Cats, boas, a vegan fair, and dinner…
What an unusual day!
First, an early morning phonecall informed me that my cat, who resided at our office instead of our house, had almost–almost–been devoured by a boa constrictor. She was saved in the nick of time by a vigilant and fast-moving relative who valiantly batted the snake with a broomstick until it released poor Sushi-the-cat’s head and body from its grasp. The boa, perhaps somewhat stunned by the broomstick attack but apparently no worse from wear, slithered quickly up into the hills behind the house.
After getting the cat, Sushi, to the vet, whose assistant re-christened her “Milagro,” or Miracle, and after being assured that she had sustained no damage to bones or organs (the poor mite has been severely traumatized, though, and appears to just want to hide and stay away from the big, bad world), I was able to get on with the other activities of my day, one of which was to stop in at the local organic and vegan products expo and fair that was being held down at Zihuatanejo’s archaeological museum on the main beach.
In our area of the Pacific coast of Mexico, there’s a small but growing community of growers of ecologically friendly and organic products, as well as producers of healthy and hearty snacks and gardening and personal care products. A number of tables were set up at the museum, and the producers showed off and gave samples of their wares. There was organic coffee grown in the hills above Zihuatanejo; samples of delicious basil and chipotle hummus and homemade peanut butter; bags of rich, natural organic bokashi compost for plants and potting; herbal mixtures and oils; locally made coconut oil, coconut granola, and maracuja juice and sweets; locally harvested honey and home-produced jams made from fruits of the area, locally harvested sea salt; dehydrated fruits and veggie snacks, killer homemade kimchi, and raw sprouted hummus. It was quite the spread and it was good to see things like this happening more and more often in Zihuatanejo. A lot of thanks for the organization and promotion of the events has to go out to the local Cooperativa Vegana group, which sells and promotes a lot of these products. Look for them in the stores at Casa Marina next to the basketball court in downtown Zihua (yes, that’s the same location as the SPAZ animal shelter).
By the time I was finished at the expo, and after such an exciting morning, I was hungry. Armed with bounty from the fair, I headed home and started devising my meal. This is what I came up with–simple but satisfying, and perfect for a hot summer’s day:
Hummus and Kimchi Open-Facers
I had some rustic rye bread that I used as my base, but you can use wholegrain crackers, cucumber slices, jicama slices, or even just leaves of lettuce to make them more into roll-ups if desired.
On the bread, I spread a layer of friend Patti’s fabulous raw sprouted hummus that has a lovely little spicy kick to it. On top of the hummus, I placed a half-moon of creamy avocado, followed by a small mound of Patti’s killer kimchi (it was my first taste and wow, was it good!). I sprinkled it all with fresh, chopped arugula and holy basil from the garden, and dinner was served. I dug in. Mmmm. Mmmm. A few fresh grapes to clean the palate and voila, dinner was then gone!