The Washerwomen Mural at the Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende

I just returned from leading a group of wonderful ladies from Denver on a tour of San Miguel de Allende (along with some side trips to Guanajuato and the Cune de Tierra Vineyard).  One of my favorite spots is the Bellas Artes.

Dating back to the mid-18th century, the impressive Bellas Artes was the former convent created through the wealth of a young woman, Dona Maria Josefa Lina de La Canal y Hervas, the eldest daughter of the Canal Family.  The immense patio has been called one of the finest in all of Mexico.  Today the ex-convent houses Centro Cultural "El Nigromante", a branch of the Mexican Government's national system for education and promotion of art and culture.

Entering the Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende and walk straight back under the arches, you will come to a beautiful mural, Las Lavanderas ~ The Washerwomen.  The murals in the Bellas Artes are not frescos but pigments applied to the walls.

What I find interesting is that this mural is created by a woman and not a Mexican but an artist from Chicago, Eleanor Cohen, during the time of the Mexican Mural Movement that started in the early 1920's which was dominated by Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.  

She depicted the women in the mural with respect, focusing on women and children from the countryside.  Typical of the time and characteristic of the movement, the women are shown with large hands and feet and hefty limbs.  The women are centered around the one woman who is kneeling and dipping her hands in the water.   Most of the women have their backs to us except for a few and some of the children.  All eyes are averted from the viewer except for the one child, fully naked and this child seems to emit a nonchalant feeling that this is my life..

 Eleanor studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and ended up marrying one of her teachers, Max Kahn.  After graduating in 1941, she and Max chose to move to San Miguel where he became a teacher at the Bellas Artes; this may have been possible because of a connection to Stirling Dickinson (the first director of the Bellas Artes, also a graduate of the Art Institute and native of Chicago).  She and her husband returned to Chicago where they taught and created art and became quite renowned.  She showed her lithographs at the Smithsonian Art Institute in a solo exhibition in 1951.  She died at the age of 93 in 2010.

There are two other murals on the building's walls that are also very interesting, The Pulque Tavern and The Vampire Bat ~ La Cupracabra (a legendary creature in folklore said to attack and drink the blood of livestock, especially goats) by Pedro Martinez.

It's a lovely venue to check out, see what new exhibitions are on display and just soak up the interior architecture.

Robin's Coffee-Toffee Crunch Torte

Robin’s Coffee-Toffee Crunch Torte

A decadent dessert that is time consuming to make but can be made days in advance.  This is one I first made for my mom when I had a ladies birthday party for her when she turned 80 and I recently made this for Suzy for when I hosted her 80th birthday party.  It's a big hit!

Serves: 12 - 16 / depending on size of the slices

CRUST:
1 cup almonds, toasted
1 package of Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookies,
2 Heath Bars, coursely chopped
6 Tablespoons butter, melted

GANACHE:
½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

MOUSSE:
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
6 large egg yolks
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 ½ cups chilled whipping cream
2 tablespoons Kahlua
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 Heath bars, coarsely chopped

FOR CRUST: Preheat oven to 350.  Grind nuts, cookies and heath bars in a food processor.  Add
the butter.  Using a plastic glove or plastic wrap as an aid, press mixture onto bottom and up sides of
9-inch diameter spring form pan with 2 3/4" sides.  Freeze for 15 minutes.
Bake crust until golden, about 12 minutes.  Freeze crust.

FOR GANACHE: Bring cream and corn syrup to a simmer in a saucepan.  Remove from heat.  Whisk in chocolate until melted and smooth.  Pour into a squeeze bottle.

FOR MOUSSE: Whisk sugar, yolks, water and espresso powder in a large bowl.  Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not let bowl touch the water).  Whisk until candy thermometer reaches 160F.  Remove from over the water.  Add nutmeg.  Using electric mixer, beat egg mixture until cool and thick, about 5 minutes.  
Beat the cream, Kahlua and vanilla in another large bowl until stiff peaks form.  Fold cream mixture and heath bar pieces into egg mixture.  Spoon half of the mousse into the crust.  Squirt in a zig-zag pattern half of the ganache.  Carefully spoon remaining mousse into the pan.  In a zig-zag pattern, squirt the ganache in one direction and then the other direction, creating a free form grid pattern.
Cover and freeze torte overnight.  Can be made days in advance.

Note: Squeeze bottles available on Amazon.  I cut a tiny bit of the tip off to make the opening a bit bigger.