Mexican Night at the Casa

We inaugurated our outdoor patio this week with a Mexican Fiesta. Many of us from the States miss Mexican food more than any other cuisine and you can't find good Mexican meals at the restaurants here.

Everyone brought something and the food was YUMMY! We had guacamole, black bean salsa, pico de gallo, Mexican pumpkin soup, tequila shrimp, chicken enchaladas, bean burritos with all the trimmings including homemade green chile, Casa de Loma salad and Tre Leche Cake which, as the name implies, is soaked in three different types of milk.
We had a visitor from Colorado who happens to be a Mental Health Nurse at the VA in Denver. Small world!


She is visiting her sister who is one of my friends from the American Women's group. We also invited an Aussie nurse that G works with who had never had the pleasure of Mexican food before. In additon to us, there were one Brit, one Italian, five Coloradoans, two Texans, one Californian and two Puerto Ricans. It makes for scintillating conversation!

Note the fancy sheet tablecloth and decorative clothesline - musts for the most sophisticated do. We plan to have many more parties up here so come visit!

I Love a Parade

You never know what's going to happen in this wonderful country! I went grocery shopping this afternoon and ended up participating in the Blessing of the Fleet, a time-honored celebration that's been going on in Freo for 60 years. When I came out of Woolies (of course, that's Aussie abbrev for Woolworths), I saw the surrounding streets cordoned off, policemen everywhere, groups of people all dressed up, some as angels and sailors, and a couple of marching bands.

Being my inquisitive self, I had to find out what the hubbub was about, and am so glad I did! I asked these three guys standing by the church if they knew what was happening and they explained about the Blessing of the Fleet. Italian sailors initiated the tradition to celebrate the new fishing season.

The Fremantle Festival is unique because the two statues which are carried in the procession are representative of the two towns from which the majority of its fishermen migrated, Molfetta and Capo d'Orlando. Our Lady of Martyrs was the original protectress of the fleet and her statue was crafted in Australia. The history of her devotion goes back to the crusades where the likeness of the Madonna was believed to have protected soldiers in battle.

In 1952 the people of Capo d'Orlando, a town on the north-east coast of Sicily, gave the tiny statue of the Madonna of Capo d'Orlando to their fellow Sicilians in Fremantle, since many miracles had been attributed to her. In 1954, the Madonna di Capo d'Orlando joined the Madonna dei Martiri in procession. While the Madonna dei Martiri is carried by the men, the Madonna di Capo d'Orlando is carried by young women.


I was bummed that I didn't have my camera (who brings their camera to the grocery store?) when one of them suggested I get a disposable one so as not to miss the opportunity. I thought of all our faithful blog readers and decided to spend the $10 to capture the experience on film. I caught up to the parade and saw my new buddies marching in the procession. I snapped their photo and offered to send them a copy.

Dom and two friends. My photo of the Rossi
boys together didn't turn out!

One of them invited me to join them in the parade so I lugged my suitcase full of groceries and seized the day. We proceeded to the Esplanade where we boarded one of the boats and sailed around the harbor for about 45 minutes. It was a gorgeous day and they were all good company. They even offered beer, pop and bottled water on the boat. You have to love Aussie hospitality!

It turns out the three guys are brothers from a little town called Roelands, about two and a half hours south of Freo. Every year, their church rents a bus for this event and they've been coming as long as they can remember. Paddy works at a dairy factory making yogurt while Dom and Jack run a farm with everything from ducks to macadamia nuts. I also met Gloria, Paddy's wife, Rosa and a bunch of other nice folks.

This was even more fun than our ambulance ride! When we docked, we then assembled for a return trip back to the church with a stop for daytime fireworks at the Esplanade along the way. They went back to the church for more mass and singing with a follow-up celebration of food and drink and I went to the market to buy vegetables before it closed. I hope George's milk isn't sour!