Rotarians and belly dancing

This was another sad week because virtually all the students left on Friday, including our fellow Rotary scholar Rachel, who is now in Guadalajara to begin the academic year at a university there. I hear that Sheila and I will be among only a handful of students next week. I guess we’ll have our pick of teachers. Maybe two per class. J Anyway, we made the most of the week, first with a fiesta for Rachel’s abuelita’s birthday. She’s quite a trip. I hope I have that much energy when I’m in my 70s. She made a delicious pozole soup and her nephews had a friend of theirs come to serenade her, a traditional birthday gift here. It’s also apparently traditional for the birthday girl to bite her cake before it’s cut. I still can’t figure out why or where this tradition came from. If anyone knows, fill me in.

On Thursday, we went back to the Obregon Rotary club. They had asked us to come because the district governor from Guerrero would be visiting. They also invited some guest performers – two belly dancers who had no qualms about waving their arms close to our faces as we tried to strike a balance between politely watching and stuffing ourselves with buffet food. Needless to say, it was entertaining to see the president’s reaction when the dancers got close to his end of the table.

Also this week, we learned how to make traditional Mexican salsas in our Friday workshop. I hand ground the guacamole with a stone mortar and pestle. Then, I rolled out my own tortilla and dropped it on an outdoor grill. I have to say, that was very cool. It felt authentic, anyway.

The experience motivated me to cook one of my own favorites on Saturday – a turtle bar dessert from a French cookbook that I use all the time. I miss cooking, but it wasn’t quite the same here. First, I was not in my kitchen, which made it feel like I was under supervision. (Well, technically I was). Second, I couldn’t find all the right ingredients in the store (ie: some sort of raw natural sugar had to substitute for brown sugar, and it’s really not the same) so the end result is a little off. I guess whether I cook again while I’m here will depend on the reaction of the people who eat what I made!