First Love & Look for My Obituary: Two Novellas are described as having “clarity of style” and “understated eloquence” which focuses on the theme of love. This is not my usual reading material, but that's the great thing for me about this blogging hobby- I often am introduced to new things that I wouldn't normally try.

Elena Garro was one of the most important figures in Mexican literature even though only a handful of her work has been translated into English. She was formerly married to Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz.

The first novella, First Love, explores the fragile relationship that builds between a young mother and her daughter with German prisoners of war in Paris. The social conventions and world circumstances that keep the characters apart are saddening in this deceptively simple tragedy.

The second part is far more surreal and more my style. Reading like a like Bunuel film, it also deals with the barriers that keep true love apart, this time a man in a loveless arranged marriage is spellbound by a mysterious lady he finds by the side of the road.

Oh those go go nineties where Brian Setzer was king again, blue dyed goatees could be seen at your local tiki bar, and some of us were wearing bowling shirts with fedoras, and skanking to the beat it our pencil skirts cause it was “money man!”.

We didn't look quite as cool as we imagined, but some walked out of it with a few good souvenirs. Personally I grabbed a few simple swing dance moves and a love for the Mexican born musical inventor, Esquivel.

You really could not go wrong with any of his albums, but More of Other Worlds Other Sounds is one that's been reissued and is not a complication. It sounds as you might expect it would from the cover image. All loungey, exotic, and spacey. My personal favorite songs are The Breeze and I (Andalucia) and La Mantilla.

Being a bit too young to get entirely into Fantasy Island, I mostly knew Ricardo Montalban as Khan, whose wrath gets the starship enterprise in a world of trouble in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, the only Star Trek film I had seen until Babe in the big city's dad starred in that one.

He brought a whole lot of luxurious class to the franchise (which is why the Chrysler Le Baron used him as their suave spokesperson). He also added more sixty five year old muscle than Patrick Stewart - maybe- it would be a toss up. His physique was so buff in the film that it was rumored to be fake.

His voice is butter soft and you all know how much I love a good character actor, especially one that pull of white suits and Tina Turner hair with equal ease.

The next time your with a Californian bitching about how there is no good Mexican food in new York, and trust me if you meet or know anyone from California they will bitch and moan about how bad the mexican food is here – just like we bitch and moan about the bad mass transit and all those actors, send them to Calexico Cart at the corner of Prince and Wooster and dare them to say another disparaging word.

These 3 dollar a pop tacos are the best I have had in the city. I tried the chipotle pork and steak. Each were full of flavor, nice and juicy (no dried out meats here) and both had very distinguishing and unique taste combinations.

Too often mexican restaurants make everything the same, so that it hardly matters if the innards are pork, chicken, or portobello mushrooms. Here the pork tacos was distinctly sweet with pickled radish and a touch of sour cream and more than a touch of spice while the steak was heartier with guacamole and a rich marinated garlic flavor that penetrated the strips of non-fatty steak.

I couldn't give this place higher praise than to say it will become a staple in my work time lunches. The line can get lengthy, but some things are worth the wait. Good Mexican in New York City is one of them.

What is this tasty tamarind that Jarritos makes into the tastiest soda this side of clear pepsi (just joking)? According to internet sources, it is an African native tree whose sap, bark and seeds are used not only in this popular Mexican import, but is essential to Worcester sauce. It's tough branches are also used for corporal punishment. It's the hardest working tree in the Northern hemisphere.

You can find Jarritos in nearly every little bodega in the city. The company was started in 1950 and was the first and remains the most popular Mexican soda company.

The problem is I always get the tamarind because it's so good, so i haven't tried their other tantalizing flavors which include guava, hibiscus, pineapple, and mango – all of which sound so good, I want to run out and try them right now.

Hanging a pinata at a party in your apartment in the city is as good an idea as keeping a huge dog that needs exercise cramped in your apartment all day. Which means one thing – I am sure people do it anyway, but I will not.

Which is unfortunate because I am sure a pinata would add a certain danger to my party, but the possible damages outweigh the certain fun. So all of you that actually can hang a pinata – do it for me this Cinco de Mayo. thanks.

Sabado Gigante is one television show muy loco. By that I mean this is one crazy show. And so much fun. I used to watch this all the time to brush up on my spanish for my high school class back when Senora Wells was giving out extra credit for watching Univision and Telemundo .

These stations allowed us gringos a glimpse of a land where telenovelas tell the tales of poor good girls in love with men from a higher class (often in braids or ringlets or braids and ringlets ) and the rich bad girls that try to thwart their love(the ones with even more mascara and no braids), where dancing on the beach can become daily watching for my dad (it's true, he watches Caliente all the time), but most importantly the land of Sabado Gigante, the hours long mix bag variety game show hosted by Don Francisco. I love the madness and the world agrees, it is one of the longest-running weekly television shows in history.

I guess for some reason I thought tortilla soup was an americanized dish but when we visited mexico recently it was on nearly every menu. This recipe is extremely tasty and easy and hits the spot on a warm evening when you need to be fulfilled, but can't imagine eating heavy. Also a great recipe to experiment with adding extras if you want to.