I LOVE POTTERY

On Wednesday Chuck, Nancy, Jim and I met another Nancy and took the bus to the corner of Avenida de las Americas and Isabela Catolica to the pottery factory called Artesa. We have been here before and love this place. Not only do they have full sets of beautiful dishware but they also have vases, plaques commemorating different scenes of Cuenca, and all kinds of odds and ends (my favorite part).

This is a ceramic mural, showing the nearby National Park, The Cajas, done by ceramicist Eduardo Vega.


Last year when we came here we had the tour of the factory and got to see lots of folks painting the glaze on the pottery.



This year we met up with another couple, Larry and Linda, who had never been to Artesa before and were looking to buy a full set of dishes for their apartment. Here are Nancy, Nancy and Linda in the showroom.



Last year Nancy had a hard time deciding which would be her dishes pattern but after a bit of trial and error settled on a fabulous pattern in vibrant red orange and mustard yellow (which you can see in the lower right of the previous photo). Unfortunately she has learned that her pattern is no longer being made, so she tries to buy up whatever she can when she finds it. Her pattern comes in several other colors, such as this olive green.

Some of the pottery in this factory was designed by E. Vega, the preemminent Ecuadoarian ceramicist, whose studio is near Cuenca in Turi. Any of you who have seen our bathroom have seen tiles made by E. Vega in our shower. Two years ago we had them made at his studio. Here are some samples of his tile work in the Artesa showroom:



With so many wonderful patterns and objects to look at it is almost overwhelming.



The highlight of any visit to Artesa is going to the "seconds" room where you never know what you will find. Usually we cannot find the flaw which made the item become a second or, if we do, it is so inconsequential that it doesn't matter. I love the seconds department because there are stacks of random tiles. This time I bought a lovely bamboo tile by Vega.


I have no idea what I will do with it. We didn't get to spend long in the seconds as they were doing inventory and really didn't want us in there because most of it had already been counted. We have vowed to go back next week when inventory is over and we can paw through the seconds department.

I wish I had room in my suitcase for something this large:


Look how pretty an Artesa vase looks with flowers in it, in Chuck and Nancy's living room:


Oh, and did I mention, the prices are quite reasonable - and this is all hand painted, artist designed pottery!

Today we are off to Loja for a 4 day adventure, so you will hear from me when we get back. Loja is south of here and about 2,000 feet lower. Chuck is renting some sort of vehicle to go there so we can bring back as much pottery as possible from a special place there. That, as they say, will be a story for another day.

Hasta luego,

Audrey

ORGANIC PRODUCE - AUDREY'S TRIP TO THE COUNTRYSIDE

Last year when Jim was here alone, he made friends with Tom Bremer, an American who lives here and grows organic produce. We turned Tom on to Territorial Seeds, the seed company out of Oregon. Tom was excited to get some pepper, lettuce and tomato seeds from there to try out in his greenhouses. Tom's biggest crop is tomatoes. He sells his produce to local restaurants, such as the Kookaburra. I had one of their salads (with his lettuce and tomatoes) which was outstanding.

Here is Kookaburra co-owner Jenny showing me Tom's Flashy Trout's Back Lettuce.


(For more about the Kookabura, see Nancy's blog http://www.watsontravels.blogspot.com/)

The other great thing about Tom is that his uncle by marriage is a tailor here in Cuenca. We discovered that we can bring fabric and buttons to Cuenca and give the tailor a pattern shirt and he will make Jim a new shirt for $8. This is great for us, because those of you who know me well know that I am a fabric junkie and have a closet FULL of fabric. So when we were in Hawaii recently, we shopped for some more fun hawaiian shirt fabric to add to some from our fabric closet to bring to Ecuador.

So, when we arrived this time, Jim called Tom to make an appointment to take fabric to his uncle. Tom invited Jim to his greenhouses to see the progress from last year. Jim readily agreed and they settled on a time.

Meantime, Jim's upper denture had broken in half a few days before we left for Ecuador. He decided to bring the broken plate to see if it could be repaired (that will be a different blog). Chuck has a dentist he really likes, who speaks English, so he called to get Jim an appointment. As it turns out the appointment was for the next day, when Jim was scheduled to go with Tom. So, I got to go to the tailor and to the greenhouses while Jim went to the dentist.

The tailor is in Cuenca, about a 20 minute drive from the Carolina Bookstore, where Tom picked me up. On the way there Tom suddenly waved at a car coming the opposite direction and pulled over. He got out, saying "I'm going to say hello to my wife." After he got back in the car he explained that he was happy to run in to her before getting to the tailor's shop because he lives in a small neighborhood and people might talk about him having a strange woman in the car.

After the business was concluded at the tailor (we ordered 8 new shirts) we continued on to Tom's greenhouses in the country. Tom is married to a local girl - she's from a small town outside of Cuenca called Sigsig. His wife's family have acreage in the country outside out Cuenca which is where Tom's greenhouses are. We went over some amazingly pot-holed dirt roads to get there. When we arrived we were in a lovely valley surrounded by mountains. This burro was there to welcome us with his braying:


Tom has three nice sized greenhouses where he growns mostly tomatoes, lettuce and peppers. Here's a picture of one of his tomato plants.

Tom put me to work picking cherry tomatoes. I was glad to be inside when a loud thunderstorm started. It didn't last long but sure sounded impressive. I got to meet Juan, the man who built Tom's greenhouses. He and Tom discussed the pros and cons of cherry tomatoes - they taste really good but it takes about a thousand of them to make up a pound!

Tom generously gave me some tomatoes and radishes, which I used in a terrific salad for tonight's dinner. I was so fortunate to get to have this look into the rural life in Ecuador.

Hasta manana,

Audrey

BENIHANA - ECUADOR STYLE

The other night Chuck, Nancy, Jim and I went out to dinner at a wonderful place called "Otabi." This is the Ecuadorian version of Benihana. If you have ever been to a Benihana in the States you know that half the fun of the meal is watching the chef prepare your food in front of you.

We arrived early and were the first ones in, so got to choose our spots around the large gas grills. Here's a look at the menu:
(remember, these prices are in dollars - the local currency).

Chuck ordered the Chateaubriand, Jim ordered the spicey prawns, Nancy ordered the salmon and I ordered the combo seafood plate with salmon, prawns and calamari. We also had several orders of fried garlic and mushrooms - Oh Baby!

Here our chef is adding some oil to the garlic slices.

And turning the prawns:

Lots of action as he turns the meat and seafood, and adds various sauces.






Veggies ready for the grill:

Now he adds the plates to the corners of the grill to warm them up:



The Chateaubriand is plated up:

Yes, it was as good as it looks!

And the garlic was so yummy that I ate too much and it nearly did me in the next day:

After this sumptuous meal we were full, but ordered dessert anyway. The choices were (grilled) banana, pear, raspberry or strawberry. We got everything except strawberries. Look how pretty these are - and who would have thought of grilling raspberries?

Here are the bananas and pears being grilled:


The final products - YUM



Although this wasn't the cheapest of Ecuadorian meals, it was still very reasonable for what we got and a fraction of the price of Benihana. I have been to Benihana and can tell you the show here was just as good - maybe better since we got the chef all to ourselves!

Until next time,
Audrey

SHOPPING IN ECUADOR

Today Chuck, Jim and I went on a mission to buy flowers at the Feria Libre, the huge farmer's market here in Cuenca. This market is for locals (not advertised to gringos because of the incidence of pickpocketing). We love this market because you can buy anything here, straight from the grower. We went clear to the back side of the market to the two stalls where Chuck regularly buys flowers. He spotted a huge bunch of gladiolas and asked the lady how much they were. She held them up, then grabbed another bunch to put with them and said they were $4. Chuck hasn't learned yet how to keep a poker face so his jaw dropped. We were happy to pay this puny sum - and the vendor added in a white rose.


Then we went to the flower lady next door, so we could give her business as well. She had lovely
bunches of mixed flowers. We had a hard time deciding and made Jim choose. Here is his $1 choice:




Chuck discovered that the glads were quite heavy

Here's a typical look at the area in and around the market.




By the time we got to the flower market we had already detoured to the bread lady's house. She puts a sandwich sign on the sidewalk when she is open. You buzz to get in and there is a tiny store off the garden. There we purchased lovely home baked whole grain bread, limes (4 cents each or 16 for 50 cents) and a jar of guayaba jam (like guava). So, we already had stuff in our bags by the time we purchased the flowers. Then we headed back to the food Coop, since we were in the neighborhood. This is the same store that had the "beef jerky of pig." Today's big find was:

Literally, "hamburger of chicken."

Here's another delicacy in these parts, "humitas" which are like tamales but wrapped in banana leaves to steam, instead of corn husks.

I was bummed that the plantains were no longer on sale at 20 for $1. We did buy some anyway. Here's our receipt from that store:


The price you can see after the item is the per kilo price. Here's what we bought:

4 Granadilla (orange fruit) .44
1 mango .22
1 corn cake (like corn bread) .43
1 hand small bananas .31
3 plantains .50
4 tomatoes .51
1 bunch cilantro .18
bag of limes .39
8 peppers (anaheim type) .77
2 liters yogurt 3.98
bunch of avocadoes 1.24
bunch spring garlic 1.08
dried fruit 1.02

We barely made it home with our heavy bags. Here's the sum total of our morning's shopping - all for about $22:

And, Jim wearing his new hat, from yesterday's shopping expedition:


This was only one part of our day today. More to come, such as "Benihana - Ecuador style," "Organic Produce - Audrey's Trip to the Countryside," and "Jim Goes to the Dentist."

Hasta luego,
Audrey

WHY I LOVE ECUADOR

It is so wonderful to be back in Ecuador, and more specifically, Cuenca. We arrived in the evening of New Years Day after over 24 hours of travel (with no bad incidents, just lots of connections and waiting time). The next morning my brother Chuck took Jim and me on a walk in the neighborhood to see some of the changes since last year. One really nifty place across the river from their condo is a Cooperative grocery store. It has many of the same things as the big farmers market but all the fruits and veggies are labelled so it's easier to learn about unknown things.

I knew I was back when I saw this sale on plantains:

Can't wait to get a bunch (50 cent's worth will be ample) and have fried plantains and eggs for breakfast!

I photographed this thinking it was a suckling pig but we had a heated discussion about it later and Jim was right - this is a naked cuy, or guinea pig (notice the claws instead of hooves):

Cuy is quite the delicacy here, especially at Christmas time.

Chuck pointed out this amusing package. Note that in Spanish it simply states "Smoked Dried Meat."

Today we took a walk downtown (that's another story) and, as always, encountered an impromtu parade in the making:



We all fell in love with this donkey who has his tongue out here trying to get the last bit of a popsicle:

I never tire of the local ladies in their wonderful velvet skirts and hats:

While we were having coffees in the courtyard at one of our favorite stops these cuties wandered in:

And, I still don't know what this is, but it sits outside in the sun all day, so I don't think I will ever try it:

I wanted to share these first few impressions with you and will have more adventures soon.

Signing off from the Southern Hemisphere,

Audrey