Category: Maíces de México

Matatlán and Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca :: Mezcal and Traditional Cooking on the Road Home

The Ilegal mezcal palenque (in a big stretch of translation, it's a mezcal distillery) is right on the road between Tlacolula and Teotitlán del Valle, in the little town which is arguably the mezcal capital of Oaxaca: Santiago de Matatlán. The animal's job is to keep that stone wheel moving over wood-fire roasted maguey fibers, crushing them to prepare them for the fermentation and subsequent distillation process.

The first week of May, 2018, Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza (Barrio Cafe Phoenix) and I were on the last leg of our Oaxaca trip, driving north from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to Oaxaca City, when we saw a sign on the side of the road for ILEGAL (in Spanish 'illegal' has just one 'L') mezcal. She braked and swerved into the parking lot: "I can't believe we found this! It's one of the best mezcales that we serve at the Cafe!" We spent about an hour, fascinated, talking with an Ilegal mezcalero about its production.

From the Ilegal building's porch, I took this photo of the company's espadín maguey cactus fields. Maguey grew as far as the eye could see. This maguey is cultivated, not wild, and each plant takes between seven and ten years to mature enough to harvest. Ilegal's joven (literally 'young', it means un-aged) mezcal gives you full-bodied espadín agave flavor. Barely smokey, its gently lemony flavors leave a slightly peppery sensation on your palate. Ilegal also produces a reposado (briefly aged) mezcal as well as an añejo (longer aged) mezcal.

Founded in approximately 2002-2003 by an American expatriate, John Brexer, in just 15 years the Ilegal brand has become one of the best-quality mezcales from Oaxaca. Because our time was so short at the palenque, we had little time to talk at depth with the producer. Click on this link to read the full story of the brand: ILEGAL MEZCAL. Nonetheless, we took a lot of pictures and it's fun to share them with you here.

"Working from sun-up to sundown, life goes by this way in my village. MATATLÁN the steam from your factories is the hope of all of us poor."

Just-filled bottles of Ilegal mezcal, sealed by hand-dipping each bottle top in emerald green wax.

View from inside the Ilegal building.

Antique sea-green glass garrafones (20-liter bottles, about five US gallons), used for holding water–or for bulk mezcal! Today, it's difficult to find a garrafón like these; nearly all are now made of plastic.

Do you know what the Spanish word 'pendejo' means? If not, here's your Spanish vocabulary lesson for today, just click here: not for children.

After our relámpago (lightning strike–i.e., really quick) stop at Ilegal, we headed for our much anticipated time prior to Oaxaca's airport: my dear friends Carina Santiago Bautista and her husband, Pedro Montaño, both soon to be equally dear to chef Silvana, had invited us to go to Tierra Antigua, their restaurant and gallery in Teotitlán del Valle, for a private comida with them. Carina is a celebrated cocinera tradicional, and Pedro is a prize-winning Zapotec master weaver. Silvana and I had been looking forward for days to being with them.

Tierra Antigua Restaurant and Gallery, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, exterior. Photo courtesy TripAdvisor.

Carina and Pedro and their family have been working for years to build the complex of restaurant, gallery, and bungalows for visitors. The installations are beautiful; prior to our meal, Carina gave Silvana and me a tour of their beautifully designed and constructed buildings. The interiors are modern and charming, the outdoor kitchen is rustic and traditional and designed for cooking classes. And the restaurant/gallery! Every wall shows off Pedro's extraordinary textiles (primarily wool rugs and wall hangings), all of which are for sale. Their talented son, Diego Montaño, is also a weaver and is represented in the gallery. His weaving incorporates whimsy and beauty into his designs.

This small rug/wall hanging, woven by young Diego Montaño, represents the symbolism and traditions of the milpa, the ancient farming system of Mexico which is still used today. Click on the link for information about that. Chef Silvana bought this marvelous weaving for her home.

The completely delightful Carina Santiago in her outdoor kitchen, standing at the stove. Those are clay comales (comparable to griddles) coated with cal, the white substance on each comal's surface. It's put there to make the comal non-stick! If you're thinking of going to Oaxaca, schedule a cooking class with her. She is fluently bilingual (Spanish/English) and will teach you Zapotec food preparation methods and flavors that go back hundreds of years.

First thing at the table: home-made Oaxaca-style blue corn tortillas and salsa verde cruda–raw green salsa. This salsa is so bright, so vibrant in one's mouth, and so wonderfully delicious that it awakened our palates for the rest of our meal to come. Carina and her assistants prepare dried corn in the evening for grinding into masa (dough) the following day.

What's on the plate? Hoja santa leaf, with its light anise flavor, and quesillo (Oaxaca cheese), melted together with toasted chapulines (limón and chile-flavored grasshoppers). A squeeze of limón and wow!

Mole negro (black mole), the king of Oaxaca's moles. Prepared with more than 30 ingredients, the intense flavors of this dish become more complex and more developed as one continues eating it. The component that gives mole negro on of its most distinctive tastes is dried and reconstituted chile chilhuacle negro, a rare Oaxacan chile.

First quality chile chilhuacle negro, for sale at the Mercado 20 de noviembre, Oaxaca City. The sign shows an interesting and uncommon spelling.

Chiles rellenos Oaxaca style: a fresh chile jalapeño, in this case seeded and stuffed with picadillo (a kind of Mexican hash), then covered with an egg batter and fried. I'll be seeing Carina in a few weeks and would love to eat this again–and everything else, too! Carina

It's obligatory in Mexico to have a photo taken for posterity. From left, chef Silvana, cocinera tradicional Carina, Mexico Cooks!, and weaver Pedro Montaño. Behind us are two of Pedro's gorgeous rugs. If you're anywhere near San Diego, California, you'll find him and his wonderful work at Bazaar del Mundo's annual Latin American Festival, August 3-5, 2018. Click on the link for more information!

On the way out of town, we stopped for ice cold bottled water in a tiny grocery store across the street from the church. This is the Mexico I've known since 1981: a little bit of this, a little bit of that, just what you need when you need it, and the friendliest owner in town. I know I'll go back in August to say hello.

Tierra Antigua Restaurante y Galería
Benito Juárez 175 (left-hand side of the street)
Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca
Telephone from the USA: 011-52-951-166-6160 for reservations, cooking classes or to eat at the restaurant.
Spanish and English spoken
Tell them Mexico Cooks! sent you!

Next week: where to next? It's going to be as much a surprise to me as it is to you! I hope you've enjoyed coming along as chef Silvana and I traveled through one small part of wonderful Oaxaca. I'd be happy to take you touring there–in real life. Let me know if you'd like to schedule a trip!

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

14 de July de 2018
Seventy Kinds of Tamales, Seventy Cooks, One Fabulous Morning :: Fourth Day, Second Annual Encuentro de Cocineras de Oaxaca

When we who know tamales think about Oaxaca-style tamales (and who here reading Mexico Cooks! doesn't know tamales?), this is what comes immediately to mind: a tamal oxaqueño like the one above, made from maíz nixtamalizado (in this case, corn prepared to make masa para tamales), filled with mole negro, mole amarillo, or another typical Oaxaca filling, wrapped in banana leaves, tied up, and steamed until ready to be devoured. Who knew that there were so many, many more traditional kinds of tamales from Oaxaca? Oaxaca is a state of eight regions, and each region has its tamales specialties, and oh boy! Get ready for thrills, chills, and corn-based excitement.

Early on the morning of April 28, 2018, the last day of the Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Oaxaca had an incredible treat in store for its attendees. In one large section of Oaxaca's centrally located Plaza de la Danza, all of the Encuentro's dining tables were squeezed tightly together to form several rows of demonstration stands. Seventy of the participating cocineras bustled about, each readying her space for the biggest tamales-making party I've ever seen. Each cook carefully made her mise en place–not that she would have called it that: having made tamales all her life, each cocinera knew in her bones just how to put her ingredients in exactly the place, exactly in the order, in which she needed them to be at hand.

A portion–just a small part–of the tamales demonstration. The crowd of attendees was so intensely packed and fascinated by what we were seeing, and the number of cocineras was so large, that it was difficult to make a plan to see all of them. Plus, the absolute beauty of so much living tradition playing out before my eyes caused me to continually wipe away tears of joy and gratitude that I was present. So moving…

Cocineras tradicionales in another section of the large demonstration space. The tamales resulting from the cocineras' preparations were later steamed and sold to the public. Right to left in the photo: cocineras tradicionales Sra. Gladys Hortencia Calvo García (in the white apron, preparing tamal pastel de carne) ; Sra. Rosario Cruz Cobos (tamales de masa cocida con costilla de puerco en hoja de pozol), (skip) and Sra. Emma Méndez García (tamal Nioti Nal'ma).

These are leaves from the almendro: the almond tree. Cocinera tradicional Sra. Raquel Silva Méndez from San Juan Bautista Cuicatlán (Zona Cañada) used them to wrap tamales de frijol.

Tamales de piedra (stone), which in fact are made with nixtamalize-d corn masa (dough) moistened with liquid from cooked black beans, formed on a base of leaves from aguacate nativo (native avocado trees), and then further wrapped in part of a banana plant trunk. In this photo, the jícara contains sea salt.

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Watch Sra. Martina Sánchez Cruz, from San Juan Teitipac in Oaxaca's Valles Centrales, as she prepares tamales de piedra.

Here's the finished tamal de piedra, ready to be steamed. You can see the green avocado leaves poking out of the bundle; the aguacate nativo leaves add a slight anise flavor to these tamales. This tamal is one of the interesting types that I had never seen before attending the 2018 Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Oaxaca.

At the top, freshly rendered manteca de cerdo (pork lard). Below, home-made sausage for tamales de salchicha as prepared by cocinera tradicional Sra. Anel Felisa Hernández Morga, of Ejutla de Crespo (Zona Valles Centrales). This was another tamal new to me.

Another truly unusual Oaxacan tamal which I first tasted at the initial Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales in April 2017: tamal de tichinda, made with mejillones de agua dulce (sweet water mussels), incorporated shell and all into the nixtamalize-d corn masa (dough). These are wrapped in totomoxtle (dried and rehydrated corn husks) and then steamed; cocinera tradicional Sra. Brígida Martínez Ávila of Zapotalito, Tututepec (Zona Costa) is preparing these. Another variety is similarly made but is wrapped in banana leaves.

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Let's watch Sra. Martínez as she makes the tamales de tichinda. Notice that she fills one totomoxtle with the masa/tichinda mixture and then adds a second corn husk for further stability of the tamales. She sets them aside to be steamed later.

Tamales de tichinda, ready to be steamed. I dreamed about these delicious tamales for an entire year and was so thrilled to know that I could taste them again in 2018.

Expert hands making the initial folds of banana leaves, slightly warmed over a flame to make them soft and flexible, enclosing masa and a filling.

The second step of folding the banana leaves to enclose the masa and filling.

The final step: tying each bundle securely together with a strip of the same banana leaf.

Cocinera tradicional Sra. Elena Tapia Flores, who came from San Juan Colorado, Jamiltepec (Zona Costa) to prepare tamales de hierbabuena con pollo (tamales with mint and chicken) at the 2º Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Oaxaca.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i30BTCWyTsg&w=560&h=315]
Sra. Tapia kneads the masa for her tamales until it is the perfect consistency for spreading on rehydrated totomoxtle (dried, then rehydrated corn husks).

The prepared masa for Sra. Tapia's tamales de hierbabuena con pollo. The flecks that you see in the dough are hierbabuena (mint).

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Cocinera tradicional Sra. Catalina Chávez Lucas from Tlacolula de Matamoros (Zona Valles Centrales) prepares tamales de conejo (rabbit tamales).

Ingredients for tamales de cambray oaxaqueños: banana leaf, nixtamalize-d masa, and a mixture of chicken, potatoes, raisins, almonds, and mole paste.

Tamales de cambray, the finished product. These are right up at the top of my "favorite tamales" list. They are slightly sweet, slightly savory, and in my opinion, just right.

Cocinera tradicional María del Carmen Gómez Martínez of the Sierra Norte, filling one of her tamales de mole amarillo (yellow mole).

See how María del Carmen's tamales are rolled up? I've never seen tamales made in this style before, have you?

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These two elderly women, both cocineras tradicionales, really touched my heart: they kept plugging away and made so many tamales together. Life's much more rewarding when we share its work and its joys, its sorrows and its happiness, with one another!

Mexico Cooks! and everyone I met or talked with had a fabulous time at the 2º Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Oaxaca, held April 25-28, 2018, in the city of Oaxaca. If any of you would be interested in attending all or part of this incredible festival with me in 2019, please let me know as soon as possible. I'd be glad to send you a quote for a tour, for all or part of this incredibly exciting event.

Meantime, come back next week for the start of the next leg of the Mexico Cooks!/Silvana Salcido Esparza of Barrio Café Phoenix fame to continue our tour of Oaxaca: next, we're going to the southernmost part of the state: the Isthmus of Tehuantepec! Here we go: first stop, the Sunday Market at Tlacolula, Oaxaca!

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

9 de June de 2018
Hearts Filled with Love, Stomachs Filled with Food :: 2018 Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Oaxaca, Day Two

The 2nd Annual Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Oaxaca was about food, of course–more than 300 different and delicious dishes, prepared and served by about 85 of Oaxaca's finest traditional cooks, from all eight regions of the state of Oaxaca. The event was also food for the heart and soul, an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and colleagues and to meet people who were sure to become close to us. Lifelong cocinera tradicional (and owner with her husband, Fidel Méndez) of Oaxaca City's Restaurante Las 15 Letras, my beloved and beautiful friend Celia Florián (above) is the person in charge of organizing and overseeing the Encuentro. She works in tandem with Adriana Aguilar, director of the Oaxaca City Tourism Department, and with Myriam Corro Niño de Rivera of the same agency, as well as with an entire team of incredibly organized and dedicated people, to bring the Encuentro to fruition each year. It takes the steady hands of people passionately devoted to an event to bring it to such a high state of art. Photo courtesy Lourdes Rosas. All other photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

At the early-April Mexico City press conference before (and about) the Encuentro, key members of the organizing committee along with two cocineras tradicionales, without whom there would be no Encuentro. Left to right: Sra. Dolores Ofelia Martínez Pacheco, Oaxaca; Sra. Celia Florián; Sra. Adriana Aguilar; Myriam Corro Niño de Rivera; Sra. Margarita Carrillo de Salinas; Sra. Catalina Chávez Lucas.

The irrepressible María del Carmen Gómez Martínez, cocinera tradicional from Tlahuitoltepec, Sierra Norte, Oaxaca. Due to her wonderful charisma and her delicious array of regional dishes (empanadas de frijol, several types of tamales, caldo mixe, and the spectacular tepache con espuma roja (pictured below, all from the Sierra Norte), her stand at the Encuentro was always crowded with fans. Photo courtesy Silvana Salcido Esparza.

One of the delicious traditional preparations little known outside regional Oaxaca and made by María del Carmen Gómez is this tepache con espuma roja, a slightly fermented drink made with pulque, panela (raw brown sugar), and a thick foam made of ground corn, chocolate, and achiote. Achiote is a spice/coloring agent usually associated with comida (food) from Yucatán, but it is also used in Oaxaca. To the left, blue corn tortillas.

Sra. Concepción Abrego Rivera, cocinera tradicional from San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula, in the Mixteca region north of the city of Oaxaca. Sra. Abrego is holding hoja de milpa, long corn leaves used to wrap a kind of regional tamal.

Chile relleno mixteco prepared by Sra. Abrego. The chile she used was the small, dried chile pasillo oaxaqueño, reconstituted, filled with delicious picadillo (in this case, a savory and fruited hash), then covered with egg batter and fried. The sauce, which makes my mouth water just seeing the picture, contains almonds, capers, olives, pineapple, and typically sweet and sour seasonings. This dish was among my top three favorites at the Encuentro. I liked it so well I ate it two days in a row and wish I could have it for my comida (Mexico's main midday meal) today!

A group of colleagues and friends in Mexico's culinary world: left to right, long-time journalist Celia Marín Chiunti, extraordinary professional photographers Sergio Mendoza Alarcón and Bertha Herrera, and delightful writer/editor Marichuy Garduño. Seeing each of them–and particularly having the opportunity to spend this time together eating, laughing, and catching up on the latest news–was a sweet treat indeed.

Abigail Mendoza Ruíz in her outdoor home kitchen, preparing just a small amount (!) of mole negro for a fandango (huge Oaxaca-style party) in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. In the background, you can see a large pedal loom; the Mendoza Ruíz family are well-known as wool rug weavers as well as cooks.  Mexico Cooks! was privileged to have been among the women invited to the day-long fiesta.

Rufina Mendoza Ruíz (back to camera) and Marcelina Mendoza Ruíz as they prepare plates of enmoladas for eager diners at the 2018 Encuentro. Their glistening hair is braided with red ribbons typical to Teotitlán del Valle. The braids are often wrapped together on top of a woman's head, as you can see in the photo of Abigail Mendoza making her mole negro. Photo courtesy Silvana Salcido Esparza.

Enmoladas con mole negro (tortillas dipped in black mole, then rolled with chicken and topped with more mole negro, thinly sliced onion, chopped parsley, and fresh cheese) as prepared by the delightful Mendoza Ruíz sisters: Abigail, Rufina, and Marcelina. The Mendoza Ruíz family are lifelong residents of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, about 30 minutes south of Oaxaca City.

Chilecaldo, shared with me by my lovely Mexico City friend, Ruth Fajardo González. The reddish-brown chile chilhuacle rojo to the left in the bowl gives the caldo an inimitable taste: no other chile is like the chilhuacle. In the case of the chilecaldo, the chile is used when fresh. If you need this chile dried, (it has black, red, and yellow varieties) and live outside Mexico, it's sometimes available online. Ruth generously let me taste the soup–the broth alone was deeply flavorful and spiced perfectly by the chilhuacle. This regional caldo was prepared by cocinera tradicional Sra. Mayra Mariscal Hernández, of San Juan Bautista Cuicatlán, where most of the chilhuacle chiles are produced by just five producers, in the Cañada zone of Oaxaca state.

Beloved friends–we took a brief break from stuffing ourselves to have our picture taken. What joy to be together at the Encuentro! Left to right: Celia Marín Chiunti and (standing, in red) Sonia Ortiz, founders of the wonderful Youtube channel Cocina al Natural, (seated) Mexico Cooks!. Standing, Rafael Mier, found of the profoundly important Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana (if you haven't joined, please add your name to the group's nearly 350,000 followers!) and Silvana Salcido Esparza, six-time James Beard nominated chef (Best Chef Southwest USA) and owner of restaurants Barrio Café and Barrio Café Reserva, Phoenix, Arizona. Photo courtesy our long-suffering waiter, who pushed his way through the crowds to deliver drinks, food, and photographs!

Our group of many friends shared this newly made fresh cheese. The cheese was wrapped in the large leaf you see; the leaf left its imprint on the cheese and kept the cheese moist and cool. We ate it all, of course.

Beautiful mazapán (marzipan) shaped like various fruits. These delicious candies are made by cocinera tradicional Sra. Verónica Josefina Sánchez Pérez, from Ejutla de Crespo in Oaxaca's Valles Centrales. She makes them by hand, from squash seeds or coconut, and colors them by hand as well. My particular favorite is at the far right of the plate: it's a miniature jícama!

Everybody loves mezcal from Oaxaca and it's always good to taste whatever brand or variety is offered. Click on this or any photo to make it bigger so you can see it better; here, the priest has a tasting glass in each hand. As the saying goes, "Una vez al año no hace daño." (Once a year does no harm.) Mexico Cooks! saw him in the Market section of the Encuentro.

Vendedor de gardenias (gardenia seller) at the Encuentro. He walked by every table and sold many bouquets of fragrant gardenias.

Next week, Days 3 and 4 of the Second Annual Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Oaxaca. We're only halfway through–and the festival just kept getting better. Days 3 and 4–well, you'll see. Remember to come back to read more!

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

26 de May de 2018
Corn Travels In Baja California :: From Tijuana to Tecate, From Ensenada to Valle de Guadalupe and More!

Tijuana boasts an extraordinary school of culinary arts. We were privileged to be invited to present Mexico's maíces nativos (native corns) to a full auditorium of faculty, students, and the interested public. After the presentation, it was enormously gratifying to hear so many questions: "How and where do we start to promote and preserve this ancient corn?" "What can we do here in Baja California?" "How do we get seeds and how do we plant them here?" The audience truly understood and shared our preoccupation for these grains.

Left to right in the front row: W. Scott Koenig of A Gringo in Mexico, friend of maíces nativos Kalisa Wells, freelance writer Jackie Bryant, who spent the day with us, and Jennifer Kramer/Chris Mejia of Baja Test Kitchen, all of whom supported the corn project in Baja California. Seated above Scott at the far left of the photograph is Javier González Vizcaino, the director of Tijuana's Culinary Arts School, who was responsible for our invitation to speak there. The very fine culinary school recently celebrated its fourteenth anniversary.

Director Javier Gónzalez, head of the Culinary Arts School, makes a comment about a question asked after the presentation. Meeting Sr. González was a tremendous privilege for all of us involved with the Baja California corn project. We so appreciate his cheerleading!

The quintessential Baja California fish taco, delicious and endemic to the region. Think 'good-sized piece of battered and deep-fried fresh fish–often cazón–topped with salsa cruda (raw sauce–often erroneously called pico de gallo), finely shredded raw cabbage, drizzled with Mexican table cream and sprinkled with fresh cilantro. The outdoor stand offers other salsas as well, which we also slathered on our tacos. Our Baja Test Kitchen guides recommended this particular spot in the small town of Valle de Guadalupe; I'm not going to give away their secrets, but it's one of the many wonderful places they know in the in that part of the world. They'd be happy to schedule a trip for you.

This tejuino stand was one of my favorite stops. Rafael Mier's smile should tell you the story: so refreshing, so cold on a hot day–I could have drunk at least two cups, but we were on our way to eat elsewhere and tejuino is quite filling. The drink is a mixture of fresh masa (corn dough), piloncillo (Mexico's raw brown sugar), water, lemon juice, salt to taste, and ice. Everything but the ice is allowed to ferment for two or three days prior to chilling and serving. Many times your glass of tejuino will come topped with a small scoop of nieve de limón (lemon ice). The recipe comes from the state of Jalisco and the drink is served from carts all over the city of Guadalajara. I asked the man who served us our tejuino in Valle de Guadalupe where he was from–Guadalajara, of course!

We thought we'd just stop by to say hello to doña Sabina Bandera (La Guerrerense) at her carreta (street stand), but of course we stayed for some of her famous seafood tostadas. Since she was a newlywed in 1961, doña Sabina has been selling her incredibly fresh seafood preparations from a cart at the corner of Av. López Mateos and Calle Alvarado in downtown Ensenada. In addition, she recently opened a sit-down restaurant just across the street. Ensenada has always known and loved her and her wonderful seafood, but in 2012 Anthony Bourdain featured her on his show "No Reservations" and La Guerrerense became a legend and a Baja California food destination. In the coming year, La Guerrerense's seafood tostadas and jars of her dozen-plus different salsas will be available at Bourdain's new market in New York–and in another world-class city that I'm not quite allowed to mention yet. You'll read it here on Mexico Cooks! just as soon as my friend doña Sabina gives me the go-ahead.

Maíces nativos meet tostadas La Guerrerense! The tostada on the left is pulpo (octopus); the one on the right is caracol del mar (sea snail). Both are lip-smackingly good. Doña Sabina, the Guerrero-born daughter of campesinos (farmers), had a lot to talk about with Rafael Mier. He was thrilled to find out that she is 100% supportive of the work being done by the non-profit foundation Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, and of course he is now one of her big supporters.

The serve-yourself array of salsas at doña Sabina's new cafeteria-style sit-down restaurant across from her street cart. The restaurant, simplicity itself and filled with the joy of good eating, shows the world just who doña Sabina is: no pretensions, straightforward this is who I am. You can't help but love her and the food she prepares. I certainly do.

Meet chef Omar Armas of Restaurante Mantou, Ensenada. The maíces nativos group presented these native corns to the restaurant cooks and wait staff while we were in Ensenada. The restaurant closed permanently on September 3, 2017, but chef Omar is keeping on with his culinary projects and plans to keep his career close to home. Our time at Mantou was so productive–not to mention so tasty–that it seems wise to put the news out that his culinary skills will continue to be available.

Rafael Mier talked about ancient and modern corn to the entire kitchen and front-of-the-house crew; more than triple this number was in attendance. Few had ever seen the variety of Mexico's native corns, and until hearing the talk, few understood the reasons for preserving these national treasures. Seated opposite Rafael, chef Omar listened deeply to the themes of the presentation. Above the heads of the group, you can see the final image of the Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana's slide show. The caption says, "El destino del maíz está en tus manos." 'Corn's destiny is in your hands.'

After the presentation, Restaurante Mantou hosted a dinner for us, at which we drank Henri Lurton wines. At the head of the table, Lourdes Martínez Ojeda, the head winemaker at Henri Lurton's winery (with a branch settled just over a year ago in Valle de Guadalupe) talks with everyone about why and how Henri Lurton, owner of the Château Brane-Cantenac winery in Margaux, Bordeaux, France and current head of the Lurton wine dynasties, chose Baja California for a second outpost. In addition to her work as the winemaker at Henri Lurton Baja California, Lourdes is also chef Omar's wife.

The menu we oohed and aahed over at Mantou was almost entirely vegetarian. This extraordinary salad consisted of sautéed shiitake mushrooms, verdolagas (purslane), locally made Parmesan cheese, and raspberry vinegar which had been fermented for six months. With the salad, we drank Henri Lurton Chenin Blanc Centenario. The pairing was perfect.

Pasta al dente with a sauce of calabacitas, a small squash similar to zucchini, with cherry tomatoes and gorgonzola cheese. The restaurant paired the pasta course with Henri Lurton Nebbiolo.

If you're in the Ensenada area, look for any events featuring chef Omar Armas. You won't be disappointed.

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

11 de November de 2017
Vena Cava Winery, Restaurante Fuego, and Restaurante Corazón de Tierra ALL IN ONE DAY :: Valle de Guadalupe Beginnings

At Restaurante Corazón de Tierra, Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California. Headed up by renowned chef Diego Hernández Baquedano, Corazón de Tierra was named number 39 out of 50 on the San Pellegrino 50 Best Latin American restaurants list for 2016. Rafael Mier gave a presentation about Mexico's native corns to chef Diego and the restaurant's entire kitchen crew and wait staff. Chef Diego closed the restaurant for two prime evening hours so that he and his staff could take part in the class; we felt very honored. Left to right: Rafael Mier, founder of the non-profit foundation Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, Mexico Cooks!, and extraordinary chef Diego Hernández.

Unlike the lush central and southern areas of Mexico, Baja California grows almost no corn. Most of Baja California is arid, the mountains are rugged and barren, and the temperatures are extreme–the state capital, Mexicali, can have mid-summer temperatures as high as 110ºF and winter lows in the low 40ºs. Because there is little to no rainfall over much of the state, many of its successful crops (wheat, red tomatoes, and onions are the principal products, followed by strawberries and cotton) are grown using irrigation. Very few farmers grow native corns, and very few people in cities such as Mexicali, Tijuana, and Ensenada are familiar with them. It was particularly thrilling to see Baja California's younger cooks and and restaurant staffs light up when they learned first-hand about their corn heritage.

Not everybody listened all the way through the corn presentations, but everybody loved the corn! This little black cat at the Corazón de Tierra gardens pooped out about halfway through a talk and made himself comfortable for a snooze.

Vena Cava and Corazón de Tierra co-owner Eileen Gregory joined us for the corn presentation given to the gardening team.

Master Gardener Claire Acosta showed us around the gardens. Here, a long row of organic acelgas (swiss chard). All of the produce from the garden is destined for the restaurant tables. Ms. Acosta tells chef Diego what the gardeners can pick today and he plans his menu around those vegetables.

Late in the morning, we went to Vena Cava (Phil and Eileen Gregory's beautiful winery) for one of Phil's delightful wine tastings and many stories about the Gregorys' arrival in Valle de Guadalupe. Here, native corn meets Baja wine!

Would you believe this trip was called "work"? Nah, me either! Our next stop was at Restaurante Fuego Cocina del Valle, a short distance from the Vena Cava winery. Headed by executive chef Mario Peralta, Fuego is part of Hotel Boutique, in the heart of Baja California's wine country. Chef Mario, a contender on the 2016 season of Top Chef Mexico, is part of the new generation of cooks who carry the banner of Baja California-style cuisine, which is best known for making use of the region's seasonal ingredients.

Chef Mario's chileagua, plated in a clam shell on a bed of coarse sea salt. The dish is based on the almeja reina (queen clam), which is joined by pear tomatoes, red zebra tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, chile serrano, cilantro flowers, and cempasúchil (marigold) flowers. On this hot, dry winter day, we couldn't have eaten anything more refreshing. Four or five small courses followed this appetizer, but this chileagua was my favorite.

Our final corn stop of the day was back at Corazón de Tierra, for the maíces nativos presentation and then dinner at the restaurant. Here, master gardener Claire Acosta and chef Diego Hernández enjoy looking at the two baskets of native corns.

The menu for dinner at Corazón de Tierra consisted of eight courses, the last of which was a series of three desserts. Fortunately (or not) the portions were served to be shared per three diners. The three tiny kumamoto oysters in the photo above, each as big as the end of my thumb, were meant to be one per person. They were so intensely delicious I would have eaten not only these three, but the three meant for the three people sitting next to me. Everything was delicious, but these oysters in hazelnut butter were my favorite course.

Our Corazón de Tierra courses:
Smoked fish tostada
Kumamoto oysters in hazelnut butter
Salad of tomatoes and tomato water, all from the restaurant's organic garden
Roast beets with two types of smoked garlic, borage, and aged cheese
Lamb taco with stewed swiss chard stems, black radish, and blue corn tortilla
Sea bass with dashi and zucchini-type squash
Potatoes from the organic gardens with chile padrón and 5-year-aged salsa madre

Desserts:
Nopal ice cream with a ginger cookie
Sesame seed ice cream with cilantro cream
Mix of truffles and panacotta

Chef Diego's lovely and refreshing tomato salad, topped with edible flower petals. The dining room at Corazón de Tierra was quite dark, giving a dark, dream-like quality to the dishes we ate–and to the photos I took.

Tiny potatoes, deeply flavorful, coupled with mildly spicy chiles padrón, and tender leaves of various colors, all served with deliberately aged five-year-old salad dressing.

The presentation of sesame seed ice cream with cilantro cream, served on a bed of crunchy, sweet crumble was perfectly beautiful, but was my least favorite item on the menu. Others raved about it.

This fantastic dinner at Corazón de Tierra ended as the moon rose over the restaurant in Valle de Guadalupe. The trek back to our Rosarito condo was quiet and reflexive after our long and wonderful day.

Special thanks to Cintia Soto for taking menu notes in the dark!

Next week: we'll take a short break from Baja California for a special trip to Michoacán, for Noche de Muertos (Night of the Dead). On November 4, we'll go to Ensenada for Baja California street food, and a surprise! Don't miss either one.

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

21 de October de 2017
La Cocina de Doña Esthela :: Doña Esthela’s Kitchen, Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California

Señora Blanca Estela Martínez Bueno–known to the world as doña Esthela–along with her husband, don José, in the white hat–converse with Rafael Mier about some of Mexico's native corns.

Doña Esthela and her husband, both of whom were born and raised in farming families from the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, know corn inside and out. They had a lot to talk about with Rafael Mier and were thrilled that he'd brought the mazorcas (dried ears of corn) with him to the restaurant. The visit we made to their Valle de Guadalupe restaurant, La Cocina de Doña Esthela, was exciting for all of us. Watching the way these three people enjoyed touching these old-time ears of corn, listening to the stories they swapped about planting, raising, harvesting, storing, and cooking with the grains, inspired me deeply.

Doña Esthela and don José (doña and don are honorifics in Mexico, prefixes to a respected woman or man's first name) moved from Sinaloa to Baja California over 20 years ago. To do her part to support their family, doña Esthela took in washing and ironing. Shortly after, she began selling home-baked cookies–and not just any cookies: she was making and selling coricos from the state of Sinaloa, the curled-up cookies on the right in the photo. Coricos are made with lard, corn masa (dough), a little sugar, and some baking powder: simple ingredients with fabulous flavor.

Pretty soon her coricos, burritos, and whatever else she could prepare to sell outside the employee entrances to maquiladores (trans-border factories) and outside local schools was in hot demand among the workers and students in her Mexican neighborhood, and before much longer, other people got wind of the fact that she was a terrific cook. Soon after that, the actors and crew from a popular Mexican telenovela (soap opera), filming in the area, showed up asking to be fed, and the rest is history. She started restaurant life in her home kitchen, with one table, cooking whatever ingredients she could afford to purchase. Over the years, she and her family have expanded the restaurant over and over again–today, La Cocina de Doña Esthela can seat up to 160 diners at a time.

A simple sign, nothing fancy–but on weekends, the wait to be seated can be as much as three hours. If you're in Baja California and want to have breakfast at Doña Esthela's on Saturday or Sunday–or during a puente (holiday weekend)–a word to the wise: the restaurant opens at 8:30 AM. Be there early so you don't have to stand in line forever. On the other hand, if there is a line ahead of you, wait. Breakfast is worth it and you'll thank me.

Let's get to the point: what did we eat?

The star of the restaurant is the barbacoa de borrego tatemado (pit-cooked mutton). Doña Esthela gets up long before dawn to put the mutton and its seasonings into the underground cooking pit–it has to be ready when she opens the doors to customers at 8:30AM. Fall off the bone tender, the meat is served with a bowl of consomé, the liquid in which the meat was cooked. I've eaten delicious barbacoa in a lot of places, and I swear to you that this is the best I've ever tried. Anywhere. Ever.

Big platters started coming quickly out of the kitchen. These are gorditas, thick corn tortillas, split in half and stuffed with spinach, with machaca, with nopales, or with chicharrón, all served with frijoles refritos, Sinaloa style.

Machaca (shredded, seasoned dried beef), scrambled into eggs. Doña Esthela prepares everything herself, with some other staff in the kitchen to help.

I put a spoonful of the machaca into one of her house-made corn tortillas and bit into it, and I think my eyeballs rolled back in my head with joy. If you don't eat anything else at La Cocina de Doña Esthela, you must have the machaca. In 2015, the British food website Foodie Hub named Doña Esthela's breakfasts–with special attention given to the machaca–the tastiest in the world. It's certainly far and away the best machaca Mexico Cooks! has ever tasted.

To the right in the photo is the completely merited Foodie Hub trophy, awarded to Doña Esthela for her breakfasts. In the middle, one of the reed baskets filled with Mexico's colorful native corn. To the left, the clay bowl holds little balls of what I know as azafrán de bolita (little saffron balls). I was so surprised to see them in Baja California; a friend from the state of Jalisco gave me some several years ago and told me that they were only known in that state. His grandmother used them for giving a deep saffron yellow-orange color to a recipe that she made for potatoes and onions.

Here is some of the azafrán de bolita that my Jalisco friend gave me, in a dish that measures about two and a half inches in diameter. The little balls are about the same size as whole allspice. I split a couple open so that you could see their interior color.

Doña Esthela's hot-off-the-comal (griddle) corn tortillas. The incredibly rich flavors of every dish on the table were only enhanced by the pure, delicious taste of home-nixtamal-ized corn masa, pressed into tortillas and toasted on the comal until just right. The tortillas just kept coming–and not only these marvelous corn tortillas, but also doña Esthela's addictive flour tortillas! Which to choose! Easy–have both!

Just when we thought we were finished with breakfast (i.e., ready to burst from having eaten our weight in everything but the actual clay plates, which we politely refrained from licking), doña Esthela brought us a couple of platters of her corn hotcakes and maple syrup. Somehow these, too, disappeared. Our 9-year-old companion, Wolf Koenig, said these were the best pancakes he'd ever tasted. Seems like there's a "best" theme happening here–and honestly, everything we ate WAS the best of whatever it was.

Wolf's dad, W. Scott Koenig, snarfing down a flour tortilla filled with frijolitos refritos (refried beans). The plate at the bottom of the photo holds what's left of just one of the platters of those beans.

Our group, just barely willing to turn away from their plates to look at me as I took the picture. The shutter clicked and we all went right back to mmm-ing and oooh-ing and chewing and enjoying the best (there it is again!) breakfast ever. Clockwise from the left side of the photo: Chris Mejia of Baja Test Kitchen, W. Scott Koenig of A Gringo in Mexico, Wolf Koenig of corn hotcake fame, Ursula Koenig, Jennifer Kramer of Baja Test Kitchen, and just a sliver of Rafael Mier of the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana–which if you haven't yet joined, you definitely should.

One last shot of our crew, with its stars of the day: the maíces mexicanos nativos that were the reason for our trip to Baja California, and to the far right, our incredible breakfast hosts, don José and doña Esthela. From left to right, the rest of us: Mexico Cooks!, Jennifer Kramer, Rafael Mier, and Chris Mejia.

The best way to rescue Mexico's at-risk native corns is by eating them, as we did and you will at La Cocina de Doña Esthela. It's urgent that we promote Mexico's high-quality native corns and at the same time, Mexican farming.

Mexico's two most precious resources: the campesino and the native corn.

If you are ever in the vicinity of Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, do not miss breakfast with doña Esthela. Go early, but if there's a line, don't be discouraged. Breakfast is so worth the wait.

La Cocina de Doña Esthela
Highway from El Tigre to Guadalupe S/N
Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California
Open daily from 8:30 AM
Telephone: 01-646-156-8453

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

14 de October de 2017
Native Corns in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, Mexico :: The Delights of Lechuza Vineyards and Viñas Pijoan

Here we go! These two shallow baskets, packed into the trunk of our vehicle, are overflowing with 50 or more different regional varieties of maíces mexicanos nativos (native Mexican corns), ready to head out for wine country: Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California. In the center of the basket on the right, you can see what looks almost like a hot dog. It's actually a mazorca (dried ear of corn): white corn with a few rows of dried kernels removed to expose its red cob! All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise credited.

You might well ask about the point, the vision, the purpose of this corn journey. You can read here Corn: Mexico's Gift to the World, for a quickie refresher about the thousands of years of history of the corn we know today, corn domesticated in what is now Mexico. That long heritage of Mexico's corn is in jeopardy today; Rafael Mier and I were invited to take corn and its crucial importance to the chefs and cooks in Baja California, where little corn is grown and few ancient corns are known.

The Pacific coast, from an overlook near Ensenada, Baja California. Those rings in the water to the far right in the photo? Tuna farms; this offshore area is dotted with them. All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

During the last 20 or so years, Valle de Guadalupe and the Ensenada area of Baja California have become a Mexican wine and culinary destination, recognized world-wide. With over 100 commercial vineyards, an extraordinary number of high-end restaurants, and the nearby Pacific Ocean, tourism in this part of Baja California is booming. We travelled to this part of Mexico in the interest of educating area chefs, kitchen staffs, and the students at Tijuana's excellent Culinary Arts School about Mexico's ancient history of corn as well as the need to preserve and protect our native grain.

The backstory is that about six months ago, Chris Mejia and Jennifer Kramer of Baja Test Kitchen visited me in Mexico City, saying that they were neophytes to the world of corn and asking for specific information about Mexico's original corns. I gave them a teaching tour through the temporary exhibit called La Milpa at the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares in Coyoacán, in the southern part of Mexico City (on view until November 5, 2017). I also arranged for Chris, Jen, and me to have comida (Mexico's main meal of the day) with my good friend, colleague, and extraordinary corn expert, Rafael Mier. The four of us talked for several hours over comida about Mexico's native corn, about the urgent need to expose the person on the street, the chef in his or her kitchen, and the world in general to the distinct possibility that native corns, first domesticated thousands of years ago in what is now Mexico, are in danger of extinction. Chris and Jen, who live in both Baja California and in San Diego, were truly fascinated with corn's ancient history, with its current danger from hybrids and genetically modified corns, and with the possibility of taking the corn show on the road, as it were, to inform Baja California–where corn has been cultivated very little–about the prospect of losing Mexico's original corns. Within a short time after his and Jen's return to the West Coast, Chris called me to get the ball rolling: "Set some dates when you can come, we're ready to invite restaurant owners, chefs, students, and anyone interested in heirloom corn to meet with Rafa and you in Baja." We arrived in Tijuana on July 22, 2017, knowing that Chris, Jen, and our friend W. Scott Koenig, who was helping them with the planning, had a packed 10-day agenda for us to follow. Ten days, many of them sixteen hours long! At the end, were thrilled, inspired, and exhausted.

First stop, Lechuza Vineyard, Valle de Guadalupe.

Founded in 2003 by Ray and Patty Magnussen, Lechuza’s origin stems from the Valle’s verdant fields, fertile soil, and culture. The desire to share the Valle’s remarkable abundance and warmth is the driving principle behind Lechuza’s winemaking philosophy: to consistently produce top tier wines while promoting sustainability and regional stewardship. Lechuza’s wines strive to reveal the story of its grapes, under the meticulous care of the Magnussen family. Mexico Cooks! met the Magnussen family at Lechuza (the name is that of a local burrowing owl) in February 2017 and felt a strong connection to them and to their work. In mid-March, Ray's family and friends were saddened to our core by the news of his sudden and unexpected death. Ray's daughter, Kris Magnussen, will continue her father's work; the family, the winery, the entire Valle de Guadalupe, and Lechuza's many fans are heartened that she's taking charge.

Grapes at Lechuza Vineyard were just beginning to take on color when we were there near the end of July.

Rafa explains the origin of Mexican regional corns as well as their historic and culinary importance to Ray's wife, Angela (Paty) Magnussen and a number of the staff at Lechuza.

After a few very emotional hours at Lechuza, we once again packed up the corn (you're going to see that phrase a lot during the next month or so) and traveled a short distance to our next stop, Viñas Pijoan.

In the cava at Viñas Pijoan.

Viñas Pijoan is a family-run business, founded in 1999. In that year, Pau Pijoan, a long-time veterinarian, took a course in winemaking that changed not only his life but the lives of his family members. What might simply have been a hobby became a passion, and in 2001, Pijoan's Leonora red placed fifth in a Mexican national wine competition. From then until now, the winery–although still small compared to many in the area–has continued to produce ever-increasing amounts of wine. The number of barrels produced rose 600% between 2005 and 2011!

Maíces nativos mexicanos (Mexico's native corn) on the sun-dappled terrace at Viñas Pijoan.

We and the Pijoan family were enormously excited by our time spent together. Paula Pijoan, Sr. Pijoan's daughter, who heads up the family vineyard's gardening and other botanical needs and is an active plant preservationist, was thrilled to have the native corns visit the winery. I'm sure the corns were as happy as we were to be there!

Corn, the star of the show! Left to right around the table: Paula Pijoan, Mexico Cooks!, Jennifer Kramer, chef Diana Kusters, Chris Mejia, the lovely and laughing Leonora Pijoan, Pau Pijoan, Rafael Mier and at the far right…oh no! I've forgotten his name. I'm sorry!

Diana Kusters, chef at Salvia at Viñas Pijoan, with Mexico Cooks!.

During the course of a long, leisurely afternoon, of course there was food. Viñas Pijoan is the site of Salvia, a charming outdoor restaurant, named for a Baja California variety of sage. Chef Diana Kusters is in charge of the kitchen.

Heavenly bruschetta, with crusty, dense bread, Baja California grown and pressed olive oil and tomatoes grown in the Viñas Pijoan garden.

Tostada de atún (fresh Baja California tuna) with chile serrano, broccoli sprouts, and chile de árbol. Really spectacular!

Salmas (see recommendation below) with fresh Baja California tuna and sprouts.

If you haven't yet tried Salmas, oven-baked corn crackers topped with a sprinkle of sea salt, look for them in your local supermarket. They're better-tasting and healthier than any corn chip you've ever eaten. (This is not a paid advertisement–Mexico Cooks! does not accept advertising. This is just my personal recommendation, I've been eating Salmas for years.)

Portobello mushroom ceviche with avocados, sprouts, thinly sliced radishes, and calabacitas (squash similar to zucchini).

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RteZiJ8bjgk&w=350&h=215]
Enjoy this short interview with Pau Pijoan as he talks about Baja California, his wines, and his winery. Video courtesy Grape Collective.

Next week, we return to Valley de Guadalupe to have breakfast at La Cocina de Doña Esthela. Doña Esthela is legendary–you'll love meeting her and seeing the photos of the incredible breakfast we ate. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

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

7 de October de 2017
Mexico’s Native Corns, On Tour in Baja California :: Maíces Nativos de México, de Gira en Baja California, México

When Chris Mejia and Jennifer Kramer (founders of Baja California specialist tour company Baja Test Kitchen) invited us to take Mexico's native corns on the road, Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana's founder Rafael Mier and Mexico Cooks! were thrilled. You think taking a suitcase loaded with mazorcas (ears of dried corn) from Mexico City to Baja California is easy? Each ear required the protection of bubble wrap and plenty of coddling. We could easily have filled this steamer trunk to the brim, but we made do with an extra-large suitcase to get the beautiful ears safely to their (and our) destination. Photo courtesy Pinterest.

In the photo, you see just a few of the many colorful mazorcas we carried to Tijuana–and beyond. Photo courtesy Josué Castro, friend of Mexico's maíces nativos (native corns) and a tremendous support to all of us in the project.

From the plane, July 22, 2017: over the mainland with a view of el Golfo de California (the Sea of Cortez). Very shortly after I took this picture, we and our personal luggage, plus the big suitcase full of corn, arrived in Tijuana, where Chris and Jen met us at the airport.

First stop? We were ravenous, as if we'd flapped our wings ourselves to fly us to Tijuana! We swooped from the airport directly into Tacos El Franc, one of Tijuana's large number of fantastic taquerías (places to eat tacos). From the time I first lived in Tijuana, in the early 1980s, my opinion has been that Tijuana is Mexico's taco central. The delicious tacos at Tacos El Franc truly confirmed that for me.

Dos de pastor, por favor, con todo…two tacos al pastor, please, with everything. "Everything" includes minced onion, chopped cilantro, freshly made guacamole, and as much house-made salsa as you want. Word to the wise: green salsa is almost always spicier than red.

So what does 'al pastor' mean? Allegedly invented in Mexico City and based on Middle Eastern shawarma, tacos al pastor are now hugely popular all over Mexico. Al pastor simply means 'shepherd style', grilled on a trompo (vertical spit). The metal contraption behind the trompo is the vertical gas grill. The trompo, loaded with thinly sliced marinated pork, turns to grill the outside of the meat–roasted through and crisped on the outside at the moment you order your tacos. The slightly charred edge bits, combined with the tender meat just underneath the surface, combine to make your taco dreams come true.

Two tacos are never enough. My next order was uno de asada, porfas…(one of thinly sliced grilled beef, please). The toppings for this one are minced onion, chopped cilantro, frijoles de la olla (freshly cooked beans direct from the pot), and guacamole–plus as much of your favorite salsa as you like. Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is!

Freshly-toasted house-made tortillas heat on a slightly greased flat top griddle (rear) while roasted chiles güero ('blond' chiles) wait for you to eat: ask for one or simply take one by the stem. This chile, about two to three inches long, broad at the stem end and pointed at the tip, can range in spiciness from mild to yikes, and you can't tell which it's going to be until you bite into it. Some (including me) like it on the yikes side of hot.

Last taco for today: suadero, a very thin cut of beef from just under the skin, cut from the section between the belly and the leg of the animal. Again, I topped this taco with onion and cilantro, plus guacamole and green salsa, which is almost always what I prefer.

Raw suadero looks like the meat in the photo above. You'll probably be able to find the cut at a Mexican butcher shop, if there is one near you. Photo courtesy Chedraui.

In Mexico, there's a saying: panza llena, corazón contento (full stomach, happy heart). Here we all are, full of tacos and the living examples of that saying. From the left: Jennifer Kramer, Mexico Cooks!, Rafael Mier, and Chris Mejia.

Just in time for our first Pacific Coast sunset, Chris and Jen took us to the Rosarito condo where we would spend the next 10 nights. Tacos El Franc and a view like this from the balcony? Who needs anything more!

Grateful for the generosity of our hosts, we went happily to our comfortable rooms and dreamed of the next morning, when we would take the corn for the first time to Valle de Guadalupe, the wine country of Baja California.

Next week: A day with the corn at two spectacular wineries. Don't miss a minute of this marvelous tour.

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

23 de September de 2017