Darienne

Your BLOG is great fun to read. You supplied my first laugh of the day with you pie crust story. As for Canadian geese, hunters where we live do kill and eat them. Our neighbor behind us hangs the dead carcasses at the far corner of HIS property so HIS family doesn't have to look at them hanging there like harbingers of doom...which makes them completely visible to US on OUR daily farm perimeter walk. So thoughtful. To HIS family. Rats.

Thanks Andie, and Sharon and Calypso, for all the information.

There are recipes for the first three desserts in My Sweet Mexico, but not even a listing for the tortitas de Sta Clara. I found it on Google, but with two differing definition: one is a shortbread type cookie, the other a pumpkin. Please tell me which is correct and where you found your recipe. Thanks.

What: Chiles Rellenos with the usual sides and Churros for dessert. Nothing fancy or special. Horchata to drink (first (and last probably for now until I learn if that's what it's supposed to taste like. If it is...then last) With DH, Ed, and good friend, Bob. Next time another friend had some version of Tamales. I just mostly kept eating Chiles Rellenos...we can't get them in Ontario as far as I know. Where: Moab, Utah, on our last stay there, fall 10. Why: To celebrate our return to Moab, to be with one of our best Moab friends again, to try this new restaurant. I use the term restaurant loosely. It's really a 'hole-in-the-wall' with take-out and four tables. We were the only gringos in there at the time with a steady stream of laborers in a line ordering lunch. The outlet caters to the area's Hispanic workers who are currently at a number of huge projects, including a new bridge into the town on the main highway. The rest of the country may be curtailing public spending: not Moab. The menu is incredible with many dishes and from at least 6 Mexican states. Most of the staff don't speak English. We went there often while in Moab, but I fear the restaurant won't be there by next fall. The bridge is finally finished. We took all our Moab acquaintances there and they were all favorably impressed, but this is not a place which is likely to be popular with either the regular townsfolk or the tourists. Too bad! The really good small Hispanic restaurants disappear quickly and the old regulars and chains live on. We also had a wonderful meal at the much touted Mexican restaurant, El Bruno's, in Cuba, NM, on our way towards home.

Oh, Darienne. In all your travels, you must come to Arkansas, and I will fry okra for you. It will change your life. I swear. I'm not sure I can stand to have my life changed again, but if we ever get near Arkansas again, I'll take you up on this. Thanks. Ditto for the homemade tortillas.

You have been busy. Any photos???

I probably have never eaten, or maybe even heard of, half the dishes which will become challenges this year. In the meantime I have: - my own chorizo - Capirotada, traditional style - brioche sticky buns - croissants - spun sugar - wontons

Of last year's resolutions I kept the ones about the freezers and their contents. (We did buy another 2/3 size freezer and that has helped a lot.) And the one about making bread. I did not cook or eat okra. I did not teach my neighbor about chocolate...her responsibility, not mine...but it remains on the books. And I never grew the indoors herb garden and probably won't this year either; although I did grow ginger, which I must add, was a complete bust. Sorry Andie. In 2011, I will eat okra (probably not) I will make more Mexican dishes and desserts, but not Menudo I will learn how to work with phyllo properly I will go to the Toronto downtown Hispanic markets although I hate downtown Toronto with a passion. That's enough.

Great to find a fellow Mexican dessert maker. I went straight to the recipe for Huachibolas and they sound wonderful. Too bad there isn't a photo of them in the book. Too bad there isn't a photo of them on Google either or in any of the many websites I went to. Fortunately I did find a picture on Google of the Pemoles which I want to make, because Gerson's description left me boggled and there weren't any English language websites available. Now I admit I am a novice cook and baker, but I don't find Gerson's description of how to close the Huachibolas all that clear. Actually, I find it quite unclear. But then I have found so far that her recipes are very unclear in certain spots. As I recall...although I can't find it again...in an earlier thread in this forum someone did say that this book was not for the beginners. However, I am keen and persistent and I shall make it a goal to try as many of her recipes as I can this year. How's that for a New Year's resolution?

I searched the entire Mexican cooking and baking forums and could find nothing to cover the dessert aspect of Mexican cooking. So here goes... Currently I am fascinated by the desserts aspect of Mexican cooking. On a whim I purchased Fany Gerson. My Sweet Mexico and although I don't think I'm going to do a "Chris Hennes" through the book, I do intend to try a lot of the desserts this year. To date I have made Empanadas de jitomate. I was so taken by the idea of tomato jam. And this was the third time in 50 years that I had made pastry, two of the times being in the last month. They were delicious. Next I have made the familiar Bizcochitos from a recipe given to me by a friend. They turned out very well. Not a difficult or complicated recipe. My next dessert will go back to the Gerson book: Pemoles/Coffee-Flavored Corn Cookies. They sound like nothing I have ever eaten: cookies made with Masa and flavored with brewed coffee. And I still am intending to make a Capirotada but will wait until the Lenten season and make a traditional Lenten variety. Anyone else making any Mexican desserts of any kind?

I have put off trying it. But having now made some luscious tomato jam, I guess I could spring for bacon. Can you please point me towards the recipe? Thanks. There is a link in my original post. Thanks. Did I mention that my mind was going....????

I have put off trying it. But having now made some luscious tomato jam, I guess I could spring for bacon. Can you please point me towards the recipe? Thanks.

Ditto from me. But inquiring minds want to know if you ever sleep?

dystopiandreamgirl. You are my heroine for sure!

I have one which was brought to mind by answering another thread: how to hard-boil and peel quite / too fresh eggs. Using the regular methods, the eggs are often impossible to peel. The answer is baking soda in the water. Then plunge the cooked eggs into cold water. Crack them all over and leave them to sit in the cold water for a while. Then peel them. That should help. Of course, that is not a 'fix' in the real sense of the word - but rather a pre-fix.

You no doubt know the old remedy about putting baking soda in the water with quite fresh eggs. Works every time. Then plunge the eggs into cold water and crack them all over. Leave them in the cold water and peel them in a while. Running them under cold water as you peel them can also help. We are old hands at the too-fresh eggs scenario. (Personal aside: I hate hard-boiled eggs in any way, shape or form.)

Two Cuisinart appliances: a food processor and a grinder mill. The old versions just died in the past month. Not too exciting, but very necessary.

Not decadent or delicious enough? Add chocolate!

We have squared-off plastic pails with flat lids...empty muffin mix, etc, pails from local businesses which either give away or sell the empty pails. These are each filled with one type of item and I have a matching schema tacked to the oil tank which abuts the freezer. It's a chest freezer and SOMETHING has to go on top of SOMETHING. The price to pay here. It's working pretty well though. (Have to admit we just bought a second second-hand chest freezer in the garage and moved ALL the dog food into it. Makes freezer #1 more of a delight to work with.)

Is this a family name for the confection? I googled same and ended up only with recipes to cook possum. We don't have possums up here. As for your description of same: more information than needed...

We're up, but then we have dogs and dogs don't care that we were late last night and need extra sleep. So far just coffee. Our daughter is still asleep upstairs, but she will want bacon and eggs for breakfast because although she has been on her own for decades now, she still refuses pretty much to cook. Her BF is an incredible cook - he cooks 7 days a week for homeless Caribbean men - but he doesn't do breakfast. Then on to stuffing the turkey, etc. Totally traditional menu here in the far frozen north. Great BLOG, Chris. Don't know where you get that energy!!!

Christmas morning and I found this recipe for a Buddha's Hand online in Dessert First

And what kind do you recommend?

I'll probably be sorry I asked... ..."but what do you mean...the songs the cooker plays!"

Hi Chris, I have just read your menu and I am exhausted already. Not to mention that I have to go to Google to figure out what some of it actually is. My French cooking skills are, well, nil, so I am looking forward to learning from you this week.