Pre-Hispanic Oaxaca Cooking Class with Vicky Hernandez
High up the hill in the shadow of Oaxaca’s famed archeological site of Monte Alban is a humble comedor on a dirt side street down the hillside from a paved access road. Carefully make your way down a curved, steep stairway cut into the hill to find the simple kitchen of Cocina Pre-Hispanica con Fogon […]
Recipe Redux: Nicuatole with White Corn Meal, Oaxaca Tradition
I served the nicuatole recipe I made and published last week to my Zapotec friend Janet. She said it was good, very good, but it wasn’t the traditional nicuatole recipe she was used to eating here in Teotitlan del Valle. The traditional cooks of Oaxaca use white corn, not comal (griddle) toasted and ground yellow […]
Oaxaca Corn Pudding Recipe: Nicuatole, Gluten and Lactose Free
I’m in love with native Oaxaca corn. I’m especially in love with local, organic, non-GMO corn now that I’m on the low FODMAP diet and live gluten-free for my digestive health. I went to a birthday party this week for one of my Zapotec friends. I no longer eat birthday cake. What to do for […]
Gastronomy + Gastroenterology: Oaxaca Digest
Those of us who live here are witness to the growing worldwide interest in Oaxaca food. Food festivals are everywhere any time of year. Take your pick from mole to salsa to tacos and tamales, and of course chocolate. We have fusion, small plates, tapas and schnitzel. We even have food trucks — something I […]
Tasteful Oaxaca Chocolate 4-Course Pop-Up Dinner
Everyone knows Oaxaca chocolate is sublime. The chocolate at Mama Pacha Chocolate Shop is sublimest. I must use the superlative here for many reasons: Unparalleled quality cacao beans to start with, the chocolate is small batch roasted, tempered for hours, resulting in a smooth as silk finish. Different from the sugary, grainy chocolate we use […]
Leftover Rosca de Reyes Bread Pudding Recipe
After about a day, Rosca de Reyes becomes more like dry cake, good for dunking into coffee or hot chocolate, but not so tasty for eating plain. What to do? Make bread pudding, of course. I got a little carried away in the Teotitlan del Valle market and bought three Roscas. They are so pretty. […]
Roasting a Thanksgiving Turkey in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
I bet you thought I disappeared! This is my first post since returning to Teotitlan de Valle, Oaxaca, a week ago. Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! I came back to my casita filled with aromas created by professional cook Kalisa Wells, who has been house sitting my two adopted street dogs. All kitchen surfaces were covered with […]
Oaxaca Comal Cooking in Durham, North Carolina: Eggplant and Okra
Okra is one of my favorite southern foods, right along with shrimp and grits. I like it because it reminds me of nopal cactus paddles, the kind you eat. I’m always trying to figure out how to prepare so it’s not slimy! Grilling, not boiling, is a secret. On this return from Oaxaca to North […]
Oaxaca Inspired Sweet-Savory Orange Chicken Recipe: Mango and Carrots
My first day back in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, after a six-week Durham, North Carolina hiatus. I had to drive La Tuga, my 2004 Honda Element to Tlacolula for clutch repair, so I handed 200 pesos (the equivalent of $11 USD) to Federico and asked him to pick up a few things for me at […]
India Journal: Visit to Pure Ghee Textile Designs
Ghee, clarified buffalo or cow butter, is the essential cooking and flavoring oil in India. Ghee also has religious significance and is used at life cycle celebrations throughout the country. It is highly nutritious and is part of the ayurvedic system, which forms the basis of spirituality, food, and health. One could say that ghee […]
Private Cooking Class Oaxaca: mmmmGood, Molotes and Memelas
How many different ways can corn be prepared? Here in Oaxaca, Mexico, the options are so numerous, I could perhaps count to a thousand. On Sunday, in honor of Carol’s XX birthday, David organized a private cooking class for five of us. The kitchen is miniscule. The results were huge. The most important ingredient was […]
Boulenc: Bringing a World of Flavors to Artisan Bread + More in Oaxaca, Mexico
We invited Martha Sorensen to write this post. She has raved about Boulenc since they opened. Martha makes it a daily breakfast habit to include a slice or two of toasty, crusty rye or whole grain bread from Boulenc topped with their not t00 sweet house made mango jam. She’s got me hooked. *** Walk through the […]
Penland School Cooks in Oaxaca
We will be going back in time this week. A few days ago our participants from Penland School of Crafts gathered at Casa de los Sabores, the cooking school operated by chef Pilar Cabrera Arroyo. Our menu focused on mezcal including a flaming skewered pineapple and shrimp dish that went up in flames before […]
Tour Puebla, Mexico: Cooking & Culture, From the Humble to the Divine
August 13-18, starting at $895 per person double occupancy– Chiles en Nogada Cooking Class Sumptuous Dinner Party in a Private Historic Home Elegant Dining and Neighborhood Eating Flea Market and Antique Shopping Museums, Churches, Archeology, History Puebla, Mexico, is a short two hours from Mexico City by bus direct from the international airport. It […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Crunchy, No-Cook Nopal Cactus Salad with Fruit and Sprouts: Healthy, Fresh, Fast, Easy
My sister Barbara and I were in Puebla, Mexico recently and during our three-day stay we ate at El Mural de los Poblanos Restaurant three times. We can’t get enough of Chef Lizette Galicia’s good food. We each have a favorite salad there. Barbara loves the fresh nopal cactus tossed with tomato, onion, cilantro, queso […]
Oaxaca in Santa Cruz, California, and Everywhere, U.S.A.–Cross-Cultural Influences
Gema Cruz Ambrosia has been cooking at Gabriella Cafe in Santa Cruz, California for the past eighteen years. Gema, (pronounced HAY-mah with a throaty H) whose name means gemstone, came to Santa Cruz twenty-eight years ago from a small village just beyond Oaxaca city called San Pablo Huixtepec. Her entire family is here in […]
Guest Blog: Holy Mole by LeeAnn Weigold
Holy Mole: Cooking Class with Reyna Mendoza Ruiz by LeeAnn Weigold* “I’ll stir. You chop,” Susan said. She loves stirring because it’s so relaxing and sensed that in my wired state, I needed some chopping to keep my hands busy. Reyna had persevered with my jumping around like a five year old in the local mercado, asking […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Recipe: Squash Blossom Frittata — Garden Edibles Oaxaca Style
One of my favorite tastes in Oaxaca is fresh squash blossoms. They are so beautiful, a delicious golden-yellow food taste that signals the beginning of summer. In Oaxaca, the markets will be filled with bunches of squash blossoms like edible bouquets. I’m in North Carolina for a few more weeks before I return to Mexico […]
Carnival in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca: Continued
Carnival in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca is a five-day festival that begins on the Monday after Easter. Why is this? Carnival is celebrated around the world, and other places in Mexico and Oaxaca before Lent begins. I asked several local residents who said they did not know. It’s the way it has always been, they […]
Rhythms of Making Mole Rojo with Josefina Ruiz Vazquez
We are in the garden at Las Granadas Bed and Breakfast in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca. A huge pomegranate (las granadas) tree is laden with ripening fruit. The fruit is suspended and hanging like Christmas ornaments, their color varying in shade from deep red to lime green, depending upon their maturity. Grandmother Magdalena is at […]
Recipe: Making Authentic Mole Rojo in Teotitlan del Valle
My Australian friend Tracey Ponting came back through Oaxaca this week on her way from San Cristobal de las Casas to Distrito Federal and on to England to visit her parents. Tracey and I met on the bus to San Cris in January when we stayed at the same posada. From there we traveled […]
Tribute to International Women’s Day Through Poetry
Who knew there would be a full moon illuminating the courtyard at Las Granadas Bed and Breakfast last night, March 8, when Professor Robin Greene and I planned our Women’s Creative Writing and Yoga Retreat a year ago? And, who knew that it would coincide with International Women’s Day? Who knew that nine magnifient women […]
Oaxaca Photography in Teotitlan del Valle
What an incredible photography and cooking class day with Reyna Mendoza Ruiz at her family home. El Sabor Zapoteco is the cooking class program. And we did so much — photographing each other doing the food preparation in the traditional ancient Zapotec way, making mole rojo, the traditional fiesta mole of Teotitlan. The photography expedition […]
Oaxaca Gallery-Hopping, Shopping + Dining Expedition with Norma Hawthorne
Oaxaca Gallery-Hopping, Shopping and Dining Expedition with Norma Hawthorne, Wednesday, February 1 to Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Collectors, foodies, shop-a-thon pacesetters and novice wannabees are invited to join me for an all-inclusive adventurous foray into the back streets, alleyways, and dirt paths of indigenous villages and cobbled city streets to discover the best of Oaxaca. First, […]