Ants of a feather, flock together...? OK, bad title.

On Sunday I posted about the flying ants that were in the house.  

I now believe that those were not ants at all but termites.

Why, do I now think that you may be asking yourself?

Well, let me tell you a story -

 



I woke this morning a little later than usual because it is still raining here and it is quite heavy and overcast.  I typically wake with the birds.  So this morning it was about 6:30 when I disentangled myself from the sheet I was rolled into and hoisted myself from my hammock. 










As is typical of most mornings I took a garden tour with the dog and the cat. 

This drizzly dark morning as I got to the pergola I noticed 'stuff' all over and was trying to figure out what it was when my senses started to kick in, this 'stuff' was moving, things were dropping on me, and no, not just the droplets of water, then I started to focus and notice things around me....

There were hundreds of thousands of flying ants,
fornicating flying ants,  they were falling from the sky,

I looked further and there was this dark undulating cloud of swarming vermin, they'd 'hook up' and drop, 

they were dropping everywhere!

I came back to the house for my glasses and the camera, I contemplated waking Tom and decided against it. So I returned to the pergola and started taking photos - by the way I definitely need a better camera, I could not focus on closeups of these copulating monsters.



I did finally go back and get Tom up so he could see this.  By then the cloud was dissipating, and the fornicators were tiring, wings were dropping, and I was then able to get a few shots

This guy actually came at me as I was trying to take pictures,
it was trying to attack me!

including the Queen who was in the pool!

So now I am involved in minor ant research, trying to figure out just what type of ant are these - do I have cause for concern?  Do I now have new colonies of ants taking up residence in my garden?  And why weren't birds feasting?  I fully expected flocks of birds to converge and gorge?  But no - they flew by without even a moments hesitation.  I did photo one very plump gecko, but alas it was blurry.  Gotta get a better camera.... 

Oh, by the way, I'm thinking Carpenter Ants!

“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labor, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.” - Lewis Thomas

Tropical Storm Alex, and Flying Ants

Well Tropical Storm Alex passed South of us so all we are getting is rain, cool temps, overcast skies, and flying ants.  It's fabulous, for us.  We will see how Belize has made out!

I spent quite a while Saturday removing windchimes and mobiles from the trees, moving potted plants to secure locations, removing  garden and pool statuary to storage, etc, etc. 

Today, I returned most of the stuff to its rightful place.

Flying ants!   We are being inundated by them at the moment.

When humidity and temperature are just right ant swarming occurs.  Winged ants leave the parent nest and go in search of   other sexually active ants, they mate.....well anyway, my point is Alex missed us, and due to the rain and humidity the ants are doing what they do.

This evening, as I sit at the computer little flying ants are crawling on my leg, flying into my hair, providing entertainment to the cat, and just generally being pesty!

EEESCHHKKKKK, I hate flying ants!

it's that time of the season

Well we are officially in to the rainy season here in the Yucatan.  And today we are actually getting a little rain.

We are also moving into hurricane season so I've set my computers additional home pages to come up to include both Weather Underground and National Weather Services Hurricane Center.

For the next several months we will monitor both sites to ensure we are in full preparedness, just in case!   Yes, that's a case of beer, a case of wine, a case of dog food, a half case of  water, well you get my drift...

So today we are watching Invest 93, which has the potencial to become a Tropical Depression, Tropical Storm, or Hurricane Alex.

Ah, Life is Good!

Where are the Maya?

A powerful short video on the effect on the Maya and Chiapan workforce being exploited in mexican tourist areas.  In all reality you'll probably find the same sort of exploitation worldwide.  

In eleven days and nights of February 2010, the nine members of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism's documentary filmmaking group reported, investigated, interviewed, filmed and produced this 15:34 documentary about the descendants of the original indigenous peoples of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.

Cooking: Arugula pesto

Friend Jette, who grows organic veggies recently gifted me with, what I called a 'shitload' of arugula, of course she calls is rocket, what with being all British and everything.  You'll have to ask her for yourselves why it's called rocket!   Anyway, when I exclaimed that I'd never be able to use that much arugula, she said something to the effect of oh shut up and make pesto and freeze it!   cheeky girl!

So I did make arugula pesto and oh my gosh - it's so fricking good I am eating it on crackers like a dip!

For my arugula pesto
2 monster handfulls of clean fresh arugula
3 large cloves of peeled garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 c pecans, you could use walnuts, pine nuts, whatever nuts you fancy...
1/3 c parmesan cheese
olive oil, probably 1/2 - 3/4 cup
I'm not good about actually measuring things!

Lucky me, I have a food processor...

This stuff will be fabulous over pasta!


Now I've decided to make arugula chimichurri and spoon it over grilled tofu with julienne carrots for dinner, zowee wowee!

I may need more arugula - JETTE!!!!!!!!Honey, sweetie, cutey girl.....

cooking: flor de calabaza relleno de picadillo

I have several very long calabaza  (squash) vines growing in my garden.  Each morning as I walk through the garden I enjoy the beauty of SO many beautiful yellow blossoms.

I was told recently that I should pick some of them and stuff them - so that's just what I did!

This morning early I went out and picked about a dozen calabaza flowers.

Yesterday, knowing I wanted to make stuffed flor de calabaza, I made some picadillo:
about 1/2 k lean ground beef'
1/2 med onion, chopped fine
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 quartered green olives
all cooked together with about 2 cups homemade salsa de tomate
cook until nearly dry.
If desired add a bit of powdered black pepper or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Vegetarian trick,  I have used crumbled hydrated textured soy protein in place of the meat a bit more seasoning is required.

Pull the ends off the squash blossoms and twist out the stamen, rinse in cold fresh water. If the flower is big enough open it and spoon in picadillo, else I split the blossom open and drop in a big spoon of filling, push edges together and lay cut side down in a casserole.   Spoon your prepared salsa de tomate over the stuffed flors, if desired top with grated cheese, parmesan, monterrey jack, manchego....
Heat thoroughly to melt cheese and serve.

nos han contado (we've been counted)

I started to Title this post nosotros también which means us too!  And then refer back to friend Jonna's blog on the same subject .  I'm still going to refer you to her blog to see what we're talking about!

But then I like her title so much I just decided to use it too!   She pretty much says everything there is to say on the experience, except my Census person was a guy, and I gave him a glass of cold water to drink while we sat on the front entry patio to conduct the interview..

However, I will say I was quite proud of myself being able to carry the entire conversation, and even ask questions to his questions completely in Spanish, heck he even complemented me on my Spanish.  I was quite puffed up!

So here is our door with the sticker, which he said I can remove in about a month.  And then a closeup of the sticker.

Cooking: Tacos de Chaya con Huevo

People are always asking me about things I make - I love using local foods and experimenting with my cooking.

I recently needed a Take Along dish for an event, and being lazy as I am I didn't want to have to run to the Super or around the neighborhood looking for inspiration for something to make.  Instead I decided to use what I had on hand:

Since I have a chaya plant I decided on a tray of Tacos de Chaya con Huevo.

(Chaya is a green leaf vegetable quite similar t spinach but with just a bit more body)

I gathered, cleaned, de-stemmed, and chopped about 2 cups of fresh chaya, chopped a medium onion, minced 2 cloves of garlic, shredded 2 carrots, and cut a zucchini into quarters lengthwise and sliced.  All of this was lightly sauteed in a bit of olive oil with only salt and pepper for seasoning.

To this I added 8 whole eggs well beaten

Cooked completely

stirring the whole while

I then added a generous scoop of filling to each warm fresh tortilla

fold the tortillas, spoon over with salsa de tomate  (recipe below), y voila!

My tomato/tomatoe plants were producing more tomatoes than we could eat so I was making lots of fresh tomato salsa. Chopped fresh tomatoes, a few cloves chopped garlic, some chopped onion to your taste, no need to add liquid as the tomatoes have plenty – Cook over a low heat till reduced. This is a pretty standard Salsa de Tomate. I like a little spice in mine so I also put a slice in a small habanero and cook with the tomatoes but remove before using the salsa. If you roast all your veggies before making the salsa then you have a Salsa de Chiltomate which is really the best! Some folks run this through blender before using, but I prefer the chunkiness.

For the Take Along I just rested the tacos against each other and took the salsa on the side, when ready for service I oven heated them, and as they were placed on a plate the salsa was added, they were a bit messy by this point but held their shape for plating, eating was best done with a fork. Next time it may be better presentation as a layered dish cut into pie wedges.

Along with what Tom and I ate before I prepared the Take Along, I bet this made about 25 tacos.

And boy were they good!!!

Nutrasorb

I was speaking with friends tonight and we were lamenting the heat, and the wrack and ruin of our skin, and faces in particular.   I mentioned a product I've been using for the past year to year and a half.  

Nutrasorb is a very light thin creme that spreads quite thinly over the face to absorb excess oil. An added benefit is that it also prevents or eases excessive sweating of the face.

I swear by this product, love this product, use it regularly and know of at least one other who also is quite pleased.

Well, I was advised by the women I spoke with this evening that I should blog this product, so here you have it!

If you try it I hope you'll report back on your experience.
By the way, it's not just for the girls!!!