Wrought Iron Rails!

I'm in upstate New York in my hometown attending my high school reunion . Seeing friends that I haven't seen since 1970 when I graduated. It has been great fun. Last night I received some photos from Arturo. He said that the house is really coming along quickly now. So here are just a couple of photos until I get home next week and can post more. I love the simple look of the wrought iron. Roger has chosen well.

This is how the floors are looking..

I received from Arturo some new photos taken yesterday. (He is so great!) It was raining in Merida and this actually helps me imagine how the tiles will look when they are polished! So here are a few of the new views... and about the old tile that was uncovered... the workers are going to try to remove it intact and we will use it in the casita when built.

rainy day!

Upstairs terrace will have small stones set in

Promenade look endless!

edges look great

Master bedroom floor

All about closets

I have two walk in closets, a walk in pantry off the kitchen and a bodega on the downstairs level. Each of these storage areas will have shelves and the closets will also have a hanging area. You can never have enough storage and I would love to be able to have the minimalist look versus a cluttered look. So here is how they make the concrete shelves that serve storage areas!
First they poke holes in the concrete walls and bend some rebar to go into the holes and make a form for the concrete to sit on:

 

Shelves in the walk in pantry

Master bedroom closet

Just add some paint, a hanging bar or two and we have storage! 

My favorite Flan recipe!

I love flan. Pumpkin, coffee, cheese, or plain it doesn't matter what flavor, it's my favorite dessert to make. So I thought I would give you one of my favorite flan recipes! Hope you like it..

Flan

 

Ingredients

·        1 cup white sugar

·        1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

·        1 and ½ cups of milk (I use 1%)

·        6 eggs

·        2 tablespoon vanilla extract

·        1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1.                      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place a large pan filled with approx 3 inches of water onto the oven rack. You will place the glass baking dish into this pan so that the flan steams in the oven.

2.                      In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color. You will start to smell the slight burnt sugar smell as it turns golden. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Set aside.

3.                      In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in condensed milk, regular milk, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth. Pour this mixture into baking dish

4.                      Bake in preheated oven 60 minutes. Let cool completely.

5.                      To serve, carefully invert on serving plate with edges when completely cool or serve family style without turning it onto a plate!