Category: Travel

Mexico Cooks! Turns Five: Thanks to You, We’re Celebrating Our Fifth Anniversary

This is the very first photo published by Mexico Cooks! on February 2, 2007: multicolor sonajas (rattles) for sale at a Michoacán artisans' fair. Wouldn't you love to work a jigsaw puzzle made from this picture?

The first week of February 2012, Mexico Cooks! joyfully celebrated its fifth birthday. In March, 2007, only weeks after our first publication, one of our articles was titled, 'From That Little Beginning', quoting the owner of the original producer of Salsa Cholula in speaking of his own business. Today, we echo his thoughts: who would have thought that after Mexico Cooks!' initial article on Candlemas Day 2007–that 'little beginning' article read out of the goodness of their hearts by an audience of 2 or 3 friends–that our current readership would number nearly one million faithful followers? Who would have thought that the London Times would name Mexico Cooks! the number one food blog in the world? And who would have thought that at ten o'clock every Saturday morning for five years, a new Mexico Cooks! article would be ready for you to read? Trust me, not us!

In February and March 2008, Mexico Cooks! published several articles about our travels to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Many of our readers asked if this photo, taken at the San Cristóbal de las Casas indigenous market, were for sale or if it would be part of a calendar.

September 2009 featured Ana Pellicer and James Metcalf, internationally-known copper artists from Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán. This large and utilitarian French-style tinned copper pot with hand-forged iron handle, although not representative of the artists' fine sculptural works, is part of a popular baterie de cuisine–a set of kitchen pots designed and sold by the couple. Mexico Cooks! featured Ana Pellicer again in November 2010 when she received the illustrious Michoacán Premio Estatal de las Artes Eréndira (Eréndira State Arts Prize of Michoacán). She is the first woman ever to receive the award.

Tortita de calabacita (little squash fritter) from the sorely missed Restaurante Los Comensales in Morelia, Michoacán. Mexico Cooks! featured the restaurant (the name means 'The Diners') in October 2009. Less than a year from the date of our interview with her, Señora Catalina Aguirre Camacho, the owner of Los Comensales since 1980, became too elderly and incapacitated to continue to operate her wonderful restaurant.

And of course there was always food at Mexico Cooks!: recipes, history, and mouth-watering photographs have filled our pages since the beginning. If these few memorable articles leave you hungry for more, our archives contain nearly 300 articles, each with six–or eight–or ten–or more photos. In January 2009, we featured the first retrospective of the prior year's highlights of some of your favorite articles about Mexican food.

Over the last five years, we have frequently featured Mexican ingredients and how to use them in your home kitchen. Some of the most popular articles showcased fresh and dried chiles, and some of Mexico's exotic fruits. This fruit, the wild ilama (Annona diversifolia) from Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot lands), is all but unknown outside its home territory. Its skin color is ashy green with tinges of pink on the outside. The flesh is rosy pink; the flavor is a little like a cross between a peach and a pineapple.

If you had to guess, which of Mexico Cooks!' nearly 300 articles do you think would be the most searched for on Google? Think of the ultimate comfort food. Yes: it's caldo de pollo, Mexican-style chicken soup. The article is so popular that once a year, we publish it again!

Another enormously popular article features the preparation of Mexico Cooks!-style frijolitos refritos (refried beans). Prepare them this way once and you may never eat them any other way.

It's almost always a party here at Mexico Cooks!, and you are always invited. Join us at ten o'clock every Saturday morning. Look at the right-hand side of the page to click on "Subscribe to this blog's feed' and receive each new week's Mexico Cooks! article and photos via email.

And what might be Mexico Cooks!' favorite part of this five-year-long party? It's not the food, nor the travels, nor the fascinating cultural insights to this marvelous country that I can share with you, the country for which I fell hook, line, and sinker in 1981. Nope. The best part of all is you.

Mexico Cooks! met a number of fellow food writers in Mexico City in 2010. What did we do? Oh please! We met for lunch, of course.

Many of you have written to me to talk about your joy at discovering Mexico's traditions, including its traditional foods. Many of you have written to me for advice about travel, restaurants, and the use of various Mexican ingredients. Many of you have written to me, like this person, to share a memory: "Thanks. I cried and remember my family. They always ate corundas with pork and chile. It has been many, many years since I visited my family's town in Mexico. Your articles always take me home to my beloved Mexico." Be assured that knowing that you are there–wherever you are in the world–you are the reason that Mexico Cooks! continues. Thank you for five years of support, trust, and confidence.

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

11 de February de 2012
Azul Histórico: Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita in Mexico City’s Downtown!
Stroll into the magical patio that is Azul Histórico. As you come through the welcoming entrance, the bar and its seating area are on your left, just behind the big blue letters that spell out the restaurant's name.

A little less than a year ago, Mexico City's culinary aficionados began to throng to chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's Azul/Condesa, which opened near the end of January 2011. His other two restaurants (both called Azul y Oro) at the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), were and continue to be a gastronomic Mecca in the far southern reaches of the Distrito Federal. Difficult to access by either public or private transportation, those of us who dined there felt that we had conquered both time and space to arrive. The opening of Azul/Condesa gave defeños (residents of the Distrito Federal) and tourists alike an easy option for enjoying the same exquisite dishes served at Azul y Oro–with Azul/Condesa's welcome addition of the opportunity for cocktails or a bottle of wine with a meal.

The former Palacio de los Condes de Miravalle, at Isabel la Católica #30 in Mexico City's Centro Histórico (historic downtown), has been a great gray presence on this street since 1697. Just left of the center of the photograph you see the tall wooden doors that open into Azul Histórico. Photo courtesy Skyscraper City.

Mexico Cooks! was really torn about whether to eat at Azul Histórico right after its January 25 opening or wait until any opening kinks were worked out. Culinary curiosity (not to mention appetite) won out, and we made a reservation for mid-afternoon comida (main meal of the day) on January 28.

Restaurante Azul Histórico, which quite comfortably seats 100, fills the central patio of the 17th century palace of the counts of Miravalle. Surrounded by first-floor balconies, the open-air restaurant is crowned by towering 100-year-old laurel trees. I asked manager Gonzalo Serrano Orozco how patrons would be protected during the Mexico City summer rainy season. He gestured at the sky. "We have an enormous cover to spread over the entire patio."

Table setting at Azul Histórico. The tables, specially made for the restaurant, are hand-branded with the names of streets in the Centro Histórico. The small blue enamelware pots of greenery give a touch of living nature to your table. The jícaras (dried and carved half-gourds) are for drinking mezcal.

Azul HIstórico opens early in the morning (eight o'clock) for business breakfasts, hungry tourists who have lodgings downtown, and anyone else who wants something marvelous to eat to start the day. Classic huevos motuleños (two fried eggs on tortillas, with black beans, ham, and peas, all bathed in a salsa picosa–spicy red sauce), anyone? Or perhaps you'd rather try chilaquiles rojos con arrachera–fried tortilla pieces cooked until just tender with delicious and grilled-just-right steak slices.

Gonzalo Serrano Orozco is the house manager at both Azul/Condesa and Azul Histórico. He's hugging the super-talented young chef María José Serrano Sada, in charge of the kitchen at Azul Histórico.

The menu at Azul Histórico is identical to the menu at Azul/Condesa. The two restaurants also offer full bar service, including house-special flavored margaritas and an excellent variety of regional mezcales and tequilas. But liquor is one thing, and the fabulous food offerings are another. Mexico Cooks! and wife started with a jícara of mezcal (me) and a shot of tequila (her), but we quickly graduated to the order of the day: what to eat.

On the table before the food: a tiny enamelware pot of live greenery, a basket of hot breads, a pot of salsa for the bread, my jícara of mezcal on its woven base, and a plate of traditional orange slices dusted with sal de gusano to accompany the drink.

Judy started her meal with a beautiful deep-green cream of cilantro soup, topped with a little hill of sliced almonds and a big swirl of crema de mesa–Mexican table cream. She needed a pinch of additional salt for the soup, but pronounced it delicious, with the just-right taste of cilantro. Her tequila and house-made sangrita chaser are visible at top left.

I ordered the ensalada de pera con queso Roquefort: the large salad includes crisp, fresh mixed greens, sliced Bosc and red Bartlett pears, large crumbles of delicious Roquefort cheese, and a scattering of roasted cashews. The dressing is oil and balsamic vinegar, with a touch of sweetness–just right for the salad. The dressing, over and above the decorative drizzle on the plate, is served in that little blue jug at the right of the photo. It's my favorite salad on the restaurant menu.

Judy ordered the filete de res con chichilo (filet mignon with a dark Oaxaca mole made with the ashes of chile seeds and ground, dried avocado leaves). In this presentation, it's served over sliced, steamed chayote and accompanied by pickled red onions and chochoyones (little Oaxacan dumplings made of corn dough). The beef needed better searing so it would cook to the required done-ness. After our meal, we talked with chef María José Serrano about the difficulties of teaching her sous chefs the technique of searing and oven-finishing beef; neither of those techniques is widely practiced in central Mexico, but she knows and is eager to give the correct instructions.

I ordered pechuga de pollo con mole negro (boneless chicken breast with Oaxacan black mole). The chicken breast was perfectly cooked: tender and juicy. It's unusual to be served a chicken breast cooked exactly right and this one was extraordinarily wonderful. Mole negro is my always my first choice among moles: it's not too sweet, with deeply complex flavors, and with the precise amount of spiciness to please my palate. Ricardo Muñoz's recipe is out of this world. The dish of chicken and mole comes topped with a single slice of fried sweet plátano macho (super-ripe plantain) and a sprig of cilantro. Perfect.

Service at the new restaurant was almost entirely glitch-free, even on only its third day serving customers. We needed to request napkins (they were deliberately kept off the table due to latent construction dust in the building) and salt, but every other wait staff detail was topnotch.

And the initial evaluation for Azul Histórico from Mexico Cooks!? Here's my checklist on a scale of one to ten, ten being best:
- Style and decor: 10
- Creative and appropriate use of historical space: 10
- Innovation in creative details: 10
- Prompt and appropriate attention from wait staff and other personnel: 10
- Food: 9 with a bullet
- Ease of access: 10 for public transportation access, 10 for tourist access, 10 for handicapped access
So should you wait a while to dine at Azul Histórico or should you get on over there now? My advice: make a reservation, go now AND later, and take me with you! You are going to love it.

Azul Histórico
Isabel la Católica #30
Between Calles Francisco Madero and 16 de septiembre
Centro Histórico
Across the street from the Casino Español
Two blocks from the Zócalo
Metro Isabel la Católica or Metro Allende
Hours: 8AM (for breakfast) until 11PM
Tels. 5510.1316 or 5521.3295
Azul Histórico

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
4 de February de 2012
The Rebozo in Mexico, Witness to Life: El Rebozo en México, Testigo de la Vida

Lovely young Agustina in her pink silk rebozo (long rectangular shawl).

A friend recently gave me a copy of an old and anonymous Mexican poem, written in Spanish, in homage to the rebozo. The rebozo's importance to Mexican women cannot be exaggerated: from swaddled infancy to shrouded death, a rebozo accompanies our women throughout their days. It is at once warmth, shade, infant's cradle, cargo-bearer, fancy dress, screen for delicious flirtation, and a sanctuary from prying eyes.

Enjoy my translation.

Michoacán-made rebozos and guitar, on exhibit in Morelia. Note the elaborate fringes on both rebozos.

My Rebozo

Rummaging through my closet one fine day
I found this garment—my old rebozo!
How long had it been resting there?
Even I can’t say exactly.
But seeing it brought back so many memories
Tears clouded my eyes and fell one by one as I held
My beloved rebozo!

Mother and infant daughter wear matching rebozos, Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe 2010.

What a faithful friend you have been.
Shall we relive just an instant of that far-distant past?
When I first showed you off, you were so beautiful, so new,
With your lively color and flowing fringe
Your reflection gleamed in the mirror like the morning star!

Fine lace rebozo still on the loom, from the Reboceros de Aranza (Aranza Rebozo Weavers Cooperative).

Come on, come on, let me fling you over my heart
The way I did in bygone years,
Next to this heart that disappointment has turned to ash!
Don’t you remember that beautiful blouse I wore,
Embroidered with poppies and carnations?
Don’t you remember all my triumphs and successes,
And my flounced skirt, so full of its pretty sequins, beads, and glitter?

Lavender and white rebozo with elaborate fringe.

See, tightened to the span of my narrow waist and
Crossed just so over my straight young back
Showing off my fresh round breasts,
With two vertical parallel lines.
We stepped out to the beat of those long-ago songs,
That dance that determined my life.
Your fringes hung down just so!
And the two of us formed one soul.

Finely woven black and red rebozo.

How was it that I wanted him? You know!
Rebozo, you heard first how I loved him!
Your fringes were hopeful prisoners of my teeth
While I heard the soft slow songs of love
Oh perverse rebozo, unfaithful friend!
You were my confidante and my hiding place
You pushed me, burning, into romance
Wrapped in your fringes as if they were cherished arms.

Intricately patterned deep red rebozo.

But what’s this I see!
An ugly hole
That looks like a toothless mouth
Bursting out into furious laughter.
You laugh at my romantic memories?
You make fun of my long gone triumphs?
You know that the one who loved me has forgotten me
And that my soul, just like my love, is sacked and plundered?

Two elderly women share a secret joke in Pátzcuaro.

And you—you aren’t even a shadow of what you were
And because we don’t remember what we have been
We are betrayed! Old! Faded!
I’ll throw you in a box with other trash—
You, who are a traitor and so worn out!
How strange and how complicated
Just like you, I also betrayed—sometimes–in little ways!
Those sweet lies and silly nonsense
That made so many of my yesterdays happy.

White and black rebozo fringed with feathers.

Laugh, rebozo! Don’t you see that I’m laughing–not angry?
The tears that spring from these eyes
Are just laughter, nothing more. I’m not crying, I’m laughing!
But how can I be laughing, when I hate you so?
Let your mantel cover my head
The way it did in days long past, when I was possessed
By a kiss so strong, so violent.

Gold and salmon rebozo de gala (fancy dress).

No! I will not throw you away, old rebozo!
You have a soul like mine
A Mexican woman's soul, wild, unmanageable
That will not bend even when faced with death itself!
I will fold you up and keep you in the closet
And there, like a holy relic,
My heart will once again put on
Your flowing fringe.

Elderly flower seller, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

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

21 de January de 2012
8° Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán: Eighth Annual Michoacán Traditional Food Festival
Maestra Benedicta Alejo Vargas grinds cilantro and mint to prepare tzirita, a deliciously spicy botana (appetizer or snack) based on metate-ground chile seeds and various herbs.

For me, the days leading to the Eighth Annual Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán moved almost as slowly as the days leading to a five-year-old's Christmas morning. This event celebrating the traditional cuisines of regional Michoacán, held annually during the first weekend of December, is the high point of my personal and professional year.

Essentials of the Michoacán kitchen: clay pots, wooden utensils, a ventilador (fan) to urge the wood fire hotter, and the skilled hands of a cook.

The Encuentro started life in 2004, sponsored by the Secretaría de Turismo and the Secretaría de Cultura del Estado de Michoacán as well as by several generous corporate sponsors. During its eight years, it has grown and changed, evolving into the unique event that so many of us enjoy. Although there are many different food festivals in Mexico, no other has the impact of the annual Encuentro.

Maestra Amparo Cervantes (left) of Tzurumútaro and Señora Paulita Alfaro of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro are two of several elegant and vital grandes damas (great ladies) of the Michoacán kitchen. They pass their recipes and secrets of the kitchen to their daughters and granddaughters.

In November 2010, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) announced that Mexico, and particularly the state of Michoacán, had been officially inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Since then, Michoacán regional cooks have proudly carried the banner of what is called el paradigma michoacano–the Michoacán paradigm. UNESCO included those words in its award based on miliennia-old indigenous Purhépecha way of food preparation that has been preserved, protected, and promoted up to the present day. The Michoacán paradigm is a model for other regional Mexican cuisines.

Freshly hand-made corn tortillas toasting on a wood-fire heated clay comal (griddle). Note that the tortilla in the foreground is puffed up; this is a key sign of a properly made tortilla. The tortilla will flatten out again as it toasts. There are no tortillas like those hand-made in Michoacán.

Much of Michoacán's regional cuisine is based on Mexico's native corn. These dried ears, hung up to decorate a festive food stand at the 2010 Encuentro, show just a few of the several colors of corn native to this area. The preservation of native corn varieties is crucial to the continuity of the Michoacán paradigm.

Maestra Antonina González Leandro of Tarerio, Michoacán, is radiant in her hand-embroidered blouse.

This year, the organizing committee gave special honors to a few of the consistent winners of the cooking competition at the heart of each annual Encuentro. These great women of the regional kitchen, now retired from competition, are the soul of this festive event. They are:
- Benedicta Alejo Vargas, San Lorenzo. Her specialities for 2010 were wild mushrooms, traditional churipo (a beef-based soup), rabbit mole, cheese mole, and tzirita.
- Juana Bravo Lázaro, Angahuan. Her specialities were atápakua de kuruchi kariri (dried fish stew), filled corundas with churipo, and two varieties of tortillas.
- Antonina González Leandro, Tarerio. She specialized in fried trout with traditional mole, tomato mole, or in a broth, pozole, and ponteduro (a kind of toasted and sweetened corn snack).
- Esperanza Galván Hernández, Zacán. Her specialties were mole tatemado con arroz (baked mole with rice), quesadillas, corundas filled with vegetables, and blue corn tortillas.
- Amparo Cervantes, Tzurumútaro. For this Encuentro, she specialized in mole con pollo y arroz (mole with chicken and rice), carne de puerco con rajas (pork meat with poblano chile strips), corundas, and uchepos.
A few of Maestra Antonina's special dishes, including (lower right) tortitas de charales, (center, in the molcajete) salsa de chile perón, (back left) nopalitos en salsa de jitomate, and (back right) caldo de trucha (freshly fried Michoacán-farmed rainbow trout in broth).

Maestra Amparo's carne de cerdo con rajas, cooking over a wood fire. She constantly tended and stirred the cazuela (clay cooking dish) so that the preparation would neither dry out nor stick.

Sra. Cayetana Nambo Rangel of Erongarícuaro prepared choricorundas, a type of pyramid-shaped corn tamal filled with cooked chorizo, a spicy pork sausage. The corunda is wrapped in a long green corn leaf (not a corn husk) and then steamed. Traditionally, corundas can be either blind (made without a filling) or filled.

Young cook Susana Servín Galván of Zacán entered the food competition with cuchiatápakua en chile verde con frijoles de la olla, a traditional dish from her small town. The dish consists of pork meat cooked in a thick sauce made of highly spicy chile serrano and served with freshly cooked beans and blue corn tortillas. This is my jealously guarded plateful; the dish was stunningly delicious and sold out quickly. I was lucky to taste it.

Susana Servín Galván, the up-and-coming young cook who prepared the fabulous dish in the preceding photo.

Salsa de chile de árbol pounded into existence using this enormous molcajete y tejolote (volcanic stone mortar and pestle).

More ingredients and utensils crucial to the regional Michoacán kitchen.

Mexico Cooks! will keep you informed about the dates for the 2012 Ninth Annual Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán. This unique event, a true look at Michoacán's regional cuisine, should be on everyone's calendar for early December. Come with us and we will introduce you to all of these dishes and more!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
14 de January de 2012
Mexico Cooks!: A Look Back at 2011 in the Kitchen

7 de January de 2012
Feliz Año Nuevo (Happy New Year), Mexican Style

In Mexico and other Latin American countries, women wear yellow underwear on New Year's Eve to bring good luck and wealth in the year to come. Red underwear indicates a New Year's wish for an exciting love interest!

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

As the clock strikes midnight, it's common to eat twelve grapes–one at each ding, one at each dong of the bell. While eating the grapes, you make a personal wish for each grape you consume, welcoming the new year that's beginning. Mexico Cooks! finds that it's helpful to write down the twelve wishes so as not to forget one or choke in the rush to swallow the grapes before the clock finishes striking the New Year's earliest hour!

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–to family and friends with the same wish.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We'll see you in 2012!

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

Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day. Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program. All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write on Mexico Cooks! are completely my own.

31 de December de 2011
The Mexican Nativity Scene at Christmas: El Nacimiento

A Christmas tree may be the central focus of your home decoration during this joyous season of the Christian year. In most parts of Mexico, the Christmas tree is a fairly recent import and the primary focus of the holiday is still on the nacimiento (manger scene, creche, or nativity scene).

One of Mexico Cooks!' biggest delights every late November and early December is shopping for Christmas–not hunting for gifts, but rather for new items to place in our nacimiento (manger scene). Truth be told, we have five nacimientos–or maybe six–that come out each Christmas season, but only one of them keeps growing every year.

The tiny figures in this nacimiento are made of clay; the choza (hut) is made of wood. The shepherds and angels have distinctive faces; no two are alike. One shepherd carries firewood, another a tray of pan dulce (sweet breads), a third has a little bird in his hands. The tallest figures measure only three inches high. The Niño Dios (Baby Jesus) is not usually placed in the pesebre (manger) until the night of December 24. The Niño Dios for this nacimiento is just over an inch long and is sleeping on his stomach with his tiny knees drawn up under him, just like a real infant. This nacimiento was made about 25 years ago in Tonalá, Jalisco, Mexico.

Mexican households traditionally pass the figures for their nacimientos down through the family; the figures begin to look a little tattered after traveling from great-grandparents to several subsequent generations, but no one minds. In fact, each figure holds loving family memories and is the precious repository of years of 'remember when…?'. No one cares that the Virgin Mary's gown is chipped around the hem or that St. Joseph is missing an arm; remembering how the newest baby teethed on the Virgin's dress or how a long-deceased visiting aunt's dog bit off St. Joseph's arm is cause for a family's nostalgic laughter.

Nacimiento en vivo (living nativity scene), Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. In 13th century Italy, St. Francis of Assisi was inspired to re-enact the birth of Christ. The first nacimiento was presented with living creatures: the oxen, the donkey, and the Holy Family. Even today in Mexican communities, there are hundreds of living manger scenes.

Holy Family, 18th century Italy. The first nativity figures, made of clay, were created in 15th century Naples and their use spread rapidly throughout Italy and Spain. In Spain, the early figural groups were called 'Belenes' (Bethlehems).

A few weeks before Christmas, our tiny nacimiento de plomo (manger scene with lead figures, none over four inches high) comes out of yearlong storage. The wee village houses are made of cardboard and hand-painted; each has snow on its roof and a little tree in front. You might well ask what the figures in the photo represent: el Sr. San José (St. Joseph, who in Mexico always wears green and gold) leads the donkey carrying la Virgen María (the Virgin Mary) on their trek to Belén (Bethlehem). We put these figures out earliest and move them a bit closer to Bethlehem every day. This nacimiento is the one that grows each year; we have added many figures to the original few. This year we expect the total number of figures to rise to more than 60.

Click on the photo and you will see that the Holy Family has not yet arrived in Bethlehem; the choza is empty and St. Joseph's staff is just visible in the lower right-hand corner. Click to enlarge the photo to better see the figures in the nacimiento: gamboling sheep, birds of all kinds, shepherds, shepherdesses, St. Charbel, an angel, and Our Lady of Guadalupe are all ready to receive the Niño Dios (Baby Jesus). Notice the upright red figure standing in the Spanish moss: that's Satan, who is always present in a Mexican nacimiento to remind us that although the birth of Jesus offers love and the possibility of redemption, sin and evil are always present in the world.

Detail of the lead figures in our ever-growing nacimiento. To the left is a well (with doves) and a woman coming to draw water; to the right is an arriero (donkey-herder) giving his little donkey what-for. No matter how many figures are included, the central figures in any nacimiento are the Holy Family (St. Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and the Baby Jesus). In Mexico, those three are collectively known as el misterio (the mystery).

A very small portion of one of the largest nacimientos on display in Mexico City. It measures more than 700 square meters and includes thousands of figures. They include everything you can think of and some things that would never occur to you: a butcher shop, a running stream and a waterfall, sleeping peasants, and washerwomen. A nacimiento can include all of the important stories of the Bible, from Genesis to the Resurrection, as well as figures representing daily life–both today's life in Mexico and life at the time of Jesus's birth. Photo courtesy El Universal.

Papel roca (hand-painted paper for decorating a nacimiento), a choza (little hut), and two kinds of moss for sale in this booth at the Guadalajara tianguis navideño (Christmas market). This year, Mexico Cooks! has purchased figures of a miniature pre-Hispanic loinclothed warrior, a tiny shoemaker working at his bench, a wee man sawing firewood, and a shepherd standing under a tree while holding a lamb. The shepherd's tree looks exactly like a stalk of broccoli and makes us smile each time we look at it.

Where in Mexico can you buy figures for your nacimiento? Every city and town has a market where, for about a month between the end of November and the first week in January, a large number of vendors offer items especially for Christmas. Some larger cities, like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Morelia, and others, offer several tianguis navideños (Christmas markets) where literally thousands of figures of every size are for sale. Last year we found a tiny figure of the seated Virgin Mary, one breast partially exposed as she nurses the Niño Dios, who lies nestled in her arms. It's the only one like it that we have ever seen.

This booth at a tianguis navideño in Guadalajara offers Niños Dios in every possible size, from tiny ones measuring less than three inches long to babies the size of a two-year-old child. In Mexico City's Centro Histórico, Calle Talavera is an entire street devoted to shops specializing in clothing for your Niño Dios. The nacimiento is traditionally displayed until February 2 (Candlemas Day), when the Niño Dios is gently taken out of the pesebre in a special ceremony called the levantamiento (raising). The nacimiento is then carefully stored away until the following December.

Near Mexico City's Basílica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, this religious goods store also advertises that it will dress the Niño Dios for your nacimiento.

Piles of gold and silver glitter cardboard stars of Bethlehem, for sale at the tianguis navideño in southern Mexico City's Mercado Mixcoac.

An assortment of clay figures for your nacimiento: villagers, chickens, and vendors. Size and scale don't matter: you'll find crocodiles the size of your little finger and elephants bigger than a soft drink can. Both will work equally well in your nacimiento.

Giant flamingos go right along with burritas (little donkeys). Why not?

Each traditional figure in a nacimiento is symbolic of a particular value. For example, the choza (the little hut) represents humility and simplicity. Moss represents humilty–it's something that everyone steps on. The donkey represents the most humble animal in all creation, chosen to carry the pregnant Virgin Mary. The star of Bethlehem represents renewal and unending light.

Which diablito (little devil) tempts you most, the one with the money bag or the one with the booze?

How many shepherds do you want? This Guadalajara tianguis navideño booth has hundreds, and in sizes ranging from an inch to well over a foot tall.

It wouldn't be a Mexican nacimiento without tortillas!

This Christmas, Mexico Cooks! wishes you all the blessings of the season. Whatever your faith, we hope you enjoy this peek at the nacimiento, one of Mexico's lasting traditions.

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

24 de December de 2011
Christmas–Piñata Time in Mexico!

Traditional piñatas ready for sale decorate the door to the Hernández family's tiny taller (workshop) on Av. Lázaro Cárdenas in Morelia, Michoacán.

Among clean ollas de barro (clay pots), plastic receptacles filled with engrudo (flour/water paste), and colorful, neatly stacked rounds of papel de china (tissue paper), Sra. María Dolores Hernández (affectionately known as Doña Lolita) sits on an upturned bucket. She'll celebrate her 80th birthday on December 24, and she still lights up–just like a Christmas tree–when she talks about her business and her life.

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

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

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

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

Pre-cut rounds of papel de china (tissue paper) wait to be glued onto a piñata. The black plastic bag holds strips of newspaper.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mandarinas (tangerines) are in season at Christmastime and round out the goodies in lots of piñatas.

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

The piñata, lovely though it may be, is purely temporary. Nevertheless, happy memories of childhood posadas with family and friends last a lifetime.

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

Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day. Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program. All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write on Mexico Cooks! are completely my own.

17 de December de 2011
Giant Alebrijes–Fantasy Monsters–Invade Mexico City!

Mexico City's iconic Ángel de la Independencia, nearly 43 meters high (that's 140 feet, for you who are metrically-challenged) is known all over the Distrito Federal simply as 'El Ángel'. Need a place to meet your friends to head for the Zona Rosa? "Nos vemos en el Ángel a las once…" ('see you at the Angel at eleven o'clock…'). For a good idea of the size of just the Ángel, look at the man standing near the right-hand corner of the railing–and consider that the platform is very, very high up on the column!

The fifth annual exhibit of alebrijes monumentales (monumentally-sized alebrijes) started just at the Ángel, in October 2011. This one is called Hipnóptera.

Very much in the style of Pedro Linares, this giant and quite happy alebrije exhibited along Paseo de la Reforma is called Pedrito (little Pedro). No fear–in spite of his sharp teeth, he won't bite!

The alebrije, created originally by 20th century Mexico City papel maché (paper maché) artisan Pedro Linares, has become part of Mexico's mythology. If the creatures appear to be the stuff of nightmares, they in fact are just that: in the mid-1930s, sick and hallucinating with a high fever, Linares dreamed that these fantastical creatures surrounded him and heard them calling out their hitherto nonsense-syllable name: alebrijes, alebrijes, alebrijes. When his health improved, he began making the figures in his media, paper maché and cardboard.

This towering two-headed, four-armed creature with wings is called Pescando Soles. I spoke to the man standing at the right of the photo; he is close to six feet tall. That should give you an idea of the size of this giant.

Artist Mireya Carrera Bolaños smiles for the camera in front of her creation called Pescando Soles, which won an honorable mention in the competition.

Even though Sr. Linares originated the genre of alebrijes based on his fevered dreams, and even though his family continues to produce them in Mexico City, the alebrije name has passed into common usage for any fantastical creature made in the Linares style or a style that is similar. In Mexico City and the surrounding area, most alebrijes are made of paper maché and cardboard; this work is called cartonería. However, in the state of Oaxaca (and most famously by the artisan workshop headed by Jacobo and María Ángeles in the town of San Martín Tilcajete), alebrijes are usually carved from copal wood.

Ponte Almeja, a horned devil figure, sports a green tail covered with pre-Hispanic symbols.

The alebrijes exhibit started on a Sunday, which is always family day on Paseo de la Reforma. Every Sunday the divided wide boulevard is closed to all motorized traffic and is taken over by throngs of bicycles, tricycles, scooters, runners, walkers, children, and stroller-pushing parents. Vendors–of everything from food, toys, lucha libre masks (Mexican-style wrestling), bubble machines, pink and lavender cotton candy, and other non-essentials–line the sidewalks on both sides of Reforma.

Lucha libre mask vendor. You only wish it were Mexico Cooks! behind that marvelous mask!

This artist crafted a stack of monumentally-sized paper maché books between the feet of his giant alebrije. The title of the blue book in the middle of the stack is "Como Hacer Un Alebrije Monumental en Dos Semanas" ("How to Make a Monumental Alebrije in Two Weeks").

A toothy paper maché smile. This one looks much fiercer than Pedrito!

This wildly colorful dragon called Michtic (Gracioso) has its tail in its mouth, ready to go for a spin.

The head of the Ecofloon–part giraffe, part reindeer, part bird-beak, and 100% alebrije.

P-ezme Pezcadilla. The invented names of the creatures are as fanciful as their paint jobs.

Detail of paper maché bolitas (little balls) and wonderful design.

I've got my eye on you…

The end of the three-block exhibit of alebrijes: the fountain and glorieta (traffic circle) of Diana la Cazadora (Diana the Huntress). Click to enlarge the photo for a better view of her with her bow and arrow. In the background, the Hotel St. Regis.

After the weekend-long alebrijes exhibition along Paseo de la Reforma, the figures were trundled over to Mexico City's Centro Hístorico for a week in the Zócalo (central plaza), a fittingly monumental site for the 2011 crop of monumental alebrijes. We can hardly wait till the 2012 exhibit–come join us!

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

Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to helppromote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day. Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program. All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write for Mexico Cooks! are completely my own.

10 de December de 2011
La Casona Rosa: #1 Ranked Small Hotel Accomodations in Morelia, Michoacán–and Mexico Cooks!’ Top Choice

Creative, generous, and kind, Rose Calderone–occasionally of Chicago, currently of Morelia–is the founding mother at La Casona Rosa, her unique small hotel located at Galeana #274, Centro Histórico, Morelia, Michoacán. If you're going to Morelia, it's the place to stay for comfort, conversation, art, and impeccable information about all that central Michoacán has to offer.

Just so you know: I am proud to say that Rose Calderone is my friend. You know, then, that anything that Mexico Cooks! might say about her and her charming Morelia inn comes with a strongly positive bias. On the other hand, I can't think of a single person who has stayed at La Casona Rosa who came away as anything other than her friend and devoted client. Near the computer available for her guests' use is a small sign: "Enter as strangers – Leave as friends." In one clear sentence, Rose makes her philosophy as a host completely transparent.

Open the street door to La Casona Rosa and the long, lovely, flower-filled private patio stretches to welcome you.

Tripadvisor.com names La Casona Rosa the number one small hotel in Morelia and lists twenty-two reviews (and counting!) from completely satisfied customers. What they have to say speaks louder than any advertisement. One reviewer summed it up perfectly: "An Italian heart running a Mexican home: there's no better combination."

The guest dining room at La Casona. If you'd like to have a traditional and delicious Mexican meal cooked for you, just ask on-site manager María Armenta to prepare either breakfast or comida (Mexico's main meal of the day). The price is always fair and the food is out of this world.

The Colonial Suite–Mexico Cooks!' favorite home away from home. It won my heart with its en-suite bathroom and luxuriously comfortable bed, the cool breezes that pass through even on a warm spring day, its separate dining or conference room, and its Michoacán folk artisans' decor.

The Colonial Suite's en-suite bathroom. It's not huge, but it has all the things you need for your stay: a great shower, thick, thirsty towels, a hair dryer, and Michoacán-style homey charm. I took the towels down from the shelves so you could see for yourself just how wonderful they are!

The Colonial Suite's dining/conference table. Everything you see in the photograph–from the chairs to the candles and from the chest of drawers to the glorious clay pumpkins–is a product of one or another Michoacán artisan. Rose knows all the artisans and if you like, she'll make sure that you know them, too.

María Armenta, on-site manager at La Casona Rosa, with an equine friend. It's not a special Michoacán six-legged horse: the third set of hooves belongs to another horse, hidden behind the one in the photo. Photo courtesy La Casona Rosa.

Rose's staff at La Casona Rosa is as special as Rose herself is. Another Tripadvisor review (February 2011) reads: "Morelia is a peaceful, fascinating destination, and Casona Rosa is clean and convenient, and decorated in a charming Mexican manner. A well appointed kitchen is available for all residents. But the central delight of Casona Rosa is the attention offered by María Armenta, the manager. She is tireless in her concern to be helpful, and her advice on the local scene – where to shop, eat, sightsee, etc. – is excellent. She also has access to a wide variety of local services, including Jesús, the well informed, courteous and reliable taxi/limousine operator. Morelia is delightful, and with the help of people named María and Jesús, what can go wrong?"

If you're visiting Morelia as a family, the ground-floor Pátzcuaro Suite could be ideal. The suite sleeps four or even five, and La Casona also offers a crib if you're traveling with a baby or toddler.

Across the room in the Pátzcuaro Suite, this rustic table, bench, and chair are perfect for an end-of-the-day glass of wine–or a taste of Michoacán's artisan liquor, mezcal!

The second room in the Pátzcuaro Suite offers twin beds that can also be made up as one king-size bed. If you're traveling with children, this suite is equipped with games and other pasttimes for them.

The Rose Suite, where the reviewer quoted below stayed. This suite includes a small kitchen for guests' use, a private bathroom, and its own patio.

Another reviewer wrote at length on Tripadvisor: "We arrived in Morelia with backpacks and no accommodation booked. After walking the streets for a few hours…we found Casa Rosa. It is literally a little piece of heaven. Centrally located within easy walking distance of all the great sites,cathedral, museums, food options and drinking spots, this place is a total gem. María the host is a complete delight, graceful, friendly and welcoming, fluent in Spanish and English and a mine of information about Morelia. There are several sleeping options in this lovely renovated old house. The rooms are very spacious, beautifully decorated and with comfortable beds. There are rooms with one and two beds, an excellent kitchen, beautiful lounge and dining area, wonderful courtyard and a second formal dining room. We had two dinner parties with other guests in our 7 day stay! There is also a self-contained apartment at the back of the property with two bedrooms, mini rustic kitchen, bathroom and its own courtyard with sun and shade; this is where we stayed. Great for short and long stays. If you are in Morelia and you want charm, comfort, excellent location, very good value for money and wonderful hosts then Casa Rosa is the perfect choice."

In the fully equipped main kitchen–guests are free to use it–the corn on the Michoacán-made copper charger is real (and really that color) and so is the banana, but the red pepper is glass. Art mixes perfectly with nature at La Casona Rosa.

The ample bedroom of the Frida Suite. Rose is a huge fan of Frida Kahlo; you'll see her image at least once in most of La Casona's rooms. A reviewer on Tripadvisor said this: "The room that I am in–the Frida Suite–is quiet, bright, clean, and very comfortable. I've enjoyed making use of the kitchen for breakfast, and there always seems to be hot pot of coffee ready first thing in the morning."

The guests' living room. Just out of sight on the left is the stairway to the lovely guest bedrooms on La Casona's second floor. In addition to the already mentioned amenities at La Casona, guests have access to free long distance calls either within Mexico or to the United States. Just be sure you grab the right phone for the place you want to call–Rose or María will tell you which is which.

A posada–an inn–offers much more than shelter. The plaque at the side of the door reads, "Bienvenidos, mi casa es su casa." (Welcome, my house is your house). La Casona Rosa is truly a home away from home.

When you call for reservations, please make sure to tell them that Mexico Cooks! sent you. There's no kickback, of course, but I know that the fabulous Rose and her staff of magicians would be tickled to hear that I recommended them.

La Casona Rosa
Galeana #274
Morelia Centro Histórico
Michoacán, Mexico
To reserve, call from the USA: 1.773.696.5771
Within Mexico: 01.443.312.3127
To reserve online: onlinereservations@casadelarosa.info
https://www.facebook.com/lacasonarosa

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

3 de December de 2011