Visited the city on a business trip. I have to say that the most interesting things about Istanbul for me were the long historical view you get in the city, and the uncanny resemblance Turks have with Mexicans.
As usual with these kind of posts, pictures say it better.
Mexico was drawn together with South Africa, France, and Uruguay, in group A, and will play the opening match of the tournament in Johannesburg against the hosts.
While the reaction in both France and South African media seems to have been mostly relieved, I wouldn’t be too optimistic. Uruguay can be a very tough opponent, and Mexico ended its qualification campaign much better than it started.
The opening match will be crucial and for that there is a couple of things I wanted to bring up:
Now we just have to wait for July to come over, right?
The Mexican community in Helsinki organises a posada every December, and this year was not the exception. The menu included chilaquiles and crema de chile poblano, we had a piñata “beauty” contest before breaking them, and of course we sang the traditional songs.
It was definitely interesting to have such a Mexican feeling so far away, and really good to see the kids getting involved, since it was their party after all.
Es interesante ver que algunas de las semillas de la presente situación en México fueron plantadas durante el llamado “milagro mexicano” de 1940-1971. Clientelismo, monopolios y falta de valor agregado en las actividades económicas son vicios que se hicieron fuertes durante esa época. Algunos otros se fortalecieron más tarde, especialmente el narcotráfico, el descuido del sistema educativo y el enfoque exclusivo en Estados Unidos.
En las últimas semanas han llamado mi atención una serie de artículos en los que se manifiesta la preocupación de algunos sectores dada la situación actual de México, especialmente en comparación con nuestros vecinos latinoamericanos. La diferencia nace, a mi parecer, de la decidia de la clase política y de la falta de una cultura democrática en la sociedad que complemente nuestro sistema político. Somos buenísimos para quejarnos y para asistir a manifestaciones, pero díganme quién le ha llamado a su diputado o senador para pedirle que rinda cuentas.
Viendo desde fuera el número de oportunidades perdidas en los últimos 10 años por el exceso de politiqueros y la falta de verdaderos estadistas, y el estado de nuestra inversión en el desarrollo de recursos humanos a través de la educación, por desgracia no me sorprende el estado del país.
Por desgracia, como es más fácil armar mitotes que ponerse a trabajar, no soy tan optimista como quisiera. Espero estar equivocado.
In many cultures it is common to take advantage of all parts of an animal, not only the average meat. As I had been missing beef tongue tacos (a Mexican delicacy) for some time, I decided to try the same with reindeer when I found it sold in my local supermarket. The taste was very good, if a little gamy.
Ingredients (serves 2)
Peel the garlic. Cut the onion in 4 parts. Add the hierba buena, dill, and the tongues and boil everything in water for 1.5 hours. Peel the tongues and cut in small cubes.
Serve with warm tortillas. Salad and rice as good optional sides. Don’t forget a good sauce (a taco without sauce is a sad taco), we had some salsa taquera but I’m sure some pico de gallo would also work great.
Mexican public finances are not in the best of shapes given the economic crisis and the extremely difficult year so far for the country, so in their budget proposal for the next year Congress has proposed to raise taxes on pretty much everything instead of trimming down public spending further and closing useless ministries and bureaucratic institutions.
One “small detail” that has gotten pretty much every Mexican netizen riled up is a raise of 3% on telecommunications, including the use of internet, as Congress considers it a “luxury good”. Great way of stifle the development of the nation even further, especially when comparing it to what is going in in places like Finland where brodband access is a right (which doesn’t mean it’s subsidised by the state). Here in Finland it is understood that connectivity brings economic advantages and growth, unlike our prehistoric Mexican politicians.
I had heard that a proper Mexican taquería had opened in Stockholm recently, and this week I had the chance to visit. As in any such places back in the land of nopales and chilangos, they don’t serve any of the elaborate traditional dishes like mole and such (which doesn’t make their food any less good), focusing on the humble taco in its varieties. They prepare bistec, pastor and a variety of quesadillas, as you can see in their menu and they even have a tortilla making machine.
The reviews have been very positive, and I’m glad as the food is great and the real deal. I wish them well.
What started as an emergency procedure during my student years has become a more common practice, and every once in a while I like combining Finnish ingredients with Mexican spices to produce something unique. Two of my more celebrated recipes are below, I hope you like them.
Some of the spices needed can be bought in Meksikolainen.fi or Mexgrocer.co.uk. I just bring them from Mexico when I’m there 😉
Ingredients (serves 2-3)
Grate the achiote and dissolve in orange juice until you get a bright orange liquid. Put salmon in a flat oven-safe recipient and add achiote marinade. Add the chillies (be sure to rub them with the salmon). Cut the onion in half rings and add. Cut the pineapple/orange in slices and decorate salmon with it.Leave in oven at 170 °C for 1-1.5 hour until ready. It should be crisp but with enough liquid.
(we’re still debating the name of this one)
Ingredients (serves 3)
Blend everything but the meat together. Cook sauce and elk together slowly with a little of added water to give even more time for the flavours to ripen in the fire. Should be ready in 45 minutes to an hour.
If there is one thing that drives me insane is when I turn the TV to get my news fix and stumble into any bulletins by YLE or the MTV3 morning news (their evening news are OK, even if their sense of humour is on the very basic side of the scale). Their focus on inane ultra-local stories (like a recent one on neighbourhood cats) reminds me of a sketch a comedian used when I was growing up called Ranch News, or Noti Rancho in Spanish. The amount of navel-gazing is mind-numbing for a guy like me who needs to know what is going on with the world.
Mexican news programmes, on the other hand, focus on three things: the latest celebrity scandal, the latest political scandal, or the latest violent deaths caused by the drug situation (with as many graphic details as possible).
No wonder I’ll be stuck with the BBC for the time being, even if I couldn’t care less about cricket.
According to the Finnish media, politicians seem stuck in the past with their antiquated language competences (the videos are priceless, click on the names) and lack of understanding of the immigrant situation.
I wonder what would they do if the had disgraceful politicians like this one. If you want to understand why a country with 5 million people, in the middle of nowhere, with terrible climate for a big part of the year and with no natural resources is developed while others are not, please notice that here they invest in their human capital. That’s what they have and it makes all the difference.