Sunday Brunch and a Christmas Party
Sunday brunch is a rarity, and I look forward to overindulging once or twice a year, perhaps in one or two food groups that present themselves in superabundances. Certain brunches specialize in specific food, music, ambiance and the one we chose, Hacienda San Angel, is close by, a magnificent old mansion designed by Freddie Romero in Gringo Gulch’s heydey with the quality of food, service, music, and ambiance equal to the breathtaking views. And they serve prime rib.
I grew up in Southern Alberta where we ate meat three meals a day. I have been a vegetarian for three years or so, but what a joy it is to sit down to a thick slab of juicy, tender, blood-rare, perfectly seasoned roasted beef. With a splash of au jus and horseradish – it was perfection on a lovely tropical morning with a strolling violinist playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony, a chilled mimosa, and my sister with me.
It’s a delightful way to start the week.
Funnyman, realtor, and great pianist, Derek Carkner emceed the fundraiser Christmas party for the Vallarta Girl’s School outside at Los Mangos Library Sunday Night. The weather cooperated, and Vallarta’s singers turned out en masse to donate their talent, as they always do when the call goes out to help. Seth and Nick sang, then ran off to get ready to perform their last show this year at Act2PV. Mau sang and played guitar, his voice matured somewhat, prompting the great Kevin Anthony to pause mid-speech and say to me, “Whoa, Mau is in fine voice tonight!” And he was. Stolie also played her guitar and sang, but she couldn’t wait to show off what the girls had learned from her volunteer teaching at the Girl’s School. Gloria Fiona, mere weeks away from debuting her Adele Tribute concert at the enormous Teatro Vallarta, also teaches at the school. Gloria says the girls have taught her more than she has taught them. The gorgeous Maru, Lady Gaga from The Palm and Coco Cabarets, arrived ready to step foot onstage, thrilled to be there to help champion the girls in their quests for a superior education. Which is all free, by the way, all of it – tuition, books, uniforms, and two meals a day are served to these kids who may otherwise not eat at all. This labor of love begun by Cecil and Francie endures only by our community. Francie Nguyen’s dismay at seeing very young Mexican girls, bringing their children to the Food Bank during Covid, pushed her and Cecil Kerfont to find solutions. And they did.
A fast trip out to the Botanical Garden garnered us a wonderful breakfast and a tour of the new, gigantic greenhouse! More about that in the morning and this breaking news: the marvelous Chris Jacobs, late of Pasitos de Luz, has joined Bob Price and Jesus Alberto Reyes’s team at the Vallarta Botanical Garden. I was so happy to see him there on his first day of work