For the past few weeks, meal-planning has made me anxious.
I couldn’t think of any dish that would make me feel how I used to in the kitchen — relaxed, happy, a gusto. This is probably because our temporary kitchen had dull knives, no blender and two tiny pots that held four [...]
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For a long time, I thought I didn’t like pitaya. I thought it was the hot-pink fruit with white polka-dotted flesh. They’re gorgeous, but they don’t taste like anything.
Then I started seeing these things popping up at the markets. The vendors said they were pitaya, too, and that they were a [...]
Continue Reading →I’ve got a guest post up today — a recipe for Stuffed Nopales with Black Beans and Cheese — over at Aida Mollenkamp’s blog. She’s a Food Network Chef and the former food editor of Chow, and she’s also a friend and all-around good person. Please check it out if [...]
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A few years ago my friend Jesica and I were shopping at a market, and she pointed out some extra-large limes. “Mira, esa es nuestra lima.” Look, that’s our lime.
She made me taste some — I was a little wary of sticking half a lime in my mouth — and I [...]
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Because of the temperate climate here, Mexico City is blessed with beautiful produce almost year-round. You can always find squash, green beans, carrots, tomatillos, tomatoes and poblanos at the markets. (Notice I said markets and not supermarkets — the supermarkets are always running out of stuff.) You can almost always find squash flowers, [...]
Continue Reading →I’m hanging out with my in-laws in Phoenix, and one of the things they like to do for dinner is grill steaks. I love my in-laws and appreciate how much time they put into planning our meals here. But the steak-eating gene skipped me. No me enloquece, you know? (It doesn’t drive [...]
Continue Reading →I took a trip to Xalapa, Veracruz recently, and I ate way too much. Gorgeous, grasa-laden picaditas topped with cheese and plantain? Yes please. Mole? Mmm-hmmm. How about a side of it to accompany my cream-drenched enchiladas?
When I got home and stepped on the scale (Lesley, don’t ever step on [...]
Continue Reading →Mango season in Mexico is one of my favorite times of the year. It comes in the early spring, after tangerine season, when there’s nothing enticing on the market shelves except for hit-and-miss mameys and round, nubby guavas that looked better in the winter.
It’s like everyone’s waiting, and then boom, there [...]
Continue Reading →I’ve made sikil pak three times in the past month, and each time I’d stare at the pile of pumpkin seeds in the bowl and think, “There’s no way I’m going to eat all this.” But then I would. Twice I split a batch with Crayton, and the other time I ate the [...]
Continue Reading →I’m not as knowledgeable as some people in the Tex-Mex cuisine cannon, but eight years in Texas did teach me the importance of one thing: queso. (That’s pronounced KAY-so.)
Queso is basically a jazzed-up melted cheese sauce, consisting of Velveeta, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños and maybe crumbly bits of ground beef. You [...]
Continue Reading → Who is Mija?
Mija is Lesley Téllez, a food writer and culinary guide in New York City. I spent four years in Mexico's Distrito Federal, which launched my deep love for Mexican food and culture. In 2010 I co-founded the tourism company Eat Mexico.
