Category Archives: South America

More Organic Produce

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Ok I have done a couple of posts about this before, but I just had to do another one. As you know we have delivered every week Organic produce for $5.00. Early in the week they tell us what is available and we can change things but I don’t think we have as yet.

This morning the following was delivered and filled up this bag:

As you can see it is completely full!

Now what all did it have in it you might be thinking – think no more – here is the list:
Carrots
Beets
Cauliflower
Radishes
Spinach
Cilantro
Watercress
Swiss Chard
Basil
Baby Zucchini ( will tell you a story later about this)
Rocket
Parsley

When you lay it all out – this is what it looks like…

Now for the Baby Zucchini story…

It isn’t just an interesting little story. You see here a lot of the locals don’t do anything with Zucchini and as a result they don’t know what to do with it. They grow it, like a few other things, just for the Gringos. Usually you find pretty good sized Zucchinis, about the size of a large cucumber or even larger. A cook from New York that lives here and also speaks Spanish, talked long and hard to a couple of different growers, one being our organic people, about how we like baby Zucchini’s. That is how we started getting them available. Except for our Organic grower that we get our Veggies from – you still have to ask and wait and then maybe you will get some baby Zucchini’s.

But the growers here are happy to provide what we want or like once they understand so it is a learning experience for everyone.

The First Commercial Order

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Yes I make bread, as if you didn’t know that all ready. It is Sourdough from a starter that is over 100 years old. Of course I wasn’t there when it was started but I can tell you that I have had it since the mid 70’s to make bread and all things sourdough with.

A restaurant in town liked my bread and wanted to use it in the restaurant I said sure I will make some for you. Then they got to thinking and needed some flat bread too. So I made some Naan bread and let them try that – they liked that too. This morning I delivered the first order, two loaves of Sourdough Cinnamon Sugar bread and a whack of Naan Bread. Here is a picture before I delivered it. Yes I do deliveries directly to the door, but not just for anyone.

Did you know that from the beginning of time until about 1875, when commercial yeast was invented, all bread was sourdough. Check out the heath benefits on the Internet.

A quick note on the Naan bread – Sourdough Naan is the way they have always made it, that is until the late 1800’s or so when Commercial Yeast became available. Ok maybe they didn’t make it with Alaskan Sourdough but a sourdough of sorts is what they had. That means for the first time in many peoples memory, at least those that taste my Naan bread, are eating Naan that is really how it was originally made for like ever!

Another Day another Parade…The Horse Parade

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Every week it seems there is a Parade of some sort. Since we are currently right downtown and most activities go right down our street the activities keep us busy with the bands and the like. In fact we just received an email that outlined the celebrations for September and it looks like a very full month of activities. An amazing amount of activities for a town of 8,500. But I digress the purpose of this little post was to talk about the Horse Parade that happened today.

The first information we received about today’s Parade said it would start something like 9:30am; then we were told 10:00am; a couple days ago they changed it to 11:00am. Well… it did start about 11:45. Remember this is Ecuador and they have there own time zone and nothing starts on time. But finally, here they come…

They even have floats too – here are a couple examples…

What parade isn’t complete without dead chickens I ask you…

Of course we had to show you a star of future parades too…


Remember that old Cher song – Bang Bang – remember the words?
I was five and you were six
We rode on horses made of sticks
I wore black, you wore white
You would always win the fight
ok ok here is a link to the song – not the original but still the same
Cher – Bang Bang
It kinda fits to the song don’t you think?

Here is another little cutie from the Parade…

This was a very slow parade but some were ready and expected it to be slow. We happened to capture this couple that were even tied onto their saddle. The look in his face says it all…

Yes there were horses too – I would guess about 150 or so.

All in all, we had a great day watching the Parade.

Vista view

New House Plans

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Vista view

Vista View

We just got these this morning, what do you think?
Its the right size 230 sq meters with 55 sq meters of deck (approx 2400 sq feet, 577 sq feet)

Close up floor pan master wing faces Mt Imbabura, Kitchen faces Mt Cotacachi

Breaking news in Cotacachi!!!!

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Parade of the Horses this Sunday

I was beginning to think that we were going to have a weekend without a Parade – Whew I need not worry about being without a weekend Parade.  We will try to take some pictures and put them up here after the weekend.

Once a year the horse owners in the area parade their horses up Leather Street. Many of the riders are in full regalia, and there are some beautiful Passafino, Arabian and other horses.

The riders gather at Plaza del Sol at 9 AM, and parade up Leather Street around 10:00 to 10:30 [subject to Ecuadorian time!] on their way to the Bull Ring outside of town. It is an interesting spectacle.

The afternoon is filled with amateur bull fighting (they don’t kill the bulls) and other activities.

Produce Delivery Just arrived

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Yes another delivery of Organic Produce, just like last week but I couldn’t resist showing it. Yes this too was $5.00 delivered to our door. This is what we received this week:

1 bunch Italian Parsley (hard to see it is under the Basil in the picture)
1 bunch Carrots
4 each Leeks
1/2 lb Mizuna (look it up, it is on the far right in the picture and is pretty cool stuff)
5 each Green Peppers
1/2 lb Spinach (on the far left in the bag)
2 heads Red Lettuce
1 bunch Basil
2 each Zucchini

We have some Cilantro and a bit of lettuce left over from last week and that is it. Already looking forward to eating this this week. Don’t expect us to put this up every week it is just that it all looks so great I had to share it.