Dale emailed me late this morning wondering if I had time to meet her at the Mercado for lunch and shopping. I decided that I had room in the schedule and agreed!

We met in front of Waldo’s. It’s a convenient place to wait because there is a little nook by the stairs that doesn’t see much traffic. She arrived a couple of minutes after me wondering if I wanted to grab lunch first.

Contessa had told me about a lunch special at the Water’s Edge restaurant near Plazuela Machado so I suggested we go there and see if the menu was available on Sundays. Dale was game and we wound and wended our way there. I really am getting very comfortable navigating some parts of Maz!

Thankfully, the restaurant was open. They do the special Tuesdays to Sundays (closed Mondays). You get a choice of several different meals with bread and beer, pop, or limonda for 100 pesos, or you can pay an extra 20 pesos to get wine or sangria. The restaurant is owned by Canadians and the menu is not at all Mexican.

Water’s Edge restaurant

The courtyard was bright and cheery.

I liked the wire artwork on the walls.

Since it was overcast, we ate out in the open.

Every option looked good, but I zeroed in on the Asian salad with Napa cabbage, grilled chicken, fried wontons, mango, and a sesame-ginger dressing simply because this was the choice with the most flavours I haven’t eaten since I arrived in Mexico. The salad wound up being a healthier and lighter version of the Applebee’s Asian chicken salad and really, really tasty!

Yummy salad.

An absolutely unnecessary plate of bread.

Dale, who was still vegetarian when I met her, is really expanding her horizons and surprised me by ordering the seared tuna sandwich on ciabbata, with a garlicky mayonnaise, something a bit spicy, and avocado, with a salad on the side instead of soup. She was a little daunted when she saw what the tuna looked like (I’d warned her; cooked on the outside, just about raw in the middle), but she bravely dug in and was immediately very clear in her opinion, “Oh, YUM!” She had me try a bite and it was indeed very good, a little smoky and spicy.

The meal came with okay bread, good butter, and our beers (choice of Corona (yuck) or Pacifico), all for 120 pesos each with the tip. Thanks for the recommendation, Contessa!

We then went to the Mercado. Last time I was there and bought my blouse, I stopped in at the little boutique I like and met a Gringa who told me that the best deal in the shop is some dresses with smocked bodices that are made on site. They are cut to the customer’s preferred length and the cut material is used to make straps. She said, “I always get two or three, so I get them for 330 pesos each.”

Ever since I first laid eyes on Leslie Mann’s smocked bodice dress in Knocked Up, I have wanted one.

I have been dreaming of this dress for EIGHT YEARS.

Now that I have a body shape to wear a dress like that and a source for one, I had to explore this option further! So Dale’s and my first stop at the Mercado was the dress shop!

I went through all the smocked dresses and gasped when I found one in not only the weight of fabric but also colour that I wanted. The clerk greeted me warmly and told me I could have the dress for 300 pesos!!! SOLD. The seamstress put the dress against me and I told her I wanted it a little shorter than the dress I was wearing, with one-inch straps. I was asked to pay and come back in about 30 minutes.

Dale and I wandered around, picking up what we needed. While I know that Dale genuinely wants my company, she definitely relies on me for translation and monetary help when she’s shopping in situations like these where the total price isn’t rung up on a screen that she can watch and she has to ask for things and give quantities. I got a nice red pepper for my pasta dinner tonight and found some gorgeous avocados for a couple of breakfasts.

When we got back to the dress shop, the seamstress was finishing up. I examined the stitching, gave my approval, and the dress was bagged up for me.

Dream dress AT LAST!!!

The seamstress didn’t seem super busy, so next time I go to the Mercado I will bring a pattern I found for the style of headscarf I prefer and see if she would be willing to make me some if I provide the fabric. Fabric is super cheap in Mexico, so I’m hoping I could get a half dozen or so new scarves. Anyway, I’ll see what she says.

I really needed to get back to work, so that was it for me. Dale and I made tentative plans to meet later this week because I need coffee. I’ll either go to her and try out a restaurant in the Golden Zone that was recommended to me, or I’ll trust her with my coffee order and she’ll meet me in Centro.