#3164: Tuesday, February 6, 2024: Whatever, and Happy Birthday, Alex!

Post 3164

- 13 years and 37 days since I started this blog -

February 5, 2024. I got a new hat! What do you think? (Never mind, you're too late).

Journal

(written February 5-6, 2024)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 13 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling (except for food shots when I've eaten something interesting or pretty. And that's where we find ourselves now.

My son Alex was born 38 years ago. It was a big deal. I still feel that way.

Yesterday, I texted him Happy Birthday a day early, when I knew, a couple of hours earlier, when I woke up. that it was the next day. Don't do drugs, kids.

Speaking of which, my friend Graham wanted you all to know he made it safely home from Chiang Mai to Newcastle, UK - taking 48 hours thanks to a difficult, and I gather unpleasant, layover in China. Now you know. OK, Graham?

On to the pics:

That's my friend Anthony, and first Cuenca friend Betsy. You may remember that Anthony surprised me last week when he showed up at my birthday dinner while leading me to believe he wasn't coming to Cuenca. He wasn't done. I told him I'd tried to get in touch with Betsy (the receptionist at the hotel I stayed in when I first came to Cuenca - it was her first day at the hotel, too - who became my first friend in Ecuador), but apparently didn't have her latest contact info. When he came to the open mic at Bistro Yaku, he came up to me with a man I didn't know, Peter, and as Peter bent over to shake my hand (I was sitting) Betsy jumped out from behind them and embraced me. Loki-of-the-year-award to Anthony. Trickster. 

The surprises weren't over, though. Later on in the evening, Betsy got up and did some very good singing! She's known me for four years, heard me play on more than a few occasions, and, somehow, never mentioned that she sang. And she was good! Another in a long list of surprises at the open mic at Bistro Yaku. I've been coming here for as long as I've been coming to Cuenca, and in addition to serving up reliably excellent food - I may have eaten more meals here than anywhere else in Cuenca - I have heard some jaw-dropping incredible music and met many, many of my musician friends here.

I had an excellent time holding down the bass chair with the Blues Enigma Band Saturday night. Not my favorite venue, a gathering place for gringos, but the audience was good, they were enthusiastic, they danced. Fun was had.I don't know who took this picture.

I had the great pleasure of attending the soft opening of the new kitchen at Bistro Solano. The kitchen is run by Mother and Son Family Catering, whose food and hospitality I fondly remember from the late, lamented Jazz Society Café, which closed sometime after I was there last year. See below for a pic of the food, but suffice it to say that the location is great, all the food I saw looked terrific, and I hope Debbie and son (I know, but can't remember his name - arrrgghh), in tis pic with me, will have great success.

Taking a phone call at a bridge over the Tomabamba River. Pic by my personal human selfie-stick, Claudia.

Turnabout is fair play, Claudia.

A couple more of me,from the phone-cam of Ms. C.

We conclude this section with a selfie of Matt, Claudia and myself. Had some inuteresting conversations with Matt over breakfast at Bistro Yaku over the past few days, and right before I took this.

Here are a bunch of wandering-around pics:

Claudia at the flower market.

I had never seen San Francisco Plaza so empty! I found out that it was a school holiday, and everybody stayed home with the kids.

There's this building, I don't know a thing about it, that has a mirrored-glass window side facing downtown. It is more remarkable to see in-person. The day after this pic was taken, the seasons changed, and the cold-and-wet season arrived. I miss those puff clouds already.

Some views of the big Mercado de 10 de agosto, a truly fascinating place. 

A rainy night in Cuenca. Pic is from the dry-under-the-giant-awning Goza Café.

Food Comment

The not-on-the-menu 'Rob's Special' - shown previously, but worth a different (better?) photo - from Bistro Yaku. Fresh salad, vegetable omelet with goat cheese and avocado, beef tips. I'm still wowed by it, and now I've met Rob, its creator. He wanted something high-protein, low-carb. It's a real winner, one of my favorite breakfasts anywhere.  

From the soft open of Bistro Solano, breakfast burritos that compare favorably to the best I ever had. Absolutely brilliant.

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