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The Expat Almanac

The Expat Almanac

Author Archives: Louise

Lard, Lust, and Laughter

25 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by Louise in Travel

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Cooking, cooking class, Mexican cooking, Puerto Vallarta

Tamales anyone

Still trying to tell one chili from another, I signed up for Dolores Brittingham’s famous top-secret, top-drawer, word-of-mouth-only cooking class, which promised hands-on experience and a generous and scrumptious menu, plus unlimited wine. Dolores, who is Filipino, Spanish, and Mexican, has been teaching cooking for thirty years. As many as sixteen students can crowd around in her gorgeous gold- and green-tiled kitchen. Before moving to Puerto Vallarta, she and her husband Rob worked for Boeing in Seattle, and now return to the Northwest only for September and October. These months are Hades in Puerto Vallarta.

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Dia de Muertos, Part One

02 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by Louise in Gallery, Sentiments, Travel

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Dia de Muertos, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta

P1040690

In Mexico the whole Halloween thing is overshadowed by a more ancient version of the holiday: a combination of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day called Dia de Muertos (“Day of [the] Dead” — which this year is today, November 2nd). On this day the Mexicans celebrate the lives of the people they’ve lost, with altars. The altars typically have a picture of the late dearly beloved, as well as bottles of whatever libations and vices the person preferred, favorite foods, and symbolic objects.
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The Tale of Eleven Tacos

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Mexican taco, Puerto Vallarta, taco stand

IMG_3775

I’ve been eating in Mexican restaurants for a zillion years, but I didn’t know how ignorant I was about Mexican cuisine until faced with multitude of unidentifiable foodstuffs in the Mexican supermarket. Dried beef? Tripe? Hominy? Pozole? Menudo?
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Bouncin’ on the Blue Bus

28 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Gallery, Travel

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Blue Bus, Puerto Vallarta

image

We live right on the beach, so when we go downtown or uptown, we take the blue bus. For 45 American cents, we can go just about anywhere we need to.

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Doing Nothing? Nothing Doing!

15 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by Louise in Travel

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

doing nothing, Puerto Vallarta

bedridden

I am a caged animal, strapped into a hot, sweaty sling, with a healing wound on my shoulder. It’s too hot to sit outside when a girl can’t swim, and I’m too cheap to sit inside in the air-conditioning for long. So I pace back and forth. I bead, and read, and pace again. I’m eager to go somewhere and don’t feel like it either.
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Bring It!

09 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

imports, Mexico

bring it

Sometimes when you go to visit friends in third world countries, you are asked to bring something desperately needed and locally unavailable. Peanut butter. Clinique cosmetics. VooDoo Donuts.
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San Francisco Surprise

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by Louise in Gallery, Travel

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

America's Cup, Disney, San Francisco

1380070085532
I would love San Francisco even if the fabulous firstborn son Ted did not live here. It’s always beautiful, always its unique self, and always full of surprises.
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Snacking with a Noogler

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Louise in Travel

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Google, Noogler, Seattle

Noogler-hat.jpg

Before we leave the US for Mexico, I am eagerly visiting my perfect handsome brilliant sons. I had not bothered them in a long time; motherly visits were overdue.

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Oh Heck No Tech

16 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Louise in Travel

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

technology, travel

no_technology (1)

Did we tell you? We’re back in the U.S. for a month, catching our breath, visiting relatives, friends, and doctors. You’ve read all the happy chit-chat about our adventures, but you may have noticed that lately that has all been coming from Tom.
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He Lives in Laglio, Which Means Garlic

26 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Louise in Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bellagio, George Clooney, Lake Como

boat to george2

Tom wants nothing to do with this blog entry – an unworthy topic, he feels, a yawn at that. But the readers, especially the girls, have been begging. Can I find him? Did I see him? Is there a new girlfriend? Ever since George Clooney bought Villa Oleandra, the former Heinz mansion, in 2002 for $10 million, his name has been synonymous with Lake Como.

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