Janet Lowe

Art and Life in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

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Samantha’s Xcatic Shrimp and Fish

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Xcatic Cream Sauce over Shrimp and Fish

Samantha, our Mexican daughter in Playa del Carmen, and I created an amazing meal earlier this week. We cook together often and help each other with our English and Spanish in the process.  The dinner took some time to create but came together beautifully. First seven fresh xcatic  chilies were roasted on the stove top flame until blackened along with garlic wrapped in tin foil and heated on the flame. The chilies were placed in a bag to sweat for 10 minutes so the blackness could be easily removed. They were placed in a blender with a couple boxes of media creama, a little milk and powdered boullion then  warmed without boiling in a large pan.

Next the job was shelling 1 1/2 kilos of shrimp. I put to work my friend Marilou Young who arrived early. These were then sautéed in butter with a little garlic olive oil and 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary by Samantha. Meanwhile I chopped vegetables for a pasta salad including a whole head of cauliflower, broccoli and 3 carrots. These were steamed, cooled and mixed with curly pasta, olive oil, salt and pepper.
A kilo of white fish fillet pieces were also sautéed in the shrimp pan.

The partially cooked shrimp and fish were added to the cream sauce for 10 more minutes. Bits of fresh rosemary were sprinkled on top. Dinner was served with 1/2 plate of pasta with veggies and the other half with seafood and cream sauce. It all blended into one dish and was a total delight for eight guests!

 

Another Library Due to Open in April

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Another public school in need of a library has been discovered and plans are going forward to create the biblioteca in Escuela Rodolfo Menendez Primaria April 11, bringing together Leyendo and Library in a Week again. When I talked with one of the teachers he told me that the school did indeed already have a library so I asked to come see it. What I found was a storage room for old student workbooks that the government provides each year, some metal bookshelves, broken school desks and a couple plastic picnic tables. Each school is provided with a room for a library but no books. And my organization, Leyendo, had already given all the donated books to previous libraries so we started from scratch needing to gather all we could find.

The Leyendo fundraiser at Pueblo SacBe had provided some much needed cash so I began checking out Amazon.com.mx for Spanish language children’s books and making orders. I started with just a couple as I was unsure how dependable delivery would be but it worked like a charm – as long as I wanted to stay home for days and weeks to receive their shipments as they wouldn’t just toss them over the fence but needed a signature for every delivery.

While in Valladolid recently I discovered a Dante Bookstore with a huge children’s section. And especially these two series that Dante publishes with great art work and absolutely charming stories.

We have gathered over 200 books to start this new library. Both the morning and afternoon directors are excited about the project and have promised to appeal to parents and students for help with cleaning, painting and decorating the space. I have had fun researching Spanish language children’s books, remembering the stories I read to my kids and anticipating the joy with which these students will receive this gift of knowledge.

Edited classic tales from Maxar Bookstore, donated by a generous benefactor.

Karen

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Karen, our canal guide.

As we floated the fresh water canal in the Muyil part of Sian Ka’an I talked with Karen, an assistant to our guide Pastor. She is from Aguascalientes, near Guanajuato in central Mexico. She quit school at age 14 and has worked as a tour guide with the whale sharks on Isla Mujeres, just got this job with Pastor at Muyil and spends 6 months a year in California. She has a visa that is good for 10 years. I did not ask her age but she said she is wiser now and is finishing her high school degree online. We talked art and photography, families, global preservation, and so worth. Her English is quite good but she wants more vocabulary. I gave her my number.

I fear this is the life of too many young Mexican kids. But it was a wonderful float together.

Leyendo’s New Libraries in Use

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Aurora, the Story Teller

Last week Leyendo began programs in the new libraries with Aurora Meade telling the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes.  She was terrific with first and second graders who divided to make an isle for the king to parade down, one side clapping very slowly while the other side gasped in surprise.

 
Today we continued with Megan Mcwhinnie Crouse reading The Little Red Hen in Spanish to third and fourth graders at Adriana Cupul Itza elementary school. After the story each child was given paper to draw a character from the story and drawings were posted on the branches of the tree painted in the corner of the library.

Megan begins the story.

Sultan and Me in Second Library

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Sultan of Library in a Week and me.

This is Sultan Utm of Library in a Week in Toronto, Canada and me celebrating the creation of two libraries in a single week. Many weeks preceded this week of construction gathering and sorting books from many sources, assembling the Leyendo crew, making arrangements with school directors and parent volunteers and preparing all the supplies that would be needed during this intense week. But it all worked and we have smiles from every child who enters these bright, shiny spaces that will help open their horizons.