Birthday Party, Film Festival and Ecuadorian Aji Salsa

In late September we were invited to a birthday party.  Everytime we have been invited to to Wally and Hazel's home,  the food has been fabulous, and the company has been even better.  A  really cool part of going to their home is getting the chance to listen to great music, we get to hear everything fom Jimi Hendrix to Melissa Ethridge. 

The only music we have is the stuff on our IPods, getting to hear a variety of great music is a real treat. I miss WXRT like crazy.

  The food was fabulous, and we got a very special chance to watch the a "movie" that Wally and Hazel had put together of their slides and photos that they took on their various and wonderful trips to Africa.  VERY, VERY cool.  They were actually attacked by a hippo on a canoe trip, scary for them, but way too cool to hear about.  Hazel immortalized the trip by framing the muddy T-shirt she was wearing as they fled the canoe and swam to shore. 

We were not sure what to give Wally for his birthday so we bought this hat (only to learn later it is a Mardi Gras King Hat, oh well, Wally  was King for that day)  and we thought rubber noses would be funny,   Ok - I  don't know why we thought that, but they were.  Wally was a great sport and wore that hat all night.  It was a lovely evening.

A week after the party,  there was a film festival in one of the colleges here in Cuenca,  there were lots of movies to choose from, we decided on  the original King Kong, made in 1933,  Plan Nine from Outer Space, directed  by Ed Wood in 1959, starring Bela Lugosi and Vampira, and lastly, Spinal Tap.

We saw the first two movies on a big screen in the auditorium at one of the colleges here.  King Kong was amazing, now I understand the stuff with Godzilla in the Japanese films,  way too funny. 

What can I say about "Plan 9",  we knew it would be campy, and it exceeded our expectations. 
As a kid, I spent my Saturday nights watching "Svengoolie",  but never saw this film on his program.  It was hysterical, cool ghouls.

I am not sure how well known Svengoolie is outside of the Chicago Area, but he was a Saturday Night staple for watching horror flicks, I don't remember the significance of the rubber chicken, but he ALWAYS had one.  We recently heard that the citizens of Cicero, a suburb of Chicago, where Svengoolie was from, were in total outrage because the town council spent $1,000 on rubber chickens so that Svengoolie could throw them into the crowds during a parade. 

Movie trailer for Plan Nine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ukRYsYPmo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The showing of "Spinal Tap" was in a completely different venue. 
Before the screening of Spinal Tap we went to dinner with Hazel and Wally at an Italian restaruant, and then we went to see the movie.  Spinal Tap was being shown in a "Cultural Center",  we have no clue what culture it is supposed to represent,  whatever, it was a blast.   It was like a bar in Chicago that you would go to at night, and hope  you would never see what it looked like during daylight hours.  Skulls, coffins, ( Hazel got in that ), Guillotines ( I got in that).   It was a blast, the movie was shown on a little movie screen, like the kind from High School.  You know, on a little tripod.  It was hysterical,  Gringos and Ecuadorians sitting around and cracking up.
"But this one goes to Eleven."

 OK, About the Aji Salsa.

You know how when you go into a Mexican resturant and you are given chips and salsa, well sometimes when you go into a restuarant here, you are given Aji salsa, often served with popcorn, this was the condiment served to us with our traditional Cuy lunch in Saraguro.  We really like it,  so Michael and I decided to try to make it.  We found a recipe on the internet and sailed off to Mercado 9 de Octubre Market, a local market for fresh vegetables, fruits and meats. (the same place we ran into "Barney" when my cousin Dan was visiting.

The Meat Floor of the market, I don't know why we didn't take a picture of the fruit and vegetable level, oh well, next time.

The plaza around the market.

We don't know if this lady was a buyer or seller at the market, we are constantly amazed at the heavy loads these ladies walk around with on their backs. 

We bought five tomate de árbol (tree tomatos, a fruit you can find in any market in Cuenca) , a huge bunch of Cilantro, some scallions, about ten Aji Peppers, and four limes. Total cost  -  $1.50. 

It was really easy to make, I improvised a little, we aren't fans of really hot stuff, but this had just the right kick for us.

Our Aji Salsa

Next we need to learn how to make Quinoa Soup, and the local Potato, Cheese and Avocado Soup, both are delicious!!

We are getting more local everyday.