Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Actually, we also omit Cointreau in favor of fresh-squeezed orange juice. Partly because it gives them a lovely fresh orange flavor, and partly because I no longer drink anything with more than one kind of liquor. Additional sweetness comes from a dash of simple syrup. Fresh-squeezed lime juice (from our tree), fresh-squeezed orange juice, simple syrup, and your tequila of choice--this recipe gets raves from everyone we serve it to. It's my husband's specialty, and he doesn't give out the recipe to just anybody. I disagree with AB about reposados--we prefer blanco for its flavor of the roasted agave, both for sipping and for margaritas. We enjoy Olmeca Altos plata and include it on our "favorites" list. Plus it's great value. When sampling tequilas you can find some very delicious ones (and some very expensive ones), but Los Altos is among the best values. Another fave is Espolon blanco. What's interesting is how different distilleries bring out different flavors from the same blue agave. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Always blanco, for everything--margaritas, sipping. By the way, a decent mezcal makes a pretty good margarita, though I think you'd have to give it a new name. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Thanks for the tip--I'll check it out. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Has anyone found a dish drainer that looks better than the usual plastic or plastic-coated wire ones? One that would look decent, perhaps even attractive, on the counter by the sink? Even when new the WM ones seem underwhelming. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

I'm going to have to look for one of these shears. Every year at Thanksgiving my husband and I struggle to cut apart 2 big turkeys (they cook perfectly that way--leg/thigh/wings first and breasts last). Those poultry shears look ideal. Any idea where to find them? Amazon, I suppose. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

We finally replaced our faithful Braun citrus juicer with a Proctor-Silex--much cheaper and much noisier, but it works well enough. The Braun had too many broken parts that couldn't be replaced. Right now our juice oranges are perfect, but in the summer we'll stop buying them because the juice is pale yellow and flavorless. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Yep--slip of the fingers while typing. Or perhaps some insidious auto-correct did it. One of my least favorite features of computers and word processing. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

I think that might be neem oil. It's useful against soft-bodied insects, mealybugs, scale, etc. Buy the concentrate--a small amount mixed with water will do the trick and the concentrate lasts a long time. I just dowsed a tomato plant that had a serious white-fly infestation and it dramatically cut down the population. It needs another treatment to keep them from coming back, which they will. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

I think I could make these with chicharrones, fried pork skin. It's ubiquitous around here, though the smell of them cooking makes me gag. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

One thing about avocados--they require adequate salt (and some lime juice, IMO) so they don't taste bland. Sometimes a surprising amount of salt, but make sure you taste as you go along. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Do you refrigerate this after storing in the glass jar? Nancy in Pátzcuaro

My husband jokes that my dessert is hidden in his dessert. I rarely order a separate dessert for myself but allow myself a bite or 2 of his. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

I've heard that freezing excess avocados--did you ever think there could be such a thing as excess avocados?--is a reasonable way to preserve a bountiful harvest. I believe the technique is to puree them with a big pinch of salt and the juice of a lime or 2, though I would like something chunkier, or even slices for sandwiches. The puree would suffer less deterioration of texture, I think. Think smoothies, green goddess dressing, even guacamole, though we prefer our guac more on the chunky side. Ice cream is quite wonderful because even without dairy the richness of the avocado makes it deliciously creamy. Soups, cheesecake, cookies, sauces--the ingredient can benefit a lot of baked goods, among other things.. I think it substitutes very nicely for some if not all of the fat in baked goods. I make a quite tasty chocolate fudge that uses avocado as well as a small amount of butter. In your case I'd start pureeing and freezing because the puree is very useful in many other applications. I find avocado needs salt, and a generous squeeze of lime never hurts. We like them sliced and dressed with lime, coarse ground sea salt, and bit of fresh black pepper. Save the best ones for using fresh--the others will be just fine in other applications, like puree. It's a lovely thing to have too many avocados. Admittedly it starts to feel like an obligation and you may despair of being able to use all of them. But with a little creative giving away and having enough freezer space to accommodate the puree, you'll find a use for them. There's a restaurant in Morelia almost directly across from the Cathedral that serves a fish fillet coated in coconut with a slightly piquant avocado sauce. There are many delicious items on the menu but I find I always order that fish. Partly it's the coconut and partly it's the sauce. in fact I'm going to give that recipe a try one of these days. It's not a complicated dish, but the flavors work together brilliantly. In the past the fish has been dorado (mahi mahi) but now it's trout. I think I'll try it with grouper fillets (frozen of course). So rejoice in your windfall. And enjoy the many good things you can do with avocados. We have a tree that has been very good to us. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

My recipe is a combination of 2 or 3 others, one of which had the step of pouring the hot oil into the batter and then pouring it all back into the skillet. It jump starts the cooking and seems to improve the overall texture. You're right--it sure does sizzle. I think the hot oil is incorporated into the batter more thoroughly than mixing it into the wet ingredients in the usual way, and there's a nice crust. But in any case you need to find a recipe you like, which is what we all try to do. Have fun experimenting! Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Here's my go-to recipe for corn bread (and I can promise it's not cakey) Place 4 Tbs. oil in a 10" cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat to 400. Mix together 1 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. water and set aside. Stir together 2 c. cornmeal, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 2 Tbs. sugar in a large bowl. Beat together 3 eggs and 1-1/2 c. buttermilk Mix wet and dry ingredients until well combined. Stir up the baking soda/water and add. Pour hot oil into batter and stir well. Pour back into hot pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Don't overbake. The Southerners among us may object to the 2 Tbs. of sugar, but for the rest of us it's just about right. It may be too eggy for some--in which case reduce the eggs and add a bit of buttermilk to compensate--but we like it this way. We like leftovers toasted with butter in the toaster oven for breakfast. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

I'm not old enough to have experienced this myself, but I do recall my parents talking about "Victoria Gardens" during WWII. When we lived in Colorado at 7200 feet it wasn't possible to grow all our own food--hell, I spent 29 years trying to grow a decent tomato--but I did fill the freezer with green beans, which was about all that would grow reliably with a 115-day growing season. You'd think that would be enough time, but if about a third of those nights get down below 40 it takes most of the next day to recover. Winter squash was problematic most years. Potatoes and onions worked well. Carrots and beets, chard, spinach, leeks, broccoli and cauliflower (if you could keep it under row covers for insect protection)--those sorts of crops worked OK most years. Now I live in a place where I can buy just about anything I want in the mercado, so the incentive for planting a garden is greatly reduced. Though I don't really have space for it here. Thus far we have had no problems with water, and a lot of Michoacán produce ends up in the US. Right now there's an explosion of berry production--strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries--all destined for US and foreign markets. Driscoll and Dole are buying a lot of berries and probably own most of the fields. But I still miss having a garden. I may have to rip out some of the excess bouganvilleas and start growing my own. We have all gotten used to finding whatever we want, whenever we want it, all year round. Strawberries in January even though they taste like styrofoam, kiwis from New Zealand, grapes from Chile--I'm as guilty as anyone. Water will continue to be the most important factor in the future. The conflict between agricultural and domestic use isn't going away anytime soon. Those of us who grew up in the western US know all too well how this will play out. South Africa sounds as if they will have to work out that dilemma sooner rather than later, because people need water to drink and wash with, and the agricultural users need it also. This is why there are more water lawyers in Colorado than in any other part of the US. However, if it's not raining in South Africa the problem is the same for everyone, farmers and homeowners alike. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

At least here in Michoacán Walmart has 3 levels of stores--Bodega Aurrera (the low end warehouse style store with a full produce section), traditional Walmart, and Superama (high end with a lot of merchandise that is hard to find elsewhere). Superama has a particularly good fresh fish department--I once saw a whole tuna on ice, and they regularly have full sides of bacalao at Christmas, thick with salt. Prices are only slightly higher. However, other than Bodega Aurrera, those stores are in Morelia and we don't go there very often. So we keep lists and do our shopping in one trip. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

We've adopted the Mexican system of a good breakfast (fruit, yogurt, granola, toast with avocado, sometimes oatmeal or eggs) and then our main meal of the day between 2-4 pm. A snack around 7-8 if I'm peckish. My husband normally eats something at night because he has a bigger appetite than I do. When we invite friends for a meal we often return to the usual schedule and try to eat around 7. It's not quite like "eat like a king at breakfast," but it's worked well for us. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

We're going to the annual Super Bowl party and the hosts have requested appetizers, side dishes or desserts. My spouse likes to make apple pie--I wish he wouldn't obsess so much over the crust, but that's an engineer for you--and I think I'll make cheese straws, though that is not certain. There is no Pepperidge Farm puff pastry here so I'll have to do without. I've made these before with a much simpler pastry, sort of a blitz type with much less rolling and turning, and it works nicely. I've been perusing my recipe files and have been sorely tempted by other things, so my decision may change at the last minute. So many recipes, so little time. I have no dog in the hunt this year--alas, the Broncos turned into the Donkeys, as they so often do, sometime in the middle of the season--so I just hope for a good game, without questionable refereeing and minimal injuries. I have a long history with the Broncos--anybody remember Craig Morton?--so I'm accustomed to disappointment. I just wish my dad had lived long enough to see the Cubs win the World Series. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

I love making chapatis--it's great fun watching them puff up in the oven. Turns out you can make up a big batch of the dough and store it in the fridge for when you want a few for your dal. In my experience the dough is improved, both in taste and puff-ability, by resting for a day or two in the fridge. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

The subtitle of Devi's book is "Lord Krishna's Cuisine." In that cuisine onion and garlic flavor, though not the texture, is supplied by asafetida. This seems to be a case of mixing spiritual practice with food, much as other faiths have restrictions on what they don't consume and why. It's fine by me, though I agree that onion and garlic are two of the essential ingredients. Does all Indian vegetarian food avoid onion and garlic or is Lord Krishna's Cuisine the only one? I admit to being ignorant of other styles. This book has always satisfied my craving for Indian food. Yeah, my copy of the book is heavily annotated and some pages are badly stained. The book falls open at favorite recipes. I have a friend who's vegan, and Indian food is one of his faves. It's a great choice for vegetarians and vegans. Nancy in Pátzcuaro (where there is no Indian food if I don't cook it)

Indian vegetarian food has been a favorite cuisine in our house ever since I bought Yamuna Devi's doorstop of a book, The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. I have put the Madhur Jaffrey book on my list to buy in the US the next time we drive north. It's a little tricky to get the necessary ingredients but I have a lot of the special seasonings already and I can always stock up when I find myself in the right kind of grocery store. There are many fine cuisines in the world, but I think Indian vegetarian food should be on that list. In my mind one of the great cuisines of the world. So cook away and share with us your favorites. My mouth is watering already. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

I would encourage you to take seriously Lisa's advice about protecting your food (and yourself) from bears while camping. We spent many years car camping and backpacking in the Colorado mountains and securing food was always a high priority. It's a lot harder when backpacking--you have to rig up a rope around the food container and haul it up between 2 trees--but it was possible to do without too much trouble. Put all your food back in the cooler and put it in your car at the end of the day. Take your garbage to the campground dumpster, which should be bear-proof, every night. Don't leave any food lying around your campsite while you're off hiking. Not only might it encourage a passing bear to come back later but it could attract dogs or other critters who would have no shame in snatching that bag of potato chips off the picnic table. That said, unless there are bears who have become accustomed to raiding trash cans in the area, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. In fact we've never actually seen a bear in a campground or back country site. We now camp, princess style, in a small RV so we aren't as rigorous about this as we used to be. As I told my husband, I'm too old to sleep on the ground anymore. Have fun with this. It is wonderful to get away from the lights and sounds of the city. I assume you'll be doing this when the weather warms up. Winter camping is not for the faint of heart--we only did it once and did not enjoy it. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

We are going to our Catalan friend's house for paella. Not traditional but I'm sure it will be wonderful. We are at a disadvantage here, being inland and at the mercy of frozen seafood, but I'm sure Louis will rise to occasion. By the way, he's 95. I can only hope to be anywhere near as competent as he is when I get old. He says his mother lived to be 105 so we will have him for quite a few more years. I think a New Year's Eve dinner with salt cod would be appropriate. I do love salt cod. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Back in the late 1960s I flew from time to time from Denver to Albuquerque to visit Santa Fe. The meals were unmemorable--some sort of mystery meat mostly--but each time peas were served as the vegetable. Now flying north-south along the Rockies is bumpy at the best of times and alarming once in a while. When we landed at ABQ the cabin was littered with peas that had gotten away from diners because of the turbulence. It was hard not to squash them as we exited the aircraft. I sympathized with the cleaning crew. This was Western Airlines--"the ONLY way to fly!" Long gone, as are so many of them. Nancy in Pátzcuaro