Mexico Cooks!

Los Cantantes del Lago on Tour with Mexico Cooks! (Part One: Michoacán)

Los Cantantes del Lago, invited to perform at the 9° Festival de Coros de La Inmaculada (9th Annual Choral Festival sponsored by the Church of the Immaculate Conception) in Morelia, combined their singing tour with a tour of churches and artisan villages in the states of Michoacán and Guanajuato.

Late last winter, Los Cantantes del Lago, a marvelous chorus based in Ajijic, Jalisco, (on the shore of Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake) contracted with Mexico Cooks! to plan, organize, and guide them during their Central Mexico Tour 2009.  The members of the chorus, nearly all of whom live in the Jalisco municipality of Chapala, range in age from 18 to over 80.  They are natives of countries as diverse as England, France, Canada, and the United States, as well as Mexico. 

Los Cantantes del Lago, directed by Maestro Timothy Welch, sang at the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe) in Zamora, Michoacán.

The chorus director, Timothy Welch, is a native of Wisconsin who has lived in the city of Guadalajara for the last 10 years.  Under his direction, Los Cantantes del Lago have sung throughout Mexico, they have toured in Greece, Turkey, and Ecuador, and they have produced two recordings of multilingual Christmas music.

The Calzada de Fray Antonio de San Miguel is one of the most beautiful streets in Morelia.  The tree-lined street runs from Morelia's Las Tarascas fountain to one of the city's 18th Century gems, the Santuario de Guadalupe.

For the last nine years, Morelia's Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción (Church of the Immaculate Conception) has hosted a choral festival.  From its inception as a recital event for that church's chorus, the festival has grown into a vibrant and important showcase for choruses from all over Mexico.  Hernán Cortés, director of the festival, invited Los Cantantes del Lago to participate in the 2009 Festival del Coro.  The idea for Los Cantantes' Central Mexico Tour 2009 sprang from that invitation.

Bell tower, Templo de La Inmaculada Concepción, Morelia.  La Inmaculada is the seat of Morelia's annual choral festival.

Los Cantantes del Lago enjoyed a marvelous welcome dinner at Morelia's Fonda Marceva.  The magnificent Trio Los Caracuaros de Serafín Ibarra provided live music from Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (the hot inland lowlands).  After the meal and in spite of being stuffed to the gills, Los Cantantes stood up and sang Pilgrim's Hymn from the opera The Three Hermits for the musicians who had been singing to them.  Tim Welch directs in this casual setting.

Within the framework of the chorus's five concerts in Morelia and the surrounding region, Mexico Cooks! set up day trips to artisan villages and culturally important historical sites for Los Cantantes del Lago.

Morelia's Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe). Although Los Cantantes did not sing at the Santuario, its beauty made it a favorite destination during the week the chorus spent in Morelia.  (Photo: Mexico Cooks!) 

Los Cantantes visited various locations in Morelia, Pátzcuaro, and Cuitzeo, Michoacán.  They were inspired by the restoration of the Ex-Convento de San Francisco de Ásis and shopped at the artisans' market in Tzintzuntzan. They were awed by the 16th Century Templo de Santiago Apóstol in Tupátaro.

After an afternoon touring Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Los Cantantes sang at the Templo del Sagrario (Church of the Tabernacle), built in Pátzcuaro during the 17th Century.

Santiago Apóstol (St. James the Apostle), the patron saint of the church at Tupátaro, Michoacán. (Photo: Mexico Cooks!)

Los Cantantes del Lago stayed in Morelia at the Hotel de la Soledad.  Public areas as well as guest rooms at the hotel are magnificently decorated and filled with flowers.

After their morning trip to Tupátaro, Los Cantantes sang in Cuitzeo, Michoacán, at the 16th Century Augustinian monastery dedicated to Santa María Magdalena.

Despite ongoing restoration at the monastery in Cuitzeo, Los Cantantes del Lago squeezed in among the scaffolding and sang a beautiful concert.

A hand-and-foot-powered bellows makes the fire leap high in the copper workshop at Casa Felícitas in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán.

Visiting the copper smiths of Santa Clara del Cobre was one of the highlights of Los Cantantes' week in Michoacán.  Several of the singers took sledgehammer in hand to join the smiths in hammering a red-hot copper ingot at internationally known Casa Felícitas.

The real joy for Los Cantantes was meeting festival choruses from all over Mexico.  All of the singing was marvelous!  Beginning with the very first performance in Zamora, Michoacán, loud cheers and standing ovations followed every Los Cantantes' concert. It was the first time a chorus composed primarily of retired foreigners sang in the Festival del Coro, but it's not likely to be the last time.  

Joyous young chorus members from the Yucatán who also sang at the choral festival in Morelia.

The twelve invited choruses were so ecstatic with performing that even after their full week of performances in many different venues, after the long and beautiful closing Mass at La Inmaculada Concepción, they met one last time to sing a few more songs, just for one another.

Next week, travel with us as Los Cantantes del Lago leave Michoacán and head for San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.  Please join Mexico Cooks! for the second leg of their 2009 Central Mexico Tour.

Except as noted, all photos are courtesy of Robert Kelly.  Robert, the designated photographer for Los Cantantes del Lago, has posted many additional photos of the 2009 Central Mexico Tour in these files:

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La Feria del Hongo (The Mushroom Fair) 2009, Senguio, Michoacán

The wild Amanita caesarea and amanita jacksonii are two edible varieties of the common amanita fungus.  Watch out for the amanita phalloides, though: it's known as the death cap and is definitely inedible.

This time last year, Mexico Cooks! attended the annual Feria del Hongo (Mushroom Fair) in Senguio, Michoacán.  The fair was wonderful, a tremendous lesson in the wild and cultivated edible and medicinal mushrooms of Michoacán.  Since then (and to my great surprise), the article about the mushroom fair has appeared as a link on several mushroom and mycology websites.

Wild amanitas, sliced and ready to cook.  If you can't find amanitas where you live, try these dishes with farmed portabellos, another meaty and flavorful mushroom.

Due to a conflict on our calendar, Mexico Cooks! isn't able to attend the August 21-23 Feria del Hongo this year.  In honor of the mushroom fair, we'd like to present some photographs and recipes by Fulvio Castillo, a biologist who is also a mycologist, photographer, and extraordinary cook.

Frying amanitas in canola oil.

Chiles serrano, nuez (pecans), and nuez de la India (cashews).  Toasting the nuts and chiles intensifies their flavors.

Add the toasted nuts and cream to the frying mushrooms, along with a big pinch of marjoram.  Then grind the toasted chiles, avocado, onions, some cilantro, and a bit of salt in a molcajete (volcanic stone mortar and pestle) to make a simple salsa de aguacate (avocado salsa).

Green, yellow, and red sweet peppers, sliced into the sauté pan for yet another guisado (prepared dish) of amanitas.

Voilá!  A deliciously healthy comida (main meal of the day).

Roasted peanuts and dried, toasted red chile yahualica, crushed together in the molcajete.  The end product will be salsa de cacahuate (peanut sauce), a traditional indigenous accompaniment to main dishes.

Continue to crush the peanuts with a little salt and the chiles until very fine-textured.  The stone pestle (upper lefthand corner of the photo) is called the tejolote.  Little by little, add water and continue to grind until the salsa is smooth and of the consistency you like.

Ready to devour: mushrooms, vegetables, and two kinds of salsas: avocado and peanut/chile.  Clockwise from five o'clock: salsa de cacahuate, mushrooms with zucchini, mushrooms with cream, mushroom stems, and mushrooms with mixed sweet peppers.

Thank you, amigo Fulvio Castillo, for permission to use your fine photographs and marvelous recipes.  If you'd care to see more of his wonderful photos, check this site.  During the coming week, Mexico Cooks! will be buying all the ingredients for at least one of these dishes--plus peanuts and chiles to prepare the salsa de cacahuate.  Se nos hace agua la boca--it makes our mouths water!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Algunas Imágines de la Virgen María en México::Images of the Virgin Mary in Mexico

Patron of the Americas and Empress of Mexico: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe).  There is no apparition of the Virgin Mary that is more highly venerated than this one.  She's known by many loving nicknames: La Morenita (the little brown woman), Paloma Blanca (white dove), and La Guadalupana (the woman from Guadalupe) are just a few.

Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows).  This apparition of the Virgin Mary is usually seen standing at the foot of the cross where Jesus is crucified.  Dressed in black and frequently depicted with arrows piercing her heart, she is the image of pain.

La Virgen en Tránsito (The Virgin in Transition).  According to Roman Catholic doctrine, when the Virgin Mary died, she was taken up to heaven, body and soul.  This 17th Century statue, from the Templo de la Companía in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, shows the Virgin after death but prior to her assumption into heaven.

La Santísima Virgen en Camino a Belén (the Blessed Virgin on the Way to Bethlehem), Cuitzeo, Michoacán.  She wears her straw traveling hat as Joseph takes her to Bethlehem, where Jesus will be born.

Nuestra Señora de Zapopan, Basílica de Zapopan, Zapopan, Jalisco.  This 16th Century image of the Virgin Mary, made of pasta de caña: cornstalk and orchid-bulb juice paste, molded to the shape of the Virgin, covered with gesso, and polychromed.  She measures a mere 14" high.  One of her nicknames is 'La Generala' (the general) after helping troops to victory in battle in 1852.  She is the santa patrona (patron Virgin) of Guadalajara.

Nuestra Señora de la Salud, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.  This tiny 16th Century figure, revered as the patrona of Pátzcuaro, is also made of pasta de caña.

La Inmaculada Concepción (the Immaculate Conception).  This statue of the Virgin represents the Roman Catholic doctrine of her conception without the taint of original sin.  Mexico Cooks! photographed this modern image in the Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción, Concepción de Buenos Aires, Jalisco.

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Cocina Económica Doña Felícitas y el Mercado Nicolás Bravo, Morelia, Michoacán

Templo del Santo Niño (Church of the Holy Child) is the spiritual heart of this neighborhood that is part of Morelia's Centro Histórico (historic center).

The pila del Santo Niño (fountain of the Holy Child), was built in front of the church as the water supply for the neighborhood.

The Santo Niño plaque, embedded in the wall at the side of the church.  The church was built because the plaque was found on the site.

The Mercado Nicolás Bravo is the commercial heart of the neighborhood.  Because of its proximity to the church, the mercado is more popularly known as the Mercado del Santo Niño.  The market has been a presence in Morelia for more than 34 years.  Some of the big differences between this market and others are its exemplary cleanliness, wide aisles, and the medical and dental offices upstairs.

Cocina Económica de Doña Felícitas (Doña Felícitas' Affordable Foods) is space number 127, upstairs in the Mercado Santo Niño.

Our dear friend Rosa invited us to lunch at her favorite fonda (small eating place) in the market.  Fonda food is usually just a half-step up from eating in Mom's kitchen, but once in a while we discover a treasure.  Don Joel Cuamba García and his wife, Doña Felícitas Díaz y Díaz, owners of the Cocina Económica de Doña Felícitas, are just as filled with the joy of life as their picture shows them.  Doña Feli's wonderful laugh boomed out across the fonda as Don Joel regaled us with old family stories.

Doña Feli's guisados (similar to stews) wait for customers.  Clockwise from seven o'clock: caldo de pollo (chicken soup), frijolitos (beans), carne de res en chile negro (beef in black chile), and sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup).  The small blue pot in the middle is hot water.  Don Joel mentioned that his wife never uses lard in her cooking; it's always done with vegetable oil.

Doña Feli's delicious, freshly prepared caldo de pollo contains a whole chicken thigh, a piece of corn on the cob, carrots, chayote, tomato, rice, and garbanzos.  All of Doña Feli's tortillas are hand-made as you eat.

Doña Feli started learning to cook from her mother.  She'd never worked outside her home until so many people begged her to open a restaurant that she finally agreed.  Don Joel said, "All our married life her wonderful food has just been for the family and our guests.  Now it's for everyone!" 

She prepares just enough of her marvelous guisados to serve during any given day.  Nothing other than the pot of beans is held over to be served the next day.  And, as Don Joel said, "Beans only get better after a day or two."

In the kitchen: Mirna (left, 18) and Marisol (right, 19), Don Joel and Doña Feli's smart, attentive, and beautiful daughters.

The fonda is open daily from 7:00AM until 5:00PM.  Don Joel said, "We four--my wife, myself, and our daughters--work as a team to make this business go.  Each of us has a role to play.  Our daughters serve the tables, I keep the customers happy with my chatter, and my wife--well, without her cooking we'd have to close up!  She's the heart of it all, she has the sazón (personal flavor, every fine cook's special touch) that keeps you coming back for more."

Open for just a year and a half, the fonda has plenty of regular customers.  For 45 pesos (less than $3.50USD), the little restaurant fills your plate and makes sure you go away satisfied.  Even more than filling your plate, the owners fill your heart.  Don Joel assured us that even though we were paying customers, we were also members of the family.  This was no empty promise; we felt more than welcomed and left knowing we'd be back soon for another serving of comida (the main meal of the day) and affectionate conversation.

Carne de res en chile negro (beef in black sauce), frijolitos, and arroz blanco (white rice) were absolutely delicious.

Doña Feli gave us a quick recipe for her rightly famous salsa de chile negro.  "You have to be very careful, because it's easy for the sauce to come out really bitter.  First you clean the chiles (in this case, chile chilaca) by wiping them with a towel.  You don't roast or peel them.  Cut them up and sauté them in a little oil, along with garlic, cloves, three or four peppercorns, and a large cut-up green pepper.  Last, add some toasted sesame seeds.  Then roast three ripe red tomatoes, add them to the pot, and sauté a while longer.  Add three more fresh tomatoes that you haven't roasted.  When it looks right, put it all in your licuadora (blender) till it's smooth.  Add salt to your taste.  That's all there is to it."

Downstairs in the market, vendors are currently selling seasonal huitlacoche (corn fungus).

The bright orange oreja de puerco (pig ear) wild mushroom is also in season.

A lácteos (milk products) vendor offered rich jocoque(a fermented semi-acid cream) from this olla de barro (clay pot).

Several of the booths at the Mercado Santo Niño sell a little bit of lots of items--this vendor offers red or white eggs, at least three kinds of dried, beans, rice, milk, oil, laundry soap, baby formula, two or three kinds of pot scrubbers, dried chiles, and a hundred other things.

If You Go:
Mercado Nicolás Bravo (del Santo Niño)
Calle Nicolás Bravo between Calle Corregidora and Calle Guerrero
Morelia, Michoacán

Breaking News!
David Leite, one of the best food writers around, has published a brand new book: The New Portuguese Table (Clarkson Potter).  Beautifully written, filled with glorious photographs and fascinating stories, the book belongs on your cookbook shelf.  Better, yet, the book--well used, smeared and spattered from your Portuguese culinary adventures--belongs on your kitchen counter!  Click on the book cover (left-hand sidebar) and order a copy today.  Like me, you'll be thrilled with The New Portuguese Table. 

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Mexico in All Its Glory: Sights Along the Way

Mojiganga (10-foot high papel maché dance figure), San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, March 2009.

Rueda de la fortuna (ferris wheel), Cuanajo, Michoacán, September 2008.

Templo Santo Domingo, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, October 2006.

Guajolotes callejeros (turkeys in the street), San José de las Torres, Michoacán, October 2008.

Burrita y su dueño cargados (loaded donkey and its owner) with corn stalks, Ajijic, Jalisco, September 2005.

Trajineras (traditional boats), Xochimilco, December 2008.

Casa particular (private home) with bougainvillea, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, February 2008.

Tourist police at Parque Alameda Central, Mexico City, December 2008.

Pájaro de la suerte (fortune telling canary), Morelia, Michoacán, October 2008.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.