Our new book: Guide to Foods of Mexico

We did it!  After 10 months of research, my husband, Erich Almasy, and I published our new book called Guide to Foods of México.  It is a glossary listing over 3,300 Mexican-Spanish food and beverage terms with English translations.  For many of the items, we provide some history about the food and how it is used.  The book is designed for English-speaking foodies, tourists and foreigners living in México.  It is a glossary and reference book, not a cookbook, so that you can look up unfamiliar food terms. You can flip through a sample of the book on our website: https://guidetofoodsofmexico.com/.

We wrote the book because we think that to truly understand and appreciate a country, you must learn about it's foods, cooking methods and culinary history. We love living in Mexico and have enjoyed eating in wonderful restaurants, taking cooking classes in person and online (over 140!!), and discovering the delights of Mexican cuisine from pre-hispanic days to the present.

The book is available as an instantly downloadable ebook or as a print-on-demand paperback (printed in the U.S. and shipped to you). Our website has links to different book sellers including Lulu (a large independent online bookstore), Amazon, and Kobo.  Others will be added soon.  https://guidetofoodsofmexico.com/

Here are some samples of alphabetical listings:

Chicharo – The Mexican word for "pea," referring to both green peas and chickpeas, although the former is usually Guisantes and the latter are traditionally Garbanzos. In Spanish, the verb "chichar" means to have sexual intercourse, and in México, it can mean to get drunk.

Guajillo Chile – When fresh, this Chile is called Mirasol ("sunflower or looking at the sun"). When dried, the name changes to Guajillo; in this form, it becomes the second-most used chili in Mexican cooking. It is red-brown in color and about three to four inches (8-10 cm) long. It has a sweet, spicy flavor and moderate heat of 2,500-5,000 SHUs.

Xoconostles – "Prickly pear" fruits from the Nopal cactus. Generally green inside and out, they have a subtly sweet red seed center used to color and flavor drinks and desserts. The flesh is very sour with the consistency and flavor of pear, and the fruit is very high in Vitamin C.

Here is a sample of a geographic listing:

Chihuahua – The largest Mexican state, "El Estado Grande," Chihuahua is larger than the United Kingdom. Derived from a Nahuatl word meaning "where the waters of the rivers meet." Chihuahua has extensive forests, prairies, rivers, México’s largest desert, and the Copper Canyon, which is larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon of the United States. Chihuahua borders Texas and New Mexico and benefits significantly from NAFTA factory investment. Agriculture is less critical but still the largest producer of oats, cotton, apples, pecans, and quince in México.

• Among famous local dishes is Sopa de Oso ("bear soup") containing red chiles and fish (but no bear meat), so-called because after eating it, you will sleep like a hibernating bear.
• Enchiladas Coloniales consist of a fried corn tortilla topped with shredded chicken covered in chili peppers, garlic, onions, and tomato sauce. The tortillas are folded, topped with Crema ("acidulated cream") and grated cheese, and baked until the sides are bubbling.
• Chile Pasilla con Queso is a traditional recipe made by rehydrating dry Pasilla peppers and then roasting them with onions, tomatoes, and olive oil. Once cooked, Oaxaca or mozzarella cheese is added on top and melted into the rest of the dish.
• Carne Asada makes use of the state’s bountiful beef herds. The meat is marinated in Tequila, then grilled and served with onions, Chorizo, potatoes, and chili pepper sauce.

Authors Bio

Erich Almasy and Cynthia J. Blanton met and became a couple at Harvard University over 50 years ago. After completing their undergraduate degrees, they attended Harvard Business School, where they received their M.B.A.s. For many years they worked as management consultants for large and small firms, including their own company. In addition, they worked in banking, investment banking, and executive education. They lived and worked all over the United States and spent twenty years in Canada. They are now retired and live in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México. 

They have visited over 65 countries worldwide, and to pass the time during COVID, they took over 140 online cooking classes. They love to cook and explore new cuisines. It would be fair to say that they "eat to live but, as importantly, live to eat."

They have three miniature schnauzers. They are citizens of the United States and Canada, and Erich is also a citizen of Austria.  

A Quick Visit to Mexico City

My husband, Erich, had to travel to Mexico City (Ciudad de México-CDMX) in order to receive his Certificate of Citizenship and finish applying for his Austrian passport.  As a descendent of Holocaust victims and survivors, he recently became eligible for Austrian citizenship.  Maybe he will write a guest post to tell the whole amazing story.

Travel - We decided to go a couple of days early before his appointment to enjoy the city and the wonderful food, so on Tuesday, October 4th, we caught the 10am Primera Plus luxury bus from San Miguel de Allende, where we live, to the CDMX Norte bus station arriving on schedule, a trip of 3 hours and 35 minutes.  The sanitarios (bathrooms) at the station cost 6 pesos and you must go through a turnstile to get in, making it impossible to go through with luggage.  We took turns while one watched our bags in the busy station, then called for an Uber which arrived about 6 or 7 minutes later.  Uber works very well in Mexico City, often taking only 5 to 10 minutes to arrive, and is safer than hailing a pink and white taxi from the street.  Although most of the time the ubiquitous and inexpensive taxis are OK, there have been incidents of cab drivers taking passengers out of their way to be robbed by their accomplices.  Rather than hailing cabs on the street, it is better to take one from a taxi stand or have your hotel order one.  This article contains lots of good information about using taxis throughout Mexico and in CDMX: About taxis

Hotel - It took exactly half an hour to get to our hotel, the Sheraton Four Points, ( Four Points ) in the Roma neighborhood (Roma) and the Uber ride cost only 119 pesos, about $6 USD.  The hotel is plain but more than adequate and is in a fabulous location within an easy walk to many of the best restaurants in Roma.  We don't like to spend money on hotels because, usually, we don't spend much time in them, so for only $122 USD per night, this place was a great deal.  The room and beds were very comfortable, the shower was exquisite, and the LED mirror in the bathroom was so flattering that I was tempted to stay longer to admire myself. (Addresses for places mentioned can be found at the end of the post.) 

CDMX - With a population of over 22 million, CDMX is the largest city in North America followed by New York and Los Angeles. (Mexico City) It is large in area as well, and with the awful traffic, it takes a lot of time to get from place to place.  But it is also beautiful, at least in the parts of the city we have visited, Condesa, Roma and Lomas de Chapultepec. It is the greenest city we have ever seen. Parks are everywhere, filled with giant trees and all kinds of plants.  Many of the streets are park-like with tall trees on each side and/or on a strip in the center.  In addition to the trees, planters along the sidewalks and vines growing up walls provide even more greenery. (Click on photos for larger versions)

One of many parks

A typical street in Roma

Restaurant expanded onto street

You can find almost anything you want in the puestos (market stalls) along some streets including hardware items:

Fresh produce

Preparing cactus-removing spines

Hardware

Chilangos (Mexico City residents) find various ways to cope with traffic and parking.  We saw a lot of bike lanes on the streets.

Bikes

Double-decker parking

The rainy weather and thunderstorms caused us to forego planned trips to the seafood market, the second largest in the world after Tokyo and to the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco. We'll see those next time. Instead we went to the National Museum of History, Chapultepec Castle.  (Castle Museum) Situated in a spectacular location high on a hill overlooking the city, the grounds and museum are well worth a visit.  None of the informational labels are in English and since this was a spur-of-the-moment visit, we didn't know how to find an English-speaking guide or one of the recorded guides.  As we were leaving, we found the gift shop and bought a book with translations of all the wall and object labels. We will take it next time. (The gift shop is in the Castle, to the left of the main entrance, but is not well marked.)

Seniors are admitted for free but you must go to the ticket office first, then take the long walk up the hill, or as we discovered as we were leaving, you can take an elevator to the top.  Who knew???

Very pretty but long uphill walk to castle

Food - Mexico City is paradise for food lovers and virtually any cuisine is available. For our first meal after arriving, we went to Rosetta for a late lunch and sat outside on a platform built on the street, something we saw many times in Roma and also in Condesa during an earlier trip. (Restaurante Rosetta)The menu is sort of Italian, famous for their fresh pasta, but the dishes were delightfully creative. We started with cocktails, a Lush 2 for Erich (Aqua vit, honey, suero de noche-sweet milk whey), and a Vita Sociale (gin, guayaba, Campari, sweet vermouth) for me. Both were excellent.

For a starter we shared a flavorful and different salad of green tomatoes, molasses, eggplant and Ocosingo cheese (a cheese specialty of Chiapas).  

Salad

I had the tortelloni, hoja santa (herb in the pepper family) and smoked quesillo (cheese from Oaxaca) while Erich had the tagliatelle with Italian sausage and chile de árbol. For dessert, I had pears with elderflowers and tarragon ice cream while Erich enjoyed fresh herbs with olive oil and rosemary ice cream . Everything was delicious.

Tortelloni

Tagliatelle and Erich

Pears

Herbs and rosemary ice cream

After that amazing lunch we didn't need any dinner, so later in the evening we went to El Moro Churreria, a little place offering churros (fried dough with sugar coating), hot chocolate and coffee.  It was mobbed with a line outside on the sidewalk but was definitely worth the short wait. (El Moro) has  numerous locations but we went to the one in Roma Norte at Frontera 122, just a few steps from our hotel, and sat outside enjoying our churros and hot chocolate.

Interior seating

Dipping the churros in sugar

Man cranking out the churros

The Rosetta restaurant has a very popular annex bakery, Panadería Rosetta, on the other side of the street so we went there for breakfast the next day. We sat out in the open area on the street and feasted on delicious pastries and coffee. 

Rosetta Panadería

Dinner that night was at Umai, a lovely and highly-rated but expensive Japanese restaurant.  Because CDMX has so much fresh fish available at the huge market, we felt safe sampling sushi. The Zen garden was terrific until the rain came down forcing folks to retreat inside.  I was so busy talking and eating that I forgot to take photos of the food.

Zen Garden at Umai

Breakfast the next morning was at Lalo, a recommended breakfast spot. ( Lalo) Erich had the acai bowl - granola with fruit to start. He followed it with huevos revueltos con escamoles y salsa verde (scrambled eggs with escamoles and green sauce).  Escamoles are the larvae and pupae of ants, something consumed in the area since the Aztecs were in residence.  He liked it! I played it safe with chilaquiles, done differently than other versions I have had.  Excellent, as were the capuccinos and orange juice.

Huevos and Escamoles

Chilaquiles

Still trying to get our fix of Japanese cuisine, we had dinner at Mog Bistro. (Mog) We liked the food there better than Umai and it was MUCH less expensive. (Menu) The menu is huge with every kind of wonderful Japanese dish that you can imagine.  We will definitely go back again.

Chashu Men Picante

Dragon Roll and Sumibi Moriawase

Spicy Maguro Roll

Finally, the meeting with the Austrian Ambassador took place on the morning of October 7 in the ultra- exclusive area called Lomas de Chapultepec, an area of embassies and huge homes, lovely tree-lined streets, and high-end shops and restaurants.  The Ambassador, Dr. Elizabeth Kehrer, was delightful and spent quite a bit of time with us as she presented Erich with his Certificate of Citizenship.  She welcomed Erich to citizenship, said the Embassy would be his home if he ever needed it, and  apologized for Austria's role in the war. She hoped the new citizenship program would be a start to making amends.

What a wonderful few days!!!

Problems - We had only two problems.  In the middle of one day, hailed what we thought was a regular taxi on the street.  The driver spoke rapidly in Spanish as we got in but we couldn't understand him so we kept saying, "No entiendo" (I don't understand) and "no hablo español" (I don't speak Spanish).  He proceeded to drive off, and only then did we notice there was no meter in the car. We expected to be charged more than the typical rate, however, when he demanded over 550 pesos for a 17-minute drive, about $27 USD, we rebelled and refused to pay him.  (The half hour ride from the bus station cost only 119 pesos.) After yelling back and forth, we insisted on calling the police.  It's doubtful they would have come and probably wouldn't have done anything, but it worked.  When he saw that we weren't going to give in, he accepted the 200 pesos that Erich flung at him. It was still an overcharge, but he unlocked the doors and let us out.  Moral of the story: if you hail a cab on the street, make sure it is pink and white.  This car was all white.  We should have found a place where we could wait for an Uber.

The other problem involved Uber.  Cars had appeared so quickly during our visit that we thought calling at 3pm would be plenty early to make a 5:15pm bus.  Wrong.  There were no cars available at any price until much too late.  Fortunately, our hotel called for a private car and we got to the station in plenty of time and paid only 200 pesos during rush hour.  The moral of this story: make arrangements far in advance for rush hour trips, especially on Fridays.

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Contact information.  All restaurants were short walks to our hotel:

Sheraton Four Points hotel, Av. Álvaro Obregón 38, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700

Churrería El Moro, Frontera 122, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 

Panadería Rosetta. Colima 179, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 

Restaurante Rosetta Colima 166, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 

Umai Japanese Restaurant, Colima 159, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 

Lalo cafe, Zacatecas 173, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 

Mog Japanese Restaurant, Frontera 168, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700

My husband gave me worms for my birthday!

Not just worms, but ants and grasshoppers too.

I celebrated my birthday, I'm not saying which one, during a Los Vagabundos trip to Oaxaca. As a treat for me, and incidentally for him, Erich made a reservation at Casa Oaxaca el Restaurante, one of the best restaurants in Mexico. We ordered the menu degustación, the tasting menu, which actually was not on the menu. Apparently you have to know about it and ask for it. We have dined in many excellent establishments around the world, and we can say with all honesty that this was one of the best meals we've ever had.

Tasting menus can be over done and much too heavy, but Chef Alejandro Ruiz has a light touch. The dishes were creative, elegant, perfectly sized, and after seven courses plus the opening appetizer everyone receives, we were pleasantly full but not stuffed.  The menu will vary depending on what is fresh and in season.

The meal started with a waiter creating a salsa at our table.  All ingredients used in the restaurant are organic and locally sourced.  

Squash blossoms

The first course was squash blossoms filled with ricotta cheese and wrapped in crispy sweet potato with a sauce with honey and epazote herb. Totally delicious.

Next came a toasted corn tortilla covered with a colorful array of agave worms, grasshoppers, chicatana ants, guacamole, cepiche herb and radish.  Yum.  All of the insects were well fried and crispy and there was nothing at all icky about it.  We really did like it. Honestly. Oaxaca is famous for its insect dishes, so everyone should try it.

Bugs

Course number three was a thick fried corn gordita with filled with pork, and cheese, avocado, habanero chili, coriander and pickled onions on top.

Pork gordita

The next treat was frijolon bean soup with conejo herb, avocado, fried tortilla strips, fresh cheese, and pasilla mixe chili.  We were served a bowl with all of the ingredients and then the bean soup was poured in.

Bean soup

Mahi mahi

After that, we had the catch of the day which was mahi mahi served on lettuce and squash blossoms with a delicious tomato puree with capers and then more caper sauce on top.  The fish was cooked perfectly.

Confit of suckling pig

The next to last dish was a confit of suckling pig with fried plantain, and a mole made from 28 ingredients.  There were some other tasty little things but I don't know what they were.

Finally we had dessert and an espresso.  The dessert was guava mousse, one with meringue, rose petal ice cream (on the right), a red fruit sauce and a fabulous mint sauce made to look like a tree.  It was wonderful.

If you are ever in Oaxaca City, be sure to go to Casa Oaxaca el Restaurante, Calle de La Constitución 104-A, Centro. https://www.casaoaxacaelrestaurante.com/  It is an easy walk from the Zócalo.  

Gardening and Cooking

One of the benefits of living here in Mexico is the availability of delicious, very fresh produce.  Although almost everything we could want is easy to find in stores, we decided to grow some food of our own in a rooftop garden.  We had these custom planters installed on December 22, 2020 and began harvesting lettuce and kale on February 18.  Stuff grows like magic in the abundant sunshine.

Just planted - December 22, 2020

First Harvest - February 18, 2021

Today - March 22, 2021

In addition to my husband's work in the garden, we have been taking cooking classes with a wonderful local chef named David Jahnke.  We were taking in-person classes, but when Covid put an end to that, David started giving online classes.  So far, we have taken about 120 classes!!!  He teaches all cuisines, not just Mexican, and we have been having a great time trying all sorts of new recipes.  Now with the garden producing fresh ingredients, we have been incorporating them into our meals.  Here are some examples:

Mandarin Spinach Pasta Salad with spinach and mandarin oranges from our garden.

Salmon salad with lettuce and edible nasturtiums from our garden.

Tamarind soup with kale from the garden.  Chef David's recipe.

Tamarind soup ready to serve.

Jalapeño Poppers stuffed with cream cheese, cheddar and panko.  Chef David's recipe.  Nothing from the garden, but good.  I used a blowtorch to roast the peppers so they could be peeled.  Faster than on the stove flame, LOL.