuw8VULBA5QP6mIoP_pNXKQugj3afZdnr4Vf03mprk_VNvCMPPKZaE2XXPXGyVLxyWhBuROT_hlPXXkT5XP8/s1600/IMG_4268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCH6OKYReo48MI1YHFxYeWolU2cDR2CWsAwCKZkMBZ5wkF7cFBerienNULuw8VULBA5QP6mIoP_pNXKQugj3afZdnr4Vf03mprk_VNvCMPPKZaE2XXPXGyVLxyWhBuROT_hlPXXkT5XP8/s320/IMG_4268.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Offending Refrigerator</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
We had an extreme heat day on Tuesday which coincided, or perhaps precipitated, a failure in our fridge. We had noticed that the fridge wasn't keeping our stuff cold enough over the few preceding days and turned the cold to maximum, but that didn't seem to work, and the milk went off, and we noticed things really didn't seem very cold - and then not cold at all. When Sally was in town in Wednesday night the penny hadn't quite dropped, but I woke up with a startle at around 4AM and realised it was no colder inside the fridge than room temperature. I put lots of things that I hoped would stand it into the freezer (the fridge and freezer have independent refrigeration units, fortunately, and the freezer was fine). I also put several bags of ice cubes into the fridge to bring down the ambient temperature. <br />
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Sally returned from an early appointment mid-morning and I transferred everything in the fridge that didn't have to be thrown out (the left-over green chicken curry was a major casualty, along with the new milk and some fruit and veg) into Sally and Monica's fridge downstairs. Meanwhile she got onto the fridge suppliers, who sent a technician out immediately. Not sure if this is their normal response, or it is because this Sub-Zero Fridge/Freezer is their absolute top of the range device (Sally remarked that the fridge, installed in a relatively recent kitchen renovation, cost more than the house!).<br />
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He got here before Sally had to leave and diagnosed a loss of refrigerant and the need for a major service, so she authorised the charges and went off while he did the necessary. So now we have a working fridge again - when we returned home from our day's activities we figured the fridge was back to cold enough to let us relocate everything back upstairs. As you can see, it is full again. One of my yoghurts expanded too much upon freezing and burst out of its container, and tomorrow I will know whether the vacuum-packed NZ lamb survived being not so cold, then frozen - I am defrosting it now and will give it a very through sniffing and visual inspection before considering whether to cook it - and if I judge it fit to cook, will cook it less rare than normal just to be on the safe side. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjut8XMoocH1sEvvSTi_qrTyV8BGwuIE9Q-qWoUUHZEd3kHep4F4mkHwQmQCzDeIBuJ-nRBf05bwIfWq3zHB7OwYh4iUJVjwZHEBRwsiO7ZbfxMeQO5NceCtdFqwLDUyPeX2YghCUcX-l_0/s1600/IMG_4267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjut8XMoocH1sEvvSTi_qrTyV8BGwuIE9Q-qWoUUHZEd3kHep4F4mkHwQmQCzDeIBuJ-nRBf05bwIfWq3zHB7OwYh4iUJVjwZHEBRwsiO7ZbfxMeQO5NceCtdFqwLDUyPeX2YghCUcX-l_0/s320/IMG_4267.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back in Business</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-85320270303529281792010-08-25T17:02:00.000-07:002010-08-25T17:02:38.455-07:00Back to Berkeley (for the third time...)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kYM2-jIUPlBcKcxJYoP0SRXwcnUw40blwTRgvVhXFJxR2GxTsHdVxdd5biaC9A5gXiQ3dUne1OrMVioIavcvPW3woh9WCt-qTYCuZF9-k10u2DBT1UCxw9YPbUdGWe_BpZDysfSiusUM/s1600/IMG_4256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kYM2-jIUPlBcKcxJYoP0SRXwcnUw40blwTRgvVhXFJxR2GxTsHdVxdd5biaC9A5gXiQ3dUne1OrMVioIavcvPW3woh9WCt-qTYCuZF9-k10u2DBT1UCxw9YPbUdGWe_BpZDysfSiusUM/s320/IMG_4256.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How lovely to be greeted by flowers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We flew in to SFO early on a Sunday morning, in fact the plane was half an hour early. Lovely Philip and Sonya picked us up and we had a good run to Berkeley, where we found Monica wiping down benches and making the house nice for us. See the vase of gorgeous flowers from the garden that she left on the dining room table for us - she is a real flower-lover, and I will take a leaf from her book (pun intended) and keep a little vase of flowers on the bathroom shelf and others around the house as long as the garden is blooming. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-229aiqk5keEmvUIik3zJchlGPsFr87OxQQ_twK17tdHqFUBSFzA2CP2xip6xwS9LeKmDZZPyjI6y_RgaW1fjJyd2iisfJQ3kQ4JCcaIK6WCJQewdruxYnAbhSzsDWRZV7S2aN5JmIN8/s1600/IMG_4257.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-229aiqk5keEmvUIik3zJchlGPsFr87OxQQ_twK17tdHqFUBSFzA2CP2xip6xwS9LeKmDZZPyjI6y_RgaW1fjJyd2iisfJQ3kQ4JCcaIK6WCJQewdruxYnAbhSzsDWRZV7S2aN5JmIN8/s320/IMG_4257.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the kitchen window looking South-West</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It is great to be back in this house on Santa Barbara Road where we stayed the first time Barry was invited to teach at Berkeley just two years ago. The views are gorgeous, though the trees behind have grown a lot and partially obscure the great sweep across to the Bay Bridge and San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge on the other side. Apparently they have had a cold, wet and foggy summer so far, though since we have arrived most afternoons have been beautifully sunny (I am claiming credit for bringing the sunshine). And though the garden is considerably less prolific than it was two years ago, I have picked a few cherry tomatoes, some herbs, and just a few of the very heavy crop of lemons. I bought some shelled edamame (soy beans) at the supermarket and made them into a salad with the cherry tomatoes and an invented soy balsamic vinaigrette using lots of fresh mint, thyme, oregano and rosemary from the garden. The salad looked so pretty I composed the still life below:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpLs2elAwcBzGbq5VvXqPyRgv4aXdW_lFruRVNhLKk3QQv1HG40GKnG2ZhjFWcEj8pg9zzvIjrghJyPR5xwz3I-fcZfgIVsvTQu9moHdfPxyYWahXEq-SlN7lrnIr4dFpZqbErCHsd-ra/s1600/IMG_4259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpLs2elAwcBzGbq5VvXqPyRgv4aXdW_lFruRVNhLKk3QQv1HG40GKnG2ZhjFWcEj8pg9zzvIjrghJyPR5xwz3I-fcZfgIVsvTQu9moHdfPxyYWahXEq-SlN7lrnIr4dFpZqbErCHsd-ra/s320/IMG_4259.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bountiful harvest once again.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>Sally was in Wyoming when we arrived and had left us her car keys for the week, so we were able to do lots of food shopping and go to the movies at night with ease. I also drove a little way to join a car pool for a Tertulia in Oakland. And we took BART downtown to San Francisco to go to the Australian Consulate to vote for the Federal Elections, though unfortunately our Kooyong-based votes won't resolve the electoral deadlock when they eventually get counted. I also tried out a new hairdresser, with somewhat mixed results. She was unhappy with the first colour she did so insisted on redoing it - my scalp is not yet fully recovered, and I am wondering how quickly the colour, originally purple, now a bit orange, will fade, though the cut so far seems quite decent. <br />
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I also had a very exciting trip to Costco with Sonya, and bought heaps of stuff so that the freezer is now very well-stocked. I was thinking ahead to when I head off to the East Coast for the Jewish Holidays and Barry will be fending for himself for 3 weeks. Last time I went to this temple to consumption, it was close to the end of our stay here last year, and the quantities that you need to buy were way too large to consume in a couple of weeks. But Sonya and I decided to split a few things, which made it more fun and enabled me to try a few new things, like a couple of varieties of their ravioli ( for Barry), juices, and hummus. And we both managed to resist buying the tira misu cake I discovered last time, which is absolutely delicious but would have been ultimately destructive of months of successful weight watching. It's the kind of dessert I should only buy to take to someone else's house - let them worry about the left-overs, which I found totally irresistible while it remained in my fridge. We also bought their roast garlic bread, beautiful crusty loaves studded with sweet roasted garlic cloves. I froze 1 1/2 loaves and left half a loaf to eat fresh - yum. And Sonya and Philip really liked it too. It was still warm when we bought it, so you can imagine the fragrance in the car going home! <br />
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The sheer profusion of stuff, clothes, consumer durables, household goods, electronics, and food, fresh produce as well as packaged goods, is mind-blowing. And to see masses of people with their giant trolleys stocking up is quite an experience. I can't imagine what it would seem like to someone from an under-developed country. I haven't yet seen the Costco that opened in Melbourne last year while we were away, and don't know if it has quite the variety one sees here. . We have the same problem there as here - if we are only in Melbourne for less than 6 months, unless we are in some kind of collective purchasing group, our little household of two just doesn't consume that much, so bulk buying is not necessarily smart consumer behaviour.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pavement level view of pooch refreshment centre<br />
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We had use of Sally's car for another half day before she reclaimed it, and it was a gorgeous sunny day on Sunday , so we went down to 4th St, where there are very smart designer stores and some good food to be had. I got down on the pavement and took a dog's eye view of this pooch drinking station outside a dog-loving optometrist's store. <br />
We wandered through the outlet store of Crate and Barrel, a thankless task as we are not in a position to buy any home-wares, however much of a bargain or interesting they seem. I have discovered that if I don't want to buy something, I don't actually like window shopping. When I am not actively seeking something to wear, I don't even want to go looking at clothes or shoes. I am just not that interested in what is in season or what is around in the stores until such time as I decide I need something to wear to a specific occasion or to replace an outgrown or outworn item. Odd to discover this at 65, but it has been coming on for about 10 years now!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDPImDL6gA61TSaQvybYz_3dNlQj56PAStJMS3fuZO-131_2Z_y5s864NKMMfp0BgVIwqQlHN-hTPKaQHDUxSSCGFVIdZI2gUFSB4XYr8ovBZE6lhq4GMvx0yYce3nzjoN_iL8iyV2W-I/s1600/IMG_4262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDPImDL6gA61TSaQvybYz_3dNlQj56PAStJMS3fuZO-131_2Z_y5s864NKMMfp0BgVIwqQlHN-hTPKaQHDUxSSCGFVIdZI2gUFSB4XYr8ovBZE6lhq4GMvx0yYce3nzjoN_iL8iyV2W-I/s320/IMG_4262.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long queue looking pretty animated</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As we left the store we had to negotiate our way through a long line of people queuing up for something, which turned out to be cupcakes in a mobile van. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVx9dCxRy1yUOK2rZPgByjIGGoYQhOhrBqtM7FT44nbt4Nmqk0ZD3QuIo3Es_7IjcZ-Gx3RCGAewM59z3FJVe4q8oB7nO3tjtEGYM5VptjNi6WanYRTh72GNgNmcG2P2URqclAzdS3a2uO/s1600/IMG_4261.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVx9dCxRy1yUOK2rZPgByjIGGoYQhOhrBqtM7FT44nbt4Nmqk0ZD3QuIo3Es_7IjcZ-Gx3RCGAewM59z3FJVe4q8oB7nO3tjtEGYM5VptjNi6WanYRTh72GNgNmcG2P2URqclAzdS3a2uO/s320/IMG_4261.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guess the cupcakes must be really good!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>There were of course several bookstores to visit. Also one of the pet shelters has a little stand on the street, with pets ready for adoption then and there. In some of the larger puppy pens there were a few kids playing with the puppies, so cute - kids and puppies - but in this stage of our life where we spend as much time overseas as at home, we can't have pets, but we do miss them so much. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknrNfgWG9wopF-6ihlnvOowlN8kqrXS64JRo5zSxFByZpx5WCOiwOCdp_9aMXtTek03yhyceVf448gmnHTvOdLTd8D8EzSyXdQirvenQfC_dMiURX4AhUBO1unfeGo9Lh0ZX2aeG-_mzV/s1600/IMG_4265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknrNfgWG9wopF-6ihlnvOowlN8kqrXS64JRo5zSxFByZpx5WCOiwOCdp_9aMXtTek03yhyceVf448gmnHTvOdLTd8D8EzSyXdQirvenQfC_dMiURX4AhUBO1unfeGo9Lh0ZX2aeG-_mzV/s320/IMG_4265.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pets (not kids) for adoption on 4th Street.</td></tr>
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Our Berkeley neighbours' dog, Milhaus, has been ailing for some time and died on Friday night, and in one of the stores I found a whole range of cards offering sympathy for the loss of a pet - I am tempted to say only in America, but has anyone seen these in Australia? Most of them were very nice, and the one I chose featured a doggie door in the Pearly Gates. Our sympathy is very real. It is a little over a year since we lost our beloved Jesse and I still miss him frequently, and I miss our cats too - we lost a generation of pets in a couple of years, and we know that a companion animal who has been with you more than a dozen years really does leave a big hole. Milhaus is buried next door under a big oak tree and the neighbours are adding tributes to his grave. He would love to look through the recycle bins on Tuesday mornings (open blue boxes here, rather than wheelie bins) for small empty water bottles which he loved to chew on and flatten. Someone has put one of these there, there is a tennis ball, a pine cone (which Jesse also loved to collect and play with), photos and a couple of articles about dogs that friends and family have emailed.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-89865285806848926452010-08-22T22:41:00.000-07:002010-08-22T22:41:31.880-07:00Moctezuma Exhibition at the Templo Mayor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_duNPQDMIaHZA2u5Hdq3PzwnwKHZp5bMPFpYkaWxgPBrzcrhizSlYSqt_eJ_BJLxbELE0RyYCuDLbzG91dpVYjRnN1OHT7cd2p6p1J-WcfN0SpjKHXvFBlSUlIXyNpGYmY6AFjMMAE4H/s1600/IMG_4206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_duNPQDMIaHZA2u5Hdq3PzwnwKHZp5bMPFpYkaWxgPBrzcrhizSlYSqt_eJ_BJLxbELE0RyYCuDLbzG91dpVYjRnN1OHT7cd2p6p1J-WcfN0SpjKHXvFBlSUlIXyNpGYmY6AFjMMAE4H/s320/IMG_4206.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cape of Quetzal feathers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Emiliano Melgar, son of Ricardo and Hilda, and brother of Dahil, is a forensic archaeologist who works at the Templo Mayo right in the heart of Mexico City. He offered us a private conducted tour of the exhibition there on the life and times of Moctezuma II, the last indigenous ruler of the Aztec empire, who thought that Cortes might be a god, and was killed and his empire lost during the Spanish Conquest. We were joined by Dahil and her boyfriend Jose-Luis, and a Japanese colleague of Emiliano's. <br />
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The exhibition was originally shown at the British Museum, and the version on show in Mexico is supplemented by extra artefacts and materials. Quoting from the link below:<br />
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<i>T</i><i>he exhibition tells the story of Moctezuma II, the last elected ruler of the Aztecs, more correctly known now as the Mexica. From 1502 until 1520 he presided over a large empire embracing much of what is today central Mexico. This exhibition examines his life, reign and controversial death during the Spanish conquest. The Spanish arrived on Mexican shores in 1519, led by Hernan Cortes. They were initially well received in the Aztec capital, but distrust and violence ensued. Moctezuma was captured and met his death shortly afterwards. Overcoming resistance, the Spanish went on to conquer his empire. Moctezuma’s life and dramatic death are explained through objects ranging, from sculpture, gold and mosaic items to codices and European paintings. The objects are drawn from Mexican, European, US collections and the British Museum’s own collection.</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/news_and_press_releases/press_releases/2009/moctezuma.aspx">http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/news_and_press_releases/press_releases/2009/moctezuma.aspx</a><br />
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No flash is allowed and I am not much of a photographer under these circumstances, but here are a few photos that I took. I also took pictures of some of the captions in English to remind me of what it was about. and have included most of these in the web album, so you can look at them there singly or as a slide show if you are interested..<br />
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<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bjoymarsh/2010_08_13MoctezumaExhibitAtTemploMayorAndJuniorMelgars#">http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bjoymarsh/2010_08_13MoctezumaExhibitAtTemploMayorAndJuniorMelgars#</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emiliano, Reyna and Emilia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After our tour, we went back to Emiliano's apartment to meet his wife Reyna (also an archaeologist) and their cute baby. Dahil lives in a smaller apartment in the same building, and she had invited us to lunch. Hilda and Ricardo met us there and after what I considered to be a sensible and delicious lunch based around salad, fruit, cold cuts and some grilled <i>nopales</i> and peppers, we went downstairs and next door to a restaurant which is part of a school of gastronomy across the road, where students train in the kitchens and as waiters, apparently for some "real" lunch. I had already eaten handsomely so just ordered a cup of tea, Barry had some apple pie, while the others, who had only nibbled at Dahil's, being more aware than we were of the plans for the meal, ordered serious food. The baby was an angel for the entire time, not one grizzle even though she had had a tummy upset and they thought she might still be unwell.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-51473593325181527872010-08-22T19:33:00.000-07:002010-08-22T19:33:00.320-07:00Markets and parks.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fencing in Parque Frida Kahlo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The use people make of the parks and gardens in Mexico City is interesting. Did I mention the amount of snogging one sees? On park benches, on the lawns, under the trees, in fact everywhere, couples are making out in public, mostly young but not a few middle-aged. I think it is rather nice that when I look out of the window at the high fence across the street, there are often a pair of young canoodlers (and not always the same pair - it must be a renowned spot for it) kissing and hugging for extended periods.<br />
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The <i>Parque Frida Kahlo</i> is at the end of our short street. It has a central fountain which sometimes runs and often doesn't , and in one corner there is a bronze of a rather grim-looking seated Frida overseeing activities. And of course, as well as the signs saying no ball games, skate boards or bikes, all of these are there in profusion. The signs also say no pets, but there are lots of dogs, on and more usually off-leash, and huge amounts of dog poo. (this is not just in the parks, but all over the streets. I have only seen two people even carrying plastic bags apparently to pick it up - people mostly totally ignore their dog's droppings).<br />
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At this time of year each morning there seem to be school or college graduation ceremonies happening. Along one walkway through the park (like the one pictured above where the fencers are) a canopy is set up sheltering two rows of chairs arrayed along its full length. The armed police/guards supervising admit only the graduates and a very few family members: many other friends and relatives gather in our street, which is often closed to vehicular traffic when this is going on. I normally cut through the park on my way to the central squares or the markets in <i>Coyoacan</i> as it avoids having to walk along, or often right off, a very narrow and obstructed sidewalk beside a very busy intersection. They close the park gates except to people with the right papers, so for most mornings during our one-month stay the park has been off limits for a few hours.<br />
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Did I mention the fencing? Time for me to look back and see if I used the photos or video I took one Saturday morning. I wandered over to where the group of fencers were, and as I was trying to video them, the natural progression of the match was very Errol Flynn: they were advancing rapidly away from the area they started from and along the path I was standing on (no chandeliers to swing from, however) and I almost got caught in the middle. Don't fence me in!<br />
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There are other martial arts, with people in black outfits carrying wooden poles doing some kind of ritualised paired fighting. Early (well, around 9AM) there are sometimes groups doing Tai Chi. At the much larger <i>Viveros</i>, there are organised and less-organised groups of runners/joggers, and at one end of the track I often see one or more of the runners getting a massage lying on a blanket on the ground. There is a clear area in the centre of the park where groups of people can be seen practising bull fighting moves - one person may even be wearing a set of horns and charging as the person with the red or pink cape tries to divert the "bull"with passes of the cape and nifty footwork. There are occasionally people practising walking on very high stilts. There are various martial arts, large and small groups busy with formal and less formal strenuous and less strenuous calisthenics, and at the stretching stations, which seem to be a waist-high metal bar that I couldn't even consider getting my leg up on, many quite limber folk stretching after their run. There are many moves not shown in the 128 stretches poster I see at the gym, and most people seem to be stretching a lot faster than I would consider useful. I use a tree stump, a tree trunk or a bench for my less rigorous and vigorous but longer stretches during or after my walk. There are people doing yoga classes, bring your own mat. Occasionally I have seen them doing an exercise where they walk around amongst the trees surrounding the relatively open but contained area where there class is held with their eyes closed - which strikes me as remarkably trusting, there are trees and bushes to collide with.<br />
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Another sign at <i>Viveros </i>cautions against feeding the squirrels, which are weedy little things, especially the black ones, smaller than the many pigeons sharing their turf. Especially near the seedling nursery, the signs explain that they are growing trees for the streets and parks throughout the city and the squirrels damage the growing plants. Notwithstanding, everyone buys peanuts in the shell and feeds the squirrels, who are not remotely timid about taking them right from your extended hand. Accustomed as I am to our nocturnal possums, I quite enjoy the squirrels' daylight antics in North America, though I wouldn't feed them myself, being far too law-abiding. <br />
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At home in Melbourne, large parks may have an area with football fields or cricket pitches, but it seems that in Mexico City at least there are often also children's recreational areas where there are classrooms with organised art and craft activities, ceramics, dance classes, music lessons, and various other educational activities. Rodolfo, a sociologist colleague of Barry's who recently spent a bit of time in Canberra with his high-school-aged daughter Elena, had visited us in Melbourne and recently returned to Mexico. He lives in Cuernavaca and his daughter lives with her mother in a more tropical area, and before going home they met us in Coyoacan with a niece who is at university, and took us out to lunch at a restaurant in the Pena Pobre Park a bit further south, in a relatively small area given to the City by its former owners from a much larger estate, most of which was acquired by Carlos Slim, the richest Mexican and one of the richest men in the world, for development as a shopping, office and residential district. The park is considered very safe as there is only one way in and out, and is well patronised by the locals. There was a wedding on in a large part of the restaurant, so we had live music, maybe a little louder than was conducive to conversation. After our lunch we went to another little cafe right alongside which specialises in organic bread and cakes for dessert, then wandered though the park itself. I took a bit of video of a robot-controlled little set of toys built by some kids, and saw something I had never seen before: best explained by the videos shown here. The first shows Elena getting into a bubble, which is then inflated with air and pushed off into the middle of the pool the bubbles are floating on. The next one shows some of the fun Elena and her cousin had trying to control their bubbles. I took these with the iPhone, so the quality is not the best.<br />
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Elena and her cousin called them hamster balls, as you can theoretically run like a hamster on a wheel. From the girls' description, it was a lot of fun but very exhausting hard work. I think the cost was 50 pesos, or about $5 Australian, for 10 minutes. The girls were big enough that only one can go in each bubble - there were some father/child combinations and 2 smaller kids together in other bubbles. I had never seen anything like this before - have you?<br />
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I am very taken with the service offered at the markets here. At the many street or covered markets they will do whatever you like to the chicken, for example. If you want a base for soup or stock, they will sell you frames, (heads and feet optional: they remove the skin and cut the fat and fatty bits off for you). If you want breasts cut into schnitzels, they will take the skin off, slice from the breast and flatten it for you, or cut it into<i> fajitas</i> - strips such as we would use for a stir-fry - and they will give you the bones to add to your frames for your soup. Likewise when I wanted thigh pieces for a Thai-style curry I made the other day, they took the skins off, removed the bones and the large pieces of fat, and cut it into nice chunky pieces. I took some video of the chicken guy preparing the chook for me, using scissors and a knife. In this little clip he is removing the bones from the thigh and cutting off the fat - he had first deftly removed the skin using a piece of cloth. At the end he is asking how big I want the pieces and if he should butterfly them first.<br />
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I am also fascinated by how they cut calves liver: so thin (excellent knives they must have!) it seems like silk fabric. I am reminded of how my father described the meat they put in the sandwiches in the canteen at Plessey's, where he worked as a fitter and turner during WWII in England - "so thin it only had one side".<br />
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At many of the fruit and veg stands at the markets they have pre-packaged and/or large trays or bowls of pre-cut mixed vegetables, appropriate for various common soups or "chop suey", but not exactly the mix of veggies we might use at home. For example, the mix I use as a base for chicken soup has some carrots, leeks, a bit of celery, <i>chayote</i> (choko), zuchinni, green beans, often a few slices of mushrooms, slices of corn on the cob, maybe a bit of cabbage, and a few herbs. I add more carrots, celery and onions - and would like to add parsnip, but they don't seem to have it here in Mexico, though there are two words for it in my Spanish-English dictionary.<br />
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I have recently discovered that if you want anything else they will add it and peel/ cut it up for you. For the kind of stir-fry I would make at home, or for a curry, I have adapted other packages of veggies, adding some peppers, mushrooms, red onions, and maybe broccoli. There will be a few things I would never use at home, but it is really great that you can make a stir-fry without spending so long prepping the veggies. I am reminded of the conversation at a recent WW meeting. We were discussing snacks and having fruit and veg prepared and ready to eat when hunger strikes. As we went round the room, nearly everyone said they had their <i>muchacha</i> peel and prepare theirs for them so it was ready - I can't get used to the idea and reality that all middle class people here have servants, but I guess I could maybe get used to having others, whether at themarket or at home, to help out with the food prep!<br />
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If you choose a pineapple they are happy to peel it and cut it into slices or wedges - likewise a water melon - they will peel what they call <i>tuna</i>, the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, though these are really easy to peel at home, as they have already removed the spines. By contrast, in the supermarket they will cut you a smaller piece of watermelon or a piece of papaya if you ask - but first you have to find someone to ask, which is not easy. Then they go away and don't come back for an extended period. The quality is often comparable, and prices vary up and down, but the service is really a differentiator. Also the supermarket has more imported produce. In general my experience with buying stone fruit, apples and pears (which largely seem to be imported) is that you shouldn't bother. Whether it is the distance, the handling, the storage, or all of these, I have never eaten an excellent apple or nectarine in Mexico. I am salivating at the prospect of the stone fruit to come from the Berkeley Bowl, Monterrey Markets, the organic farmers market or even the supermarkets once we hit Berkeley next week .<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0XfH06_0cecqUJk5_AYNwMfB5XqwZBJSgQL62vDTfN0XC0LqKAowTzQTKogvQxp911Nit1vW1J4QLjYsrIgqtUGAm5V0RjOa3xfkjJAgjjKB7hPPlxEityPXvK5JYcjrbzhOkHHEnLB2/s1600/IMG_0264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0XfH06_0cecqUJk5_AYNwMfB5XqwZBJSgQL62vDTfN0XC0LqKAowTzQTKogvQxp911Nit1vW1J4QLjYsrIgqtUGAm5V0RjOa3xfkjJAgjjKB7hPPlxEityPXvK5JYcjrbzhOkHHEnLB2/s320/IMG_0264.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chile en nogada at Dona Maclovia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>At this season of the year, they sell pomegranates whole, in sections, or just the ruby seeds in a container, ready to be used in whatever dish you would like, notably <i>chile en nogada</i>, the national dish which is red, white and green. I have probably mentioned this in earlier Mexican blog entries: a chile is stuffed with a mix of minced meat, fruit and nuts, baked (or sometimes fried in egg batter) and served with a sauce made from cream and walnuts. I wondered how the sauce was so white, as ground walnuts such as I sometimes use in baking at home seem brownish - and saw a guy at the Coyoacan market the other day hand-peeling the walnut kernels, leaving them pristine creamy white. They crack the nuts with a special implement, like a small hammer with a spike on it, not a nutcracker, so they don't injure the kernels. They are pretty expensive: this obviously is very labour intensive. Walnuts in Mexico are called <i>nuez de castilla</i>, literally nuts from Spain, whereas the far more common pecans are just called <i>nuez</i>. My <i>chile en nogada </i>lunch today, pictured, had an extra Mexican touch: the pinkish sprinkles on the middle section are Mexican pine nuts, which are pink rather than cream in colour, and maybe a bit smaller than the pine nuts we see in Melbourne or California. The orange thing on the edge of the plate is a tinned peach - not your conventional garnish. They claim the recipe is from<i> la abuelita</i>, literally, Grandma's recipe - but I did wonder about the tinned peach. I must note that it was absolutely delicious - the chiles they stuff are just a little <i>picante</i>, more in some parts than others - Herzonia thinks it depends on how well they remove the veins and seeds. I had been determined to eat one and damn the consequences at my next Weight Watchers weigh in, as they are so special.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-82182878541078446542010-08-08T21:07:00.000-07:002010-08-08T21:07:38.910-07:00An unconventional day at Xochimilco<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPGQqqjpLfi4mkwXLegaFJr-8U1nnbglV4dkH2OcTrs2r4ycAPeuqMCceojsou8aAJxKWZ7oj5UizXNH75edTG9irOKTtTJ2CCxfBEKY50wLe1PNJqRraqKxLRyVOoTRHMPi95FaDX_VIi/s1600/IMG_4168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPGQqqjpLfi4mkwXLegaFJr-8U1nnbglV4dkH2OcTrs2r4ycAPeuqMCceojsou8aAJxKWZ7oj5UizXNH75edTG9irOKTtTJ2CCxfBEKY50wLe1PNJqRraqKxLRyVOoTRHMPi95FaDX_VIi/s320/IMG_4168.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Papel picado</i> on display at factory</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Herzonia (Left) and Eire</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Back in 2007, I blogged about a trip to Xochimilco with Bev and Judy, where we boarded a <i>trajinera </i>(a boat, Xochimilco's equivalent to a gondola) and floated up and down canals, were serenaded by musicians on other boats, bought lunch from hawkers on different boats, bought some earrings from the itinerant <i>artesania</i> salespeople, and generally did what people do at Xochimilco on weekends. You can check this out if you look at the entries from October 2007.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ek756npUoecnp8HcFdt0CWQoPsoXt5OesgBKW9liEc6SoMM2Wcq7XBuKLDz5P5NXSElRQd3EA4EAnuiKKrZsA7QJnG9V7r31Ini6WsDbjRvcsFL9SflnpbvVZll6wfC5Eto_eSqI4Hjr/s1600/IMG_4126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ek756npUoecnp8HcFdt0CWQoPsoXt5OesgBKW9liEc6SoMM2Wcq7XBuKLDz5P5NXSElRQd3EA4EAnuiKKrZsA7QJnG9V7r31Ini6WsDbjRvcsFL9SflnpbvVZll6wfC5Eto_eSqI4Hjr/s320/IMG_4126.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Quite a menagerie here</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Herzonia's niece Eire is getting married to Enrique in September, and wanted to choose decorations for the wedding. Herzonia had bought specially designed <i>papel picado</i> <i> </i>(literally, cut paper - the fluttery little paper banners they use in Mexico for festive occasions, a sample pictured at the top of this post) for her 50th birthday party at a "factory" near Xochimilco, and had promised to take her there, and invited me to come along. <br />
Eire and Enrique were talking to people about the venue and other wedding-related activities in one section of Xochimilco, as the ceremony will take place on a<i> trajinera</i> surrounded by about a dozen others transporting the guests, and the entire wedding will take place within the ecological park section of Xochimilco. So Herzonia and I wandered around one of the nursery sections till Eire was done and ready to join us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaaDCWCstBPhZ9EmKQOuXdCzld4ZcQrd5Rw5Huvx0a-4Y6E1xkmTf-VRGb4IgYWh6Xtj7tt2l1hLRWkJBGxSBnv0hSEcEfSKJRME6ip7M2vA9rTmIdNbBbDAWR8UvrBIKfEoALzvcmjiUz/s1600/IMG_4110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaaDCWCstBPhZ9EmKQOuXdCzld4ZcQrd5Rw5Huvx0a-4Y6E1xkmTf-VRGb4IgYWh6Xtj7tt2l1hLRWkJBGxSBnv0hSEcEfSKJRME6ip7M2vA9rTmIdNbBbDAWR8UvrBIKfEoALzvcmjiUz/s320/IMG_4110.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I do like colour and movement</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>As my close friends know only too well, I am not a gardener's bootlace. I am not really interested in plants and gardens, though landscapes entrance me, and I tune out when my garden-loving friends discuss plants, garden design, compost, whatever. Yet in Mexico, as in Australia and Berkeley, I am surrounded by people who love this stuff, and the sheer exoticism of going to a nursery in Mexico made me think it might be blog-worthy. You will see from my selection of photos that I like bright colours (whether in plants or pots), am intrigued by topiary, enjoy landscape-like displays, and feel as it is Mexico I'd better include some cactuses (or perhaps cacti) and a few chillies. Also I find some of the kitsch elements irresistible, and I like tortoises.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8n2nbPULYveXIf9unHg_TnAgCaGiP0Sfprbi8NcyXuzSIfMHFTMYSaicKvRYJbAo0zbDcTImwUmJZfPmDoB9fuUEYNrr9QqixxXCweYzgXUgyiDGK00Ah31L41CbXSwt4yyo7se38o5vx/s1600/IMG_4131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8n2nbPULYveXIf9unHg_TnAgCaGiP0Sfprbi8NcyXuzSIfMHFTMYSaicKvRYJbAo0zbDcTImwUmJZfPmDoB9fuUEYNrr9QqixxXCweYzgXUgyiDGK00Ah31L41CbXSwt4yyo7se38o5vx/s320/IMG_4131.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lana: for prosperity</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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One little cultural oddity I couldn't resist was this jade plant with coins stuck on some of its leaves, in a sheep planter. Sheep have wool, <i>lana</i> in Spanish, and <i>lana</i> also means money in Mexican slang. The jade plant stands for prosperity, adding the sheep means more <i>lana</i>, and the coins speak for themselves! Several years ago as part of a Xmas gift from Maguie we got a very cute little sheep, so I already knew what <i>lana</i> stood for, but this little object took it to a whole new level.<br />
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Another plant that caught my eye is this striking one, with red and white flowers against its green foliage. I immediately thought of the Mexican national colours, which like Mexico's flag are red, white and green - and Herzonia informs me that this plant is called <i>bandera </i>- Spanish for flag.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUsnDqsjwYw7y4gbx_N41_9tCh46a-PM4T7tF4FlBPHZsQUOVwr60BQJnCi698RiTErng6zPPddHg1_22hDMMUMKbNZ8dVcQOI4K4cElyoNtrhI8z1MyULneEyZTervdr7xNbrQGavnKL/s1600/IMG_4176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUsnDqsjwYw7y4gbx_N41_9tCh46a-PM4T7tF4FlBPHZsQUOVwr60BQJnCi698RiTErng6zPPddHg1_22hDMMUMKbNZ8dVcQOI4K4cElyoNtrhI8z1MyULneEyZTervdr7xNbrQGavnKL/s320/IMG_4176.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red, white and green</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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You have no idea how many hours I put in trying to get my photos and a video up on Flickr. Last year I got my Lake Tahoe pictures up easily, as I recall, but this time I had many attempts which ended up in duplicate copies on my hard disk and none on Flickr, hence had to spend a lot of time deleting spurious copies, and on a fourth attempt, after downloading a new copy of the software, I got some photos over - but there are multiple copies of several. And before I completed the upload, I went through deleting all the duplicates, I thought - and also deleted two photos I found from Ben and Lissy's wedding in January 2009 which had somehow inserted themselves amidst these from Xochimilco. (maybe if you stay in Mexico long enough, Magic Realism starts happening in your life and photostream?) <br />
Here is the link, I hope:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29461072@N07/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/29461072@N07/</a><br />
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or else you might need to go to flickr and look up bjoymarsh's photostream and the set called Xochimilco: Nursery and <i>papel picado</i>. The set also includes the video I took at the <i>papel picado</i> factory, which I am also trying to post right here. <br />
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It shows the people punching out the patterns from a stack of paper resting on a heavy lead plate, using a template, employing an assortment of different-shaped chisel-like tools. I am sure if they did something like this in China they'd be using a laser cutter of some kind! I wonder if they will all end up with arthritis in their hands from the repetitive shock absorption, and lead poisoning (apparently they recast the lead bases as infrequently as they can get away with - the ones we could see certainly looked very bashed about, but at some point they must need to melt them down and recast them as flat base plates again. This process is pretty toxic, and I am pretty sure bashing holes into lead isn't great for your health at any time either.) <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz1aIXgCDFExCPWadOKF8pAamZjx8AbdfvVEi2uzYuuqBFOUg1He5HaqtHk3c8IaVvndq9IUW1sevDekgjyRg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cardboard Day of the Dead figures&papier mache skull</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The factory was quite fascinating, operating on two levels. It is a fairly dilapidated building and the top level, where the video was shot, is reached by a mostly outdoor iron fire-escape type staircase with some concrete steps with no handrail. Going up was less scary than coming down. The floor upstairs is covered in the brightly-coloured offcuts from the <i>papel picado</i>, in effect very odd-sized and -shaped confetti . On our way out we saw trays of empty eggshells (from real hen's eggs, none of your plastic rubbish!), which they fill with this confetti and sell. Waste not, want not!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Papier Mache Bull</td></tr>
</tbody></table>A rather decrepit long-haired and white-bearded old man came in while we were perusing the designs and selecting Eire's choice, a composite of several, to use for the wedding decorations. The woman in charge introduced the man as her father and founder of the business - nice to see it still in the family. As well as the <i>papel picado</i>, they hand make all kinds of things out of paper, cardboard and papier mache. Money boxes in the shape of hares (looking like figures from the pre-Columbian codices), paper flowers, day of the dead skeletons, skulls (<i>calaveras</i>), brightly coloured and variously shaped and sized paper lanterns, crepe paper hot air balloons, and I even saw a large papier mache bull under construction (I am going to take a photo of the bull in this apartment that is clearly a close relative, though smaller).<br />
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And I will close with a photo of a bush with black chillies, you might need to double click on this to expand on it as they are tiny and get a bit lost in the foliage.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQh-G4maPZgvL9xo1moAO-Gi4-bNPCUJmDbaq0bb7RG2UoYdHQsSpi581OQhhtNIgmqLurZal7PyczEs_2Hzi9Qob3lC9cwl-hSJYTWWHvB_5dVsn6sUDA_ri4xsdl_yaFYCdmX-iRKxTv/s1600/IMG_4182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQh-G4maPZgvL9xo1moAO-Gi4-bNPCUJmDbaq0bb7RG2UoYdHQsSpi581OQhhtNIgmqLurZal7PyczEs_2Hzi9Qob3lC9cwl-hSJYTWWHvB_5dVsn6sUDA_ri4xsdl_yaFYCdmX-iRKxTv/s320/IMG_4182.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See the tiny black chillies on the largest plant</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-21960965758803264882010-08-03T19:47:00.000-07:002011-03-19T18:46:09.189-07:00Movies and the Mexican revolution; Trip to Cuernavaca; Dolores Olmedo Museum; Rivera Mural Reproductions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNRbOE68Z1K7JZ7A7l1wWFLAn4ssCSI9_KYmPuPDWKVVtGbRrD3M8X7Tqg3cBA3Ns7SjjsFkMq1TYKFkop8Z7ALaNXJfNcSWy4cNU1xx4VXNjvjjBWh-1ymv03SsoG47vaQu2cxI8AtkgI/s1600/IMG_4097.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNRbOE68Z1K7JZ7A7l1wWFLAn4ssCSI9_KYmPuPDWKVVtGbRrD3M8X7Tqg3cBA3Ns7SjjsFkMq1TYKFkop8Z7ALaNXJfNcSWy4cNU1xx4VXNjvjjBWh-1ymv03SsoG47vaQu2cxI8AtkgI/s320/IMG_4097.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Set of posters for early movies about Revolutionary Hero, Pancho Villa</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Barry planned this trip to Mexico so we'd be here during the Bicentenary of Mexican Independence and the Centenary of the Mexican Revolution. Of course there are many exhibitions and special events commemorating these anniversaries at the multitude of museums in and around the city, but because he is also spending most of the working week in various archives pursuing his current research interests, we haven't been going to museums most weekdays. (I have done a bit on my own in between walking and cooking and seeing friends - and will do more in the next two weeks before we head off to Berkeley.)<br />
Last Sunday we managed to catch the last day of an exhibition highlighting the role of film in the myth-making of the Mexican Revolution. It was very helpful to have Barry around to identify who the various be-suited and be-hatted and moustachioed men were in the documentary footage, stills and movies we saw bits of.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufYTvxwz7Vco3KhtzCykDh6u0g6viHO31x-cRW3hFmpD6c6hpVcLr-ELuGAuawwDbXrd2e80WXkCqo6re0Fhq-1B54yjwpiMXBQ-EuO2B3GyGEvuqGcx-uOHVK5zgJNszQ4Em2ZiGttRv/s1600/IMG_4090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufYTvxwz7Vco3KhtzCykDh6u0g6viHO31x-cRW3hFmpD6c6hpVcLr-ELuGAuawwDbXrd2e80WXkCqo6re0Fhq-1B54yjwpiMXBQ-EuO2B3GyGEvuqGcx-uOHVK5zgJNszQ4Em2ZiGttRv/s320/IMG_4090.JPG" /></a></div>A highlight for me was seeing a young and handsome Marlon Brando as Emiliano Zapata in the Hollywood movie <b>Viva Zapata</b>. An informational placard in the exhibition stated that Zapata was portrayed in the movies as someone with deeper and firmer revolutionary beliefs than Pancho Villa, who was more prone to frivolous escapades. Having seen the teasers, now I want to get hold of some of these old movies - maybe Netflix will have them when we rejoin in Berkeley? <br />
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On Saturday we drove down to Cuernavaca with Herzonia, to visit friends of hers and of ours. Her friends, Manuel and Beatrice Bennett, have recently celebrated their 60th year in Mexico. From New York, they came to Mexico with their 2 year-old son. Manny had returned from WWII, and under the GI Bill he could go to school just about anywhere, and he opted to attend La Esmeralda, a renowned art school in Mexico City. He had studied art and graphic design before the war, and working with mapping and surveillance during the war had learned a lot more about printing, reproduction, colour separation, architecture and design, so got deeply involved in this newly emerging industry in Mexico. Obviously quite an entrepreneur as well as an artist, designer and engineer in these fields , he built a career he didn't really want running a 24*7 factory and consulting to very major clients on their printing needs. He withdrew from this time-consuming activity, which was not giving him the life they had come to Mexico for, and became a consultant to many of his former and new clients. Meanwhile his wife also finished college and became a teacher at The American School, initially so they could get their son into the kindergarten there (which is where Herzonia and her family first met them) . Subsequently she ran her own school for many years. They loved Mexico from the start, made many friends, and found the opportunities and life choices offered them were far broader and more interesting than what was on offer to their friends and family in the USA at the time.<br />
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We were so busy nattering that I didn't take any photos, but here is a link to Manny's web site, where you can see some of his beautiful sculptures, books and art. Well worth looking at!<br />
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<a href="http://members.dslextreme.com/users/vbennett/index.html">http://members.dslextreme.com/users/vbennett/index.html</a><br />
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They moved full-time to Cuernavaca after retiring (and had spent weekends there for years before) and have been there over 15 years in a wonderful house, which he designed and supervised himself, utilising his experience in extending and constructing factories. They're very delighted that none of the structures he built, in Cuernavaca or in Mxico City, has ever been damaged by earthquakes, even the massive 1985 quake and its aftershocks. The house is like a museum, full of Manny's sculptures and art works. We also got to see some of the many books he has written and/or illustrated, including some of his children's books , covering subjects from Olympic sport to Judaica, including an illustrated book of a translation from the original Yiddish stories of Sholem Aleichem, which were the basis of Fiddler on the Roof. He also has designed several cards for UNICEF whose sales have raised more than US$1M for the charity, and he is still working collaboratively with all kinds of artists and film-makers.<br />
Beattie considers Herzonia her honorary niece - they go back a long way indeed and some of the artworks around the house populated Herzonia's childhood. What a rich relationship indeed.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo below from January,2010: Hilda Melgar with Barry and me in Melgar living room in Cuernavaca </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0es-nccyzGTUovubuucGBaR2gcXZkK0I74Isu8UM5PjCF8WA0Q53gTyIXpyWsFHGxa0VB3KCd5jyQJoa4SgDAWJjzrNqRPpEFlfeE7iNpYnHQ3LdjIRy6wJT3BHOxKlHeP6W3hH7oOyr0/s1600/IMG_3953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0es-nccyzGTUovubuucGBaR2gcXZkK0I74Isu8UM5PjCF8WA0Q53gTyIXpyWsFHGxa0VB3KCd5jyQJoa4SgDAWJjzrNqRPpEFlfeE7iNpYnHQ3LdjIRy6wJT3BHOxKlHeP6W3hH7oOyr0/s320/IMG_3953.JPG" /></a> Barry and I left Herzonia there with some other guests and went on to have lunch with the Melgars. Ricardo, Hilda and Dahil were there - not sure if I have mentioned them before but we often see them. Ricardo is a colleague and occasional collaborator of Barry's. He and Hilda are originally from Peru, which may account for why I find it so difficult to follow Hilda's Spanish in particular. Before she started Uni here, Dahil studied English in Sydney for a short while, and when she visited Melbourne, we spirited her away from the Backpackers' place she was in and took her home with us, so we have an independent relationship with her. She has since graduated from Uni and is working as a Research Assistant for a couple of different academics, at least one of whom seems to treat research assistants as cheaper secretarial staff, so it isn't as much of a learning experience as it should be for her.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">In photo below, Ricardo Melgar on the right in the Garden at home in Cuernavaca, taken January 2010 </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbPPTTK-tHXbQ3kLyoGKWzjEHNajIznKy2TByhhw6THk_DUdYyu_fWiTXBvCjiZJupvqHTvUCQAt1g-IzVDl6WlK0Qo3fjUsJ76_74q5iKWQVK3Jk9sWipDaeF-Hnu1Ke_fJ56FZl-EQ-/s1600/IMG_3954.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbPPTTK-tHXbQ3kLyoGKWzjEHNajIznKy2TByhhw6THk_DUdYyu_fWiTXBvCjiZJupvqHTvUCQAt1g-IzVDl6WlK0Qo3fjUsJ76_74q5iKWQVK3Jk9sWipDaeF-Hnu1Ke_fJ56FZl-EQ-/s320/IMG_3954.JPG" /></a></div>For lunch, Hilda as usual produced a Peruvian speciality, this time a dish with a base of potatoes topped with chicken which may have been processed to its very fine texture in a blender or food processor - no idea what was mixed with it - it was delicious but I worry about how many Weight Watcher's points I actually consumed (I was pretty good not to eat any cheese at all from the starters, just a few olives and some baby corn, and there were heaps of veggies, but I also faltered and tried the lemon tart and dulce de leche ice cream, if only little bits. Stuck to one glass of wine, however, but did drink the agua de jamaica, a drink made from a type of hibiscus flowers, which I usually avoid as it has sugar. Theirs was a lot less sweet than many, though I prefer to avoid all added sugar if I can , but it can be very hard in Mexico. Incidentally, for those of you who know about Caroline and Joy's Tamarind restaurant and cooking school in Luang Prabang, Laos, Caroline makes something similar there from the same stuff which they call rosella).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1YovGDKtZXBrGwXsMEMIx_VpJFRtOeojlom0Zj2GURMCO_lp4nhPWAJXULm4Qat0zCKV_MH2lilITzkknfUdrIfirTg7KJujlxEqGzcNesSIu2t-cGwmKomIGngAa4rgHOjn6zDS2xu5/s1600/from+iphone+172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1YovGDKtZXBrGwXsMEMIx_VpJFRtOeojlom0Zj2GURMCO_lp4nhPWAJXULm4Qat0zCKV_MH2lilITzkknfUdrIfirTg7KJujlxEqGzcNesSIu2t-cGwmKomIGngAa4rgHOjn6zDS2xu5/s320/from+iphone+172.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous riot of colour and plants</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi636E0DZyGz-VP0-wFctrj2d_nch0lw_1m70yWYuB9B_UDuoMPV7jEQQh446BD2b3aaMw-3g4t98mkVEyujaBz37PKAiAUYKlTKCekAhLJAVs-vOckz-YKNge1af3_bNdjbcSO9NFFWY8D/s1600/from+iphone+173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi636E0DZyGz-VP0-wFctrj2d_nch0lw_1m70yWYuB9B_UDuoMPV7jEQQh446BD2b3aaMw-3g4t98mkVEyujaBz37PKAiAUYKlTKCekAhLJAVs-vOckz-YKNge1af3_bNdjbcSO9NFFWY8D/s320/from+iphone+173.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huge variety of pots on sale.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLAie1npjcgOeXXnEqrG0_MLvWinRGgcFfKA8sX-G-hrjZ4-3RsK-EMvOuT6vdRc_EeZ5hLAUtqG0xK99D99CCiXSOiit-ohc9tOpRYqjXtH3ezCXv9UzRCky5KDAYvT7u_CtEwUfftgL/s1600/from+iphone+177.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLAie1npjcgOeXXnEqrG0_MLvWinRGgcFfKA8sX-G-hrjZ4-3RsK-EMvOuT6vdRc_EeZ5hLAUtqG0xK99D99CCiXSOiit-ohc9tOpRYqjXtH3ezCXv9UzRCky5KDAYvT7u_CtEwUfftgL/s320/from+iphone+177.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the vendors whose display I liked</td></tr>
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On Sunday I went to my Weight Watchers meeting, which is always a challenge for my Spanish but worth the effort, especially as I lost 300 gm this week. It is across the road from Viveros, where I walk most days with Herzonia, other friends or alone. It is a morning meeting, so I only have a cuppa and a yoghurt before walking the 20 minutes there. It feels like I am cheating a bit, but once I started doing this, I worry that if I had a full breakfast before weigh-in, I would show up as gaining weight that week. At home, where my meeting was just before dinner in the evening, the same thinking applied, and I was careful not to have an afternoon snack before my weigh-in.<br />
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I am taking the opportunity to post a few photos I took last week in the Viveros - we usually walk through the treed area and the areas where they grow the saplings for the city's parks and gardens, but this day we were in the commercial plant nursery, where the colours really caught my eye - of the pots on sale, as well as the plants. I took a few shots in the cactus area too but as it was a dull day and I was using the iPhone rather than my camera, they look rather dreary. Their annual dahlia exhibition starts this week, and Herzonia thinks it is worth another visit to the nursery to catch it.<br />
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After WW, I walked back home for brunch and headed off with Barry to the Dolores Olmedo museum, in a wonderful old Colonial building called La Noria, which Olmedo extended and used as her home as well as a gallery for her extensive collection of Frida Kahlo (this collection is on tour in Europe, Germany I think, as it has been touring each time I have intended to to go to see it), Diego Rivera, and Angelina Beloff.<br />
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Dolores Olmedo (from a postcard of one of Rivera's portraits of her) was made the custodian of Rivera's works and had the largest Kahlo collection anywhere. Since her death, her private quarters and personal collections have been opened to the public - lots of pre-Columbian figures, jewellery and artefacts, and such things as lot of Emperor Maximilian's silverware, displayed in a wonderful tiled former kitchen. Photography is banned, unfortunately, and even when I took out my iPhone just to take some notes on a particular painting I wanted to look up later, a guard insisted I put it away. You can check out the museum at the website:<br />
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<a href="http://www.museodoloresolmedo.org.mx/english/museo.html">http://www.museodoloresolmedo.org.mx/english/museo.html</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBwxxWj3JUWYspUHwR1hZpy_D1AEkfi-cH0Cp6YFmzlTv6KcS439p2ROmzUCYvNqslFjaV3jdbriwjYLN6mCW7fwN8zAD1f2I9JUmSBO5gdYcrODDfjNnPg4vaQfhRqO-dAGQd9Vqb8nv/s1600/IMG_4108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBwxxWj3JUWYspUHwR1hZpy_D1AEkfi-cH0Cp6YFmzlTv6KcS439p2ROmzUCYvNqslFjaV3jdbriwjYLN6mCW7fwN8zAD1f2I9JUmSBO5gdYcrODDfjNnPg4vaQfhRqO-dAGQd9Vqb8nv/s320/IMG_4108.JPG" /></a></div>The grounds are lovely, and there are peacocks (and at least one peahen with 2 small chicks which were so cute all the visitors were taking forbidden photos in the gardens) and other birds, as well as a healthy looking pack of native bald dogs, <i>escuintles</i>, in various visible but fenced off sections. These were about all I managed to photograph. My compromise here is to post photographs of two of the postcards Barry bought, one of the museum and one of a Rivera portrait of Dolores Olmedo, with apologies for the resulting lack of quality.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pea hen and chicks (one hidden)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxkvVR8bdAda7CCZyO6ccX5_i64fdrQWQijcwVlKzIkCXhD2vcYOeLirglBFAZgQ6ielxwlMpw7lAWaOPcL94IEw7Q2PTFRqaE1JK48QYyoW9L3pTF95WkO__psB6X3u5aT_otTe43e9Qr/s1600/IMG_0240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxkvVR8bdAda7CCZyO6ccX5_i64fdrQWQijcwVlKzIkCXhD2vcYOeLirglBFAZgQ6ielxwlMpw7lAWaOPcL94IEw7Q2PTFRqaE1JK48QYyoW9L3pTF95WkO__psB6X3u5aT_otTe43e9Qr/s320/IMG_0240.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the Rivera reproductions in the Jardin Hidalgo.</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>I am a big fan of Rivera's paintings, and it was interesting to see such a large collection n the museum, from his early landscapes and cubist works painted in the 20's in Europe, and later in the Soviet Union. Displayed as they are, juxtaposed with the pre-columbian figures he collected , I could see the continuity and evolution into the style he used in his most famous murals, portraying the sweep of Mexican history and representing the Indigenous peoples, the Conquistadors, and the archetypes of the military, the priest, the capitalist, the worker. The ban on photography was really irksome! In older posts, maybe 2007, I am sure I have shown some of Rivera's wonderful murals, but right now there are life-sized reproductions of some of his Ministry of Education murals on display in the rotunda of the Jardin Hidalgo, the plaza here in Coyoacan, which I photographed today with my phone. I took a photo of each of them: I see they are a bit over exposed, but they do give an idea. Remember, if you click on an image you can enlarge it and see more detail. I have stuck them all on Picasa so you can see the lot: As the Rotunda is in the open air, the light conditions as I went around varied a lot (and I didn't take them in order as there were people in the way). Some of them are displayed on a walkway and I took a few close-ups of details here: to get far enough away to capture the whole panels I couldn't avoid the tape (apparently property of the Senate?) you can see in these on Picasa.<br />
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<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/2010_08_02DiegoRiveraMuralReproductions#">http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/2010_08_02DiegoRiveraMuralReproductions#</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-62173166825988881142010-07-26T21:13:00.000-07:002010-07-26T21:13:42.282-07:00Museum of Popular Culture, Coyoacán<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBmLGogKZBkZbwH26y5d5PgY_LrspvpXOpnOc3i-CTgW6MbGu662sQi98FeKGykJhyphenhyphenAGCaFU6P8TdHzWU8KAHjmwzm0klIIHq0G80G9EFhf9c5LAKSfWYfFvn9e8-jffNMMXsjvWJOkLnJ/s1600/IMG_4065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBmLGogKZBkZbwH26y5d5PgY_LrspvpXOpnOc3i-CTgW6MbGu662sQi98FeKGykJhyphenhyphenAGCaFU6P8TdHzWU8KAHjmwzm0klIIHq0G80G9EFhf9c5LAKSfWYfFvn9e8-jffNMMXsjvWJOkLnJ/s320/IMG_4065.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Schematic map of Mexico showing the typical regional styles of dress, from early-mid Twentieth Century.</span></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Boy, did I get my packing wrong for this trip. I thought it would be hot, with a couple of hours' rain most afternoons. Apparently this is how the weather used to be, but climate change is here and we have had quite a bit of drizzle most days, occasional thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon and evening, and today we have had at least 5 hours of continuous quite heavy rain. It isn't exactly cold - but certainly not T-shirt and short skirt weather either. For my various outings today, I wore the only long pants I brought, which are the ones I would normally wear with a smart top to go out in the evening - but I have no smart tops with me, and in fact packed only one long-sleeved top for the Mexico stay. So I called that into service and put my shower-proof jacket, which I fortunately dug out of retirement and threw in the suitcase as a last minute afterthought, on top. Later on I bought a scarf at the<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Coyoacan Artesanias market to keep my neck warm! </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">I decided to head to the Museum of Popular Cultures close to home, in the centre of Coyoacan, late this morning, as Herzonia was not available for a walk and Barry was not up for a major outing. It has been renovated since we were here last and in its newly opened spaces had a special exhibition of images and symbols relating to Mexican identity, in the context of the bicentenary of Mexican Independence and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution, both being celebrated this year. </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Creating a nation from all the different regions shown in the map above, with their different Indigenous populations, religions and traditions, required quite a bit of national myth-making. The exhibition looks at many different aspects of this process, from male and female stereotypes through food, music, costume, national heroes, etc. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">As well as the exhibition, there was </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">a series of events which seem to constitute a kind of folk fair, featuring handicrafts, food, lectures, traditional music, songs and dance called .</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><i>La Guelaguetza - Viva Oaxaca </i>(here is where I tell you that Oaxaca, the state with a very large indigenous population, many wonderful handicrafts and many different musical traditions, is pronounced "wa-ha-ka"</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">. Entry to the <i>guelaguetza </i> is free as opposed to the roughly $1 charge for entry to the museum proper.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> There is a new mural on the outside wall between the two exhibition halls</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">, evocative of Mexico's strong mural tradition but executed by some of today's Mexican graffiti artists. A film shows various stages in the preparation and construction of the mural, with people working with spray cans on large moveable scaffolds - a bit different to the scenes from the movie "Frida" showing Diego Rivera at work (do get this Salma Hayek movie out on DVD if you haven't already seen it - it's really good!). Oddly enough, given that this reference just popped into my mind, on Sunday we were at the Institute where those murals were painted and where Frida Kahlo met Diego. Barry mentioned this to me and I figured I'd better put in something about that. More of Sunday's exhibition probably on my next post (or at the end of this one) </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">If you go to the link below you'll see the photos I took at the exhibition, please ignore the first shot which I don't seem to be able to remove. Later in the day I returned to the Museum with Barry to see a concert of music and dance from Oaxaca as part of the <i>guelaguetza,</i> and this shot shows a local poet acknowledging the singer Diana Velasco, who was actually pretty good and sang between each of the dance sets. (as usual, if clicking doesn't work, copy the link and paste into the address line of your browser. Also note you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.)</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bjoymarsh/20100724NationalMuseumOfPopularCultures#"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bjoymarsh/20100724NationalMuseumOfPopularCultures#</span></span></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> I tried videoing a range of the items on display but quite apart from the fact that Picasa won't load them from my memory card, they are hopeless and not worth looking at in any case. Videoing an activity seems to work a lot better than trying to pan across a lot of still images, I have discovered. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">I found many of the images from the mid Twentieth Century were extremely evocative - and I only started developing a conscious interest in Mexico in the '70's after I met Barry, so they must have seeped into my consciousness long ago. There was a large section dedicated to the stereotypical masculine <i>charro</i> and ultra-feminine <i>china poblana</i>. Loosely translating from the information at the museum, the <i>china poblana</i> was a traditional</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> fokloric</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> feminine representation that gained prominence in the first decades of the 20th Century , immediately after the Mexican Revolution. Beautiful <i>mestizas</i>, coquettishly dressed in petticoats and embroidered regional outfits, with accentuated feminine traits, riding side-saddle, provided a counterbalance to the exaggerated masculinity of the virile <i>charros</i>. With the growing urbanisation of the Twentieth Century, these stereotypes remain as folkloric icons rather than any kind of reality. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The shot of the set of display photos of little kids dressed up in these styles also evokes what one sees a lot of on the streets around here - the little ones don't seem to mind getting dressed up even for an ordinary Sunday outing. These days one sees more kids dressed up in superhero or furry animal costumes than traditional folkloric garb, though there are still a few - apart from the children of some of the Indigenous vendors or beggars , who wear their style of dress totally un-self-consciously (and look comfortable and grubby and unkempt, with their hair uncombed, unlike the dressed-up little ones.)</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In this video I took of some of the dancing at the Oaxacan concert this afternoon here is one style of - there were many costume changes and many different dances to enjoy, but given my upload problems you'll have to live without them. </span>I need to do some research on compressing videos and finding a site to upload them to, as it takes an age to get them up on the blog directly, and my attempts often fail.<br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> If you are particularly keen to see some more, email me and I will send you the odd video directly.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">The stage and seating for the concert was mostly covered by a series of large canopies, extremely fortunate for performers and audience alike as it poured the whole afternoon.The booming rain on the canopies also has affected the sound track. At one stage when we may have all been feeling a bit chilly, one of the organisers appeared with a couple of bottles of Mezcal, which is produced by artesanal methods in Oaxaca, and poured tiny plastic cup tasters of it for whoever he noticed in the audience. It certainly is warming - a flavour like tequila but much more smoky. After one sip I passed mine on to Barry. The amount of clapping in rhythm and singing along increased noticeably!</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Needless to say, there is a bookshop at the Museum and Barry ended the day there, picking up two heavy bags of books. We thought about dinner then, so I left him in the queue to buy a rotisseried chook at a place a few doors away and </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">took one bag and one umbrella home with me and had prepared some veggies for a bit of balance by the time he got back.</span></span>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-60324108444042422372010-07-19T07:34:00.000-07:002010-07-19T07:34:50.865-07:00Back in Mexico - Central de Abastos, July 17, 2010<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgashuxJLrvoQJt-oot2Kz_tn6d2vQmsyQipPQCMs90d86INKmVJKDf_ag_xPLgp8nl0KZ6bejNJAwOYFdUqR2JHhLYqELo3QQ5MgZkkWCHNGSb6fFibESq31PnE-7Sl5bmEah0Rgg_dTIU/s1600/IMG_0130.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"> <i>A few of the bewilderingly many types of chilli on sale at the Central de Abastos </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>I don't know that my life in Melbourne is any more boring than my life on the road, but somehow when I am home I never get around to blogging about my adventures at Queen Victoria Market, lunches with good friends, new babies in the family and my circle of friends, the classes I take, the operas, concerts, plays or movies we see, or picnics down by the Yarra. However, once we arrive on the other side of the world I am immediately struck by its exoticism and a strong desire to share its difference from home with everyone I know, so here I go again, chronicling my adventures here in Mexico.<br />
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We chose to stop over in Berkeley after our Melbourne-San Francisco flight to get a better- priced non-stop connecting flight on to Mexico than any available on the day we arrived. It also enabled us to drop off two large suitcases at the house we will be renting from mid-August until Xmas to have less to schlep to Mexico, and to do some paperwork on campus, which will expedite the procedures when we arrive for our extended stay just before Barry's semester begins. Sonya and Philip had generously invited us to stay over at their lovely house in the Berkeley Hills, complete with a glorious view across the Bay to the Golden Gate bridge, clear on the afternoon we arrived but deeply shrouded in fog the next morning when we left for the airport again.<br />
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As soon as we arrived in Mexico on Thursday night we felt right at home in the apartment, which feels like our home in Mexico. We popped out to the local <i>Superama</i> (part of Walmart's Mexico chain) to get in a few breakfast things and grabbed a late dinner at VIPS, a Mexican family restaurant chain which also seems to be associated with Walmart and is often co-located. (Barry tells me that they used to send people around the tables asking if you needed anything from the supermarket while you were dining there, quite a good service especially for people who don't like to grocery shop!) They have introduced a "light" menu - they list calorie counts and grams of fat for these items, but not the saturated fat content that I need to compute points using the Australian Weight Watchers system (I went back to meetings and counting points as I had put on a few kilos and had climbed above my goal weight, so decided to stop the rot before it got worse. After a few weeks on the programme in Melbourne, I am just about back to goal weight but aim to get off at least another 3 kg, where I have mostly been for the past several years, to get really comfortable in my jeans.) Somewhat to my surprise, the dish I ordered, <i>fajitas</i>, was really nice, very un-oily, with the small sides also being low fat, so I estimate it was an acceptable amount to eat within my points allowance.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDTr5YQqbn5YJFLqASQHqHOfFpGhgS-TBYZ8KugpEGMLJzX9JjyYMV44-ayEIfKJj6i-S8Dot2UsQBSsXYruTq4yiJq_H41XMqqFBMgNo5l1m3p1Y81QcowubxBp5yy6PMFKf94YWrc7-/s1600/IMG_0154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDTr5YQqbn5YJFLqASQHqHOfFpGhgS-TBYZ8KugpEGMLJzX9JjyYMV44-ayEIfKJj6i-S8Dot2UsQBSsXYruTq4yiJq_H41XMqqFBMgNo5l1m3p1Y81QcowubxBp5yy6PMFKf94YWrc7-/s320/IMG_0154.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Bulk lollies on sale at the Central de Abastos: fortunately coloured sugar is not a serious temptation for</i></span><i> me</i></div><br />
On Friday we had breakfast with a US colleague of Barry's at a café overlooking the Plaza Centenario in Coyoacan, and later Barry bought some new shoes as the one pair he is travelling with need new soles. Buying shoes here is quite hard as the sizing doesn't cater well for wide feet (nor for large sizes for women: many styles I have looked for over the years stop about 2 sizes smaller than my feet). As Herzonia pointed out, looking at Diego Rivera murals you can see that many indigenous people have feet like <i>tamales</i>, short and fat, so it seems odd that they only make shoes for narrow feet. But it is nice that we saw many shoes made in Mexico, including this purchase - when did anyone last see a pair of shoes actually made in Australia?<br />
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Then Herzonia took me to the Mega Supermarket (a Mexican-owned chain) in the car to do a major grocery and fresh food shop, and also helped me get local phone chips to use while we're here - the prepaid deal supposedly available for my iPhone is not good value for only one month, so I am using it on WiFi only and am again carrying my old phone with the Mexican chip. I hope to get a better deal in the US so I can revert to having just one device to carry with me.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i> One of hundreds of stalls selling fish and seafood at the Central de Abastos</i></div><br />
Today is Saturday and in the early afternoon Herzonia and her cousin Vicky had planned a trip to the <i>Central de Abastos</i>, the big Wholesale and Retail Market, so I was able to join them. We covered only the fish market and the section dealing with things like nuts, seeds, spices and lollies. I used the iPhone to take lots of photos and videos , I think they're of lesser quality than my camera delivers, but the main problem is I have no idea how to shoot a coherent video! But the ones I am posting do give a great sense of the colour and movement. I bought some fillets of <i>huachinango</i> (red snapper) and will report next time on how they taste - but the prices are less than half typical supermarket prices and there's no doubting the freshness.<br />
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I seem to have posted the wrong video below, but it took so long that I am loath to delete it! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw28cU1eO-2x9btEqXLEWe8F7kwjnhCJT8iPHXjFwbRnrPyowc3tqaX_XpDXz7XTkcU2TfznSVlNMe0eJQ3wQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>First impressions of the fish market : sorry about the poor quality and bad technique!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Vicky bought some mojarra - the guy scaled them before I thought to video him, but I caught the rest of the fish preparation and some of the banter that goes on in markets everywhere: let's hope this is the right video!<br />
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I seem to have got a bit confused between Picasa and Windows Live Photo Gallery and where I actually loaded the iPhone images and videos and whether I have uploaded them to the web, but I am excited about this post so am going to publish without a link to the very questionable quality videos, wherever I may have posted them. I promise to try and get myself better organised by the next post!Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-29057937130466220902010-07-18T13:41:00.000-07:002010-08-16T21:30:29.103-07:00Local Colour in Coyoacán, July 2010<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLPwwzLdIUOOvM_MgLEG06YCm5URk0_R93IKXQI_VEAqeCoD2RA825vo_uz1gMvpKtOG0fPC6y37Oj2tx1ZgO88RZfSYngdjjMOX3zVk8Wecr4-PiQr_Jn8XrJXw1axvP09OsWnMAi-Jtb/s1600/IMG_0158.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495428665074587746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLPwwzLdIUOOvM_MgLEG06YCm5URk0_R93IKXQI_VEAqeCoD2RA825vo_uz1gMvpKtOG0fPC6y37Oj2tx1ZgO88RZfSYngdjjMOX3zVk8Wecr4-PiQr_Jn8XrJXw1axvP09OsWnMAi-Jtb/s320/IMG_0158.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px;" /></a><br />
This morning, Sunday, I walked to the local meeting of Weight Watchers, where I was delighted to find I could follow everything the leader said and most of what the members shared. There were a couple of people who spoke too indistinctly for me to follow, but overall it was really a good meeting, though as the systems used here and in Australia differ quite a bit, I can't get much guidance on computing Aussie Points from Mexican food labels. Never mind, my estimation is OK for the most part.<br />
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As I exited the meeting, I saw the woman with her hammock cart which resembles a fully rigged sailing ship - I saw it from the car yesterday so was delighted to find it on the street where I could catch a couple of photos. The meeting place is right across the road from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Viveros </span>(the nursery which grows all the trees for the public parks in the City). So after the meeting I walked a couple of times around - it boasts a 2 km tan track, very busy on Sundays, with families, joggers, walkers and watchers. In the open areas groups of people of all ages were practising various martial arts and bullfighting.<br />
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I walked home via <span style="font-style: italic;">El Jarocho</span>, my favourite coffee place here, where a skinny cappuccino costs about $1US. I took the rest of the photos I am linking you to within 2 blocks of the coffee shop - the food stands demonstrate why Weight Watchers is so needed, as do the many shots taken in the local <span style="font-style: italic;">panadería</span> , and the <span style="font-style: italic;">artesanías </span>on the street, while perhaps not as high quality as those in some of the better markets and shops, are really tempting. All this is within a few blocks of where we are living, the same apartment we have rented several times in the past for up to 6 months at a time. Now I see them on the web, I realise the iPhone photo quality is not as good as my camera takes, but they do give a sense of the local colour. I hope you enjoy them: here is the link to go to or to paste into your browser. By the way, the odd-looking bald dog at the end is a native Mexican variety that you may have seen in Frida Kahlo's paintings- I think it is called an <span style="font-style: italic;">escuintle</span>, I will check with Wikipedia before posting.<br />
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<a href="http:///">http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bjoymarsh/20100718LocalColourInCoyoacan#</a>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-19150837895387123012010-02-23T00:35:00.000-08:002010-07-18T00:11:32.278-07:00Thanksgiving and Chanukah 2009 (with recipes!)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAr0MIINUOjeUgq-zdf9NaGBRiYOuRI8wG7uFIKQ118cIHZMG4tNXnv-HJO0T3Fi7qKIjNQKkBjHbl72stRXn8b8lJcvS7dJPYw_IHVdYEsVAW-8YXPtvTGyQSl2WHwAH2gr2Yluey0hPt/s1600-h/IMG_3620.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAr0MIINUOjeUgq-zdf9NaGBRiYOuRI8wG7uFIKQ118cIHZMG4tNXnv-HJO0T3Fi7qKIjNQKkBjHbl72stRXn8b8lJcvS7dJPYw_IHVdYEsVAW-8YXPtvTGyQSl2WHwAH2gr2Yluey0hPt/s320/IMG_3620.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441363228039667730" border="0"></a>
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<br />Our neighbours, whom we met for a couple of minutes on the first day we arrived and have not seen since, left a note for us inviting us to their Thanksgiving dinner. We were surprised but delighted at the gesture of friendship, and after a couple of attempts I found them at home briefly and regretfully declined, as we had decided to go to Santa Clara again, as we did last year, to spend Thanksgiving at Jackie and Bob's. I made a huge pot of pumpkin soup and we drove down in very light traffic. This was more luck than judgement, because I missed the freeway turnoff recommended by the GPS, which had told me to stay left but then expected me to get off on the right. But as it happened, we ended up bypassing the area of heavy traffic by taking the substitute route. It took us less than 2 hours to get there, and was really a very easy run. We had opted to spend the night there rather than drive back in the dark, which made for a more relaxing break given that we are still not all that comfortable with driving long distances in the US.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukzoeUe8UzHq_Ew7qHzvb6xK5pFadGtVwcTEzo-kmmRZ7J57CYXzx5HziHHODrmYSdgGwidbsQZqvd4t728QnnFaWLub6bELdLFYka21YXINCfYd-m-y8DiXuPn-omBl4ta8jeoR9mzt9/s1600-h/IMG_3619.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukzoeUe8UzHq_Ew7qHzvb6xK5pFadGtVwcTEzo-kmmRZ7J57CYXzx5HziHHODrmYSdgGwidbsQZqvd4t728QnnFaWLub6bELdLFYka21YXINCfYd-m-y8DiXuPn-omBl4ta8jeoR9mzt9/s320/IMG_3619.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441363218929932898" border="0"></a>Jackie and Bob's kids, Alexander and Naomi, about 4 and 2, were sleeping when we got in, and we didn't want to be in the way, so we went for a long walk around the neighbourhood as there were no jobs for us in the well-organised kitchen. The kids seemed a lot less shy than they were last year, perhaps in general or maybe they have begun to know us. Barry in particular is pretty good with kids and he entertained them for a bit when we got back while I tried to make myself a bit useful peeling potatoes.
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<br />Jackie's family is Jewish, Bob's is Catholic, and as most holidays in America have some religious association, sometimes not all family members are equally comfortable celebrating each other's special days. So Thanksgiving, the one holiday which is not associated with either religious heritage, is the holiday that Bob and Jackie most enjoy hosting. Last year both sets of parents were there as well as family friends of several generations. This year, Barbara and Larry (Jackie's parents, who live in LA: Barbara is Barry's cousin, originally from London) didn't come for Thanksgiving as it was just a couple of weeks till Alexander's birthday, when they were coming up to spend a few days. But all the other friends we met last year were there again, plus some neighbours. The food was a real treat - we are not aficionados of the dishes traditionally served at Thanksgiving , but the turkey, stuffing, vegetable dishes, pumpkin and apple pies were all absolutely delicious, but subtly different from last year's we thought. Traditional but not hidebound, for sure.
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<br />Transforming a dining/living area inhabited by young kids into a festive dining area for around 16 people is quite a task. Folding trestle tables and very attractive, seasonal and sturdy disposable tablecloths and crockery make it a lot more manageable and easier to clean up. The biggest problem is where to store all the leftovers - overflow fridge and freezer space in the garage is definitely needed. After a very pleasant feast, followed by more cups of tea and chocolates, the other guests returned to their homes, the kids went to bed, and we helped clear up and restore the living area somewhat. That done, we broke out Ben and Lissy's wedding DVD and watched parts of it with Jackie and Bob , including some of the wonderful horas (the spirited Israeli dancing which went for 45 minutes) and Ben and Lissy's speeches. We then went upstairs to spend the night on the convertible sofa bed in the study/office area, and slept very soundly.
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<br />Jackie and Bob were going into San Francisco to an event at the Cow Palace the next day, so we left in the late morning after breakfast, and this time managed the journey back to Berkeley with no mistakes, again in well under two hours.
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<br />Many people go out of town for Thanksgiving, so my choir rehearsals and exercise classes missed a few sessions. But we were very conscious our time in Berkeley was drawing to a close, so we had invited Sonya and Philip and Margaret and Irv to dinner the weekend after Thanksgiving.
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<br />You might have read about my friend Sonya Hunt in a blog post from the end of 2008. I spend a lot of time with her , and we often go food shopping after exercise classes. Last year she introduced me to the Tokyo Fish Market, the Cheese Board and the Berkeley Bowl. Philip originates from the UK and renovates houses -he is a great music lover and gourmet with a very British sense of humour still. They have become really good friends, looking after Barry while I was away on the East Coast, taking care of our luggage, offering to drive us to the airport - we enjoy their company a lot. Margaret is a colleague of Barry's from the Berkeley History Department, who specialises in an earlier period of Mexican History than Barry's modern times, and has researched the lives of a lot of rebellious nuns. Her husband Irv was Professor of Japanese History at Berkeley and is retired now, though he is often around the Department and I love to listen to his tales of his childhood in New York with his Yiddish-speaking grandmother.
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<br />All of us are foodies, and I really wanted to make some of my Australian favourites, but wasn't sure I could pull it off thousands of kilometres from my usual sources and in a differently equipped kitchen. The menu was to start with some variant of my current favourite salad, with baby spinach and rocket (arugula for American readers), crumbled blue cheese, dried cranberries and fresh pomegranate seeds, and some pecans or walnuts, with a light balsamic vinaigrette, with nice crusty warm bread from the oven.
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<br />As the main course, I planned to make a version <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZvwtOZPF2oRjCxUraPnI3T342ytBvajMn6K061M5ZJVWs763JMPeEe-DBDTEYYsG1fq5SZIGDumiL_dFblBlNTb42GpsLIq7D4271wwXXpltd2MUQ8DZzJ01s2VSHnTMa3HZlcSpLyqA/s1600-h/IMG_3424.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZvwtOZPF2oRjCxUraPnI3T342ytBvajMn6K061M5ZJVWs763JMPeEe-DBDTEYYsG1fq5SZIGDumiL_dFblBlNTb42GpsLIq7D4271wwXXpltd2MUQ8DZzJ01s2VSHnTMa3HZlcSpLyqA/s320/IMG_3424.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442140658567224354" border="0"></a>of my Thai style baked salmon, which I perfected as a festive main course for Jewish Holiday dinners over the seven years when Ben wasn't eating meat. For those occasions I would get a whole salmon, but as we were only 6 and the oven at Walnut Street is not huge, I went to Tokyo Fish Market a couple of days before our planned dinner to see what was on offer and if I could get them to prepare it for me the way I like to do it here. I selected a Canadian salmon that I could see whole and seemed to look pretty much like the Atlantic salmon from Tasmania I am most familiar with. I spent some time describing what I wanted to one of the guys there, who ended up getting a senior fish man to interpret what I was saying. Eventually we understood each other : I was apparently asking for what they know as a salmon roast from the centre of a fish , big enough for 8 slices, cut through almost to the bone on both sides but left in a single piece. I arranged to have it ready for me so I could collect it (and some ice) on the day I needed it, right after my exercise class. I make a kind of pesto with Asian herbs, and stuff it between the slices, wrap in baking paper and foil, and bake it in the oven: when you unwrap it from the oven, the aroma of Thailand is fantastic. I am including the recipe below. As the oven is on anyway, it makes sense to roast vegetable as an accompaniment: there seems to be less variety in potatoes in the US than at home, but I have worked out which ones roast OK, and combined them with sweet potatoes, rosemary and garlic, with steamed Blue-Lake beans as the other vegetable. I am not sure at which point I though to snap this picture: the first few slices of salmon may be gone and many of the veggies, too, apparently A food stylist would have come in handy! Here is my completely original recipe for a whole salmon:
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text-indent:-11.35pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l1:level2 {mso-level-tab-stop:90.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:90.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt;} ol {margin-bottom:0cm;} ul {margin-bottom:0cm;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thai- flavoured baked salmon<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Buy a whole salmon from your friendly neighbourhood fishmonger.<span style=""> </span>Have him/her cut it through almost to the bone on both sides into slices about 1.5cm thick (or whatever size you think will be good for your guests). If the salmon will fit into the oven whole, leave its head on, otherwise get him/her to take it off.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Prepare a “pesto” in the food processor or blender using approximately:<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1-2 bunches of coriander, washed and cleaned carefully, including roots if nice, all of leaves, some of stalks.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A couple or more fat cloves of garlic, cut into pieces<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A knob of ginger, cut into pieces<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A few Kaffir lime leaves, central stem of leaf removed, and cut a bit<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some lemongrass cut into slices, use the inside parts mostly and bash it with your cleaver or it will be too fibrous<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you want, some Vietnamese mint or Thai Basil leaves (I only add these if I happen to have them on hand)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2-4<span style=""> </span>small red chillies, seeds and veins removed, depending on how much heat you want<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">§<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">just a little bit of oil, light olive, peanut or canola, not strongly flavoured, to assist in the whizzing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="3" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wipe the salmon clean and dry, inside and out, with paper towels. Put the pesto into the slits between the cuts on both sides of the salmon. If any is left over, put some into cavity and if more is left, it’s great in omelettes, with boiled potatoes or use in a stir fry, where it ends up tasting like a green curry, especially if you add a little coconut milk.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wrap the salmon tightly in baking paper (and tie this up with cotton string) and then in aluminium foil, and seal well.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bake in the oven on a tray at about 180-200C<span style=""> </span>for around 45-60 minutes. I really don’t know how long it takes at each temperature. A smallish salmon, maybe under 2 kg, might be done in 45 minutes, a 3 Kg will take more like an hour. No need to turn it over.<span style=""> </span>If it’s done it shouldn’t feel stiff when you lift it up.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Unwrap on large platter: Undo the foil and roll it back to contain juices, cut the string and wind back or cut away the baking paper.<span style=""> </span>The smell when it is unwrapped is fantastic and it looks spectacular!<span style=""> </span>Very good hot, great cold as left overs.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<br />Last year when we were living in Santa Barbara Road, I had borrowed a loose bottomed tart pan from our neighbour Janet to make the raspberry marzipan tart that we love. I knew she'd been on a trip to India but she was home now, so I called her up and asked to borrow it again (and also to borrow their air bed a few days later for Ben and Lissy's visit). In fact Janet said she had not used the pan since I last borrowed it, and told me about the one beautiful fruit tart she had made in it and placed on top of the fridge for safe keeping , out of reach of pets and sticky fingers, only to have someone who of course had no idea it was up there open the fridge door and lose the whole thing as it tumbled to the floor. So I made the raspberry marzipan tart again, a day ahead, and made a secure space for it in the fridge. You can see the left over part of it in the photo below - the dinner guests share star billing! (remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them)
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyJQ_swj5YdlVnW-6diOGIxsF0lxmmuMZNDqnhTxDLAWl6vuhgMo1W62U9oIKfmzvvekR_8x_LEgU81Z3UtcYO9CHTPV368Adxwef_gIZa8Zg-M_af0KkqKZRVUP5enbrcfwCRkmpPetm/s1600-h/IMG_3421.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyJQ_swj5YdlVnW-6diOGIxsF0lxmmuMZNDqnhTxDLAWl6vuhgMo1W62U9oIKfmzvvekR_8x_LEgU81Z3UtcYO9CHTPV368Adxwef_gIZa8Zg-M_af0KkqKZRVUP5enbrcfwCRkmpPetm/s320/IMG_3421.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442138903988054802" border="0"></a>And here is that recipe, modified by me over time from one I originally cut out of the LA Times about 25 years ago, when we were living in San Diego where Barry was spending a sabbatical as a Research Fellow at UCSD.
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mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">RASPBERRY MARZIPAN TART<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">1 ¼ cups flour or unbleached flour<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">1/3 cup sugar<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">½ teaspoon baking powder<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">½ cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">1 egg<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">½ cup raspberry preserves<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">Filling<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">Glaze<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, butter and egg with pastry blender or in food processor until dough forms.<span style=""> </span>Press dough over bottom and up sides of greased 9-inch round pie pan (spring form or loose-bottomed fluted quiche tin works well).<span style=""> </span>Spread ¼ cup preserves over dough.<span style=""> </span>Chill while preparing Filling.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">Spoon Filling over preserves layer.<span style=""> </span>Spread gently.<span style=""> </span>Bake at 180 degrees C for 40 - 50 minutes or until deep golden brown.<span style=""> </span>Cool 2 hours.<span style=""> </span>Loosen edges.<span style=""> </span>Gently remove from pan. Spread with remaining ¼ cup preserves.<span style=""> </span>Drizzle glaze over tart.<span style=""> </span>Makes 16 serves.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">Filling<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">½ cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">2/3 cup sugar<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">½ teaspoon almond essence<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">2 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">1 cup ground almonds (blanched or unblanched)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">In a small bowl, cream butter with sugar and almond essence until light and fluffy.<span style=""> </span>Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.<span style=""> </span>Fold in ground almonds.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">Glaze <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">½ cup icing sugar<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">2-3 teaspoons lemon juice<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">Combine icing sugar and lemon juice to a consistency that will drizzle thickly from a teaspoon – (this probably makes too much, but add more lemon juice and add to a fruit salad!)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span>
<br />Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-78572778526240587192010-01-09T11:51:00.000-08:002010-02-03T03:55:18.325-08:00Berkeley, then Tacoma and Seattle, November 2009
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<br />After Maguie left, life in Berkeley reverted to normal for a while. One glorious autumn day I walked up Spruce Street from the house on Walnut Street we rented in 2009 to the 2008 Santa Barbara Road house, and took these typical streetscapes and views from the Berkeley Hills.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_isg-kRrD9IE6PNCJIz2ptD4eGLZJt7mZesQjNJUmbRtckvbs-nww655xL-GBI3GEfVX_k2M8rELVhE1iGsdWfJZNED0QchjuhP4_gwh9ZOAw3v54F0o-Qw6i_89abbSXnEjFqTlNLHYz/s1600-h/IMG_3395.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_isg-kRrD9IE6PNCJIz2ptD4eGLZJt7mZesQjNJUmbRtckvbs-nww655xL-GBI3GEfVX_k2M8rELVhE1iGsdWfJZNED0QchjuhP4_gwh9ZOAw3v54F0o-Qw6i_89abbSXnEjFqTlNLHYz/s320/IMG_3395.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433971860734188322" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCwE1zWOEJXbezJkgL1mB07Vc_6KjrPEHPz_1J93jzYULN-6bpfBU2qDhodBK-9WxEdXoTaeEmxc3EjGMpnut4tVTzZlG6F4iSf8rvXcqZgGRr09IEtX2hhBvdKVVg4MHtEdZggJlPjUt/s1600-h/IMG_3400.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCwE1zWOEJXbezJkgL1mB07Vc_6KjrPEHPz_1J93jzYULN-6bpfBU2qDhodBK-9WxEdXoTaeEmxc3EjGMpnut4tVTzZlG6F4iSf8rvXcqZgGRr09IEtX2hhBvdKVVg4MHtEdZggJlPjUt/s320/IMG_3400.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433971848660813266" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIMlzmFkTSHZVK3RRw361ci65Yy8jdzM0KJVoGcvS8dCZMl74U74-KhSVEiRIOcAzCdplAGidctZ4rj9G3XZe78dNBbrseoqFSez08ad0xf9masctixk6jtw-y_cwDVwwp6BfFk1lG-X8/s1600-h/IMG_3393.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIMlzmFkTSHZVK3RRw361ci65Yy8jdzM0KJVoGcvS8dCZMl74U74-KhSVEiRIOcAzCdplAGidctZ4rj9G3XZe78dNBbrseoqFSez08ad0xf9masctixk6jtw-y_cwDVwwp6BfFk1lG-X8/s320/IMG_3393.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433957040377963938" border="0" /></a>
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<br />My routine included my usual four exercise classes each week, Grupito del Norte (the local North Berkeley and Hills sub-group for Spanish conversation evenings), the odd Tertulia (a fortnightly Spanish conversation with some reading to do, and a pot luck supper) , choir rehearsals, and a couple of dinner parties. To prepare for having a few more people round for meals, we moved the larger round table in from the deck, as in the autumn it's a bit too cool to eat outside. There is a sofa in there, which gets the midday sun so it's a lovely spot to sit and read, but we had to move all the other easy chairs into the other living room to make space. The table could seat 6 people, using a mixture of elegant wooden chairs and slightly smaller folding ones, but with the sofa the room was a bit crowded. It seemed easiest to set out the food on the kitchen table and get people to serve themselves -what with all the wine bottles and glasses, the table wouldn't accommodate large platters (and the house on Walnut Street had an abundance of really beautiful large ceramic serving platters, mostly Mexican, which made serving a pleasure).
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<br />We had Myrna and Garrett over with Sally and Monica (owners of the house in Santa Barbara Road, up in the Berkeley Hills, where we stayed last year) for a very entertaining evening. I made Aussie style pumpkin soup and a roast of NZ lamb (subsequently I found Australian lamb, which we thought was better), with home-made dips while we were sitting round for drinks before dinner. As Sally was experimenting with a meat-free diet, I wrapped some portobella mushrooms in foil with some garlic, herbs and a dollop of sweet chilli sauce and stuffed them into the oven for her and anyone else who fancied them. As the 2-rack oven was packed with the roast, a large tray of roasting vegetables and some bread in there to warm and crisp (challah, as it was a Friday night), fitting the mushies in was the hardest bit! Myrna brought dessert, a tiramisu cake from Costco, which I fervently wish I had never discovered. I often don't like real Italian tiramisu, maybe the coffee or liqueur components are too strong for me, but this version was divine, and unfortunately there were leftovers which I was unable to resist over the next couple of days.
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<br />We also went into San Francisco for another of the walking tours we love - this time the Alamo Square Victorian Houses. I have posted all the photos from the tour and ones we took afterwards as we walked back to North Beach for coffee on the web. (Away from the very pretty Postcard Row there are less photographed and less tarted-up groups of what we'd call terraces at home, which I snapped as we came across them on our more or less random walk back - they are the later ones if you are looking at a slide show from the web site). We learned how to distinguish the different types of houses called Victorian, and Edwardian, heard about some very special ones (several shots show a mauve house - this is where the Menuhin family grew up, though it has been renovated since and I doubt these were its original colours.) Also we saw a large house where Ken Kesey lived , which had gone from being very gracious and in fact serving as a consulate, to a single room occupancy drug squat, and eventual, if very gradual, renovation, and heard various other colourful histories. You can see them here (and in case the link won't open in your browser with a simple click, which for some reason sometimes happens, copy the link and paste it into your browser's address line :
<br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/20091107WalkingTourAlamoSquareVictoriansEtc?feat=directlink">http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/20091107WalkingTourAlamoSquareVictoriansEtc?feat=directlink</a>
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<br />I also attended a couple of Albany YMCA brown bag lunches, organised jointly by the Y and the library where they are held. (Albany is one of Berkeley's neighbouring suburbs.) One featured a film-maker who had been following a group of young men who arrived in the US as refugees from an El Salvador then at war, who had fallen into gang life for want of social support structures, cultural attachments or family ties. Some of them were serving various jail sentences and as the war had ended when they got out, they were deported - to a country they had left as small children, where they also had no family ties, not many language skills, no cultural attachments - and unsurprisingly, had recreated their LA Gang structure there. He showed us some extracts of his documentary and told us the stories. The other featured Carole Peel, who is a member of my seniors' exercise class. She is a portrait painter and long-term tertiary art teacher, and showed us some of her portraits of well-known folk from the Bay area (including the husband of another person in our class) and spoke about portraiture as a particular skill, and her methods of working. A film-maker who has done a documentary on Carole also showed us excerpts from her film.
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<br />We also caught anther play at the Berkeley Rep (we saw Tiny Kushner, a set of short one act plays by Tony Kushner: here is a review, though I don't agree that the final play was the best, I thought it was a bit obvious.
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<br /><a href="http://http//www.kqed.org/arts/performance/article.jsp?essid=26208.%29">http://www.kqed.org/arts/performance/article.jsp?essid=26208</a>
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<br />Barry has a colleague, John Lear, who teaches at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. (Here they are against a backdrop of Puget Sound when we went for a brief walk together at the end of one day's wandering about Tacoma.) They first met at UCSD when Barry was a visiting scholar there back in the 80's. We overlapped in Mexico City during our 2007 stay (when John introduced us to Herzonia, in fact). His wife, Marisela, is the daughter of the Fleites family we have stayed with in Havana, Cuba, and they have one daughter away in college and their other, 10 year-old Soroa, is still at home. 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I mentioned I had family in Baltimore in conversation and <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCKKt07W5ggAy3_7ASKFZMdNzNDss9FtJNvzJ355Lfw7hq7EH8G5JUi85Kf5mXfE0zzjCh6yZwrhS6gWh3ipv1rMJHER_JoG4wIIqjJXZAw1Y0-Yn9FpJyA77Xl7kYuMjAsWlZVn0ejeV/s1600-h/IMG_3360.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCKKt07W5ggAy3_7ASKFZMdNzNDss9FtJNvzJ355Lfw7hq7EH8G5JUi85Kf5mXfE0zzjCh6yZwrhS6gWh3ipv1rMJHER_JoG4wIIqjJXZAw1Y0-Yn9FpJyA77Xl7kYuMjAsWlZVn0ejeV/s320/IMG_3360.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433945607521323378" border="0" /></a>Soroa, then aged about 8, became quite agitated and started whispering in her father's ear. She thought we were talking about "he who must not be named" - the infamous Lord Voldemort, the baddie in the Harry Potter books! So much for the Australian accent.
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<br />John invited Barry to give a talk at UPS and stay with them - so we decided to make a long weekend of it and become acquainted with the Tacoma-Seattle area. It was pretty cold and grey most of the time we were there - on our last afternoon, when we ate at a restaurant on the Sound, it cleared but I didn't have my camera with me! Taking into account the weather and Barry's need to give his lecture, we spent much of the time in the museum precinct of Tacoma. The <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXwrAC0Bkh3qLRFU45fTgDSDVJSHyY-o2QAPKwbP7TjQq56tTx1Z7f-T83H4pGw7Jl-s7UW-bhC4MKfgi7H-2mpf8dE67T34UYQ8TKlPw8jI5WxVRpJbnqicCRxFh3SOEFFeKgy8WQI6AY/s1600-h/IMG_3356.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXwrAC0Bkh3qLRFU45fTgDSDVJSHyY-o2QAPKwbP7TjQq56tTx1Z7f-T83H4pGw7Jl-s7UW-bhC4MKfgi7H-2mpf8dE67T34UYQ8TKlPw8jI5WxVRpJbnqicCRxFh3SOEFFeKgy8WQI6AY/s320/IMG_3356.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433978106332645602" border="0" /></a>former railway station has been recycled as the state court building, and features a glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, probably the best known glass artist in the US, who is from the area and who has contributed a great deal to establish the Glass Museum . There is a great collection of his work at the local Art Museum, in this precinct also, along with the Washington State History Museum. One day we had breakfast across the road from the station at an upstairs café offering "Australian muffins" on the menu (I hopefully wondered if they had Vegemite to go with them, but they had never heard of it - any more than we had heard of Australian muffins, which <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4z3a_sQ2HcB2MnlYdVCev_3rh21j0-Wpqgle6keqiLLXfo_TdciujOsAV8rBeh0I-NbrRPZueofdQlUSm5hUxqy-l9e-SyoqksOjkfkxYs5NZBHp90FCKoazLQL6RWhYKP_s94vXhPFsc/s1600-h/IMG_3355.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4z3a_sQ2HcB2MnlYdVCev_3rh21j0-Wpqgle6keqiLLXfo_TdciujOsAV8rBeh0I-NbrRPZueofdQlUSm5hUxqy-l9e-SyoqksOjkfkxYs5NZBHp90FCKoazLQL6RWhYKP_s94vXhPFsc/s320/IMG_3355.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433978096630115586" border="0" /></a>seemed pretty indistinguishable from what we'd have thought was an "English muffin". Which reminded me to say something about the dog which is very popular in the US called an Australian Shepherd, which looks a bit like a stocky multi-coloured Border Collie or rather like the dogs we once saw put on a show in the Barossa Valley, which the owner called "Coolies" . This is what Wikipedia says about them:
<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Shepherd">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Shepherd</a>
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<br />and I am pleased to have them acknowledge that they are an American breed of dog and not Australian at all!) But to get back to the café, they gave us a 20% off voucher for full-priced clothes and accessories from the store downstairs, so we stopped there, and we both really liked the styles they had in the store. I bought a few items for gifts (no discount) and also a woollen embroidered jacket, red on black (already on sale, so no discount) and a wonderful autumn-toned pashmina, even though I rarely buy new clothes these days as my casual lifestyle across two continents doesn't seem to call for much dressing up. I try to get rid of something to make room when I buy something new: I have a few tops that are going into holes which I should chuck out, but they are such favourites (and the holes are so far so tiny) that I can't bring myself to! This shopping expedition was quite unexpected: our wedding anniversary was coming up so Barry encouraged me to buy the stuff, but in fact I can't remember the last time I shopped for clothes for myself with him, but a year ago around the same time of year, he bought me the earrings I liked in Healdsburg, in the Russian River winery district, again as an anniversary gift.
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<br />There is a bridge running from the former station to the Glass Museum, lined with a display of Chihuly's works (see the photos above: the display reminded me of the wonderful back-lit display of Swedish glassware they used to have in the David Jones Little Lonsdale Street store) and with a ceiling that resembles a brilliant coral reef: I also shot this piece of video overhead to give you a flavour of how lovely it is. I suggest you turn the volume down on your computer first as a lot of people were talking and there was traffic noise also.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj988cCTkjze1pfzzxj98ZlmVqYiQWKFsJESGJ2NiiGMLN3xlJdg48bP43u0Vru0N8l_WejK0D9i_2CyQ6hk70Wxc8OwTAAH7eAYue_-HVPlDQDzr1gIq1Pv2AKf9wgKs5FvqD-tgy0azlP/s1600-h/IMG_3379.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj988cCTkjze1pfzzxj98ZlmVqYiQWKFsJESGJ2NiiGMLN3xlJdg48bP43u0Vru0N8l_WejK0D9i_2CyQ6hk70Wxc8OwTAAH7eAYue_-HVPlDQDzr1gIq1Pv2AKf9wgKs5FvqD-tgy0azlP/s320/IMG_3379.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433945615083204610" border="0" /></a>In the rich tapestry of Tacoma's cultural life, there is a Dickens Festival, and we happened to be there over that weekend. Marisela was involved with a Flamenco dance performance and Soroa was dressing up for the Dickens costume event, but we didn't observe any of the performances because on the Saturday they were on, we went into Seattle to have lunch with a Mexican Art Historian colleague of John and Barry's, Deborah Caplow, who teaches at a University in Seattle and also happens to be a distant cousin of Barry's. Soroa and Marisela are pictured here as we saw them in the evening after we got home from our various activities. The other photo is of John and Barry in front of one of the many art glass stores in the very nicely restored downtown area of Seattle. From Deborah Barry got an email address and phone number of a closer cousin he had known 30 years ago but had lost touch with. Once we got back to Berkeley, he followed up and has begun working on a family tree for his father's side of the family, about which he previously had very little <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBqCnHDKiPgi4W5z1TDnEW8ywCKgh1W6if9ece1PDoQeDZY5vRHwEgDNS5HyffuuZYudvS5D4HHx07EuwS5a0CL4x2j6vGXzlPiuGYtMRx4tUO3ycMwBO-dYhqSbZy6yC66N4xiuyYr3e/s1600-h/IMG_3365.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBqCnHDKiPgi4W5z1TDnEW8ywCKgh1W6if9ece1PDoQeDZY5vRHwEgDNS5HyffuuZYudvS5D4HHx07EuwS5a0CL4x2j6vGXzlPiuGYtMRx4tUO3ycMwBO-dYhqSbZy6yC66N4xiuyYr3e/s320/IMG_3365.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433945631431482578" border="0" /></a>knowledge. We also met up with a coupe of friends of John's who were in town for a soccer match, a union organiser and a history teacher, both recently retired . The 5 of us wandered about downtown Seattle and later had a coffee in a former hotel where Japanese Americans had lived before being forcibly removed and interned during WWII, a rather unpleasant chapter in US history (there was a bit about this episode in the State History Museum that we visited on another day. Also some interesting archival stuff, too little, about the Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World), whose history in the region I found quite <span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class=" on" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_SpellCheck" title="Check Spelling" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);BLOG_spellcheck();;ButtonMouseDown(this);"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Check Spelling" class="gl_spell" border="0" /></span></span>fascinating. I of course was enchanted to hear contemporary recordings of old union songs, of which I am inordinately fond.)
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<br />On the freeway from Tacoma to Seattle, a journey of about 35-45 minutes, for miles and miles we were driving past Boeing plants and Boeing Field, where they build and test their aircraft. The scale of the facilities was very impressive, and you can see why a drop-off in the US aviation business would lead to massive unemployment and problems in the region. I guess having Microsoft nearby as another major regional employer helps reduce dependency on this one industry.
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<br />On the plane and while we were in Tacoma, I was reading a Penguin I got for 25c at the library sale, called "My Turn to Make the Tea", by Monica Dickens. One evening when I was talking to Soroa about her homework and the sub-teen fiction she was reading, she asked about what kind of books I had read when I was young. I explained that from children's books we graduated directly to adult fiction, and how much the world has changed since the 1950's. It seemed appropriate to leave her the book when I had finished it - it describes such a vanished world, post-war austerity in provincial England, rooming houses and writing with pencils, just one unwillingly shared typewriter in a local newspaper office, actors and young couples living in lodgings with peculiar landladies. And Soroa was really chuffed when she asked if Monica was related to Charles Dickens and I was able to say she was his grand-daughter! I hope she will enjoy reading it in a year or two.
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<br />Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-56842002118681842752010-01-01T16:58:00.000-08:002010-01-01T20:26:17.550-08:00Dealing with US Insurance and Banking BureaucracyI may have mentioned in earlier posts my sense of desperation at the level of debate in the US about health care reform. Dealing with the insurance bureaucracy has been a real eye-opener to at least one source of the very high cost of health care here. Many Americans seem unaware how far from world's best practice they are here.<br /><br />Through Barry's job at Berkeley, we are entitled to medical coverage, and as we went through quite a process in 2008 to choose an insurer and a plan, we decided to stay with the same supplier when we returned in 2009. It seemed to me (this is from memory) that what we are paying for the two of us, on top of the University contribution, which Barry thinks is abut 80% of the cost of the coverage, is considerably more than half of what we pay in total for our top private hospital and medical coverage, including all ancillaries (chiropractic, dental, optical, massage, CPAP machine, orthotics etc) in Australia.<br /><br />It took months for them to get our address correct and send us our cards, though they had other details they could only have got from the very forms we filled out our first full day in Berkeley in the History Department at the University, and the money was certainly being debited from Barry's pay. It seems that some details on the forms go through Payroll, others through the part of the HR Department that deals with the insurers - many players handle the pieces of paper at Berkeley, then many more handle them at the insurer. When calling with an enquiry, the people we spoke to often said they weren't authorised to deal with that piece of information (for example level of coverage, name of our doctor, or even our address), and we had to call another department. I wonder who sold them their computer systems! In fact I sometimes wonder whether they even have them. The first doctors we were assigned to in 2008, far from being the ones we had nominated on our forms and who worked at the University Medical Centre, were in South San Francisco, about 30 miles from Berkeley where we lived and Barry worked. At least this time we got the doctors we nominated, close to campus. Both of us had minor problems (Barry had hurt his wrist and my left arm was not working properly) and as they were not improving we each eventually saw a doctor, had X-Rays etc.<br /><br />Making my appointment was not easy, but as Barry had pioneered the process a couple of weeks earlier and offered his wisdom, it only took me 3 phone calls to get an appointment! There was a myriad of forms to fill out, and rather a long wait, but the doctor was extremely thorough and referred me for an X-Ray and (based on the outcome of the X-Ray), diagnosed the problem and referred me for physiotherapy. I saw the physio 5 or 6 times, it was easy getting appointments in advance, and he was very good, doing some manipulation and a lot of laser treatments as well as teaching me a variety of exercises. Now if I only did the exercises he prescribed regularly, the pinched nerve in my neck would be improving faster.<br /><br />Once I got to the practitioner, I think the treatment was very professional, very thorough, and very good. But from my observations while waiting in the office at the physio (never for long), each patient seemed to have trouble over their insurance, and the receptionist and the physios were forever on the phone to insurers or doctors, chasing faxes about coverage etc. The co-payment of $15 per visit seemed about the same level as it is in effect at home, though we don't call it that, and that is all I had to pay, as under the insurance scheme the insurer picks up the rest of the bill, rather like bulk billing.<br /><br />There is no doubt that enormous amounts of money could be saved by having better systems, perhaps standardising systems and practices, multi-skilling the people who answer phones or having a single case manager for all aspects of a person's treatment.<br /><br />So much for health insurance bureaucracy. We also have a bank account with Bank of America - one that was established originally about 25 years ago when we were in San Diego for a sabbatical. We started using it as our main account in Berkeley last year, and the change of address seemed to work OK, though they never managed to print any new cheques for us (and it is hard to get by in the US without using cheques. Having transitioned away from paper-based to electronic banking years ago at home, it irks me that so much still depends on cheques. Interestingly, when you deposit a cheque in the ATM, you have to scan the cheque rather than put it in a deposit envelope, then it offers you a form of receipt with a scanned copy of the deposited cheque, but sometimes the ATM can't read the numbers on the cheque so you have to key it in anyway.) People seem to use cheques for trivial amounts of money, and often credit or debit cards also - you don't see so many notices in stores saying minimum expenditure $10 for a card transaction, whereas at home for low value transactions I have the sense we use cash more. Perhaps merchants in the US don't have to pay the banks such high transaction fees for card transactions (I assume this is why they Australian merchants don't like to take cards for low value transactions where the fees eat up their profit) - there is a lot less EFTPOS and more credit card use.<br /><br />But this year, though the Bank recorded our change of address and at our request printed some new cheques with this address on them, and mailed them to us at this address, they still had our address from last year as our account address. This meant that the only way I could get a credit card transaction to work when paying for something over the Web was to use last year's zip code rather than this year's. Very peculiar, and it wasn't until I enquired about this that the third person I spoke to (after being on hold for ages at the start of the call and between each person), checked the home address on a different system than the one that issues the cheques!<br /><br />Then Barry got a new debit card in the mail, with a letter saying his old number may have been compromised by some scam. But he could not activate this new card, because they seemed not to recognise Barry's date of birth as correct, as he discovered when he went down to the local branch and spoke to a person there about it. His date of birth has of course not changed in the 25 years he has held the account, so it seems odd no-one had noticed! And within a week or two of getting this sorted out, another 3 new debit cards arrived in the mail, with no explanation at all this time. Rather than once again engage in the telephone marathon, he went to the branch and cut them all up!<br /><br />Then I had a further refusal of my card over the web, and again it required talking to a number of agents on the phone before one of them had the authority to tell me what had happened (I had apparently inadvertently selected the wrong month for my date-of-birth in this transaction). It seems many different aspects of transactions are managed using different computer systems which don't talk to each other, and the California-based accounts are on different systems to accounts held in other states or transactions done in other states, so no-one has the complete picture. I have not been a great fan of the Australian banks, and was especially peeved years ago when the Commonwealth Bank took over State Bank of Victoria, which had been my bank, and retired the latter's far better (from a consumer point of view) systems in favour of using their own legacy systems, but with this experience behind me I am a lot more appreciative of the relative efficiency of the Australian Banking system now!Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147818035757960278.post-26594780182432290792009-12-30T20:53:00.000-08:002010-01-01T16:57:59.787-08:00Last Opera and a BarmitzvahAfter Maguie left us on Monday evening, we still had one more opera on our subscription, on Tuesday night: Salome. We took BART downtown in the evening and just missed the first few minutes of the the pre-show talk this time. It is a very confronting opera - seeing Salome dance about with the bloody head of Jokanan (John the Baptist) is not to everyone's taste. I hadn't realised the work was based on a play by Oscar Wilde. There is more than the average number of nasty characters - Herod is horrid, Herodias is not a nice wife and mother, Salome is totally depraved - and not a lot of decent types, one of whom kills himself quite early. We enjoyed it, however - powerful dramatic music and very good performances again. The dance of the seven veils was extremely well-produced, with acres of silk employed to great advantage. One odd thing was the costuming of the Jews, who were in current-day Chassidic garb. The roles have the several Jewish representatives of different sects disputing the meaning of texts while ignoring what was happening in the land, and I can understand this from both contemporary and historical perspectives. But the costumes were totally anachronistic, in an opera otherwise consistently costumed in its own period, so I couldn't help wondering why they chose to dress these characters as if they had just walked onto the set from Crown Heights.<br /><br />You can hear excerpts and see the cast list, etc. at<br /><br /><a href="http://sfopera.com/o/288.asp">http://sfopera.com/o/288.asp</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhveWrNESwX2dAmlmSBOLk9-rD3M_R9TeBfwtLHqGyzO75W6-zgHEfUaXK_eCi9BkVV6PJdBVoJGCfbKhWhXJ641_w0da8RmkDaqFz8PghS69kLwzVa5Tgl3zuhyIqCSKsSajYF1xerTaTo/s1600-h/IMG_3220.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhveWrNESwX2dAmlmSBOLk9-rD3M_R9TeBfwtLHqGyzO75W6-zgHEfUaXK_eCi9BkVV6PJdBVoJGCfbKhWhXJ641_w0da8RmkDaqFz8PghS69kLwzVa5Tgl3zuhyIqCSKsSajYF1xerTaTo/s320/IMG_3220.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421277461057290322" border="0" /></a>It was not our initial plan to have so many operas clustered together. We had to change the dates of our initial subscription because of our plan to go east the following weekend (which was Halloween, so we missed being Trick or Treated in Berkeley) once again to attend the Barmitzvah of Nate Gruber, Lissy's nephew, in Rockville, Maryland (close to Washington DC). Barry hadn't seen Ben and Lissy on this trip and figured this was the only time he could fit in a trip to their territory on the East Coast, so we flew off on Friday morning and flew home on Sunday.<br /><br /><br />We had hoped to catch up with Carmela (an old friend from my NYC Women's Group) and husband John while in the DC area, but there was a medical emergency in Carmela's family so she had gone off to New York before we came in. John was dropping his niece and family off at the airport around the time we got in, so we manged to catch up briefly just with him - he met us at the airport and drove us to our hotel (taking the scenic route!). He spent the journey discussing with Barry some details of his family history - his English grandfather and great uncle had been involved in the mining industry in Mexico in the 19th and early 20th Century. He has some fascinating family letters from this period and they discussed what institutions might be interested in these, and what sources could shed further light on this episode. I found the conversation quite fascinating. We arrived at our hotel before Ben did on Friday evening, and managed to catch up with them and other members of Lissy's family who were staying at the same hotel later in the evening. The photo above shows Nate's four grandparents, with Nate standing and his siblings and the Morcheles first cousins sitting on the floor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFTtfmIILeyZT465Y-hLZHbYa1oUS0m9MUKH1vKSmvXs9s5Vm9Weiphezjz2S6boOhCyphVPmQqhxy77rwvmh5CBTpex1Wck1fjfZJwqQCwxtkHvzCxRNenB9rL_Xt7p4BZOu19fTQ_WxK/s1600-h/IMG_3224.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFTtfmIILeyZT465Y-hLZHbYa1oUS0m9MUKH1vKSmvXs9s5Vm9Weiphezjz2S6boOhCyphVPmQqhxy77rwvmh5CBTpex1Wck1fjfZJwqQCwxtkHvzCxRNenB9rL_Xt7p4BZOu19fTQ_WxK/s320/IMG_3224.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421277454211067490" border="0" /></a>We went to Shule on Saturday for the Barmitzvah, where Nate did a great job, sharing the parsha with a Batmitzvah girl, in a very full Synagogue close to the hotel. There was a lavish kiddush and much sitting around with the family in the Shule hall afterwards, then we went back to the hotel and got to spend some time with Ben and Lissy, finally choosing a selection of wedding photos for our album, as they had brought the full set of proofs with them. There were so many gorgeous photos and it was hard to choose a couple of dozen . I had found selecting them on the web, the initial plan, quite difficult: the site allowed us to compare two photos at a time, but where there were 4 or 5 similar to choose amongst, I would prefer A to B, and B to C and D to C, but then find I liked C better than A - going round in circles. Looking at the proofs was much easier! This photo shows Barry and me with Ben and Lissy and Barbara and Bernard (Lissy's parents) at the Barmitzvah.<br /><br />I managed to get in a swim on the hotel pool before getting showered and dressed for the Barmitzvah party in the evening (Ben got in just as I got out, having worked out in the hotel gym session while I was swimming - I realised I haven't seen him swim since early adolescence, it is something I do a lot but have never really done with him except on long-ago family holidays. His freestyle has certainly improved - the triathlon training he did earlier in the year no doubt contributed!)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/20091105FromNatesBarmitzvahhttp://">http://picasaweb.google.com/bjoymarsh/20091105FromNatesBarmitzvah</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhndxNhOWLt6GEx97KtEZz7ArmPr-Dd_60zNUbVIT8AoGMKDrSKE7pMGGcNmKiM-ibHPSGFt9OvAwJO9xJ_Zc6D_Ntq0WdN8fJnHNu2-vstJst9T-S2tv9DKwNfMU9_InZcfWtCbZtwsXmt/s1600-h/IMG_3266.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhndxNhOWLt6GEx97KtEZz7ArmPr-Dd_60zNUbVIT8AoGMKDrSKE7pMGGcNmKiM-ibHPSGFt9OvAwJO9xJ_Zc6D_Ntq0WdN8fJnHNu2-vstJst9T-S2tv9DKwNfMU9_InZcfWtCbZtwsXmt/s320/IMG_3266.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421277468174539698" border="0" /></a>The theme of the Barmitzvah party was a casino and games, of which there were many, and although I didn't get around to the gaming tables, I did do the parent and child dance with Ben (there are incriminating photos). There was a person encouraging the dancers as well as the DJ, so there are some shots of me making a fool of myself with him, too!<br /><br />I posted all the photos from my camera (mostly taken by Barry) on Picasa, so you can have a quick browse. It is lovely to have acquired such an extended family in the US, and we feel very privileged to now be included in such family simchas. We have only met Hillary and Brian (Nate's parents a few times - Hillary is Lissy's oldest sister, more than 10 years older), and we would not have expected to be invited as a matter of course, so we did appreciate the invitation and were glad to be able to attend. And we very much enjoyed the brunch at their house on Sunday, which gave us a<br />bit more time to chat with the family and meet a few more of them, including a cousin from the west coast who gave us a lift to the airport.<br /><br /><br /><br />It took ages (and 2 attempts) on a somewhat slow connection to download the few seconds of video here and it is actually awful, but after all the time I had to defer going to bed till it loaded, I am leaving it in: you will see Ben and Lissy dancing with Kendall, Lissy's young cousin, who is dynamite on the dance floor!<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyZmz6PKZH0HUTXX5XjX5RoZWJNRAzhL_wCMNTy5xpXrgxi5Y8-AyqkWud7O-yHXQtOkUgRbCqM31l1L9atGA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08137634342376795584noreply@blogger.com0