rancho_gordo

That is bad news, indeed!

I got mine through them but it took about 9 months. They're great people and very helpful. I'm sure they've been bombarded with queries since La Laudan wrote it up in Saveur magazine. I'd call and ask what they think. I don't want to be discouraging but I scour the food sections of bookstores as an obsession in DF, Guadalajara, Puebla, Guanajuato and more and I've never seen it. But I've noticed a slew of previously OP books available all of a sudden, as if a storage vault were let free. So who knows? I thought I heard the revised version is coming out really soon.

To be fair, it's not 100% open. Let's let it develop into what it's going to become. Did you try the butcher? I haven't but it looks promising, as does the fishmonger who is coming. The cheese shop in the wine merchant is great and the staff actually knows what it's selling and they'll be getting actual cotija from Mexico soon. Fatted Calf is a destination for me. Especially since they have a wide selection of those wonderful Rancho Gordo brand heirloom beans I keep hearing about! I was offered to do a store there but it didn't work for me. I think you need to have a passion for retail to do something like that, which at this point, I don't have. Wait until the farmers market starts and Tuesdays and Saturdays will be hopping with great stuff, making it a real destination. (Disclosure: I'm president of the Board of Directors for the farmers market) I think it has a lot of potential and certainly serves the community more than other recent developments.

As a small to medium sized business, I would expect a lot for $275. I'm not clear what I'd be getting for the money. My gut reaction is you might want to hire a graphics person. The list part makes sense if you know what you want (Bill's Cafe lunch menu, for example) but I think a good graphics person could somehow convey that this is **the** place to go for food in NO. I'm actually going to NO soon but I don't have time to click through all the names to see if someone appeals to me. I would ask an expert. And then maybe check for a menu to confirm that this. Is there a blogger with reviews you could team up with? That strikes me as a real source of info.

The Tuesday market is much smaller so you really need to visit on Saturday to get the full effect. If you're cooking here, my favorites are greens at Star Route are famous, potatoes from David Little, bread from Della Fattoria, apples from Stan deVoto, rice from Massa, assorted vegetables from Catalan Farms, and of course I hear the beans from Rancho Gordo are worth the lines! The Doc is being very kind. Unfortunately, I've "retired" from the market as I've actually grown too big for my britches (literally and figuratively) so I only make special guest appearances now. Joan and Sarah are much nicer (and prettier) and they will serve you well.

I didn't say all the programming was good, merely that it was profitable. My jab was more at all the amateur TV execs (and embittered ex-talents and their pals) who post about "The death of the food network" and "Boy those people are stupid, they're driving away all their viewers" here and elsewhere on the Internet. It's an interesting parellel: many people who can properly heat up a can of soup think they "can cook", and many people who watch television think they know how to run a network. Neither is true. But please, keep the vitriol coming. It is entertaining! Edited to add: I also find it fascinating when someone chooses to define themselves as a "discriminating viewer" based on what they do not watch as opposed to what they do. ← Vitriol? I have it in spades but you didn't see it here. You used the word "haters". I think you were hoping for fireworks. I don't know anyone who thinks they're driving viewers away. Has anyone said that? They're driving us away but that doesn't seem a concern. It's been pointed out many times that there's room for both foam and steak at the table but FN has made it clear it doesn't care. I don't care, either. It's not like we lost some fabulous resource or font of information. I wish them well, I hope America learns a little more about cooking, but I have some living to do and won't be wasting much time pro or con on Food TV.

Finding the current lineup at Food TV a complete waste of energy, brain cells and time does not make you a "hater". It makes you a discriminating viewer or a savvy home cook. Beavis and Butthead were quite popular for awhile. And yet I don't think they defined comedy. If you enjoy seeing how wrappers fit on candy bars, more power to you!

Just to add another opinion, I think in many circles a pipian would be considered a mole and it's certainly associated with the Yucatan, and pre-hispanic. In fact, I think it would be cute to call it a "Mayan mole". And to further complicate things, I have a recipe for Mole estilo Campeche which may not be Mayan, but it's from the region.

It's listed as Regional Mexican Cuisine: Peubla and Oaxca. It suggests maybe the CIA isn't the place to do this!

I bought this book last year based on Ruth's initial post and loved it. It's easy to read without being patronizing and touches on all the major players, and then some. It's just a plain good read and very handy. So I keep reading it and wondering....something is nagging me that this might be eG's own nickarte, who over the years has some of the most interesting posts here on DF and food in general. So I PM'd him and asked and indeed it was! So congrats to Nick! I made sure to meet him just this last Monday when I was in Mexico City and he's as nice and knowledgeable guy as he seems in the book. He took me to a great taqueria with some unbelievable sauces and excellent al pastor and dreamy charro beans.

There are so many non sequitors and red herrings, I don't know where to start. But we've been down this road before and there's no winning so I'm not biting except to say I work in ag and I deal with a lot of farmers/growers/corporations and it's not a question of organic versus non-sustainable. It's gross profits versus obscenely gross profits.

Are we exporting our factory farmed chickens and pork? How many of these hungry citizens are feeding? How much does it cost to clean up the toxic waste? Who is paying for that? Just curious!

Don't you know that Americans consuming flash frozen farm raised shrimp from Zimbabwe is better for the environment than a local tomato?

I believe that this is a repackaging/update of one of his previous books, "Arabesque". ← I think Arabesque was written by Claudia Roden. Christine ← The Malouf book came first! i WAS surprised Roden named her book Arabesque when she had to have known about the Malouf book, especially since it's such a great book. Naughty, Claudie!

I'm afraid you're probably right, mojoman. I'm not sure pro-industry/pro-chain is such a bad thing to be 100% of the time. Your comment sounds more like pro-truth, anti-spin. ← Perhaps you could let us know what the mitigating circumstances are. There is nothing in the press coverage to suggest that -- aside from a modest profit increase for BK and solidarity amongst exploitative tomato growers -- there's any upside to this. ← I'm thinking they should give them 10 cents more a pound and make the tomatoes actually taste like something.

I don't know what the situation is like now (I am almost afraid to find out) but in the 70s, newly arriving workers would discover they could only live in the provided housing and had no real way to shop except at the company store and they'd be forever in debt and it really was close to slavery. Governor Jerry Brown outlawed the short handled hoe as it was breaking their backs. Growers like the short hoes because they could tell who was working and who was standing around. Until relatively recently, we've been encouraging seasonal ag workers. Now, the climate is changing but rather than pay a decent wage, the growers are moving the whole show to Mexico. So in an effort to keep Mexicans out so they can't do the jobs we won't do, we are now going to lose our agriculture industry and be dependent on another country for our food! I've oversimplified it and a lot can change. I just don't trust anyone who things they know exactly how we should be solving the problems. They are very complicated and require brains and nuance.

I think it was close to 1980 before the boycott ended. I was very active here in California and even got to meet Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. We were asking people to "Boycott lettuce! Boycott grapes! Boycott the Wine that Gallo makes!" well into the mid-70s. I know that on the retail level, the price of iceberg lettuce went up an average of 2 cents a head in exchange for a living wage and the choice of unions. (The farm workers were forced to join the Teamsters in a sweetheart deal with the growers to make it seem as if unions were allowed.)

Seeing your photos reminded me how much fun that was and why we ended up eating well - by eating in. I made a lot of soup. Most of the fisherman would just want the filets so I'd go down to the launch every day and pick up some fabulous bones and make a soup with these, tomatoes and dried chiles. And ceviche. And simple grilled fish. We also found wild tomatillos everywhere. Very small but sweet enough to eat raw. The fishing is pretty thrilling!

I had a difficult time of things the time I went to Baja. We flew into Cabo and drove directly to Cabo Pulmo, which is a gorgeous reef and a village with solar energy. Even getting bad tortillas was a chore. The produce was dismal and the taco shack on the beach was uninspired. And I was there for almost 2 weeks! This wasn't the Mexico I know and love. We made many excursion in the area and while the nature was stunning, the food kept getting worse, even in rural towns. I couldn't wait to get to La Paz but for Mexican food, it was no great shakes. The public market was very sad. My impression was that most of Baja seems built around serving gringo tourists. A groovier, greener tourist, but a tourist nonetheless. This is an impression and not based on facts, so I am more than happy to be corrected. Maybe things are more Mexican further north.

This very good blog has a better than good recipe for creamed onions. The thought of them isn't so appealing to me but this version makes sense.

The Rancho Gordo beans weren't old! It could be the water. You also want the beans to enjoy a hard boil for 5-15 minutes at first before you turn the heat down low. I also believe you can oversoak the beans. The times I've heard of problems with our beans are when they were soaked over 12 hours. I wonder if they don't start to ferment and then make the whole thing take longer. But I cook in clay, soak from 2-4 hours and 90% of the time have beans within an hour and a half. I use a Brita for the water and I don't change it after soaking. I salt 3/4 of the way through. I fill never fill the pot over half way so there's lots of air and moisture circulating and I make sure the beans are always covered with no more than an inch of liquid. I don't know how much of this affects the time but i'm throwing out everything I do. I make beans 3-4 times a week.

that is wonderful and makes me well up a bit! And yes, there will be lots of photos. No to cooking school and San Miguel de Allende beyond a day trip. Too little time! Rachel, with the whole Cervantes festival, would you say Guanajuato has a more Spanish influence than other Mexican cities?

I can't wait until we're breaking bread, er tortillas, together.Ahem. ← With jaymes, of course, who is integral to so many of my Mexican food adventures!

Wow! I knew about the black ones (and had a hell of a time with them here in Napa) but the red are new to me. I would almost bet money that the brown ones are what we call Yellow Eyes: but I've been wrong before. Actually, they could be butterscotch calypsos. Or brown vacaitas as you say. Is that a stray Flor de Mayo among the brown vacacitas? Yes, I do want to touch them! I can't wait until we're breaking bread, er tortillas, together.

On my trips to Mexico, as a tourist, I haven't been stupid but I haven't been that cautious, either. I brush my teeth with bottled water but I've also had horchata and pulque in the markets. Are the ice cubes made with purified water in a situation like that? Am I being foolish? Knock wood, I've never had a problem. My theory is the copious amounts of lime on everything and the plentiful tequila shots (again with lime) are keeping my system clean and happy.