gulfporter

While cacao trees are native to Mexico for many years the most popular and easy-to-find chocolate was Nestles milk chocolate. Ugh!! More recently there are Mexican companies specializing in dark chocolates (thought most still market milk chocolate here since this is what most MXNs are used to). Our fave is ki'Xocalatl from Chiapas which starts with a very nice 72% chocolate with some very interesting flavors, including pink peppercorn. I have seen these bars for sale in the US but cannot remember where. This past week were in Puerto Vallarta and found dark bars of Choco Museo at a shop with the same name. They are handmade in PV using organic beans from Chiapas. Best chili flavored chocolate we've ever tasted.

Buying European butter in Mexico is more than a modest splurge! I like the local butter, though some expats complain because most stores only stock mantequilla sin sal (unsalted butter), but I've only eaten unsalted butter since my 20s when I got into baking and opted to only buy unsalted for the house.

Leaving butter out in tropical (FL) or semi-tropical (MX) climates is just begging for bugs. Like the relatively thin pats this knocks out....zap it onto my toasted English muffin and by the time I pour my coffee the pats are soft, ez to spread. Not looking for sympathy but both my hands are affected with Duputryn's Contracture. My right hand's pinky and ring fingers are totally curled under and useless The middle finger is not as bad but disease is progressive. My left hand is a little better..just the pinky is useless, though my ring and middle fingers are bent pretty badly. For those unfamiliar with disease, here's a link with pics...the condition of right hand looks almost exactly like the 2nd photo on page: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/329414-overview

We live in Central Mexico....too many critters to leave food out overnight. I do that in the US but only in the winter.

I live in Mexico. Our sticks are slightly skinnier than the US east coast sticks I am used to, but I believe the same or similar length. Our sticks here are each 90 grams or 3.17 ounces as opposed to US sticks at 4 ounces.

Spur of moment purchase. Just looking to eliminate any steps I can between me and my toasted English muffin in the mornings, which I prepare while my coffee is brewing and I am too groggy to be fumbling with my talavera butter dish and cover (it's rather heavy and large). When I began using it, the cut butter pat did not fall down...it stuck to the gadget. I re-read the directions, cleaned it up and practiced a bit. Had to get a feel for the mechanism....part of click is to push the stick into position and the final trigger cuts and releases the pat. After about 5 tries I got it right and it's been fine since. It's certainly not attractive, but it hides in the fridge. Will still use my fancier butter dish for company, but this thing does the tick. One Click Butter Cutter

I have 10-15. Best one is at least 20 years old that a friend brought me from Poland. It's hardly even faded and is my go-to towel....linen I'd guess but have no way of being sure. It launders beautifully and is just a tad larger than what I'd consider average size.

Oddly I found these Libby Stemless in a little tienda here. I am very happy with them after a year of dishwashing. My husband loads the DW and is pleased with them too. https://www.amazon.com/Libbey-Stemless-12-piece-Wine-Glass/dp/B00KIG3QVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515599149&sr=8-1&keywords=libby+stemless+wine

What about plastic oven-ware that is micro and oven safe? OVEN-SAFE Meal Prep Containers Collapse-It Silicone Storage Containers

I rarely make rice as a stand alone starch. Usually it's incorporated into a recipe with proteins and veg. Not interested in another one off appliance. Especially NOT electric here in Mexico.

Rice. Plain or in any recipe (other than my go-to paella recipe which results in a crispy socarrat). I adjust for high altitude living but it always takes much longer, often leaving the rest of the dish wildly overcooked or getting cold (if rice is cooked separately).

NY Day we are having another couple over for a Moroccan chicken dish (recipe from ATK). Yesterday at the poultry market there were lamb sausages for sale so we will grill them tonight (just the 2 of us) along with a quinoa pilaf. No bubbly (neither of us care for it and it's rare and expensive here). Nice Chilean wines are very reasonable here. We have a new mirador (rooftop area) from which we hope to see the village fireworks. This is assuming we are awake.

Used the '"leave it in a turned off oven"' method . Got some cracks....I always do! But this time I did something about them....found this on youtube and must say mine now looks beautiful, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wg_PVc84Zk

Yes, turkey for both holidays at our home and those of most of my friends. At least in Canada there's 2+ months between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ours can be as short as 3 1/2 weeks.

For our comida, we scored duck confit at our weekly open air market, courtesy of a Frenchman who brings his homemade offerings from Guadalajara to our little village. I will simply pan sear for a crisp skin. Sides: teeny-weenie roasted red cambrey potatoes with rosemary, and grilled chilled aparagus (lemon and garlic). Bread....there's a new Swedish bakery here and I got a loaf of black olive and thyme sourdough (still warm when I bought it and I ate 1/4 of it on the way home). No dessert other than bakery bought Christmas cookies and the last of my homemade cranberry squares. I was down with a very bad cold for 2 weeks leading up to the Big Day, so not a lot of planning went into this. Feeling better now and will host a New Years Day meal for friends.

@Thanks for the Crepes Sorry for your ordeal. I have a low tolerance for odors; years ago, I had to ask that the newly acquired office microwave be moved away from outside my office door.... the reheated lunches made me feel a bit nauseous. My FIL was in a nursing home for several months in 2015; we visited often. The combination of bad food odors, industrial disinfectants and (frankly) the smell of illness left me perpetually ready to retch. Luckily his room had a door to a patio where I could step out and inhale from time to time. I have been lucky and never spent a night in a hospital, let alone a nursing home but I dread the thought of that happening (as it most likely will for most of us). @Nancy in Pátzcuaro had good things to say about meals in a Morelia (MX) hospital and I can only hope there will be better food in our nearby hospitals in Jalisco.

My go-to recipe for Kotopita (Greek Chicken Pie) calls for 2 packages (8 to 11 ounces each) of frozen creamed spinach. I am in Central Mexico and there is no frozen creamed spinach. There is no plain frozen spinach either. There is fresh spinach galore. I have found easy recipes to make creamed spinach from a box of frozen plain spinach (adding some cream cheese and cream). But when I google substituting fresh spinach for a box of frozen, the answers are all over the place. Anyone with experience in substituting fresh spinach (in pounds, ounces or grams) for a box of frozen?

I'm bringing a cheesecake to a NYE party. It's been awhile since I baked one. In searching for cheesecake recipes (I'll likely go with a cranberry-orange one), it appears there are 3 common baking methods: 1. Bake xx minutes in xxx degree oven. 2. Bake xx minutes in a xxx degree oven, then turn off the heat and leave cheesecake in oven for xx minutes. 3. Bake in a water bath. Since I have no experience with my new springform pan that I purchased here in Mexico (no name brand), I am adverse to the water bath method just in case the pan has issues. Of the other two methods, do you prefer one over the other?

Having 8 guests for brunch and would like to serve cheese blintzes. Normally when I make them for the two of us, I assemble and fry in butter (with a little oil), serve and eat. I don't want to fry when my guests are here (or even that same morning). Would it work if I fried them the night before, refrigerated and reheated in an oven for serving? Or would that result in a greasy soggy mess? Suggestions on oven temperature for the reheat if feasible? I have seen blintz recipes that are baked, not fried. My mother always fried them and so have I. If baked, do they get a bit of crispness to them?

Tony's Wine Bistro has lots of nice wines by the glass. We eat light when flying, so usually share an appetizer or two. It's usually quiet, good service. Been 6 months since last visit.

Chiles en Nogada are traditionally served only for Mexican Independence Day (16 de Septiembre). Every household and restaurant have their own version. In years past we have eaten as many as 12 different versions in the course of the week long celebration. Certain things about it never change: always poblanos, walnuts, pomegranate seeds and dried fruit (though the types of dried and fresh fruit vary as does the ratio of fruit to meat). And the cream sauce is always room temperature, never heated. Not only is it a tasty dish, it is about the prettiest meal ever put on a plate. I have made them at home (but not for several years). Rick Bayless's recipe is the one I used. http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/pork-and-fruit-stuffed-chiles-in-white-walnut-sauce/ The history of the dish is one of creating a festive dish on the spur of the moment with limited ingredients. https://www.tripsavvy.com/chiles-en-nogada-1588803

We have two homes that we travel back/forth every few months; one in FL one in MX. For me the most important food list is the one that shows what we HAVE in the freezer. After a few months away, it's important to know what proteins need to be fished out of the freezer. Buying a veg for the side is the easy part....I wander over to local produce stands in whatever city I happen to be in.

In the US we tip 20% and in Mexico we tip 15% (most locals in MX tip 10%, some only 5%). We do have minimum tips in each country. It's $5 in the US and 50 pesos in MX...this applies to Cheap Eats places in either country where our tabs run 20 bucks or less in the US or 300 pesos or less in MX. We see no reason a server should be "punished" for working at an eatery that offers good food and low prices.

I'm at our new home in Mexico....new to us, anyway. It's an older home and we've been having updates made since we bought it, April 25. We moved in here June 1, after the worst was over. Still most everyday there are workman and NOISE!! Today they are finishing some petate doors and the generator for the staple gun is bone and brain shaking. I did get a combo gas and charcoal grill, so I can make lunch outside. My go to lunch is grilled green chorizo which I then stuff into a flour tortilla with goat cheese, and grill these quick quesadillas and serve with mango salsa (mangoes are super ripe and they are squished on every sidewalk of our town this time of year). We are lucky to have many great eateries for dinner we can walk to for dinner. Here are before and after photos of my new MXN kitchen.

I am proud to say that our niece, while enrolled at the CIA, did an internship at Eleven Madison, about 4 years ago. She said it was the best internship she could have gotten. The principals and staff there have continued to give her advice as she and her wife recently opened an eatery in downtown Baltimore.