Olivers wrote:

> Bob (this one) extrapolated from data available...
>
>>I'll give you honey, but vanilla is a stretch for being a sweetener.
>>
> Tell Jennings that Ole Moctezuma probably had about 10,000 nekkid maidens
> (tribal tribute, bound for the altar and the dinner table) out at
> Xochimilco straining the sweet nectar out of the banks of honeysuckle along
> the road.

<LOL> If that had been the case, rest assured Gary would have made
much of it.

> Shoot, if it's fiction, make it colorful.

Given that Gary's been dead for a few years, its a tough one. But he
certainly subscribed to that sort of idea, especially after the
chocolate with Kahlua.

We were working on an opera (!) about Joe Hill, the union organizer.
Before we started, I asked how closely we were to stick to the actual
facts of his life. Gary said, "What do facts have to do with
entertainment?" We only got a little of it done before he couldn't
work any more. I heard that his estate was looking for someone to
finish it.

If you haven't read them, Aztec and Aztec Blood (slightly less) are
good reads. Lots of historically accurate material along with invented
situations, of course. They are novels, after all. I know of one other
writer who used Gary's stuff as primary source material for his own
Aztec series.

Pastorio

> I do want to try chocolate in atole which was sort a national
> dish/soup/porridge of the region, a corn kernel starchy pulp belnd which
> would have been at least semisweet for a short period in each corncob's
> life cycle.
>
> The modern horchata and the popular "liquados", fruit shakes, of mexico
> provide some concept of the availabilities for Aztec dining (beyond
> tribute tribesfolk, solving the local protein deficiency.
>
> TMO