Enchiladas, Rice and Beans

You're hungry now, aren't you?  Enchiladas, Rice and Beans sounds good, doesn't it?

But I am not here today to talk to you about food.  Not food for your body, anyway.  You could consider this food for your soul.

This is a book that I have on my shelf.  It is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.  I bought this book years and years ago, but just last week I pulled it down and am now re-reading it.

As a person who was born to be a lover of all things Mexican, and as a person who has lived either in Mexico or on the border for most of my life this book is truly one that speaks to me.  I just adore this book.

Sr. Daniel Reveles has written what I consider to be a piece of art.  Actually, each chapter could stand alone as a little vignette, a snapshot of life in a Mexican border town.  You will fall in love with each and every person you encounter in your travels through his stories of Tecate.

You know how Northern Exposure made you want to go find the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska and listen to Chris in the morning on the radio?  And go to Hollings place to eat and have a beer?  That's what this book does for Tecate.

Go to Amazon.com and get yourself a copy.  I promise that whenever you find yourself in need of a great book to read to warm your heart and make you roll around laughing and then alternately weep, this book will do that for you.  Because when you want to feel warm, cozy and comforted what's better than Enchiladas, Rice and Beans?

Recipes!

Recently I mentioned making King Ranch Chicken which is a staple in Texas.  Everyone makes it, everyone knows how to make it and as per usual, everyone does it just a wee bit different.  And someone asked for the recipe.

So I am here to share the recipe with you.  And also I am going to give you one that is even better.

Here is my thinking on this:  As I said above, everyone in Texas makes the King Ranch Chicken casserole which gets its name from the King Ranch.  Supposedly a cook on the ranch put this together and that's how it came to be known as King Ranch Chicken.  *And could I say King Ranch any more times in this paragraph?

But before I go further in my story about these 2 recipes I want to give you the link to the actual King Ranch . Just in case you want to peruse this fine establishment and see what's what on their site.  The King Ranch is the largest ranch in the whole wide world.  It is bigger than many of the east coast small-ish states.

So with the King Ranch Chicken casserole, it's one of those recipes that evolved over time.  I am sure way back in the day when the cook first made this he/she did NOT run right out to the store to get a couple of canned goods to get started.  On a property with that many thousands and thousands of acres you don't run right out for anything.  So it makes sense that it was probably made with from-scratch items and then when it became popular it was easier to get home cooks to make this using store-bought cans to make a few shortcuts.

I have made this and eaten this my whole life.  And when we moved to Guadalajara I took a TON of different cooking classes.  One set of which were taught by a neighbor of mine, the late Maria Machuca. She was a very talented cook and a great teacher.  She taught me to make a Mexican tradition known as Chilequiles.  The first time I tasted it I knew immediately that this is what the King Ranch Chicken was trying to imitate.  The cook probably had come from Mexico and had the recipe or the taste memory of the Chilequiles and wanted to recreate it with local ingredients available.

So I am giving you both, the King Ranch Chicken and Maria's recipe for Chilequiles.  Try them both and see what you think.

King Ranch Chicken

1 3-lb. chicken, cut up
2 cans cream soup (can be mushroom, chicken, celery.  I usually do one mushroom and one chicken)
1 can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with chiles
1 dozen corn tortillas, cut into wedges (much like a pizza or a Trivial Pursuit game piece)
2 cups cheese, grated

Boil the chicken with some celery, parsley, garlic, onion or whatever you like to flavor the meat. You are going to use a bit of the broth in the recipe, as well.  After the chicken is cooked and cooled, debone and cut or tear the meat into bite-sized pieces.

Combine the cans of soup with the Ro-Tel and about a cup or so of the broth and mix till smooth.

In a large casserole or a 9x13 pyrex pan, layer up tortillas, chicken, cheese, soup mixture, tortillas, chicken, the rest of the soup and then top with the rest of the cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 F for about 1 hour.  I usually take the foil off the last 15 minutes and let the cheese brown a bit for the last part of the cooking.

Sounds good, right?  It is.

Now here is the recipe for the Chilequiles

2 pkg of corn tortillas (I usually go with about 24 - 36), cut into the same wedges
1/2 liter heavy cream or sour cream
1/2 kilo shredded Mexican Manchego cheese or a good Monterrey Jack or Mozzarella (you want the melty stretchiness)
3/4 kilo green tomatillos
6 small green serrano peppers
1 small wedge of onion
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 cups cilantro

In a good-sized saucepan cover the tomatillos with water. Add the peppers, onion and garlic. Boil until water darkens, about 10 minutes.

After you have cut the tortillas into wedges, heat some oil in a frying pan and fry them till crispy and golden.  Spread on paper towels to drain and sprinkle with salt. (try to not eat them all!)

Shred the cheese.

Let the tomatillos and peppers cool a bit. Then put the tomatillos, and 3 of the peppers and the onion and garlic into the blender or food processor.  Add a bit of salt and the cilantro.  Blend with 1 1/2 cups of the water they were boiled in.  *This is going to make way more green salsa than you will need for this dish. Don't try to use it all or your Chilequiles will be swimming and soggy.

In a 9x13 pyrex layer tortillas, green sauce and cream. Repeat layers and top with the shredded cheese.

Bake until bubbly and heated through.

***Now here is the deal with Chilequiles.  This is a dish made to use up the leftover tortillas from yesterday that are not all soft and pliable.  This dish is often made with shredded leftover chicken in the layers.  I also put half the cheese in the middle and half on top.

We like to make this with leftover smoked chicken too.  It's very good.

This dish is served all over Mexico with refried beans and sliced avocado.  You can order it for breakfast, brunch or lunch.  Some places ask you if you want yours made with green or red sauce.  I prefer the green.

And by the way, that green sauce in the recipe up there?  That is killer!  It is so darn good you will want to keep dipping those fresh hot tortilla chips in it.  So, if you want to be really traditional when you serve this sauce at your table, dice up a couple of really firm and ripe Haas avocados and mix them in.  Now, THAT is a beautiful thing right there.

Please, try both of these dishes and let me know how it goes for you and if you have a preference.

¡Buen Provecho!

Ice Cold Paletas! Get 'em here!

If you live in south Texas or in Mexico you know about the Paleta Man.  If not, picture this; small-framed older man with a cowboy hat on either pushing a cart or he has the kind that is half bicycle with cart in the front.  He will have caramel-colored wrinkled weathered skin and kind eyes.  Paleta men are not usually skeevy or gross.

When he opens the lid to the brightly painted and decorated box on the cart he reaches in and brings out fabulous home-made frozen treats.

Paletas.

That's popsicles to you people who don't know about paletas.  Paletas come in 2 varieties.  Water-based and cream or yogurt based.  This time of year most people prefer the water-based flavors, but the creamy ones are great for dessert or when it isn't so miserably hot out.

Now, if you don't live near a paleta stand or where a paleta man comes to you, you will have to make your own.

In the old days before Tupperware everyone used regular ice trays to make teensy paleta cubes with a toothpick frozen in the middle to serve as a stick/handle.  You can make them out of leftover juice, koolaid or whatever you like.  Pickle juice is a favorite among the 8 - 13 crowd and all boys regardless of age.

But after Tupperware came up with their version of popsicle molds, it was waaaaay more fun to make things.  Here is what Tupperware has come up with over the ages, starting with the 1970s.

Tupperware still makes these things.  I think the latest reincarnation is the Mickey ones and they go for about $20.00.  Unless you can't live without Mickey Mouse popsicles, hit a neighborhood garage sale. You can find all sorts of old Tupperware for dirt cheap.

After you have either your Tupperware popsicle molds or ice cube trays or even teensy paper cups you will want to have some fabulous recipes to put inside them.
Here ya go!!

In Mexico there is a drink served everywhere called Jamaica (pronounced Ha-MY-kuh) that is essentially a tea made from dried hibiscus blossoms.  It is lovely and full of vitamin C and acts like a diuretic much like cranberry juice.  This recipe calls for making the Agua de Jamaica first and then adding raspberries.  Note: the Agua de Jamaica recipe here is a bit more concentrated than what you would make to drink.  So if you have any left you can add a bit of water till it tastes right and drink it.

Hibiscus-Raspberry Ice Pops

2 cups chilled Agua de Jamaica
2/3 cup sugar
4 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen

For the Agua de Jamaica

1 cup dried hibiscus flowers
1/3 cup sugar (or more to taste)

Rinse the flowers in cold water and drain thoroughly. Put them in a saucepan, cover with 4 cups water and let steep for at least 4 hours or overnight. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the sugar and continue to cook, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher, pressing the solids with the back of a wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Add water to bring the volume up to 4 cups. If the flavor is too intense, add more water as needed. You can also add a little more sugar if you like.

After preparing the Agua de Jamaica, combine 2 cups with 1/3 cup sugar and warm over the stove till sugar is dissolved. Mix the raspberries with the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and let sit until they release some of their juice.  Then add the raspberries and their juice to each of the popsicle molds evenly. then pour in the Agua de Jamaica mixture dividing it evenly among the molds.

Here is another very traditional Mexican version of a Paleta.  But this one is a cream based.

Paletas de Yogurt con Moras

1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups plain unsweetened Greek style yogurt
2 Tbsp. honey
2 cups fresh blackberries

Rinse the lemon, then peel it. Combine 1/2 cup water and the sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium high heat, stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon peel, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve, then refrigerate until chilled.

Add the yogurt and honey to the chilled syrup and stir until thoroughly combined. Put a bit of the yogurt mixture into each of the molds, to a height of about 3/4-inch. Freeze unti lthe mixture begins to set, about 40 minutes. If the blackberries are big, cut them in half. Divide the blackberries among the molds, then pour  in the remaining yogurt mixture, dividing it evenly amonthe molds and freeze solid.

Now we come to some that are a bit interesting and not-so-very traditional!

Balsamic Strawberry Pops

2 cups sliced, hulled strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons good quality balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place the strawberries and sugar in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture is finely chopped and juicy but still chunky; you don't want a smooth puree. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the balsamic vinegar and a few grinds of pepper.

Spoon the mixture into the ice pop molds and insert sticks. Freeze until firm, about 6 hours.


Prosecco-Rose Petal Pops

1 cup white grape juice
1 cup cold, flat Proseco
1/3 cup rose water
1 1/2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
30 (approximately) red rosebud petals, rinsed

In a large bowl, stir together the grape juice, Prosecco, rose water and lemon juice. Fill ice pop molds about 1/3 full. Drop 2 or 3 rose petals into each mold and freeze until set, about  30 minutes. Fill the molds another third of the way and drop 2 or 3 more rose petals in each mold. Insert sticks freeze until set about 30 minutes. Then fill all the way with the remaining mixture and drop 2 or 3 more petals into each mold. Freeze until set, at least 8 hours.


Honeydew- Lime Pops

4 cups 1-inch cubes peeled honeydew melon
1/3 cups fresh lime juice
1/2 cup mild honey
1/4 cup sugar

Puree melon, lime juice, honey and sugar in a food processor; add 1/4 cup water and puree until smooth. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a medium pitcher; strain, pressing on solids to extract puree. Divide among molds. Cover and freeze until firm.

Campari-Orange Pops

1/3 cup sugar
 1 3/4 cups fresh orange juice
1/3 cup Campari
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Bring sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Transfer syrup to a medium pitcher; chill until cold, about 1 hour. Stir orange juice, Campari and lemon juice into syrup. Divide among molds. Cover and freeze until firm.


As you can see by these recipes, you only need a small amount of any one ingredient and what a wonderful way to make use of that last bit of yogurt, or small amount of fruit or that last cup of champagne that sat overnight in the bottle.  You are only limited by your imagination to come up with heavenly combinations for your own version of paletas!

I am such a slacker, but my friend isn't.

I have been a really bad blogger.  I love reading all your blogs and staying current, but I have not been posting and returning the favor.  And for that I am sorry.

Life has been pretty busy over here.  I have picked up new clients and their schedules and mine weren't meshing well, so I am doing what any good doula would do and am adjusting myself and my schedule to theirs.  And for whatever reason they all want to meet at the crack of dawn.  Now, you probably know this about me already, but I am NOT a morning person.  I am whatever is the polar opposite of a morning person.  So, this is a HUGE undertaking getting me and my late-night self all synched up with the morning folks.  By 2 in the afternoon I am exhausted!  Good Lord!

Anyhoo, that is why I have not had the inspiration to post anything.

Today, I am here to tell you all about my friend Mary Helen and her NEW BOOK!  This is a sequel so you probably want to check out the original book as well.

Here is a link to her blog and her post about the book:

Let me tell you a little back story about Mary Helen and me.  We met when we were both living in the same neighborhood in Guadalajara.  We have kids that are the same ages.  We each have a boy followed by a girl and it was natural for our kids to have great play dates.  They were so cute together.  I will have to dig around and find some pictures of them to show you.  I think they had more fun at Mary Helen's house because she always painted their faces and they had great imagination play over there.

So Mary Helen is a journalist and was living in Chile during the Pinochet years and met her fabulously fun and charming British geologist husband down there.  That is where she started gathering the beginnings of her first book, Soldiers in a Narrow Land.

There were many times when Mary Helen needed to focus on her writing and research and I had the kids all over to my house so she could focus for just a few hours.  We had so many lovely times together having dinner parties, play times, and our husbands played tennis on Saturday mornings.

And who knew that many years later and many moves later, my family would end up in Chile?  We lived there just after her book came out.  The family who became our very best friends in Chile had this book on their shelves and when I commented on it, she told me that her company had made it required reading for all their employees who did business in Chile.

And just so you don't think this is just me being all biased and proud, click here to read an unbiased review of this book.

It has taken many years and lots of trips back to Chile to complete the sequel of this book.  Here is a look at the cover:

I have ordered the Kindle edition to carry with me AND I ordered the hardback to send to Mary Helen to sign for me and put on my shelf next to the other one.  

If you are interested in reading something that is not the usual light summer reading that you won't remember five minutes later, you should definitely check out these books.  If you are interested in the very recent history of one of our neighboring countries in this hemisphere, you should read these.  And if you ever want to travel in Chile, one of the most beautiful and diverse countries on the planet, I highly recommend you read these just to have some backstory about the culture and the people from the last 50 years.

And sign up to read her blog, she posts some really interesting articles not always carried by the mainstream news.

Holiday Traditions

Yesterday I was asked by one of my clients for suggestions that they could adopt as their own holiday meal traditions.  His family does the big turkey and all that stuff ( basically it's a rerun of Thanksgiving) while her home celebrated with a Mexican feast.  Now that they have their little one she was looking for something fun to try out this year as their own big Christmas meal.  We both went about our business and continued thinking about it and then said to each other at the same time "Paella!!"

In my house we have a big paella for Easter dinner.  We did it once and loved it so much that we have continued it and made it our family Easter tradition.  I don't think you can force a tradition into existence, but you have to start somewhere, right?

So I am writing down my recipe and loaning her my paella pan so they can try it out and see if they need to go buy a pan for next year.

Anyhoo, it did get me to thinking about our particular family traditions.  Traditions that Mr. Big Ed brought from his family, things that I do because my mom did them, or my aunt or one of my grandparents, and also the traditions that we have cobbled together over the long history of our marriage.

Mr. Big Ed's family was not big on stockings.  They were go to Midnight Mass people and then come home and eat the tamales that his Mom had worked on all day and then open presents.  I don't guess anyone felt the need to wake kids up early after all that to do stockings.

My family was HUGE on stockings.  We still are.  Our "stockings" are essentially large paper grocery sacks full of stuff with your stocking hanging on the front.  We totally over-do it.  It is an obscene display of over abundance is what it is.  We also did a big Christmas Eve thing with dips, pate', tamales, chili, and tons of cookies.  But we only got to open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Then Christmas morning we had our stockings, a special breakfast and then we got to open our gifts.

The holiday traditions that we have put together for our little family unit has grown and evolved and with each move to another country we added in something we picked up at each new place and also had to shed a few that were just not practical in the new place.

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas day is a real hybrid of what we each have brought and what feels right for us as we have grown.  For example, there were a number of years when 3 out of the 4 of us were vegetarian.  That right there will put a spin on your holiday menu.  And we try to work around what is important and a priority to each of us.

Being from Texas and having lived in Mexico for a number of years it is way up on the list of "Must Haves" that we make tamales for Christmas Eve.  Being from Texas it is equally important that we have the Velveeta/Ro-tel queso dip stuff.  From Mr. Big Ed's family we have onion dip with Ruffles.  Not just any onion dip, it needs to be the Borden brand store-bought stuff that you bring home and add a bunch of fresh black pepper and stir it up really well.  Lots of cookies and baked goods figure in.  And everyone loves the spicy roasted nuts.  This has gradually morphed into having cheese enchiladas, more tamales, guacamole and rice for Christmas dinner.

Usually for Christmas morning we will make a special drink.  Sometimes it is Bloody Marys or champagne and orange juice, but most times it is Mexican Hot Chocolate.  (Only Ybarra's not that crappy Abuelita's brand)  I either make a stuffed French toast or sometimes these ham cups that have either sauteed mushrooms or spinach in them and topped with eggs and then baked.  These are delicious.

I have cut way back on my giant bags-o-stocking stuffers.  No one wants all that much stuff.  I would rather buy one really fabulous bar of the best chocolate made than have 30 pieces of crappy candy.  So, that's kind of the way things are going for us.

I see our traditions as more of a fluid, moving thing rather than a set-in-stone "this is how we have ALWAYS done it" sort of thing.

So, here's what I want to know:  What are your holiday traditions?  What are the most meaningful things you do that if everything else fell away, this is the thing you would try to keep?

Lemme hear from you!  And remember, it is most important to be relaxed and enjoy the time together.  So don't sweat the small stuff and the details.  It will be wonderful even if the cards aren't all sent on time.  It will be just the way it is meant to be whether or not those bows match or not.  Enjoy your selves.

And thank you for reading.  And even more thanks for commenting through this year.  It really means a lot to me and inspires me.  That's my present from you!

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.

Recipes!

I haven't posted a recipe in forever.  And I was thinking of doing so and then a fb friend asked me for a recipe so since I had just typed it up, I thought I would go ahead and share it here.  Actually, it is two different recipes.  Two, two!  Two mints in one!

What commercial was that from?  I can remember that part of it.  But somehow the name of the mint escapes me.  Never mind.

Below are 2 different Mole recipes.  The first is the Mole Poblano that is the beautiful rich mahogany colored one typically served over chicken or turkey that people most often associate with the word Mole.  You can buy the little glass jars of a very concentrated base and add a bunch of stock to it and cook it for a while.  This makes a fairly pass-able mole.  It's okay in a pinch.  It's not 1/100th as good as this recipe is. I learned to make this while living in Mexico City.  I attended a week-long cooking school in Tlaxcala (which I will do a post about this week) and this is the way Estela taught me to make excellent mole from scratch.

The second recipe is Mole Verde.  It is a light, delicate, and most delicious sauce.  Try it, I promise you will love it.

Mole Poblano

This is traditional mole that most people think of when you say mole.  It has a ton of ingredients but it is well worth the effort.

4 lbs. cut up chicken or pork or combination

Cover with water and salt to taste and cook an a pressure cooker for 5 minutes. 

Set aside while you make the sauce.

5 dried ancho chiles

8 dried mulatto chiles

1/4 cup pecans

1/4 cup almonds

1/3 cup blanched peanuts

1/3 cup lightly toasted sesame seeds

1 Tbsp. anise seeds

1/2 cup dark raisins

1 tsp. broken cinnamon bark

2 Tbsp. cumin seeds

15 whole cloves

2 cloves garlic, peeled

2 ripe plaintains, peeled, sliced lengthwise, halved and fried in oil until caramelized

1 bolillo, toasted (hard Mexican roll about 6-8 inches long)

2 bars Mexican cooking chocolate (Note: I prefer Ybarra's, but there are other brands available. These are the size of the really large Hershey's bars. Mexican chocolate has cinnamon and almonds in it.  Don't try to use US stuff, it won't work)

1/2 cup olive oil

salt to taste

sugar to taste

Fry raisins, cinnamon and garlic together.  Set aside.

Fry cumin and anise seed together. Set aside.

Fry nuts together.

Take tops off chiles and take out the seeds. I cut them open to lay flat and fry on the griddle, taking care to not burn them. Remove from heat when blistered all over.  (This is really quick)

Blend all ingredients except chocolate into paste with a little stock, using blender or food processor working in batches.

In a large stock pot heat the olive oil and add the sauce.

Add one cup of stock.  After 5 minutes of simmering and stirring add more stock if necessary, for a creamy consistency. Then start adding the chocolate, a bit of sugar and stock to blend. Keep tasting and adding stock as needed.

Then add the chicken or cooked vegetable alternative to sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring to avoid sticking.

Garnish with lightly toasted sesame seeds.

*for vegetarians, use vegetable stock rather than the chicken stock.  Also, use large chunks of potato, carrots, squash, cauliflower or any vegetable desired in place of the meat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mole Verde

6 Romaine lettuce leaves

1 handful of green pumpkin seeds roasted (about 1/4 cup)

1 handful of sesame seeds, toasted

2 small serrano chiles

4 or 5 tomatillos

1/4 cup radish leaves

5 sprigs each cilantro and flat leaf parsley

2 green onions

1/4 small white onion

3 large cloves garlic

2 tsp. cumin seed

2 sprigs epazote (you will find this in Latin markets)

1 - 2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 cups stock

Blend all ingredients through the epazote in a food processor with a little water.  Then heat the oil and add sauce and salt to taste.  Then add the stock and stir.

Place meat or vegetable in mole verde and simmer for at least 30 minutes or until done.

**Note:  In the Mole Verde recipe, I was taught to take really thin beef, like a flank or skirt steak. and cut it into rectangles. Then put thin carrot and potato sticks at one short end.  Add in a few fresh green beans and some small chopped up pieces of bacon and ham.  Season with salt and pepper and then roll up jelly-roll style and fasten with toothpicks. Add them to the mole and cook for the 30 minutes or until cooked through.  

Serve both of these dishes with rice and freshly-made corn tortillas.

!Delicioso!

Cruisin' - Part Dos

You know how some people are called Anglo-philes or Franco-philes?  Because they love everything English or French?  Not me.  Not even a little bit.  I swear I was switched at birth and should have grown up in Mexico.

I am a Mexi-phile.

A Mexican-wanna-be.

So of course I was most excited to get to Cozumel on our cruise since it was the only Mexican port of call. What a wonderful way to end the cruise with a day in Mexico.  And you already know what this means, don't you?

No matter how nice Mexico is, no matter how gorgeous I found Grand Cayman to be; nothing prepared me for how gorgeous and seductive Jamaica is.

I am in love with Jamaica.  I loved all the people I met.  I love the accent!  That should go without saying. The lush, tropical green-ness was espectacular, to use the Argentine vernacular.

Our boat docked at Montego Bay.  I didn't see a great deal of that fair city as I was on a tour of Croydon Plantation.  Check out the website of this gorgeous place.  I'll wait.  Immediately, I was taken on a wonderfully air-conditioned tour bus up the windy road up the mountain to the Croydon Plantation.  Donald, our bus driver immediately put on the Bob Marley tunes and we all were mellowed out and happy to be there.  Natalie, our tour guide was the cutest thing you ever saw!  I wanted to fold her up and put her in my pocket to bring her home with me.  Her two kids might have missed her, don't you think?

Let me show you a bit of the Jamaica I saw:

This is from our ship looking at our entry point.  It was very cloudy and lush, that was my first impression.

This is from our tour bus.  Just green as far as you can see.

Look up there!  The Uptown Cuisine Restaurant.  Very Rastafarian.  And don't you love how they put the green trash can in front of the green part of the building?  Love it!

And in case you missed eating at the Uptown Cuisine, why, right up the road is the Lick Finger Cook Shop.  Is that the cutest thing ever?

This is at the Croydon Plantation.  We were way up at about 5000 - 6000 ft. elevation and had the most gorgeous panoramic view.  I will get some of those shots in here, don't worry.

Now, you may not be able to tell what this is.  It is a close-up of the leaves and fruit of the almond tree. Yes, these little green things will become the almonds we all know and love so well.  Next, is a better shot of that same tree.

Look at that tree!  Isn't it gorgeous?  The other thing you should notice is that it is on an encline.  We really were up at the top of the mountain.

See that up there?  That's not grass.  That is a field of pineapple plants.  Gorgeous!

Look at that one!  That's a Neem tree.  I know!  I was so excited.  I use Neem oil, Neem shampoo on my dogs.  Neem is good stuff.  It's like tea tree in that it is so versatile.  My very first Neem tree.

This is the bottom half of an Ackee fruit tree.  You know the song "ackee fruit, salted fish is nice, and the rum is fine any time of year"  This is the tree the ackee fruit comes from.  Apparently ackee fruit and salted fish is the National Dish.  Unfortunately, they only served us one meal and it was jerked chicken.  Which was wonderful, but more about that later.

Now get a load of that view.  What would you give to wake up every day and see all that?  Heaven on earth, that's what that is.

This is a close up of a few of the TWENTY-SEVEN different varieties of pineapple they grow on this plantation.  See the cute little baby pineapple growing up top of the plant in the middle?  We were given tasters of 7 different varieties to try.  And yes, they did all taste slightly different from each other.

Another panoramic shot of the view.  But what I want you to notice is the pine trees in the front there.  Pine trees.  In Jamaica.  Did you ever think you would see that?  I believe they were called Jamaican Pine trees.  Beautiful!!

And believe it or don't, but that little guy up there?  That is a coffee plant/tree.  This is where the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee comes from.  The best coffee on earth comes from these little trees.  Each of these coffee plant/trees has a companion banana tree right behind it to give it shade so that they get just the right amount of sunlight to grow the world's best coffee beans.

Next is a more close-up shot of the coffee berries/beans.

See them all in there?  All different stages of ripeness.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Aren't you tired of me going on and on and saying how gorgeous everything in Jamaica is?

Well you are in luck, because right after this picture we made it to the pavilion where they had prepared a lovely Jamaican meal for us. And right when we got there the heavens opened up and poured rain like you wouldn't believe for the next few hours.  And this made for a very interesting ride home down the mountain now that the roads were all wet and running with lots of water.

Back to the lunch they served us.  We started out with a lovely little cucumber dish.  They were sliced paper thin and then marinated in a sweet vinegar/sugar concoction much like you use on sushi rice. Then we had a greens dish called Callaloo.  Tasted like greens.  And I like greens, so that was fine. Next was a rice and beans dish.  The rice was a basmati type rice with little red beans added in.  Then we had jerked chicken.  I don't know if the correct name is "Jerk Chicken"  or "JerkED Chicken".  Regardless, everything was wonderful.

Also they gave us little cups of the coffee grown there and then led us to a booth where they were selling said coffee.  And that is where I bought as much coffee as I could carry.

There were also lessons on the steps to produce the coffee, and on the honey they raise there.  So I had to buy honey too.

It was a prosperous day for the Croydon Plantation with me and my family all visiting and shopping there, is what I am saying!

We got lots of lessons in how to speak in the patois from our tour guide, Natalie.  By the end of the day, we were all saying "Ya Mon" to anything they asked us.  "No problem Mon".

Jamaica hasn't seen the last of me.  I suspect there might be a love affair brewing for me and that island in the sun.  Sorry Mexico, but sometimes a girl has to step out and see what she is missing.

One love, baby.  or not!

Free Association

No, I am not here to talk about organization you need to join.  Free association day will be things that immediately take me to something/someone else.  Like this:

peanut butter - jelly.  See what I mean?  But for me it is more specifically this:

Jif peanut butter - Welch's grape jelly

So here goes!

A&W - first off I would think of cold frosty glass mugs of root beer.  But then I would think of my 2 cats I had back in college that I named Alice and Wallace (A&W).  They were evil and bad cats.  E-vil like the fru-its of the dev-il as Mike Myers would say in So I Married an Axe Murderer.  Anyhoo, after I took them down and got them fixed, one of my co-workers came in and started laughing and told me that I should now call them "Eggless Alice and Ball-less Wallace".  Hahahahahaha!!  Now THAT was a hoot!

Oh, and by the by?  Alice and Wallace?  I gave them to my little paper girl.  I had my newspaper delivered by a little girl.  She was probably 10-12 and her dad drove her all around on her paper route.  She was the cutest thing.  The first time she came to collect I asked her how much I owed her and you won't believe what she said.

"Do you want the total with or without the tip included?"

Ha!  Now there is a clever child!  She used to stop in and play with the cats all the time and always told me how much she wanted them.  And finally one day, those 2 hell cats had torn up, chewed and ruined one too many things and had gotten on my last nerve.  So the next time she said she wanted them, I asked the dad if she could really have them and loaded up their food and litter and such and off they went.  I did miss them occasionally, but damn, they were destructive and needed something more than I was providing.  I know they were happier with the paper girl.  She brought over pictures of them getting to play outside and climb trees and such.

David Allan Coe - I think we can all agree that DAC is a freak.  But he had a very successful song that was out when I was in high school.  Go Here if you want to hear it.  When the first notes of this song start, I am immediately back at that time, drinking Lone Star beer in a longneck bottle, singing at the top of my lungs with all my friends.  This song was the Margaritaville for my high school years.  So,  freak or not, thank you to DAC for providing me with so many opportunities to sing my heart out!

Car Exhaust in Mexico - I know, this one is a bit weird.  But I just admitted to liking a David Allan Coe song and we know what a mysogenistic racist dick he is, so just go with me on this one.  There is something about crossing the border and walking around a plaza in a Mexican town with all the fun little shops and restaurants, bars and what-not, that is one of my favorite things to do.  And you can't experience walking the streets in Mexico without smelling the car exhaust.  I don't know why it smells different over there than it does here, but it does.  So that smell?  It reminds me of some of the most fun I have had.

Mariachi Music - See above.  You can't experience Mexico without mariachi music.  It's just not possible.  And it is quite possible that as the evening grows long and the tequila gets drunk, you magically know all the words and can sing along.  I have seen it happen.

Christmas Trees -  Seriously, this has to be one of the best memory triggers.  My birthday is in early December.  And every year we had to have the tree up and decorated before my birthday.  When I was little my mom thought all Christmas trees should be real and flocked, have only blue lights and all the decorations were blue and silver.  So I would always have my birthday party as a slumber party and we would all lay our sleeping bags around the tree and have the blue lights on and lay there and talk and giggle and do the things girls do at slumber parties, which is NEVER sleeping.  We were all best friends with our next door neighbors and during the same time period, their father died and my parents got divorced, so we were two moms and a passle of kids spending holidays together.  And since 2 of their kids were allergic to real trees, we got a fake tree so that we could all be together.  Fake trees have their place and they may look good, but they don't have that real tree smell, so it sure is a trade-off to have one.  The ecological side of me insists we keep our artificial tree and not chop down any more real trees, but the nostalgic side really misses the real tree.

Anyone have any free associations they want to share?  Lemme hear 'em!

World Cup!!!!

Yes, indeedy, it is that time again.  Every four years the whole world comes together to back the 32 top teams fighting for the top spot.  Too much fun!

Our tradition is to hang the flags of our favorite teams on the days that they play.  So tomorrow there will be a Mexican flag, and Saturday it will be Argentina and so on.

And here is a little treat for you.

Lionel Messi.  Considered the best player in the world right now.  He should be able to lead Team Argentina to victory.

Tomorrow morning is the first game.  Mexico vs South Africa.  And while Mexico has a good team, there is nothing like home field advantage, so it should be a really good match.  Later in the day it will be Uruguay vs France.

Personally, I am most always in the camp of the Latin American or African teams instead of the Europeans.  Teams like France and Germany dominate the sport so it's always more fun to see someone else take top honors, isn't it?  Especially when there is a good upset and some small country no one really expects much from just takes out the top rated team.  That's always exciting.

Good luck to your team.  Unless they are playing my team.  : )  And happy viewing over the next 32 days!!  Goooooooooooooooaaaaaaalllll!!!!!

T.V. shows 2010 Part 8

There is almost nothing on t.v. right now due to all the fabulous May season finales.  However, I have managed to find a few goodies.  Some are new, so listen up!

Here is a new show that is just the most different thing out on the airwaves.  Or wherever t.v. comes from now.  Top Shot is on the History Channel.  You know, that channel that is 99% WWII all the time?  Well, they have broken out of that and have their very own little reality/elimination show.  And guess what?  It is hosted by none other than . . . .

COLBY DONALDSON

Would you just look at that handsome Texan?  Isn't he a doll?  And just because I am nice like that, here you go!

Honestly, if he hadn't been cast on the second season of Survivor, I don't know how that show would have fared.  He brings the looks, the charm, the charisma and also honor and ethics.

I like Colby.  (His latest Survivor performance not withstanding, he is still the kind of guy you look for on that show).

So, anyhoo, Colby is hosting this show.  It is all about testosterone, guns, weapons of all kinds throughout the ages, and skill and mental acuity.

Sunday nights, History channel, be there, you won't regret it.

Another new show I found is the OCD Project.  I think it is another of the fine, high-quality programming we have come to love from VH1, like Tool Academy and the Flavor Flav show and the Bret Michaels show.  But this one has some new Dr. that is NOT Dr. Drew.  Who knew there are other therapists out there besides Dr. Drew?  Since Dr. Drew is on Sex with Mom and Dad, 16 and Pregnant, Celebrity Rehab, Sober House, Sex Rehab, etc., etc. it is hard to imagine a show without him!

But the OCD show has some other Dr. and he is a no nonsense kind of guy.  He actually LICKED THE BOTTOM OF A SHOE to prove a point to these patient/contestants/whatever they are.  And since most of them have issues with germs and contamination, you can imagine their response to seeing THAT!

The Tudors - is coming to a close.  Ol' Henry VIII is not aging well.

U.S. of Tara - season is about to finish with yet another new alter of Tara's coming to light.

Breaking Bad - I think there are a couple more episodes of this season here as well.

That's about it till Big Brother starts up.  In the meantime, don't forget, DO NOT FORGET, Friday at 9 a.m. central time is the first of the Fifa World Cup games!  Starting right out of the gate with Mexico vs South Africa.  Woo Hoo!!  32 teams in 32 days.  Don't miss it!

We are heading out right now to go buy a Brazilian flag.  Our tradition is to fly the flag of the team we are cheering on the days that they are playing.  Typically, we root for Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.  And we need a new Brazilian flag.  So off to the soccer store!

Mexico Lindo

I wanted to do a post of Things I love or miss about Mexico, but it's just too hard. Most times I feel in my heart that I was born in the wrong country; I was meant to be a Mexican. Mexico is like coming home.

Mr. Big Ed and I talk about retiring to Mexico. I look online at Mexican real estate all the time. So many of my treasured possessions are Mexican. I don't think I can count all the things about Mexico that I love.

And if you ever want to get me all riled up just start trash-talking Mexico. Everyone has one of those stores of their sister's friend's cousin who went to Mexico for Spring Break and got harassed by either the cops or the locals. Then everyone who hears it assumes all Mexicans are corrupt thieving bastards. I am here to tell you that is not the case. Of course there are some corrupt thieving bastards! But you certainly don't have to travel more than 5 miles from your own home to find some home-grown CTB's. Some people just set themselves up as targets by their own naivete or by disregarding common practice of travel. My sister told me about a trip she took with a huge group of parents and gymnastics competing teenagers to Europe and some of the silly rich Texas moms didn't understand about traveling without wearing their 5+ carat diamond rings, earrings, gold jewelry, designer purses and the like. It's kinda like people who don't realize to visit St. Peter's Cathedral or any mosque or temple anywhere in the world you can't just show up in a tank top and shorts. It is just not respectful. So, back to Mexico, if you go to Cancun for Spring Break and act a fool and drink like a fish you might expect someone will try to take advantage of you. If you go to a different country and have an open mind and pay attention to how things are done there and don't go out of your way to call undue attention to yourself, you probably won't have those kinds of problems and you might even learn something while having a good time.

Mexican people are some of the nicest in the world. Mexican culture is family oriented and full of celebrations. What is better than Mexican food? Nothing, that's what. Mexico gave the world corn, squash, avocados, peppers of all kinds, tequila, chocolate, vanilla, tomatoes, tortillas, Cantinflas, El Chavo and Luis Miguel. Not to mention Raquel Welch, Anthony Quin, Ricardo Montalban, Fernando Lamas, Vicki Carr, Rita Hayworth, mariachi music, Days of the Dead celebrations, the best silver jewelry, Talavera pottery (I know it came from the Spaniards who got it from the Moors, but Mexico has put their own stamp on it), and you see how this list can get out of hand?

Some people have a picture in their minds of Mexican life that is not very positive and full of bad stereo-types. My picture is of a family that comes together each day around 2:30 when the kids get picked up from school and has the big family meal of the day and then a siesta till about 4:30 when the dad goes back to work till around 7 p.m. I love this. The whole family together in the middle of the day before everyone is tired and worn out from the stresses of work and all that. One of my favorite times in Mexico is the Sunday brunches at the Camino Real hotel in Guadalajara that go on and on till about 5 or 6 in the afternoon! There was so much wonderful food, freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh yogurt with fruit and granola, Mexican hot chocolate (the best in the world), and clowns and games for all the kids. This is a great way to spend a Sunday.

The discussion of retiring to Mexico is never about "if" it's more about "where". Mexico is huge and the geography is diverse enough to have something for everyone. It's just too hard to pick one locale! Someday we want to be in Guadalajara, a gorgeous big city with lots to offer, other times it is in Oaxaca a much smaller town with completely different feel to it. Sometimes it is in the Yucata'n by the ocean, and other times it is in the mountains like in Zacatecas. Who knows? We will keep researching and narrowing down the possibilities. One thing is for sure, retirement in Mexico is sure to be relaxing and going at the right pace!