Oaxaca Women’s Creative Writing Retreat Gives Voice to Lee Schwartz
Minerva Rising Literary Journal just published a piece written by Lee Schwartz on their blog that I want to share with you. Her voice is stunning, real, painful and alliterative. I love listening to her descriptions and following her words on the page. What she writes about has universal truth and especially resonates for me. Lee […]
Food Alert! Guzina Oaxaca Opens in Mexico City
Casa Oaxaca is one of our favorite go-to restaurants in Oaxaca. Sit on the roof. Overlook the spectacular roofline of Santo Domingo Church. Indulge in a tamarind mezcalini. Follow this with a perfectly prepared seared sea bass or duck tacos. Each sauce that accompanies is an art form in its own right. Finish with something […]
Masterpiece of Mexican Cuisine and Symbol of Independence: Chile en Nogada
It’s a Chile en Nogada kind of day here in Puebla, Mexico, where it was first prepared by Augustinian nuns, so they say, to honor the birthday of General Augustin Iturbide on August 28, 1821, who orchestrated Mexico’s independence from Spain on the same date. I ate one Chile en Nogada today here at El Mural […]
Dinner with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at Casa Azul
Guadalupe Rivera Marin remembers the elaborate meals served at Casa Azul, home of her father Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Lupe lived with them for a few years and claims to have taught Frida how to cook. Evidently, Frida loved to entertain but didn’t take much to the preparation. I wouldn’t either if it required […]
Baking the Improvised Cheesecake: More Art Than Science
Cheesecake is becoming more popular in Oaxaca, Mexico. Though it’s difficult to find springform pans here that are used to bake the traditional New York-style cheesecake. I know one store, Pastigel on Calle Rayon near the Periferico that sells pastry baking supplies where you can buy one. Called moldes, they are very expensive, about thirty-five dollars. […]
Feliz Año Nuevo — Happy New Year 2014 — Oaxaca Cheesecake Recipe
For the past week I’ve gone market shopping, both at the Sunday Tlacolula market and at the smaller, though equally satisfying Teotitlan del Valle market where I live. It’s easier now that I have LaTuga — a market trip can be spontaneous. As the invitation list for my New Year’s Eve house warming birthday party […]
Merry Christmas Oaxaca, Mexico Fruit Salad Recipe
Merry Christmas and happiest holidays to you and your family! My gift to you is this delicious recipe for easy fruit salad Mexican style, using red and green skin apples and pears for festive color of Mexico to decorate your table. Seasoned with lime juice, organic honey, and mixed with yogurt, it is a healthy […]
Post-Thanksgiving Gratitude, Wishes, Stuffing and Stuff
To all my friends and readers near and far, to my family whom I adore, Gracias, Gracias por todos, thank you for everything. Your love, caring, generosity, support, guidance and just being you means everything to me. You are numerous — my world is big and inclusive. Consider yourself part of life’s blessings in Thanksgiving, […]
Bringing Morocco to Mexico: Tagine Oaxaca-Style Mole Recipe
One of Morocco’s delights is tagine clay pot cooking. This heavy clay platter with conical top is perfect for one-dish meal preparation. I packed my tagine securely with bubble-wrap in Marrakech, seasoned it in North Carolina, repacked it, and have been cooking with it since arriving in Oaxaca this week. Oaxaca-Morocco Fusion Food: Now, […]
In Mexico City: Lunch at Mercado Abelardo L. Rodriguez
Down the street from Santo Domingo Plaza and the museum of the Inquisition in New Spain is Mercado Abelardo L. Rodriguez, a historic neighborhood market filled with lunch stalls, fruit and vegetable stands, and puestos selling cooking staples.. It is known for housing extraordinary murals by students of Diego Rivera, though most visitors to Mexico […]
Morocco Journal 9: Shopping, Eating, Sleeping, Body Work
Back home in North Carolina after 14 days in Morocco, the quintessential shopping bazaar, with a 2-day stopover in beautiful Madrid, Spain. Now, I prepare to return to Oaxaca, but not before a final set of Morocco recommendations to share with you. Marrakech Riad Bahia Salam, Marrakech, a restored mid-range guesthouse situated within easy […]
Mexican vanilla beans, mezcal and chocolate
What to do with a Mexican vanilla bean? Why not a Groucho Marx impersonation? Even though I recommended adding it to a bowl of sugar for flavor. On Friday, we had a Women’s Creative Writing and Yoga Retreat mini-reunion at the Oak Leaf Restaurant in Pittsboro, NC. Who? Robin, Debbie, Becky and me. As soon as […]
Chicago’s New Maxwell Street Market: Little Mexico
When you are in Chicago and if you want a bit of Mexico — with her street food and open air tianguis market culture — make your way to Chicago’s near west side for the New Maxwell Street Market every Saturday. The backdrop is the city’s stunning Loop and Magnificent Mile. Beyond the Loop […]
Corn and Comida at the Casa del Campo, San Jeronimo Tlacochahuaya, Oaxaca
Angelica Guzman is a farmer entrepreneur. Not only is she a great cook. She works the fields to raise crops — garlic, squash, corn, beans — that feed minions. Plus, she houses Mexican students who come to a Tlacochahuaya bilingual university for teacher preparation. After our morning with her son Moises Garcia Guzman at […]
Mexican Flag Nopal Cactus Salad or Nopal Ceviche Recipe
Here in southern Mexico nopal cactus is part of the landscape. It is good to eat, too. Very nutritious, high in vitamin C, experts say it has other health benefits like reducing cholesterol, controlling diabetes, and preventing hangovers. Plus, it’s that stunning visual treat of Green, White and Red, symbolic of Mexico and her flag. […]
Street Food: Perhaps the Best Tamales in Oaxaca
It was one of those perfectly glorious Oaxaca days. Our walking destination: corner of Calle Armenta y Lopez and Calle Cristobal Colon on the southwest side of the Zocalo. There on the southwest corner, tucked into the shade of the Parisina building protected from the strong Oaxaca sun, is perhaps the best tamale stand in all […]
Mexico City’s Quintonil Restaurant is Simply Delicious
I asked Deborah Morris, MD, PA-C, who met me in Mexico City before we traveled together to Oaxaca, to contribute to this blog by writing some of her impressions. She was dazzled by Quintonil and gives us this report. *** On our last evening in Mexico City, after a day of eating homely (and tasty) […]
Eat Like a Mexican: Tasting Mexico City Street Food with Eat Mexico Culinary Tour
Forbes Magazine says Mexico City is the hottest place for food. They are not talking temperature. Mexico City has it all — from gourmet cheeses and meats found in pricey restaurants to humble street food like tacos and tlacoyos. Today, I focus on eating on the street where people consume complete meals or snacks, sitting […]
Oaxaca Food Heaven: Restaurant Reviews by Guest Contributor Eva M. Olson
Our blog post today is written Eva M. Olson, a writer and former arts administrator based in Austin, Texas. I invited Eva to share her Oaxaca “foodie” experiences after she and a friend made a recent whirlwind eating trip. Eva first visited Oaxaca with her family when she was 13, and says she has been […]
Six Flight Mezcal Tasting with El Cortijo
The village of Santiago Matatlan bills itself at the mezcal capital of the world. The arch holding the banner welcoming you into town has a copper still on top of it. I’m from North Carolina and in that part of the world the same type of still is used for moonshine. There is no […]
Candelaria and Tamales Go Together in Oaxaca
Candelaria means tamales in Oaxaca, Mexico. Here in Mexico, tradition dictates that the person who gets the plastic baby Jesus imbedded in the Rosca de Reyes on Three Kings Day, January 6, gets to offer tamales on Candelaria, February 2. Nearly everyone gets the baby and everyone eats tamales. And, it’s not just one type of […]
Handcrafted Chips in Puebla, Mexico–Close to Heaven
We are getting down to the micro level when discussing chips. Not the taxi driver variety, but potato chips. These are not the store bought commercially made chips that we are familiar with in the USA. No. Potato chips are a fresh made delicacy here, prepared as you like them, while you wait, plain, seasoned […]
Tidbits: Calvin Trillin Loves Oaxaca, Too!
I think of Calvin Trillin as a contemporary Walt Whitman, humorous, politically savvy, and egalitarian. It just so happens that Trillin’s daughter Abigail moved to Oaxaca with her family. This became a perfect excuse for him to re-visit, eat grasshoppers, learn to cook with maguey worms and write about it. His take on Oaxaca food (and […]
Recipe: Venison Meatballs and Deer Hunting
What does this have to do with Oaxaca? Read on. You’ll find out! Those of us who live at Blue Heron Farm in Pittsboro, NC, have been plagued by an overpopulation of deer. This fall, our community association invited our local Backyard Bow Pros to come in and thin the herd using the old-fashioned way of […]
Recipe: Happy Thanksgiving Norma’s Mexican Yellow Bean Soup
This week I went to my local Mexican market in Pittsboro, NC in search of dried yellow beans to create another batch of soup. They store them in a bin and sell them by the pound. I love their color and texture. (Beans were originally cultivated in both Mexico and the Andes.) Yellow beans are […]
Oaxaca Recipe: Norma’s Black Bean Soup
I’ve been trying to replicate this traditional black bean soup since I returned to North Carolina from Oaxaca last week. I’ve made three batches and eaten them all. Perfect for vegetarians. If you are not a vegetarian, you can enrich the soup with leftover chicken or pork, sliced or cubed. Some people say Oaxaca’s best […]
Vendors of Oaxaca: On the Streets, in the Markets
Whether it’s the selling of food at a street corner, hand woven palm hats from a seat at the edge of a high concrete planter box, or from behind a market stall, commerce is alive and well in Oaxaca. At night, returning from a delicious dinner of coconut shrimp at Los Danzantes restaurant, we turned […]
Hormigas in the Salsa: Cooking in Oaxaca with Chef Pilar Cabrera Arroyo
People cook and eat in Oaxaca based on what’s available seasonally in local markets — or in their backyard. Today it was huitlacoche that was among the delicacies we could procure at the Mercado de la Merced. This is the neighborhood market where Pilar’s family shopped because they lived nearby. The market tour offers a great […]
Foodie Heaven: Oaxaca, Mexico
Falling in love with Oaxaca centers on food consumption, food ingredients, the visual, sensory excitement of food in its raw or cooked state, the preparation that goes into it, and of course the taste once a fork-full hits your salivary glands and begins its magic. From the street to the finest restaurants, food culture reigns […]
El Mural de los Poblanos, Puebla, Mexico Restaurant Continues to Please
“It was wonderful, close to perfect.” That’s what I told NY Times travel writer Freda Moon this morning when she asked how my meal was at El Mural de los Poblanos. Hollie and I settled in after escaping a particularly violent thunderstorm, rain pellets pounding our umbrellas as we stepped carefully along the slippery paving […]