The Cielito Lindo Restaurant, located at the Sonoran Sky Resort, turns five years old on March 8^th and they will celebrate with various promotions and specials throughout the month that you won’t want to miss.

As part of the celebration, a new breakfast menu and dinner menu will be unveiled, both containing some surprise special dishes created by the restaurant's spectacular chef. Chef Jonathan Campoy has become one of the top chefs in Mexico, and Ceilito Lindo is proud that he has made the restaurant his home.

The CEDO Intercultural Campus had been, since its inception in the 1980s, the epicenter of research, education, and culture for residents and visitors to the Sonoran Desert and the Northern Gulf of California. However, due the Covid 19 pandemic, we had to modify the way we work and stopped our in-person visits.

In 2023 we are resuming our regular in-person activities and we invite you to join us during long or Holiday weekends.

Starting this Saturday, February 19, we’ll have a cooking class with Chef Sebastien Vieilletoile and a painting class with Julieta Olalde.

Next dates for cooking and painting classes are:

April 9

May 29

June 19

July 4

September 15

October 9

November 10

November 23  

We will have coffee, nature talks, and various activities for children and adults.

If you are interested in participating in an activity, follow us on our events page, check our webpage regularly for updates, and subscribe to our e-newsletter for our latest news here: https://cedo.org/newsletter

All the best,

Karen Levyszpiro

Associate Specialist in Institutional and Program Relations

CEDO Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans

Tucson Office: 520 320 5473

www.cedo.org

Potpourri!

Short Shorts of All Sorts!

Sometimes so much is going on in our little slice of paradise by the sea that we can't address the many short subjects with proper attention. To handle the hodgepodge of dangling subject matter, we invented the Potpourri Page. Here are a few "short shorts" to keep you up to date.



The Slam Dunk Showdown tournament "La Batalla X La Playa" promoted by ABA Mexico and the Municipal Government will take place from April 12 to 16 and will benefit of the DIF System Peñasco and the Municipal Sports Institute, announced the organizing committee at a press conference.

This important international basketball event will be hosted by the government of Puerto Peñasco will have the participation of 16 teams from Mexico”, announced the CEO of ABA Mexico, Roberto Carlos García Crook, in the company of the councilor Jalil González Murrieta on behalf of the Mayor Jorge Pivac.

This international-class tournament will have a two-day basic training clinic that will be offered to children and youth of Puerto Peñasco by professional-class players. It will also have a Slam Dunk and MVP competition with prizes and cash for winners. The event will be held at the Leandro Valle Municipal Gymnasium.

The president of the ABA Mexico announced that Puerto Peñasco was chosen as the host city for this tournament because of its favorable geographical location, its tourist services, hotel and sports infrastructure, as well as the natural beauty of its beaches.

The Batalla X La Playa Burst Tournament will feature a game between the Tropics of Puerto Peñasco and Los Tucanes de México, with will be played on April 12, another game between the Surfs of San José del Cabo and Tucanes de México on April 13^th. There will also be games from 16 additional teams.

Present at the presentation of Slam Dunk Showdown were Gabriel Arenas Regional Director ABA Sonora, Fernando Mendoza Núñez, Municipal Sports Director, Edgardo Ortíz, Coordinator of Institutions, Luis Ángel Vázquez, Heineken - TKT dam, as well as the official sponsors.

Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO inaugurated the first phase of the Puerto Penasco solar-plus-storage power plant in the Mexican state of Sonora, a project that will eventually grow to 1,000 MW of solar capacity with 192 MW of batteries.

It is a project developed by Mexico’s state-owned utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), which will build the plant in three phases.

The first one has 120 MW of solar power and 12 MW of batteries as backup. The second phase, which is already under construction, will add another 300 MW of solar and 60 MW of batteries, CFE said.

Another feature of the Puerto Penasco project is that the electricity from the solar farm will reach the Baja California peninsula, which is isolated from the rest of the national grid, thanks to new transmission lines.

CFE did not say when the third and final phase is expected to commence. Once the project is finalized, the 2,000-hectare Puerto Penasco solar farm will be capable of powering some 1.6 million people, according to the utility. At present, its first phase is one of three solar PV farms in Mexico that is equipped with energy storage, the company said.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico increased 12% in 2022 to just under US $35.3 billion, official preliminary statistics show.

The Economy Ministry (SE) reported a preliminary FDI figure of $35.29 billion on Wednesday, up from $31.54 billion in 2021.

Total direct foreign investment in Mexico totals since 2006, in billions of dollars. In the period show, foreign investment peaked in 2013, but 2022’s numbers are the best since 2015. (Source: Economy Ministry).

In a statement, the SE reported that 48% of FDI last year was new investment in Mexico, while 45% came from reinvestment of profits. The remaining 7% was “loans and payments between companies of the same corporate group,” the ministry said.

The United States was the top foreign investor in Mexico last year, with $15 billion in FDI coming from that country’s companies and people.

The next biggest investors were Canada, $3.8 billion; Argentina, $2.3 billion; Japan, $1.8 billion; United Kingdom, $1.8 billion; and Spain, $1.6 billion.

South Korea, Hong Kong, France and China rounded out the top 10, but their individual contributions to FDI were below $1 billion.

The SE said that the five federal entities that received the highest FDI in 2022 were: Mexico City, $10.9 billion; Nuevo León, $4.4 billion; Jalisco, $2.9 billion; Baja California, $1.9 billion; and Chihuahua, $1.9 billion.

Mexico’s top 10 investor countries in 2022 in billions of dollars. The U.S. tops the list at US $15 billion. Spain, which since 2018 had invested over US $4 billion, saw a sharp drop in 2022 to 1.6 billion. The UK (Reino Unido) invested slightly more, although its numbers also fell, from a historic peak of 1.8 bn in 2021. (Source: Economy MInistry)

Mexico’s manufacturing sector was a big winner, receiving $12.7 billion in FDI, or 36% of the total. The SE said that manufacturers of vehicles, electronic components and auto parts were among the biggest recipients of foreign investment.

The transport sector received 15% of FDI while the financial services and mass media industries got 13% each. The remainder of the investment went to a range of sectors, including retail, mining, construction, accommodation and electricity.

The nearshoring phenomenon — the relocation of companies to Mexico to be close to the United States market — benefited the Mexican economy in 2022, with significant investment flowing into states in northern Mexico and the central Bajío region.

Mexico City has also benefited from nearshoring, the newspaper Reforma reported Tuesday. Honeywell and Siemens are among the companies that have recently expanded their operations in the capital, according to Mexico City Economic Development Minister Fadlala Akabini.

Rocky Point and the Sea of Cortez enjoyed some of the last cruises made by this iconic ship.

This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.

The Astoria was built just 36 years after the sinking of the Titantic, when ocean liners still ruled long-distance travel. And, in its early days, it crisscrossed the Atlantic on a regular schedule along with such iconic vessels as the SS United States, Cunard's Queen Elizabeth and the SS Andrea Doria.

But that was just a teaser for the improbably long and eventful career that was to come for the vessel, originally known as the Stockholm.

Sailing the world's oceans since 1948, the 556-passenger ocean liner has had a second — and a third and a fourth — life as a cruise vessel, playing a role in the development of the modern age of cruising from the 1960s to the present day. For many years, it has been the longest-serving cruise vessel at sea.

Alas, that long career is finally coming to an end, according to a shipping news outlet.

After three-quarters of a century, the famous and at times infamous story of the Astoria will finally come to a close in the coming months at a scrapyard, shipping news publication TradeWinds reported Tuesday.

The shipping site said the 16,144-ton vessel had been sold for recycling at an as-yet-unknown scrapyard.

As TradeWinds noted, the ship was ordered way back in 1944, even as World War II still raged, by the Swedish American Line — a company that offered regular passenger service between Sweden and New York City. It was built specifically for transatlantic travel, with an ice-strengthened bow that could deflect the icebergs that used to be more common in the North Atlantic.

Notably, it was one of the first new passenger ships put into service after World War II, sailing its first voyage in February 1948.

Still, it wasn't until eight years later, in 1956, that the vessel, then still known as the Stockholm, became a household name.

That was the year it collided with the 3-year-old Andrea Doria, the most iconic Italian ocean liner of the time. The accident took place off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, as the two vessels steamed in opposite directions in foggy conditions.

Both ships suffered significant damage. The Andrea Doria eventually rolled over and sank, and 51 passengers and crew members from both vessels were killed — one of the worst maritime disasters since the sinking of the Titanic.

The accident resulted in one of the most unusual survival stories in the history of passenger shipping.

A 14-year-old girl, Linda Morgan, who was sleeping in her bed on the Andrea Doria at the time of the accident, was somehow ejected out of her ripped-open cabin and thrown onto the deck of the Stockholm, where she was found by a crew member. A sister sleeping in an adjoining bed was killed, as was the girl's stepfather in an adjacent room. She became known as the "miracle girl."

Soon after the accident, after repairs, the vessel began its second life as a cruise ship — and an unusual one at that. The vessel was transferred in 1960 to the East German government to serve as a cruise vessel for East Germans under the new name Volkerfreundschaft.

It was transferred several more times between various cruise companies, and renamed many times, too, over the ensuing 63 years. Along the way, its interiors were completely rebuilt to make it more suitable for modern-day cruising.

It has sailed under the name Astoria since 2016 for British line Cruise & Maritime Voyages, which shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TradeWinds reported that cryptocurrency billionaire Brock Pierce acquired the vessel in 2021 with the intention of using it as a cruise ship but has since dropped the idea. TPG was unable to reach Pierce for confirmation.

For a cruise ship to remain in service for 75 years is extremely rare. Most modern-day cruise ships are designed for a life of 30 years, and they sometimes are retired and scrapped even earlier than that. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of cruise vessels just 20 to 30 years old were permanently removed from service.

Capirotada is a dish with a rich legacy. Also known as Mexican bread pudding, Capirotada is a dessert with as many variations as you can imagine. There is no one definitive recipe, it's open to many broad interpretations. It's always different no matter where you go. But no matter where eat it, you can be assured that you'll find the one ingredient that makes it Capirotada through and through: cheese.

Yes, cheese.

Capirotada is traditionally served during Lent. In the past, most traditional Mexican families would make it a few times a year or whenever they found themselves with a surplus of stale bread. There's something about that savory bite of cheese hidden within the flavors of cinnamon, cloves and raisins. It's a natural pairing.

The history of the Capirotada is long and complex. As with many Mexican dishes, Capirotada traces its roots back to the old world, where various centuries-old Spanish cookbooks mention its predecessor. Even further back we see a distant relative mentioned by the Romans entitled Sala Cattaba, a mixture of bread, liquid, savories such as vegetables, fowl, meat and fat, and a dressing that made of mint, pepper, celery, pennyroyal, pine nuts, vinegar, honey, water and cheese. Throughout history, this potted bread pudding has changed over time, but it has always managed to keep its sweet & savory element intact.

Fast-forward a couple of hundred years. It's not clear exactly when the Capirotada made its official crossover into the world of sweets, but legend has it that meat was omitted sometime during the 19th century, mostly for religious observances. It's this version that you'll find throughout Mexico - if you're lucky, that is. José Luis Juárez López, a food writer from Mexico, says that Capirotada is in danger of extinction and isn't a part of too many food celebrations today. Certainly disheartening.

Present-day recipes of Capirotada can often leave you confused. You'd be hard pressed to find matching recipes no matter where you looked, as ingredients, quantities and preparation methods can vary from cook to cook. There is a general consensus, however, which states that Capirotada includes bread, a liquid, some solids in the form of raisins and nuts, and of course cheese.

Bread forms the basis of this dish. It's the foundation. Stale bread seems to hold up better. If you're using fresh bread you'll want to toast it before using it. Capirotada is usually made with Bolillos, small round loaves of bread found in Mexican markets. Once stale they make the perfect texture for bread pudding.

A sauce must be made to pour over the chunks of bread. This liquid is basically made of water, brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks, reduced to a syrup and strained. Variations include the addition of anise tea or a piloncillo, The piloncillo, a small cone of dried unrefined brown sugar, is the Mexican secret incredient and can be found in Latin markets. You may also notice that Capirotada uses a sugar syrup and not cream and eggs like other bread puddings. But fear not, it's still delicious.

The beauty of this dish is its personalized nature. Most are content with the sole inclusion of raisins, but feel free to add currants, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, even fresh or dried fruit.

Then there's the cheese. Yes, cheese. A nice cheddar freshly shredded tastes delicious and is more subtle in this dish than you might imagine. Similar to apple pie with a slice of cheddar on top, cheese in this bread pudding really shines and adds dimension. Besides, it's not Capirotada without it! Other recipes call for Queso Añejo, Seco or Ranchero, but most find a simple cheddar works just fine.

Black pepper, chopped tomatoes, onions and bay leaves can be added. No, your browser hasn't accidentally taken you to another recipe. We're still talking Capirotada here, folks. Personally this is a tad bit different for most but experiment and try it, you might just like it!

Capirotada Recipe:

Mexican desserts aren't famous for their over-the-top sweetness. If you prefer your bread pudding on the sweeter side simply adjust the sugar level in the liquid.

Ingredients:

3 cups of water

3 large cinnamon sticks

3 to 4 Pilloncillos (if not available you can substitute 1 1/2 cups brown sugar)

3 to 4 oz raisins

4 bolillo rolls (found in Mexican markets) or 1 loaf french bread, cut into pieces

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Method:

In a saucepan, bring water, sugar and cinnamon sticks to a boil then reduce and simmer for 10 minutes. Break bread into small 2 inch pieces (if using fresh bread you'll need to toast it beforehand) and place in a baking dish and sprinkle with raisins and half of the shredded cheese. Strain the syrup liquid, removing the cinnamon sticks, and pour the syrup over the bread until well absorbed. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until syrup is absorbed. This dish may be served warm or cold and topped with fresh whipped cream or ice cream. Enjoy!

Many of you are familiar with this iconic image of the Aztec warrior carrying a woman, as seen on countless panaderia calendars, but do you know the legend behind it? The most popular legend passed down for centuries through oral tradition comes from the ancient Náhuas. It tells the romantic and tragic story of Mexico’s Romeo and Juliet – Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl.

Many years before Cortés came to Mexico, the Aztecs lived in Tenochtitlán, today’s Mexico City. The chief of the Aztecs had a beautiful daughter named Iztaccíhuatl.

The people were enchanted with Izta and her parents prepared her to someday be the Empress of the Aztecs. Izta grew up and fell in love with a captain of a tribe named Popocatépetl or Popoca. Popoca asked for the Emperor’s permission to marry his daughter and he agreed to the arrangement under one condition, Popoca had to bring the head of the enemy chief back from the war, in order to marry his daughter.

Popoca immediately left to fulfill the request and his destiny. Several months passed and an adversary of Popoca sent a false message back to Izta that her loved one had died in battle. When Izta heard her lover’s fate she was overcome by the news, refused to eat and died of grief.

Popoca returned victorious, but upon hearing of Izta’s passing, he could not be consoled. He carried his beloved to the mountains and put her down to rest, then plunged a dagger in his broken heart. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into famous peaks southeast of Mexico City. Together in eternity are Iztaccíhuatl’s mountain “La Mujer Dormida” (Sleeping Woman), and Popocatépetl’s volcano. The volcano is still active today raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

February 2023

January 2023

December 2022

November 2022

October 2022

September 2022

August 2022

July 2022

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

February 2022

January 2022

Let me know if you would like links to any of the earlier ones. (Over 11 years worth)