Category: Travel

Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010: La Mesa de Blanca

The sign on the entry wall at Restaurante La Mesa de Blanca in Ziracuaretiro, Michoacán says that the place is a "restaurant of celebration". Whether your celebration is simply a pleasant comida (midday meal) for you and your family or a huge party for friends, the joy of life overflows at Blanca's table.

Two weeks ago, Mexico Cooks! wrote about the glorious Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010 tour through Michoacán. For me, the highlight of that part of the tour was our stop for comida at Restaurante La Mesa de Blanca in tiny, far off-the-beaten-track Ziracuaretiro.

The wonderful Sra. Chef Blanca Estela Vidales, who, together with her equally wonderful husband, Don Rodrigo Lemus, founded La Mesa de Blanca nearly nine years ago. Chef Blanca's joyful personality fills the restaurant with happiness.

Nearly 100 well-known chefs and journalists from all parts of the world had boarded tour buses and vans that morning, heading for truly fascinating culinary destinations in west-central Michoacán. The day bore down on all of us; no matter that we were eager to do and taste and experience everything on the tour agenda, the plus-ninety degree heat, blazing sun, and the accumulated exhaustion of nearly two weeks on the road had us all fainting in our bus seats. The buses took ever more twisting mountain roads through enormous avocado orchards as many of us dozed in silent appreciation of the on-board air conditioning. But where were we going? A few more turns in the road and we stopped in the tiniest town imaginable. The driver opened the bus door and WOW! The booming tuba and brilliant horns of a brass band shook the sleep from all of our heads.

The ofrenda de plátanos (banana offering) in Ziracuaretiro.

The Aromas y Sabores 100-member tour, preceded by a brass band, the ofrenda de plátanos, and a group of restaurant servers dressed in Michoacán's ropa típica (regional clothing) danced up the hill to the restaurant.

The charming restaurant was ready for the onslaught of the suddenly hungry members of the tour. Open to the fresh mountain breezes, decorated with tropical greenery, and roomy enough for the largest party, La Mesa de Blanca is a gorgeous surprise. Click on the photo for a better view of the restaurant's interior stream filled with golden koi.

Chef Blanca made certain that every table was complete with a variety of botanas (appetizers) and aguas frescas (fresh-made juice drinks. The house-signature agua fresca is made with locally-grown blackberries. The botana pictured above is ceviche made of Michoacán-farmed rainbow trout and the famous Hass avocados grown in the region around Uruapan.

Another botana, this time Blanca's famously delicious guacamole with house-made chicharrón and grilled nopal cactus paddles. The entire meal was accompanied by interleaved stacks of fresh-from-the-comal blue and white tortillas.

After a choice of either tortilla soup or sopa de milpa (chicken broth with corn and squash)–and some diners had both!–the main course included a locally grown, sun-dried chile pasilla stuffed with cheese, aporreadillo en salsa de aguacate (dried, seasoned beef and scrambled egg in avocado sauce), and a heavenly uchepo (regional specialty fresh-corn tamal).

In addition, servers brought each table a huge wooden batea (tray), lined with banana leaves and piled with freshly made, juicy carnitas. The carnitas were so delicious that the six tour members at Mexico Cooks!' table gobbled them all down and asked for more, which also promptly disappeared.

Along with locally-grown coffee, every diner sampled three desserts: volcán de mango (mango 'volcano' served on a purée of local strawberries), a tamal de zarzamora (sweet blackberry tamal) and ice cream made from regionally-grown mamey. Every item of meat and produce is produced within shouting distance of the restaurant.

The ofrenda de plátanos, called "La Cuelga", is a local Ziracuaretiro tradition celebrated especially during the banana harvest. Why? In 1554, Don Vasco de Quiroga brought the first five banana plants to this spot in Michoacán from the island of Santo Domingo. In thanksgiving for the first successful banana harvest in the New World, these offerings are still made every year on November 30. Aromas y Sabores 2010 was privileged to experience the tradition at La Mesa de Blanca.

Mexico Cooks!' delightful friends, Juan Bosco Castro García (Director of Promotion for the State of Michoacán's Department of Tourism) and Executive Chef Lucero Soto Arriaga, Restaurante LU, Hotel Best Western Casino, Morelia. Every person traveling with the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010 tour had a marvelous time–and an equally marvelous comida–at La Mesa de Blanca.

Every table in the restaurant offers a beautiful view. Choose from misty Michoacán mountainsides, the Ziracuaretiro pink and white church tower, or this vision of the restaurant garden and banana trees; no matter where you look, you will find a fresh and restful vision.

Whether you are visiting Uruapan, Pátzcuaro, or Morelia, it's a simple drive to La Mesa de Blanca. You need not be part of a special tour to receive a very special welcome and eat a very special meal. Please, when you go, tell Sra. Blanca that you read about her here on Mexico Cooks!–and give her a big hug from me.

La Mesa de Blanca
Avenida Ferrocarril sin número

Ziracuaretiro, Michoacán, México
Tels: 01.423.593.0355 or 01.423.593.0356

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24 de July de 2010
Museo Regional de Arte Popular (Regional Folk Art Museum) in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

This Mexico Cooks! article was originally published in early 2009. The museum is currently undergoing extensive restoration and expects to re-open to the public in August 2010 and I'll be there to take new photos for publication here. Meantime, let's take a virtual tour for old time's sake.

El
Museo Regional de Arte Popular (Regional Folk Art Museum), located
at the corner of Calle Enseñanza and Calle Alcantarilla in Pátzcuaro,
Michoacán. This small museum, the original site of the oldest college
in the state of Michoacán, now holds arts and crafts treasures of the
regional indigenous Purhépecha people. Exquisite examples of copper,
silver, clay, wood, straw, and textile work from the 16th Century to the
present allow visitors to compare old and new techniques.

Mexico
Cooks! has visited Pátzcuaro's Museo Regional de Arte Popular
(Regional Folk Art Museum) so frequently over the course of the last 30
years that we all but have the exhibits memorized. Some of the items
are such favorites that at times, they populate our dreams. This
marvelously carved wooden dance mask, with its long beard and
exceptionally large nose, makes us laugh every time we see it. Notice
the cut-out slits between the mask's eyes and the eyebrows. They
allowed the wearer to see where he was going while he danced.

This
17th Century Christ is made of pasta de caña de maíz.

Sometimes
erroneously called 'corn dough', the core of the entire Christ figure
pictured above is made of a finely kneaded paste created from the
ground-up inner parts of cornstalks and a liquid exuded from deltatzingeni
(the bulbs of regional orchids). Early artisans created an armature, a
'skeleton' of dried corn leaves and incidental small pieces of wood.
Tiny parts (such as fingers) of some figures were sometimes formed using
turkey feathers as the armature. Artists then sculpted a figure with pasta
de caña. The artisans incorporated insecticides into the
corn/orchid paste, which has protected these sculptures over the course
of several centuries. The Museo Regional in Pátzcuaro has a number of pasta
de caña figures dating to the 16th and 17th Centuries.

Mexico
Cooks! is particularly fond of the museum's display of an early
Michoacán kitchen.

In the photo above, you can see many components
of a traditional Michoacán cocina (kitchen). The wood-burning
cookstove, at lower left, is made of clay-covered adobe. Long
rectangular holes for firewood are under recessed round openings for
balancing round-bottomed clay cooking pots. Ocote (sticks of fat
pine kindling, stored in a metal holder built into the stove,
near-middle left) quickly lights the fire. Ollas de barro (clay
pots) stack for storing kitchen staples–no lids required. To the right
of the stacked ollas, copper vessels line a wooden shelf. Other
ollas are ranged around the lower kitchen shelf. At middle left,
above the ollas, two carved wood cuchareros (spoon
holders) are both decorative and utilitarian. Above the cuchareros,
another wooden shelf holds pottery cups and small dishes and pitchers.
Above that shelf, the intricate wall art, made of individual tiny clay
cups, is typical of nearly every region of Mexico. Whether a simple or
complex design, in Mexico's traditional kitchens, it's always made of
cups.

A
carved wood cupboard, built into the museum wall, holds copper mugs,
pitchers, bowls and platters made in Sta. Clara del Cobre, Michoacán.
The graduated-size copper utensils hung on either side of the cupboard
are measures for dry and liquid ingredients.

A
charola de maque (inlaid lacquer tray) from the 19th Century.

This
large carved figure of Saint Ann holding the child Virgin Maria is made
of one piece of wood–except for one detail. When you visit the museum
on your Mexico Cooks! tour of Pátzcuaro, look closely for the
fine line near the ears of both heads. The faces were carved separately
to allow for the placement of the figures' glass eyes.

Mexico
Cooks! covets this hand-embroidered tablecloth. Every part of the
cloth is sewn with a Mexican dicho de la cocina (kitchen
sayings). We've often told the museum docents that if the tablecloth
disappears, it will be at our house. For more dichos de la cocina,
see Panza Llena, Corazón Contento.

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

17 de July de 2010
Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010: Touring Michoacán with Patricia Quintana

A decorative charanda barrel at the entrance to Distilería El Tarasco in Uruapan. Charanda, distilled from sugar cane and bottled as both blanco (newly distilled) or reposado (aged), is a regional alcohol specialty of Michoacán.

Eighty hardy souls, chefs, journalists, travel specialists and food writers all, recently toured Mexico's Central Highlands on a two-week fact-finding and eating binge that brought us together from Europe, South and Central America, the United States, and other points around the globe. Aromas y Sabores de México, Ruta del Bicentenario 2010, organized by Mexico's national tourism department, kicked off in Mexico City on May 29 and ended its culinary wanderings in Michoacán on June 10. Naturally Mexico Cooks! thinks they saved the best for last!

Eleven o'clock on a hot spring morning and my friend Betty Fussell was sucking down a charanda piña colada AND a torito at the distillery! It was Betty's first full-blown taste of Michoacán and we had a marvelous time together.

The two-bus, multi-van caravan wound its way from Mexico City to the State of Mexico, then to Querétaro, to Guanajuato and, for the last four days, to Michoacán. Tour participants, accompanied by Chef Patricia Quintana of Mexico City's hot-ticket Restaurante Izote, slept when they could, partied when sleep eluded them, visited countless historic sites gussied up for Mexico's 2010 bicentennial celebrations, and ate till they could eat no more.

John Rivera Sedlar, of Rivera Restaurant in Los Angeles, California, enjoys a super-refreshing torito (made with charanda, of course) and a visit with Mexico Cooks! Photo courtesy Cynthia Martínez, Restaurante San Miguelito, Morelia.

On a hot spring day in Uruapan, Michoacán, Magda Choque Vilca, field coordinator of Argentina's Proyecto Cultivos Andinos, delights in a cooling paleta de aguacate (avocado ice pop).

Two of Michoacán's best known products are the avocado (we're the world's largest avocado grower) and the macadamia nut. This chilly and refreshing mousse, unique to Restaurante Tony's–(Morelos #183, Col. Morelos, Uruapan)–combines both delicacies. The creamy white macadamia bottom layer supports the pale green avocado top layer. It was absolutely delicious.

A metate y mano (volcanic three-legged flat grinding stone and its 'rolling pin') on display at the regional museum at Uruapan's La Huatápera. La Huatápera originated in the 16th Century. Nearly five hundred years ago, Bishop Vasco de Quiroga created the building as a hospitality center for the Purhépecha people.

For the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores tour, La Huatápera once again became a hospitality center. Tables along the portales (covered terraces) around the building held tastes of regional treats: ceviche de trucha, guacamole, paletas, and much more. Brought by Restaurante Tony's, these avocados were halved horizontally, the meat partially removed and then mashed with cream cheese, spices, and stuffed back into the avocado shell and decorated with these charming faces. The parsley eyebrows especially tickled me.

Restaurante Los Mirasoles in Morelia hosted the welcome dinner for the Michoacán portion of the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores tour. Executive chef Rubí Silva Figueroa pulled out all the stops to make the meal a high-end version of Michoacán's regional foods. Seated at a table with food professionals and journalists from Europe, South America, and the United States, Mexico Cooks! explained the food. It was, as one friend said, a comida didáctica–a teaching meal! Photo courtesy of Los Mirasoles.

Paracho, Michoacán, is known as Mexico's guitar central, but it is also famous for weaving, embroidery, and other artisan work. Michoacán's Secretaría de Turismo (state tourism department) had arranged for a small tianguis artesanal (artisans' street market) for our tour. Among the items on display and for sale were rebozos (long rectangular shawls) woven by the famous reboceros de Aranza (rebozo-makers of Aranza). Finely loomed and beautifully patterned and colored, each of these dressy cotton rebozos take anywhere from two weeks to a month to complete.

We had a marvelous time on the tour! Left to right: Lic. Elizabeth Vargas Martín del Campo, director of the Politécnico de Guanajuato; Chef Patricia Quintana, executive chef, Restaurante Izote, Mexico City; Sacha Ormaechea, Restaurante Sacha, Madrid, Spain; Olivia González de Alegría, Director General, Instituto Gastronómico de Estudios Superiores, Querétaro; Cynthia Canela, owner, Restaurante San Miguelito, Morelia; and Mexico Cooks!. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Canela.

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10 de July de 2010
Museo del Dulce, Morelia: The Sweetest Heritage

Lilia Facio Hernández offers us one of the 37 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 we spent recently 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 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. The 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 will soon open branches 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). 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.

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 Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the Conservatorio de las Rosas (the oldest music conservatory in the New World) and the glorious Templo de las Rosas (Church of St. Rose of Lima, originally the home of Morelia's 16th Century Domincan 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) prepares specialty ates de membrillo in molds 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 (fruit pastes) 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 37 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. 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. The 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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3 de July de 2010
52nd Anniversary: Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán, Part Two

Gorgeous young men and women, great polka music, and inexhaustable dancing: the evening opened with a fantastically exciting estampa norteña (dance from northern Mexico).

These young men danced El Baile de los Machetes, a traditional dance from Mexico's western state of Nayarit. The dance includes precision maneuvers with flashing, clashing machetes and wild high kicks.

This Purhépecha folk dance shows off the beauty of traditional embroidery as well as the dancers' skill. The apron is cross-stitched by hand, as are the woman's blouse and the man's pants. This dance is in part a courtship ritual, ending with the men's fishnets catching the women.

19th Century dress from the northern part of Mexico included long suede coats for the men.

These handsome young men brought down the house–they might as well have been Chippendale dancers! The screaming, swooning young women in the audience adored the fellows' provocative moves.

It was the constant-motion rear view of these vaqueros (cowboys) that really got the crowd going.

A few minutes later, the guys were joined onstage by equally beautiful young women.

Frequent costume changes, exciting music, and beautiful choreography made the night intensely satisfying. The setting, in the Patio del Quijote at the Casa de Cultura, created the perfect ambiance.

The dancers never slowed down!

As darkness fell, another group took the stage for more estampa norteña.

Another traditional Purhépecha dance, performed by four men wearing carved wood pink-painted, blue-eyed masks representing Europeans in the New World. Each costume includes long white hair, a gourd at the back, a silvery fish at the side, and a cane with a horse head.

The costumes in this dance are similar to those in the photo above, but the masks are very different. From left to right, the masks represent a yellow man, an owl, a blue man, a black man, and a European man. Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.

A closer view of the dancer wearing the owl mask.

This male dancer in this Purhépecha dance wears a yellow mask. By turn, the woman dances with each of the masked men.

After one last number, a dance from Apatzingán in Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot lowlands), Mexico Cooks! needed to head for home.

Thanks to the Secretaría de Cultura for its wonderful dance presentations during this celebration. Won't you come with Mexico Cooks! next year, for the 53rd anniversary of Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán?

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19 de June de 2010
52nd Anniversary: Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán, Part One

Estampa norteña (folk dance from the north of Mexico).

The Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán recently celebrated its 52nd anniversary. The three-evening event, in honor of founder Roberto García Marín, was filled with joy, color, and music that completely filled the hearts and minds of everyone present. To commemorate Sr. García Marín's legacy, eight dance troupes, various government officials, and several hundred of the general public gathered in the Patio del Quijote of Morelia's Casa de Cultura.

Grupo Coyucan.

Danza de los Pescadores (Dance of the Fishermen) from Michoacán's Lake Zirahuén.

The first night of the festival, Silvia Zavala Tzitzún from the office of the Secretaría de Cultura and current ballet director Luis Antonio Sánchez unveiled a commemorative plaque in the founder's name. Sr. Sánchez commented, "We want to recognize Professor Marín for his entire legacy. Right up until today, our groups of folk dancers continue to execute the choreography that Profesor Marín created more than 50 years ago. This is the oldest ballet folklórico in Michoacán, and we believe that thanks to Professor Marín, it's still the best."

Grupo Pindekua.

Traditional Purhépecha (Michoacán's indigenous community) dances form an important and stately part of the states folk heritage. Dances commemorate traditional work: the Danza de los Panaderos (Bakers), los Pescadores (fishermen), and los Leñadores (wood choppers) were part of the weekend's festive activities. Other dances memorialize other aspects of Purhépecha life.

La Danza de los Kúrpites (the Dance of the Butterflies, otherwise known as 'the dance of those who find themselves') is one of the Michoacán Purhépecha community's most revered folk dances. This figure represents T'arepiti, the bride. Her costume can easily cost more than $12,000 pesos. Each role in the dance–which can include as many as 40 dancers–is traditionally performed by young single men.

The butterfly dancers performing La Danza de los Kúrpites. In their home communities, the young male dancers perform for a few minutes in the home of each of their girlfriends. The dancers then move to the town plaza, where the dancing continues according to the neighborhood where each group lives.

Tassels, lace, and hundreds of small bells are parts of the costume of Los Kúrpites butterfly dancers.

La Danza de los Panaderos (Bakers), as performed by Grupo Pindekua.

Norteño dances from the north of Mexico frequently have an accordion-driven polka beat. The polka came to Mexico in the 1830s and 40s, brought by the Germans who settled south Texas.

Another norteño! These wildly lively, upbeat and swirling dances are always tremendous crowd-pleasers. Colorful costumes and foot-tapping rhythms are the order of the day.

One last fling. Just watching the dancing exhausted Mexico Cooks!, but we had to head back to the dance festival for its final night. Come back to Mexico Cooks! next week and we'll take you dancing again!

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12 de June de 2010
Casa Limonchelo, Morelia: An Oasis in the Heart of Downtown

Just a few of the fresh seasonal fruits and house-squeezed juices from the full breakfast buffet at Hotel Limonchelo B&B, Morelia. Other breakfast treats on the fruit bar include yogurt, granola, nuts, and honey.

A few weeks ago, our friend Sheila Velazco mentioned that she had found a new hotel in downtown Morelia that we just had to see. Last week, Sheila invited Mexico Cooks! to join her for breakfast at Casa Limonchelo Bed and Breakfast in Morelia's Centro Histórico (historic downtown).

It was a great day to be in downtown Morelia. Just for the day, the Centro Histórico was closed to vehicular traffic; our taxi dropped us two blocks from the hotel and we ambled the rest of the way under blue skies and bright sunshine.

The young Duarte family opened Casa Limonchelo in April 2010. Raúl Duarte Ramírez, who trained as an architect, was actually born in this late 17th Century house that he and Susana Carrasco, his wife, now run as a bed and breakfast.

A view of the gift shop at Casa Limonchelo, which features some of Michoacán's regional products–candy, jewelry, and hand-made souvenir items.

Raúl Duarte grew up just down the street from the 225-year-old building. Ten years ago, as a young single man, he moved into a few upstairs rooms in the old building. During the years of his architectural studies, he grew more and more concerned about signs he noticed of the slow deterioration of his family home. His main preoccupation became the restoration of the historic house.

INAH, Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, closely monitors the restoration of homes in Morelia's Centro Histórico. Even though the restoration and minor remodeling of Casa Limonchelo was primarily cosmetic, INAH's strict regulations for historic preservation governed Sr. Duarte's work.

A covered terraza (terrace) surrounds three sides of the sunny
central patio at Casa Limonchelo.

After Raúl and Susana married, they continued to live upstairs while they dedicated themselves to the work on the house. Opening the hotel became their joint dream. Due to their hard work and determination, they have been able to open the hotel sooner than they expected. Even so, they say that more amenities will be added to the public rooms and the guest quarters as time goes on.

Furnished in typical highly decorative late-17th Century style, the sala principal (guest living room) is elegant but relaxing and comfortable.

The charming bed and breakfast has nine guest rooms, a large, comfortable living room, two patios, a cozy bar, and a small gift shop specializing in Michoacán's regional products.

One of the two double-sized guest rooms at Casa Limonchelo. Susana Carrasco took charge of all the hotel's decoration and added everything that was, as her husband said, 'the woman's touch'. The B&B also offers free wireless Internet service to all guests.

One of the six Casa Limonchelo guest rooms suitable for one person or a couple.

The nine available rooms at Casa Limonchelo:
Six individual rooms:
–1 person…….400 pesos
–2 people…….500 pesos
One double room:
–2 people…….500 pesos
–4 people…….700 pesos
These seven rooms share bathrooms.

One individual room with en suite bath:
–1 person……550 pesos
–2 people…….650 pesos

One double room with en suite bath:
–2 people……700 pesos
–4 people……950 pesos

All beds in all rooms are double bed size. All prices include a full breakfast every day of each guest's stay. All prices are as of May 2010 and are subject to change without notice.

The dining patio at Casa Limonchelo. Cheerful umbrellas offer plenty of morning shade. Breakfast the morning that Mexico Cooks! was at the bed and breakfast included a guisado (prepared hot dish) of chicken and potatoes, aporreadillo (a dish of eggs, cecina [spicy dried beef], and broth from Michoacán's Tierra Caliente [hot lowlands]), beans, house-made salsa picante (hot table sauce), freshly made hot tortillas, a variety of seasonal fresh fruits and juices, and bread brought oven-hot from a nearby bakery.

The delicious fresh-baked bread offered at the bed and breakfast.

Little Raúl, age two and a half, with his father, arquitecto Raúl Duarte Ramírez.

This new bed and breakfast offers a terrific and inexpensive option for a stay in Morelia's Centro Histórico. Whether you're coming from out of town or have more guests coming than your Morelia home can accommodate, Casa Limonchelo is super-comfortable, and close to all of Morelia's main tourist attractions. Its guest rooms are set far enough back from the street that normal city noise will not intrude on your times of relaxation or sleep. The owners are charming and willing to go the extra mile to please their guests. You'll have a great time here.

Casa Limonchelo Bed and Breakfast
Avenida Madero #742
Col. Centro
Morelia, Michoacan, México
Casa Limonchelo
Tel: 443.232.2114

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29 de May de 2010
Art and Beauty in Erongarícuaro, Michoacán: A Riot of Color at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga

The unprepossessing doorway to UNEAMICH mfa/eronga, the Erongarícuaro, Michoacán artists' cooperative originally founded in 1981 by Steven and Marina Rosenthal. "Go to the corner where the primary school is, turn right, and go halfway down," read Marina's directions. 'Halfway down to what,' wondered Mexico Cooks!, but the building was easy to find. All photos by Mexico Cooks! except as noted.

Pátzcuaro, the original capital of Michoacán, is a well-known destination for tourists, whether they are interested in pre-Hispanic religious sites, centuries-old architecture, modern working artisans, or regional Purhépecha cuisine. Just a few minutes' drive away, another side of Michoacán exists: small-town, little-visited, and still very much oriented toward Mexico's traditional way of life. In Erongarícuaro, the day bustles gently around the small plaza. The pace is slower even than that of Pátzcuaro.

In the Erongarícuaro, Michoacán taller (workshop) of Muebles Finos Artesanales Erongarícuaro–the UNEAMICH wholesale entity branded as mfa/eronga–Marina Rosenthal stands before a custom-painted panorama of canvas nudes. You can put your own face in one of the vacant spots.

Erongarícuaro, attractive in a well-worn, frayed-cuff style, is home to about 13,000 people, including a few souls from 'away'. Europe, Canada, and the United States are equally represented. Long a bohemian outpost (according to local legend, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and their international cohorts were frequent visitors), Erongarícuaro still attracts the slightly eccentric foreigner: a handful of people setting up a sustainable community, another handful interested in communal housing, and one or two long-time residents working in town.

The sales and reception room at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga, where we talked with Marina. Photo courtesy Bernie Frankl, Tucson, AZ.

Steve and Maureen Rosenthal, originally from Arizona, have lived and worked in Erongarícuaro for nearly 40 years. Their commitment to the town and its people runs deep; they've put their lifework into training artists, producing incredibly beautiful furniture and home decoration over the course of the years. Their business, UNEAMICH mfa/eronga, has evolved from its 1980s-era origins as an Escuela Taller (Workshop School) to the worker-owned cooperative that it is today. Along the way, the Rosenthals and the artist owners have created a living heritage for Erongarícuaro.

One of the artists' workrooms at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga. Most of the 40-plus artist members of the cooperative were attending a community funeral on the day that Mexico Cooks! visited the UNEAMICH/mfa/eronga taller.

Mfa/eronga (the name of the UNEAMICH store that Steve runs in Tucson) has talleres (workshops) on both sides of its quiet Erongarícuaro street. One is the carpentry workshop for building and carving the wooden furniture; the other is filled with artists' cubicles where the fine decoration work takes place. Mexico Cooks! greeted Marina (Maureen's name loosely translated into Spanish) Rosenthal with a happy, "Finally! We've wanted to visit you for years!" We hugged and laughed that our meeting had been delayed for so long.

The painted backrest of a UNEAMICH mfa/eronga chair. Click on any photo for a larger view.

While giving us a running history of the business, Marina took us on a tour of the two talleres. "Steve and I came here in 1970 to finish writing a screenplay, but the option to make the movie just never panned out. By then, we were so in love with this part of Michoacán that we didn't want to leave. We started making painted furniture, and little by little, customers started seeking us out.

The exterior and interior of one of mfa/eronga's fabulous painted pieces. Photo courtesy mfa/eronga.

"When Cuahutémoc Cárdenas was governor of Michoacán (1980-86), he was a huge supporter of the state's regional arts. You know that he was the son of Lázaro Cárdenas del Rio, Mexico's forward-thinking president from 1934-1940, and he had a lot of his father's sensibilities. One of his projects was to open Escuelas Talleres–workshop schools–where artisans could receive training that would enhance the quality of their work and make it more easily sold. That's where we came in: our workshop began to receive state support for training artists. Literally dozens of artists have trained with us; some continue to work with us now, and some of our current workers are the children of those men and women who initially trained here.

Work facilities at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga are primitive, but the cooperative of artists creates glorious work in spite of the harsh conditions.

"Most of the artists we've trained knew some carving or painting techniques before they came to us. Their level of general knowledge of art was practically nil, though: none knew of the great European classical or modern painters and none had heard of any artists north of the Mexican border. Few knew of Mexico's great artists: Rivera, Kahlo, Tamayo, the Coronel brothers, and Juan O'Gorman, just to name several. One of my greatest joys has been taking our extremely talented artists to Morelia, to Guadalajara, and to Mexico City to show them art's possibilities outside their limited frame of reference.

UNEAMICH mfa/eronga artists hand-paint and hand-finish bateas (hand-carved shallow wooden bowls) from their own designs–or from your special-order design.

"We've made furniture using classic Michoacán designs, in bohemian designs, in our own designs, and with every painted decoration you can imagine. You'll find anything from a still life of hybrid roses to a caricatured cat on our furniture and home decor. Our artists, wonderfully inventive talents, can take the simplest thing and bring it to a level of beauty that attracts the most discriminating client.

Another artist's workspace at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga.

"The work that comes from our talleres has spread all over the world. Right now, we're working on furnishing a hotel–not the first one, and we surely hope not the last! Disney commissioned pieces for a restaurant, we have other long-time restaurant clients who decked out their restaurant with our pieces and need frequent replacements, and we have years of background making custom pieces for private customers.

The man carving intricate hand-drawn orchids into this chair back said, "Solo soy carpintero." ('I'm just a carpenter.')

"Our stories range from the sublime to the truly ridiculous. We've gone through times of terrible famine, when we couldn't make our payroll–think of the horrors of the 1994 devaluation of the peso! But our artist workers stayed with us, even when we couldn't pay regularly. Really, it's the workers who have always made our business a success. You don't measure success just by looking at your bank balance. Loyalty to one another: that's a huge measure of success, in my mind.

For your home, mfa/eronga sells cinema seating made in the old-fashioned style, but of new materials–and in this case, painted with artists' stylized portraits. Other styles are available. Photo courtesy mfa/eronga.

"Right now, because economic times are really challenging, Steve is staying across the border in Tucson, running our retail operation. I'm here with our youngest daughter, running the talleres. Our staff here in Erongarícuaro currently numbers about 43, down from a high of 160 working artists. But we keep on going; our loyalty is to our cooperative artists, and their loyalty is to the cooperative and to us.

Nothing is wasted, everything is recycled. Out of this chaos of wood trimmings come works of art.

Flowers in a vase, hand-painted on an artist's workspace wall. Making art is more than a job; art is a way of life.

You can see more mfa/eronga furniture and home decor on their website, mfa/eronga. The website includes an online store as well as a catalog, a price list, and a newsletter. If you're planning to be in the Morelia/Pátzcuaro region, please contact Mexico Cooks! for a guided tour of Erongarícuaro, the mfa/eronga workshop, and more entrancingly beautiful villages in Michoacán.

Cactus in bloom on mfa/eronga chair backrests.

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22 de May de 2010
Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción: Friends’ Big Night Out in Morelia, 2010

The Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción (Church of the
Immaculate Conception) is located on Calle Tejedores de Aranza in
Morelia, Michoacán. The Immaculate Conception, a dogma of the Roman
Catholic Church, means, "conceived without stain of original sin" and
refers to the Virgin Mary.

This past Wednesday (May 12, 2010), thirteen friends, some of whom are long-time Morelia residents who had never experienced this local tradition, got together for a Big Night Out at Morelia's Templo de La Inmaculada Concepción. It seemed timely to publish this 2008 article again, with a few photos just taken this week.

Shortly after Mexico Cooks!
moved to Morelia, a friend here insisted that we go to supper with her
at a local institution. She wouldn't tell us exactly where we
were going, just settled herself in our car and told us, "Turn here.
Now here, and left at the next corner. Then right…" In a few
minutes we were parking at the curb in a well-kept working class
neighborhood, a huge church looming on the corner. Imagine our surprise
when she told us that we were going to supper at the church!

Just
a few steps down from the sidewalk, we were astonished to see a huge
room filled with tables, chairs, and the hustle and bustle of a horde of
people.

Bring enough people so that some can stand in one line, some in
another, and some can save a place for your group to eat supper.

This
was no run-of-the-mill church supper, with covered casseroles and your
Aunt Joan's coconut cake. Morelia's Templo de la Inmaculada
Concepción (Church of the Immaculate Conception) started its nightly
food fair as a kermés, way back in the 1960s. A kermés
is a street fair devoted to the sale of food, soft drinks, and sweets
for the purpose of raising money for a cause. More than 30 cooks in the
neighborhood of La Concha (that's the affectionate nickname for
any woman named Concepción, and it's the nickname for the church
as well) prepared enchiladas, pozole, tamales, buñuelos, atole
and an infinity of other typical Mexican dishes, all for sale in front
of the original adobe church. Every night of each kermés,
thousands of people ate their fill of delicious food. Before long, the
funds from kermés La Concha made the new church a
reality.

Pay for everything from drinks to dessert with tickets you buy at the
booth pictured below. Ticket denominations range from two to six pesos.

When you finish your meal, you can exchange any leftover tickets for
money. You can rent silverware, too, and turn it in for a refund when
you're finished eating.

The nightly kermés–it opens at about 7:00PM and closes at about 10:00PM–has changed a
lot over the course of more than forty years. When the neighborhood
built the new church, the lower level became a permanent cenaduría
(supper spot) that continues to raise funds for the parish. Nearly 30
booths range around the perimeter of the huge space, serving everything
from soup (pozole, a thick, rich pork, chile, and corn
stew) to desserts (tamales dulces (sweet tamales) and
crispy, crunchy, syrupy buñuelos). Current prices for food range from thirty
pesos for a plate of chicken with enchiladas and vegetables down to nine
pesos for a soft drink.

Lucille Arneson had never tasted a pambazo and was about to dig into this one when Mexico Cooks! all but grabbed the fork out of her hand. "Wait! Let me take its picture first!".

To make a pambazo,
start with a really good bolillo, split almost in half. Dip the whole thing
in rich enchilada sauce and deep fry it till it's smooshy and
crunchy and totally decadent. Stuff
the roll with as much picadillo as you can. Plate it with fried diced carrots and
potatoes and top with freshly diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and
crumbled cheese.

Alice Katz, who celebrates her 13th birthday in July, said that her pambazo was great–"almost as good as the ones I get in Mexico City." Alice liked her first visit to La Inmaculada and said she'd go back any time.

Me
traes un refresco…a mi unas servilletas…me falta un salero, por
favor…" "Bring me a soft drink…some napkins for me…I need a
salt shaker, please…" When you're finished with your supper, the
children take your plates, clear the rest of the table, and make it
spotless for the next round of guests. A tip is nice for the kids, even
if they've only cleaned your table. Give them a couple of your
leftover food tickets–your waitstaff will exchange them for cash.

Ready for the customer who ordered them: four orders of enchiladas
with chicken and a pambazo, Michoacán style.

Rodger García enjoyed his quesadillas and pozole blanco while he mugged for the camera. Linda Pierce egged him on.

Bunny Richards devoured a bowl of pozole blanco, a juicebox of
Boing! mango drink, and then ordered a buñuelo, which she shared
with the table.

Bunny's buñuelo.

Buñuelos are similar to very large
flour tortillas. Form the dough into a big disk, deep fry it, and then cover it with a rich
syrup of made from piloncillo (cones of brown sugar)and anís
(anise). The buñuelo in the picture above was broken into three
or four pieces so that it would fit on the eight-inch plate.

The choice of drinks is almost endless. In addition to soft drinks,
you can also choose from several house-made aguas frescas.
Alcohol is not permitted.

So, you might ask yourself, if the
biggest bill comes out to thirty
pesos for a big plate of food and nine pesos for a drink to go with it, how
profitable could this neighborhood charity be? Naturally most people
order other foods as well, raising the cost of their supper by a
little. When Mexico Cooks! eats at La Inmaculada, we
usually spend about 120 pesos per couple. It's almost impossible to
resist eating too much.

Cyndie Katz (Alice's mother) and Lucille Arneson enjoyed everything about our Big Night Out at La Inmaculada.

Okay, how much money does the parish take
in? Are you sitting down? Every night, the profits are approximately
40,000 pesos (about $4,000 USD). The parish priest administers the
funds, which are used, among other things, to provide school breakfasts
and food baskets for the needy. The parish also provides a free
doctor's office and a variety of other services.

Once in a while, roving mariachis sing at La Concha.

At the Templo
de la Inmaculada–La Concha, when we're feeling tender-hearted–we
eat well and we know we're contributing to a variety of good causes.
Next time you're in Morelia, come along with us!

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15 de May de 2010
Ay, Qué Chulo (Oh, How Cute…): Animal Photos from Mexico

Ardillita (baby squirrel), one of twins, on the roof of Mexico Cooks!' bodega (outdoor storage closet). January 2008.

It occurred to Mexico Cooks! today that we rarely (make that never) play the 'cute animal' card, but there are certainly a lot of cute critters to enjoy in Mexico. Call them bonito, lindo, or chulo, the result is the same: a long sigh of awww.

This extremely cosmopolitan cocker spaniel, out for a stroll in Coyocacán, Distrito Federal. November 2009.

Mother and daughter, on the road to Erongarícuaro, Michoacán. May 2008.

Our very own Chepo, looking piratical in his sweater. January 2010.

Qué burrito más bonito! (What a cute little burro!) Zirahuén, Michoacán. July 2008.

Tigers at the Circo Atayde Hermanos, Morelia, Michoacán. August 2008.

Find the burro… Ajijic, Jalisco. March 2007.

Conejito de flores (little bunny made of flowers), Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia. November 2009.

All together now: awwwwww. It's a xoloitzcuintle puppy from Pátzcuaro, eight weeks old. September 2008.

Next week Mexico Cooks! promises to bring you something from the kitchen.

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8 de May de 2010