gulfporter

This is probably our last free avocado from a neighbor's overhanging tree. Huge (that's a full-size toaster)! My DH made a tuna ceviche which he plated over slices of this avocado. We used one-quarter of the avocado between us. I see a lot of guacamole in our future.

Tuna ceviche on tostadas. The red pieces are picled red onion; the white cubes are seeded cucumber. I was most impressed with the tostadas themselves--most here are thick and tasteless. I found some "designer" tostadas, mixed flavors (chipotle, spinach, black bean) and seeds (sesame, flax, linseed). Nice and thin, smaller diameter (easier to eat, IMO).

Quiet due to the bans on groups, bars and celebrations. But still deserving of a good meal. I am oh-so-late to the Instant Pot movement. This was my 2nd meal with it (don't ask about the first one 🙈). Made chamorro. My sauce rocked; it came out so shiny! No recipe, but started with a tiny jar of prepared mole', chicken broth, half a jar of French cherry preserves, small can of chipotle en adobo sauce, 4 garlic cloves, 1 huge red onion, 2 handfuls pitted prunes and a Belgium dark chocolate bar. Maybe other stuff, it was a 'clean out the fridge' sauce. Not a lot of recipes on line for pork shanks in instant pot. Checked veal/beef/lamb shank recipes and decided 60 minutes under pressure. Got lucky, it worked perfectly!

Watched it last night. AMZN Prime Video; 6 bucks plus tax. Filmed when she was 95; shows her driving around Michoacan in her stick-shift truck, going to markets, cooking up a storm and being generally feisty. Good footage at her off-the-grid house in Zitacuaro and some old video and pics from her early days in MX in the late 50s. Enjoyed it immensely!

Found this link to what appears to be production company. Lists sites where available "soon." Maybe tomorrow, the date in WaPo article. Whether I can view/buy here in Mexico, vamos a ver. https://www.dianakennedymovie.com/

Rubbing it in....

I saw this story in the Washington Post. I had the pleasure of meeting her in 2010, including just the 2 of us sharing a quick bite. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/06/17/one-of-the-worlds-foremost-authorities-on-mexican-food-is-british-a-new-film-reckons-with-her-legacy/?itid=pr_hybrid_content_2_na-ans_2

In the past we have ordered an extra pizza, just to have in freezer. We sometimes do the stovetop pan reheat (if there's a driving rain outside)...but highly recommend reheating on a gas grill. I preheat it to 425, lower the burners, place thawed slices in it, with cover down for 4-5 minutes. Gets a great flavor from my seasoned grill. And by "seasoned" I mean, rarely cleaned.

Thx for info. We are **thinking** we may fly to US in July and can bring the MXN versions with us. They are about $1 USD per jar. Yes, I'm cheap!

I've been using these for about a year. They aren't super spicy, but decent chile flavor and a bit of a kick. I sieve them to make a smooth dipping sauce (with shrimp) or a glaze (grilled chicken, salmon, pork). Been using lately as a schmear inside of grilled sandwiches....Black Forest ham or smoked turkey with either brie, smoked gouda or goat cheese (sometimes add sliced apple or pear). The jam gives a good balance to the sandwich. I also serve it with crackers on a cheese plate. Are these available in the US? I checked Mexgrocer.com but they only stock McCormick's strawberry. I get mine here in MEX at the Walmart, but I cannot access Walmart USA website from here (it directs me to Walmart MEX). I want to recommend it to a friend who I know would love them; he's not able to get out too much these days and I don't want to send him on a wild goose chase. Trying to find it online in US and order it for him, or direct him to a store where they have them. If anyone's seen them, please let me know. Gracias in advance. These are the current flavors I have in my cupboard: Mango with Habanero Pina (pineapple) with Chile Pasilla Frutos Rojos (mixed berries) with Chile Morita Here is picture of a jar,

May is our hottest month; hitting 90 daily, though very low humidity and lake breeze keeps it mostly tolerable (we have no a/c). Remember Tin Roof Sundaes (vanilla ice cream, Hershey's syrup, topped with salted nuts)? We made a Mexican version using spicy chili-lime salted nuts. Bit of nostalgia from our childhoods coupled with our local flavors. Hot Tin Roof Sundae!

Bananas Foster...well just the sauce to put over vanilla ice cream. First bunch of bananas of season finally ripening in backyard. My gardener told me when the bunch formed that they take 100 days to ripen. He was right, almost to the day!

We are having an early summer. Normally we don't hit 90 until May (then the rains start in June and our summer highs are below 80), but we have hit 90 twice this past 10 days. Our interior is 78-80. No a/c (or heating) here. I think 5 weeks in fridge will be fine for me. I worry about food supply chain, but so far so good. No shortages of anything, not even TP!

Bloom....I had to look that up, so thanks for increasing my food knowledge. The eggs I buy often have a smear of poop and small feather pieces; I am safe to assume the bloom is on??

I'm in Central Mexico where eggs are sold UNrefrigerated. I normally buy them and put in fridge. Have read that REfrigerated eggs are good for 5 weeks, mas o menos. Some countries in the rest of the world also sell UNrefrigerated eggs. For those of you familiar with these, how long is the shelf life of UNrefrigerated eggs?

Last night we watched TV from our archives. One was Ugly Delicious, the episode about David Chang and wife having their baby. Many chefs did cameos with and/or about having kids, including Floyd. I always liked Floyd....he never talked trash, seemed like a genuinely nice guy. So sorry to hear this.

No shortages of anything here. I heard about a run on TP a few weeks ago at Walmart. But the smaller tiendas, fruterias and carnicerias have everything and the produce and meat still looks great. These are stores I can walk to and I am often the only gringa when I shop. Mexicans live paycheck to paycheck, they cannot hoard or buy-ahead. We normally eat dinner out every night, so I have never had much of a pantry here of staples. Our at-home meals are fresh-bought shrimp or fish with either a salad or a veg. This past week I bought dry goods, canned goods, beans, pastas. We normally keep very little in our freezer because the electricity can be iffy. Though the past few years it is better and we usually only have outages with thunderstorms and usually just at the start of the rainy season (June). We have more in the freezer now than we have ever had. It is a bottom freezer of an average fridge. And because of past outages, we keep a large bag of ice in it as our safety net; it takes up a good part of the freezer space. For now, every time I use a protein, I replace it when I shop the next day; the 'stash' in the pantry is not being touched. I can get delivery from many eateries, but the delivery isn't great since these restaurants never offered delivery before. The 3 meals we tried arrived a bit cold, a bit disheveled. Plus certain foods simply do not 'carry' well. Pizza and chicken al carbon deliveries have always been fast and I expect they still are, though their volume most likely has risen. Dominos (which I hate in the US but is pretty good here) is advertising this service...kinda cute. Assume same sort of ad by Dominos in US??

I was super-organized in my career....this is the best I can do after 17 years retired.

Thanks @Kim Shook

Heavy cream here is heavy, in a good way. It reminds me of the thick heavy cream in the US decades ago, when it had a short shelf life before so much pasteurization. If I add gelatine, when do I add it, when I whip the cream? If so at what point? I assume I bloom the gelatine powder before adding?

In the US I make my peanut butter pie with (shudder) cool-whip. If I need to make it ahead, it's fine in the fridge for a couple of days. Alas, here in Central Mexico, no hay cool-whip. I have scouted a number of recipes that use whipping cream (whipped before folding it into the peanut butter/cream cheese mixture). My schedule dictates I make it one morning, then haul it to the event the next evening. Will it weep? Anyone have a sure-fire peanut butter pie recipe using whipping cream that won't weep after a 30+ hours in the fridge? Gracias in advance!

As a person who eats dinner out every weeknight, I applaud this chef's position. We dine at small independent eateries which often only employ 1 or 2 waiters on weeknights. We have eaten at many of these places for over ten years and the limited staff on low-volume weeknights has worked out fine. Except for the past 2 or so years when we now routinely hear requests by many patrons for changes (often multiple) to the menu items (yes, we eavesdrop). When a waitperson asks for our order, we manage to spit it out in probably under 30 seconds. But nowadays other diners literally hog the waitstaff as they ask for changes and/or substitutions by actually demanding that the waitstaff go ask the chef before finalizing their order. A table of 6 (or more) can literally tie up a waiter for 15 to 20 minutes, just getting their "changed" orders taken. These diners are not just holding up the kitchen and the waitstaff, but also their fellow diners. I often wish they were rich enough to hire personal chefs at their home rather than try to force a restaurant to replicate exactly what they want in a menu item.

I am halfway through McIlhenny's Gold: How a Louisiana Family Built the Tabasco Empire. It's well-written and the geological facts about Avery Island (one of largest salt domes on earth), as well as how the family was able to trademark the word "tabasco" (illegally through political connections) are quite interesting. When we were moving from the east to AZ in 2003, we stayed in New Iberia but didn't take the time to tour Avery Island and I always regretted that decision. https://www.amazon.com/McIlhennys-Gold-Louisiana-Family-Tabasco/dp/0060721855

For many years (in the past), Michoacan was the state with the highest number of immigrants going to the US; many villages were left without any adult men. Almost any time I meet a Mexican in Florida, when I ask, they are from Michoacan. I tell them the truth: even though we live in Jalisco, sin duda Michoacán es la mas bonita estada en Mexico. It really is. Sadly much of it was and is, cartel turf fight territory.

This Michoacan abuela is rocking the internet with her down-home Youtube shows. Read about her here: https://hiplatina.com/mexican-abuela-traditional-recipes-youtube/ She is very sweet and straightforward. The closed captioning can be set to either English or Spanish. Link to videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJjyyWFwUIOfKhb35WgCqVg/videos