Sit and Listen at Casita & Garden (With a Martini)
What do peaches, brie, mushrooms, and salted caramel espresso have in common? Casita & Garden for pizza and martinis! Last Friday, we explored those food groups while awaiting Dabit and Ale to entertain a comfortably full house of friends and a few people from out of town at C & G.
Ale(jandra) Matus was sparkling in a fabulous sequined dress that must have weighed a ton, but she carried it like a runway model. Her partner onstage and in life, Dabit Azofeifa, accompanied her on accordion and guitar while she sang in various languages and genres. This lovely couple from Costa Rica spent the intermission going to each table in the house, saying hello to friends with heartfelt hugs, and introducing themselves with panache and love to anyone they had not met before. Ale and Dabit are consummate professionals with so many fingers in as many entertainment pies. It was lovely to relax with them in the serenity of Francie Nguyen’s Casita & Garden, to sit and just listen. Thank you for that, my dear friends. Oh, and that martini…
Saturday morning Patrice and I were on the Isla Cuale at the Weekend Market headed by herbalist and Vallarta Mirror columnist Ricardo Mazcal. Ricardo’s Market runs 52 weeks/year, and other vendors can be found at his storefront every Saturday from 10 am until 2 pm, close by Frida’s Garden on the Island. We stocked up on spices and condiments, all organically grown and produced in Vallarta and MazMix, Ricardo’s pre/and pro-biotic formula that has saved me (and countless others) over the past dozen years or so. If you have any ailments, believe me, Ricardo has a solution. He has been in the healing arts his entire life, has cured his own stage-four cancer with his great-grandmother’s tinctures and potions, and can do the same for you. Now in his eighties, Ricardo has no intentions of slowing down and indeed, has more energy than men half his age. Talk to him about libido if yours is lacking or has disappeared entirely.
Late Saturday afternoon, Patrice and I walked to Arte Vallarta Museo along with Sandra Bradley to celebrate the First Saturday Fiesta. It is a monthly gathering I have not missed in over two years. There is always fresh food cooking on the grill, sometimes manned by Museum Director Nathalie Herling herself, live music, and loads of art, artists, and those who love and support the two in the mix of partygoers.
An interesting workshop is coming up later in April by an extraordinary artist from Cuba, who is represented by Vallarta resident Kimberley Bennett. More information on times, dates, etc., this week.
The Palm Cabaret and Bar is hosting a fundraiser for Jordon Carnegie this Wednesday at 8 pm. Jordon had to cancel the run of his hard-fought-for Hedwig and the Angry Inch Musical due to a savage attack from one of his dogs. The entertainment community has banded together, donating their formidable talents for your star-studded enjoyment and to ease the financial burden this has caused Jordon and his husband, Richard. Admission is 500 pesos (feel free to donate more) in cash only at the door, but reserve your seats beforehand.