Category: Food and Drink

Get Out Your New Underwear and Your Old Suitcase: Mexico’s New Year’s Rituals Explained

In Mexico and other Latin American countries, women wear yellow underwear on New Year's Eve to bring good luck and wealth in the year to come. Red underwear (this vendor has a lot on her tables for sale) indicates a New Year's wish for an exciting love interest! Just remember that the underwear has to be NEW.

Superstition or not, many people here in Mexico have the custom of ritos del Año Nuevo (New Year's rituals). Some rituals include foods, others prescribe certain clothing, and still others warrant attention for religious interest.

As the clock strikes midnight, it's common to eat twelve grapes–one at each ding, one at each dong of the bell. While eating the grapes, you make a personal wish for each grape you consume, welcoming the new year that's beginning. Mexico Cooks! finds that it's helpful to write down the twelve wishes so as not to forget one or choke in the rush to swallow the grapes before the clock finishes striking the New Year's earliest hour! Even the most elegant restaurants promise that along with your late-night New Year's eve meal, they will provide the grapes and champagne.

Eating a tablespoonful of cooked lentils on New Year's Eve is said to bring prosperity and fortune. You can also give raw lentils–just a handful, with the same wish for abundance, to family and friends.

Mexico Cooks! has often received a New Year's detallito (a little gift) of a tiny bottle like this, filled with layers of different kinds of seeds and grains. This gift represents the giver's wish for your New Year: abundance.

Sweep all the rooms of your house, your front steps, and the street in front of your house to remove all traces of the old year. Some people put 12 golden coins outside–to be swept into the house after the house is swept clean. The coins are to invite money and other abundance to come into the home. Photo courtesy Jeff Trotter.

Give someone a little woolly toy sheep as a New Year's gift–it too is a symbol of abundance! Why? In Mexico, a slang word for "money" is lana–wool, in English. And what's a sheep covered with? Lana–for an abundance of money in the New Year. Photo courtesy Etsy.

On a small piece of paper, write down the undesirable habits and customs you'd like to let go of in the New Year that's just starting. Burn the paper, then follow through with the changes!

Choose three stones that symbolize health, love, and money. Put them in a place where you will see them every day.

Light candles: blue for peace, yellow for abundance, red for love, green for health, white for spirituality, and orange for intelligence.

Spill clean water on the sidewalk in front of your house as the clock rings in the New Year. Your house will be purified and all tears will be washed away.

To have money for your needs all year, have some bills in your hand or in your pocket to welcome the arrival of the New Year. Some people fold up the money and put it in their shoes!

Take your suitcase for a walk. Legend is that the farther you walk with your suitcase, the farther you'll travel. Several New Year's Eves ago, Mexico Cooks! and a few friends celebrated by walking our suitcases around the block. We all traveled far and wide during the new year that followed.

Mexico Cooks! wishes all of you a muy próspero Año Nuevo–and especially wishes that your red underwear brings you (or keeps you) the love of family, friends, and that special someone.

We'll see you right here in 2021! May your New Year be infinitely better than old 2020!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

2 de January de 2021
Wait, What? You Said Piñatas at Christmas? :: Espérate, Qué Dices? Piñatas en Navidad?

Huge piñatas ready for sale at a Mexico City market.

Among clean ollas de barro (clay pots), plastic receptacles filled with engrudo (flour/water paste), and colorful, neatly stacked rounds of papel de china (tissue paper), Sra. María Dolores Hernández (affectionately known as Doña Lolita) sits on an upturned bucket. Her birthday is on December 24, and she still lights up–just like a Christmas tree–when she talks about her business and her life.

The last point of the star-shaped piñata is in Doña Lolita's hands, nearly ready to be glued into place.

"When I was a young woman, raising my family together with my husband, it was hard for us to make a good living here in Morelia. We had eight children (one has died, but six girls and a boy survive) and we struggled to make ends meet. My husband was a master mason, but I wanted to help out with the finances. I knew a woman who made piñatas, and I thought, 'I can do that.' So I started trying my hand, over 60 years ago."

Doña Lolita adds another layer of newspaper to this piñata in progress. "You can't put too much newspaper on the pot, because it will take too long to break," she explained. "And you can't put too little on it, either, because then the first child to hit it will break it. That's no good, either. You just have to know how much to use." Click on the photo to enlarge it and get a good look at the clay pot inside the paper maché.

"The woman who made piñatas wouldn't give away her secrets, so I had to figure everything out for myself. You should have seen me the first time I tried to make a bird's beak for a parrot-shaped piñata! A man I knew told me to make it out of chapopote (a kind of tar), so I did. It hardened all right, but later in the day the weather warmed up and that beak dripped down to here! What a mess! I finally figured out how to make the shape out of paper, but I just about broke my head thinking about it!"

The family has cut rounds of papel de china (tissue paper) that wait to be glued onto a piñata. The black plastic bag holds strips of newspaper used for covering the clay pot to create the shape of the piñata.

Doña Lolita told me about the different grades of paper used to create different styles of decoration on the piñata, and she explained different kinds of paper-cutting techniques; she's absolutely the expert. Here, her son-in-law Fernando cuts tissue paper for fringe. His hands are so fast with the scissors it made my head spin; he can even cut without looking.

"In those days, the kind of clay pots we use for piñatas cost four and a half pesos for a gross–yes, for 144. In the old days, I usually sold about 7,000 piñatas every December, so you can imagine the investment I made just in clay pots. In the 1960s, I could sell a large piñata for seven pesos. Now–well, now the pots are much more expensive, so naturally the piñatas cost more, too. The large ones cost 45 pesos. This year, I'll sell about 1,000 piñatas just to break during the posadas. "

Piñatas in various stages of completion hang from every beam in Doña Lolita's tiny workshop.

"When my daughter Mercedes was about eight years old, she wanted to learn to make piñatas. She'd been watching me do it since she was born. So I taught her, and I've taught the whole family. Piñatería (making piñatas) is what's kept us going." Doña Lolita smiled hugely. "My children have always been extremely hard workers. There was a girl for each part of making the piñatas. Every year, we started making piñatas in August and finished at the beginning of January.

This gigantic piñata, still unfinished, measures almost six feet in diameter from point to point.

"One time, we had so many piñatas to finish that I didn't think we could do it. So I thought, 'if we work all night long, we can finish them by tomorrow morning.' Only I couldn't figure out how to keep the children awake to work all night." She laughed. "I went to the drugstore and bought pills to stay awake. I knew I could keep myself awake, but I gave one pill to each of the children. And in just a little while, I was working and they were sleeping, their heads fell right down into their work! What! Those pills didn't work at all! The next day I went back to the drugstore and asked the pharmacist about it. 'Oh no! I thought you asked me for pills to make them sleep!' he said." Doña Lolita laughed again. "We finished all the piñatas in spite of those pills, but you had better believe me, I never tried anything that foolish again."

Doña Lolita builds piñatas with her son-in-law, Fernando Cedeño Herrera (left), her daughter Mercedes Ayala Hernández, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. A close friend, Oswaldo Gutiérrez López (background), works with the family. Her grandson Enrique, 19, says he intends to keep the family business going.

Oswaldo Gutiérrez works on this piñata in the doorway of the tiny taller. Doña Lolita has taught many people the art of creating traditional piñatas, but her family and her loyal customers say she's the best piñatera (piñata maker) in Morelia.

"People come from everywhere to buy my piñatas. I don't have to take them out to sell; I only sell them here in the taller. Because they're so beautiful and well-made, all the best people in Morelia–and lots of people from other places–come to seek me out and order piñatas for their parties. I've taught my family that our work is our pride and our heritage, and my children have all taught their children the same. That is our legacy, our family tradition."

Fill the piñata with candy like these bags of traditional colación (hard candies especially for Christmas).

A group of Doña Lolita's piñatas, hung up for sale outside her workshop.

But why piñatas, and why in December? During the early days of the Spanish conquest, the piñata was used as a catechetical tool. The body of the piñata represented Satan; each of the seven points symbolized the seven capital sins (pride, lust, gluttony, rage, greed, laziness, and envy). Breaking the piñata equated with the triumph of good over evil, overpowering Satan, overcoming sin, and enjoying the delights of God's creation as they pour out of the piñata. Doña Lolita's most sought-after piñatas continue the traditional style, but she also creates piñatas shaped like roosters, peacocks, half-watermelons, deer, half moons, and once, an enormous octopus!

What the piñata might contain at Christmas–but fill it with whatever you think the kids will like best! Candies, small seasonal jícamas, sugar cane, mandarinas (tangerines) and cacahuates (fresh roasted in the shell peanuts, in season now) are all popular. Photo courtesy Google Images.

Now, for the nine nights from December 16 through December 24, Mexico celebrates las posadas. Each evening, a re-enactment of the Christmas story brings children dressed as la Virgencita María (ready to give birth to her baby) and her husband Sr. San José (and a street filled with angels, shepherds, and other costumed children) along the road to Bethlehem, searching for a place to stay. There is no place: Bethlehem's posadas (inns) are filled. Where will the baby be born! For the re-enactment, people wait behind closed doors at certain neighborhood houses. The santos peregrinos (holy pilgrims) knock, first at one door, then another. At each house, they sing a song, begging lodging for the night. At each house, the neighbors inside turn them away in song: 'No room here! Go away! Bother someone else!' Watch a lovely video filmed in Michoacán, a traditional small-town posada:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmdGZ0KXQ0Q&w=560&h=315]
I hope that one day you are able to participate in this beautiful tradition.

In Mexico, freshly toasted cacahuates (peanuts) also stuff the piñata. The wooden box holding the peanuts is actually a measure, as is the oval metal box.

Very small jícamas are also part of the Mexican Christmas piñata bounty.

After several houses turn away la Virgen, San José, and their retinue, they finally receive welcome at the last, previously designated house. After the pilgrims sing their plea for a place to stay, the guests assembled inside sing their welcome, "Entren santos peregrinos…" (Come in, holy pilgrims…). The doors are flung open, everyone piles into the house, and a huge party starts. Traditional foods like ponche navideño (a hot fruit punch), buñuelos (a thin fried wheat dough covered with either sugar or syrup), and tamales (hundreds of tamales!) pour out of the kitchen as revelers sing villancicos (Mexican Christmas carols) and celebrate the coming of the Niño Dios (the Child Jesus). Finally, all the children line up to put on a blindfold and take swings at a piñata stuffed with candy, seasonal fruits, and peanuts.

This five-pound bag of hard candies shows a blindfolded (but peeking) boy ready to break open the filled piñata. Luis Gómez, a merchant at Local 290, Mercado Independencia in Morelia, offers these and other bags of piñata candies.

Mandarinas (tangerines) are in season at Christmastime and add to the goodies in many Mexican piñatas.

Caña de azúcar, sin pelar (unpeeled sugar cane) is yet another seasonal sweet that's put into many of Mexico's Christmastime piñatas. Photo courtesy Science Image.

The piñata, stuffed with all it will hold, hangs from a rope during the posada party. A parent or neighbor swings it back and forth, up and down, as each child takes a turn at breaking it open with a big stick. Watch these adorable kids whack away at one:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIOjDz0smFw&w=420&h=315]
The piñata, lovely though it may be, is purely temporary. Nevertheless, happy memories of childhood posadas with family and friends last a lifetime.

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19 de December de 2020
Caña Fest Morelia, in honor of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe :: Morenita, Protect Us Now More Than Ever

Everywhere in Mexico, so many events and traditions have been cancelled, postponed, or otherwise affected by the on-going worldwide pandemia. This article, originally published in 2010, is a look back on a Morelia, Michoacán, favorite: the annual month-long festival Caña Fest (the sugar cane festival), that normally begins in mid-November and continues for a month, through December 12, the feast day of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Here's how Morelia's festival looked and sounded in 2018:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61lVnekLR1I&w=560&h=315]
Originally, the pandemia cancelled the fiesta for 2020. Recently, the government announced that due to public outcry, the festival would indeed take place, but not all in one spot as it is usually scheduled. Some stands will set up in one colonia (neighborhood), others will set up in another colonia, and still others will be relegated to other locations in the city. Will it be the same? No, of course not. Nevertheless, if only ONE case of COVID-19 is prevented, it's worth the change. Let's hope we can be back, business as usual, in 2021. Video courtesy Youtube.

Enjoy these photos and reflections on past Caña Fests!

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe, lovingly nicknamed La Morenita [the little brown woman]), caña (sugar cane), and fresh-roasted cacahuates (peanuts) are an annual combination in Morelia during the weeks from November 19 until the last minutes of the night of December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day. The Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is one of the most important religious festivals in all of Mexico, celebrated in every home and every town, in every church and every heart.

Hundreds of tons of freshly in-season caña (sugar cane) are hand-peeled with flashing steel machetes for your eating pleasure. Every year, more than 400 vendors set up food stands, trinket stands, and booths filled with religious articles in Morelia's Jardín Morelos, on Avenida Tata Vasco, and along the Calzada Fray Antonio de San Miguel leading to the Santuario de Guadalupe. Brightly colored children's rides and games illuminate the evening hours in the park; the fragrance of grilling meat competes with the deep smell of roasting peanuts, and the whir of the cotton candy machine pairs up with the rhythmic whack-whack-whack of the caña-cutting knife.

Long sugar canes are fibrous and tough, but hand-chopped with a huge knife into bite-size pieces, caña is easy to chew. Munch a piece until the sweet juice is gone, then discard the mouthful of straw-like fibers that are left. Munch another, it's addictive.

A bed of freshly sliced oranges and a pile of sliced caña con chamoy make a mouth-puckering, refreshing snack. Chamoy is a sour fruit brine that's popular for its flavor combination of vinegar, salt, and sweet fruit.

This roaster toasts about seven kilos (15 pounds) of raw cacahuates (peanuts) at a time. The family that operates this stand had the roaster made from an oil drum, along with a metal box on legs to hold the fuel. One of the family members turns the handle (to the left in the photo) to make sure the peanuts toast evenly, without burning.

The heat for the peanut roaster comes from carbón, Mexico's real-wood charcoal–they're not "briquets" from commercial bags!

Raw habas (fava beans) are toasted by the same method. Roasted habas and cacahuates are sold unsalted.

Here's a juice extractor to make you a glass of super-fresh and sweetly delicious jugo de caña (sugar cane juice). One operator inserts the long sugar canes through the back of the dark metal rollers while another turns the handle on the wheel at the left of the photo.

The juice pours onto the slanted tray, down the spout, and into your waiting plastic cup. A 12-ounce cup of hand-squeezed juice costs ten pesos–less than one United States dollar.

Do you need some real food? Try made-to-order tacos at one of the stands in Plaza Morelos. The bottom pair are bistec (chopped grilled beef), the top two are carne de cerdo al pastor (marinated pork cooked on a vertical spit). A squeeze of lime, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of minced cilantro and onion (and of course a spoonful of the hottest salsa you can tolerate) make these tacos delicious.

Maybe pambazos, enchiladas placeras, or taquitos are more to your taste. Everything at this stand is cooked to order on an anafre (brazier). Mexico Cooks! is partial to a good pambazo: it's a sandwich made from an individual-sized loaf of dense white bread, sliced open and dipped in enchilada sauce, filled with picadillo (meat/potato/carrot hash), fried till the bread is just slightly crisp on the outside, and topped with shredded lettuce, diced fresh tomatoes, minced onions, grated Mexican cheese, and a salsa muy picante (really spicy salsa).

The sign asks, "What blankety-blank crisis?" The bags of caña that this dealer offered continued at the 2009 price: 10 pesos. The world economic situation in 2008-2009 deeply affected Mexico, but up until 2020, nothing stopped this party!

Mexico has a real 'thing' for corn dogs. Here in Mexico, they're fair (as in county fair!) food, just like they are in the United States. They make quite a switch from a traditional pambazo, no?

For dessert, local strawberries flash frozen in Zamora, Michoacán, are partially thawed and served with cream. You can see that the cartons are labeled both 'fresas' and 'strawberries' (for the English-language market; strawberry export is an enormous business in Michoacán. Duero is the name of the strawberry packing company, as well as the name of the Michoacán river that runs through Zamora. They're named for the Río Duero roars through western Spain and Portugal.

Take home a bag of candies. Pick the candy you prefer–pea-size chocoretas (mint chocolate balls), crisp-coated lunetas of chocolate, sweet and tart buttons, gummy worms or bears or frogs, and a dozen more choices– and buy as little or as much as you like.

It's traditional for both adults and children to dress in 16th Century indigenous clothing during these December fiestas. This beautiful baby wears painted bigotes (moustache), a tiny poncho, a sombrero de paja (straw hat), and a bright paliacate (handkerchief/scarf), all in honor of San Juan Diego, who first saw and talked with Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in chilly mid-December of 1531.

I don't know about you, but I'm going to pray for the end of the pandemia and the return of Mexico's traditional festivities.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

5 de December de 2020
Taquería La Tía in Uruapan, Michoacán :: 37 Years in Business and Counting!

One of the many, many waterfalls in the Parque Nacional Eduardo Ruíz, Uruapan, Michoacán. I took this photo of the Barranca de Cupatítzio over 20 years ago, and the park hasn't changed much in all that time.

Uruapan (ooo-roo-AH-pahn), the second largest city in Michoacán, is most famous for two marvelous things: the Parque Nacional Eduardo Ruíz, in the heart of the city, and the annual Tianguis de Artesanías Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday Artisans' Market), that is normally a two week event starting each year on Palm Sunday. Uruapan, with a population of approximately 500,000, is an important economic center, in large part because of its location between Lázaro Cárdenas and Morelia. The park, an easy walk from anywhere in downtown Uruapan, consists of about 1.7 square miles of land, much of which is pine and oak forest. A small part of that area is open to the public, with wandering easy-to-walk paths, many, many waterfalls, and gentle slopes. Wonderful friends took me there the very first time I visited Michoacán, in 1982. The park hasn't changed a lot and it continues to be a delight to the senses.

Part of the opening parade of artisans at the annual Tianguis de Artesanías Domingo de Ramos. The artisans parade from the Parque Nacional to the main plaza in Uruapan's center, complete with regional dress, floats, pirekuas (typical music of the Purépecha indigenous people), and town after town carrying its arts and crafts through the parade. If you're lucky, an artisan will toss small articles made in her or his town–and you'll catch a little souvenir to bring home with you.

The Tianguis de Artesanías Domingo de Ramos showcases as many as 1400 artisans from everywhere in Michoacán, showing and selling their work each year during the week before and the week after Easter. The event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, but everyone is hoping that the fair will be active again in 2021. Mexico Cooks! will let you know.

Uruapan isn't a famous destination for international tourism and much of the city is unknown territory dedicated to residential areas and big business. The city does have many hotels, mostly for business travelers, but the hotels are always eager to accommodate tourists. In the photo above, you see the downtown Mercado de Antojitos–a really fun market specializing in all sorts of Michoacán sit-down snacks.

Starting fairly recently, Mexico Cooks! has had the opportunity once or twice a month to travel with a small group to Uruapan. We always leave Morelia in time to get to Uruapan in time for breakfast–and what a breakfast! Our group is quite fond of tacos de guisado–and "guisado" is a tough word to translate. Translated loosely, it's "stewy things"–like chicharrón en salsa verde, huevos revueltos con chorizo, aporreadillo, and a long list of others. Chicharrón en salsa verde is fried pork skin in green sauce; huevos revueltos con chorizo are eggs scrambled with spicy pork sausage; aporreadillo is a local dish made with cecina (in this case, very thin dried beef), scrambled egg, and a light tomato broth flavored with chile. There's a stand on the main avenue leading into Uruapan, on the right-hand side of a very busy street, where tacos de guisado have been the specialty since 1983–and that's where we stop for breakfast: Taquería La Tía (Auntie's Taco Stand).

The only sign is on the wall under the counter, behind the benches where diners sit and difficult to see. The final "A" is long gone from "Taquerí–" oops! The stand has seating for about 10 people and there is often a line waiting to sit down. But oh, it is so worth the wait!

In the center of this trio of aproned women is doña Graciela Mercado Diego, a daughter of the founder, doña Margarita Diego Reyes. On the left is Marisela Sánchez Mercado, who is the main cook and the tortilla maker. On the right is Erika Sánchez Mercado, who works with her mother and sister to run the stand. These three incredible women open the taquería Monday through Saturday from 5:00AM until noon. Maricela prepares, with some help from her pinche (Mexican kitchen slang for the person who helps peel and chop vegetables, cut up meats, and do anything that needs to be done)–15 different freshly made guisados a day! That's an incredible feat. The guisados, spooned from clay cazuelas or old-fashioned enameled pans into the freshly made tortillas waiting on your plate, are uniformly delicious and the tacos are "bien servidos"–large portions.

Luisa's first taco: egg scrambled with chorizo, topped with frijoles de la olla (beans fresh from the pot). It's mouth-watering.

My first taco: aporreadillo served atop delicious red rice. Each of us snarfed down these first tacos and ordered one more apiece.

Luisa's second taco: chicharrón en salsa verde topped with frijoles de la olla. I am not a fan of chicharrón en salsa, but I think I might be the only person in Mexico who isn't crazy about it. I like my chicharrón crunchy, not sauce-y. That's a big glass of fresh orange juice in the right top corner of the photo; we each had one, naturally sweet and newly squeezed.

It seems that I didn't take a photo of my own second taco. I probably ate it too fast to think about it! All the more reason to go back to Taquería La Tía as soon as possible.

Doña Graciela asked that I tell you that during Lent, the menu changes and is based on especialidades de la Cuaresma–Mexico's Lenten dishes.

The photo is of doña Margarita, the founding matriarch of Taquería La Tía (and doña Graciela's mother). She had 15 children, four of whom have passed away. Doña Margarita herself died just six years ago and is of course much missed. She is always present in her photograph, watching over the taco stand. Rest in peace, doña Margarita, Taquería La Tía is in good hands.

Come with us to Taquería La Tía in Uruapan!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

28 de November de 2020
More of Mexico Cooks! Pre-Pandemia Wanderings :: All Over Mexico, Part 2

I'm sure you remember that old saying, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first." Mexico Cooks! is a firm proponent of that–at least for beginning today's report. This sweet, delicious offering is on the menu at La Conspiración de 1809, just at the back of Morelia's cathedral. In the photo, you see a pavlova, a crisp meringue filled with pastry cream and frutos rojos (red fruits)–in this case, Michoacán's locally grown strawberries, blackberries, and red raspberries. Driscoll's also grows blueberries here in Michoacán. The company leases fields from local owners and trains local workers to cultivate, harvest, and pack the berries. Next time you're in your supermarket, take a close look at the Driscoll's label. Many of the berries that you purchase, no matter where in the world you live, are grown just a few kilometers from Mexico Cooks!' home. Click on any photo for a larger view.

A doorway to a private home in the community Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán.

Elotes tatemados (roasted young corn, still in its husk) for sale in a large Mexico City market.

These are also elotes (young corn), boiled rather than roasted, for sale at the same market stand. It's hard to choose which to buy, roasted or boiled, both are so delicious!

Chambarete entomatado (beef shank cooked in a sauce of tomate verde (tomatillos), onions, chile, and other spices) until the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender. Available daily at Fonda Marceva in Morelia's centro historico. It's one of my favorite things on their menu–come to tour Michoacán with me, and we'll definitely eat at Marceva. Photo courtesy my friend chef Eddie Álvarez.

Preparing fresh chicharrón (fried pork skins) at a market booth in Mexico City. Book a market tour with me and we'll visit this booth–and we'll have a taste of hot-from-the-vat chicharrón. Everybody loves its crisp, greaseless texture and taste.

Escobetillas (stiff brushes made from plant root material bound together with thin wire), used for scrubbing dirty dishes. Seen in a Oaxaca market. Each one measures approximately 5"-6" in length.

My longtime friend don Rafael, a copper worker in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán, for 62 of his 70 years. Yes, he started hand-hammering copper vessels when he was eight years old. Today, he is a prize-winning grand master of the art. In the photo, he's demonstrating a hammering technique to one of my tour groups. Each beautiful copper item in this workshop is entirely made by hand. Let's go!

Souls burning in Hell, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Wood carving.

Longaniza (the long sausage without links) and Oaxaca-style chorizo, with small round links, displayed on a market stand, Oaxaca City.

Two little devils at once, 2019 Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales, Oaxaca. Wait, what, two? Yes, in the background is a hand dolly, known here in Mexico as a diablito, a little devil.

Puerco estilo cubano (Cuban-style roast pork). The men on the right-hand side of the photo sit on benches and turn, turn, turn the spits until the pork is tender, juicy, and ready to serve. I've eaten big plates of this meat every year for the last three years. It's truly something to look forward to at the Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales, Oaxaca.

The Unión de Palmeadoras (tortilla makers' union) from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca had a wonderful booth set up, selling hand-made Tlaxiaco-style tortillas. Those are fiery chiles pequín, in the dish.

The fiestas patronales in San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro, Michoacán, featured Moorish dancers. These two young men posed for me.

San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro is widely known for one of its several artesanías (handcrafts): these are velas escamadas (elaborate, hand-made beeswax candles). These particular candles were placed at one side of the main altar in the church in San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro; other banks of candles were placed throughout the church. Beautiful but ephemeral, the candles are meant to be burned.

Golden cempasúchil (a type of giant marigold) and wine-red pata de león (cockscomb) are Mexico's most typical flowers for Día de los Muertos. These are for sale at the wholesale flower market in Mexico City.

Right now and until approximately March of next year, Mexico's fresh guasanas (garbanzo beans) are in season. Not dried, these are harvested fresh and steamed lightly in salt water. Each pod contains two individual green, fresh garbanzos; we eat them like edamame, squeezing the garbanzos out of the pods directly into our mouths. Some people like to douse a bagful with liquid chile (what you see in the bottle), but I prefer the clean, green taste of the guasana.

One of my favorite places to go, whether with old friends or with tourists new to Mexico City, continues to be Azul Histórico. The food is exquisite, the restaurant itself is marvelously beautiful, and the servic
e is always attentive. Here, the "hostess" is a catrina, all gussied up Oaxaca-style for Day of the Dead.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

21 de November de 2020
More of Mexico Cooks! Pre-Pandemia Wanderings :: All Over Mexico, Part 1

In February 2019, Mexico Cooks! returned to live once again in Morelia, Michoacán. It's been a joyful return, to the welcome of wonderful old friends, well-remembered streets and markets, and the beautiful colonial city itself. I found a terrific house in Morelia's Centro Histórico, walking distance to most anywhere I need to go. You can expect to hear a lot more from me in the months to come about the cuisines, customs, and creativity of the people of Michoacán. The photo above is Morelia's Cathedral by the light of the full moon.

Workshop for creating a flavored salt. In a volcanic stone molcajete (that's part of it, in the photo), I ground roasted maguey worms, dehydrated pineapple, sea salt, and a chile de árbol or two. The flavor of mine was just so-so; a fellow behind me made a fantastic salt, flavored with a roasted scorpion. Who knew! Each of us participants got to bring our salt home in a test tube.

Late this spring, a friend and I traveled to San Miguel de Allende, where we saw friends and tried some of San Miguel's many restaurants. My personal favorite meal was brunch at Marsala: Cocina con Acentos, a truly innovative and delicious Mediterranean niche in the center of the city. The photo shows my plate of Marsala-style eggs Benedict, accompanied by a so-good mimosa. In addition to a full menu of brunch choices, one is also invited to partake of the buffet of freshly baked scones, cheese biscuits, marmalades, a magnificent house-made terrine, and a number of other take-what-you want items. I can't wait to go back!

One of the highlights of the trip to San Miguel de Allende was the opportunity to meet in person a man I have long admired from afar. Charles Hall manages Rose Anne Hall Designs, a highly successful family business which produces mouth-blown glass items for the home, as well as the most beautiful hand-made candles in Mexico. Under Charlie's direction, the business dedicates itself to hiring people with disabilities–or what would appear to be disabilities–but who are enabled by the opportunity to create. Charlie is a businessman, a philosopher, and a humorist, and a wonderful human being.

In the lovely traditional kitchen at the home of good friends in Santa Fe de la Laguna. It's always a privilege to be with them.

Cocido, or caldo de res, in my own kitchen and ready to serve. So simple, and so delicious.

Embarcadero San Pedro near twilight, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

If you've been reading Mexico Cooks! for very long, you know that I have a strange fascination with pig heads. The staff at this market booth are all great people and love showing off their wares. This handsome fellow has a mouthful of alfalfa. They are also a bunch of goofballs: they always encourage my market tour clients to kiss the snout–and I must say that in the spirit of fun, quite a few do!

These miniature chairs–about the size to seat a one-year-old baby–were all but viral on Facebook when I uploaded the photo. Turned upside down with potted plants on the bottoms of the straw seats, the chairs make a charming entrance into my home.

Last–but definitely not least–was my outrageously wonderful end-of-June birthday party, with the crowning touch of this spectacular cake. A huge shout-out to the Colegio Culinario de Morelia, to chef Joaquín Bonilla, to chef Juan Carlos Montaño, and to the crew who brought and served this marvelous creation. Between the delicious cake, the just-right frosting, the assortment of cookies and candies–and gold leaf!–that decorated the masterpiece, party guests were thrilled and so was the birthday girl. Such a wonderful birthday gift! Mil gracias a todos ustedes del Colegio!

Come back next week for a look at the rest of Mexico Cooks!' year 2019.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

14 de November de 2020
Día y Noche de Muertos en Michoacán :: Day and Night of the Dead in Michoacán

Unfortunately, COVID-19, in addition to causing unprecedented worldwide death, has also separated us from publicly receiving the spirits of our departed loved one during the 2020 Day and Night of the Dead commemorations in most of Mexico. Cemeteries are closed, public spaces continue to be off-limits to the usual throngs of visitors to small town and large cities during this sacred time, and many usually highly tourisited areas in Michoacán, Oaxaca, and other areas of Mexico continue be closed to living visitors. The dead will come, expecting to be received, but our deceased friends and relatives will be welcomed in manners different from any other year in anyone's memory.

Because of inability to travel to the places I'd like to show you this year, Mexico Cooks! is simply reprinting this very popular Día y Noche de Muertos en Michoacán article from earlier times. Let's hope that in 2021 we will be able to once again enjoy the company of visitors from afar–including, first and foremost, our visitors from the más allá–the great beyond.

Remember me as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be,
Prepare for death and follow me.
…from a tombstone

What is death? We know its first symptoms: the heart stops pumping, breath and brain activity stop. We know death's look and feel: a still, cold body from which the spirit has fled. The orphan and widow know death's sorrow, the priest knows the liturgy of the departed and the prayers to assuage the pain of those left to mourn. But in most English-speaking countries, death and the living are not friends. We the living look away from our mortality, we talk of the terminally ill in terms of 'if anything happens', not 'when she dies'. We hang the crepe, we cover the mirrors, we say the beads, and some of us fling ourselves sobbing upon the carefully disguised casket as it is lowered into the Astroturf-lined grave.

Octavio Paz, Mexico City's Nobel Laureate poet and essayist who died in 1998, is famously quoted as saying, "In New York, Paris, and London, the word death is never mentioned, because it burns the lips."

Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán panteón (cemetery), Mexico Cooks! photo. These fellows sing to la Descarnada (the fleshless woman) on November 2, 2009.

In Mexico, on the contrary, every day is a dance with death. Death is a woman who has numerous affectionate and humorous nicknames: la Huesuda (the bony woman), la Seria (the serious woman), la Novia Fiel (the faithful bride), la Igualadora (the equalizer), la Dientona (the toothy woman), la Pelona (the bald woman), la Patrona (the boss lady), and a hundred more. She's always here, just around the next corner or maybe right over there, behind that pillar. She waits with patience, until later today or until twelve o'clock next Thursday, or until sometime next year–but when it's your time to go, she's right there, ready to dance away with you at her side.

November 2013 altar to La Santa Muerte (Holy Death), Sta. Ana Chapirito (near Pátzcuaro), Michoacán. Devotees of this deathly apparition say that her cult has existed since before the Spanish arrived in Mexico.

In Mexico, death is also in the midst of life. We see our dead, alive as you and me, each November, when we wait at our cemeteries for those who have gone before to come home, if only for a night. That, in a nutshell, is Noche de Muertos: the Night of the Dead.

In the lower center portion of this photograph, you can see the Quiroga, Michoacán, panteón municipal (town cemetery). Late in the afternoon of November 1, 2013, most townspeople had not yet gone to the cemetery with candles and flowers for their loved ones' graves. Click on any photograph for a larger view.

Over the course of the last nearly 40 years, Mexico Cooks! has been to countless Noche de Muertos events, but none as mystical, as spiritual, or as profoundly magical as that of 2013. Invited to accompany a very small group on a private tour in Michoacán, I looked forward to spending three days enjoying the company of old and new friends. I did all that, plus I came away with an extraordinarily privileged view of life and death.

A magnificent Purépecha ofrenda (in this case, an altar in the home of beloved friends) in the village of Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán. This detailed and lovely ofrenda was created to the memory of the family's maiden aunt, who died at 74. Because she had never married, even at her advanced age she was considered to be an angelito (little angel)–like an innocent child–and her spirit was called back home to the family on November 1, the day of the angelitos. In Santa Fe de la Laguna, relatives, friends, and neighbors who arrive at the house to pay homage to a deceased person bring fresh fruit to place at the foot of the altar. This altar filled an entire room of my friends' home. Be sure to click on the photo to see the details of the altar. Fruits, breads, incense, salt, flowers, colors, and candles have particular symbolism and are necessary parts of the ofrenda.

Detail of the ofrenda casera (home altar) shown above. The altar included her favorite rebozo (shawl), placed just above her photograph. Several local people told Mexico Cooks! that the fruit piled on the altar tasted different from fruit from the same source that had not been used for the ofrenda. "Compramos por ejemplo plátanos y pusimos unos en el altar y otros en la cocina para comer. Ya para el día siguiente, los del altar pierden su sabor, no saben a nada," they said. 'We bought bananas, for example, and we put some on the ofrenda, and we put the rest in the kitchen to eat. The next day, the ones in the kitchen were perfectly normal, but the ones from the altar had no taste at all.'

Preparing a family member's ofrenda (altar) in the camposanto in a tiny village in Michoacán. The camposanto–literally, holy ground–is a cemetery contained within the walls of a churchyard. The candles used in this area of Michoacán are hand made in Ihuatzio and Santa Fe de la Laguna.

Come with me along the unlit road that skirts the Lago de Pátzcuaro: Lake Pátzcuaro. It's chilly, the puddles splash up as we drive, and the roadside weeds are damp with earlier rain, but for the moment the sky has cleared and filled with stars. Up the hill on the right and down the slope leading left toward the lake are tiny villages, dark but for the glow of tall candles lit one by one in the cemeteries. Tonight is November 1, the night silent souls wend their way home from Mictlán, the land beyond life.

At the grave: candlelight to illuminate the soul's way, cempazúchitl (deeply orange marigolds) for their distinctive fragrance required to open the path back home, smoldering copal (frankincense) to cleanse the earth and air of any remnants of evil, covered baskets of the deceased's favorite foods. And a low painted chair, where the living can rest through the night.

Watching through the night. This tumba (grave) refused to be photographed head-on. From an oblique angle, the tumba allowed its likeness to be made.

"Oh grave, where is thy victory? Oh death, where is thy sting?"

Noche de Muertos is not a costume party, although you may see it portrayed as such in the press. It is not a drunken brawl, although certain towns appear to welcome that sort of blast-of-banda-music reventón (big blow-out). It is not a tourist event, though strangers are certainly welcomed to these cemeteries. Noche de Muertos is a celebration of the spirit's life over the body's death, a festival of remembrance, a solemn passover. Years ago, in an interview published in the New York Times, Mexico Cooks! said, "Noche de Muertos is about mutual nostalgia. The living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home."

One by one, grave by grave, golden cempazúchitles give shape to rock-bound tombs and long candles give light to what was a dark and lonely place, transforming the cemetery into a glowing garden. How could a soul resist this setting in its honor?

"Our hearts remember…" we promise the dead. Church bells toll slowly throughout the night, calling souls home with their distinctive clamor (death knell). Come…come home. Come…come home.

Waiting. Memories. Prayers. No te olvido, mi viejo amado. (I haven't forgotten you, my beloved old man.)

Next year, come with me.

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31 de October de 2020
Autumn in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán :: Wildflower Season and Sights at the Market

The area around Lake Pátzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán, bursts into wildflower bloom in late September, just as the rainy season is ending here. The flowers are naturalized wild cosmos, known here as mirasoles ("look-at-the-sun"). Entire fields fill with swaths of these delicate flowers, turning our green countryside into a temporary sea of pink. Behind the mirasoles is a milpa, a field of native Michoacán corn, beans, and squash.

These beautiful blossoms, selling now at the municipal market in Pátzcuaro, are called estrellas del campo (stars of the field). From the tops of the flowers to the bottom of their thin, tender stems, they measure about two and a half feet long. Each multi-petaled bloom measure about 1.5" in diameter. I've lived in Michoacán for a long time, but this is the first year I've seen these for sale. We took three large bunches as a gift to a friend–at 15 pesos the bunch. The total for a big armful of beauty was the Mexican peso equivalent of about $2.25 USD.

Available throughout the year, the native Mexican nanche fruit is in full-blown season right now, piled high on stands around the perimeter of the Pátzcuaro municipal market and on numerous street corners all over the town. Sold in clear plastic cups (as seen in the photo, courtesy of Healthline) or by the plastic bagful, the vendor will slather these 3/4" inch diameter fruits with jugo de limón (fresh-squeezed Key lime juice), a big sprinkle of salt, and as much highly spicy bottled salsa as your mouth can handle. The biological name of the nanche is Byrsonima crassifolia.  The fruit is slightly sweet and mildly musty-flavored, a combination that most people love and that I regret to say is not a taste I enjoy at all. Nanches are packed with nourishment, though–a half-cup of them will give you nearly 60% of your daily Vitamin C requirement, 41 calories, and only 9.5 grams of carbohydrates!

These are jocotes (native Mexican plums), also in season now in central Mexico. The fruit measures about two to three inches long; the flesh is bright orange and the flavor is marvelous. Unfortunately the stone of this plum is almost as big as the entire fruit, and although you could eat it out of hand, the delicious jocote is most often made into an agua fresca (fresh fruit water) that is only available for the fruit's short season. This little plum is replete with Vitamins A and C, phosphorous, iron, and calcium, and is said to work wonders with gum problems.

Who wants to take a guess at what each of the green herbs (and the vegetable) is? The elotes (tender fresh Pátzcuaro red corn) at the bottom of the photo were part of a small daily harvest brought to sell on the outdoor periphery of Pátzcuaro's market. Just to the left of the corn, at the bottom of the photo, are some mint branches that the same vendor brought for sale. But above the mint? Click on the photo to enlarge it and you'll be able to tell that these are home-grown spiny chayotes. You are probably familiar with the paler green smooth-skinned chayotes (mirliton in Louisiana, pear squash in other English-speaking locations). The chayote has an interesting growing habit: unlike most squash, which grows as a vine along the ground, the chayote is airborne–its vines grow on overhead trellises and remind me of grapevines; the small squash hangs down from the vines. It's an extremely versatile vegetable, taking on the flavors of what you cook it with. Be sure to eat the soft, tender, flat, white seed–it's considered to be the prize part and is as delicious as the chayote itself.

To the right of the chayotes is a big bunch of wild anise, known in Pátzcuaro as anisillo. Used to make the Pátzcuaro regional specialty atole de grano, this herb is tremendously flavorful. In case you find some anisillo where you are, here's a recipe for atole de grano.

Atole de Grano
(Fresh Anise-Flavored Corn Kernel Soup)

Ingredients
2 fresh ears of tender young corn
2 cups fresh corn, cut from the cob
1 bunch wild anisillo
3 liters water
2 whole chiles perón (or substitute chiles poblano)
1/2 pound recently ground corn masa (dough)–ask at the tortillería near you
Salt to taste

Garnishes
1/2 medium white onion, minced
Chile serrano or chile perón, minced
Fresh Key limes, cut in half
Sea salt

Preparation

1. Clean the ears of corn, remove the silk and cut off the ends. Cut each ear into three pieces.

2. Boil the corn on the cob AND the corn kernels in enough water, for an hour and a half or until the corn is tender.

3. Cut the stem away from the chiles, take out the seeds and veins. Cut the chiles into small pieces.

4. In the blender, liquify the chiles, the anisillo, and the masa with two cups of water. Strain and add to the pot where the corn on the cob is cooking.

5. Allow to boil for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the liquid is slightly thickened.

To serve
1. Place sections of the cooked corn ears into each of 2 bowls.

2. Ladle soup and corn kernels into the bowls.

3. Serve with the minced onion, minced chile to taste, sea salt, and Key lime halves to squeeze into the soup.

Serves 2 people as a main dish, 3 as a first course. This soup is both vegetarian and vegan, and gluten-free.

Atole de grano, made in a cazo (large copper kettle).

The vendor at this small booth at the Pátzcuaro market had an interesting variety of things for sale. Bottom right are fresh guavas, just now coming into season. To the left of the guavas are chiles perón (aka chiles manzano), arguably the most-used chile in this part of Michoacán. Above the chiles perón are fresh, green chiles de árbol. To the right are wild mushrooms known as patita de pájaro (little bird foot). These mushrooms, growing wild in Michoacán's woods and foraged during the rainy season, make a wonderful mushroom soup.

These are home-grown loquats, known in Mexico as nísperos (NEE-speh-rohs). Nísperos are local and are plentiful in markets right now.

Gelatin–this large cupful is called "mosaíco"–mosaic, because of its many colored cubes. More gelatin is eaten in Mexico than in any other country of the world! A cupful this size is usually an eat-while-you-walk snack food. This one was made and sold from a tiny cart with no name, just to one side of the Pátzcuaro market. The young woman selling the gelatins said her name was Yesi–I said her cart was now dubbed Gelatinas Yesi, and she laughed.

Just at the corner of the market, we bumped into don Rafael, who was selling–you guessed it–cotton candy. Cotton candy HAS no season, it's always available here. Get the blue, it will turn your lips and tongue blue as a blueberry, but just for a while.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

24 de October de 2020
Your Flaneur in Mexico City: Markets, Food, and Curiosities–Part 2, Summer 2015

Due to the pandemia shutdown starting in March 2020, Mexico Cooks! has not been able to travel around in Mexico (or anywhere else) as usual this year. I'd like to give you a "taste" of Mexico City in the summer of 2015, when life was different and moving about the country was simple. My fond hope for all of us is that many of you will return to visit Mexico in 2021: lovely and delicious things await you here. Be sure to email me about food tours: I take small groups to many places in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Michoacán–a little-known, fascinating, and delicious state.

This white pozole from Mexico's state of Guerrero ranks close to the top of Mexico Cooks!' list of best pozoles in Mexico. The pozolería (pozole place) is right here in Mexico City–come with us next time, we go as often as we can.

A selection of beautiful crystallized fruits at Mercado Medellín, one of the several Mexico City markets where Mexico Cooks! takes tours. In the photo from nine o'clock: sweet potato, pineapple, whole orange, more sweet potato, squash, and at six o'clock, chilacayote squash and another orange. The inner group consists of squash, a limón, and a fig.

Sangre de cora, a drink prepared with tequila, sweet agua de jamaica, and frothy egg white. It's adorned with jamaica blossoms. Jamaica is a cousin of Mexico's hibiscus; in English, it's called roselle. The drink takes its name from the Cora indigenous group, which is native to western Jalisco and the coastal state of Nayarit.

They look like gears, don't they? Actually, these are molinillos (chocolate frothers), stacked up for sale at a Oaxaca market. There's nothing else like this market in all of Mexico– Mexico Cooks! would be delighted to take you along for a tour!

Oaxaca is filled with culinary delicacies not seen elsewhere in Mexico. Here, a platter of Oaxaca quesillo (think string cheese, but a million times better) stuffed with tiny chapulines (grasshoppers) and rolled jelly-roll fashion in anise-flavored hoja santa (holy leaf). This is one of the most delicious things Mexico Cooks! has eaten in 2015. Thank you, Restaurante Las 15 Letras!

Carmelite nuns buying carnations by the armload at Mexico City's wholesale flower market. An entire bundle of these flowers, the size of the paper-wrapped flowers standing on the floor, will set you back about 70 pesos–less than $4.50 USD.

And now for something completely different–gai lan (Chinese broccoli), stir-fried with garlic, as served at our favorite Chinese restaurant: Jing Teng.

These exotic fruits from South America are curuba–banana passionfruit. Each fruit is approximately 3" long and an inch in diameter. The sweet pulpy seeds are reminiscent of normal passionfruit, but less acidic. The skin isn't eaten. We recently saw these at one of our favorite downtown markets.

Look at the color of the flesh of these ruby red grapefruits! Mexico Cooks! was particularly taken with the extraordinary cut made by the vendor to display (and give tastes of) the fruit.

Mexico's own tuna–aka the prickly pear cactus fruit. The market vendor who offered these for sale had brought along the entire cactus paddle to show clients how the fruit grows.

The tuna has a zipper-skin that's so simple to peel. Just cut off each end of the tuna, make a lengthwise slit in the skin, and peel the skin away from the flesh. Easy-peasy! The tuna's texture is similar to that of watermelon, the flesh is sweet and refreshing, and the seeds are swallowed. Served chilled, they're even more thirst-quenching.

From a small restaurant in the state of Jalisco, this flan napolitano con queso (flan made with cheese) is one of the best I've eaten. My comida (main meal of the day) companion assured me that he isn't a flan fan, but one taste of this one and he said, "We should have ordered two." More the texture of cheesecake than custard, one slice of this rich, creamy dessert was plenty for the two of us.

And finally–Frida! This portrait of Mexico's iconic painter Frida Kahlo is actually a tattoo on the inner forearm of a young woman I saw on the sidewalk outside a market. Claudia very graciously allowed me to photograph just her arm. Here's yet another reason to spend some time with Mexico Cooks!: you never, never know what you'll see next in this enormous and enormously diversified city!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

17 de October de 2020
Your Flaneur in Mexico City: Markets, Food, and Curiosities–Part 1, Summer 2015

Due to the pandemia shutdown starting in March 2020, Mexico Cooks! has not been able to travel around in Mexico (or anywhere else) as usual this year. I'd like to give you a "taste" of Mexico City in the summer of 2015, when life was different and moving about the country was simple. My fond hope for all of us is that many of you will return to visit Mexico in 2021: lovely and delicious things await you here.

Midsummer always gives us an abundance of flor de calabaza (squash flowers) to be used in the kitchen. Prepared as sopa de guias (squash vine soup), quesadillas, or stuffed with cheese, these flowers are delicious and are readily available in many Mexican markets. Did you know that only the male flowers are harvested? The female flowers are left to develop squash.

You might like to try this Mexico Cooks! recipe in your own kitchen.

Flor de Calabaza Estilo Cristina
Squash Flowers, Cristina's Style

Ingredients

2 large bunches flor de calabaza, washed and patted dry
1 medium white onion
4 chiles poblano
1 chile serrano
2 large russet or other large white potatoes
Flour
Sea salt to taste
Vegetable oil, freshly rendered pork lard, or half vegetable oil, half bacon grease for frying.

Procedure

Peel and dice potatoes into 1/2" cubes. Boil until just fork-tender. Drain, allow to dry, and reserve.

Roast chiles according to your preferred method until the skin is blistered and they are well-blackened. Sweat for 10 minutes in a closed plastic bag. Remove skin. Slice each chile lengthwise to remove seeds. Dice peppers in 1/2” squares.

Rough-chop flor de calabaza into 1 1/2" pieces.

Dice onion into 1/2" squares.

Mince chile serrano.

In a large sauté pan, heat the vegetable oil until it shimmers. While the oil is heating, shake the reserved potatoes in flour and salt in a plastic bag.

Sauté onions and chile serrano in oil or oil/bacon grease mixture. Add the floured potatoes and sauté until crisp and pale golden, adding more fat if needed. Add the diced chiles poblano and continue to sauté for about 1 minute.

Add the flor de calabaza and sauté just until tender.

Add sea salt to taste.

Serves 2-3 as a side dish.

Late in the spring, we were invited to attend the opening of El Rebozo: Made in Mexico at Mexico City's extraordinary Museo Franz Mayer. The exhibition, which was originally mounted in London, featured both old and new rebozos (long rectangular shawls) as well as some other typical Mexican garments. One of the many rebozos in the exhibit was an exquisitely embroidered shawl from Oaxaca. This is a detail of that rebozo.

This photograph of Evita Perón, wife of Argentina's Juan Domingo Perón during his first term as president of that country, was part of an exhibit at Mexico City's Museum of Modern Art (MAM) during the spring and summer. The photograph formed part of an exhibition of the works of Giselle Freund, a self-taught photographer who worked in Argentina and Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s.

This tiny ironwood mortar and pestle (the mortar is only about 2" high) comes from the state of Sonora, in northern Mexico. It is made specifically for use at the table, for an individual diner to grind one or two chiles chiltepín, which are highly spicy and famously used to season certain dishes from the cuisine of that state. The grinder is passed from person to person at the table, along with a dish of whole chile chiltepín.

Chile chiltepín from Sonora. Each chile is tiny but extremely picante. Photo courtesy Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Beautiful ceremonial tortillas from the state of Guanajuato. The tortillas are made in the usual way and are then stamped prior to baking with a wooden stamp dipped in vegetable dye. Mexico Cooks! was privileged to see these twice this summer, first at an event at the Escuela de Gastronomía Mexicana in Mexico City and again at the Primer Encuentro Nacional de Cocineras Tradicionales (First National Meeting of Traditional Cooks) in Morelia, Michoacán.

This is the tamarillo or tomate del árbol (tree tomato), a native of the South American Andes. Each fruit is approximately 2.5" long. The flesh is fairly firm and deeply flavorful, both sweet and earthy. You never know what you'll see when you take a Mexico Cooks! tour–our group found these delicious fruits at a downtown Mexico City market.

Come back next week for more summertime wanderings with Mexico Cooks!. Our summer was far too interesting for just one article!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

10 de October de 2020