Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, it has evolved into a celebration of all things Irish.

I have a special affinity for St. Patrick’s day as I am part Irish (Scottish and English make up the other parts) and also my mother’s father, my mother and my sister and my aunt were all born on March17th.

New York City hosted the first St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 17th, l762 featuring Irish soldiers serving in the English military. The parade has become an annual event with President Harry S. Truman attending his very own self in 1948.

Congress has proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1995 and the sitting president issues a proclamation each year.

Now for a little history lesson. Naomh Padraig (c 387-17 March 493) was a Romanized Celt and Christian Missionary who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland.

When he was about 16 he was captured from Britain by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning (more…)

I believe that one of the many reasons we moved to Ajijic, Lake Chapala over 15 years ago was that it was getting very difficult to find a place that one could smoke in Toronto.

On arrival to Ajijic, Lake Chapala there were no such restrictions in place and one could smoke freely anywhere as it were. Of course, you might run into the odd rabid anti-smoker but that was to be expected.

Now it would seem that last week-end federal officials closed several restaurants and bars in Guadalajara for not adhering to the General Law for Tobacco Control.

Many of these establishments in Jalisco still allow their patrons to smoke ever though the law states they must have separate smoking areas.

Although the details are still sketchy, a team from the Federal Sanitation Protection Commission ( Cofepris) is thought to have visited approximately 40 restaurants in the city.

To reopen, owners of the closed restaurants need to make their establishments 80% smoke-free with outdoor or (more…)

Last night was the highly anticipated “Oscars”.

When we first arrived in Ajijic, Lake Chapala over 15 years ago having an opportunity to view the nominated films was a bit of a challenge as we did not have a movie theatre in those days nor would the latest films get to us if we did.

Things have changed and we now have a lovely theatre complex and we do get all the current releases.

This year there were 10 nominated films and that has not been the case since 1943 when Casa Blanca won for Best Picture.

To my huge disappointment Avatar did not win best picture but it did win several other awards including best Cinematography and Visual Effects.

There were no surprises in the best actor, actress and best supporting actor and actress categories.

Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for A Crazy Heart and they also won Best Original Song for “The Weary Kind” with kudos to music legend, T. Bone Burnett.

Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for The Blind Side.

Christoph Walz won Best Supporting Actor for Inglourious (more…)

When my husband and I lived in Toronto we did a lot of entertaining at home. Almost every Friday and Saturday for years, we entertained friends and clients in our home. We did all of the cooking ourselves and quite enjoyed it. This in the days we had a nanny looking after the children and doing most of the every day cooking. So cooking was fun and not something we had to do every day. Another reason, of course, was that in Toronto, it was extremely expensive to take 8 or 10 people out for dinner to the wonderful restaurants.

Since we moved here we find that, for us, dining out is a much better choice for entertaining friends and clients. I had forgotten everything that goes into a dinner for 8 in your home.

First you have to plan the menu, then shop for the menu and unlike Toronto you are very fortunate if you manage to procure everything on your list.

Then there is the buying of flowers, candles, wine, pre-dinner drinks, after dinner drinks, specialty coffee, cream and (more…)

These last two weeks were a very exciting time to be Canadian. The Olympic Games in Vancouver were very enjoyable to watch and winning the most number of gold medals ever for a host country was extremely gratifying. The icing on the cake was the gold medal hockey game yesterday Canada 3 – US 2. It was a very exciting game to watch and a real nail biter as it were. But Canada won nonetheless which was swell bringing our total of gold medals to 14.

Our Canadian athletes did a wonderful job and we are very proud of all of them.

Yesterday also was the last day of the Mexican Chili Cook Off in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

I have not attended this event for a couple of years but went this year as my sister was visiting here from Canada and I thought she might enjoy a little local color and my daughter’s restaurants were competing in the Chili Cook Off itself and, of course, we wanted to be there to support our girls.

I was so happy we went. It was terrific this year with lots of things to see and do.

This year the arts and crafts and jewelry booths were much improved with more high end goods available (more…)

When my husband and I lived in Toronto one of our favorite restaurants was Thai Magic on Yonge Street below St. Clair Avenue. We loved this restaurant with its wonderful aromatic flavors and scents and were devastated when it closed a few years ago.

Now, however, we once again have reason to celebrate as a new Thai restaurant has opened up in Ajijic, Lake Chapala about a week ago. It is called Simply Thai and is located on Ramon Corona #11 kitty corner from The Lake Chapala Society. Reservations are a must and their phone # is 766-5665.

Owners Jim McMahon and Thip Phonsavath have created a warm, pleasant and nicely decorated space and are very welcoming and professional the food is wonderful!

Appetizers consist of such delights as Crispy Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Chicken Satay, Crispy Chicken Wings, Tom Yum Soup, Chicken Coconut Soup and Shrimp Flavored Chips.

Some of the authentic entrees are Pad Thai, Fried Rice Noodle with Chicken or Beef (Ladd Na), Fried Clear Noodle with Pork, Spicy Sir Fried Chicken or Beef (Pad Ped) also with shrimp or fish. Sweet and Sour Chicken (Pad Priew Wann Gai), Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet (Pad Priew Wann Pa), Mixed Vegetales with Oyster Sauce (Pad Nam Mun Hoy), Beef Salad (Yum Neua), Shrimp Salad (Yum Goong), Chicken Salad (Larb Gai), Vegetable Red Curry (Gang Ped Pak), Beef Red Curry (more…)

This year the annual Chili Cook Off is on Friday, February 26th, Saturday, February 27th and Sunday, February 28th in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

Again this year it is being held at Tobolandia (water park) at the carretera and libramiento and will commence when the gates open at 11:00 am on Friday.

The official opening of this traditional Ajijic event begins around noon on Saturday, February 27th with the arrival of the annual parade. This will be led by an honor guard formed by members of the Lake Chapala Shrine Club. Among the honored guests at the opening ceremonies will be United States Consul General Daniel F Keller, Chapala Mayor Jesus Cabrera, Chapala Chief of Police Raynol Contreras and Traffic Commander Juan Carlos Borrayo. Cook off Chairperson, Loren Reynolds, will open the event with a tribute to Tom Johnson, an enthusiastic (more…)

Manix Restaurant – Bar has been an institution in Ajijic, Lake Chapala since 1987.

Many other restaurants have come and gone but Manix has not only survived it is flourishing.

Recently they have had a new facelift to the building and now have access to parking beside the restaurant.

We have been going to Manix for many years. We particularly like their roast loin of pork and their signature dish which is a delightful and delicious corn soufflé. All meals included soup or salad and dessert.

On Wednesday night they have music by Ricardo from 7:00-9:00 pm and every Saturday
Blanca Estela is featured also from 7:00 -9:00 pm.

So when we were looking for a venue for a friend’s birthday party of 14 people, many of whom wanted to dance, Manix was our restaurant of choice.

We had called a day or two ahead and ordered a special smoked pork loin (lomo) and Hector very graciously said he would (more…)

Tiger Woods came out last Friday finally to speak to the public for the first time since his life fell apart on Thanksgiving 2009.

The reaction to his “apology” is as diverse as the country itself. Some high powered women gave him 4 stars for his 15 minute speech which he read and questions were not welcome.

His mother was there and he hugged her at the end of his remarks and she said she was very proud of him and that she loved him.

Elin was not staunchly by his side which made me respect her greatly. Some say she should give him another chance and (more…)

I must admit that my expectations for the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics were not very high considering the Beijing opening and closing ceremonies.

However, I was soon filled with pride as I watched all the aboriginal groups of Canada walk into the stadium. Every aboriginal group was represented from coast to coast to coast and proceeded to do ceremonial dances for over an hour in full native dress as they welcomed the athletes from 82 countries parade in front of over 60,000 cheering fans.

My family and my excitement was further heightened by the stunning visual (more…)