I couldn’t be happier to announce that Countdown to México is now the proud owner of the Mazatlán Exchange Forum. You’ll see a link over on the left side of the page… click it and you’ll be transported to this friendly, information sharing forum for all Mazatlán residents and visitors.

The Mazatlán Exchange Forum started its life over at MeXscape, the blog of Jennifer and Charles Swarts. Over the 4+ years they have lived here they have become busier and busier with their technology businesses and recently asked me if I’d consider taking it over. (Their businessses are Beachfront Web and MazPc.) I want to extend a sincere thank you to them for offering me the chance to learn something new and give me a new way to continue being a positive booster for Mazatlán.

I believe that it truly is possible to have a friendly and helpful forum. In my opinion the people in Mazatlán are just the best – and if we all choose to make a forum a positive and useful place, it will be!

The forum is easy to use.  Many of you are probably members already. If not, just sign up and you are ready to go. Be sure to read the Rules and Regulations in the About this Forum at the top of the list of forums before you make your first entry. There’s a screen shot of the forum web page at the top of this page, but I hope you’ll visit the forum to see for yourself.

If you’ve been a user of the forum in the past, I’ve shuffled some things around and added a couple of subforums that are just waiting for you to start a topic. One is For Sale, which I think will be a great asset since you are able to attach a picture to your post. The other is Learning Spanish, as this is something we are all thinking about and working on. (Aren’t we?) We’re open to new forum ideas, too!

To explain a bit about how the forum works, here are a few definitions:

• FORUM – the entire forum.  You can reach the main page quickly by clicking on Board Index or Mazatlan Forum.
  
• SUBFORUM – Each subforum has a single focus like Food or Learning Spanish.
  
• TOPIC – If you are in a subforum (say, FOOD) and want to read a Topic, click on the topic line, for example VEGETARIAN FOOD.  If you want to contribute, Post Reply. If you are in a subforum (say, FOOD) and want to create a brand new Topic, click New Topic to do so.

There is an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) link just underneath the orange bar if you need more information.

If you are just stopping by to check out what’s new, you have a few choices – most likely you will want to View Unread Posts or View New Posts.

If you write a New Topic or Reply on an existing Topic, check the box at the bottom that says “Notify me when a reply is posted.”  You’ll get an email telling you there is a reply.

To register for the forum:  Click Register and you’ll see a screen with a username and password box, and below that, a lot of text with the forum user guidelines. Ignore the username and password box, those are for people who already have registered. Read the user guidelines, and at the bottom click that you accept them. The next screen is where you can pick your username and password and register. You’ll get an email with a link you must click as the final step. That’s it!

I am new to managing a forum and will be learning as I go a bit, and I hope you will be understanding. But I am truly so enthusiastic about this chance to have pleasant and helpful interactions with other forum users that I can hardly wait for all of you to share your ideas with each other.

I’ve created a Facebook page for the forum, thinking that I will use it to shout out when there is something on the forum that you just won’t want to miss. All you need to do is “Like” the page and you’ll get those updates.

I hope you’ll participate in the Mazatlán Exchange Forum – the friendly information sharing forum for visitors and residents of Mazatlán, Mexico.

This is the first in a series of posts showing you around Mazatlán’s Centro Historico.  Today I am going to show you the Plazuela Machado – which is truly the heart of Centro Historico.  At the top of this post is a picture of the Casa Machado (circa 1846) – currently it houses several restaurants and stores on the main level and the Museo Casa Machado upstairs.  You’ll see the view from the second floor a little further down the page.

I want to give you an overview of Centro before we get started.  An aerial view is below.  The area outlined in red is the general Centro area, and the fuschia is Centro Historico.  This area was named a historic monument in 2001 and is protected under the supervision of INAH. (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) You can also see where the cruise ships and the shrimp and tuna fleet dock, Stone Island, the Baja Ferry, and some other landmarks.

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The street map below shows the general Centro area with a circle around the Plazuela Machado.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour of Mazatlán’s most historic plaza.  There’s lots more to show you, so watch this space!  I am making a new Category named Centro Historico Tour for this and the upcoming posts.

Disclosure:  The above blog post will also be shared with Mexico Today. I am being compensated for my work in creating content as a Contributor for the México Today Program.  I was also invited to an all-expenses paid trip to Oaxaca as part of my role and for the launch of the program.  All stories, opinions and passion for all things México shared in my blog are completely my own.

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The state of Sinaloa is the leading tomato growing region in México.  I’m not even sure what the tomato growing season is here because we have wonderful tomatoes all year long!  In the US and Canada, though, fall is tomato harvest time.  I was on the phone with my sister last weekend and she was talking about having a lot of tomatoes from her garden that she needed to make use of.  I described what I do with our tomatoes, and thought I’d share with you, too.

This recipe came from Hector Peniche, the owner of Molika Bakery.  I took some sourdough baking classes from him a while back and he described for us how he makes the delicious roasted tomatoes that he uses in many of his dishes.  A couple are wonderful draped on top of a green salad, or tossed with pasta and herbs, or included in a quiche or tart.

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I make these once a month or so.  That way I have a nice quantity for using over the coming week as well as some to freeze for later. They are also great on bruschetta, or just eaten cold from the container.

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I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.