Mexico Life

My slow love for Mexican food…

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Some of you who read The Travelling Chopsticks regularly, may wonder why I never write about Mexican food, and I really must admit to you that when I first moved to Mexico, I really wasn’t all that impressed with it (I can almost hear your disappointment in me!)

I really don’t know why I didn’t like it – maybe it was a combination of eating in the wrong places, or not really knowing what to eat – but I just always felt uninspired. However until recently this view has begun to change, and change quite drastically at that, and I find myself even starting to crave certain dishes! I had even thought to start being more adventurous, and begin to showcase the best Mexico has to offer on this blog.

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Day of the Dead and San Angel

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Yesterday was Day of the Dead or rather Dia de los Muertos – which has to be one of Mexico’s most interesting, extraordinary and colourful celebrations. You may think the combination of the words ‘dead’ and ‘celebration’ in one sentence slightly off-kilter, but this is what the day is all about – a celebration of death, and hence a celebration of life.

Unlike in Europe or most “Western” culture death is not something to be feared here in Mexico, it is (quite rightly) something to be embraced, as ultimately we are all going to die so why be scared of it? Traditionally the Aztecs believed that life was a dream and that you only started living once you died – then you were truly awake.

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Pumpkin Pie

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I made pumpkin pie for the first time!

For those of you living in the States and Mexico, this may seem a bit odd – but I think it is a very American thing to use pumpkin in a desert or sweet format. As I am an avid reader of food blogs, since October every blog I visited had at least ONE pumpkin recipe! So I decided that it was high time that I too bake with this fantastic fruit! Keep Reading

Survival Tips on Being An Expat “Lady of Leisure”

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Yes, it may sound very appealing, but being a “lady of leisure” is not all what it is cracked up to be. Especially, if you are in a new country away from you family and friends, your comforts and you don’t understand the language.  It can all be very daunting and quite lonely.

Frankly speaking, the only reason why we are in a country we do not know, without a job, with no friends or family for support, is that we followed our boyfriends, husbands, significant others to the other side of the world to be with them. There are many of us out there, some complete newbies like myself and others are long-term veterans, who have followed their partner from post to post almost their entire adult lives.

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Engagment, Work & Fail Safe Yellow Cake with Dulce de Leche

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Hello….I’mback!

I am so sorry to have been so quite the last two week – I really had planned to come back from New York and post at least two articles by now, but I have been distracted. The reasons for my distraction (and I’m sure you will agree with me they are very good ones) is that ‘C’ proposed to me while we were in New York! Can you believe it? I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am, and how happy we are. Who would have thought that the boy I met on the beach in Bali less than 3 years ago, will now be my future husband – its funny how the world works!! Although, now its time to plan the wedding, but my goodness, where in the world do we start? Peru? Singapore? Sweden? Mexico? Its no wonder that I have had a hard time focusing on my blog!

'C's first cameo appearance!

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New York here I come!

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Have I mentioned recently that I have the best boyfriend in the world? God, I hate the word ‘boyfriend’ it sounds so primary school, yet what are the alternatives? manfriend, partner, other half….they don’t sound any better!

Anyway I digress – I really do have the best boyfriend man in the world, who is taking me to New York City tomorrow. Yup, the Big Apple, the Big Smoke, the city everyone seems to have been to apart from me, and I can hardly contain my excitement!

Do you see what I mean about being the best boyfriend?

Hence over the next week it will be slightly quite here on The Travelling Chopsticks, as I am taking a short break – but I am sure you can all manage without me :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend – and to the Americans..Happy Colombus Day (on Monday!)

Azulpastel – A Quaint Cafe

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Any of you who have lived or worked in Mexico know how soul destroying a trip to the Mexican immigration can be – the inefficiency, the bureaucracy, the “don’t care attitude” is enough to break the most patient of people.

"Computer says no"

For the last two months I have been making regular trips to immigration as I have been in the process of applying for a work permit here – and I have always left broken. But not today! Today I was almost skipping out of that building I have grown to destet– waiving my new work permit! Today is a good day :)

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Polanco: A day at the park!

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I fell in love with Mexico pretty much the first time I came to visit ‘C’ almost two years ago! I don’t know if I initially fell in love with it because of the country itself, or rather because the man I was in love with lived here and it represented an unknown future– but now that I have been living here for over a year, I can say without a doubt that I love it because of the country that it is.

When I talk to my friends back in Europe and Asia, they always ask me what is it like living in Mexico? Aren’t I scared due to all the violence? How do I cope living in one of the world’s largest and most dangerous cities?

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Everything Happens for a Reason

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You know the expression ‘everything happens for a reason’? of course you do – im sure you have heard it countless times, especially when something bad happens  to you. In fact, it is so commonly used that it has this unfortunate ‘sickly Hallmark’ cliché feel to it.

I say ‘unfortunate’ because it is not only a phrase that I use very often (and I don’t consider myself a hallmark cliché!), but it is an expression that I tend to live my life by. I truly believe that everything in life does happen for a reason -both good and bad- and that the world sends you subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) messages and hints that you can either take, or ignore. Either way, the world has plans for you and sometimes they do not fit into the plans that you had made for yourself.

A perfect example of this, and a strong reminder to me, were a series of events that all culminated last week.

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A Long Weekend in Guanajuato

~ The Travelling Chopsticks ~ 5 Comments
It was the American Labour day weekend last weekend (5th September), and one of the many perks of ‘C’s’ job is that he gets both Mexican and American public holidays off. The later is fantastic when you want to go away for long weekends here in Mexico as it means you don’t have to jostle and fight for space with the rest of the population – believe me, this makes a huge difference in terms of the traffic and your subsequent peace of mind!

This trip was a very last minute affair, as ‘C’ only realised he had the day off towards the end of last week, and he phoned me up from work and asked if I wanted to go away for the weekend? Mmm..of course!! So we quickly did a bit of research, booked our hotel and by 8 o’clock on Saturday morning we were on the road to Guanajuato.

Despite the rain, you can see the colourful houses
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