acapulco chair

I love my Acapulco Chair! We got it in Coatepeque and we're going back for another one! It's like a rocking chair and hammock all in one. It's the supreme book-reading/lounging in the sun chair!

Happy All Saint's Day!

Greetings from Guatemala on All Saint's Day (Dia de Todosantos)!!! We'll be in the cemetary today for sure. This is a special day here. Families gather in cemetaries; they clean and decorate their family/loved ones graves and picnic there all day. The traditional dish of the day is a funky mix of up to 50 ingredients called, Fiambre. Flying kites is a popular past-time on this day; creating a link between life on earth and the lives of those that have passed to the other side. This will be our 2nd year participating in the tradition. =)


These giant handmade kites are just amazing.

Fiambre. Putting a 'blue flower' on top is super popular fancy!
We've yet to have the pleasure of sampling some local Fiambre.

(Already walking around today more cars than not that have gone by me have someone with a big ol' dish of 
 Fiambre in their lap! It's kind of awesome! )

frijoles frescos!

                               
I haven't figured out exactly what type of beans these are but, I sure am enjoying them! They are gorgeous and so much fun to work with. We've started drying and collecting our favouritest ones. My boyfriend said the sweetest thing; he says, "One day we won't live in Guatemala and have access to these beans and you'll be so happy to have a dried little collection of them.", darn tootin' sweet boyfriend!

Growing up in the South in a truly 'Southern' family, I was always around bushels of fresh beans and peas. I loved sitting around the backyard in the shade tree shelling them with  my Granny and aunts. We usually 'put them up' (canned) and I am sure I ate plenty of fresh peas and beans but, I don't recall any kind of fresh beans like these at all.

Beans have to be one of my fondest foods. They are beyond healthful and combining them with grains such as rice offers such a complete meal. I recently made sure we ate beans and grains everyday for 2 weeks just to see if we'd feel different and we absolutely did! We noticed that overall we felt way more satisfied in the hungry & craving departments. I'm just going to colour us lucky that we love beans so much!!

colourful corn

It doesn't take much to amaze me and put a wonderous smile on my face! That's exactly what happened when I 'shucked' this corn. I've never seen corn like the corn I see here. And even more so, I have never tasted corn like the corn here. Truth be told, I wasn't all that much of a corn eater before I moved here. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike corn, I ate it and I liked it whether it was corn on the cob, creamed corn, corn pudding, corn bread, or hello popcorn! But. But, I didn't exactly think corn was offering me all that much. I didn't choose it as a side when cooking or use it as an ingredient much. But, here the corn is exciting and delicious. My favourite way to eat it is boiled then roasted on a grill, topped with lime & salt. This scrumptous treat is served on the street in corn husks. There is nothing like natural packaging!

putting together a daily dishware set of pyrex.

My family (grandmothers, many aunts, countless cousins, my mother and now brother) adores dishes from across the ages. My mom and brother are in the midst of a pyrex frenzy and I've caught the bug. I won't be 'collecting' per se but, am in the process of assembling a daily set of mixed and matched white and turquoise pyrex. My darling brother has started for me! He is a lucky duck living near a bunch of dope thrift stores in Pasco County, Florida. You can see his finds and part of my mom's collection on my brother, Stephen's flickr: PyrexScout. He's a total dream pie for gathering pyrex pieces for me. He's scored 6 plates (white with a thin turquoise ring around outter edge) and 2 oval platters (white with a sweet turquoise band around edge with white leaves and pretty detail) for me. Here they are:



I like the idea of being open to mixing and matching. Maybe I'll just keep it to different pyrex as long as its basically white with colour detailing. So after browsing all the lucious pyrex on etsy, I've made up my mind. I am going to mix up white & turquoise/aqua, brown & white AND red pyrex pieces!!!

Here are some pieces that I think might go together nicely for my set:

To go with the ovals plates above.

These ramekins are listed for a song on etsy! & will be adorable with pyrex's woodland pattern!

Aren't these square bowls the bomb?!

Woodland mixing bowls-2 of them as a set.

Love red & turquoise together...these fridge dishes are so useful!

These can be used for a zillion different things.

These plates just to mix in more red.

I can't wait to have a decent looking set of dishes. For being a dish-head, I've survived a year without my beloved Fiesta Ware (at my Mom's house, safe and sound) and have used the motliest crew of lame dishes. Well those days are numbered and I couldn't be happier!!!!!!!

Going into the Basket Business!

After yet another hiatus, I am jumping back into blogging and etsying. My main motivation? Amazing Guatemalan baskets!! I have been thinking about doing this for well over a year and it's finally high time! Yesterday we traveled to a nearby town where they are made. We wanted to go straight to the source and we did. We found the main basket making family and they were thrilled we were buying a whole bunch of their baskets to sell online. They wished us much luck and hoped to see us back again really soon.

I have big plans for selling these baskets. I hope to get them in some shops around the States and sell them like hot cakes on etsy. Check out the store: http://www.etsy.tipico.com/

This is Basket Queen, Carmen Alicia (she loved that our names were similar). She made me promise to bring her a photograph and I will....I am going to give her one of just her and her baskets but, I am going to frame the one (below) of her and her husband for them!

These baskets are incredible. They have endless uses and are super sturdy! They can really take a lot of harsh use with no sign of wear! I've had some for over a year that I use for all of my heavy market shopping and they look as good as new!

***UPDATE***
We now work with and alongside several families making and selling baskets on etsy in the tipico store. This enables the basket makers (which are all indigenous Maya) to earn more than they are used to. Awesome!

our warehouse has one windowsill

I have always been a big lover of displaying things in windowsills. Naturally, that's where the best light is! So, having one lone sill makes it center stage for me! This is currently a little snippet from said sill. Those are 2 of my favourite vintage glass pieces and I found that beautiful dried pod on a walk with Mike & Zach.

a walk around my block

Sometimes a very simple walk around the block you live on can be so inspiring (espcially with camera in hand) and pretty relaxing. On this day as we stepped outside there was a flock of birds fluttering by. Leisurely walks are one of the healthiest things you can do!!!

The block we live on is split by an alley, as are all of the blocks in the neighbourhood. Mike & I walk the alleys more than the streets. This is the alley right behind our casita and the start of all our walks. The red fence is ours.

Beautiful citrus! I hope our recent cold weather didn't hurt the fruits!

One very gorgeous set of mouldy coloured stairs.

the amazing pila of guatemala

This is a large pila for a big household, typically found in the old colonial houses. There are 3 stations to wash and 2 separate basins for holding the clean water for use.

This pila was in the Don Quixote Hotel we stayed in. I alwasy woke up to the sound of the the basins being filled.

This is the typical pila you see in homes. Actually they are outside of the home. So a typical Guatemala kitchen does not have a sink in it. It's rather amazing at the ingenuity of this country and its people. Things are functional, purposeful and extremely practical. I was impressed, awed and just smitten!

Another classic example of the outdoor pila. The are most often seen in shades of blue and aquamarine. You'll see the occasional yellow or red one. These pilas are set up to hold water in the middle section with two side sections for different purposes. The left section generally has grooves cut into the floor of it for washing clothes and the right section is used more for washing/drying dishes.

Once again, an outdoor pila. This is the most handsome colour if you ask me, the red ones (though I didn't get a picture of one) are rather dapper too! I aspire to one day have a pila of my own. I think they are just the most functional thing ever, super economical and they just make sense to me! Seeing Guatemala households and how the function really get me thnking differently.

I had the pleasure of traveling to Guatemala in December 2009. What an amazing trip. I've always been fascinated with seeing how other cultures live. I was just pleased and amazed with how genius Guatemalans truly are. They use everything around them. Every where you look you see something created out of nothing that is most functional! Seeing inside the households and how they are run interested me to no end. I fell completely in love with their 'pila' that I've featured in this post. I am playing with the idea of putting together a book on the pila!!

i simply love playing with colour.

i love this gal's use of colour and texture. it's simple. it's mild. yet, it's interesting and keen keen keen. most of all she looks comfortable.

and look at yvan rodic...his use of colour is supreme! i love it. it is effortless and totally smashing! 

(a little blog regurgeataion never hurt anyone)