A huge shout-out to all the customers and friends of Tippy Toes. If it were not for this wild group in Mazatlán, Tippy Toes would not have happened. You got your toes painted and your body scrubbed and waxed (even when you didn’t want to), and were kind to my staff. Thank you for making Tippy Toes a wonderful, fun place to be.
Polly, you are still a scaredy cat, but you have embraced Mexico and the music. Thank you for keeping the mice out of my house. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?
Bob the dog, you were a good dog, and you made for a great story. RIP.
My neighbors, thanks for sharing the stories of Carnaval Street.You are right, we live on the best street in Mazatlán.
Mazatlán, the Pearl of the Pacific. Mazatlán, you are a magical city, one that has weathered many storms and won. Thank you for opening your shores to me, and for giving me a new life and my wonderful home by the sea.
From the kitchen on Carnaval Street
My friend Lisa Lankins spent some time with me in my kitchen on Carnaval Street, in a kind attempt to teach me some cooking skills.
Epic fail.
I still can’t cook, but I figured I can at least do my part by sharing some of her recipes with you.
Salud!
Lisa’s Chicken, Lime and Tortilla Soup
Serves 6–8
1 whole chicken
4 cups chicken stock
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Juice of 3 limes
1 jalapeño chile, chopped
¼ cup cilantro (coriander), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
½ cup chopped red bell pepper (capsicum)
¼ cup rice (uncooked)
¼ cup corn kernels
1 teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt, to taste
To serve:
Fried corn tortillas strips (fry them yourself in a little oil)
1 small avocado per person, cut into small cubes
1 cup Mexican cheese, cut into small cubes (see note)
Put the chicken into a large pot and cover with water. Put a lid on the pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 1 hour, until the chicken is tender and cooked through. Uncover and cool slightly.
Carefully lift the chicken from the pot. Pull the meat from the bones. Keep the bones for stock, and chop about half the meat. Save the remaining meat for salads or sandwiches.
Combine the reserved bones, chicken stock, tomato, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, jalapeno, and cilantro in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Remove the bones. Add the onion, bell pepper, rice, corn, and garlic and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chopped chicken, and season with salt to taste.
Ladle the soup into bowls. Place the tortilla strips, diced avocado and cubed cheese on side plates to be added by the guests as desired. To make sure that your avocado doesn’t turn brown toss it in some extra lime juice.
Note: Use Chihuahua or Manchego cheese. Alternatively, you can use Monterey Jack.
Lisa’s Mango Salsa
Serves 4
2 large ripe mangos, peeled and seeded, chopped into small cubes
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 large jalapeño chile, seeds and membrane removed, finely chopped
A handful of cilantro (coriander), finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon salt
Mix all ingredients together and enjoy! All ingredient amounts can be changed according to your liking. If you like, you can add ½ cup rinsed and drained canned black beans, and/or ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Lisa’s Salsa Tatemada (Roasted Salsa)
Serves 4 with tortilla chips
4 tomatoes, kept whole
2 large white onions, peeled and cut in half
2 jalapeño chiles, kept whole (more if you like it hot)
٤ large cloves of garlic, peeled
Juice of 2 limes
A large handful of cilantro (coriander)
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of pepper
Pinch of ground cumin
Optional: a few drops of liquid smoke
Put the tomatoes, onions and jalapeño onto a preheated grill or barbecue (or in a hot pan with olive oil) and cook until they are well roasted and blackened on the outside, turning often.
Place the blackened tomatoes into a blender along with ½ cup of water.
Blend until liquefied, adding a little more water if necessary.
Add the grilled onions and jalapeños, along with the remaining ingredients. Blend just to a chunky consistency. Serve with tortilla chips, in tacos, or over meats and fish.
Lisa’s Classic Margarita
(This makes one Margarita, usually several are needed!)
Ice cubes
1½ ounces (45 ml) of your favourite tequila
juice of 2 limes
1½ ounces (45 ml) simple syrup (see below), more or less depending on sweetness desired
1 teaspoon orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
1 tablespoon lime-salt-sugar (see below)
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add tequila, lime juice, and simple syrup. Cover and shake until mixed and chilled, about 30 seconds (this can also be mixed up in a pitcher).
Place the lime-salt-sugar on a plate. Run a lime quarter around the rim of a chilled margarita glass, then press the rim of the glass into the lime-salt-sugar mixture to coat the edge. Strain the margarita into the glass.
Simple syrup:
Combine 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool. The syrup will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Lime-salt-sugar:
Mix the finely grated zest of two limes, 3 tablespoons sea salt and 3 tablespoons sugar in a bowl.
Lisa’s Mango Jalapeño Margaritas
This is for one Margarita, make more if you’re thirsty!
Lime wedges
Tajin seasoning or coarsely ground salt (see Note), for the glass rims
ice cubes
1½ ounces (45ml) jalapeño tequila (see below)
2 ounces (60ml) Grand Marnier
2½ ounces (75ml) mango syrup (see below)
2 ounces (60ml) lime juice
To make the jalapeño tequila: Place 3 sliced jalapeño chiles (remove seeds if you don’t like it too hot) in a large glass jar or container and cover with 2 cups of tequila. Let sit for 24 hours. Strain before using. You can keep the tequila in a sealed container for a few weeks, preferably in the fridge.
To make the mango syrup: Combine equal parts sugar and water (I usually use 1 cup of each), and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool. Combine 1 cup of this simple syrup and the chopped flesh of 1 mango and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon. Blend in blender.
To make the margaritas: Wet the rim of your glass with a lime wedge and dip in seasoning or salt. Fill the glass with ice.
In a cocktail shaker, combine the jalapeño tequila, Grand Marnier, mango syrup, and lime juice with ice. Shake for about 30 seconds (if you don’t have a shaker, just mix in a pitcher and stir). Pour over ice and squeeze in lime wedges to taste. If you like, take a few of the jalapeños from the tequila (seeds removed), and toss them in the margarita.
Note: Use the lime-salt-sugar from the Classic Margarita recipe, if you like.
Discussion topics for The House on Carnaval Street
1.“My life sometimes seemed like a series of one-act plays starring the same character, a gutsy heroine who over and over seems destined to triumph, yet som
ehow never quite does,” admits Debbie (page 58). What is your overall impression of her after reading this book? How does she view herself versus how others see her?
2.How did leaving Afghanistan—and the circumstances surrounding her departure—impact Debbie mentally and emotionally? Why was she reluctant to leave Kabul despite the danger she was in? Why do you think it took her so long to realize and to accept that she had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
3.While Debbie is in California, therapist Steve Logan advises her to sit with glowworms, while Larry cautions her to wait a year before making any big decisions. What advice would you have given her at the time?
4.Why is Cynthia the person who is able to help Debbie the most with her recovery? What is the energetic force that Debbie describes feeling in Patzcuaro? Share whether you’ve ever experienced something similar.
5.What motivates Debbie to settle in places like Afghanistan and Mexico, with language barriers and cultural differences? Would you ever consider living in another country? Why or why not?
6.Debbie’s inner voice whispers doubts into her ear during the drive from California to Mexico. What keeps propelling her forward rather than turning back? Is “Debbie Downer” right or wrong when she suggests that Deb is running away by moving to Mexico?
7.“Plenty of women would have killed for what I had. So why was it so hard for me?” Debbie asks (page 53). Does her inability to embrace a quiet, secure life in Napa have more to do with her surroundings or with her state of mind? In contrast, what is it about Mazatlan and its expat community that makes her feel at home?
8.Debbie is remarkably honest about her rocky romantic past and failed marriages, including her risky union with Sam. What realizations does she come to about her relationships with men and her reasons for marrying? What new perspectives does she bring to her relationship with Denis?
9.Owning a home has always been important to Debbie, who acquired her first house when she was twenty-one. Why is home ownership such a crucial factor in her life? What meaning does living on Carnaval Street have for her?
10.Do you agree with the “tough love” stance Debbie takes with Noah? Why does she change her mind and allow her son to come live with her in Mazatlan? How does the news that she’s going to be a grandmother affect Debbie and her views about moving to Mexico?
11.Discuss Debbie’s conflicted feelings about being a hairdresser. In her view, firefighters, police officers, and military service personnel are the kinds of people who help others through their vocations. But in what ways has she changed lives using her profession?
12.Debbie tells Sergio that she has “absolutely no interest in opening a salon here in Mazatlan” (page 236). Why then does she change her mind and do just that? What does she enjoy about working in a salon?
13.Debbie makes a list of what the “new her” would look like if she were given a clean slate in Mexico (page 83). How many of these aspirations does she achieve? Did she make the right decision by relocating to Mexico? Ultimately, does she find what she was seeking?
14.What universal lessons and insights are there in The House on Carnaval Street that could benefit all women? Which aspects of Debbie’s story particularly resonated with you?
15.What factors do you think contributed to Debbie’s complicated relationship with her father, and how does her experience during the Day of the Dead help her come to terms with that relationship?
16.How does Day of the Dead help others who have suffered loss?
17.What other religious and cultural traditions do people turn to in order to deal with a loved one’s death? Do you think these help, and if so, how?
Enhance Your Book Club
Take a virtual visit to Mazatlan, Mexico, Debbie’s adopted hometown, at:
www.gomazatlan.com
www.allaboutmazatlan.com
www.mazatlanmycity.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deborah Rodriguez is a hairdresser, motivational speaker and also the author of The Kabul Beauty School and the bestselling novel, The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul. She spent five years teaching and later directing the Kabul Beauty School, the first modern beauty academy and training salon in Afghanistan.
Rodriguez also owned the Oasis Salon and the Cabul Coffee House, and is the founder of the nonprofit organization Oasis Rescue, which aims to teach women in post-conflict and disaster-stricken areas the art of hairdressing.
She lives in Mexico and is currently working on the sequel to The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul.
Also by Deborah Rodriguez
The Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil
The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul: A Novel
The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul
by Deborah Rodriguez
An international bestseller.
Deborah Rodriguez’s captivating novel about a little café in Kabul, and the five extraordinary women who meet there . . .
In a little coffee shop in one of the most dangerous places on earth, five very different women come together.
Sunny, the proud proprietor, who needs an ingenious plan – and fast – to keep her café and customers safe . . .
Yazminda, a young pregnant woman stolen from her remote village and now abandoned on Kabul’s violent streets . . .
Candace, a wealthy American who has finally left her husband for her Afghan lover, the enigmatic Wakil . . .
Isabel, a determined journalist with a secret that might keep her from the biggest story of her life . . .
And Halajan, the sixty-year-old den mother, whose long-hidden love affair breaks all the rules.
As these five discover there’s more to one another than meets the eye, they form a unique bond that will for ever change their lives and the lives of many others.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
The House on Carnaval Street
9780857981127
Copyright © Deborah Rodriguez, 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Bantam book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx
First published by Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., under the name Margarita Wednesdays, in 2014
First published in Australia by Bantam in 2014
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Rodriguez, Deborah, author.
The house on Carnaval Street/Deborah Rodriguez.
ISBN 9780857981127 (ebook)
Rodriguez, Deborah.
Women – United States – Biography.
Women – Mexico – Biography.
Beauty operators – United States – Biography.
Beauty operators – Mexico – Biography.
Interpersonal relations.
California – Social life and customs – 21st century.
Mexico – Social life and customs – 21st century.
646.720972
Cover illustration by Cheryl Orsini
Cover design by Christabella Designs
Internal design and typesetting by Midland Typesetters, Australia, based on design by Akasha Archer
Typesetting and eBook production by Midland Typesetters, Australia
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The House on Carnaval Street Page 29