Hi Larry
Thanks for the nice long message.  I printed it off for future reference.
It filled 3 full pages!!!
Our meals are already paid for at the resort so that's where I expect
most of them will take place.  
Blue cornmeal???  Is that a name or a color?  
 
 LB> Much of the cuisine in the South West is native cooking that may
 LB> share ingredients with Mexican, but is uniquely US in origin.
 hehehe....much like Chinese food....uniquely north american :)
 LB> Chili con Carne, for example, is NOT a Mexican dish - thoroughly
 LB> Texas and going back almost two centuries. In Texas it is never
 LB> made with beans - that is "Yankee Chili". 
 
 I make my own version of chili con carne....I use a brown beans, since
 my family don't like kidney beans.  But chili without beans???  Unheard of!
LB> I worked temp at Burroughs Computers while making my shift from
 LB> photography to acting, 
 
 So you are primarily an actor now?
LB> These are Mexican or Mex-American - not Spanish - pronunciations.
 LB> Mexicans think Spaniards and Cubans talk funny. Somewhat like
 LB> Quebec patois versus the Academie FranTaise - but with better
 LB> sense of humour.
Thank goodness for that.  Those of us with incorrect accents don't
dare open our mouths in the place next door.  They don't appreciate
the fact that we try, they just get upset that we don't speak fluently.
 LB> For example, Mexicans pronounce "ll" as "y" - Pollo "poh-yo" while
 LB> Spaniards would say "poh-lyo". With a sharp ear, one can discern a
 LB> bit of the "l" sound on occasion by Mexicans - but it is barely 
 LB> there. "Z" is pronounced as "s" by Mexicans and "th" by Spaniards.
 LB> Cadiz is pronounced "Cadeeth" in Spain and "Cadees" in Mexico. 
How nice to have a language that each letter, or combination of letters,
has a specific sound....even if it does come out differently in different
cultures.  English must be really confusing to the newcomers to our land :)
 LB> most gracious people I ever met anywhere. A good part of it may
 LB> be that insults are not taken lightly in these cultures, and so
 LB> are studiously avoided. 
 
 Might be best to warn my hubby not to tease them in anyway then, in
 case they think he is actually trying to insult them. :( He's a 
 terrible tease!
 Mispronouncing a word is NOT taken as an
 LB> insult as in some other places in the world.
  
Like that place next door..... :(
LB> Cabrito (kab-ree-to) - young goat.
OOOh.....something new.  I'll watch for that.  Have you eaten it?
LB> Con (kone) - with. Thus Chili con Carne is chilis with meat, and
 
 Ha....now I see how you can leave out the beans.  Ours has no peppers,
 just hamburger, onions, celery, tomatos and beans.  With chili power, 
 of course  :)
 
 LB> Pollo con Queso is chicken in a cheese sauce.
LB> Refritos (ree-freetoes) - refried beans - inescapable, served with
 LB> just about every meal.
So I will finally find out what these are!  I haven't a clue.
LB> Chimichanga (Cheemee-chahngah) 
Sure, that pronunciation was a great help  
Anyway, I'm sure you have been a great help and I will study hard 
before I go, so I can at least know what kind of meat will be served
with the tortillas.  From other stuff I have read it seems that 
they have different names for basically the same food, depending on
how the tortilla was wrapped around it.  I will be most interested in
how the various people attack the same food  :)  
Should I bring the camera to get pictures of the mess some of them will
make?  :)
... A smile is a universal expression in any language :)
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
--- Maximus 3.00
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