# Everybody´s a Cook



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

There´s this huge and attractive dinng hall with a very nice al fresco dining área on the Chapala-Jocotepec Carretera near my home in West Ajijic on Lake Chapala that was constructed some five or so years ago and restaurateurs keep trying and failing to run restaurants out of there but now it has shut down again and, according to the signage, it´s only a matter to time until a new restaurant opens there specializing in Mexican food which may work as past endeavors have sought to attract a "******" clientele without success. Sincé this área is only a few kilometers from the established and highly popular (on weekends) San Juan Cosalá lakefront restaurant strip, maybe this will work out for the latest gambler and, if the food turns out to be good, as I hope it will that will improve the neighborhood. We´ll see.

Restaurants come and go, generally speaking, at Lake Chapala´s "Lakeside" enclave like flies stealing honey from a guy with a swatter in hand. There are many restaurants here, few, if any remarkable and many of little or no merit. That´s OK with me because "Lakeside" has many fine qualities other than eating out or participating in their much touted "cultural" activity yawners . I´m used to that anyway having lived in San Francisco for many years, a geographically small town of maybe 700,000 people and 10,000 restaraunts, perhaps 100 of which are worthy of a citizen´s patronage. I must say, I really like that Hunan Restaurant down on Broadway assuming they are still in business. 

The restaurant food in San Cristóbal de Las Casas isn´t that good either. I think I should have retired in Addis Ababa and lived on Injera and Watt every day. Damn, that´s good.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

The way I hear it, the restaurant isn't closed for the usual reasons. The owner is in jail in Nayarit. Don't know the rest of the details, but he was not on the side of the angels.


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## vantexan (Sep 4, 2011)

Hound Dog said:


> There´s this huge and attractive dinng hall with a very nice al fresco dining área on the Chapala-Jocotepec Carretera near my home in West Ajijic on Lake Chapala that was constructed some five or so years ago and restaurateurs keep trying and failing to run restaurants out of there but now it has shut down again and, according to the signage, it´s only a matter to time until a new restaurant opens there specializing in Mexican food which may work as past endeavors have sought to attract a "******" clientele without success. Sincé this área is only a few kilometers from the established and highly popular (on weekends) San Juan Cosalá lakefront restaurant strip, maybe this will work out for the latest gambler and, if the food turns out to be good, as I hope it will that will improve the neighborhood. We´ll see.
> 
> Restaurants come and go, generally speaking, at Lake Chapala´s "Lakeside" enclave like flies stealing honey from a guy with a swatter in hand. There are many restaurants here, few, if any remarkable and many of little or no merit. That´s OK with me because "Lakeside" has many fine qualities other than eating out or participating in their much touted "cultural" activity yawners . I´m used to that anyway having lived in San Francisco for many years, a geographically small town of maybe 700,000 people and 10,000 restaraunts, perhaps 100 of which are worthy of a citizen´s patronage. I must say, I really like that Hunan Restaurant down on Broadway assuming they are still in business.
> 
> The restaurant food in San Cristóbal de Las Casas isn´t that good either. I think I should have retired in Addis Ababa and lived on Injera and Watt every day. Damn, that´s good.


I've wondered if "El Caldero" in San Cristobal is a good place to eat? You probably know them, the soup place with the huge bowls. Just seems like a great idea for a restaurant.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


vantexan said:



I've wondered if "El Caldero" in San Cristobal is a good place to eat? You probably know them, the soup place with the huge bowls. Just seems like a great idea for a restaurant.

Click to expand...

_ Thanks for the lead, vantexan. Even though we have lived in San Cristóbal every winter/spring for eight years, we´ve never tried El Caldero but wiill do so upon our return this upcoming winter. I´m a big fan of several Mexican-style soups. However, sincé we are fortunate enough to live within two blocks of the huge indigenous market in that city with its fabulous variety of locally grown vegetables (unlike "Lakeside" tianguis and municipal markets where most vendors are selling fruits and vegetables from the Guadalajara abastos not locally grown but shipped in from all over the place) grown in local "milpas" in indigenous communities in the steep hills adjacent to the city, we usually eat at home. I must try this soup place. 

On the subject of locally grown fruits and vegetables, many foreigners upon arrival here swoon over the "fabulous" produce available in Mexico most of which is the same stuff they were buying at their local Safeway in Fresno. They´re in romantic denial. This is not always the case in parts of Chiapas if you know where to shop. 

Once again, thanks for the hint. When I get back to Chiapas, I will (God willing) try El Caldero.

By the way, on the subject of "locally grown" produce. In Oaxaca City, foreign tourists are totally impressed with the "locally grown" produce at the indigenous market down there and brag about how delicious the produce grown locally is in comparison to other places in Mexico. Well, when we were in Oaxaca City a few yeas ago, the teachers were on strike and closing off many thoroughfares including the autopista from Puebla. All of a sudden this "locally grown" produce disappeared from vendors´ stalls because trucks could not get through from Puebla with the Puebla produce, some distance away to the north. Myths are fun and make the food seem to taste better.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Hound Dog said:


> I must try this soup place. ... Once again, thanks for the hint. When I get back to Chiapas, I will (God willing) try El Caldero.


HD, I know it may just be your good ole Southern Sunday morning church-going childhood, but that little "God willing" slipped in there makes me think Mexico is surely sinking into your bones. 

"Primero Dios", "Dios mediante", "sí Dios quiere" are such a normal part of daily speech in Spanish, that when I speak English I find I miss this concept as a part of ordinary, day to day speech. Yes, we have "God willing" but in my experience it is not as commonly used in English as in Spanish.

Whether one is a believer or not, I find "Primero Dios" or one of its variations is an acknowledgement that we do not and cannot control everything, that fate can be cruel or kind, but never guaranteed, and that the best laid plans...


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Actually, I meant to be saying "Ojalá" or "hopefully" but threw out "God Willing" as a sop. In Chiapas the typical saying is "Si dios quiere" (if God wishes). This has nothing to do with my upbringing in the Presbyterian Church in Greenville, Alabama but with the fact that I am 72 years old and winding down my existence.

There are many reasons that Dawg is not religious and may soon have to explain that to whichever God I may soon encounter face-to-face. Alow me to throw out a thought:

In the 1950s, when, in my small Alabama town, everybody who valued their etrernal life-after-death whether mythological or destined to be, went to church. This Sunday morning ritual also constituted a social hour and, indirectly, a business call. This held true whether one attended a white or black congegation. However, the Presbyterian church in Greenville was all white in those days when churches in the deep south were, for the most part, strictly racially segregated except among the very poor "Holy Rollers" as we called the fundamentalists of the time. That society was very class concious so being a holy roller, white or black, was to inhabit the bottom of the tótem pole.

In the mid-50s, there was an attempt to racially integrate the churches of Greenville and the idea was for black candidate parisioners to enter the church during services and sit in pews among the all-white parisioners already seated there and participate in the services worshipping, as a congregation, the holy master himself. Well, this went over like a lead baloon. The church elders soon took to stationing some elders in the vestibule awaiting these "agitators" and challenging them on their "Presbyterian" beliefs with the posited notion that they were always welcome if sincere but, of course, they could not be as they were "*******" and belonged over at the Baptist Hill AME Temple where the services were not so solemn.

If you think this boy is religious, you are way off base. Maybe I should have said, "Nature Willing." When you hit your 70s, perspective changes.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Hound Dog said:


> If you think this boy is religious, you are way off base. Maybe I should have said, "Nature Willing." When you hit your 70s, perspective changes.


I just turned 69 and find my thoughts turning toward the fact that I won't be here forever. In contrast to your change in perspective, Hound Dog, mine has changed toward considering the fact that there may be a God after all, God only knows why.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Isla Verde said:


> I just turned 69 and find my thoughts turning toward the fact that I won't be here forever. In contrast to your change in perspective, Hound Dog, mine has changed toward considering the fact that there may be a God after all, God only knows why.


When I first read your post, I thought you meant you were thinking of leaving Mexico.

As far as the other topic, an expression I have found very useful since moving to Mexico is: "Soy ateo, graciás a dios"*.

* I am an atheist, thank god.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

I had intended my comment more as a philosophical statement than a theological one. Whether God, nature, fate, destiny or simply "the way life is" to me that little caveat of "si Dios quiere" or "Ojalá" - which actually has its roots in the Moorish influence in Spain and is invoking Allah - any of these phrases is a "reminder to self" that not all is in our control. 

This "fatalism", if you will, is quite prevalent in Latin American cultures. There can certainly be a passive or defeatist aspect to fatalism, but on the flip side is the _carpe_ _diem_ approach - live this moment fully and intensely, find happiness where you are and with what you have, because none of us know what tomorrow may bring.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Sorry Hound dog the soup restaurant is gone. It followed the same pattern as all the others that do not sell pizza or pasta..


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

citlali said:


> Sorry Hound dog the soup restaurant is gone. It followed the same pattern as all the others that do not sell pizza or pasta..


I guess "Dios no quiso".


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Landlods here in the centre are greedy so restaurants open and close faster than anywhere I have ever been.
The town is not a rich town and the tourists or most of them seem to be on a budget , we also have lots of oung people around so pizzas and pasas are the main diet aroun here. 
We have good tamales on Saturday nit sold by the local women out of their house......


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

citlali said:


> We have good tamales on Saturday nit sold by the local women out of their house......


Do they put a red light in front of the house to show they are selling tamales, the way they do in Guatemala? When I first saw those red lights I thought they represented something else, and wondered why there were all these red lights in a neighbourhood full of families, until I found out it just means "tamales for sale". 

"Red light district" took on a new meaning for me after that. A tastier one, I would say.


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

Where I grew up it was always "God willing and the creek don't rise". 

I have come to recognized that, as I grow older, I find more "believers" than I had imagined I would at my age. These people seem to have an inner peace, and I have always felt that someone that has a strong faith in something(or someone) is able to handle life's "ups and downs" easier than those who don't. I have never been a "religious" person, but I have seen what "faith" can accomplish.

IV, I think you may be on to something. I'm certainly thinking a lot more about it.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

coondawg said:


> Where I grew up it was always "God willing and the creek don't rise".
> 
> I have come to recognized that, as I grow older, I find more "believers" than I had imagined I would at my age. These people seem to have an inner peace, and I have always felt that someone that has a strong faith in something(or someone) is able to handle life's "ups and downs" easier than those who don't. I have never been a "religious" person, but I have seen what "faith" can accomplish.
> 
> IV, I think you may be on to something. I'm certainly thinking a lot more about it.


I grew in a Jewish family, but religion was not part of our upbringing. The older I get the more I feel attracted toward the spiritual aspect of human existence.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

As Voltaire said on his death bed:" I do not believe in God but I do not trust him."


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Yes every house where tamales are available has a red lantern. I love that custom.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

The mother of a close Guatemalan friend had a very difficult childhood and young adult life - one that aptly illustrates the "life's not fair" adage. So she learned early on that nothing would be handed to her on a silver platter. If she wanted to succeed - or more importantly to her, for her children to succeed - she knew she would have to work hard and be tenacious, which she was in spades. 

Now she was a devout Catholic, but if there was something she was certain was the right thing to do or make happen, and someone said "A ver que dice Dios" (literally "We'll see what God says") her confident response would be "Dios dice qué sí" ("God says yes!").


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## vantexan (Sep 4, 2011)

citlali said:


> Sorry Hound dog the soup restaurant is gone. It followed the same pattern as all the others that do not sell pizza or pasta..


Just saw on Trip Advisor that "El Caldero" is alive and well.


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

Back in 1994, during our first and only visit to SCC (we loved it!) we came upon a humble hole in the wall restaurant, called "Norma's". The place was was so small that our knees stuck out on the sidewalk. I think all they served was breakfast and soup. The soup was wonderful. Very homestyle. We were in there almost every day. That was our kind of place. Cheap and delicious. 

The other outstanding place was a taquería, "El Tizón Chiapaneco." There we thoroughly explored tacos al pastor, but even more, a luscious dish called "anafre", which consisted of a small charcoal grill. A sheet of metal on top held carne pastor, chorizo and cecina, IIRC.

Furthermore, the graceful skills of the taquero when he flicked tacos in mid air, finishing with a final flying flourish of pineapple, truly a sight to behold.

OTOH, the restaurants I liked less tended to the whole grain carob brownie sort of place, accompanied by bongo, conga drums and a loudly frailed guitars.


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

*Tostadas, too.*



citlali said:


> Yes every house where tamales are available has a red lantern. I love that custom.


While strolling in Centro SCC, we saw some women selling vegetable tostadas. These were small tostadas, spread withh frijoles, then topped with cold cooked diced vegetables, beets, carrots, potatoes, for example. These made a delightful and refreshing snack.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=ojosazules11;4681034]HD, I know it may just be your good ole Southern Sunday morning church-going childhood, but that little "God willing" slipped in there makes me think Mexico is surely sinking into your bones. _"

When I learned to hate church is when the Presbyterian preacher from Pennsylvania moved to my South Alabama community and a long-winded SOB he was. Apparently he was unaware of the of the then propensity in Alabama to stick the roast beef in the oven just before attending church services on Sunday morning with the notion that it would be just properly cooked an hiout later upon one´s return from church services after the obligatory yakking on the street outside the church with other supposed Christian sullpicants and neighbors following those boring sermons. Because this SOB never knew when to quit preaching, the roast beef was often, shall we say, overdone and dry as a bone. This is the reason that Heinz 57 Sauce was an essential ingredient at Sunday "Dinners" re-adding moisture and some flavor to overooked roast beef of marginal quality. 

The elders of that ¨all-white Presbyterian Church usd to station members in the vestibule back in the 1950s to intercede in case some African American members of the community enetered to attempt to attend church services. Their charge was to make sure those African Americans were "sincere" in their desire to attend those incredibly boring church services when just down the stree, the all black Methodist AME church was having a raucous and eventful church service which was, presumably much more fun. The logic was that any prospective black person who would attempt to enter that sanctuary of extreme boredom in lieu of the AME rervices was being at the least insincere and probably insane.


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