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Bittersweet Birthday Wishes

Published: Aug 24, 2010 · Modified: Aug 24, 2011 by Maura Wall Hernandez · This post may contain affiliate links · 7 Comments

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Today is both a happy day and a sad day. Happy because it marks the first birthday of The Other Side of The Tortilla. Sad because it also marks the fourth anniversary of the day that José's abuelita Elda passed away.

It is thanks to many family members on my suegra's side who have told me stories and shared snippets of abuelita Elda's recipes with me that I've come to feel like I know a little piece of her, and it’s also how I ended up starting this blog to document my journey as I explore my own Mexican kitchen.

The truth is, though she’s no longer with us, the memory of her is ever-present.

As a wedding gift, José's great aunt, Tía Chata, made us an exact replica of a carpeta (a kind of table adornment, sometimes small enough for a serving tray and sometimes large enough to be a tablecloth) that belonged to abuelita Elda. It's nice to have something handmade with such love and painstaking care to decorate my home with and to show our future children. It will undoubtedly someday become one of our family heirlooms that will be passed on for generations.

One of José's favorite recipes that his abuela used to make for him while he was growing up was arroz con leche. To this day, he's never had a bite of anyone else's arroz con leche that's come close to his abuelita's. I plan to start tinkering in the kitchen to recreate her recipe sometime this fall, so wish me luck!

I can't even cut celery in my kitchen without José reminding me that his abue used to make a sopa de apio. As my cuñada told me today, “we always knew going to abuelita’s house meant we were going to have good food.” I hope that someday my own nietos will say the same about me.

Among some of abuelita's favorite foods, according to my cuñada: pan dulce from El Globo with café con leche, hígado (liver), albondigas (meatballs in a red sauce made with tomatoes and chiles, served over rice and beans) and sopa de fideo. I can’t promise you I’ll try making hígado, but I’ve got a mean albondigas recipe I’ll be sharing before the end of the year. I also have an affinity for El Globo's sweet and sticky signature pan dulce, one kind of which I'll be trying to recreate soon, too.

Tonight, we're toasting with vino tinto and remembering her. I’ll be rifling through the stack of her recipes that I copied during my last visit to Mexico City to decide what to take on next in the Tortilla Test Kitchen.

As always, thank you for letting me share my cuentos and recetas, and I look forward to sharing many more birthdays ahead with you. I'd love to hear in the comments your favorite recipe from the first year of The Tortilla or what you'd like to see in the coming year!

5

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maya Escobar says

    August 24, 2010 at 11:59 pm

    ¡Feliz Cumpleaños The Other Side of The Tortilla! I'll be excited to leave this message again next year. The diptych of carpeta is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, what an exquisite textile and fabulous wedding gift!

    Much love to you Maura, the blog looks great!

    Reply
  2. Tracy says

    August 27, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    Órale!! 🙂

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O7K9AwR6Vo

    Reply
  3. Miguel A. Corona says

    August 27, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    ¡Feliz Cumpleaños The Other Side of The Tortilla! I'm sure abuelita Elda is reading and enjoying her work being displayed. Love the new look -- and especially ALL the great recetas!

    Reply
  4. Monica says

    August 28, 2010 at 9:57 am

    Felicidades! The blog looks wonderful and I love your beautiful stories...

    Reply
  5. Liz says

    August 28, 2010 at 10:25 am

    Happy Blogoversary!

    I love heartfelt stories, such as this one.

    God bless you both! (:

    Reply
  6. Melanie (ModernMami) says

    August 31, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    Great story Maura. It's wonderful to keep the memories alive.

    Congrats on your blog anniversary!

    Reply
  7. Maura Hernandez says

    September 02, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    Thank you to all who left birthday wishes for our 1-year blogoversary 🙂 I look forward to another fun year of recipes and stories to share!

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Maura Hernández, an award-winning food and travel writer, recipe developer, and former journalist sharing my passion for all things Mexico. I've traveled Mexico extensively over the last 18 years and Mexico City is my home away from home. Here, you'll find a mix of traditional and modern Mexican cooking, along with my advice on where to eat, stay and play on your visit to Mexico!

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