Benefit for CASA
Best Margaritas 2009
Fri, Aug 7, 5:30–7:30pm
CASA roof terrace
Santa Julia 15, Col. Sta. Julia

Delicious and healthy bites at CASA
By Kirsten West

Many chefs have come to their calling on byways before they follow the call of the toque (that characteristic chef’s hat.) I was a pediatric nurse when I decided to leave the hospital for the kitchen. However, my training as a nurse was invaluable to my new chosen profession. I had learned a lot about the importance of a balanced and nutritional meal, bacteriology (kitchen cleanliness) and dealing well with kids, no matter what age.

When I moved to San Miguel de Allende, I was drawn to CASA as a volunteer because it brought back memories of those past experiences. I was able to apply what I had learned as a nurse, combining it with being a chef and cooking instructor. This for me would mean helping people in rural areas find a healthier way to feed themselves.

Unfortunately, at present a “nourishing meal” in many rural areas around San Miguel means packaged, highly processed foods and sodas; in many cases it’s the only food available at the nearby bodega. The lack of water makes it almost impossible for remote communities to grow fresh vegetables and get back to the healthy eating habits of their ancestors. The practice of mono-cropping, growing the same crop on the same land year after year, sadly destroyed over 70 percent of edible, vitamin rich pre-Hispanic plants now gone for ever.

One of the most nourishing and vital foods besides corn (maize) in pre-Hispanic times was the amaranth plant, whose grains are nutritionally as close to a complete food as alfalfa or bananas. Ground to flour, it was added into corn tortillas, breads and beverages. The toasted, puffed-up grains (similar to pop corn, but smaller) are used to make Alegria—the sweet that is mixed with honey and nuts and still sold widely at markets today. The tender green leaves of the amaranth plant are also eaten and contain twice the iron of spinach. Unfortunately, a Spanish religious taboo imposed upon the indigenous people after the conquest nearly wiped out this vital food in Mexico and caused a devastating epidemic of malnutrition and starvation.

Mexicans today are slowly starting to cultivate this wonderful native grain again, which is grown throughout the world for multiple uses. It was famously sent off with one of the first US space missions because of its nutritional properties as a whole food and its light weight.

In San Miguel, CASA (Centro de Adolescentes de San Miguel de Allende) is preparing a program to effectively deliver healthy messages about nutrition in the community. You can help support this work by attending CASA’s second annual Margarita Contest on the CASA roof terrace in Colonia Santa Julia. Nearly 30 local restaurants are participating in this enjoyable evening that includes music. 

I’m providing the botanas at the CASA Margarita Contest tonight. I tried to use as many indigenous ingredients as possible to show how healthy the Mexican diet once was. You can taste amaranth, chocolate, peanuts, pecans, tomatoes, chile, jicama, beans and cactus fruit, but Old World foods like dairy, carrots, cilantro, limes and wheat bread happily team up with the natives for a delicious and healthy combination.

If you are searching for great recipes, I am happy to share via email. Let me know if you are interested: kirstenwest2008@yahoo.com.

Tickets for this event are available at La Conexión, La Victoriana and Vía Orgánica. For more information, contact Margo at 154-6060 or casainterns@hotmail.com.


Kirsten West, The Culinary Explorer is an international chef and cooking instructor who has studied Mexican cuisine in most its regions for over 25 years. Her teachers were many wonderful Mexican cooks, including authorities of the cuisine such as Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless. Kirsten is now a full time resident of San Miguel.



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Benefit Concert
Broadway Loves Casita Linda
Wed & Thu, Aug 19 & 20, 8pm
Teatro Ángela Peralta
Mesones 82
350/150/100 pesos


Local musicians join Broadway benefit
By Mark Bilker

A trio of internationally known musicians, all of whom call San Miguel home, share the Teatro Ángela Peralta spotlight with the visiting troupe of Broadway performers for the Broadway Loves Casita Linda musical/dance spectacular.

Doug Robinson, Stephen O’Connor and Rick Schlosser join the five New York stage performers for what promises to be two exciting and memorable evenings of Broadway-style music and dance.

Robinson, featured on bass, began playing piano at age nine. By the time he was 20, he had performed and recorded on 16 different musical instruments. He studied theory and performance while teaching himself composition and music production.

As a performer and/or producer, Robinson has released 17 CDs on his independent label, Act As If Music. In 2007, he was the musical director for Love In: A Musical Celebration, starring Ben Vereen and several iconic sixties artists. He co-composed A Forest of the Americas, which broke new ground by combining jazz, classical and pre-Hispanic styles. Robinson also co-produced Plays Well With Others, a series of concerts that benefited Casita Linda.

O’Connor, appearing on guitar, is a composer, recording artist and producer. He produced and performed on music CDs including Coral MacFarland Thuet’s To Another Shore, Abriendo Puertas and Live at L’Escale, as well as The Way You Look Tonight by Jan Tober. Recordings with his own jazz quartet, Stream, include Trios/Duos and Reaching for the Sun.

O’Connor’s extensive credits include work in film, television, commercial advertising and radio. He has composed music on projects for clients as varied as New York’s Hayden Planetarium, Toyota and the Public Broadcasting Service, in addition to the animated feature film Shamu, The Killer Whale. He also has composed music for narrated children’s books and was commissioned to compose “Nautilus Suite” by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

Schlosser, featured on drums, has returned to San Miguel from a year on Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks Tour. A veteran of the performance stage and the recording studio, he also has toured with Edgar Winter’s White Trash Band and with Boz Scaggs in the seventies.

Schlosser played on Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night,” and he has recorded with Diana Ross, Lionel Ritchie, Dolly Parton, Gilberto Gil, Manhattan Transfer, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Stanley Clarke and Air Supply. From 1981 to 1984, he recorded and toured with James Taylor.

Elizabeth Nantais, the Broadway troupe’s musical director, handles piano accompaniment. Nantais has served as assistant conductor on the US national tours of Sweet Charity and Fosse, and on the European tour of Hair. Her credits also include regional productions of Man of La Mancha, Oliver and Oklahoma. 

Tickets are on sale at the Teatro Ángela Peralta box office and all La Conexión locations. Proceeds benefit Casita Linda, San Miguel’s nonprofit organization that helps provide housing for disadvantaged families in Mexico.