This year the theme for the Take Joy Society get-togethers will center around our travel adventures. Today I was the first to share. I took everyone to the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. They saw my photos, ate and drank chocolate, and played with clay. If you have not already followed along on Morning Musings you can catch-up at these links to see the photos:
I take you on a tour of our hotel in the center of Merida. . . .
In this post I talk about what I liked about our vacation and what I did not like so much. . . .
This post talks about the cuisine, my shopping experience, and the architecture. . . .
These posts were about the museums, culture events, and side trips we took. . . .
The last one is a slide show of scenes from Playa del Carmen. . . .
At the end of my slide show I showed them these YouTube videos. The first one explains how fairtrade cacao (pronounced ca-COW) beans are grown. I passed around raw, roasted cacao beans for everyone to sample. . . .
Next we watched a video of how cacao is used to make drinking chocolate. . . .
Then I passed around samples of ki'Xocolatl (pronounced kee shoc-co-LA-tal) chocolate (72% cocoa) while they watched a video of the Choco-Story Museum in Uxmal, Mexico. . . .
You can read more about the history of chocolate and its importance in Mayan culture HERE. To make it easier to read the article click on the Show Reader View bar (left hand side of the URL box).
Now it was time to sample another traditional food of the Yucatan--guacamole. I used my Mexican daughter-in-law's recipe (avocados, onion, roman tomatoes, fresh cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, salt), but added cacao nibs (raw chocolate pieces) after reading David Wolfe's "Top 5 Reasons to Love Raw Cacao" where he claims it's a recipe thousands of years old. . . .
We started with Green Tea with orange zest & cocoa bean shells that I brought back from Mexico. Ken made the tortilla chips from scratch--he made the tortillas from "pre-cooked yellow corn meal" from a local Latino market, then cut them into pieces and fried them in oil. . . .
On the table is a model of a Mayan Calendar. I also set out more chocolate nibs. . . .
Later I made a pot of Taza Chocolate Super Dark drinking chocolate using water, which we drank while working on our craft. Because it was 85% cocoa everyone added a little more sugar. . . .
For our craft I made air-dry clay. This is the tutorial I used. . . .
I used lemon juice instead of vinegar so I did not add the peppermint oil. I microwaved it four 15-second intervals. After the 24-hour wait I found it to still be limp, so I added more cornstarch and kneaded it several more minutes. Then I put it in the refrigerator and by today it was just the right consistency--so you will have to play around with it a bit until your clay looks like hers when you pull it apart. If you add the color to it, it will make it softer and harder to work with, so you may want to wait to paint it after it is dried.
Here we are working on our projects. I handed out books to get ideas. . . .
Cindy is making a Day of the Dead figure from the Tree of Life book. The Mexican Tree of Life folk art is intricate and individually expressive of the artist's imagination. This page gives you some close-ups of these beautiful art pieces. . . .
She also made miniature flowers to go in her miniature flower pot that is drying upside down. . . .
Chris made a decorated bowl and will paint it once it is dry. She used a glass bowl lined with cellophane to form the bowl shape. . . .
Carol used cookie cutters to make different ornaments for her grandchildren to paint. . . .
I made a folk art apple tree with a dove. I added paint to my clay before molding it. . . .
It was very relaxing to work with the clay. Let me know if you make the clay and what you created.
Next month Cindy will take us to Italy!
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Take Joy!
I'm so sorry I had to miss this!
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DeleteTo start, I HAVE to say - Ken's homemade tortilla chips look MUCH better to me than the "commercial" ones sold in grocery stores. MUCH better. I think it's great he tried making his own! What a bundle of culinary talent there! No kidding - has he always enjoyed cooking? Or did it come later on for him? Hope I haven't already asked you that. In my family, Mom was definitely the cook but my Dad was totally in charge of weekend breakfasts [nothing could beat his ham-and-eggs or pancakes - or his French fries for that matter]. And of course like nearly all Dads in the 50s & 60s he was Griller-in-Chief. We never saw a mom OUTSIDE cooking at the grill - this was man country all the way. I have quite a vivid memory of being 5 or 6 and we were having spiedies [spelling?] for 1 PM Sunday dinner. Delicious little nuggets of lamb marinated for hours in some amazing Greek sauce [lemon, garlic, onion, oil?] and grilled in the open air. I can still remember the intoxicating smell in the air. Not surprisingly a large number of the Dads on our street just happened to stroll on down to "chat up" my Dad at that particular time [Dad confabs on our street USUALLY took place in Saturday afternoons]. Did you ever put chili in when you made hot chocolate? I've read that it's quite traditional in many Latino/Hispanic cuisines for chili peppers in some form to be added to homemade hot chocolate. That sounds very appealing & my niece has had hot chocolate with a pinch of chipotle powder that she liked very much. Guess I need to do some research. I love all the ways your group used the clay too. These ladies - so creative. And practical too. I saved the video. Actually this whole post got "bookmarked" because every year my sisters & sisters-in-law do a project together right after Thanksgiving together, and I'm going to suggest doing this clay one this year. The cutest ideas here. Plus not difficult, or expensive, and with limitless possibilities really. I'd do this with a bunch of first graders any day. I bet Olivia could do this easily too! Of course, Olivia IS a gifted child, but wouldn't have to be to have fun with this - LOL.
ReplyDeleteKen worked in a restaurant in high school, but I did all the cooking, except for the BBQ grill over the years. Once he retired, though, he took over half the cooking, bakes bread and cookies, and cleans up after himself. He even has his own improvised kitchen in the basement! He bought a second-hand stove. We kept our old refrigerator when we bought our new one 7 years ago. He uses the sink in the workroom to wash up. Built his own cabinet to hold his pots and pans, etc I told him, all he needs is a bathroom down there and he could live there--the TV is down there along with the laundry room and his computer. 😊 I have tried the hot chocolate with the chili and am not a fan or it. But chili is good for you, so it's probably a "health drink" for them since they don't use as much sugar as we do in ours. Did you watch the David Wolfe video about the health benefits of raw chocolate? I had some dough left over and do plan to let Olivia play with it. It's totally safe to eat because my little 😇would probably give it a taste as soon as I told her not to eat it.
DeleteNow I want to get me some "raw" chocolate! And listen to more David Wolfe things too. Maybe the 21st century really WILL be the century that shows us how much of what we need to stay healthy and prevent illness is already here, in our plants! I think I'd LOVE Mexican chocolate too, because I don't really go for SWEET all that much. I never sweeten coffee or tea - or even grapefruit. I prefer tart fruit overall - apples etc. I do love little bites of baking chocolate and that has a bittersweetness to it for sure. Getting the taste of chocolate with little or no sugar sounds fine - especially if it's good for me!
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DeleteMy goodness, Cathy, your adventures are expanded into greater fun when you get home. I love how you delve into all the aspects of the Mayan. You could have your own travelogue classes for folks that are unable to travel, but still get a taste of the culture. ♥
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