The Nutty Food Lover

We've Moved

2011-08-08T13:10:00.001-05:00

While I will leave this content here just in case, we have a new website! http://www.nuttyfoodlover.com. Feel free to check it out!

Two weeks in Food

2011-08-02T13:30:00.001-05:00

So, I must admit that I've been eating out quite a bit lately. The place I've probably hit most often has been Café Saúl. Now this place has a lot going for it in a bunch of different ways but lately the freshness of the food has been outstanding. I mean, just look at this tomato and basil Crêpe:

Or this Bruscetta:

But I'm generally inclined more towards the sandwiches, this one being my favorite. a Steak Club Sandwich.

But when we go to Casa Saúl in Z. 10, which I believe is the only one that's left serving pastas and pizzas, I feel fairly compelled to order something that I can't get at the other Café's so I went with the Pasta Amatricciana. It may have spurred from the memory of a conversation I had with Vito where he was telling me about a great little place where he had some.

And no visit would be complete without a couple of delicious desserts! Now, I should mention that I'm not really much of a dessert person but this time I caved to some truly evil chocolaty excess called, quite appropriately, Death by Chocolate:

While my wife went for a little chocolate mousse. It usually brings more chocolate but she always asks that they flip the proportions so she doesn't get sick of eating chocolate. What can I say, we're not big on sweet.

So after having that kind of eating going on, I felt compelled to have myself a light little breakfast and, for the first time in ages, I had a poached egg on toast with some home-made strawberry jam.

On a side note my wife went to get some work done (on her hair.....relaaaaaax) and I wound up waiting for a while when along came this little guy who decided we should just chill out for a while.

So moving on with our culinary we found ourselves circling back to Frisco Grill. Come to think of it, we've been revisiting quite a bit lately. Well, I guess you have to if you're going to try the different things that any one place has to offer! So here's the San Francisco Blossoming Onion with a slightly tangy chipotle sauce. I've had some pretty good dishes there but this is a great appetizer.

And to wash it down I needed something cold and in keeping with the mood of the places I wanted something classic. Like maybe an Old Fashioned Chocolate Shake?

Yes, it was a big slurp and gulp of chocolate goodness! But of course I couldn't leave good enough alone, could I? So while Susan went with this delicious combo dish of shrimp and Calamari

I decided I would go with something fancy. A few months ago I tried the sesame crusted seared tuna steak at Nais. I didn't write about it? Well, that's partially because it was so blah that I just about erased it from my memory with great hopes of it never returning. That and the fact that I hadn't picked up the blog again yet at that point! But this was a beautiful looking piece of tuna! I think if I'd of had it any other way it would have been awesome but here it was just too bland and under seasoned. I'm sorry to say, I can't recommend for people who like bold flavors but a good light option.

So while I can't blame the ingredients, the preparation just wasn't quite there. Margherita, on the other hand, was spot on. Well, at least in my opinion. You see, I went with some friends from work. Gabby was so into her salad I couldn't even understand the concept. But I guess you salad lovers out there might enjoy this.

My friend Hugo, on the other hand, I'm going to guess is not such a salad lover because when his showed up, well, let's just say he was underwhelmed. We could tell from the look on his face This was not going down well. Gabby did try it and declared it goo-ooo-ood so here it is. Maybe one of you leafy lovers out there can help me make a call on this?

It looked quite well composed and pretty but I'm not into salad and, shockingly, not crazy about cheese. So while Hugo was choking down his plate of green goodness Charlie and I started into our cherry tomato and Arugula pizza. I was digging the great balance of flavors. The slightly bitter greens balanced the sweet reds joining together in a beautiful harmony of flavors that I was very happy with!

So feeling a little sorry for Hugo and his bowl of rabbit food we convinced him to just send it back and get a pizza instead. Flipping the bird to his diet he went for it. After picking up the menu for a whole two seconds he pointed to something fairly random and said we should go for that one. So we're pretty adventurous when it comes to food so we went for it. Personally I loved the other one but I think the Capricciosa might work a little better for the traditionalist taste buds. With oven baked ham and Artichoke hearts this pizza really went over well with the group. Of course, the 900º brick oven doesn't hurt either.

Bottom line? Café Saúl now has some amazing fresh ingredients, try the Frisco Grill San Fran Blossoming Onion and Margherita pizza is amazing!

First attempt at Pasta

2011-07-29T16:40:00.000-05:00

So today I learned a few things about making pasta. First of all, it's not all that complicated. second it will come out much better if you have a rolling pin or pasta machine. But we'll get into that later.First let's take a step by step view of how this goes.

The first step is to mix up the eggs. You can either use whole eggs or twice as many yolks. So if you're making 5 cups of flour you would either use 6 eggs or 12 egg yolks. It will change the texture and give it a burst of color.

Ideally you'll start mixing the flour into the egg little by little so the egg doesn't escape. I was doing a pretty small amount of dough and that may have been my demise. Or maybe the lack of proper kitchen utensils. Could be any number of reasons but basically you want it to wind up looking like this:

I nice little bundle of love. The color may vary depending on what kind of eggs you use as well as whether you use whole eggs or just the yolks. After that you need to roll it out. This is where my downfall truly began.

By some strange twist of fate I happen to not have a rolling pin or a pasta machine either of which would have made this much better. Instead I used my little measuring cup because it was the only thing that was about the right shape and wouldn't get destroyed when I rolled out the dough. The end result, however, was an incredibly thick noodle.

Not terrible but not terribly attractive. I suppose it could have been much worse! So I got the water boiling with a bit of olive oil to make sure it didn't clump up. If you but a good packaged pasta, oil in the water will not be necessary but for fresh pasta it's pretty essential, I'm told.

So while the pasta was cooking I decided to make a simple butter pasta so I got my diced red onion going. I used red onion and not too small because I like having a bit of that crunch in there.

Once the onion got nice and soft I threw in some asparagus pieces for a few seconds before tossing the pasta in there to soak it all up. I also wanted to give it some color because it just doesn't come out the same if it hasn't gone through the pasta machine a few times. Oh yeah, and a nice hunk of butter because everything tastes better when you use butter. That's butter, not melted plastic made to look like butter, that's real honest-to-goodness unsalted butter.

The end result was not completely embarrassing. Of course, the use of butter, garlic and onion makes messing this completely up pretty difficult. The texture was a little off because of the thickness of the pasta, it just didn't develop as I'd hoped. But other than that, it was quite good!

Just remember, there's no shame in not doing perfectly the first time you make it. This is one of those things that are so cheap and easy to make that it won't hurt if it doesn't come out perfectly. This was 1 cup of flour, 1 egg and 1/2 a tspn of salt. Nice, cheap and easy. Seeing the amount of time it took to make, I think I will spring for the pasta machine. This can be a quick and easy meal that I can throw together in a crunch.

Have you made pasta? Tell me about it!

Ribs, Frisco Grill and Margherita

2011-07-16T23:28:00.001-05:00

So it has been an eventful couple of weeks! We've eaten some absolutely great stuff lately. The first of the list was Lasagna and a Tomato salad that my SIL made for us. It was delicious with everything made from scratch, including the tomato sauce, with the exception of the pasta.

In order to make up for the heavy meals we've been having, we decided to have a nice, light, natural breakfast on Sunday since I had a premonition that some great food would follow. Unfortunately, I must admit that cooler heads prevailed and we went with some french toast. How do I eat it? With peanut butter and maple syrup!

And then Friday rolled around. We had a BBQ with a group of friends and it was decided that I would make my spare ribs. It's a rather long, if not complicated, process. So I bought to racks of spare ribs and brined them before putting the dry rub on there and letting them sit overnight in the fridge. Of course, we got up incredibly early and managed to drag ourselves to the house where everything was going to happen.

I like to use a charcoal chimney with lump coal since it's faster, has great flavor and seems to burn forever! so we started up the fire and the crack of dawn. Well, almost. Well, more like noon. Ish. Ok, Ok, so we're not morning people and just managed to drag ourselves out of bed by 9:30 and had the coals ready by noon. On went the rack of ribs and, due to the lack of wood chips, we threw on some soaked oregano stems to make some aromatic smoke to give the ribs some great flavor. After about 4 hours, this is what it looked like.

It was quite spectacular. The meat was moist and soft and came off the bone quite nicely. I think with every attempt I keep getting closer to what it should be. Maybe next time they'll be perfect! After that great meal we were quite full until Sunday when we went to Frisco Grill. I have to say that this is one of those places that I just can't believe I hadn't been to before now! It was absolutely great. I had the Buffalo burger and the Chunky Monkey Milkshake and am looking forward to having it again. It was juicy, tasty and surprisingly light. If you're after some great grilled food or fantastic finger food, I would have to send you towards this place!

I also recently heard of a new gourmet store, Mia Cucina, which seems to be somehow related to NuChef. It took a huge amount of self control to not splurge every penny I have to my name in the place. They have EVERYTHING! Cheesecloth, sieves, spatulas, baking materials, finishing oils, vinagrette recipe bottles, fresh herbs, pots, pans, meats, seafood and just about everything you could ask for. Including...

French cut Lamb Chops! Now for those of you have a ready and constant flow of this kind of wonderful packages, all I say to you is :P For the rest of us, this is quite a find! I've been searching high and low for this. I also found mussels, tuna steaks and a full leg of lamb! But moving on to the true star of this week.

Margherita Pizzeria is a fairly new gourmet pizza restaurant. We decided to splurge today and had ourselves a salad to accompany our pizza. After having seen it advertised numerous times on GuateDining and reading so many great reviews of the place, we decided to put it off no longer!

Sadly I must say that it was the one somewhat drab part of our meal. The lettuce was good, the tomato's fresh and the egg acceptable but what really made it boring was the Mozzarella Cracker. It was too thick, soggy and underwhelming. The pizza, however, is another story all together.

This pizza is awesome, absolutely incredible. The tomato sauce tastes like they just pureed some incredibly fresh, ripe tomato's into a simple but delicious sauce. Everything here tastes so fresh that it must not have been out of the ground for more than a few days! The crust is nice and crisp and has that particular taste and texture that can only come from one of these:

A brick oven kept at 900º that makes this pizza quite exceptional. And it doesn't end with the pizza. For dessert we had a nutella pizza, in order to keep with the theme. The base was a little tough but the flavor was absolutely more than enough to make up for that small shortcoming. With a nutella base and covered with Walnut, strawberries and whipped cream this dessert takes the cake! So if you're up for a good meal with great ingredients and on a reasonable budget, this is my #1 pick of the month. Try it, share it and enjoy!

Chateau DeFay

2011-07-01T22:44:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, some friends and I went to Chateau DeFay, a few kilometers outside of Antigua Guatemala.

With high expectations and more than enough enthusiasm we set off on our way. We heard that the road was rough, that people had been throwing their garbage by the wayside but that it was well worth the journey. The Chateau is quite beautiful, that much I will admit. My wife and I had some fun taking some pictures in the very nicely kept back yard.

The rain, however, drove us back indoors to explore the rest of the building. We wandered through the rooms until we found the stairwell that goes up the tower and, needless to say, hustled up the tower taking pictures out of the windows on the way up and down.

Finally we headed back down to the reception area for the free wine tasting. For those of you who aren't familiar with the place, Chataeu DeFay is supposed to be a winery. While everything seems to point in that direction (such as the bottles of wine labeled "Chataeu DeFay") there is some very conflicting information about it. During the wine tasting they told us that they make a bunch of different wines. They were OK but definitely over priced. The curious thing came when we took the tour and they told us that they were still a few years away from producing all their own grapes and that they imported some. After seeing the vines we went to the winery where they showed us their equipment and the tour guide let slip that they didn't have any grapes last year. I guess that explained the incredibly clean machinery (with the exception of the label maker). None the less, we did enjoy that wine.

Now, wether or not they make their own wine, grow their own grapes or overcharge for their wine, this place is permanently on my radar for the food. This is, after all, a food-lovers blog and not an oenophile blog and, ironic as it may seem, the food here was so much better than the wine. We started off the meal with a mouth-watering antipasto which consisted of some mozzarella squares, pimento, black olives on tomato slices all drizzled with some amazing extra virgin olive oil.

After this we had the pasta. The menu basically consisted of a bunch of pastas and about 3 meat dishes. When confronted with this kind of menu, it leads me to the conclusion that they must be good with their pasta and put the meat/chicken/fish on there just to please the pasta haters. This is a prejudice that was not seen in anyone in our group. I had the anchovie pasta. The two anchovies on top were a nice touch aesthetically but did not help the dish's taste in any way I could discern. By ditching the two anchovies that crowned the pasta, the taste of the pasta improved exponentially. It was creamy and delicious and struck a wonderful balance between creamy and light.

The winner by choice was the Pasta al Pesto. While quite gratifying to my taste buds, several of my friends found it to be somewhat bland to their taste. While quite colorful, Pesto does sometimes tend towards the bland if you're not careful.

The pasta Pomodoro was the best dish. Despite being the most simple, it also gave those fresh vegetable a real chance to shine. If Chateau DeFay has anything going for it, it's gotta be the fresh vegetables that they've got floating around they're kitchen. I just barely managed to snap this picture before it was devoured.

The pasta Amatriciana was also among the chosen dishes and proved to have some bold flavors for the adventurous taste buds. A little salty and a little spicy it kind of gave a naughty/nice kind of vibe that played with your head a little while before you made your mind up about what was going on in your mouth.

So at about Four O'Clock we decided to make our way back home because the road was indeed rather difficult. Not only does one have to deal with ruts, rocks and mud but we found ourselves in the middle of some rather picturesque fog.

All in all we spent a very nice day there. For anyone who's planning on going, I would give the following advice: skip the tour, take a lot of pictures and eat the pasta. Think of it as a destination meal rather than a visit to a vineyard. You'll be so much happier to find your expectations of a decent meal met and even surpassed without the letdown of seeing where grapes could be, will be, were but aren't. Also, don't trick yourself into thinking that the garbage situation won't be so bad. Keep you windows up and your AC on and the smell shouldn't be too bad.

Monoloco, Palace and Cook & Relax

2011-06-17T12:52:00.002-05:00

So this has been a really fun week for food! While we are going through a bit of car trouble (if it's not one thing, it's another!) We have had the opportunity to get some really good eats going on.

On Sunday we joined our good friend Mario Chang who was singing a concert in the prestigious Hotel Casa Santo Domingo (where the awesome chef Mario Campollo works). Unfortunately none of us had the budget to sample those delicacies so we moseyed on over to Monoloco afterwards.

After digging in to the gigantic pile of nachos with cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, tomato and beans we dove into the chicken, mushroom and artichoke pizza which really blew me away. I always hear people talking about the nachos but, I have to say, the pizza is by far the best thing we had. I don't know that I would venture to say it's the BEST pizza I ever had, but I can confidently say that it is certainly up there.

Since we had such a great Sunday, we didn't buy groceries so on Monday I went and got some hamburgers for Del Puente but traffic was much lighter than usual so I got a chance to drop in on Chef Juan Manuel Rossi at Cook & Relax. He was featured in an article from the fine folks at GuateDining back in January.

So as we sat down to chat, he pulled up a couple of plates with some of their latest foods including some delicious cous cous with grilled vegetables, rehydrated polenta with bacon and some camote in a cinnamon syrup which was quite a fun mouthful. We'll be going to a class with him today so next week I'll be sure to have some pictures of what's going on in the kitchen.

So as I mentioned, our lack of groceries has had us eating out quite a bit this week. Yesterday, my friend Charlie Quan joined me to go snatch a bit of the famous Pricemart Pizza. Before trying it, I never would have given it a second thought but it’s interestingly quite justified in its reputation! We decided to go for the Pepperoni Calzone which, despite the dripping of grease, was so good I almost didn’t get a chance to snap this picture. It was pretty much gone in no time at all.

So for those of you who have been a bit shy to try it, I say go for it! My only recommendation is, ask for a fresh batch because they’re best when they’re straight out of the oven and into my mouth.

There is another place that I’ve been dying to go to and was finally met this week. The Palace in Z. 4 is a very clean, well kept, vintage looking restaurant. We had a Volovant with a delicious creamy sauce (I had chicken, Susan had mushroom). It was warm and fluffy and everything nice. I was almost sad to see it gone and was strongly tempted to get another but decided against it for the sake of my waistline.

So that’s what I’ve got so far this week, stay tuned because today we have another cooking class, tomorrow a Father’s Day lunch and on Sunday we’re going to check out a Vineyard outside of Antigua which seems very promising.

Del puente and other experiments

2011-06-11T20:17:00.004-05:00

Wow so that's frustrating. I was almost done writing this post when it got erased. Yeah, not happy. So, I will now try to remember everything I had written.

My wife likes to eat out. I LOVE eating out. It's better than going to the movies which, for me, is quite a statement. So when we finally sat down to figure out where all our money was going we came to the shocking (or maybe not so shocking) conclusion that we were spending an inordinate amount on food. That was when we decided to change our habits and stopped eating out as often and, even more important, as expensive.

But once we were caught up on credit cards and bills we decided it was time. So on Sunday we went to "Enchanté", a delightful little French restaurant. It has a balcony hanging over this impressive cliff and it's green just about as far as you can see. We got a complimentary glass of an australian zinfandale which was quite refreshing. My wife had the steak with French fries which, though not very evenly cooked, was delicious and was accompanied with a mushroom sauce and some very good French fries (I must admit to having tried a bit of everything).

I had the mussels in a white wine sauce with red onion and, I believe, cilantro. They were quite phenomenal. I had waited a long time to eat mussels and this was well worth the wait. The bill was a little overinflated, I felt, but overall I did enjoy the meal. On our way out the door they showed us in to a little gourmet store they had in the restaurant where the special offer of the day was 2x1 on an $80 bottle of EVOO. not quite having recovered from the check I thought we might pass on that offer.

So then on Friday we went to Cook & Relax to our cooking class for some Italian cooking. We made one pasta with pumpkin and anchovy, one with pimentos and one with a white sauce and asparagus along with garlic bread. It all came together well (and better with a couple glasses of wine) and a good time was had by all.

Then on Saturday we decided to try a burger join that was in the same area as Enchanté called Del puente. Here's my with the sign:

I have occasionally been accused of hyperbolizing but this was quite certainly delectable. The meat is 100% angus beef with a special mojo made by them and sold in the store along with several cuts of beef and anything on the menu. They have several freezers full of their own stuff which I think I just may take advantage of before too long.

So that was my week in food and I'm planning to hit up that burger joint again soon since the meal total for both of us came to Q58 or about $7.50 and was quite outstanding.

Have you eaten anything interesting lately? Let me hear about it!

Oh the ribs, the ribs!

2011-05-04T16:18:00.001-05:00

In Latin America, as well as many other Catholic-influenced countries, Easter is celebrated with Holy Week. This is an entire week when everything stops and people do one of two things. Either they go to religious processions and participate in the joy of it all or they get hell out of Dodge and spend a few days away with friends or family. The most popular location is the beach, which is what took us to the Lake.

Lake Atitlan is a beautiful lake in Solola. Here's a picture for you to see what I'm talking about:

Lake Atitlan - Seth Mariscal

I bought a rack of spare ribs and had brined them and cleaned them and lovingly carried them to the place of their demise. And then it happened. I had prepared a dry rub that I have used before, sprinkled it on and put it on the fire. It never occured to me that something could go wrong! It was so simple.

When it came time to try the ribs I almost cried (and may have if the saltiness of the ribs hadn't sucked every drop of moisture out of my body). Such a shame that a beautiful cut of meat so go to such a waste! Fortunately my wife and friends were good sports about it and we cut off the crust and the meat was juicy and tender and quite delicious. Though not as much as I had hoped.

On the upside, we did have a great time, the baked potatoes were great and smokey and I got to use my new charcoal chimney.

Charcoal Chimney - Elba Mazariegos

Delicious, Fresh and Wonderful

2011-03-04T11:25:00.000-06:00

Being married is different. I think that's somewhat of an understatement but it is wonderful. I do love every minute of it. One of the ways it has changed things is that now I cook more. I have to since my wife is used to eating home cooked meals everyday and not eating out that often (like me!). So I FINALLY discovered fresh mushrooms. All my life I kind of ignored mushrooms. I could take them or leave them, made no real difference to me.

I tried to think back as to why they never really jumped out at me before but then it suddenly hit me: I had always eaten canned mushrooms. No wonder I didn't find anything special in them, they were always that processed brown flavourless mush! It all started a little while back when I decided to make a mushroom sauce for our steak and the taste surprised me.

It all pretty much started when we went to the new pizza hut restuarant. We had been doing some after-work errands and were hungry and thought we'd drop in at pizza hut for a quick bite to eat. Lo and behold, we found ourselves in an actual restuarant, not a fast food pizza place like most Pizza Huts. They had Menu's with actual food. When it came, it was every bit as good as it sounded, fresh ingredients, great flavor and freshly made drinks. Not one processed defrosted piece of crap! Needless to say, I was astounded.

The waiter recommended a pasta with shrimp and red pepper flakes that added just a touch of heat. It was incredible. I really enjoyed the dish and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor of the fresh ingredients. This further motivated me to start using fresh ingredients that I had not usually used before. Thus, the mushrooms.

So, if you're ever in the mood for some good food at a good price in a good location, I would suggest that you try out this particular Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut Majadas

8va. Calle entre 23 y 25 avenida, Zona 11, Paseo Miraflores
Guatemala City, Guatemala

Next to Tony Roma's and KFC.

Life changing events

2010-09-03T02:45:00.001-05:00

This has been an amazing year. It's hard to say one thing that has stuck out from the rest. It's had its ups and downs bit overall I'd say that it's been very good.

Work has been great, the new house is very nice and my fiancée is a great girl. The best.

It's on sleepless night like this one where your kind of start to think about how life is changing. In a couple months I will be cohabiting. No longer will my mess be mine alone to deal with!

Recently I've been picking up some pretty basic cooking tips that have proven to be quite effective though I haven't been able to go all out since I don't have a real stove, oven or fridge. There's no furniture nor anywhere to put most things.

Soon that will change, though, and a great amount of culinary experimentaion will begin!

Well, I will continue my feeble attempts at sleep! I leave you with a picture of me and my ossobucco (great stuff!).

- Seth Mariscal, enjoying life since 1982.

A Time to Sell, a Time to Lay Low

2010-07-24T19:02:00.004-05:00

So a lot of things have been going on, things I can't really write about, but things that have affected my life none the less. I've been bouncing around houses lately (thanks for opening your homes to me!) and am working on selling my and my dad's cars.

I've come up with a bit of a "marketing strategy" on Facebook for promoting it amongst my friends since I don't feel all that comfortable giving strangers a way to contact me. I've found that being safety-conscious in Guatemala is a literal lifesaver. It's not enough to be a "tough target" as they say, since there is a great deal of serendipity involved. Wrong place wrong time is a harsh truth that entirely too many people have come to meet in this country (though I'm sure we're not alone in that!).

These past couple of weeks have been really bad. Two, Three, Five violent deaths a day for two weeks piles up quite the body count! So many people gone, poof, just like that. Children left fatherless, Parents left childless and wives left widows. It breaks my heart to think of it. It surprises me that the police usually find the occasional evil-doer much the way a blind squirrel finds the occasional buried nut.

It can get especially frustrating because with all the killings that have gone on lately, the only person that they've managed to arrest for murder was a guy who killed a thief who was in the middle of robbing a cellphone in the middle of rush hour at gunpoint from a motorcycle. When citizens step in to pick up the slack where police are either unable (or unwilling) to do so are, of course, summarily and thoroughly punished.

Such are the frustrations that one must live with in a country such as this. But in the midst of it all we all find a way to live our life. Live it fully and cherish it completely for we get but one life to live and must make the most of it. Do all you can, love all you can, give all you can and when your time comes you will go with a smile of satisfaction and with peace in the knowledge that you have given it your best and made God (and Mom) proud.

Capgemini Guatemala Photo Contest

2010-05-20T18:35:00.007-05:00

Photo Contests are fun for me. I don't usually go into it to win, I just like participating and checking out what everyone else puts in. I happen to be blessed with some truly gifted friends so I don't usually see my pictures as being anything exceptional.

This becomes somewhat of a problem as I happen to have friends and acquaintances who are very gifted in several different things so pretty much anything I do OK, I know someone who absolutely ROCKS it. Like in Photography, I compare myself to the likes of Ivan Castro or Freddy Murphy and of course, I pale in comparison.

So you can imagine that usually when I join photo contests, that's what I have in mind as a good photograph. So when I submitted my pictures, I basically did it just because it seemed like a reasonable thing to do seeing as how it's a great hobby and I enjoy it quite thoroughly.

Now try to picture my shock when I hear that I won. 3rd place. Yup, I took 3rd place with this picture.

It's a little something I took when at Lake Atitlan with Susan and her co-workers.

But that wasn't all. I also took 1st place! Yeah! 1st & 3rd place! Very exciting stuff, let me tell you. Now, there wasn't any prize money or anything like that, just the fun of participating (and winning hehehe) but also 12x15 prints are hanging up on the executive floor for everyone to see. Including me. Which is fun!

Here is the winning pic.

ATCK

2010-05-09T00:24:00.005-05:00

It's been a while since I've talked to anyone about being a TCK (Third Culture Kid) or now an ATCK (Adult Third Culture Kid). Today somehow the subject came up with my fiancée and it took me back to when I was first finding out about it. A TCK is not a complicated concept. The first culture is the "Passport" country, the country that your folks are from (also where you passport says YOU'RE from!). The second culture is that of the country where you grew up (Spain, in my case) and when you throw the experience of the two together, you get a unique "third" culture.

No two are alike, though they are all similar in many ways. David Pollard was one of the really big names on the subject, especially in a list as short as that. I didn't actually realize that I was any different from other kids until I read about it and that suddenly made a lot of past experiences much clearer.

Now, as a functional adult, I have a job I really like, I am engaged to a beautiful, wonderful woman that I absolutely love, I'm working on my MBA & MMK and am enjoying life immensely. But I am still different. I am lucky enough to work in an environment where I'm not that different and my fiancée was actually the one to point that out.

This is a subject that I could go on and on about but I think this is enough for now. I guess the point of all this is you may find TCK's in the times and places that you least expect it.

Do you know any TCK's?

A look at the new year

2010-02-24T13:34:00.002-06:00

It has been a good year filled with so many life altering changes. I got engaged to a wonderful woman, we bought our first home and have a great job. I am very grateful to the Lord for all of the wonderful things he has given me in 2009.

But now I look at 2010. This is a year with even greater challenges but even better rewards. This is the year I get married, furnish our new home and transition to working in communications once again. It’s easy to be blinded by the silver lining but it’s important to remember that as you move up, you are just in position for the next step. As soon as you stop giving your best, you will stop growing. No matter what you do, people are watching and either you are being productive or not.

So when you look at 2010, I encourage you to look at this coming year as an opportunity to shine, to start pouring your best effort into everything you do and prepare to be amazed by the great things that happen when you do. Even if it is just the satisfaction of a job well done, which should be your main reason in the first place, there is always something great to be gained by giving your best.

The Beginnings

2010-01-15T08:28:00.000-06:00

The cold pre-dawn chill seeps through the walls and into my sheets. Not even the few hours of sleep shielded me from waking to the frosty sensation that envelopes me this early morning.

There's something to be said for waking up with the cold. It wakes you up faster than a shot of espresso or a slap in the face. Suitcase, toothbrush, the sudden realization that I haven't packed. We're off to the lake today!

I know it was a little bit long for a preamble to such a short announcement but really, it's just another of the great things that have been happening. I'm engaged to a wonderful and beautiful woman, we just got our mortgage approved for our future home and I got the dream job that I had applied for.

They say that good and bad things come in clusters. After the last couple of months, I'm almost inclined to agree! I wish you all as many blessings as I've received and that you'll pass it along to someone else who needs it.

Merry Christmas to all

2009-12-28T10:15:00.001-06:00

Coughing, sneezing and wheezing , these are the sounds of my office today. It seems that over the merry Christmas holidays, people have forgotten to bundle up and stay warm. So now, with air conditioning at half throttle, people everywhere are dealing with runny noses and watery eyes.

But it was a merry Christmas for me! Friends, family and loved ones all around, joined in spirit, if not in body. My family is a spread out one, through countries and continents. We rarely cross paths but when we do, it is a thing of beauty. Family unseen in years, aged and different, yet fundamentally the same. It is always a joyous reunion, generously laden with shows of affection, and the occasional promise of contact.

This is my family, these are my friends. I would not change them for anything in the world and can only hope that they grow in numbers and in variety.

- Seth Mariscal, enjoying life since 1983.

Catching some fish at Utz Tzaba

2009-12-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

Today we went to monterrico to see hotels for the big wedding. Saw a couple of places, and everything was pretty good so we stopped for lunch.

Here's a picture of my choice of lunch and I've got to say, I was blown away! At the Utz Tzaba hotel I had one of the best fish fillets that I've had in years! Even Susan, who is definitely not a fish lover, actually liked it too!

That was good enough for me, any kitchen that is putting out food that will blow me away like that, has earned itself a chance to be the place where we are to wed.

- Seth Mariscal, enjoying life since 1983.

BlogPress and iPhone

2009-12-19T21:20:00.000-06:00

Let it not be said that I do not make an effort!! Yes, I've been MIA and while my lone reader may not actually remember that I have this blog I will prevail! Writing is a joy in and of itself so I will try to keep up with myself through here. I figure that if I can do facebook, why not my blog?

So here I am, with my recently downloaded blogpress app so that not being at my computer can no longer be an excuse!! More posts are sure to follow and. Lot of food to be discovered. Bon voyage!!

- Seth Mariscal, enjoying life since 1983.

Madame Butterfly and Parenting

2009-03-29T22:49:00.003-05:00

I went to watch Madame Butterfly last night and it was absolutely amazing. It was everything that I think Opera should be.

The stage management was brilliant, the singers were absolutely fantastic. The musicians were very good as well. The orchestra was the municipal youth orchestra who did a very good job, though there were a few misses.

Some people cried, other people cheered but I think we all felt it. If ever I have been to a show that was worth it, that was it.

On the other hand, I used my Sunday to make a little demonstration of After effects parenting to demonstrate to Susan and to make the explanation of how it works a little easier.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Parenting is a function in after effects that allows you to link one layer to another to allow natural movement such as one layer could be a hand that's attached to an arm. It has it's own movement but also fallows the arms movements.

Well, you can watch the clip and see for yourself. The heart actually get's attached and unattached as needed. This allows this kind of "attachments".

Here's the link to the clip:

http://tinyurl.com/dbkuh3

2009-03-07T22:18:00.003-06:00

OK, so wow, it's been a while! Work has been really hectic but it's good to feel useful and productive. And to make money. The other day we had our "insurance" explained to us. The fact that it's in quotes should tell you more than something about what I think of this "insurance!".

In an effort to remain positive, I'll move on to other things. My car, as of today, is still in the shop and getting painted. Even if I did have it, I wouldn't really get to use it too much because I don't yet have parking at work. Fingers crossed though, maybe soon! I heard on Friday that there'd be a spot opening up these days, but wasn't really assured that I'd get it. As you might imagine, I'm not the only person around waiting for a spot to leave my car. Lord willing, it will be soon!

In an interesting twist, I got a call from a friend last Sunday (during church, go figure) which then turned to texting (because I'm not missing the sermon to talk to anyone)and he wanted to get some pictures done. So I grudgingly agreed, mostly because I'm pretty much helping him along with some photographs here and there to use for different self-promotion purposes. He's kind of making a name for himself in the LA (that's latin american) christian music scene. So, good friend that I am, I'll shoot his pics on a Sunday. And yes, my freelancing/photographer friends, I do charge him. He's the one up there.

In other personal news, my suspenders came in and I am LOOOOOOOVING them!!! you have no idea how comfortable they will be until you actually start using them. As I am not a small person by an stretch of the imagination, suspenders are just what the doctor ordered! I'll be sure to share a pictures of them ASAP.

Well, that's about all I've got going on right now (that I can think of). Hope y'all have a great night and a great Sunday (at church ;) I'll assume)

Rabbits, Tiffin, Valentines and haircuts

2009-02-14T11:35:00.003-06:00

Happy Valentines day folks!

Today's post will be short since I only really have four minutes to write it. I'll just kind of give a rundown of what's going on. Yesterday I got paid! (yay!) so this morning I went to deposit the check. Once that clears I'll be able to get my Tiffin box! Tiffin, apparently, is a kind of holdover from English influence in India. It's lunch, from what I gather. So a Tiffin box is actually a lunch box, but cooler.

Also the Squishable.com bunnies arrived yesterday so Susans' gift is safely in my hands! That's what the pictures about. BTW, the rabbits are fair trade made in Thailand and 100% cotton.

I've also decided that I need to start eating more home cooked meals because I'm going to wind up fat and poor if I don't.

So I found a weekly meal planner template for excel that I'm planning on using to go shopping and buy the necessary ingredients ahead of time and on the weekend when I have time! But right now I need to go pick up my dad because he lent me his car so I could go on some errands.

I talked to the mechanic and it seems that my beautiful Jeep will be out of the shop sometime next week (I hope). whenever it comes out, you can bet that I'll have a picture to share with y'all.

Hope everyone has a great valentines day and weekend!

Work, Pizza, Studies and Money

2009-02-10T22:12:00.004-06:00

So I am now delving into my third (I think) week of work. The more I learn about it the more interesting it sounds. Interestingly enough, the current Dilbert comic strip is all about working in Collections. Maybe it's just my "new worker" Naivety but it really seems like it'll be interesting work. The pay isn't too bad, the advancement prospects are reasonable and the people I work with are great. It really makes me wonder what would make people feel remotely bad about it. I guess I'll find out once I hit the floor and start making calls.

Last night I made another pizza. It was really good but I really made it to share. What I didn't really count on was having it disappear within two minutes of "unveiling" it. I guess it really must have been pretty decent as I've already been "strongly suggested" to bring in another one. Next on my to do list, however, is peanut butter cookies.

I've also begun studying for my comprehensive exams in March and April. Kind of a bummer and I don't really have anything to study with, but I hope that I'll at least pick up whatever I need to know from our study sessions. I was supposed to take in an analysis of a printed ad, but I'm just to tired and I forgot to do it when I could have.

As for money, I'll be getting a paycheck on Friday, for which I am incredibly grateful. I probably should have administered my money a little better but this month I only had about $100 to live off of for two weeks. You do the math. So I'll get paid on Friday just in time for Valentines Day and also a local store will be stocking iTunes Store prepaid cards on Saturday so I'll be able to afford one!!

So that's pretty much what's going on in my life. Leave me a holler and let me know what's up with y'all!!

New Threads

2009-01-20T22:10:00.003-06:00

Today I have clothes. For work, that is. I went to the mall with my dad and my girlfriend and got myself some new threads! Not much to say about it other than I really like what she helped me pick out. Here's most of what I got:

A New Start to a New Day

2009-01-20T14:48:00.004-06:00

This morning I woke up and checked my email. I got some interesting messages about Obama being inaugurated. Now, I was sure that I had read somewhere something about it being in the afternoon so you might understand my surprise when I log on to Twitter just to find a bunch of comments about the the inauguration! So I quickly turned on my TV to catch maybe half of Obama's speech.

I should clarify that I'm not real big on speeches but I really liked this one. He was very clear about what his goals are and didn't beat around the bush a whole lot when addressing things like the economy and water boarding (a.k.a. Torture).

While I'm sure that the poem that was read by, I believe, Elizabeth Alexander was good enough (though it didn't strike me as great) the actual reading of it was just awful. It was like a moribund moment that just wouldn't die! It just comes to prove that being able to write is not the same as being able to read.

The benediction on the other hand was deep, witty, well thought out and, despite the limited amount of time allotted, very dynamic. It was very refreshing to hear someone who is a good orator speak.

All in all it was very enjoyable and joyous experience.

I share with you a photograph of the 44th President of the United States of America, President Barack Obama by Jmtimages on Flickr.

Apples Galore...

2009-01-20T03:21:00.006-06:00

So you'd think that apples had suddenly appeared at a dime a dozen, the way today went. Before lunch I decided to make some apple butter which I had bottled and in the fridge by 5 pm. After that I went to watch Valkyrie with my dad. I have to say that this is by far my favorite Tom Cruise character. Maybe just the first viewing, time will tell if his performance can stand the test of time.

But I digress. After the movie I decided to make apple pie. Also turned out reasonable well. At some point in the middle of this flurry of activity I managed to put together a little something for Susan.

In life and in Death....

2009-01-13T22:35:00.005-06:00

Today I went to a funeral. It seems that Dora Amalia died. Since I imagine that you don't know who she is, I'll explain. She was one of the founding members of VSA arts Guatemala. She had an undergrad degree in psychology and was a choreographer for the wheelchair dancing. In the picture above is a group of wheelchair dancers with her facing the camera.

We met August when for our graduation project my group had to make a social communications plan for VSA arts Guatemala. Dora Amalia was everywhere and her enthusiasm and helpfulness was unparalleled.

Just a few months ago she helped me by appearing in a 30" TV ad (below). It took us about 25 takes adn 45 minutes to get these 30 seconds. It's really strange to have so recently recorded someone that died. It's really hard to wrap my mind around.

Well, I guess that it's better to wish her Bon Voyage than to dwell too long on the tragedy that was her death. She lived well and accomplished much. So to her I say:

"May they rest in the company of the saints,
and their sons and daughters with them."

-Irish Blessing for the Dead

On seaside seafood....

2009-01-13T00:14:00.003-06:00

So looking over the past posts I realized that I actually didn't mention my trip to Monterrico, so I'm going to go ahead and take advantage of this moment to go into it. Monterrico, for those of you who don't know, is a little town on the beach in Guatemala. A few posts ago I mentioned that I was going to go, and I did. It was absolutely amazing.

I had the greatest time in a little cabin mere feet from the beach at a place that had two pools. We walked, we chatted, we ate and had a great sunset. Now I don't usually post so many pictures but I just couldn't help myself. I'm afraid I don't have the restraint that I'd need to post the usual one.

Now I'd hate to fall into the whole "let's look at my pictures thing" and I think I at least have the restraint not to do it. Just to share though, I went with my girlfriend, her sister and a friend. As you might imagine it was quite the adventure. Well, in a sense.

You see, for me there's no greater adventure than not knowing what you'll be doing in a few minutes, where you'll eat or what you'll see. Now that really freaks some people out, but I feel like that's an integral part of any decent vacation.

So that's about pretty much it for that. I couldn't really figure any other way to post the pics with out coming right out and saying "look at my pictures" and I like to keep posting frequently enough to keep y'all on your toes wondering if there's anything new, and to hopefully give you something to lighten the mood for a few minutes.

Now, I also promised that I would share the picture of my fish and shrimp, so here it is:

Good bye and until next time!

Unexpected Surprises

2009-01-12T04:15:00.005-06:00

So today after church I had the odd experience of having someone come up to me and tell me that one of my pictures is in this months "Revue" (English language magazine. Page 12, bottom. January 2009 edition "Revue Magazine").

My parents and I picked up an issue from a nearby stack and started leafing through. Of course by now I've remembered that I did indeed hear that revue was looking for photographs so I sent a few in. It was a little hard to find because I didn't actually have any idea which one they actually used. Turns out that they picked out the one included in this post.

Oddly enough the person who let me know is friends with the wife of one of the participating photographers (and a friend of mine).

While reading through kitty's blog (Design Backslash), I just couldn't help but notice how few degrees of separation we have between us here in Guatemala city. This isn't the first time I've had this kind of experience. Let me know if you agree/disagree or have anything to add!!

The beginning of a new year.

2009-01-09T02:23:00.004-06:00

So a new year begins. This has been absolutely amazing! The first thing was that Susan, the love of my life has agreed to be my girlfriend. This happened on January the third. This may seem rather mundane but the truth is that this has been a long time coming. I've really had to wait for it but she's completely worth it.

The other thing is that after quite a few weeks of sitting on pins and needles, turns out that I got the job that I've been waiting for. It's by far the most formal job I've ever had (by a long shot) but I think that it'll be a very positive experience.

So that's it for today. Thanks for reading!!

You will be missed...

2008-12-19T23:54:00.006-06:00

So my computer is off getting serviced (I would like to think that it's in a non-sexual way). So for now I'm having to compensate with my iPod touch. I really don't know what I'd do without it!

So I've got a trip to monterrico coming these days. I think it'll be a lot of fun. I'll be sure to let everyone know!!

Shopping Day

2008-12-10T19:18:00.003-06:00

So today we went shopping and I got a bunch of great stuff. I got some fresh oregano, some mushrooms, Jamón Serrano among other things. I got especially for lunch tomorrow some fresh fish and shrimp. Planning on probably broiling the fish and skewering the shrimp. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share with y'all tomorrow.

So your picture for today will be my cinnamon rolls. Enjoy!

The Big Welcome

2008-12-09T15:58:00.000-06:00

So to anyone who, I imagine, might accidentally drop by, Thank you for reading! I hope to share my daily thoughts, experiments, pictures and experiences with you. This is not my first attempt at a blog, my photoblog advances with quiet and ignorable baby steps from time to time, but hopefully this one will develop at a better pace and allow for a more interesting read and, what's more, encourage me to develop slightly better writing skills. So for now, I leave you with my latest photograph, dedicated to Susan.