Baby plants doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo
Oh goodness me. We have baby watermelon, baby green zebra tomato, baby cherry tomato, baby san marzano, baby tomatillo, baby chard, jalapeno, spinach, arugula, cilantro, and tatsoi. We are anxiously awaiting baby eggplant, cucumber, melon and bell pepper.
Finding dirt here is hard. I found one good dirt, but they want almost $40 a bag. And it’s not that big a bag. So I’ve now gotten myself compost, dirt, vermiculite, and fortified with egg shells, coffee grounds, and some organic fertilizer. We shall see.
I’m also now on Chapter 6 of Harry Potter y La Piedra Filosofia. Which is the first book. I also learned that the original British version is indeed called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, but it was changed to Sorceror’s Stone for the US audience cause they thought we’d be turned off by the word philosopher. Sometimes we depress me.
And I applied to grad school! Application submitted, essay written, transcript sent, fees paid. Now we wait.
This has been a heavily work oriented week, which has actually felt pretty good. I made progress in our massive tech shift and we have two meetings with vendors set up. I made unpleasant, but essential, progress in closing down one of our lines that lost funding. This part sucks. Basically because it means disrupting lives and laying people off. But it’s lean times. I’m still waiting to learn whether the contract that pays for me will be renewed. I think it will. My boss thinks even if it’s not, Dan would keep me on through the completion of our tech transition project at least. And honestly, that maybe all I need.
The more I think about it, the more I like the plan of working till fall of 2027 and then spending a year focused on immersive Spanish and my last year of grad school. We’ll see if it could be a financial reality, but a lay off might be the most helpful thing that could happen. For all that a more immediate lay off seriously messes with that timeline. I guess the nice thing about being in flux is that more flux doesn’t feel quite as dramatic as it does in more stable times.
Saturday I gave a presentation to the Cascades Red Cross Disaster Action Team that was remarkably well received. I was very pleased with myself and already have requests for presentations from other audiences. Yay!
Sunday was a busy day. Got up and made my way to the organic market for chicken and veggies and things. There’s also a place there selling kombucha by the liter in fun flavors like hibiscus rosemary. They actually sell scobies as well, but that just feels like so much maintenance. I always bring Leo, which I feel like is good for him and bad for me. I feel distracted and a bit limited in my exploration of all the stands. The gain to him probably outweighs me buying more things. It’s helping me learn about seasonality here. Not unlike Portland, we’re heavy on the greens right now, they’re beautiful. We’ve also got radishes, artichokes, asparagus, leeks (omigosh, they’re so fat and beautiful here), carrots in all colors (in fact it’s actually kinda a challenge to find an orange one), and herbs. Where it differs is that tomatoes are available year round. Mostly cherry or other relatively small ones. And the default tomato is different. This week there were a bunch of small, oval yellow tomatos, they’re larger than a cherry tomato, maybe an inch and a half long, but half the size of a Roma, though similar in shape. There’s already summer squash.
It makes me feel grounded to begin to understand this cycle that I have had such strong familiarity with. In that regard, Mexico and my friendships here have been eye opening. I think I never understood how detached many people are from their food. Fran says I lived in a bubble. I’ve countered with “We all live bubbles. Mine is no less valid than yours”. But I am realizing more and more how little most of us question our bubbles. Maybe don’t even understand their parameters. I wasn’t under any illusions about having lived in a liberal haven, with pretty much the platonic of liberal elite west coast families, but where that has defined my perspectives has been a bit surprising. It never really occurred to me that people would think of beef as healthy, having come strongly from the perspective of beef as a just fine occassional food. And I suppose ultimately there is no right or wrong here, it’s a matter of what nutrition one is needing likely. Though in a land of beans as a staple, I’m not sure which need beef might be supporting.
I took the subway north to stop at the michelin starred taqueria on my way to the Claveria neighborhood of the Azcapotzalco borough. You stop seeing white people here. I kinda love Claveria. Like if I stay in the city longer, I might start looking for a place up there. I went to google it as I was writing this and it’s described as a historic, tree lined, culinary center with a “suburb in the city” vibe and all I could think was “Oh. It’s Portland”. It apparently has a famous mercado, which I did not visit, so we’ll be jaunting north again soon.
And Sunday was also New Tattoo Day!!!
And I got second skinned. This is my first time. Second skin is commonly used as a protective tattoo cover, it’s a bit like tegaderm. But somehow all my other tattoos have been old school wrapped. Supposedly this will make healing quicker and easier and certainly not having to change and clean multiple times a day for the first bit will be nice. Also, I discovered that tattoos on your upper back/shoulder are kinda a pain in the ass as far as sleep goes. Leo doesn’t help. He is very bad at sharing the bed and I’m slightly terrified of him touching my tattoo.
After tattoo I wandered over to Ex Fabrica. This is a place I’ve wanted to check out for awhile and even though I was tight on time, I just don’t get up north terribly often. Ex Fabrica is a former flour mill than’s been turned into an urban art experience. The whole place is graffitied up. It features some shops, restaurants, a tattoo school, and an arcade. They host concerts, films, bazaars and special exhibitions. I only had about 15 minutes to explore, but definitely wanna go back. Ideally when they have an event and grab a bite and explore more thoroughly.
Then I rushed back south to meet Fran for dinner. End of week.
Tacos of the Week: Taquería El Califa de León
This was a big one for me. The only Michelin starred taqueria in the world. Michelin recommends ordering the gaonera and either the costilla or chuleta.
How, you ask, have I not made my way there is the last year and a half. Well. It’s kinda in the middle of nowhere, I don’t especially trust Michelin here in general, I expected that star to mean a helluva a line, and I’m skeptical of the whole project. How many tacos do you try before declaring a star one? Is it comparative?Independent analysis. I just don’t know.
First and foremost it is SMALL. Nestled in a tiny space on the major thoroughfare of Avendia Ribera de San Cosme, it’s not exactly compelling infrastructure. There’s one wall mounted eating counter that could in a pinch fit 4, but for the most people eat standing under the overhang. That mass in that pic, not the line.
Shockingly, there was virtually no line. You shimmy past the cooking area to a small window in the bank where you place your order and pay. I got a gaonera and the costilla at the recommendation of the cashier.
A woman standing on plastic stool on the outside is feeding masa through the tortilla maker, not a press, but crank style and mounted to the counter. Another woman, with a intensely matriarchal presence, mans the rest of the show, separating meat to slap on the griddle and flipping tortillas. She calls out names and orders, holding 5 plates in one arm and a spatula in the other. It is impressive.
That said, the tacos were good. Nothing to write home about. I’d go again if I happened to be in the area. I don’t feel the need to make a special trip and I stand by my skepticism of exactly how many taco joints were tried before bestowing this honor.
Nonetheless in the spirit of first world problems, it had been weighing on me that I hadn’t yet checked this place, so I’m glad to have that off my shoulders.
Year One Project 
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