Mar 15, 2016
Getting back to normal
While Colin was away the hours in the day simply slipped by. Just the everyday living of keeping things tidy both inside and out, walking and then washing the girls off, gardening, and keeping up with emails and reading other blog post left me little personal time. Of course everyone knows that when you are near the end of your vacation time, time itself seems to speed up all on its own.
I never missed a sunset though. This fabulous one was taken last Saturday evening.
The girls did obviously miss Colin but were much better than in the past. Hard to explain other than to say they were more laid back. Carmeh did not have to sit at the gate waiting for him to return day after day although if they heard a vehicle they went to check who it was. They did stick close to me 24/7.
I started a double batch of homemade beans last Friday. First sorting the beans and rinsing them, then soaking them overnight. Saturday morning I simmered them on the stove top, well actually my fabulous induction cook top for an hour. Meanwhile I chopped onions and mixed all kinds of wonderful things like mustard, ketchup, molasses, etc into the bottom of my crockpot. Soon I added the beans and then covered with water. They cooked on low for about eight hours when I took them out to cool. If I were home I would have cooked them in a bean pot @ 250F for 7 hours in the oven. I think they were better cooked in the oven, next time I would cook them for 10 hours on low in the crockpot. I haven’t made these for a few years now.
Colin arrived just about 7PM Sunday evening. The girls were over the top with tail wags, barks and face kisses. We all had a grand reunion. Once things settled down dinner was a reheated batch of beans. They were great but such a lot of work, guess that is why I don’t make them too often. I have a meal of them in the freezer to be enjoyed one night on the road North, likely when it is wet, windy and chilly.
We have spent the last few days getting back into a family routine as well as Colin catching up on his sleep. It has been overcast for a few days, still around 26C but gray and windy but still humid. The weather should pick up in a few days. It has been a week now of unusual weather for the area. I am not complaining as walking is much cooler this way.
Sadly my camera started acting up just before I went to Culiacan, something with the contacts. Sometimes I could turn it on and other times not. It is only two years old but very well used. New ones, for the very same model and year are almost double what I paid 2 years ago. So today we took a quick trip into Mazatlan to visit that wonderful camera repair fellow just off the Plazuela Machado. He said he would have an answer for us tomorrow afternoon. While in town we took advantage of a most delicious lunch at Tony’s, a shrimp burger of course. We also bought some produce at the mercardo. It would be so great to shop there every few days but I’d rather live on the Isla.
This was the sunset last Sunday, Colin of course just missed it.
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Well, now I have beans on my mind… I have never made them from scratch, and will do so soon. Lovely sunsets!
Hi Contessa, I learned from Nancy to put boiling water on the beans in the crockpot – cooking time is less as it takes a long tome for the beans to get to simmer when started with cold liquid be it water or a broth of some kind. To me they sound delicious and well worth the effort. As always love those sunset pictures.