Trust me on this, one of the best investments you can make

I know, you think I am talking about that other kind of investment.  No, I mean investing in yourself.  Investing in learning how to relax, how to just be, and how to cook truly authentic Mexican food.  This is Poblana style cooking which means from the Puebla area.

Mexico is a huge and very diverse country and of course there are regional differences in the cooking.  Just like people in Maine don't eat the same locally as someone from say, Amarillo or another inland city.  Most people will tell you that the Poblana style of Mexican cuisine is the finest, the top of the food chain, if you will.  It is a beautiful fusion of indigenous, Spanish and French.

I was lucky enough while living in Mexico City to find this fabulous cooking school and spend a week there with a very dear friend.  We had a ball!  I learned so many things and have added all those recipes to my regular rotation.  In addition to that, we shopped like fiends, we wandered around, I found myself waking up really early and taking a walk with the dogs while drinking my morning tea.

Hand to God, you will not find a more beautiful locale to hang out and be treated like a queen while learning how to cook.

Below is the little review I wrote about this lovely cooking school for the newsletter for the Newcomers Club of Mexico City.

REVIEW OF MEXICAN HOME COOKING SCHOOL

FOR NEWCOMERS

I just spent a week in Tlaxcala attending the Mexican Home Cooking School.  It was fabulous.  Imagine a wonderful, typically Mexican home out in the country overlooking a lake and all 3 volcanoes.  Then imagine yourself there in the clean air and learning to cook tons of Puebla-style dishes. Try to imagine doing it with no can opener!  You won’t need one since Estela will teach you to do everything from scratch.  Really from scratch, not the way I always have thought of as being from scratch.

    The schedule is that you arrive one day, relax, get settled, have cooking classes for the next 5 mornings, and free afternoons to go sight-see or shop or sit around and soak up the atmosphere, then on the last day you leave.  I did just about every afternoon trip there was.  We went to Puebla and bought loads of antiques, we went to Santa Ana and bought textiles, we went to Tlaxcala and wandered around, we went to San Martin to the huge market and bought pottery and all sorts of treasures we couldn’t live without. In case you are not a shopper, there are some fabulous ruins close by. The Cacaxtla murals are probably the best-preserved murals to be discovered anywhere. You won’t want to miss them.  Luckily, all this is only a two-hour drive from Mexico City, so you can fill the car up with all sorts of artesania.

Estela Salas Silva and her husband Jon Jarvis run the cooking school out of their home.  She and her brother Rogelio do all the cooking instruction and are very good.  No matter what your level of expertise, they will make you feel like you are a genius.  After a day or two you will begin to feel like part of the family.  Since the school is at Jon and Estela’s home, there is a cozy sort of bed and breakfast feel to it.  The rooms are very nice, quite spacious and with fireplaces in each.

Here is the website www.mexicanhomecooking.com that you can go to and find out all the particulars.  Also, feel free to call me, Lisa Pie at xxxx-xxxx or email  if you want a student’s perspective.

Now I attended classes there in 2000 or 2001, I can't quite recall.  And I still correspond with Jon and Estela.  They are lovely people and make you feel right at home.  They also work with their neighbors Gundi and Erik who do the Mushroom Tours.  My husband and son attended one of those and really enjoyed it.  And if you look in the photos of the previous tours you will find photos of them.  

Enjoy perusing the Mexican Home Cooking website and then shoot them an email to find out availability to fit your vacation schedule.  I promise you will be happy you did this.