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. Time to make some salsa. And, I had enough ingredients to make enough for a crowd or to eat through the week atop whatever: roast chicken, pinto beans, salad, blue corn tortilla chips.
Bonus: lesson on how to cut a mango!
Ingredients
2 large tomatoes
2 peaches
1 large mango
1 Vidalia onion
cilantro or basil
Salt to taste (I like sea salt)
1 T. olive oil
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1 T. Valentina hot Mexican sauce
juice of one lime
Stand mango on short end and using a serrated knife cut in two halves. close to flat pit. You can feel the pit as you cut.
Score each half like a crossword puzzle grid or checkerboard. I use the tip of a sharp paring knife. See the flat pit behind the tomato?
Fold the scored mango half back as you see in this photo above.
Cut the cubes from the skin and put into your mixing bowl. Cut the peach in half, remove the pit, and cut into 1/2″ cubes. Add to bowl.
Using a serrated knife so you don’t lose juice, slice and cube the tomatoes into similar 1/2″ cubes. Cut the stalk end off the onion. Peel away the skin. Leave the root end in tact. Cut through the onion in a cross-hatch checkerboard up to the root. Stand it on its side and slice through. This will give you uniform dice.
Add the tomatoes and onion to the bowl. Stir.
Dice cilantro to yield 1/4-1/2 cup. (You can substitute fresh basil, if you prefer.) Add salt, starting with about 2 t. and taste. Add the dried red pepper and Valentina. Add lime juice. Stir. Taste. Correct the seasoning. Finish with olive oil, stir and refrigerate for at least one hour until flavors blend. This yields about 5 cups of salsa.
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma contributes personal essay, How Oaxaca Became Home
Norma Contributes Two Chapters!
Click image to order yours!
Norma Schafer and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university program development experience. See my resume.
Study Tours + Study Abroad are personally curated and introduce you to Mexico's greatest artisans. They are off-the-beaten path, internationally recognized. We give you access to where people live and work. Yes, it is safe and secure to travel. Groups are limited in size for the most personal experience.
Programs can be scheduled to meet your travel plans. Send us your available dates.
Designers, retailers, wholesalers, universities and other organizations come to us to develop customized itineraries, study abroad programs, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
Our Clients Include
*Penland School of Crafts
*North Carolina State University
*WARP Weave a Real Peace
*Methodist University
*MINNA-Goods
*Selvedge Magazine
We offer textile experiences in our studio where we weave and work only in natural dyes.You can see the process during our textile tours, dye workshops or customized weaving experiences. Ask us for more information about these experiences, customized scheduling, and prices.
Oaxaca has the largest and most diverse textile culture in Mexico! Learn about it.
1-Day OaxacaCity Collectors Textile Tour.Exclusive Access! We take you into the homes and workshops of Oaxaca State's prize-winning weavers. They come from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Mixteca, Mixe, Amuzgos and Triqui areas and represent their weaving families and cooperatives here. For collectors, retailers, buyers, wholesalers, fashionistas.
1-Day Oaxaca Textile Walking Tour When you visit Oaxaca immerse yourself in our textile culture: How is indigenous clothing made, what is the best value, most economical, finest available. Suitable for adults only. Set your own dates.
2022 Going Deep, Not Wide--Extended Tours
July 25-31, 2022. Oaxaca Textile Adventure Tour: Sierra Norte Mountains. Visit two remote mountain villages where silk and cotton are woven into glorious cloth and dyed with natural plant materials. Come early or stay later for Guelaguetza! Not too late to join!
October 28-November 4, 2022: Women’s Creative Writing Retreat in Teotitlan del Valle — Memory and Tradition. Click this link to read about it. ONE SPACE OPEN FOR SHARED ROOM.
October 29-November 4, 2022:Day of the Dead Culture Tour. We meet locals and visit 4 villages to experience this mystical pre-Hispanic observance, awesome and reverent. Still space for a few more!
February 5-13, 2023: Bucket List Tour: Monarch Butterflies + Michoacan. Spiritual, mystical connection to nature. Go deep into weaving, pottery, mask-making and more! We haven't offered this tour since 2019 and we anticipate it will sell out quickly. TWO SPACES OPEN
February 21-March 1, 2023: Chiapas Textile Study Tour--Deep Into the Maya World Based in San Cristobal de las Casas, we travel to distant pueblos to meet extraordinary weavers --Best of the Best! Just a handful of spaces open.
Stay Healthy. Stay Safe. In Oaxaca, wear your mask. Questions? Want more info or to register? Send an email to Norma Schafer.
Maps: Teotitlan + Tlacolula Market
We require 48-hour advance notice for map orders to be processed. We send a printable map via email PDF after order received. Please be sure to send your email address. Where to see natural dyed rugs in Teotitlan del Valle and layout of the Sunday Tlacolula Market, with favorite eating, shopping, ATMs. Click Here to Buy Map After you click, be sure to check PayPal to ensure your email address isn't hidden from us. We fulfill each map order personally. It is not automatic.
Dye Master Dolores Santiago Arrellanas with son Omar Chavez Santiago, weaver and dyer, Fey y Lola Rugs, Teotitlan del Valle