Archives for November 2013

Announcing… I’m writing a cookbook.

November 27, 2013 by Lesley Tellez

One of the things I’ve quietly been toiling away on over the past few years is a cookbook proposal.

Late last year I found an agent. And just recently, I signed a contract. Kyle Books, a small publisher based in London, will publish my book — tentatively titled Eat Mexico — in the Spring of 2015. It’ll be a mix of recipes and stories about Mexico City’s street food, markets and fondas, told from my perspective as a third-generation Mexican-American woman. There will also be gorgeous photographs of the city and its food, and the people who fuel the informal and more casual food economy.

Going to cooking school, launching Eat Mexico — it all seems to have been leading to this.

I’m thrilled, and I really hope you’ll follow me in this process. More to come!

How to talk Southern

November 22, 2013 by Lesley Tellez

I just spent a week in the South visiting friends and Crayton’s family. We had fun, but the trip made me realize that despite being a Southerner by marriage for eight years, I still don’t know how to conduct a proper conversation.

Strangers — the waitress at Waffle House, the lady at the gas station on the way to Charleston, a woman planting flowers in front of her home — would ask me, “Hi, how are you?” I’d answer “fine” and then think… wait. Did they really want to know how I am? Did I answer correctly? Does not coming up with some sort of Southern witticism make me sound like a Yankee? (Or, what I truly am, a Southern California girl?) Crayton would answer as if he was born knowing the answer: “Hi, how are you doing?”

In Greenville, SC, it took him less than five minutes to ascertain that the guy behind the rental car counter was a Clemson fan. At a restaurant in Charleston, a guy in the men’s bathroom commented to him about the weird angle of the sinks, and Crayton replied, “Well, whatever gets the job done.” He’s full of these little sayings. So is his family.

While visiting his grandparents outside Greenville, I listened a lot. They did most of the talking, and it hit me that with a small arsenal of pleasant replies, you can propel a conversation forward in a genteel way. These replies include:

Well, how about that.
I’ll be.
Isn’t that something?
I know you had fun/enjoyed that (or any sentence that politely repackages what the talker has just said to you).

I have not attempted to use these with my own family, because I think they’d laugh at me and hang up the phone. But I’m keeping them handy for the next trip South. And I’ll continue to observe and take notes, because if a Southern woman approaches me in a restaurant bathroom — example: “Wasn’t that just the biggest meal?” — I want to know what to say.

On Tuesday, once I was home in New York, I was about to enter the elevator of our building when I saw my neighbor, a woman with young children who lives across the hallway. She was near the staircase and called out, “Hello!” through the lobby.

I called back: “Hi, how are you?”

She said, “Just fine, thanks!”

I couldn’t resist continuing the conversation, so I called out, “Okay, bye!”

She may be a Southerner by marriage, but she’s getting there.

Five cooking classes to try in Oaxaca

November 7, 2013 by Dolores Wiarco Dweck

Mole prepared during one of Reyna Mendoza’s cooking classes in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. Photo by Lesley Téllez.

From Lesley: Today I’m running a guest post from Dolores Wiarco Dweck, whom I met in Oaxaca last year. She really impressed me with her passion for Oaxaca’s cuisine and culture, and the research project she’d created to specifically learn about local cooking classes. Here’s more from her.

***

My love affair with Mexico’s culture and cuisine began in early childhood when I visited Acámbaro, Guanajuato, a small town known for its bread, with my family every summer.

There was a bakery on almost every corner. My favorite was the pan de Acámbaro, an oval-shaped loaf of bread that is similar in characteristics to Jewish challah — slightly sweet and a little dense, with raisins. We ate it with fresh butter and a little bit of sugar sprinkled on top, or nata.

My passion for Mexican food eventually led me to do my master’s thesis research on culinary tourism in Oaxaca. Last summer, I traveled to Oaxaca and worked with five cooking school instructors to learn about their individual enterprising skills in promoting Oaxaca as a culinary destination. I took more than 15 classes, learned new dishes and returned home with a love for indigenous Mexican cuisine.

Here are five Oaxacan cooking schools I particularly enjoyed visiting. Each one provides a hands-on experience for travelers interested in exploring a new culture through food.

1. Alma de Mi Tierra, with Nora Valencia

Nora Valencia. Photo by Dolores Wiarco Dweck.

Alma de Mi Tierra’s cooking classes are $75 and promote authentic dishes of Oaxaca, and recipes passed down from Nora’s grandmother as well as some of her own creations. They begin at 9:30 a.m. and end by 3:00 p.m. Classes are hands-on, taught in English or Spanish in her quaint home kitchen, and include printed recipes, a local market tour, a mezcal tasting, and a four-course sit-down meal. Menus typically consist of a salsa, an appetizer, a soup, a main entrée, an agua fresca, and a dessert.

Highlights:

Nora’s friendly nature, bubbly personality, and historical insights allow students to learn about Mexican food, mercados, and the origins of various ingredients in a fun and interesting way.
The cozy Mexican-style home kitchen offers an intimate experience for small groups.
Family recipes (green mole) and Nora’s own creations (Khalua gelatin dessert) are an absolute treat.

2. Casa Crespo, with Oscar Carrizosa

Casa Crespo's cooking class set-up in Oaxaca.

The scene at Casa Crespo’s cooking classes in Oaxaca.

Classes at Casa Crespo are $65 and take place Tuesday through Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and on Sundays at 11:00 a.m., and last approximately four hours. Oscar focuses on ingredients and techniques from Oaxaca’s eight regions, with an emphasis on easy replication of dishes at home. Students receive morning coffee, a tour of the Sanchez Pascuas organic market, recipes (emailed after class), unlimited beer or mezcal, and a group meal.

Chilaquiles at Casa Crespo. Photo by Dolores Wiarco Dweck.

Highlights:

Oscar provides great explanations of different ingredients during the market tour, providing insight into the ceremonial uses of herbs and other products.
Classes are relatively short, which leaves time for other afternoon activities.
While the classes are quick, the variety of salsas and other menu items made is expansive. The menu typically includes several appetizers, at least four salsas, a main entrée, homemade ice cream, and agua fresca.

3. Casa de los Sabores, with Pilar Cabrera

Pilar Cabrera’s nopal salad. Photo by Lesley Téllez.

Casa de los Sabores group classes are $75 and take place from approximately 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. They are led by chef and La Olla restaurant owner, Pilar Cabrera, and offer the opportunity to learn secret family recipes and traditional Oaxacan dishes. The price includes all materials, a tour of Mercado de la Merced, hands-on instruction, a mezcal tasting, and a five-course meal – an appetizer, salsa or guacamole, soup or rice, mole, dessert, and agua fresca.

Sweet bread in Oaxaca’s La Merced market. Photo by Lesley Téllez.

Highlights:

Pilar offers a different perspective given her background as a food scientist-turned chef – plus she’s a master when it comes to squash blossom soup and desserts.
While the menus are set and based on different moles, Pilar emphasizes the importance of improvisation depending on fresh and seasonal ingredients found during the market tour.
The class includes an intimate and educational mezcal tasting and explanation led by Pilar before the meal.

4. El Sabor Zapoteco, with Reyna Mendoza

Reyna Mendoza at the market in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. Photo by Dolores Wiarco Dweck.

Reyna Mendoza (in the checkered apron) at the market in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. Photo by Dolores Wiarco Dweck.

El Sabor Zapoteco focuses on traditional Zapotec dishes and culture. The six-hour cooking classes are $75, and are available on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. or on other days when requested with advance notice. Classes include roundtrip transportation to and from Teotitlán del Valle (students are picked up at their hotels), a local market tour, homemade hot chocolate and sweet bread, a hands-on cooking class in Reyna’s outdoor home kitchen, recipes, and a sit-down group meal that includes appetizers, entrees, dessert, drinks and mezcal.

A chaya leaf tamal at Reyna Mendoza's Sabor Zapoteco cooking class. Photo by Dolores Wiarco Dweck.

Fruit at the Teotitlán Market, during Reyna Mendoza’s Sabor Zapoteco cooking class. Photo by Dolores Wiarco Dweck.

Highlights:

Reyna’s calm demeanor can put anyone at ease in the kitchen, and it’s wonderful to learn from someone in the Zapotec community.
The market tour in Teotitlán del Valle offers insights into Zapotec village life.
The outdoor kitchen is great – students use traditional tools such as a clay comal (flat griddle used to roast ingredients), a metate (large stone tool used to grind maize, chocolate, or dried chiles and spices for mole), and a molcajete (stone pestle and mortar) to make salsa.

5. Seasons of My Heart, Susana Trilling

The kitchen at Seasons of My Heart in Oaxaca. Photo by Dolores Wiarco Dweck.

Seasons of My Heart’s regular classes are $85 and take place on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 6:00 p.m. They include roundtrip transportation from a designated pick-up location in downtown Oaxaca, a tasting tour and light lunch at the Wednesday Etla market, a lecture on Oaxacan cuisine by Chef Susana Trilling, and hands-on preparation and consumption of a five-course meal.

Highlights:

Susana’s approachable personality and larger group classes offer opportunities to socialize and meet new people interested in cooking.
This beautiful and spacious cooking school is located in the open countryside and has a good mix of modern and traditional cooking tools and appliances.
The Etla market tour is incredible – students taste a ton of regional foods such as nicuatole (pre-Hispanic corn and sugar dessert), egg bread, hot chocolate, various tamales, ice creams and desserts that they might not otherwise taste while in Oaxaca.

About Lola
Dolores Wiarco Dweck, known by her nearest and dearest as Lola, has a great appreciation for Mexican cuisine and culture. Lola’s culinary mentors include her relatives and friends as well as some of Mexico’s great chefs and home cooks. She preserves and shares her favorite recipes through Lola’s Cocina.

Day of the Dead altars in Atlixco and Huaquechula, Puebla

November 4, 2013 by Lesley Tellez

A flower carpet, shaped with Day of the Dead skeletons, in Atlixco, Puebla. Photo by me.

A flower carpet shaped with Day of the Dead skeletons in Atlixco, Puebla. Photo taken by me on Nov. 1, 2013.

Due to a quirk in my travel schedule, I was able to spend this year’s Day of the Dead in Mexico.

My friend Rebecca organized an excursion to Huaquechula and Atlixco, two towns not too far from Puebla city. Rebecca had gone to Huaquechula a few years earlier, and she’d had the kind of experience that you’d hope to have on an intimate holiday like Day of the Dead. Locals had invited her into their homes to view their altars, and to eat and drink a little something. Festival organizers had created a map of the neighborhood, so visitors could walk from house to house and peek in open doors. Somehow the place wasn’t overrun by tourists.

The Huaquechula festivities didn’t start this year until at least 2 p.m., so beforehand we stopped in Atlixco, a pretty, quaint city known for its flowers.

Here are some photos from the day.

The altar dedicated to the Atlixco police department.

An altar built by the Atlixco police department.

An altar built by Atlixco students, featuring lots of fruit, bread, and a mirror, and crowned by a crucifix.

This Atlixco altar has a few more savory items — notice the nopal and chayote on the bottom level.

Traditional candied pumpkin (calabaza en tacha) with crystallized fruit, at the Atlixco market.

The bottom of an altar inside the church in Huaquechula, Puebla.

An altar in Huaquechula, dedicated to a loved one who passed several years ago.

A home altar in Huaquechula, dedicated to a loved one who passed several years ago.

An altar in Huaquechula, Puebla. The pretzel-shaped bread is a common theme.

The Huaquechula altars for loved ones who’ve died in the past year can envelope the wall of an entire room, from floor to ceiling. Pretzel-shaped bread is a common theme; one local person said they’re meant to mimic skulls.

An altar in Huaquechula, Puebla.

An altar dedicated to one or two young men who've died.

An altar dedicated to two young men who’ve died.

Neighbors sprinkle cempasúchil petals to their front doors in Huaquechula, to denote whether there's an altar inside.

Cempasúchil petals sprinkled from the street to front doors indicate that there’s an altar inside.

Rebecca said Huaquechula’s festivities had grown considerably from the last time she visited. I admit I wasn’t as interested in sitting around the center of town, which had carnival games, blaring music, food stands, and huge cups of beer edged in chile salt.

The neatest part of the day was wandering the empty streets and greeting everyone with a cheerful “buenas tardes.” And of course seeing the amount of beauty and detail that families had put into their altars, and the warmth they extended to strangers.

Hope you had a meaningful Day of the Dead celebration this year, too.