As usual, let's start with postre (dessert)! You might remember Mexico Cooks!' favorite saying: life is uncertain; eat dessert first. This best-ever orange and coconut flan was the Mexico Cooks! pinup girl for January 29. 2011.
The last twelve months brought huge changes to Mexico Cooks!: we moved and we married, we traveled and we worked harder than we had in years! In amongst the busy-ness of life, every Saturday morning we brought you something new about our beloved Mexico. Food, culture, and the richness of everyday life give meaning to our days. There's never a dull moment and rarely a dull meal. This look back at 2011 is all about our kitchen: what Mexico Cooks! cooked, what we ate outside our home, and which cookbooks made a big impact on us.
In March, we traveled through La Marquesa in the State of Mexico and stopped for comida (Mexico's main meal of the day) at one of the many small restaurants along the highway. This giant chicken quesadilla filled the entire plate!
In May, Mexico Cooks! shared the recipe for strawberries, yoghurt and the extra-healthy addition of chia seeds. This combo is Mexico Cooks!' breakfast nearly every day.
Invited to participate in the June start-up of the Mexico Today Marca País-Imágen de México program, Mexico Cooks! traveled south to Oaxaca to enjoy regional and alta cocina mexicana (high-end Mexican cuisine).
In late August, Mexico Cooks! prepared albóndigas estilo Jalisco (Jalisco-style pork meatballs) using a recipe courtesy of world-reknowned Mexican cuisine expert Diana Kennedy. These albóndigas get rave reviews at our table and they will at yours, too.
In September, Mexico Cooks! took a marvelous tour of the huge Mexico City Mercado La Merced--the largest retail market in the city. Our guides were the wonderful Yuri de Gortari and Edmundo Escamilla of the Escuela de Gastronomía Mexicana. Among a million other things, we saw these small but super-spicy Red Savina chiles habaneros.
If you liked August's albóndigas, you will love Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's recipe for adobo de cerdo huasteco, which we prepared in October. As Mexico's days turned cooler, this deeply flavorful, rich pork stew was just what the doctor ordered to warm us up from the inside.