Mexico Cooks!

Mexico Cooks! in Mexico City, Our New Base of Operation

Our apartment building in Mexico City's leafy, bohemian colonia Hipódromo La Condesa.  This newly gentrified old neighborhood is full of hip restaurants, trees, parks, and stylish people walking stylish dogs.  Mexico Cooks! fits right in--well, at least our two stylish little dogs fit right in! 

Our extremely stylish Papillon, Olive, is flirting with you.  Desi, the male, is equally stylish but shy.

If you've been reading Mexico Cooks! for any length of time, you know how deeply in love Mexico Cooks! has always been with the state of Michoacán and all its wonders.  From my very first visit in 1982, Michoacán has been home to my soul.   That love has not changed.

Nevertheless, about eight months ago, my partner and I reluctantly began talking about moving elsewhere.  The current problems in Michoacán are serious, as are the problems we experienced in Morelia.  Mexico Cooks! has always been primarily about the joyous beauty of Michoacán; that physical beauty hasn't changed, but life there has been deeply affected by what we all hope are the temporary difficulties of living in a city and state where narcotraficantes (drug traffickers) cause big and frequent trouble. 

I have been loathe to write about these problems and have believed that surely their end is near, but our personal life in Morelia--and my professional life as Mexico Cooks!--continued to be gravely impacted by the ongoing situation there.  Recurrent and very real narcoviolencia all over Michoacán made it all but impossible to take visiting tour groups out into the hinterlands to visit small-town fairs and festivals.  Mexico Cooks! would never put you at risk, nor would I choose to be at risk myself.  In addition, traffic problems and constant road blockages made it increasingly difficult to travel even the short distance from our Morelia home to Morelia's historic center.

Ultimately, we decided to move to Mexico City.  Before, during, and since the move I have repeated, "In more than 30 years in Mexico, it never would have occurred to me that life is more secure in Mexico City than it is in the provinces.  But life in Mexico has changed, and my knowledge about security has also changed."

Our new home when we first saw it in January 2011.  The gray paths are heavy paper, put down as temporary protection for the newly varnished 60-year-old hardwood floors.  This long room measures about 40 feet from the front door to the French doors leading to the balcony.

We spent part of December and part of January apartment-hunting in the big city--its current population estimate is something above twenty million.  After searching in several neighborhoods, we narrowed our choice to La Condesa, where several of our friends already live. 

In mid-January, we found what we were looking for: a large, quiet apartment in a building with an elevator, within walking distance to public transportation and at a rent we could afford.  After having seen any number of apartments that were definitely not 'the one', it was love at first sight when we opened the door to this one.  In mid-February, we moved.  The moving company estimated that they packed and transported seven tons of our household goods, and when moving-in day arrived, the building's elevator was not working.  All seven tons of furniture and moving boxes came up the stairs on the backs of the moving crew.  Ay ay ay!

The same room, post-move, looking toward the French doors.

Another view, this time looking toward our front door.

The Mexico Cooks! kitchen.  Long and skinny with a door on either end, the kitchen is convenient for both cooking and serving meals.  The apartment measures very nearly 1900 square feet.

The Mexico Cooks! office, where I write the articles and process the photos.  All of the rooms have marvelous floor-to-ceiling windows for lots of light and air.  One of the fringe benefits of moving to this part of the city is ease of getting around: we parked our car in the building's garage and have not moved it since mid-February.  We walk everywhere, take the Mexico City metro or the MetroBus if we're going a longer distance, and will only use the car for trips outside the city--that is, if we don't take one of Mexico's superb long-distance buses.

We're lucky to have twice-weekly tianguis (street markets) within three blocks of our apartment.  Every Tuesday and Friday, we stroll over to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, eggs and many staples.  The neighborhood supermarket is handy (and also within easy walking distance) for needs the tianguis can't meet.

Street food is everywhere around us. This stand, Tortas y sincronizadas Los Cuñados (the brothers-in-law) is on a corner less than half a block from our building.  The owner opens every day except Sunday, from about 9:00 AM until early evening.  The first few weeks we were here, we bought sincronizadas (think flour tortillas stuffed with ham, egg, cheese, and chiles, then grilled till the cheese oozes out the sides) or tortas (sandwiches made on a soft telera roll) for breakfast nearly every morning.

Leaving Michoacán has been very difficult for me.  Don't get me wrong: I love our beautiful apartment, I love our neighborhood, and I love Mexico City.  I think it's the most exciting city in this part of the world.  There may come a time when my soul moves here to join my physical self, but just for now a huge part of my heart is still in residence in the mountains of Michoacán.  

Art Deco era building, Avenida Amsterdam, La Condesa.

Mexico Cooks! is taking a new direction starting this week; I think you'll enjoy the places we go and the things we bring you.  Stay tuned every Saturday morning: we'll be right here.  Let us know what you think as you explore this incredibly vibrant, totally electric, cosmopolitan and crazy city with us.

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

 

Una Muestra de Gastronomía in Michoacán: A Food Fair in Michoacán

The Purhépecha woman in the foreground pats out tortillas while her companion sorts through a plate of golden, freshly cut flor de calabaza (squash blossoms).

The first two mornings of the huge annual artisans' crafts fair in Michoacán begin with a food fair: una muestra de gastronomía.   Fifteen or so outdoor kitchens, set up around a charming plaza just a block from the crafts booths, offer cooking demonstrations and inexpensive meals of representative Purhépecha dishes.  The food, rustic and rarely seen outside a Purhépecha home kitchen, is, in a word, heavenly.  The Mexico Cooks! group trooped into the food fair just in time for Saturday breakfast.  They could have known who we were by the way our mouths were watering with anticipation.

Corn is the basis for the indigenous Mexican kitchen, and the tortilla is the lowest common denominator.  On the table in front of this woman, you can see the metate (three-legged rectangular grinding stone) and the mano (similar to a rolling pin) resting on it,  along with the prepared masa from which tortillas are made.  Both the metate and the mano are hand-carved from volcanic rock.

To your left of the table is the clay comal (similar to a griddle) that in this instance rests loosely on top of a metal drum in which the wood cook fire is built.  Prior to use, the comal is cured with cal (builders' lime).  The cal serves two purposes: it gives the comal a non-stick surface and it adds nutrients to the masa as it toasts.

In the past, all of Mexico's women prepared dried corn for masa by soaking and simmering it in a solution of water and cal.  The name of the prepared corn is nixtamal.  Once it's processed, it's ready to be ground into masa for tortillas, tamales, and other corn-dough preparations.  Some rural women still grind nixtamal-ized corn by hand using the metate and mano.  Some take the prepared corn to their neighborhood tortillería (tortilla vendor's shop) for grinding, and some prepare their masa using commercial dried corn flour.  In urban areas, the majority of Mexican families buy tortillas hot off the tortilla baker at the tortillería and carry them home, wrapped in a special hand-embroidered towel, just in time for a meal.

This woman prepares her stove, made of part of a metal drum with an opening cut away for firewood.  She's spreading a paste made of wood ash and cal on and around the top of the the drum to hold the comal in place.  The white streaks on the red clay comal are cal.  The volcanic rock metate and mano are on the bench in the background.  Her well-used clay cooking pot is visible to your left.

This joyous woman is patting out blue corn tortillas.  The masa and mano are on the metate in front of her.  She's toasting the tortillas and roasting tomatoes and chiles on her clay comal.  The comal is set into a clay stove fired by wood.  The haze that you see is woodsmoke.

The Purhépecha kitchen repertoire includes numerous atápakuas (literally, a type of thick, soup-like salsa served plentifully over prepared food).  The Purhépecha word atápakua has meaning deeper than its simple definition.  Its connotation is food that is picante (spicy), nutritious, and life-sustaining in a spiritual sense.  Mexican culinary historians agree that the preparation of atápakuas dates from as long as 400 years before the Spanish Conquest, around 1100 AD, when the Purhépecha were strong rulers in the area of Mexico that is now Michoacán. 

An atápakua can be made from the ingredients that are easily found in the region.  The specialty of one tiny village of the Meseta Purhépecha is atápakua del talpanal (wasp larvae).  Another town's specialty is xururi atápakua, the principal ingredient of which is cotton seeds.  More commonly, indigenous cooks prepare their atápakuas of seasonal and readily available vegetables, wild herbs and greens, and a bit of meat, poultry, or fish.

We of Mexico Cooks! didn't eat wasp larvae or cotton seeds.  We inhaled bowls of atápakua de flor de calabaza (thick, soupy salsa served over squash flowers, fresh corn kernels, and chunks of corundas de ceniza (unfilled tamales made with masa and wood ash).

In the closeup of the atápakua you can clearly see the corn kernels (closest to the bowl of the spoon), small pieces of calabacita (similar to zucchini), orange squash flowers, and a piece of white corunda.   For flavor and color, chiles serrano and cilantro are blended into the cooking liquid.  The thin, soupy salsa is then thickened by blending a small ball of masa into the hot liquid.  This atápakua is deliciously spicy and tastes as fresh as the garden.  I finished my portion and wanted another bowl.

Here are Susan, Steve, and Gayla, all part of the Mexico Cooks! breakfast crew.  We had already gobbled our atápakua (witness the empty bowls) and had moved on to snarfing down the jahuácatas we're holding. Jahuácatas are similar to gorditas.  Purhépecha women prepare the jahuácatas by folding freshly patted tortillas and refried beans into multiple thin layers, then toasting the finished product on the comal.

Churipo, shown above, is one of my favorite Purhépecha specialties.  Churipo is a hearty soup, the delicious broth flavored by long cooking with beef, cabbage, calabacitas, xoconostle (the sour fruit of a specific nopal cactus), onion, chile, and other ingredients.  Served with a squeeze of limón (Mexican lime), a sprinkle of coarse sea salt, tortillas hot off the comal and corundas de ceniza broken up in the bowl, it's a wonderful meal in one dish.  If your palate will take the heat, eat some raw chiles serrano along with your bowl of churipo.  Remember that the tip of any chile is less picante than the stem end, where most of the seeds are.  Photo courtesy Steve Sando,  www.ranchogordo.com

Late in the afternoon, after we'd investigated as many of the crafts booths as we could, we were all in need of something very light and fresh for our comida (middday meal).  We ordered a fruit plate and a plate of guacamole with totopos (triangular fried tortilla chips) at a local restaurant.

For dessert we found limones, with the pulp scraped away, candied and stuffed with cocada (coconut candy).  Half of one of these is plenty!

This was such a sweet finish to a fascinating day in Michoacán.  If you'd like to travel to this event in 2012, be sure to email Mexico Cooks! in time to save your place for adventure.

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Tianguis Artesanal Domingo de Ramos :: Palm Sunday Artisans' Fair, Uruapan, Michoacán

Originally published on May 9, 2009, this article takes us to the annual Tianguis Artesanal Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday Artisans' Fair) in Uruapan, Michoacán.  The 2011 fair opens today (April 16) and runs until May 1.


Waving papel picado (cut paper) dance sticks and elegantly dressed in red velvet aprons trimmed with lace , these Purhépecha women danced their way through the opening day parade at the annual statewide Feria de Artesanías.

Mexico Cooks! has attended the Feria de Artesanía de Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday Artisans' Fair) in Uruapan, Michoacán, every year for nearly 15 years.  The two-week-long fair is always the same and yet never boring, a remarkable combination.  This largest artisans' fair in Mexico draws more than 1200 vendors and contestants for the best-of-the-best from all over the state of Michoacán.  It attracts international tourism: we've heard languages from all over the globe as we walk the vendors' aisles.

Purhépecha women's festive ropa típica (native dress) includes a knife-pleated skirt, a hand-embroidered guanengo (blouse), a cross-stitch apron, and the long, rectangular blue, black, and white striped rebozo (shawl) that is typical to the region.

This woman marched while carrying an enormous huarache (shoe made of woven leather strips) representing the goods that her region of the state produces.  She's also carrying a bag of souvenir key chains that she tossed to individuals in the crowd.  Look closely and you'll see the tiny huarache key chains that decorate her sombrero de paja (straw hat). 

Clarinets, trumpets, trombones, and a pink tuba--what a great band!

Artisans hawk thousands of traditional low-fired clay pots and pitchers.  These are from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Michoacán is famous world-wide for its traditional arts and crafts.  For hundreds of years, artisans in this state have produced highly decorated articles made from locally found materials: clay, wood, lacquer, textiles, copper, reedwork, and paper maché, among others.

Ollas para frijoles (clay pots for cooking beans) from Capula, Michoacán.

Molinillos (little mills) are used for whipping chocolate caliente (hot chocolate) to a thick froth.
For more about Michoacán-style, hand-made Mexican chocolate, look here: chocolate Joaquinita.

These blue jarras y platones (pitchers and platters) with their finely painted, intricate white designs come from one family workshop in Capula.  Mexico Cooks! does not...DOES NOT...have room in the house for more pottery.  Well, maybe just one more piece!  These glorious jarras were all but impossible to resist.

Clay sculptures from Ocumicho, Michoacán, are full of whimsy and bright colors.  Among all of these guaris (Purhépecha word for women), did you notice Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the upper right corner?

Hand-embroidered traditional cotton guanengos (blouses) are so important and finely made that they have their own concurso (competition) at the Feria de Artesanía (Artisans' Fair).


2012 will be the 53nd anniversary of the Artisans' Fair in Uruapan.  Come see it with us!

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

Indigenous Market in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

Here's another re-run from February, 2008.  Mexico Cooks! had been visiting friends in Chiapas, one of  Mexico's southernmost states, and had just returned home with wonderful photographs of indigenous artesanía (arts and crafts work).  Enjoy!

Hand made woolen animal toys at the San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, artisans' market.

Mexico Cooks! is home again in Morelia, Michoacán.  We have just enough oomph left to give you a photo essay from San Cristóbal de las Casas.  You'll have a brief but very colorful idea of what we saw during our stay with friends in Chiapas.  By next week we will have had enough respite from our vacation to write about local customs, incredible crafts, and, of course, the food.

Every day of the week, indigenous artesanía (crafts) makers and vendors gather to wait for the tourist trade in the plaza of  Templo Santo Domingo in San Cristóbal de las Casas.  Embroidery and other textiles, leather goods, beads, toys, and trinkets of every kind are on the sellers' tables.  Mexico Cooks! was particularly taken with how many of the artisans' goods march along in patterns of vertical and horizontal stripes.  Be sure to click on the individual photographs to appreciate the details. 

Come look:

Bright yellow-dyed corn and colored beans strung as necklaces.

Hamacas (hammocks) made of handmade string, lined up along a wall.

A stack of finely woven shawls.

Bolts of shiny tela de hule (oilcloth), the top roll featuring Day of the Dead figures.

Woven textile belts finished with leather.

Hand-embroidered zippered eyeglass holders.

Hand-woven bracelets.

Headbands, headbands, headbands!

We're now based in Mexico City, in one of the loveliest old colonias (neighborhoods) in this enormous capital.  In a week or so we'll be writing new reports from here--wait till you see what's cooking for Mexico Cooks!.

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

Epiphyllum Crenatum, Pride of the Mexico Cooks! Home Garden, Spring 2011

This article was originally published on April 17, 2010.  In February, our just-barely-in-bud epiphyllum moved with us to Mexico City, courtesy of our dear friend Tony Anaya, who carried her pot in his car and kept her in his apartment for a few weeks until we got here.  The first of the 2011 blooms opened fully on March 26, 2010.  It is thrilling beyond words to watch her develop.

Meet our epiphyllum crenatum, the crenate orchid cactus native to Mexico.  Crenate refers to the scalloped shape of the cactus's long, thick leaves.  The open flower measures approximately seven to eight inches in diameter. 

Sometime during the very early spring of 2009, Mexico Cooks! and several friends took a Sunday drive to Pátzcuaro and beyond.  On the return trip, we passed through Tzintzuntzan.  As we drove slowly past the market square in town, I suddenly screeched the car to the curb--a display of plants, for sale on the corner, had grabbed my attention.  Among her other plants, the vendor's big epiphyllum cactus, potted in a La Morena chile can, made my heart go pitter-patter.  Eighty pesos later, we loaded the big cactus into the back of the car and headed home to Morelia.

This tiny can of La Morena chiles chilpotles* adobados is a wee cousin of the six pound chile can that originally held the epiphyllum.  La Morena produces canned chiles jalapeños en escabeche (pickled) as well as chiles chilpotles* in adobo.  The canned chiles are excellent, the best we've tried.

*Chilpotle is a variant spelling of chipotle.

This group of buds is still relatively closed, although the bud on the right is beginning to show signs of opening.  The cactus, growing in a pot on Mexico Cooks!' sunny terrace, has more than 30 buds.

This species was shown at an exhibition at the London Horticultural Society's Garden in 1844 and won highest medal for a new introduction. It had been collected in Honduras 5 years earlier by Georges Ule Skinner, who sent the plant to Sir Charles Lemon.  Sir Charles brought the epiphyllum to flower for the first time in 1843.

Barely opened on Saturday evening, this bud opened fully by Sunday morning.  Temperatures in Morelia have ranged between 50°and 85° Fahrenheit during this week (April 10-17, 2010).

The thick, fleshy leaves of this cactus can grow as much as two feet high.  The leaf skin is smooth and green and the leaves have definite scallops, visible in the photographs.

The fully-opened flower lasts approximately 36 hours before the petals close and the flower droops.  Mexico Cooks! expects that the season for this year's buds and flowers will be finished in about two weeks.

Epiphyllum crenatum is easy to cultivate and highly rewarding.  After a few months in its new pot, our cactus began to grow new leaves.  Late in the winter, we were thrilled to see that buds were beginning to form.  According to horticulturalists, the plant will need to be re-potted after it flowers in 2011.


Close-up of the petals, pistils, and stamens.  Epiphyllum crenatum belongs to the plant division Magnoliophyta, which has this type reproductive organs.

Epiphyllum crenatum in her pot on the terrace.  We and our employees water the epiphyllum three or four times a week during the dry season.  During the rainy season (mid-May through early November), Mother Nature keeps the pot plentifully watered.

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