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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
New Oaxaca Restaurant, Pitiona, Dazzles
Pitiona: Cocina de Autor has just arrived onto the Oaxaca dining scene like a shooting star ready to dazzle the most discerning fan. Shooting stars burn out, but I am going to wager that Pitiona will establish itself like a celestial planet around which foodies will gravitate. I was walking down Calle 5 de Mayo […]
Recipe: Fresh Peach Mango Tomato Salsa for a Crowd
Thinking of Oaxaca and Guelaguezta this week? There’s no better flavor or memory of Mexico than using fresh tomatoes from the garden for salsa. I had a couple of peaches and mangoes ripe ready and needing to be eaten. Plus, Stephen had harvested a couple of huge purple-red tomatoes from the organic garden plot yesterday. […]
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 Breakfast with Carina Santiago Bautista
I landed on Saturday and have been breathless ever since. After two nights and days in Oaxaca City, visiting friends, shopping, sightseeing, and walking up and down hills, we have now settled into the pueblo of Teotitlan del Valle. Here it is fresh, calm, peaceful, a rural village a mere 30 minutes outside the city […]
Oaxaca Cooking: Flavors of the Grandmothers
Written recipes for traditional Oaxaca cuisine are a recent phenomena. As with most cultures that create art through food, the way of cooking is passed through the hearts, hands, and soul of women, generation to generation, a folk-tale. Everything is by hand and by memory, intuited. Measurements are imprecise, to taste and to touch. Add […]