Roof at Casa Luis Barragán, Calle General Francisco Ramírez 12 and 14, Col. Daniel Garza, Distrito Federal. If you are at all interested in modern Mexican architecture, this museum is a must-see. Arquitecto Luis Barragán changed the face of Mexican building, pioneering in the use of forms and space as joining both utility and beauty.
Baby bok choy at the Mercado San Juan. Each of these little bok choys is about six inches long, perfect for steaming. Most of the most-used fresh Asian vegetables (long beans, bitter melon, snow peas, bok choy of two or three kinds, and more) are regularly available at this downtown Mexico City market.
One of my favorite market stall signs: Bacon Shop "La Guadalupana", a Mercado de Jamaica pork butcher puesto (booth) that sells far more than bacon. And the happy little pigs are mariachis.
Just around the corner from Mexico Cooks!' former Mexico City headquarters, this tree wears a multi-colored and textured knit jacket.
A wheelbarrow full of mamey (pouteria sapota), perfectly ripe, beautifully cut, creamy sweetness. The mamey looks like a small fuzzy football and tastes like a baked sweet potato. Sunday market, Tlacolula, Oaxaca.
Metates (the rectangular grinding stone) and their metlapiles (the rolling pin), used for grinding everything from chocolate to chiles, beans to edible bugs. One doesn't use the same metate for everything; separate metates keep the flavors of each of your ingredients pure.
Pink graffiti on a window. The little sign reads, "Fresh paint". Click on any image to make it bigger, for a better view.
Tomatoes for salsa, roasting directly on the red-hot embers. Private home, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. "Sí, siempre los asamos así. Agarran más sabor." ('Yes, we always roast them this way. They take on more flavor.')
Tortillas freshly toasted on the comal (griddle). These tortillas, prepared in Puebla by traditional cooks from Querétaro, bear a "Q" stamp indicating their place of origin. In long-ago years, tortillas were often stamped with similar carved wooden stamps. The stamps were carved with pictures or letters that identified the owners. The dye, based on the wild plant called muictle, is steeped in water to bring out the color used to stamp tortillas.
Fresh morel mushrooms, Mercado de San Juan, Mexico City. Morels are available at this market fresh during the rainy season, and dried all year long.
A pre-Hispanic waterspout in the shape of a monkey's head. Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
Jícaras (hand-carved or painted drinking cups from the tecomate tree), Mercado Benito Juárez, Oaxaca.
Misitu, the Purépecha word for cat. Mural detail, Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán.
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