House & Garden Tour
Sun, Jul 26, tour departs at noon 
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
US$15 or 150 pesos
Breakfast at Café Santa Ana starts at 9am

House & Garden Tour
By Jennifer Hamilton

Hand carving and drama, rare Mexican pottery and a secret garden

1. This delightful home is on a quiet street close to Guadiana, yet still in the Centro. With hand-cut stone floors, a retractable glass roof and lush plantings inside and out, it blends the outdoors and indoors into a uniquely lovely setting.

Entering through an outdoor sala with two seating areas, a polished cement fountain sits to the left, surrounded by softly undulating columns and arches, and a moveable glass roof. In the corner is a hand-carved cantera fireplace and an enviable collection of masks and religious objects. The dining room also faces the ramada, with a dramatic arched ceiling above the dining table, a large tin-framed mirror on one wall to reflect the outdoor area and archways, and an impressive collection of “greenware” from Michoacán. An entertainment area contains a collection of antique Mexican sombreros and a beautiful retablo placed in the center of the mantelpiece. Large glass doors look out into the lush garden built on several levels. The master bedroom contains delicate draperies
, a hand-carved wood bed and a nicho filled with colorful folk art. Upstairs is the perfect guest get-away and more colorful folk art, and a striking beamed ceiling. It leads to another outdoor entertainment area with built-in seating and colorfully striped cushions, providing an unparalleled view of the domes of La Parroquia. The wide terrace wraps around the house, offering the owners and their guests views to the north, east and west.

2. This eclectic and colorful home was purchased a few decades ago and is surely one of the “hidden gems” behind the mysterious doors of San Miguel. The spacious living room with painted frames around the doors is cozy and filled with now almost unobtainable Mexican folk art and pottery, with dark wooden doors that gleam and wood ceilings.

Note the spider web interspersed into the mirror over the wood-burning fireplace. Two guest bedrooms, with a “secret” door leading from one to the other, face the street, and a third guest bedroom with its glass walls and outstanding brass bed gives inhabitants the feeling of actually being in the garden. The pièce de résistance is the patio/garden itself, filled with every conceivable type of plant and tree in huge macetas (pots). Purchased over 30 years ago, they are almost impossible to find nowadays in such varied shapes, colors and sizes. A swan spouts water into the beautiful fountain. An abundance of colorful tile work is found throughout, most of which the owner designed herself. Part of the original house contains adobe walls 60 centimeters thick. A “secret” garden on the second level overlooks what used to be the gardens of the Aristos Hotel, now being developed by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts into an elegant gated community. The kitchen is filled with colorful Mexican pottery, much of it dating back many, many years, and these days only found in collectors’ homes.





Food & Wine

Superfood
By Matthew Hoffman

Berries, beans and oats

This column runs through July in installments. Next week, I explain the French Paradox and offer good news about high-protein grain and chocolate. A brief piece on likable superfoods wraps up the series

Berry good

Berries are like little chemical factories, filled with hard-to-pronounce things like anthocyanidins (an anti-inflammatory) and perillyl alcohol (a tumor inhibitor). People who eat berries regularly are less likely to get cancers of the colon, prostate, kidneys and uterus.

If you’re one of the millions of Americans with arthritis, you should definitely add more berries to your shortcakes. A 2006 study found that people who ate Bing cherries for 28 days had significant reductions in inflammation. Less inflammation means less pain and a lower risk of subsequent joint damage.

High-fiber beans

Beans are among the most-nutritious foods you can eat. They’re also among the most protective, thanks to their impressive complement of cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. A University of Arizona study found that people who did nothing more than eat more pinto beans had substantial reductions in both total and LDL cholesterol. Beans can also help lower blood pressure into a healthier range.

Improvements in cholesterol and blood pressure are very good for the heart. When researchers looked at the dietary patterns of 16,000 men from around the world, they found that a higher consumption of beans was associated with an 82-percent reduction in the risk of heart disease.

Those golden oats

Remember the oat-bran craze of 20 years ago? People were eating it by the sackful to lower cholesterol. It worked, but no one enjoyed it very much.

It turns out whole oats have many of the same benefits as bran, and are a lot more appetizing. More than 40 clinical studies have confirmed that oats can significantly lower cholesterol, particularly the harmful LDL form, Grotto says. People who eat a serving a day can have drops in cholesterol of about 12 points, even if they make no other dietary changes.

Matthew Hoffman, the owner of Bambu Day Spa, is a health reporter and former managing editor of Prevention Magazine Health Books.