While going through some old stuff from high school and college last weekend at my dad’s, I found this book, which I thought I’d thrown out.
I opened it and saw that I’d written on the inside. “This book belongs to: Lesley Téllez 6/26/91.” I was 12 years old.
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It’s been 17 days since I had a corn tortilla, and finally, today, I gave in.
I bought these Mi Rancho tortillas because they were the best I could find. (I’m in San Diego visiting my Dad this week.) They did not contain wheat or a long list of [...]
Continue Reading →I’ve forgotten how easy it is to live in the United States. In the past 11 days, I have:
– Thrown the toilet paper in the camode, not the trash can
– Received emailed instead of paper receipts
– Ordered takeout Indian and Thai takeout online with my credit card
– [...]
This was me last night around 9 p.m. We moved just in time for the coldest week of the season — today the temperature hovered around 20 degrees.
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My first post for this blog — almost four years ago to the day — was a lament on how I couldn’t take any of my American pantry goodies with me to Mexico City.
Four years later, I run a food tourism business in Mexico (can you believe it?) and my pantry [...]
Continue Reading →“O Lord, refresh our sensibilities. Give us this day our daily taste. Restore to us soups that spoons will not sink in, and sauces which are never the same twice. Raise up among us stews with more gravy than we have bread to blot it with, and casseroles that put starch and substance in our [...]
Continue Reading →I have some pretty big news to share: after four years in Mexico City, we’re moving to New York City.
Crayton got a promotion, which is the reason for the move. We’ll be there in mid-January. I’m not getting all nostalgic about eating my last taco and visiting my last market — which would [...]
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I’m grateful for so many things this year.
We saw a little bit more of the world. We had lively conversations with good friends and stared out at gorgeous vistas and sipped excellent wine. (And excellent mezcal.) I got to come back to a city that I love like no place else — fetid air, [...]
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I fell in love with the gordita inflada in Veracruz.
Remember this beauty? She came to me in Coatzacoalcos, warm and crunchy with anise seeds, dribbling bits of mole.
And then there were these little cuties in Xico, lined with a layer of black beans.
The [...]
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I love chicharrón en salsa verde, but when I first moved here the dish didn’t appeal to me. Drown crunchy chicharrón in salsa? And then what? Wait, the point is soggy chicharrón? I was too scared/weirded out to try it until early this year, when Ruth and I stopped at a roadside stand [...]
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.
