Category: Museums

Looking Back Through 2016, Part Two :: Una Mirada Hacia Atras 2016, Segunda Parte

Ceremonial tortillas from the state of Guanajuato, made only in the Otomí communities of that state as food for certain ritual occasions. These were served at Restaurante Azul Condesa during July 2016, when Guanajuato's cuisine was featured for the month at the restaurant. They became so deservedly popular that the restaurant has continued to offer them. The tortillas, made of nixtamalized corn masa (dough), are shaped, pressed, and cooked on one side on a comal (griddle). They are then flipped and stamped with a hand-carved wooden stamp that has been dipped in muicle, a liquid vegetable dye made from a wild plant.

In mid-July, it was my tremendous honor to host an evening in honor of Zarela Martínez (seated, center), who in 1987 opened Zarela, a Mexican restaurant that is credited as being a pioneer of regional Mexican cuisine in New York City. She is the author of several wonderful cookbooks, including Food from My Heart: Cuisines of Mexico Remembered and Reimagined (1995) (nominated for Best International Cookbook of the Year, James Beard Foundation); The Food and Life of Oaxaca: Traditional Recipes from Mexico's Heart (1997); and Zarela's Veracruz (2001). Some of the guests surrounding Zarela are: (seated) Celia Marín Chiunti and Rosa María Villareal; (standing from left) Rafael Mier, Marisa Zannie, Pedro Luis de Aguinaga, Mexico Cooks!, and Sonia Ortiz.

As a frequent visitor to a local tiradero (slang for flea market–literally, garbage dump), Mexico Cooks! has bought many wonderful old things for decorating the home place. This is not one of them. In August, a friend asked me to photograph this tableau of a javalí (wild boar) and rattlesnake for her nephew, a fan of taxidermy. One can buy anything from a silver ring to–well, a stuffed javalí–at this flea market.

I often go out looking for interesting graffiti, and almost always find something fun. This cat face, stenciled onto a wall close to my home, looks very much like Risa, my tortoiseshell kitten.

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An event in Mexico City at the end of August brought several cocineras tradicionales (traditional cooks) to visit from Michoacán. This woman spent most of the day pat-pat-patting truly hand-made tortillas to serve to the public along with home-style food. The gentle rhythm of her hands against the masa (corn dough) coupled with the laughter of other cooks made me feel like I was home again in Michoacán. Listen as she pats out the tortilla; imagine the smell of woodsmoke. Both are still iconic to rural Mexico.

This hard-working market bag advertises a butcher shop in Tehuacán, Puebla. No recap of the year 2016 could be complete without at least one mention of the life-changing weekend I spent in this south-central part of Mexico. Remember the Mexico Cooks! article about the cave where…well, re-read it here: Corn, An Ancient Gift from Mexico to Feed the World. Chills still run up the back of my neck when I think about gazing into this small hollow space, a shelter in the mountain.

Early September took us to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace) in downtown Mexico City. The traditional music group Los Folkloristas celebrated its 50th anniversary here. A good friend is a member of the group and made certain that another friend and I had great seats, a couple of levels below the glorious stained-glass dome.

Sometimes a person can't help being ecstatic. Meeting Laura Esquivel (author of the extraordinary and ground-breaking Like Water for Chocolate, among other wonderful books) near the end of September was a real highlight of my year. She was part of the press conference for the MODO exhibition Del Plato a la Boca–the beautifully curated, kitchen-oriented show will be at the museum through February 2017. Don't miss it.

Mid-October took me to Toluca, in the State of Mexico, to see the Cosmovitral. The Cosmovitral is a beautiful stained glass-enclosed botanical garden. The group Aztec Explorers, which organizes mostly day tours for people new to Mexico City or the surrounding area, invited me to come along to see the kind of work they do. The tour company advertises primarily to people who live in or near Mexico City and want to make friends with others while enjoying an overview of sites they've heard about and want to see. If this sounds like a day that suits your style, you'll enjoy the inexpensive tours that Lilia and Peter give. By all means tell them Mexico Cooks! sent you.

Remember the gorgeous October 15, 2016 super moon? I took this shot with my cellular phone, from my bathroom window! Moon over Mexico City, a lucky shot indeed.

For November 2, Día de Los Muertos, Mexico Cooks! took a small group of tourists to that flea market I mentioned above–no taxidermy this time, though. Alfredo Vilchis Roque, who is proclaimed as "the Da Vinci of the market", built an altar for Day of the Dead 2016. Click on any of the photographs for a larger view. Sr. Vilchis, whose work has been exhibited at the Louvre and is sold at a Paris gallery (among others), was generous enough to point out several fascinating aspects to the altar. Look, for example, just at knee level and in front of him: there's a tribute to Juan Gabriel, Mexico's world-famous singer and idol, who died on August 28, 2016.

November 17, 2016, marked the launch of a program called Salvemos el Maíz Palomero de México (Let's Save Mexican Popcorn). Part of the project for the preservation of Mexico's native corns in general as well as for the preservation of the tortilla made of nixtamalized corn, the popcorn event was particularly designed to bring the near-extinction of Mexico's original corn to the attention of the press. It was a tremendous success; even Aristegui Noticias, the foremost news in Mexico shown on CÑÑ (CNN in Spanish), picked up the story and broadcast it to the Spanish-speaking world. You'll be reading a lot more about this multi-faceted project in the weeks and months to come, right here at Mexico Cooks!.

Whatever your faith, may the New Year bless you with abundance in all things, especially joy and peace. From our house to yours, we wish you a blessed 2017.

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

14 de January de 2017
Looking Back Through 2016 :: Una Mirada Hacia Atras 2016

One of Mexico Cooks!’ first restaurant breakfasts of the New Year was at Lalo, where I ate these delicious huevos a la florentina (eggs with spinach) served on an English muffin and quite simply fabulous. This was the first of 2016’s wonderful breakfasts at Lalo, but there were many to follow.

In February, 2016, Mexico Cooks! was inundated with numerous wonderful tours going all over Mexico, from home base in Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende, to Oaxaca, to part of the State of Jalisco, and ending in March in rural Michoacán. This year, let me know where in Mexico YOU’D like to go–starting now, we’ve added parts of eastern Veracruz to your choices! This particular market stall, with its papel maché piggy mariachi, is a favorite joyous site along on of my tour routes.

I thought this little guy would be scared in the market’s meat aisles–instead, he fell in love with a pig head! Two seconds after I snapped this picture, he leaned over and kissed its snout.

Tours with Mexico Cooks! aren’t entirely about pig heads. In March 2016, we were with a group in San Miguel de Allende, visiting this extraordinary and very upscale shopping venue for home and garden decor. The goods are pricey, but if your wallet can stand it, you’ll be carrying beautiful items back to your home.

During a week-long tour to Oaxaca, our group breakfasted on typical pan de yema (egg yolk bread) and bubbly Oaxacan hot chocolate, made with water in the traditional way.

While in Oaxaca, we learned to make Oaxaca-style mole verde (green mole), among other dishes, in the most generous, love-filled, best cooking class ever. This simple dish, rich with flavor, is now a staple on Mexico Cooks!’ table at home. If you’d like to take this class, let me know and we’ll schedule a tour in Oaxaca.

Another fantastic meal in Oaxaca included this gorgeous salsa, made in part with freshly roasted tomate verde (tomatillo, in English) and roasted tiny heirloom tomatoes. It looks good and it is way better than good. The photo makes me want to be there now.

Later in the spring, Mexico Cooks! toured with another group in rural Michoacán. One of the highlights of the trip was a comida (Mexico’s main meal of the day) at the home of cocinera tradicional (traditional cook) Rosalba Morales. Rosy holds a bowl of charales (tiny lake fish) that she prepares according to her grandmother’s recipe.

In May, Mexico Cooks! took the opportunity to take two groups of visitors to an exhibition titled Indumentaria y moda en México, 1940 – 2015, sponsored by Fomento Cultural Banamex, A.C. This stunning show of hand-made indigenous dress plus Mexican high fashion, accented by paintings of the period, was mounted by the extraordinary curator Ana Elena Mallet and her team. The pictured Tzotzil clothing from the mid-1930s, from a private collection, was hand spun, hand woven and hand sewn in Magdalenas, Chiapas.

This is a giant tamal called a zacahuil. I was fortunate to eat a portion of it in June 2016. The zacahuil, which in this case measured almost 1.5 meters in length, is made in many parts of Mexico. This one, from the part of Mexico called la huasteca potosina, (where the ancient Huastec indigenous people lived in the western part of the state of San Luis Potosí), is wrapped in papatla leaves and contains very coarsely-ground (quebrada) masa de maíz nixtamalizado (nixtamal-ized corn dough) that is patted out along the leaf. The women lay an entire butchered pig on the masa; the pig is then filled with whole raw chickens which are slathered with salsa, and the belly opening of the pig is closed. The meat, wrapped in the leaves, is roasted directly on the red-hot coals in a clay oven. The roasting takes approximately 10 to 14 hours. Normally the zacahuil shines as the star of any wedding, baptism, quinceañera (a girl’s 15th birthday party), or any important feast. Believe me, it was jaw-dropping to see and jaw-dropping to eat.

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This marvelous Spanish-language video shows the complete process of making the zacahuil from the Huasteca potosina. Even if you don’t understand Spanish, you’ll LOVE seeing the preparation of the giant tamal. If you are ever invited to eat a portion of a zachuil, be sure to say yes, thank you!

Next week, Mexico Cooks! invites you to come with us as we travel through the second half of 2016.

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

7 de January de 2017
Dr. Atl, Volcanos and Politics: A Painter’s Eye, A Painter’s Passion

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

Gerardo Murillo was born in 1895 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 brushstroke 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 1942, 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 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.

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.

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

19 de November de 2016
Del Plato a La Boca at MODO, Mexico City’s Brilliant Museo del Objeto del Objeto

MODO: the Museo del Objeto del Objeto (Museum of the Object of the Object), on the lovely corner of Calle Colima and Calle Córdoba, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. The museum has no permanent exhibits; each temporary exhibit is normally on display for several months. Photo courtesy Animal Gourmet.

One might think "Museo del Objeto del Objeto" is a strange name for a museum, but consider how far beyond simply seeing an object the name and the museum take us. In the space of this very manageably sized museum, we are given the vision of each object exhibited in the context of its time, of its place, of its fellow objects, and in the context of the entire exhibit. In other words, we come away with the sense of the object of the object: the purpose and the grace of each. MODO shows us how these familiar objects both interpret and relate to our very lives.

The current exhibit, which opened on September 20, 2016, is perfect for all of you who love everything related to food and its preparation. Del Plato a La Boca (from the plate to the mouth) is entirely about the kitchen, its utensils, and its design. The earliest piece in the show is from the late 1800s; the most recent is as new as this year. This exhibition will run through February 26, 2017. Mark it on your calendar and don't miss it! All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

First: what does the title of the exhibit mean? Mexico is famous for its thousands of refranes or dichos–folky sayings. The title of the exhibit is part of one of literally hundreds about only the kitchen, the dining table, and the art of eating. The complete saying is, "Del plato a la boca se cae la sopa"–from the plate to the mouth, the soup spills. In other words, there is no such thing as a sure thing; from one moment to the next, things change.

Ana Elena Mallet, the internationally acclaimed curator of Del Plato a La Boca, looks justifiably delighted with the initial response to the show. The museum graciously invited Mexico Cooks! to a press conference and a private guided tour, held just hours prior to the exhibition's September 20th opening to the public.

Here's a very modern kitchen from 1950s Mexico. It's the first room of the exhibit and it excited everyone on the tour. It's enormously gratifying to see such a beautifully mounted exhibit, nothing overstated, nothing wasted, everything just so. Last week, a friend, a member of Mexico City's food world, told me, "This exhibit is so wonderful! I've been twice, I can just stand there and look at just a few things for an hour. I can't wait to go back again." I agree, and will go again soon.

Del Plato a La Boca features every aspect of the Mexican kitchen. Well-used, well-loved, cherished through generations, Mexico's utensils range from the tortilla press to the pressure cooker and from the upper crust to the garbage bin.

A late 19th-early 20th century handwritten family recetario (cookbook). The page on the left is a recipe for bread pudding made from pan corriente ('ordinary' bread); the page on the right is a recipe for meatballs with bread.

Part of a wall of various types of metal moulds: for gelatin both sweet and savory, cakes, cookies, ice cream, and candies. My favorites? See those two rabbits about a third of the way down from the top? Those!

A rare paperback 'people's cookbook' from the Compañía Nacional de Subsistencias Populares, known by its acronym, CONASUPO. CONASUPO, founded in 1961 as a Mexican parastatal entity with the goal of regulating prices–particularly for corn–to enable Mexico's most marginalized citizens to supply their families with the canasta básica (basic food basket). This cookbook featured recipes made with harina de maíz (corn flour). Other recetarios featured dried beans, fresh eggs, whole milk, dried fish, chiles, tender fresh early corn, and even desserts. CONASUPO operated its stores in Mexico's areas of deepest poverty. The government closed the agency in 1999, but subsequently morphed into a similar, if smaller, organization called DICONSA (Sistema de Distribuidoras Conasupo, S.A. de C.V.) It's highly unusual to see a cookbook from the CONASUPO era, much less a utilitarian cookbook with a lovely cover design–it's papel picado, in the deeply colorful rosa mexicano!

Even kitchen toys make an appearance in Del Plato a La Boca. Here, a miniature and obviously well-loved stove. My question: what's in the oven? It looks like something is cooking, doesn't it?

It's easy to see that many kitchen items travel across internationally boundaries: the old enameled coffee pot is ubiquitous, as are the glass jars. Other things, like the metal spice container marked canela (cinnamon) to the left on the top shelf, might be different from those where you live. And that charming nesting hen dish at the bottom? She's probably a foot long and eight inches high, made of clay, and completely Mexican.

I looked at this for quite a while without recognizing it for its utility. The first thought that came to my mind was, "it reminds me of Petite Maman, the spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois…". But of course you know what it is: a juicer! What terrific design. Photo courtesy MODO.

Apart from the sheer joy of seeing Del Plato a La Boca, one of my day's highlight moments: an opportunity to talk and laugh for a few minutes with the award-winning and long-admired author of Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel. Ms. Esquivel formed part of the invited press conference's panel who discussed a bit of Mexico's culinary history prior to the museum tour. That panel included Ana Elena Mallet (the exhibit curator), Ricardo Muñoz Zurita (Mexico's most prominent food historian and restauranteur), and Ms. Esquivel. She has expanded the reach of her brilliant novel of early 20th century life and the kitchen along the Mexican border–her next book will be out in the not-too-far-distant future. We'll keep you posted.

Even the desk at MODO's exit featured the design of old-time milk bottles and their delivery crate, exquisite in their simplicity.

Don't miss Del Plato a La Bocas at the MODO. You believe there's plenty of time to get here: the exhibition is on until February 26, 2017. Just remember: from the cup to the lip, there's many a slip. Life changes in a heartbeat.

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

22 de October de 2016