Jump to content

esperanza

participating member
  • Posts

    254
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by esperanza

  1. Izote, in a walk. Do a search, there's a thread somewhere here with a writeup I did about year ago. Late October 2004.

    El Tajín in Coyoacán. The owner/chef, Alicia Gironella d'Angelis, is one of the deservedly best known Mexican food experts in the world. If the chicken with hoja santa is on the menu, oh my god--do not miss it. That chicken is the reason I recently planted an hoja santa plant. Plant is almost big enough to start using the leaves and I will strive to replicate the recipe.

    Azul y Oro on the UNAM campus, chef/owner Ricardo Muñoz. Time Magazine recently named Muñoz one of the five best chefs in Mexico.

    Pujol. A very knowledgable friend ate there recently and said it was out of this world.

    Gallos Centenario is very pretty--gorgeous, actually--but the food is nothing to write home about. I ate there in May and wouldn't go back, even for the lovely building and its decor.

  2. Coloque las cáscaras de la fruta en un pote con tapa. Agregue agua hervida hasta cubrirlas. Añada un poco de azúcar. Deje fermentar por los menos 2 semanas. Filtre y viértalo en un envase previamente esterilizado.

    *Put the pineapple peels in a jar with a top. Add enough boiled water to cover the peels. Add a little sugar. Allow to ferment at least two weeks. Strain and pour the vinegar into a previously sterilized jar.*

    I've never prepared vinagre de piña, but I'd sure like to hear about it if any of the rest of you use this admittedly sketchy recipe.

  3. Botanas

    Tacos de Guacamole con cristal de jícama

    Chile Poblano Relleno de Queso Panela y de Cabra con salsa de guajillo

    de Maíz

    Quesadillas de Flor de Calabaza al epazote

    Enchiladas al Brie con salsa de guajillo

    Ensaladas

    Ensalada de Jitomates y queso de cabra en hoja santa con vinagreta de cilantro

    y cebolla caramelizada

    Ensalada Verde con Lechuguitas de Campo Orgánicas con vinagre balsámico,

    cebolla morada, queso panela y aguacate

    Ensalada de Lechuguitas Orejonaas a la vinagreta de queso zacatecas y añejo

    al chile Meco

    Sopas

    Sopa Tarasca Caldosa con Frijol Bayo con crema, tortillas, y chile ancho

    Crema de Elote a la escencia de chipotle

    Caldo Ligero de Flor de Calabaza con arroz y aguacate de Atlixco

    Sopa de Zanahoria con chile ancho relleno de queso de cabra

    Pastas y Arroz

    Fettuccini al guajillo con ajo y cilantro

    Lasagna de cuitlacoche al vapor

    Caveat: as I mentioned, this menu is about one year old and may well be quite different by now.

  4. Ultimately you want to head west, but unless someone knows another, better route, you will have to go either north or south to get to the correct road heading west. Unfortunately the airport is on the eastern edge of the DF and Morelia is almost due west and a bit south, which means you have to go either around or through the entire city to find the way. It's not easy.

    I have known any number of people who have paid a taxi driver to lead them to the right roads going through/around/out of the DF. It doesn't cost very much, it will save you a lot of stress, hair-pulling, blue air and time, and everyone who's done it has said it was well worth it. Others have paid a policeman driving a patrol car to do the same thing.

    The trip to Morelia should take about four hours, providing you don't get too lost on the way out of the DF.

    If you don't have a map of the DF, Edomex (the state of Mexico), and the state of Michoacán, you'll want one. The Guia Roji Por Las Carreteras de México is the best map I've found; section by section, it covers the entire country.

    Be sure you take the cuota (toll road) to Michoacán. If you take the free road, you will have to drive Mil Cumbres (1000 Peaks). It's gorgeous, but it will take you double or more the usual toll road time.

    And, for what it's worth, that's a very expensive section of the toll road. Be prepared to pay nearly 1000 pesos for the ride, each way.

    AND: pshew, I just re-read your original post. You know that you need to make legal arrangements to bring your Sudanese foster son into Mexico? If he's a minor, and if he's placed in your home through the court, you will be required to have court signatures on documents stating that he may travel out of and back into the USA with you. If he's an adult, he needs to bring the documents that any adult citizen of his country must have to come to Mexico. Don't leave home without the right papers or he (and you) will be turned back when you try to board your flight to Mexico.

    And lordy, if you think Chicago traffic is bad, wait till you see Mexico City.

  5. The other thing you have to know about driving in Mexico City is the "Hoy No Circula" law. Basically, it means that you are not allowed to drive your vehicle--even a rented vehicle--on certain days based on your license plate number.

    Here is the key to when you can't drive.

    If your license plate number ends in:

    Mondays 5 and 6

    Tuesdays 7 and 8

    Wednesdays 3 and 4

    Thursdays 1 and 2

    Fridays 0 and 9 and cars with all letters in their plate

    You can't drive the vehicle in either the DF or in the neighboring state of Mexico on those days. You'll need to plan your trip not only based on the day you leave Mexico City, but on the day you come back to Mexico City.

    IMHO, it would be far simpler to take a plane directly to Morelia and have your relatives take a bus and meet you at the airport there. You can easily rent a van in Morelia.

    And where are you going to get those tamales?

  6. Sharon, get ready to duck again.

    Rosca de Reyes has absolutely nothing to do with Carnaval (the equivalent of Mardi Gras). Rosca de Reyes is served on the Day of the Three Kings--January 6. That's why it's called rosca de reyes, chica--ring of the kings.

    Carnaval is the period during late February or early March just before Lent starts. It's the last blast of parties and whoopdedoo before the long penance leading up to Easter.

  7. Sharon, I'm thinking about your mention of a rosca de reyes. I've never seen one served on Christmas, but the regional traditions where I've lived may be different from those you know. Around here, rosca is traditionally served on January 6. Whoever bites down on the Baby Jesus has to give a tamales party on February 2, Día de la Candelaria. One year my neighbor was in dire financial straits--and he got the baby. Rather than announce it, he swallowed it so he wouldn't have to give the party. :laugh:

    You might want to liven up your party with a piñata or two. Piñatas are common during the posadas and on Christmas Day. At this time of year, they're stuffed with mandatory sweets, with cacahuates in the shell, and with tangerines, which are in season right now. Sometimes small toys are included: little tops, yoyos, hand-held puzzles, etc.

    And don't forget the aguinaldo for your ladies! Aguinaldo in the form of a little goodie bag to take home is typical here. It's usually for the kids, but your ladies would like it too. Fill a small bag with candies and animal crackers, or something inventive, tie it with a holiday ribbon, and bingo.

    Mmmm...ponche. I saw the season's first tejocotes in the market yesterday. Ponche can't be far behind. I have a super recipe, if you need one--spiked a gusto with charanda! I prefer rum, or tequila, but charanda packs quite a kick.

  8. Mercy, this is fascinating!!!!!!

    I am equally unaware of any fermented beverage or dish made strictly from nixtamalized corn.  Rachel is again correct that those types of products (eg:  Andean chicha, or corn beer) begin with the fermentation of the whole grains.

    Hmm...I recently wrote an article about several of the odder Mexican beverages (aguamiel, pulque, tepache, pajarete, tuba, and tejuino). In fact, tejuino is a slightly fermented beverage made from masa--nixtamalized corn--not from the whole grain. Let me quote from the article:

    "Since ancient times, cooling tejuino has refreshed Mexico. It's made from the same corn masa (dough) that's used for tortillas and tamales. The prepared masa is mixed with water and piloncillo (cone-shaped Mexican brown sugar) and boiled until the liquid is quite thick. It's then allowed to ferment slightly—but just slightly. I've never known anyone to get so much as a buzz from sipping a cupful of cold tejuino.

    "Once the tejuino is thickened and fermented, it's mixed as needed with freshly squeezed jugo de limón (key lime juice), a pinch of salt, water, ice, and a big scoop of lemon sherbet. Here at XXXX, it's sold in plastic glasses—small, medium, and large—or in a plastic bag with the top knotted around a drinking straw."

    Is it possible that tejuino is the only (however slightly) fermented drink that's made from masa?

    It's good to read these posts. This is a really a great thread.

  9. In the Zacatecas area, wheat flour gorditas are very thin, just a bit thicker than a standard corn tortilla. After they're cooked, they're split and stuffed with whatever guisados are available. There's a small chain of restaurants--Gorditas Doña Julia --in Zacatecas that serves only these gorditas and they are out of this world.

  10. Shelora, I've been sitting here smiling at your smiling little dog with his corn cob--in all my years in Mexico I've never seen one like that. He is truly adorable.

    Then I looked again at your food pictures. Not only are you an excellent photographer, but the presentation of the dishes is lovely. Everything made me salivate. Wonderful!

    Thanks for posting the photos.

    Esperanza

  11. That would be a molcajete (the mortar) and tejolote (the pestle). I thought those were the dog's teeth--are you sure it's a corn cob?

    September 15 is called La Gran Noche Mexicana. Here in Mexico, it's celebrated in a way that reminds me of a combination of Fourth of July and Labor Day. The big festivities for Independence Day are on the 15th because it was during the late night of September 15, 1810 that Padre Hidalgo rallied the supporters of Mexican independence from Spain, in a little town called Dolores in the State of Guanajuato. He cried out (GRITO=cry) to the assembled for independence, and the crowd went on to form the first revolutionary army. Spain was ultimately defeated and the new nation called Mexico was born.

    The most typical food for a Gran Noche Mexicana dinner would be the famous Chiles en Nogada, or chiles poblano stuffed with picadillo, sauced with a walnut cream sauce (the nogada part of the name), and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. The green, white, and red of the flag are right there on your plate.

    This year, I was invited to a major event here in Guadalajara. The evening started at 9.30 PM with botanas and drinks for 1500 people, then a sit-down dinner (not Chiles en Nogada, unfortunately, but good nonetheless). Dinner was followed by the Grito: Viva Hidalgo! Viva Morelos! Viva La Corregidora! Viva México! Viva Guadalajara! Viva! Viva! Qué viva! and short speeches about independence, given by several government officials. Then there were fireworks--and all of this was indoors, mind you.

    After the fireworks, the show started. A full Aztec dance troupe started things off, a marvelous fourteen piece traditional mariachi continued the performance, followed by a male singer and several fantastic female singers taking turns at the microphone. All this was followed by ballet folklórico, then more of the same singers in duets, then more dancing, then more...ay ay ay, more and more. And more. And then came intermission, with a mime comic who had us all rolling in the aisles.

    I left not too long before the event was over--on the 15th, there's always the danger of drunk drivers out on the streets, and although my house was only five minutes from the party, I wanted to get home before the throng left.

    And what time did I get home? 3:30 AM. I'd been up 21 hours, quite a lot for this woman.

  12. Lástima que no soy tu mismísima Esperanza, Sra. Bárbara.

    Latest on Jojutla rice: yesterday I was at the tianguis where I had purchased an unidentified and most delicious rice several months ago. I hadn't seen it again since. But, there was the rice, looking suspiciously like--oh, could it be? This time I asked the vendor what rice it was.

    YES! Jojutla!

    She said it was very difficult to find here in Guadalajara and I thanked her profusely for bringing it. I bought a kilo (18 pesos, about $1.65 USD) and should have bought two.

    I cooked some yesterday for comida, to go with a Thai-ish concoction of things. Superb rice, just superb.

    :wub:

  13. Panadería La Esperanza (mi tocaya, por supuesto), just at the foot of Metro General Anaya, is absolutely wonderful for many things. I haven't been to any of their other sucursales, but this one...mmmmm.

    And speaking of Pan Bimbo--it can't be the Wonder Bread of Mexico, because Wonder Bread is made here.

    Just give me a good crusty bolillo, please.

  14. I apologize for that link.

    I've tried twice to fix it, but even when I open it directly from Google and copy the #&*!@ link into the URL thingamajig here, it won't open for me either. Cyber gremlins at work. And of course I saved the blankety-blank picture of the potatoes to my hard drive but can't figure out how to get the picture onto Image Gullet so I can post it here.

    Maybe a cut-and-paste will make it work: http://www.siea.sagarpa.gob.mx/InfOMer/analisis/Anpapa.html

    WHOA, there it goes!

    And I agree completely with Nick, I have no problem with the papas here. Rachel, you have to figure out what's going on with yours, just up the road.

    And next time you see some of those little red potatoes, wet your finger and rub it over one of them. Eeeewww. A tianguero friend of mine is the one who told me they were dyed red and so they are. The color is most unnatural.

  15. Sharon, you are exactly right in thinking that the servants brought the metates into the Spanish households--metates and molcajetes too, and all their indigenous cooking techniques. I wrote an article that included that information for the magazine a couple of months ago--title was "500 Years over a Hot Mexican Stove", or words to that effect. I think Rachel read it.

    esperanza

  16. Shelora, I think one of the reasons papas fritas are so much better here is that they are made from real honest-to-god papas, not the reconstituted something-or-other that passes for french fries in the States.

    I am linking to the following URL because it shows an excellent picture of the potatoes available here. These are Mexican potatoes, grown right here.

    From that website (in case your Spanish is rusty):

    In Mexico, 67 thousand hectáreas (about 170,000 acres) of potatoes are sown annually, from which a production of one million 350 thousand tons of potatoes are harvested. That harvest satisfies the demands of the Mexican consumer.

    In this country, the potato occupies fourth place in crop production, beaten only by corn, beans, rice, and wheat. Among cultivated crops, only tomato and chile verde cover a larger surfact. The potato is cultivated over 35% of the surface of Mexican national territory.

    You can make out the graphs even without knowing Spanish--it's fascinating to see all the statistics, particularly the pie graph which shows state by state potato production . Not only is the potato grown here in abundance, but another 316,000 tons of potatoes were imported into Mexico between 1994-2001.

    All I know is, they are always heaped up and running over at the tianguis and permanent markets here in Guadalajara.

    Who would have thought!

    Now: I am dying of curiosity about what wood-fired crocodile tastes like. Please don't tell me chicken.

  17. I've been pondering your original post on this topic, Rachel. So many foreigners here moan about the quality of the potatoes available in and around Guadalajara, too.

    My experience in this neck of the woods is that 99% of the little red potatoes are dyed red, not naturally red. I stopped buying them years ago. When I want new potatoes, I buy the little brown-skin ones.

    There are no baking potatoes--ah, for a russet!--anywhere here. The ubiquitous plain ol' white potato is everywhere, though, and that's what I buy. I gave up trying to bake them. I do use them for puré de papa and in all the other ways they're used in Mexican cooking: in caldo de pollo, cocido, as a stuffing for tacos and chiles rellenos, etc. I've gotten used to them, but on the very rare occasions when I find myself North of the Border, a baked russet is high on my list of gotta-have-its. And I usually bring several back with me.

    Like you, I find that it's extremely difficult to keep potatoes outside the refrigerator. They either sprout or spoil within a few days. I usually buy them at the tianguis as needed, the morning I'm cooking the whatever I need them for.

    I finally did cook some of the Jojutla rice and posted about it, by the way.

    Muchos saludos

    cristina

  18. How long has it been since I bought the Jojutla rice? A while! Today I finally cooked some. I followed the package directions: one part rice to two parts water, salt, bring to a boil, cover, allow to simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes.

    My first thought, when I poured the dry rice out of the package, is that it is a very large grain. Each grain is long and thick, but well-formed, not disproportionately thick. It looked nothing like the rice I usually buy at the tianguis, although it did strongly resemble the delicious rice I found there only once.

    When the rice was done, it was a VERY large grain and unusually fluffy. I ate it with sliced beef cooked in an ancho chile sauce. It absorbed the sauce quite nicely and held up well on the plate. I'd buy it again, and I'd sure use it in a dish such as paella--it would make an excellent paella. There are other dishes I'd use it in, too, dishes where the rice cooks with a sauce rather than with water. It would work quite well.

    I agree with Nick, however--it's no substitute for Arborio. I haven't used Valenciano so won't comment about that one.

    Thanks for letting us know about this, Rachel.

    Esperanza

×
×
  • Create New...