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Melissahttp://www.missmeliss.com
tamales

TBM1912.30 – FelicesFiestas06 – Tamales

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tamales

Description:

#Audio. #essay #sliceoflife #holidaysinbajasurmexico “Tamale season” is my favorite time of year.

Excerpt:

But the reality is that whether they’re wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, tamales predate Christianity, so it’s more likely that the olive represents the seeds we plant for future harvests.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:07 — 2.1MB)

Mazapánes

TBM1912.26 – FelicesFiestas05 – Mazapánes

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Mazapánes

Description:

#Audio. #essay #sliceoflife #holidaysinbajasurmexico Mazapánes are a Mexican holiday tradition, and that’s not all that’s special about them.

Excerpt:

When Mom brought these around at her posada, all the Mexican guests immediately lit up, recognizing the special holiday treat. The American and Canadian guests had to be introduced to this new delicacy..

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:35 — 2.6MB)

Buñuelos

TBM1912.25 – FelicesFiestas04 – Buñuelos

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Buñuelos

Description:

#Audio. #essay #sliceoflife #holidaysinbajasurmexico Fried dough exists in every culture, but at Christmas in Mexico, you eat buñuelos.

Excerpt:

Traditionally, these are caseras  – homemade. You can’t typically buy them in stores, though sometimes you might pass someone selling them on the street. (We had Lupita make a bunch for us, both for the posada we hosted on Saturday evening, and to eat with hot chocolate this morning.) Also traditionally, you make them and gift them to other people.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:41 — 2.7MB)

Lupita's Pico de Gallo

TBM1912.25 – FelicesFiestas03 – Lupita’s Frutería

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Lupita's Pico de Gallo

Description:

#Audio. #essay #sliceoflife #holidaysinbajasurmexico Lupita’s Frutería is the source of the best pico de gallo.

Excerpt:

Now, pico de gallo itself is not a difficult thing to make. It’s just tomatos, onions, chili peppers and cilantro, maybe with a little bit of salt.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:09 — 3.2MB)

The Bacon Guy's Truck

TBM1912.24 – FelicesFiestas02 – Huevos y Tocino

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The Bacon Guy's Truck

Description:

#Audio. #essay #sliceoflife #holidaysinbajasurmexico #huevosytocino We go shopping for eggs and bacon.

Excerpt:

Getting bacon (or smoked pork chops, ham, or chorizo) is a similar process. You drive to the bacon guy’s house. (I forgot to ask his first name, and everyone just calls him ‘the bacon guy’) His commercial truck was parked in his driveway. When we went, his wife was in the window of their laundry room, and she gestured us toward the back of the house, where the bacon guy came out in his butcher apron, and asks what you want, how much, and how you’d like it cut.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:22 — 4.6MB)

LAPAZ SIGN

TBM1912.23 – FelicesFiestas01 – Getting to La Paz

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LAPAZ SIGN

Description:

#Audio. #essay #sliceoflife #holidaysinbajasurmexico

Excerpt:

There’s another, faster highway, but Route 1 twists and turns up into the mountains along the gulf coast, skirting through East Cape, where we always stop at Los Barriles for lunch at Roadrunner Café. Los Barriles has a huge ex-pat population – mostly folks from the US and Canada –  and the prices reflect that, but the food and service at Roadrunner are usually good, and there are clean bathrooms.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:28 — 3.5MB)

TBM1912.04 – Advent04 – 37 Icicles

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Description:

#Audio. #flashfic #holidailies  Ten days before Christmas the story I’m offering is “37 Icicles. ”

Excerpt:

“Oh, right, sorry.” She hesitated, the offered. “Well, let me treat you to a load? I really am sorry about the spaghetti incident…” She reached into her change purse to give him some coins for the machines, and blushed. “I’m out of quarters,” she said. “I’ve only got seventy-two – no, seventy-three cents left. Here, take it… I owe you two cents.” Her dark eyes were glowing with amusement. “I swear it’s not the same seventy-three cents you left me.”

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:22 — 9.1MB)

christmas-tall-ship-500x310

TBM1912.13 – Advent03 – Sea Story

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christmas-tall-ship-500x310

Description:

#Audio. #shortshortstory #Christmas… At Christmas time on the planet solstice, the Sea & Shore Patrol vessel Polaris finds something – and someone – unexpected.

Excerpt:

So… it was a cold and dark December evening, and Grandfa was standing watch on the SSP ship Polaris. There wasn’t a lot of traffic in or out of the Crystal City port at that time of year. Cargo shipments of gifts and specialty items for the winter holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Arcturian Moon Howl Festival and the Pacifican Celebration of the Stars, among them) typically came through the spaceport not the seaport, but there were still the occasional locals who went for winter sails, and got fouled up in the ice floes, or simply got too drunk on spiced wine to navigate home safely.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under some readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:37 — 17.5MB)

Trouble Bass

TBM-1912.12 – Advent02 – Trouble Bass

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Trouble Bass

Description:

#Audio. #flashfic #holidailies  Twelve Days before Christmas, I offer “Trouble Bass…” It’s not a holiday story, necessarily, but it could be.

Excerpt:

“Economics is what you do. Music is what you are. Today you’re a trouble bass player.”

“Trouble bass?”

“Yup. Iff’n you play for nice folks in clubs, it’s double bass, but when you play for the people who need to hear it, need it to keep their hearts whole, it’s trouble bass.”

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:13 — 12.0MB)

Christmas Anticipation

TBM-1912.01 – Advent01 – Anticipation

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Christmas Anticipation

Description:

#Audio. #flashfic #holidailies  On day one of the Dog Days of Advent, Anticipation begins.

Excerpt:

The kitchen waited expectantly for the ritual to begin. It was like this every year at this time… when the first snow fell, when the stars seemed somehow brighter in the crisp, cold sky, the appliances would begin to Anticipate.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:52 — 5.2MB)