What's Cooking Good Looking?!

Taco Salad
1 can of beans (black, pinto)
Lettuce Greens (spinach, romaine)
Green Onions chopped
2 Tomatoes cubed
1 Avocado cubed
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Crunched up tortilla chips
Salsa


It is not necessary to cook the beans, but I prefer to cook them along with some chopped white onions and lightly season with garlic salt and lawry's seasoning salt.
While the beans cook, prepare the salad.
Treat the crunched tortilla chips as a version of croutons.  The salsa, like the dressing.  I believe that the salsa really makes or breaks the salad.  I recommend using fresh salsa bought from the grocery deli section.  I have enjoyed fresh salsa from Beans & Barley, Elegant Farmer and Metro Mart.

Treat of the Week

Door County Cherry Dessert

1/2 cup of Door County Cherries (these are cherries sweetened, not pie filling)

1 cup of Vanilla flavored yogurt

3-4 crumbled gram crackers

This simple dessert taste more like cheese cake than yogurt and cherries.  Door County Cherries which can be purchased at most Wisconsin Market stores (Outpost, Sendiks, Elegant Farmer, etc. ).  

Quito's Art and Graffiti

When I first visited Quito, eight years ago, I found the incredible amount of graffiti everywhere that I turned to be a hindrance to the paradise beauty of the city.




Now, I enjoy the art. I love how images magically appear... never do I see the artist at work. In the future I plan to extensively record the artwork I find everywhere in the city of Quito. For now, here are a few photos taken from my most recent trip:

The Coast

Geo, Anabelle and I took an excursion outside of Quito. Instead of taking a bus for 10 hours, we flew for 30 minutes into Manta, on the coast of the Pacific. A taxi offered to take us to La Hosteria, AlandaLuz. Compared to hotel prices in the States, you can't compare the price you pay. We try to The hotel serves excellent meals, the property is gorgeous, the cabins are beautiful and the feeling of seclusion is liberating.

Sadly, we could only stay for a day. We caught a bus heading southward along La Ruta del Sol, The route of the Sun, to our next destination, Montañita. This hippy/surfer town is more a destination for college students, but we can't resist continuing to visit.

We stay at two different hotels. Both are air conditioned, have a bar and restaurant, and a pool. It's great to spend the day at the beach, but to continue to swim in a pool. With Anabelle, this is almost mandatory.

This year we stayed at Hotel Baja Montañita. It is outside of the town and we can walk to it either by road, but preferably by beach. It is at the end of the beach where most of the surfers surf. It is more private and family oriented compared to the hostels in the town. I enjoy the walk along the coast. Just long enough.

The other hotel, we have stayed at a few times is in town, called Charo's Hostal. We have come to know the owners who are very nice. The hotel has its own entrance to the beach and if you enjoy being right in the town, I recommend staying here.


The challenging part of finding a place to stay is that many hotels do not accept reservations. I see it is an adventure. Some people may find the insecurity unnerving. By now I am used to it and it's all part of the experience of our travel.

We stayed in Montañita for two days. We would have stayed an additional day, but we couldn't change our flight schedule.

Someday when we have our own vehicle, we plan to drive the entire route. Make our own stops and really take advantage of the beautiful coast.


By then we'll have have another traveler on our hands. So exciting!

Nono Landia

So slowly and surely this land that Geo has accumulative(ly) been purchasing for the past couple years is progressively becoming more attainable in regards to walking it and eventually being able to live upon.

In the meanwhile we trek out on the winding mountain road, a 45 minute drive to Nono Land, to have a family/friend grill out. We play volleyball...







walk the mountain, enjoy the company, the food and the fresh air.









It is exciting to have land again even though we only get to enjoy it a few times a year.
It's a valuable investment for our future and adds many possibilities of what we can do. If you are interested in knowing more of the town, Nono, read this link. http://www.nono.ec/
http://www.nonoecuador.com/html/nono/town.htm

Christmas and New Years in Quito Ecuador

Christmas in Ecuador is celebrated the Eve of Christmas, Buena Noche. This includes a Secret Santa, Amigo Secreto, and a dinner. The dinner was absolutely fantastic and I wish I had a photo of every dish: Russian Salad, Turkey marinated in white wine, baked cheesy potatoes, mushroom gravy, red cabbage salad... So Delicious!!! After the meal which can be as late as midnight, the adults drink and dance until the wee hours of morning. This makes sense as to why they open gifts Christmas Eve rather than morning.

In an attempt to create my own family tradition with Anabelle, I had her gifts from Santa Claus under the tree Christmas morning and her stocking stuffed with a jump rope, a wooden recorder, m&ms. She also received pajamas, new clothes and play dough pizza maker. She was thrilled. The remainder of the day is relaxed. Most people don't wake up until the afternoon because they stayed up so late Christmas Eve. In this aspect I miss celebrating the holiday with my family within my culture... As the years progress we will solidify our own traditions and I will feel more secure in the holiday.

New Years is quite the celebration also. We had dinner around 9pm. Another delicious meal including chicken stuffed with spinach with melted mozzarella, wild rice with parmesan cheese, potatoes, red cabbage salad... I hope to have another one of these meals before returning to Milwaukee.

Besides the meal, another huge aspect of New Years is El Viejo, the old one. Best way to describe this is like a a scarecrow. You purchase a paper mached face that you add to the clothed body stuffed with news paper. The face can be representative of a political figure, a cartoon character or famous

actress/musician, typically El Viejo is representative of a member of the family. Come midnight, the burn piles in the street are lit with the Viejos on top. You burn the year before to start the new year fresh. It is a cleansing ritual.

Witch hats and wigs are commonly worn this day. Work parties usually have a man dressed as a woman. I don't know why is significant of this tradition. What I have seen more of recently is that the gay men dress as women walking the streets, passing stopped cars for money and hopping on buses.

I enjoyed myself and Anabelle for the first time stayed awake to welcome the New Year (thanks to a late two hour nap).

Besides these two holidays, the only other I have experienced in Ecuador is Carnival ( Monday and Tuesday before lent). For this I was in the town Banos. It is common to soak people with water, smash eggs on their heads, or spray each other with something similar to silly spray. I was a huge target and needed my own spray in order to defend myself.