Category: Mexican Tourism

Teocintle Maíz, Best Restaurant in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

Restaurante Teocintle Maíz, at the corner of Calle Miguel Blanco and Calle Constitución, Ajijic, Jalisco. You could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather. This charming restaurant is about three doors from where I once lived, more than 20 years ago. Back then, the location was called La Frontera, a tiny corner grocery store, owned by my wonderful neighbors don Alfredo Villaseñor and his wife, doña Simona Pineda (may they rest in peace). Today, Gloria Rodríguez Villaseñor, a delightful young woman and granddaughter of my longtime friends the grocers, operates Restaurante Teocintle Maíz together with her life (and business) partner, Ricardo Robles.

A couple of memories:

The wall of the house where I once lived on Calle Miguel Blanco. The wall is all that one one sees from the street–a Mexican street-side wall is usually very plain, giving away nothing of what might be just inside the door. I planted that beautiful vine when it was a baby vine, in about 2000. When I lived in the house, it was simple but comfortable, with lots of character. Now–I don't know what the house behind the wall looks like.

Open the street door and here's the lovely garden. My gardener and dear friend, Jorge Velázquez (RIP), worked with me to make barren, muddy ground into a showcase in the late 1990s. The current owner has made a few changes–the old orange tree is gone, the gazebo at the back left used to be a fountain, that stone retaining wall is new–but the form is pretty much what Jorge and I created.

Fast forward to July 6, 2018:

Where there once were shelves filled with cans of chiles and soups, boxes of laundry detergent, crates of eggs sold by weight, bottled soft drinks, boxes of juice, infant formula and disposable diapers, and doña Simona reading a book on her stool behind the counter, we have the cozy interior of Restaurante Teocintle Maíz. The rooms were beautifully created on a shoestring by Gloria and Ricardo, and the restaurant opened just over 18 months ago.

Today, Teocintle Maíz is listed on TripAdvisor as the #1 restaurant in Ajijic. Here, it's casa llena–full house–and it's almost always like that, especially for dinner in the evening. If you want a reservation, call ahead–way ahead! It's that popular, both with Mexican locals, with the large expatriate community in Ajijc, and with visitors to the area.

Ricardo Robles manages Teocintle Maíz, works the front of the house, and is an excellent host. He has also built a great deal of the furniture in the restaurant, including this beautiful table. The table was delivered the day I was there.

Ajijic is a picturesque little town on the north shore of Lake Chapala, about an hour south of Guadalajara. The town is filled with life-long Mexican residents, a large quantity of gentrified shops and galleries, 200+ restaurants and innumerable street food stands. It suffers from horrendous traffic and boasts a very large population of foreign retirees who are alway looking for the next good place to eat. Several friends had told me about this delightful restaurant, and a few weeks ago, I was able to sneak in without a reservation, just before closing time, to see what all the buzz was about. I was, quite frankly, as dubious as I usually am about reportedly great restaurants, especially in the hinterlands.

The lovely and extremely talented chef Gloria Rodríguez Villaseñor is in charge of the kitchen at Teocintle Maíz. We chatted for a few minutes and she asked if I'd had supper. No…  She sat me at a little table by a window and gave me the menu. R
icardo came to take my order, and I asked him to choose something for me. "I prefer traditional Mexican food over modern Mexican food, and I leave myself in your hands."

My magnificent supper: one of the most traditional meals from Jalisco, the chamorro (pork shank), accompanied by superb, lardy, frijolitos refritos, arroz a la mexicana, avocado slices, and house-made corn tortillas. Chamorro is cooked over very low heat in a spicy red sauce until it is fall-off-the-bone tender. This one was perfect–no ifs, ands, or buts, perfect–and I ate the whole enormous thing. When you go, order it–and you'll eat the whole enormous thing, too. And the beans! It's extraordinary to be served beans of this quality: home-style, smooth and well-fried in just enough lard to make you think you've gone to what I've heard called 'hog heaven'. The tortillas were corny and delicious, and wrapped in a napkin as God intended. To drink, I had a refreshing house-made, just-sweet-enough agua fresca de jamaica ('fresh water', made from roselle, a type of hibiscus).

Chef Gloria studied at the acclaimed Centro Educativo Jaltepec and now gives courses at that culinary school. Her resumé shows tremendous drive and direction; she is extremely accomplished in all facets of a person moving toward a specific goal: owning a restaurant of her own. She has worked with the most outstanding and talented chefs in the Lake Chapala and Guadalajara area, and always with the goal to succeed and move forward. It's a joy to see that she absolutely knows what she's doing, both in the kitchen and in the front of the house, and yet is very humble about her accomplishments and her talents.

Fast forward to 2020: about 10 days ago, I was once again visiting friends in Ajijic and had the tremendous experience of two meals at Teocintle Maíz, once for comida (Mexico's midday main meal of the day) and once for cena (supper).

At both comida and cena, my companions and I ordered guacamole to share. Silky smooth and served with panela cheese, it is the perfect start for your meal.

For comida, my main dish was Jalisco-style birria (long-braised goat meat). It was simply heavenly: just spicy enough, served with a pitcher of its own consomé (the liquid it was simmered in), a bowl of perfectly cooked rice, and topped with edible nasturtium blossoms, a long house-made banana chip, and avocado slices. I ate it first with a fork, then with a soup spoon, and finally sopped up the consomé with native corn tortillas made on the premises.

At cena the next night, my companion ordered coconut shrimp served with sautéd mixed vegetables and freshly made mashed potatoes. She graciously allowed me to eat one of the shrimp. Crunchy with coconut, fried to just the right state of done-ness, the shrimp was sweet enough but not too sweet, the vegetables were perfectly cooked, the potatoes were flavorful and creamy. What more could a person as for?

I ordered the ribeye steak served with a baked potato; I asked the wait staff to ask that the steak be cooked between rare and medium rare, thinking my usual, "It will probably be be cooked medium to well-done." Oh ye of little faith! The steak was perfectly seared and right in the middle between rare and medium rare. The outside edges were crispy with blackened fat, the meat itself was silky and delicious. It's very, very difficult to find a piece of beef like this in most of Mexico, and I rarely order any kind of steak when I'm dining out. But this? Even the photo makes my mouth water.

The restaurant's multiple uses of corn bring me to the name of the restaurant: why Teocintle Maíz? It's not an easy name for Ajijic's foreign community to pronounce, many Mexicans have no idea what it means, and the evening I was there Ricardo and chef Gloria called the kitchen staff into the dining r
oom to talk about teocintle–and to show them what it is. What you see in the photo above is my 'trademark'–an actual mazorca (ear) of the ancient grain that was domesticated approximately 8,000 to 11,000 years ago by Mexico's Stone Age people to become what we know today as corn. Teocintle the wild grain still exists in Mexico; several years ago, a friend of mine cultivated quite a lot of it and was able to harvest a zillion seeds and 10 whole ears. He framed those 10 whole ears in silver, and I wear mine as a necklace every day–first, because I love it, and second, because it is a teaching tool about corn's domestication. I was touched to the heart to know that this small restaurant in this tiny town is named for the thousands of years old grain that became Mexico's heritage food and gift to the entire world. You can read more about that here.

At the end of the evening, Ricardo, Mexico Cooks!, and chef Gloria posed for posterity. We had a wonderful time together. When I first went to Teocintle Maíz, it was rated Number One in Ajijic on TripAdvisor. Ten days ago, when I went back, I discovered that it is still rated Number One and truly deserving of the rating.

A menu board announces each day's offerings. Clients truly rave about everything, and I need to go back soon to try some other dishes. Meantime, until I can get there, you go. Tell them Mexico Cooks! sent you. You'll be so glad you went.

Restaurante Teocintle Maíz
Constitución 52, at the corner of Miguel Blanco
Ajijic, Jalisco
01 33 1547 8968 for hours and reservations

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

7 de March de 2020
Mexican Food for Lent :: Comida Mexicana Cuaresmeña

Tortitas de papa (potato croquettes, left) and frijoles negros (black beans, right) from the state of Chiapas in far-southern Mexico are ideal for a Lenten meal.

Roman Catholic Mexicans observe la Cuaresma (Lent), the 40-day (excluding Sundays) penitential season that precedes Easter, with special prayers, vigils, and with extraordinary meatless meals cooked only on Ash Wednesday and during Lent. Many Mexican dishes–seafood, vegetable, and egg–are normally prepared without meat, but some other meatless dishes are particular to Lent. Known as comida cuaresmeña, many of these delicious Lenten foods are little-known outside Mexico and some other parts of Latin America.

Many observant Catholics believe that the personal reflection and meditation demanded by Lenten practices are more fruitful if the individual refrains from heavy food indulgence and makes a promise to abstain from other common habits such as eating candy, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol.

Atole de grano, a Michoacán specialty made of tender corn and licorice-scented anís, is a perfect cena (supper) for Lenten Fridays.

Lent began this year on February 26, Ash Wednesday. Shortly before, certain food specialties began to appear in local markets. Vendors are currently offering very large dried shrimp for caldos (broths) and tortitas (croquettes), perfect heads of cauliflower for tortitas de coliflor (cauliflower croquettes), seasonal romeritos, and thick, dried slices of bolillo (small loaves of white bread) for capirotada (a kind of bread pudding).

This common Lenten preparation is romeritos en mole.  Romeritos, a slightly acidic green vegetable, is in season at this time of year. Although it looks a little like rosemary, it has the texture of a succulent and its taste is relatively sour, more like verdolagas (purslane).

Beautiful fresh romeritos at a market in Morelia, Michoacán.

You'll usually see tortitas de camarón (dried shrimp croquettes) paired for a Friday comida (midday meal) with romeritos en mole, although they are sometimes bathed in a caldillo de jitomate (tomato broth) and served with grilled and sliced nopalitos (cactus paddles).

During Lent, the price of fish and seafood in Mexico goes through the roof due to the huge seasonal demand for meatless meals. These beautiful huachinango (red snapper) come from Mexico's Pacific coast.

Caldo de habas secas (dry fava bean soup), delicious and thick even though meatless, warms you up from the inside as if your days are still frigid at the beginning of Lent.

Chef Martín Rafael Mendizabal of La Trucha Alegre in Zitacuaro, Michoacán, prepared trucha deshuesada con agridulce de guayaba (boned trout with guava sweet and sour sauce) for the V Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán held in Morelia in December 2008. The dish would be ideal for an elegant Lenten dinner.

Capirotada (kah-pee-roh-TAH-dah, Lenten bread pudding) is almost unknown outside Mexico. Simple to prepare and absolutely delicious, it's hard to eat it sparingly if you're trying to keep a Lenten abstinence! This photo shows capirotada as served by Carmen Titita Ramírez Degollado at the El Bajío restaurants in Mexico City.

Every family makes a slightly different version of capirotada: a pinch more of this, leave out that, add such-and-such.  Mexico Cooks! prefers to leave out the apricots and add dried pineapple. Make it once and then tweak the recipe to your preference–but please do stick with traditional ingredients.

At left, Mexican canela (long cinnamon sticks). At right, dark raisins. You'll need both of these for preparing capirotada.

Two different sizes of cones of piloncillo (raw brown sugar). For making capirotada, you'll want the bigger cones.

Pan bolillo (dense white bread), Tangancícuaro, Michoacán. Photo courtesy Silvia Sánchez Villegas.

CAPIROTADA (Mexican Bread Pudding for Lent)
Ingredients
*4 fresh bollilos, in 1" thick slices–after you slice the bread, dry it in a slow oven
5 stale tortillas
150 grams pecans
50 grams prunes
100 grams raisins
200 grams peanuts
100 grams dried apricots
1 large apple, peeled and sliced thin
100 grams grated Cotija cheese
Peel of one orange, two uses
*3 cones of piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar)
Four 3" pieces of Mexican stick cinnamon
2 cloves
Butter
Salt

*If you don't have bolillo, substitute slices of very dense French bread. If you don't have piloncillo, substitute 1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar.

A large metal or clay baking dish.

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Spread the dried bolillo slices with butter. Slightly overlap the tortillas in the bottom and along the sides of the baking dish to make a base for the capirotada. Prepare a thin syrup by boiling the piloncillo in 2 1/2 cups of water with a few shreds of cinnamon sticks, 2/3 of the orange peel, the cloves, and a pinch of salt.

Place the layers of bread rounds in the baking dish so as to allow for their expansion as the capirotada cooks. Lay down a layer of bread, then a layer of nuts, prunes, raisins, peanuts and apricots. Continue until all the bread is layered with the rest. For the final layer, sprinkle the capirotada with the grated Cotija cheese and the remaining third of the orange peel (grated). Add the syrup, moistening all the layers little by little. Reserve a portion of the syrup to add to the capirotada in case it becomes dry during baking.

Bake uncovered until the capirotada is golden brown and the syrup is absorbed. The bread will expand as it absorbs the syrup. Remember to add the rest of the syrup if the top of the capirotada looks dry, and reserve plenty of syrup to pour over each serving.

Cool the capirotada to room temperature. Do not cover until it is cool; even after it is cooled, leave the top ajar.

Try very hard not to eat the entire pan of capirotada at one sitting!

A positive thought for this Lenten season: give up discouragement, be an optimist.

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

29 de February de 2020
Chicken Meatballs in Green Sauce from Doña Yolanda :: Albóndigas de Pollo en Salsa Verde Estilo Doña Yolanda

Several years ago, Mexico Cooks! was thrilled to meet doña Yolanda Rodríguez Orozco. At the time, she was cooking at a now-defunct buffet restaurant in Morelia, Michoacán. In Mexico, 'doña' is an honorific indicating true respect for a woman (it's don for a man). Affectionately known to one and all as doña Yola, she cooked with tremendous love as the primary seasoning for whatever she put on the table.

One of the most delicious items on the menu at that restaurant was albóndigas de pollo en salsa verde (chicken meatballs in green sauce). Because I promised that I would share the recipe with all of you, doña Yola graciously shared her amazingly easy recipe with me. Quick and simple to prepare and marvelous to taste, these meatballs instantly made it to star status on Mexico Cooks! dining table. These albóndigas are entirely different from the better-known Mexican meatballs in red sauce.

A chicken vendor grinds fresh boneless, skinless chicken breast to order for me at the weekly tianguis (street market) in my neighborhood. You can ask the butcher at your supermarket to grind the breasts for you. Bring the skin and bones home to freeze for another day–for chicken broth.

Gorgeous dark green vitamin-rich spinach, ready to chop for the albóndigas.

Fresh mint grown in a pot on my terrace or available at any market, along with beautiful local red-shelled eggs.

Albóndigas de Pollo en Salsa Verde Estilo doña Yola
Chicken Meatballs in Green Sauce, doña Yola's Way

Ingredients for the meatballs
1 kilo (2.2 lbs) freshly ground boneless, skinless chicken breast
100 grams (1/4 lb) raw fresh spinach (stems removed), finely chopped
1 small white onion, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 Tbsp fresh mint, finely minced
1 chile serrano, finely minced
1/2 cup cooked white rice
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tsp cornstarch or as needed

Ground chicken, spinach, onion, garlic, mint, and chile serrano, ready to mix with cooked rice.

Procedure
Lightly mix the first seven ingredients together. Beat the eggs and Worcestershire sauce together and mix by hand into the mixture. Add sea salt and ground black pepper to taste. Add cornstarch until the mixture holds together well when you form a small amount into a ball. Form the mixture into balls approximately 2" in diameter. Makes 20 albóndigas. Plate the meatballs in a single layer (Mexico Cooks! likes to re-use well-washed Styrofoam meat trays from the supermarket for holding the albóndigas), then cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Tomates verdes (tomatillos) and chiles serranos for preparing salsa verde. Remove the tomatillos' papery husks and wash the sticky tomatillos thoroughly.

Ingredients for Salsa Verde
10-12 tomatillos (known in Mexico as tomate verde), husks removed
3 or 4 whole chiles serranos
1 bunch fresh cilantro, largest stems removed
Sea salt to taste

Procedure
In a large pot of water, bring the tomatillos and chiles to a full rolling boil. Boil just until the tomatillos begin to crack; watch them closely or they will disintegrate in the water.

Using a slotted spoon, scoop the cooked tomatillos and chiles into your blender jar. Allow to cool slightly There's no need to add liquid. Cover, hold the blender cap on, and blend until smooth. Be careful not to burn yourself, if you try to blend this mixture before it cools, it tends to react like lava in the blender. Don't ask me how I know this.

While the blender is running, remove the center of its cap and, little by little, push the cilantro into the whizzing sauce. Blend just until smooth; you should still see big flecks of dark green cilantro in the lighter green sauce. Add sea salt to taste and stir.

Pour the salsa into a 2-quart pot. Add the meatballs and bring to a simmer. Cover and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Mexico Cooks! prepared six meatballs for comida (main meal of the day) for two, but two meatballs apiece were plenty for us. We ate the leftovers (and another two meatballs) the following day. We froze twelve raw meatballs without salsa for subsequent meals.

Albóndigas de pollo en salsa verde, plated with white rice cooked with carrots, Mexican style.

Mexico Cooks! is so grateful to doña Yola for sharing her recipe with us. These albóndigas de pollo are not only easy to prepare and very healthy (with high vitamin K and beta carotene content and no added fat), but they are also absolutely delicious.

Provecho!

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22 de February de 2020
Ingredients You Might Never See (Or Even Want to See) Where You LIve

If you've been reading Mexico Cooks! for long, you know that I photograph a lot of ripe and colorful fruits, vegetables, and other edibles in Mexico's markets. This gorgeous turkey, for example, was tethered with some others at the Thursday weekly market in Zaachila, Oaxaca. She didn't know it, of course, but she would soon be purchased and…well, you can imagine. Mexico Cooks! is a food website, after all. Think mole negro oaxaqueño (Oaxacan black mole).

In the interest of early and full disclosure, the rest of the photos in this article might just gross you out. It turns out that for reasons unknown even to myself, I have, in addition to taking lots of market photos of benign and lovely fruits and vegetables, taken lots of head shots. Disembodied heads of animals, and primarily pig heads. Be warned.

This Mexico City butcher saw me approaching with the camera and obligingly sat the pig head up straight for a portrait. He's shaving the head, which was to be sold either whole or in parts for making Jalisco-style pozole. Better he should shave it than you should have to do it!

That's a goat head at the left in the photo, at the Mercado de San Juan, Mexico City. To the right is a container of chinicuiles (red maguey worms). The goat head is for preparing birria, the chinicuiles are for roasting and eating as a snack.

I think this is the first pig head picture I took, years ago at Guadalajara's Mercado Libertad. All the pigs' heads I've ever seen have had that same charming little smile.

See what I mean? This fellow looks downright happy to have given his all for your bowl of Guerrero-style pozole.

Anyone for bouillabaisse? It's been a long time since I prepared this delicious French fish stew, but Mexican fish markets and individual fish vendors always have the ingredients. Like pozole, bouillabaisse starts its broth with heads–in this case, fish heads.

Doña Martha, may she rest in peace, has taken the cooked pig head out of the broth to remove its bones and teeth. At this point, the pozole is almost-but-not-quite ready to serve.

Admit it, you would have taken this picture, too. This beautiful cabeza de cerdo (pig head) at one of my favorite markets has a mouthful of fresh alfalfa! How could I resist?

These delightful people toured with me in Mexico City about five years ago, when Rocco was barely two years old. I was nervous that he would be frightened by the pig heads, but no! He fell in love with this one and wanted to–and did–kiss its snout. Suzanne, his mother, was tickled by his unexpectedly happy reaction.

You might want to click on this photo to enlarge it, for a better view. It's barbacoa de res (beef barbecue, Mexican style), wrapped in penca de maguey (cactus leaves) and cooked for hours in a pit. You can still see the teeth in the jaw.

A raw beef head, hung upside down in the butcher shop.

Chicken heads. I don't have a recipe nor do I know of a recipe for chicken heads. If you do, please let me know!

Stop the presses! Just this week, I was at a market in Morelia, Michoacán, shopping for milanesa de pollo (flattened raw chicken breast). A woman walked up beside me and asked the vendor for two chicken heads! While the vendor weighed them and slipped them into a plastic bag for her, you know I had to ask! "Señora, excuse me, but I have to ask: what are you going to prepare with those chicken heads?" She laughed for a minute and said, "Ay señora, I cook them for my two cats, one for each!" Then we both laughed. She said no one she knows cooks chicken heads to serve at table, but that her cats like them a lot. I told her about this article about heads, and we laughed again.

You'll be glad to know that this is the last pig head for this article. This one, at the Mercado de San Juan in Morelia, Michoacán, is thoroughly cleaned, shaven, and ready for you to take home to your pot and is merely waiting for a customer. The ears, snout, and tongue are delicacies in Mexico, as are the sesos (brains).

Has this photo essay driven any of you into the vegan camp? Here's a vegan head: half a head of cabbage, of course.

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

15 de February de 2020
Volcanos and Politics: Dr. Atl, A Painter’s Eye, A Painter’s Passions

This article originally published in 2014. It's particularly pertinent right now because there is currently an enormous amount of seismic activity occurring in the same area where Paricutín, the world's youngest volcano, began to erupt in 1943–after a month of precisely this sort of constant seismic activity! Paricutín is located approximately 2 hours west of Morelia, Michoacán, the city where Mexico Cooks! lives. During the month of January 2020, seismologists recorded 1,265 small earthquakes in and around the area of Paricutín.

The painter's eye. Detail of Dr. Atl (Gerardo Murillo) 1962 self-portrait, oil on cardboard. Private collection.

Gerardo Murillo was born in 1875 in the San Juan de Dios neighborhood of Guadalajara, at the height of the Francophile rule of Mexican president/dictator Porfirio Díaz. He began studying painting at the age of 19. After studying in Italy in 1921, Gerardo Murillo became been better known as 'Dr. Atl' (atl is the Náhuatl word for water), as he was re-christened by Leopoldo Lugones, an Argentine writer and leftist political colleague. After his death in 1964, his ashes were interred in Guadalajara in what is known today as the Rotonda de Jaliscienses Ilustres (the Rotunda of Illustrious People of Jalisco). During his life, Dr. Atl was profoundly eccentric, his entire being immersed in his passions for painting, for politics, and particularly for volcanos.

Gerardo Murillo, self portrait 1899. All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

The Museo Colección Blaisten, part of Mexico City's Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (part of the UNAM, the huge multi-campus National Autonomous University of Mexico), mounted a December 2011 through April 2012 exhibition if 190 of Dr. Atl's masterworks. Dr. Atl, one of Mexico's most prominent 20th century painters, is actually very little known in the United States. Mexico Cooks! thought you might like once again to see a part of this exhibit.

Volcán Iztaccíhuatl (the Sleeping Woman volcano), 1916. Colleción Museo Regional de Guadalajara-INAH. Labels of this and many other paintings in the exhibit indicate that they were painted using Atl color (a type of paint created by the artist). Atl color is similar to Greek encaustic paint. It contains resins, wax, and dry pigment which are melted, mixed, and hardened to form a medium similar to oil pastel. Dr. Atl used his eponymous colors on paper, cardboard, rough fabric such as jute, wood, and other bases.

Although Dr. Atl is best-known as the passionate painter of volcanos, he also painted portraits. Nahui Ollín, pictured above in 1922, had a five-year romantic relationship with Dr. Atl. During the early part of her life, Nahui Ollín's name was Carmen Mondragón. Dr. Atl gave her the Náhuatl name to honor the date in the Aztec calendar that commemorates the renovation of the cosmic cycles. Private collection.

The Valley of Mexico from the South, 1931, oil on fabric. Private collection.

Dr. Atl's scholarly observation and study of Mexican geography (he was not only a painter, but also a volcanologist and writer) combined perfectly with his travels in Europe to give him the tools necessary to become one of the outstanding landscape painters of the 20th century. In 1897, then-Presidente Porfirio Díaz gave young Gerardo Murillo a scholarship to study in Europe. Murillo studied not only Italian frescoes but also philosophy and penal law. He involved himself ever more deeply with leftist, anarchist politics, a consequence of his studies that President Díaz probably did not anticipate.

Dr. Atl was also an exceptional painter of clouds. This painting is Nubes sobre el Valle de México (Clouds over the Valley of Mexico), 1933, Atl color on asbestos. Collection Museo Nacional de Arte INBA.

Detail mid-right side, Nubes sobre el Valle de México. Note the variety of brushstrokes used to create texture in the painting. Click on any photograph to enlarge the detail.

Dr. Atl began studying volcanoes during a trip to Italy in 1911. Beginning in 1925, he spent long periods of time at Mexican volcanoes such as Popocatépetl, Iztaccíhuatl, and the Pico de Orizaba. A tireless traveler, Dr. Atl climbed Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. Later those volcanoes became an important theme in his body of work.

In 1943, he visited the site of Mexico's newborn volcano Paricutín in the state of Michoacán. He said, “…El espectáculo del cono ardiente vertiendo aludes de materia ígnea, bajo un cielo de guijarros incandescentes, en sí mismo tan fuera de lo común que toda invención sale sobrando…” 'The spectacle of the burning cone spewing avalanches of lava under a sky of incandescent ash was by itself so far out of the ordinary that every other invention became like something left over…'

Volcán en la Noche Estrellada (Volcano on a Starry Night), 1950 (Paricutín). Atl color on plywood. Collection UNAM. Dr. Atl was the first artist to paint what he called 'aeropaisajes' (landscapes from the air); he took to the skies in small airplanes, flying over various volcano sites to immortalize them from above.

Life imitates art. April 16, 2012 photo of volcano Popocatépetl spewing flame, ash, and smoke. Popocatépetl straddles the state line between the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos, approximately 40 miles south of Mexico City. Photo courtesy Todo Oaxaca.

Dr. Atl, astonished and awed to see a volcano born in his lifetime, lived for approximately a year near still-erupting Paricutín. He observed, painted, and wrote for more than seven years about this majestic and completely unexpected young volcano. The volcano continued to erupt for nine full years.

Cráter y La Vía Láctea (Crater and the Milky Way), 1960. Oil and Atl color on masonite. Private collection, courtesy of Galería Arvil.

Detail, Cráter y La Vía Láctea.

For his entire life, Dr. Atl involved himself in left-wing political movements. In 1914, he allegedly was part of the plot to assassinate then-President Victoriano Huerta, because of which he was imprisoned briefly. After his release, he lived in Los Angeles, California until 1920. When he returned to Mexico, revolutionary leader and President Venustiano Carranza named him director of the Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts) and then Jefe de Propaganda e Información en Europa y América del Sur (Head of Promotion and Information in Europe and South America), a position he held for only a short time.

In 1956 Mexico awarded him the Medalla Belisario Domínguez and, in 1958, the Premio Nacional de las Artes.

Gerardo Murillo Pintando en el Valle de Pihuamo (Gerardo Murillo painting in the Valley of Pihuamo), 1952. Photo by Ricardo Salazar. Dr. Atl's right leg was amputated in 1949. Popular legend has it that the amputation was due to the inhalation of gases at Paricutín, but it was actually necessary because of complications of diabetes.

Mexico gave poet Carlos Pellicer the task of writing Dr. Atl's biography. Dr. Atl wrote to him, "Now it looks like a biography will really get off the ground! A couple, nearly human, came from Los Angeles as if they had fallen from heaven, to write a biography of me. Then I remembered that you were writing one. To make a long story short, I make the following proposal: you finish the biography that you already started. I enclose a slip of paper with some suggestions for organizing it in the most convenient way…I send you the most cordial handshake…" Some of the biographical material was printed in Carlos Pellicer en el Espacio de la Plástica, Volume 1, by Elisa Garcìa Barragán and Carlos Pellicer, UNAM 1997.

Dr. Atl died in Mexico City on August 15, 1964. His ashes are buried in the Rotonda de Jalisciences Ilustres in Guadalajara, where this statue is part of the site. Photo courtesy Rodrigo_gh, Flickr.

The five-month exhibition was an opportunity to see, through the eyes of this genius painter, the Valley of Mexico before Mexico City's explosion of population with its lava-like rivers of concrete swallowed nature whole. We had the chance to see the Valley and its volcanos when they ran with rivers, when the mountains burgeoned with trees and flowers.

Today, even though the exhibition has closed, we can see Dr. Atl's vision of the Valley of Mexico every time we visit the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City's Historic Center. His design, executed by the house of Louis Comfort Tiffany, is immortalized in the theater's million-piece stained glass curtain.

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8 de February de 2020
The Baby Jesus on Candlemas Day :: El Niño Dios en el Día de la Candelaria

Niños Dios: one Christ Child, many colors: ideal for Mexico's range of skin tones. Mercado Medellín, Colonia Roma, Mexico City, December 2013.

For about a month prior to Christmas each year, the Niño Dios (baby Jesus) is for sale everywhere in Mexico. Mexico Cooks! took this photograph in 2013 at the annual tianguis navideño (Christmas market) in front of the Mercado Medellín, Colonia Roma, Mexico City. These Niños Dios range in size from just a few inches long to nearly the size of a two-year-old child. They're sold wrapped in only a diaper–and a molded-to-the-body diaper, no less.

When does the Christmas season end in your family? When I was a child, my parents packed the Christmas decorations away on January 1, New Year's Day. Today, I like to enjoy the nacimiento (manger scene), the Christmas lights, and the tree until the seventh or eighth of January, right after the Día de los Reyes Magos (the Feast of the Three Kings). Some think that date is scandalously late. Other people, particularly our many Mexican friends, think that date is scandalously early. Christmas in Mexico isn't over until February 2, el Día de la Candelaria (Candlemas Day), also known as the Feast of the Presentation.

The Holy Family, a shepherd and some of his goats, Our Lady of Guadalupe, an angel, a little French santon cat from Provence, and some indigenous people form a small portion of the 250 plus-piece Mexico Cooks! nacimiento. Click on the photo to get a better look. Note that the Virgin Mary is breast feeding the infant Jesus while St. Joseph looks on.

Although Mexico's 21st century Christmas celebration often includes Santa Claus and a Christmas tree, the main focus of a home-style Christmas continues to be the nacimiento and the Christian Christmas story. A family's nacimiento may well contain hundreds–even thousands–of figures, but all nacimientos have as their heart and soul the Holy Family (the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and the baby Jesus). This centerpiece of the nacimiento is known as el Misterio (the Mystery). The nacimiento is set up early–in 2013, ours was out at the very beginning of December–but the Niño Dios does not make his appearance until the night of December 24, when he is sung to and placed in the manger.

Niños Dios at Mexico City's Mercado de la Merced. The figures are dressed as hundreds of different saints and representations of holy people and ideas. The figures are for sale, but most people are only shopping for new clothes for their baby Jesus. All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! except as noted.

Between December 24, when he is tenderly rocked to sleep and laid in the manger, and February 2, the Niño Dios rests happily in the bosom of his Holy Family. As living members of his family, we are charged with his care. As February approaches, a certain excitement begins to bubble to the surface. The Niño Dios needs new clothing! How shall we dress him this year?

The oldest tradition is to dress the Niño Dios in hand-crocheted garments. Photo courtesy Manos Mexicanos.

According to Christian teaching (and Jewish tradition), the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph took the baby Jesus to the synagogue 40 days after his birth to introduce him in the temple–hence February 2 is also known as the Feast of the Presentation. What happy, proud mother would wrap her newborn in just any old thing to take him to church for the first time? I suspect that this brand new holy child was dressed as much to the nines as his parents could afford.

The Niño Dios dressed as San Juan Diego, the indigenous man who brought Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Roman Catholic Church.

Every February 2, churches are packed with men, women, and families carrying their Niños Dios to church in his new clothes, ready to be blessed, lulled to sleep with a sweet lullaby, and tucked gently away till next year.

The Niño Dios as el Santo Niño Doctor de los Enfermos (the holy child doctor of the sick). He has his stethoscope, his uniform, and his doctor's bag. This traditionally dressed baby Jesus has origins in mid-20th century in the city of Puebla.

Every year new and different clothing for the Niño Dios comes to market. In recent years, the latest fashions were those of the Archangels–in this case, the Archangel Gabriel.

The Niño Dios dressed as Peruvian San Martín de Porres, the patron saint of racially mixed people and all those seeking interracial harmony.

Niño Dios de la Eucaristía (Holy Child of the Eucharist).

Niño Dios dressed as San Benito, the founder of the Benedictine Order.

Niño Dios dressed as a Chinelo (costumed dancer from the state of Morelos).

Niño Dios de la Abundancia (Holy Child of Abundance).

The ceremony of removing the baby Jesus from the nacimiento is called the levantamiento (lifting up). In a family ceremony, the baby is raised from his manger, gently dusted off, and dressed in his new finery. Some families sing:

QUIERES QUE TE QUITE MI BIEN DE LAS PAJAS, (Do you want me to brush off all the straw, my beloved)
QUIERES QUE TE ADOREN TODOS LOS PASTORES, (Do you want all the shepherds to adore you?)
QUIERES QUE TE COJA EN MIS BRAZOS Y CANTE (Do you want me to hold you in my arms and sing)
GLORIA A DIOS EN LAS ALTURAS. (Glory to God on high).

One of the most popular 'looks' for the Niño Dios in Mexico City is that of San Judas Tadeo, the patron saint of impossible causes. He is always dressed in green, white, and gold and has a flame coming from his head.

Carefully, carefully carry the Niño Dios to the parish church, where the priest will bless him and his new clothing, along with you and your family. After Mass, take the baby Jesus home and put him safely to rest till next year's Christmas season. Sweet dreams of his next outfit will fill your own head as you sleep that night.

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1 de February de 2020
Morelia, Michoacán, and Its Sweet History :: Museo del Dulce De La Calle Real

Lilia Facio Hernández offers us one of the 30+ gorgeous varieties of cakes made at the Museo del Dulce de la Calle Real (the Royal Road Candy Museum). Buy as little as a slice to indulge yourself, or purchase as much as an entire cake for a party dessert. Each cake is more beautiful than the next and each one has a name from Mexico's history. This one is the Iturbide, named for General Agustín Iturbide, hero of Mexico's 1810 War of Independence and designer of Mexico's first flag.

Mexico Cooks! has had some very sweet interviews, but none has been sweeter than the time spent several years ago with Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, owner of Morelia's Museo del Dulce (candy museum). Imagine spending several hours in a 19th Century Morelia mansion presently converted into a real-life version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory! Delicious aromas of melting sugar constantly waft through the air, sepia-tone photographs carry us back to earlier times in Morelia, and charmingly attractive employees treat each customer like visiting royalty.

Walking into the Museo del Dulce's retail chocolate and cake shop is a voyage to the Porfiriato (the era of Porfirio Díaz), a trip to the late 19th century.

De la Calle Real, the candy-making firm that's part of the Museo del Dulce, has been in constant business since 1840. This oldest family of candy makers in Morelia prides itself on the continuity of its passion for the sweet life. Family recipes, hand-written in spidery script on yellowing pages, family photographs dating over the last two centuries, and the importance of family heritage glow in every corner of the building that was at one time the Torres home. Every corner of the many rooms of the house, now converted to a museum and retail shop, breathes history and love of Mexico.

An old wooden carreta (cart) parked in one of the museum patios looks like it's just waiting to be hitched up to a team of draft animals.

The original De la Calle Real candy shop was located in Morelia's portales (arched, covered walkways) on Avenida Madero, across from the Cathedral. Later, the shop moved to its current spot–still on Avenida Madero, just a few blocks to the east. Now, De la Calle Real has locations in Morelia's upscale Plaza Fiesta Camelinas, in Mexico City's traditional neighborhood Coyoacán, and in both Sanborns and Palacio de Hierro, two of Mexico's swankiest department stores.

One room of the museum is set up with machinery used in the 1940s, when the family candy business was only 100 years old! This beautiful hand-made copper pot has a double bottom, like a bain-marie, to keep the cooking candy from burning.

Not only does the company continue to produce candy from old family recipes, Arq. Torres also prides himself on participating in the rescue of recipes dating back as far as pre-Colonial days. Sweets composed of native fruits and vegetables were made with honey until the Spanish brought sugar cane to the New World. Chocolate, native to Mexico, was consumed only by the indigenous nobility as an unsweetened cold drink–served either as bitter chocolate or flavored with chile–prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

Decorated like a convent shop, this museum and sales room carry us back to the time when fine candies were made in Morelia by cloistered Dominican nuns. Click on the picture to enlarge any photo.

In the demonstration kitchen, Mexico Cooks! watched as the cook combined equal parts fresh membrillo (quince) pulp and cane sugar in a copper pot. She was preparing ate de membrillo (quince candy somewhat like fruit leather). When the mixture formed una cortina (a curtain) without dripping as the wooden spoon was lifted from the pot, the ate was at its point of perfection. Everyone watching the demonstration got a small cup of freshly-made ate to taste.

It's an easy walk from the Centro Histórico (Morelia's historic center) to the Museo del Dulce, but why not take the little tourist trolley instead? Hop on in front of the Cathedral (buy tickets at the Department of Tourism kiosk in the Plaza de Armas, just to the right of the Cathedral). The trolley will take you from there to some of the most important historic sites in Morelia, including the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the Conservatorio de las Rosas (the oldest music conservatory in the New World) and the lovely Templo de las Rosas (Church of St. Rose of Lima, originally the home of Morelia's 16th Century Dominican nuns), and the Museo del Dulce. The trolley trip, which lasts slightly over an hour, gives the tourist plenty of time to enjoy all of these Morelia traditions.

Dulces de la Calle Real (the candy maker's brand name) prepared specialty ates de membrillo in molds which were carved for the 200th anniversary of Mexico and which create the embossed images of some of Morelia's historic landmarks: (from left) Las Tarascas fountain, the 18th Century aqueduct, and the Cathedral.

The candy maker prepares and packages small gourmet ates made of strawberry, pineapple, blackberry, and other fruits that are little-used in this presentation. Each box tells a story, each ate is perfectly molded.

For special culinary events, the museum occasionally re-creates antique recipes, some of which date to Mexico's colonial days. This just-made historic ate contains chayote (vegetable pear, or mirleton) and fresh fig leaves.

An excellent video, shown for everyone visiting the Museo del Dulce, tracks the history of candy making in Morelia. Long known for ates and laminillas (fruit leathers), Morelia developed another culture of candies during the Porfiriato, the long presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1875-1910). During those 35 years, the influence of everything French invaded Mexico and colored the fashion of Mexico's upper-class society. French-style sweets became all the rage, and Morelia never lagged in preparing candies and cakes to meet the demand. Today, Porfiriato-style cakes, beautiful to see and delicious to taste, are made and sold by De la Calle Real. You can sit for a while in the cozy elegance of the Café del Patio de Atrás (the Back Patio) coffee shop and choose from a menu of more than 30 different cakes, house-made Mexican hot chocolate, delicious fresh-made ice creams, and a mind-boggling selection of other delights from the Museo del Dulce's menu.

The candy maker created beautiful embossed jamoncillo (milk candy similar to penuche) ovals to honor Mexico's 2010 Bicentennial. Each one carries the image of a hero of Mexico's independence. These candies represent Miguel Hidalgo, father of the Independence. The candy molds are hand-carved by a museum employee.

There's a room of the store where you can dress up in Victorian-era clothing–from elegant feathered hats to fancy silk dresses, from black top hats to cutaway suits–and a shop employee will take your picture. A Mexico Cooks! tour client in Morelia was so overwhelmed by seeing his wife and daughters dressed in such elegant clothing that he burst into tears. "They've never looked so beautiful!" What a terrific souvenir!

In part of the retail shop, lines of baskets hold individual candies for instant gratification of your sweet tooth–or to pack easily into your suitcase to carry home as gifts. These tissue-paper-wrapped candies are similar to jamoncillo.

Another entire room of the store is just stuffed with a variety of small toys, perfect for an inexpensive souvenir from Morelia. Inexpensive and easy to pack, they're exactly right for the child in all of us. These are baleros. The idea is to hold the long handle in your fist (with the cup on top) and catch the small wooden ball. It looks easy to accomplish–but it's quite a challenge!

Nuns originated Mexico's famously delicious rompope (a kind of eggnog). You'll find it in several flavors and bottles ranging from small to large, all made by the artisan candy makers at Dulces de la Calle Real.

Absolutely everything about the Museo del Dulce and De la Calle Real is devoted to reverence for the past, passion for perfection in the present, and devotion to the future preservation of Mexico's traditions. Every product and its packaging, designed and developed by Arq. Torres, is an homage to Mexico. Each candy box incorporates an old photo and a paragraph-long history lesson, with the treat you purchased as your sweet reward for learning.

Elia Ramírez Ramírez is packing small sweet treasures in Mexican pottery containers. The packaged candies are destined for the retail store. All employees who work directly with the public wear 19th Century costumes.

As Arq. Torres said during our time together, "We are the in-between generation. We still remember mothers and grandmothers who made candy at home. We still hold that tradition in our hearts. It's up to us to keep those memories alive, to pass them to our children and help them pass the traditions to the generations that follow. Otherwise, we will forget everything that truly makes us who we are."

Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, the delightful gentleman who runs this sweet business with passionate care, comes from a long line of candy makers. He showed Mexico Cooks! lovely old photos of his mother, his grandmother, and his great-grandmother–candy makers one and all.

Whether you are a fan of jamoncillo, ate, chocolate, rompope or another traditional Mexican sweet, you will be as thrilled as Mexico Cooks! was with everything about the Museo del Dulce and De la Calle Real. If De la Calle Real is your first experience of heavenly Mexican candy, it will spoil you for every other kind.

Come to visit, stay to give in to temptation! Employees at the Dulces de la Calle Real Museo del Dulce will be glad to help you find the perfect house-made candy for yourself, your relatives, and your friends.

De la Calle Real Museo del Dulce
Av. Madero #440
Colonia Centro
Morelia, Michoacán, México
443.312.8157

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25 de January de 2020
Cocido :: Home Made Beef and Vegetable soup, Also Known As Caldo de Res

A big pot of cocido, simmering last week in my kitchen.

Nearly 40 years ago, long before the website Mexico Cooks! was a possibility–when I was just beginning to learn Spanish and some simple things about the totally-new-to-me Mexican kitchen, I would occasionally hear the word cocido from friends in Tijuana. I looked it up in my dictionary. I learned that cocido was the past participle for the verb cocer, to cook, or to boil. The dictionary gave this example: "Estoy a dieta, solo puedo comer pollo cocido." (I'm on a diet, I can only eat cooked [boiled] chicken.) OK! That was easy. But no, cocido isn't chicken. Back to the drawing board. For literally years I thought that cocido was a mystery dish that I would never see, understand, or taste.

About 20 years ago, I was looking at a homestyle restaurant menu and the lightbulb finally went on in my brain. I asked the waiter for a bowl of caldo de res (beef and vegetable soup), and he nodded as he wrote the order–and said, "Cocido para usted, señora." Wait! What? He smiled and said, Sí, cocido. O como dijo usted, caldo de res." ('Yes, 'cocido', or as you said,)–well, you get it.) Like many things in Spanish, there is an example of their being more than one word for the same thing. Cultural literacy is learning what is colloquially used as a name for something that also has a more formal name.

Now that I knew what cocido is, I found someone to teach me how to make it, and today–if you don't know how already–I'm going to teach you. It's the simplest thing in the world, very healthy, and truly a Mexican home staple. An all-but-boiling bowlful is just the ticket for a warming meal in the winter.

Cocido (Caldo de Res) from Michoacán

Ingredients
1/2 medium white onion
1 large clove garlic
1 medium bay leaf
2-3 Tbsp sea salt
4-5 liters cold water
1 kilo (2.2 pounds) bone-in chambarete (beef shank), cut across the bone
.5 kilo (1 pound) bone-in retazo de res (meaty beef trimmings)

3 or 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
3 or 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks or thick slices
1 middle-size chayote, cut into eighths, seed and all
1 small chile serrano, slit from tip almost to the stem end
4 small calabacitas (or zucchini), cut into thick slices
A quarter kilo (half pound) white cabbage, coarsely cut into chunks
A good-size fistful of cilantro, stems and all
2 or 3 ears of fresh corn, each ear cut into thirds (optional)

To season the broth
3 or 4 red, ripe Roma tomatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 white onion, cut into chunks
1 small chile serrano (optional)
2 cups cold water

Special equipment
A lidded pot that will hold approximately 14 liters
Long wooden spoon

Bring 4 or 5 liters water, the half onion, the garlic clove, the salt, and the bay leaf to a boil.

The beef shanks and trimmings, rinsed, patted dry, and ready to go in the pot.

One piece at a time, quickly add the beef to the boiling water. In just a minute or two, the beef will take on a deep brown color.

Carrots and calabacita (zucchini), ready to go in the pot.

The other half of the chayote needs to be chopped. When you're ready to chop the chayote, try to pierce the skin with your fingernail. If it pierces easily, there's no need to peel the chayote, just chop it skin and all. The seed is flat, round, white and soft. The whitest part of the already cut chayote in the photograph is the seed–your knife will slide right through it, no need to remove it and cut it separately.

Coarsely chop the white cabbage.

Peel and cut up the potatoes. These are the standard white potato in Mexico: the papa Alfa. I started with three and added another. You can use a different kind of potato: russet, Yukon Gold, whatever potato you prefer will be delicious.

For the tomato seasoning for the broth: put the coarsely chopped tomato, the 1/4 onion, a clove of garlic, and the chile serrano (if you're using it) into your blender. Add the 2 cups water. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour this mixture into the boiling pot.

Add all of the vegetables, including the cilantro, to the pot. Allow the pot to return just to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer and cover, leaving the cover slightly ajar. After 15 minutes cooking, stir the pot–the vegetables will have softened enough to be completely under water. Simmer for approximately 45 minutes.

Correct the salt.

Freshly patted tortillas, toasting on a clay comal (griddle). They're supposed to inflate as they toast!

An all-but-overflowing bowlful of cocido. The house smelled delicious as it cooked, and the cocido itself was wonderful. And there's plenty left for the next few tomorrows!

Serve with hot tortillas, with corn tostadas, or with toasted bolillos (white flour, super-dense Mexican rolls).

Serves 4 to 6 as a main dish.

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18 de January de 2020
Mexican Traditions from January 6, the Feast of the Three Kings to February 2, La Candelaria: The End of the Christmas Season

Most Mexicans eat traditional rosca de reyes (Three Kings' Bread) on January 6. Its usual accompaniment is chocolate caliente (hot chocolate), often made in the pre-Hispanic way–with boiling water, not milk. If you've ever wondered about the title of Laura Esquivel's book Like Water for Chocolate, this is the 'why' of the title.

The delightful Laura Esquivel with Mexico Cooks!, several years ago at a Mexico City museum opening.

The Día de los Reyes Magos (the celebratory Day of the Three Kings) falls on January 6 each year. You might know the Christian feast day as Epiphany or as Little Christmas. The festivities celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings at Bethlehem to visit the newborn Baby Jesus. In Mexico and some other cultures, children receive gifts not on Christmas, but on the Feast of the Three Kings: The Kings, not Santa Claus or even the Niño Dios (Baby Jesus) are the gift-givers, because legend tells us that they were the givers of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh that they carried to the Baby Jesus. Many, many children in Mexico still receive special gifts of toys from the Reyes (Kings) on January 6.

Typically, Mexican families celebrate the festival with a rosca de reyes (Three Kings' Bread). The size of the family's rosca varies according to the size of the family, but everybody gets a slice, from the littlest toddler to great-grandpa. Accompanied by a cup of chocolate caliente (hot chocolate), it's a great winter treat.

Here's a delicious-looking rosca on the table at home.

A few years ago, a chef friend explained a little about the significance of the rosca. He mused, "The rosca de reyes represents a crown; the colorful fruits simulate the jewels which covered the crowns of the Holy Kings. The Kings themselves signify peace, love, and happiness. The Niño Dios hidden in the rosca reminds us of the moment when Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary hid the Baby Jesus in order to save him from King Herod, who wanted to kill him. The three gifts that the Kings gave to the Niño Dios represent the Kings (gold), God (frankincense), and man (myrrh).

"In Mexico, we consider that an oval or ring shape represents the movement of the sun and that the Niño Dios represents the Child Jesus in his apparition as the Sun God. Others mention that the circular or oval form of the Rosca de Reyes, which has no beginning and no end, is a representation of heaven–which of course is the home of the Niño Dios."

On January 4, 2019, the government of Soledad, San Luis Potosí, served an enormous rosca de reyes monumental, prepared jointly by bakeries from everywhere in the city.

In many places in Mexico, including Morelia, Michoacán, bakers prepare an annual monumental rosca for the whole city to share. The rosca prepared just a year ago in Morelia contained nearly 3000 pounds of flour, 1500 pounds of margarine, 10,500 eggs, 150 liters of milk, 35 pounds of yeast, 35 pounds of salt, 225 pounds of butter, 2000 pounds of dried fruits, and 90 pounds of candied orange peel. The completed cake, if stretched out straight, measured almost two kilometers in length! Baked in sections, the gigantic rosca was the collaborative effort of ten bakeries in the city. The city government as well as grocery wholesalers join together to see to it that the tradition of the rosca continues to be a vibrant custom.

The plastic Niño Dios (Baby Jesus) baked into our rosca a few years ago measured less than 2" tall. The figures used to be made of porcelain, but now they are generally made of plastic. See the dent from a bite on the Niño's head? Mexico Cooks! is the culprit. Every rosca de reyes baked in Mexico contains at least one Niño Dios; larger roscas can hold two, three, or more. Morelia's giant rosca normally contains 10,000 of these tiny figures.

Tradition demands that the person who finds the Niño in his or her slice of rosca is required to give a party on February 2, el Día de La Candelaria (Candlemas Day). The party for La Candelaria calls for tamales, more tamales, and their traditional companion, a rich atole flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, or chocolate. Several years ago, an old friend, in the throes of a family economic downturn, was a guest at his relatives' Three Kings party. He bit into the niño buried in his slice of rosca. Embarrassed that he couldn't shoulder the expense of the following month's Candelaria party, he gulped–literally–and swallowed the Niño.

El Día de La Candelaria celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the Jewish temple, forty days after his birth. The traditions of La Candelaria encompass religious rituals of ancient Jews, of pre-hispanic rites indigenous to Mexico, of the Christian evangelization brought to Mexico by the Spanish, and of modern-day Catholicism.

In Mexico, you'll find a Niño Dios of any size for your home nacimiento (nativity scene). Traditionally, the Niño Dios is passed down, along with his wardrobe of special clothing, from generation to generation in a single family.

Mexico Cooks!' Niño Dios.

The presentation of the child Jesus to the church is enormously important in Mexican Catholic life. February 2 marks the official end of the Christmas season, the day to put away the last of the holiday decorations. On February 2, the figure of Jesus is gently lifted from the home nacimiento (manger scene, or creche). His owners dress him in new clothing and gently carry him to the church, where he receives blessings and prayers. He is then carried home and rocked to sleep with tender lullabies, and is carefully seated in his very own throne or put away until the following year.

The Niño Dios Doctor from Puebla.

The Niño Dios dressed as a PEMEX employee–PEMEX is the monolithic petroleum company of Mexico. I took this picture while stopped for a fill-up during a trip to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the southernmost part of Mexico.

Each family dresses its Niño Dios according to its personal beliefs and traditions. Some figures are dressed in clothing representing a Catholic saint particularly venerated in a family; others are dressed in the clothing typically worn by the patron saints of different Mexican states. Some favorites are the Santo Niño de Atocha, venerated especially in Zacatecas; the Niño de Salud (Michoacán), the Santo Niño Doctor (Puebla), and, in Xochimilco (suburban Mexico City), the Niñopan (alternately spelled Niñopa or Niño-Pa).

This Xochimilco arch and the highly decorated street welcome the much-loved Niñopa figure.

The veneration of Xochimilco's beloved Niñopan follows centuries-old traditions. The figure has a different mayordomo every year; the mayordomo is the person in whose house the baby sleeps every night. Although the Niñopan (his name is a contraction of the words Niño Padre or Niño Patrón) travels from house to house, visiting his chosen hosts, he always returns to the mayordomo's house to spend the night. One resident put it this way: "When the day is beautiful and it's really hot, we take him out on the canals. In his special chalupita (little boat), he floats around all the chinampas (floating islands), wearing his little straw hat so that the heat won't bother him. Then we take him back to his mayordomo, who dresses our Niñopan in his little pajamas, sings him a lullaby, and puts him to sleep, saying, 'Get in your little bed, it's sleepy time!" Even though the Niñopan is always put properly to bed, folks in Xochimilco believe that he sneaks out of bed to play with his toys in the wee hours of the night.

Trajineras (decorated boats) ready to receive tourists line the canals in Xochimilco. The best days of the week to go to Xochimilco are Saturdays and Sundays, when boating on the canals is a constant party.

Although he is venerated in many Xochimilco houses during the course of every year, the Niñopan's major feast day is January 6. The annual celebration takes place in Xochimilco's church of St. Bernard of Sienna. On the feast of the Candelaria, fireworks, music, and dancers accompany the Niñopan as he processes through the streets of Xochimilco on his way to his presentation in the church.

Gloria in Xochimilco with Niñopan, April 2008. Photo courtesy Colibrí.

Blue papel picado (cut paper decoration) floating in the deep-blue Xochimilco sky wishes the Niñopan welcome and wishes all of us Feliz Navidad.

El Día de La Candelaria means a joyful party with lots of tamales, coupled with devotion to the Niño Dios. For more about a tamalada (tamales-making party), be sure to read all about it in late January, right here on Mexico Cooks!.

From the rosca de reyes on January 6 to the tamales on February 2, the old traditions continue in Mexico's 21st Century.

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4 de January de 2020
Mexico’s New Year Rituals Explained :: We Recommend Taking Your Suitcase for a Walk

In Mexico and other Latin American countries, women wear new yellow underwear on New Year's Eve to bring good luck and wealth in the year to come. Red underwear (this vendor has every size for sale on the tables behind her) indicates a New Year's wish for an exciting love interest! Just remember that whatever color underwear you choose, it 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 customary to eat twelve grapes–one at each ding, one at each dong of the clock. 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 inside of 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 sheep as a New Year's gift–it too is a symbol of abundance! Why? In Mexico, a slang word for "money" is lana–that means wool, in English. And what's a sheep covered with? Lana–wool–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 long, 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 the stroke of midnight 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 whether you're an hombre or mujer, 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 2020!

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28 de December de 2019