Being a tourist in my own town

We are right in the middle of most people’s two week vacation.  Semana Santa started this past Monday and next Monday begins Semana Pascua.  Both the universities I work with are closed and my students are out exploring, so my job duties have also slowed considerably.  This is good since Adolfo’s sister and aunt were in town this past week for his mother’s birthday.  We were able to do a lot of touristy things, including shopping and eating all around town.

In the process we began to frequent a new cafe in the Colonia Americana.  La Cafeteria has been open for five weeks and seems to be going strong at this point.  In fact, they have been doing so much business that they ran out of quite a lot of their menu.  This, combined with a very charming and air-headed waitress, made for very interesting visits.  Adolfo’s sister says she is like Lisa Kudrow’s waitress character in Mad About You.  The highlight for me happened while trying to eat dinner one night.  We were told that they only had bagels for the bread option on their sandwiches and so we ordered a couple bagels with cream cheese and salmon, along with some sides.  First, she comes back to our table to change our sides, because what we ordered is no longer available, then she returns to tell us that some of the sides we ordered are in fact available.  Then she returns again to apologize that they had run out of ham.  We replied that this is  a shame.  She stays at our table, then says, did you want to get something else instead?  We reply that we had ordered salmon, and thought we would stick with that.  At this point, after the waitress leaves, Adolfo’s aunt declares that whatever the waitress wants to bring will be fine with her.  She brings out the sandwiches and only one is on a bagel, because she said they “found” some other bread in the back.  We are dumbfounded, but the food is really pretty good and in total, in the last week, we went three times to the cafe.  The deserts were particularly good and I am excited about trying more of the food, once they get their feet back on the ground.

The Cafeteria is on Libertad at Robles Gil.

Love of parchment paper

Many thanks to those of you who are feeding my parchment paper obsession.  I have recently been on a brownie kick and it also came in quite handy with some Pane di Como Antico from The Italian Baker book.

I found the perfect brownie recipe in The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, where I should have looked to begin with.  The latest recipe of Moist Chocolate Brownies were made with some chopped toasted almonds and amaretto.  The parchment paper makes life so much easier.  I can take the brownies right out of the pan and cut them on the cutting board, stack them on a paper plate and take them downstairs to the concierge, as a “get well soon” gift.  Not that brownies are necessarily going to help when you’ve cut your arm with a machete.  (He’s much better now and got the stitches out last week.)

Yesterday, I made the Pane Como again and it came out even better than the previous time.  And, I’m crediting the parchment paper.  I have a small problem with my ceramic bread form – it’s a little too short.  In the past I’ve had problems with the bread running off the edge and creating a little frown.

This time, I put it on a piece of parchment and in the bread mold.  Not only did I not need to grease the mold, the paper was longer than the mold and any run off was contained, and the bread browned better on the paper than in the form.  Success on all levels.

In non-parchment paper cooking news, I made a really interesting blood orange olive oil cake and with my excessive orange purchasing lately, it is easy and fast.  I’ve never seen blood oranges here, and when I asked a friend about them she was really confused.  I used regular juicing oranges and the cake was very tasty.  I may try the original recipe soon.

Also, I got a tip from one of Adolfo’s friends about a charcuterie near my regular supermarket.  I went yesterday and there was practically a line out the door.  Everyone was getting prosciutto and I got in line.  I was able to come home with some prosciutto, salami and Dutch Gouda.  I also tried the Chilean Gouda and it was obvious why it was significantly less expensive.  There were too many interesting options listed on their wall, so I will have to go back to try the pastrami (!), Gruyere, bacon, Camembert and other interesting goodies.

Olive Paste

I made this while dad was here visiting and he wanted the recipe:

1 c. sliced kalamata olives
1/2 clove of garlic
1 t. fresh thyme (approx.)
1/2 t. fresh ground pepper
2 anchovies
1 T. olive oil (extra virgin)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process to the desired consistency.

We ate this on toast while Dad was here, but yesterday I made it again and spread on some pizza with onions and it was pretty good.

Many things

Well, many things have been happening and not much writing has been done.

I have been stalking the dried fava beans at the abastos market and I finally got up the nerve and bought about two cups.  Tonight, I made soup from my Diana Kennedy book and I think it turned out really good.  Sadly, I also found out that Adolfo detests dried fava bean soup and would not even try a bite.

My job has been kind of nuts lately, but mostly in a good way.  Hopefully, I will soon be planning a trip to Xalapa.

I went for the first round of wedding dress shopping, which was kind of horrible.  The first shop was comically horrible.  First, when the shop ladies found out I was shopping for a wedding dress, there were yelps and squeals of fake congratulations.  Then, I tried to explain that it would be a casual affair and I was not interested in dresses with sequins, rinestones, or other plastic crap.  She responded excitedly that it was “my day” and as the bride, no matter how casual, I was supposed to “shine” (with rinestones, apparently).

Also, a friend is beginning to study for the GRE and this morning we met to work on vocabulary.  We are thinking good thoughts about a Fulbright grant to the New School in NYC.

While all this is going on, I’ve managed to kill off a tomato plant and encouraged an aphid invasion.  So, the garden is not in tip top shape.

There are many more plans in the works.

Sorry

I’ve been working on the other blog and haven’t had time to think about posting here.  I’ll be back soon!

a quick trip to Missouri

Well, the new year has started as a hectic, whirl-wind of events.  We hosted some friends from San Francisco for a few days, attended a very nice wedding in Mexico City and I then received word that my grandfather was very sick.

I left  Mexico City for Missouri, and landed in a shocking cold front.  My grandfather passed away on January 13th and all of his grandchildren were able to attend the visitation and funeral.  I am sad, but it felt good to be with family.  I was also reminded by a friend today to be thankful for my current job (which I am) and had I been still with my previous job I would have had to fight to leave for a week (I would have quit on the spot).

I was able to spend a good amount of time with my grandma and we worked on a particularly frustrating jigsaw puzzle.  I wanted to have more time to look through the recipe box she showed me, but this visit wasn’t particularly conducive to reading recipes.

There was a lot of good food, stories and photos.  And, I am thankful for all of them.

guasanas

I have been seeing these things in the food stalls around town and I just haven’t been able to figure them out. The food stalls here are very seasonal and I remember these things from last year.

They are green and steaming, appear to be a pod of some sort and sold in little bags. Usually the stand is also selling roasted peanuts. My first thought is fava beans, but I know that favas are called habas here. I asked Adolfo several times if they are habas and he always says no, but can’t tell me what they are – except that he doesn’t really like them… not unusual.

So, we recently had some visitors in town for a day and a half and they were also commenting on these things. And, finally, I was motivated to the dictionaries. First up, the International Gastronomic Dictionary in Spanish – no dice. Second, the Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary (Spanish and English) – nothing. Finally, I looked in the Diccionario de Mexico. Jackpot!

Guasanas: Toasted green garbanzo beans that are sold in the streets of Jalisco.

Of course Adolfo doesn’t like them, he HATES garbanzo beans!

Now I’ve got to get my hands on some before the season ends.

Tamales and Clay Pots

The family came and went and we ate and ate and ate.  There was turkey and bacalao and romeritos with shrimp cakes and escargot and panela and sopes and on and on and on.  Adolfo and I are trying to radically shift our eating habits back into the norm, but we have so many leftovers in the fridge that we are still eating lots of meat and very few vegetables.

Yesterday a friend invited me over to her house to help make tamales for New Year’s Eve.  I grabbed a box of picadillo out of the freezer and headed over for the afternoon.  She did a couple things with the dough that I don’t remember seeing before, but that make a lot of sense.  The first is the addition of some baking powder.  I think this makes the dough steam up a little lighter.  And the second is the addition of some rice flour.  I’m not sure exactly what the rice flour does, but I like the end results.  She also added a few ice cubes to the mix while we were beating the lard and masa (dough) together.  Keeping the dough cold is probably good for the lard and makes for a slow addition of icewater, which was also needed.

In addition to the picadillo tamales, we made some of beans and cheese, pinapple and strawberry.  I haven’t tried the pinapple or strawberry, yet, but I’ve been promised a couple.  The dough turned out better than many tamales I have tried.  And, my friend’s son (14 mo. old) whipped through half a picadillo tamale before getting fussy and needing a nap.  I think that was an endorsement.

The other exciting thing that happened recently was that Adolfo and I happened upon an abandoned nursery with a crew of guys hauling stuff away.  We stopped and asked if we could take some of the left over pots and they said no problem as they were headed for the dump anyway.  So, I came home with seven new clay pots of various sizes and shapes.  I’ve already planted lettuce, radishes and onions and I’m making plans for the rest of them.

Happy New Year to you all.

I can smell it in the air

Well, it’s Christmas time here. How can you tell? Well, aside from the regular stuff like trees on top of cars going down the street, stores selling twinkly lights and the like, yesterday I saw salt cod in the supermarket.

Salt cod is traditionally made into a dish called Bacalao. And, like turkey is assigned a holiday. I’ve never had Bacalao at any other time of year. I’ve never made Bacalao before and in fact have never made anything with salt cod. However, I quite like the Bacalao that Adolfo’s mother makes for Christmas. So, when she asked if my family liked Bacalao for Christmas, I said, I don’t know, but I like Bacalao for Christmas.

a new taco spot

We tried a new taco spot last night and it was excellent. We have been casing this place for a while now. The puesto (term for a non-permanent place for something like tacos) is on the corner of a street we pass occasionally on our way to the center of town. Also, a friend once told us they were her favorite tacos in Guadalajara. We were warned that they often ran out of the best fillings early in the evening.

We arrived, after attending a reception at one of the schools where Adolfo teaches, at about 10:30. Which, I think, is prime taco-eating time. At this point, they were already out of cheek, but still had al pastor, asada, head, mixed (which could be anything), stomach and lips. (They use every part of the animal here.) Cheek is really good, so I was disappointed that they were out, but I ordered two asadas and two head tacos and Adolfo (who claimed to not be very hungry) ordered two mixed.

They were REALLY good. These tacos were better than our regular taco puesto. Although, the specialty of our favorite place is tongue and we didn’t see any tongue at the new place.

The puesto can be found at the intersection of Paseo de la Arboleda and El Sol in Colonia Jardines del Bosque an area of town designed by Luis Barragán.