JTravel

Ok, now people in Western NYS understand why Mexico is attractive to us. A big topic in our lazy days is where shall we go for comida today? Sometimes we go out for breakfast, skip mid-afternoon meal, and get a sandwich in evening. Now our fridge has half a leftover Torta with chorizo plus half a pretty decent club sandwich from last night at Cafe Los Cuiles. But most days it is "main meal" between one and 3. Featuring El Huateque, 901 Alcala...the main walking street. It is a walk Up for us, but husband says I walk best for food. Comida Corrida Tuesday- Friday 75 pesos, about $5. open Sat. And Sunday with al la Carte menu....still a deal. It's probably going to be our Sunday choice. With looking for comida you always search for the blackboard, in doorway, or on sidewalk. Then appraise look, clean, busy, pleasing. Choices? El Huateque has one choice for set meal, and al a Carte. Many places only have set meal choices during comida hours. How much do you get? Do you like the choices? ( I might pass on squash or squash blossom soup). If good plunge in. When we can't decipher the menu we choose one of each, if offered. Sometimes we point at people's plates, sometimes we nod and hope for the best. Haven't had a bad meal in a month. I do realize you Mexico hands will know all this...maybe there are new people reading. What does El Huateqe (means Fiesta) have? First visit I went for just tortilla soup. Large filling bowl. DH had meal with real juice, soup , pork in tamarind sauce, lovely salad, and we both got really roasted plantains. Taste of pork convinced me to always get set meal. But on 2Sundays we got aka Carte including, tortilla soup for him, mixed salas which was huge and had lots of goodies, sandwich and an almond mole and mole nego. Both good, almond outstanding. pictures to follow more meals later

Good reading. We are in Oaxaca and our Top 50 list is mostly "who has the best comida corrida" in the 50-100 pesos range. Lots of N. Americans here, many on a fairly small budget, and when the main meal of the day, by tradition, is $3-6 U.S it is a big help. Dinner, later in the day is often Al a Carte and more expensive. SO, different strokes for different folks, food wise as always. I'm afraid the fancy places might be wasted on me but I like to read about it. Mexico is a food scene for sure!

Guest Speaker: Tonight at 5 at the Oaxaca Lending Library local cookbook author, cooking teacher, cheese monger, and more , Susanna Trilling spoke. She is probably best known for her Seasons of the Heart series on PBS, with a book to accompany it. Her cooking school, of the same name, is going to be joined by a cheese store with local and imported cheeses as I understood it. Also other local products from the villages, products that find it hard to find shelf space. SO, all this leads to a book, bilingual, worked on by a committee , including recipes from the women who are wives of farmers. One message of the book is keep the heritage crops and find a market for the products. Part of the profits go to a non-profit which helps the farmers with land and farming issues. It is a huge book....maybe 10x14 inches, paper cover, thick, lots of pictures, shiny paper.. The few copies she brought, they are heavy, were snapped up by eager readers. She sells them locally for 500pesos, about $30. Will not be on Amazon, but is on her website with a break on shipping. I plan to buy one locally. Not shilling for book, but enjoyed her stories of village life and the idea of heritage crops. A surprise treat for all attending, a little plate with 3 goodies, made at her school today. All local products. 1.A wedge of little ripe fig, a dab of white cheese, maybe feta, a dab of red jelly made from various peppers 2. A heart shaped (corn?) cracker, made in Oaxaca, topped with nopale salad, cubes of white cheese, cactus, tomato,onion? 3. A small corn husk wrapped tamale filled with tomato and cheese All were delicious, people were smacking their lips. Pictures not working, will try from phone. Big day tomorrow, cooking class in Zapotec village. Stay tuned.

Am I current or what. Hope you can read it. It is a New York Times article about the corns of Oaxaca becoming prized in U.S. http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=InCMR7g4BCJTYuyKqXu41jOSJwVvc59x&user_id=3d65d22d0f8ff3f41054578fd0b7480c&email_type=eta&task_id=1455325965902589&regi_id=0

Thanks, I didn't know how to do that. Soon Susanna Trilling is going to speak on her book The Milpa at the Oaxaca Lending Library. The library is one of center pieces of the English speaking community here.

It was suggested we take the trek to Itanoni, and since it had been on the list since our trip last year we did it. Our landlord gave us taxi instructions and a thumbs up. We got a taxi nearby and taxi driver gave thumbs up and "muy Bueno" and off we went to the N. Suburb of Reforma. Taxi cost 50 pesoes, about $3. ( forgive me if you don't like things priced. I like to know so assume others do.) Signs saying ask about photos, no luck there so no photos. BUT....Google Itanoni, look for Serious Eats article with Alice Waters. Way better than I could do. Itanoni looks like a typical "front of house" Mexican place. Plastic lawn chairs and simple tables, cement under foot and colored streamers above. Kitchen right in the front room. I sat very close to one of their comal structures....large comal with another area for large pot to bubble away. Ordering was confusing, no English and we didn't know the drill. But basically everything is wrapped in a corn wrapper of some size and crispness and made from a specific corn meal . The flavor of the corn was amazing....again, read what Alice Waters says. We had two of the large, filled tetelas ,they had been opened along one side and filled with cool cr ema, added to the hot from grill beans and cheese. Really the edges were so crisp and chewy and perfect. We had small open/topped tortillas, cheese and black beans with cojita. DH had the lemon drink with herbabena? And I had the chocolate champurrado drink, nearly a pudding, very thick with corn meal. Tasty and interesting. Mainly the experience was fun, the seeing everything made, the taste. I hope to go again and understand better what I have. Total 2 drinks, 2 tetelas, 2 small topped open faced tortillas, and a beef barbecue rolled in a large tortilla... 150 pesos about $9. Fun outing, sorry I was not more prepared.

Sorry about putting this in the cooking as opposed to dining section. I don't know how to move it, so here it is. It's cold here now, evenings were warmer a couple of weeks ago. Thoughts may turn to a cup of hot coffee, or in my case, a mug of hot chocolate. You are in the Right place. Known for both coffee and chocolate, the state of Oaxaca provides the capital city with both. We are staying in a tiny apartment just west of Santo Domingo church. It is a block+ off the main walking street so every area is not as busy. But let me introduce you to some coffee shops in our neighborhood alone. The big player in town (and country?) for chocolate is Mayordomo with several shops of various sizes. Side note...they all offer 15 peso chocolate milkshakes....just under a dollar. They are made with their powered Chocomio product plus frozen milk and cold milk. My husband can barely pass a shop without ver getting one. They sell fresh ground chocolate, to your recipe, to hotels, restaurants etc. Plus a little bag to me. Lots of tablets for mixing with water or milk. On one corner of the Alcala, walking street, is a Brujula coffee bar, one of 4 in town. We were having a hot chocolate (35p) a couple nights ago when we got talking to the guy next to us. After discussing our favorite eating places, coffee,and chocolate, he revealed he was the owner of the 4 shops. Came here from U.S. And started them one by one. We have two new shops on our block that opened in the last week. Kid you not. Mezzaluna, a restaurant serving pizza etc. took over the corner spot where there was a nice bakery before. It's quite a large space with doors on two streets. Haven't checked it out. Our sentimental favorite is just 2 doors down, don't even have to cross the street. A nice Mexican man who lived in U.S opened last weekend. It's small but decorated very nicely and he is bi-lingual and very personable. A plus for us. Of course every restaurant will serve you coffee, chocolate , and foods and every coffee shop cafe will serve some food...rolls from the bakery or sandwiches. Lots of crossover. That's a lot on this topic. Now let's hope for pictures. Our neighbor New coffee truck by the park another cafe chocolate at Mayodomo...our 2nd favorite , 30 pesos, large, hot, rich....do not skimp on good stuff people. These people know chocolate.

We are a couple in our 70s who have decided we can't do tours any more. So we have settled on spending the worst, we hope, of NYS winter here. Right now it is quite cold at night, with no heat ( or a/c) in our tiny apartment. But days are warm and when the sky is blue, it is Blue. You may ask why two people with some mobility problems chose a highland city (around 5000') with rough sidewalks, busy traffic and lots of walking. Think sunny days, a great zocalo,lovely colors, and good Food. It's Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-Ha-kah), in southern Mexico, surrounded by craft villages. This may be a bit disjointed as I am writing on my iPad, but pictures are on Windows phone. They do not play well together. So posting may be in 2 sections. We have been here about a month and have about another month to go. We are still finding new sights and places to eat. We eat mid range with lots of comida corridas, a few street foods and a couple high end places with specials. Food is plentiful and cheap for us. I could almost live on the mangoes. We eat one meal out most days and eat in on great bread, leftovers, fruit etc. there is a large backup jar of peanut butter. SO, let me see what I can do about the pictures and you can be sending questions while you wait. Coffee, chocolate, a little beer, fruit, chiles ,and tlauyudas coming soon. JT Welcome to Oaxaca color our first cart food...Hormiga Tortas in the park

The above link worked fine for me and I didn't have to change anything. I had heard him talking on NPR today so enjoyed seeing it. I never buy a supermarket ham, but that idea looks very good.

At a church sale, for $3. I bought this new (in battered old box) clay cooker. So far I have made minestrone, a roast chicken and this hulking 8 cup loaf of bread. A bit overdone (it's harder to check temp with the lid) but fine texture. Enjoying it.

The naan experiment was a partial success....the tiles were OK, could have been hotter. Lots of fussy slapping of bread on tiles in very hot oven. Didn't get burned but risk always there. In the end, I went to the fry pan and that was easier and better. Bread from both was excellent and reheated/toasted later it was the best flatbread I have ever made. Corn bread today, recipe not my favorite but it did OK in BSO. But done several minutes before time given in recipe so lucky I was watching.

Going only on the cold, and some trees.....I'm guessing MelissaH in the north country of New York State.

DH bought the BSO at BB&B for our Christmas present, thanks to this discussion. He was able to use the 20% off coupon though the fine print seems to exclude it. So about $200. I think it will be a very good deal. So far only toast, reheated frozen muffins and pizza and a small batch of corn custard which had a lovely brown top....which the oven never did. I'm planning to try a batch of Naan....using a couple of quarry tiles. Great bread gfweb.....makes for lots of options.

Did the markets.....drank the hot wine.....have the mugs to prove it. I've tried various mixtures....including gluhwein mixtures from Germany but I'd be happy to have a recipe I can make at home. It's cold enough here in western NYS to drink it now. Also, last year tried some "milk punch" at a market on the Rhine. That was good too....in a very different ways. I'd love to know how they make that.

We were on a tour following the Canal du Midi and we stopped in Narbonne to see canal sights. It would be a lovely town to base yourself for travel in southern France. I spent most of my time in the Narbonne market....lovely foods, lots of customers. I wished I needed foods. Pictures of some of the types of foods....I didn't even make it to the seafood section.

Rochester NY now has an independent cheese shop....the Little Bleu Cheese Shop. It's in a city neighborhood that is on the upswing...with restaurants, little retail shops, and a handmade chocolate/ice cream shop. The cheese shop is marketing very actively, holding tastings with wine or beer and taking part in lots of events. Prices are per quarter pound and I find them too rich for my budget aside from an occasional treat. But wish them, and South Wedge good luck....it has become a fun area to visit. http://littlebleucheese.com

Wonderful stories of how the tastes of the finest, freshest, best have made anything else a big disappointment. For me tomatoes never are good enough if you grew up on ones from the garden. I still remember "the pear"....eaten in France in the 60s....sweet juice running down arm. Never knew a pear was supposed to taste like that.

I think I have all 27, mostly bought over a period of years as I found them used. I have given many (mostly Chinese) to grad students we've befriended.....they found them fascinating....."so old fashioned". I will use the Lion's Head meatball recipe for entertaining soon....we enjoyed them several times on our China trip. One favorite is the one on the NorthEast US which shows scenes very much like where my parents grew up. The old lady peeling carrots could be my grandmother. I often showed that to international friends so they could see what life , and food, was like in those days. Any interest in more cover photos?

Sounds like lunch to me....do you cook them from frozen?

Good timing....on Sat. I visited our newly remodeled and improved Asian market. I have seen the various balls in bags before but this place had a regular frozen "buffet" counter. Sorry I didn't take a photo. 6-8 kinds, in open bins with a scoop to fill your bag....all kinds 4.99 a pound. They were very frozen so I was daring and got a few of shrimp and pork ones. I thought they were the kind of thing you get in hot pot. Will be interested on how people use them.

When you mentioned it it sounded familiar. So I went searching and found my paperback copy. Lots of post-it notes, and written notes in it. It must have been an early "Asian" cook book for me. Time to get it out and get cooking. Do have, and love Asian Dumplings so will see how this compares now.

What a great presentation! Details please.

This is our lunch (for just 2 of us).....large, white, fried rice....a stuffed chicken (wrapped in leaves), lots of lovely baby bok choi. There were some wonderful fried dumplings first. Always our meals were too large, but very tasty....except we didn't like that chicken. This was at a tea plantation visitation place in the tea growing area outside Hangzhou. A strange thing (to us) at the cooking school in Yangzhou.....they opened a huge rice cooker and scooped out lots of steaming hot rice for us to use in the fried rice. The class was arranged by someone from the tourism bureau. They had a good facility with a nice enough conference room/dining room for us. But they surely were not doing this sort of thing a lot...and certainly not for non-Chinese speakers.

I love it! An encyclopedia of American/Chinese Fried Rice. First....a picture of typical Yangzhou fried rice, this happens to be from the breakfast buffet in Yangzhou but is typical of what we had most days. Lovely pure white (and delicious) rice. As part of our conference in Yangzhou the "accompaying persons....10 women) got to go to the culinary school of Yangzhou University for a cooking lesson. The translation was poor so I'm not sure what the liquid ingredients are for sure. Nor all the "bits and pieces" for that matter. I know there were the green onions and the tiny shrimp, and edamame which were a surprise, plus ham and perhaps sausage. The finished product is for sure not white.....but it was tasty, though kind of cold by the time we got to it.