The Other Side of the Tortilla

Travel

Wordless Wednesday: Passing over Popocatépetl

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If you follow the news, you’ve probably heard a lot of fuss about a volcano in central Mexico that’s been spewing ash, rumbling and causing concern lately.

That volcano, which stretches into parts of three bordering states (Mexico, Puebla and Morelos) is Popocatépetl—also known affectionately as Don Goyo.

Here’s a photo I took of the volcano when we flew over it on our way to Acapulco in December 2011. I’ve flown over it many times but have never actually visited it while on the ground—but I’d definitely like to get up close to check it out someday. On a very clear day you can sometimes see Popocatépetl from different vantage points in Mexico City, including a spot near where my suegros live.

  • Have you visited Popocatépetl?

Celebrating Día de Los Reyes with friends and family

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¡Feliz Día de Los Reyes a todos!

We took a long vacation with family for the holidays and part of our trip included a day in Ensenada, located on the West coast of Mexico in the state of Baja California (the northern part of the peninsula, a little more than 70 miles south of Tijuana).

Since we wouldn’t be together on Día de Los Reyes, we found a little rosca to celebrate a few days before. And guess who got el niño Jesus… again. I swear it’s a conspiracy because I get the baby in my piece of cake every single year. The rosca was so small that I didn’t even think there would be a baby inside, but there he was when I broke my piece off. Guess I’ll just have to make tamales for Día de La Candelaria on February 2!

Read more about how we celebrate Día de Los Reyes here on The Other Side of The Tortilla and check out the links below to see how some of our friends celebrate as well. If you haven’t celebrated yet, it’s not too late. Even if you can’t buy a rosca, you can certainly try making one on your own! You can also serve Mexican hot chocolate or champurrado alongside your cake….

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What Las Posadas mean to me

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December 16th begins Las Posadas, the nine days of celebration leading up to Christmas Eve, also known as Nochebuena.

It’s customary for families to gather together, eat, sing and have a piñata at the party. Sometimes people celebrate posadas by going from home to home, singing the traditional song to ask for lodging the way Mary and Joseph did. But whether you travel around to different homes or stay in one place, there are certain elements of your family’s posadas that you inevitably love more than anything else, and will always try to recreate as you grow older, and especially as you have children so you can teach them your family’s traditions.

For me, the most beloved posadas tradition is making ponche Navideño. Every year, even if I don’t have access to fresh ingredients, I do my best to find canned, jarred or frozen ingredients for the things I can’t easily find in the U.S. Even though I know I’ll have it when I get to Mexico, I feel it’s really important to perfect the recipe at home with available ingredients.

I want our future children to know that it’s a Mexican Christmas staple and always have memories of the smell and taste. I want them to think of love and family and La Navidad when they think of ponche, just the way that I do. I always look forward to spending time with family in Mexico City during the holidays, and I know there will always be an abundance of ponche Navideño. It’s present at almost every family gathering but the most special thing about it for me is that it’s become a family tradition to make it together with my suegros, whom I adore con todo corazón.

We stand around the kitchen, my suegro chopping the caña (sugar cane), while my suegra takes care with the liquid measurements. I slice the guayabas and juice the oranges, add the canela and core the tejocotes. And before a few years ago when I finally put it on paper, our family recipe wasn’t officially written down anywhere with any information other than what should go in it. Learning how to make this family recipe with my suegros meant a lot to me in being able to eventually pass down this tradition.

So, last week when I was grocery shopping in a store I don’t usually frequent and I found a box of fresh tejocotes, I had tears in my eyes as I stood in disbelief in the middle of the produce aisle. This was the very first time I’d ever seen fresh tejocotes in a market near Chicago (also grown in the U.S., according to the box). Tejocotes have long been prohibited from being imported fresh from Mexico as a precaution due to the possibility of harboring exotic pests. Only in recent years have there been growers in the U.S. (mostly in California) who’ve begun cultivating crops of tejocotes, also known in English as Mexican hawthorn. I was surprised and overjoyed to see them in a local store. Though I was tempted to buy the whole box, I painstakingly picked through it to find the most perfect ones to add up to half a pound, just enough for one large pot of ponche.

This year, our family is still headed off on a vacation together as usual, but not within Mexico. As excited as I am to go somewhere new and experience new things, I can’t help but feel a little sad that I won’t be attending Tía Annette’s big posada Navideña in Mexico City.

I’ll miss sipping ponche and café con rompope and eating galletas with my other tías while catching up on all the gossip I’ve missed since my last visit. I’ll miss our tío dangling the piñata over the garden for the kids from the second story window, laughing and smiling as he tugs it just out of their reach. I’ll miss seeing how much some of the younger cousins have grown up this past year. I’ll miss Tía Nene and her famous pastel de dátil (something I still need to learn how to make). I’ll miss the nochebuenas, which are much more beautiful and exotic-looking in their native Mexico. I’ll miss posing for a huge family holiday photo, comprised of four generations of our beautiful family.

As I write this, my kitchen is perfumed by the scent of ripe guayabas, waiting to be made into ponche this weekend. There are oranges, tejocotes, canela and ciruelas pasas. I still need to find some fresh sugar cane; I have a good idea of where to get it locally, but I’ve still got some in a jar as a backup. And though there will be no cousins, tíos, piñatas, pidiendo posadas or certain favorite holiday foods this year, the memories will swirl steadfastly in my heart and my kitchen as I stew a big pot of ponche before I jet off to my holiday destination.

›› GET THE RECIPE FOR PONCHE NAVIDEÑO

›› WATCH A VIDEO OF HOW OUR FAMILY CELEBRATES LAS POSADAS (Includes lyrics to the piñata song and canciones para pedir posadas)

  • What makes you think most of las posadas? This post is part of a blog hop about posadas. I encourage you to check out some of the other related posts about how others celebrate the holidays in Mexico. If you’ve written about posadas, please feel free to add a link to your post!…

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Wordless Wednesday: Nacimiento en Acapulco

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A few weekends ago when we were in Acapulco, I spotted this elaborate nacimiento at the hotel where we were staying. It’s hard to see, but near the lefthand bottom corner, there’s even a cactus with little orange tunas on it. ¿Chido, no?

Honoring La Virgen de Guadalupe

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December 12th is a very important day in Mexico for faithful Catholics—El día de la Virgen de Guadalupe. If you’re not familiar with the story, here’s the very abbreviated version: in 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to a poor Aztec man named Juan Diego, who had converted to Christianity several years before. He was so poor that he wore no shoes, and his mantle was coarsely woven of cactus cloth as he could not afford cotton. He often traveled hours to make his way from his home to the nearest church, and during one of his journeys, the Virgin Mary appeared to him and asked him to build a temple there in her honor. She appeared to him a total of four times before the miracle occurred when her image appeared on his cloak. The bishop requested that Juan Diego bring him a sign to prove what he had seen; after telling La Virgen that they requested physical proof of what he’d told them, she revealed to him several varieties of fresh, blooming Castilla roses (which were out of season), that he brought as proof and which amazed the bishop. When he unfolded his cloak (called a tilma), the roses scattered and the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe appeared, just as it exists on the tilma hanging in the Nueva Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe today. The sanctuary that stands at the location where Juan Diego revealed the roses to the bishop is called La Capilla del Cerrito.

In the 1730s, La Virgen (also sometimes referred to as La Morenita) was adopted as the patroness of Mexico City. This is why her image can be found just about everywhere—from churches to market stalls to homes and even on quirky trinkets. She is beloved by all and today, the basilica in Mexico City is one of the most-visited Catholic shrines in the world. She is credited for performing many miracles to those who pray to her to watch over them….

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México en tus sentidos

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While I’m away this weekend traveling in Mexico, here’s a cool tourism video that I wanted to share. One of our cousins from Mexico shared it with me on Facebook this past week and I’ve got to say, it’s definitely worth watching the whole eight minutes. If it doesn’t tug at your heartstrings, put a tear in your eye, have you glued to the screen, make you want to visit Mexico ahora …you might not have a soul. Just kidding. But really, if nothing in this video moves you or gets you excited, you probably don’t love Mexico very much or don’t know enough about it to know what you’re missing! 😛

Happy virtual travels! We’ll be back to the grind on Monday.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUTXIkvzXuM[/youtube]

  • Leave a comment to let me know: What’s your favorite part? I love the voladores de Papantla (at about the 4-minute mark) and the Ángel de la Independencia (around the 5-minute mark).

10 things to love about Mexico City’s Museo Dolores Olmedo

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The tiles on the wall at the Museo Dolores Olmedo read: “By the example of my mother, professor Maria Patiño Suarez, widow of Olmedo, who always told me: ‘Share all you have with those around you.’ I leave this house with all my collections of art, the product of my life’s work, so the people of Mexico can enjoy it.” —Dolores Olmedo Patiño

Last year on a visit to Mexico City during the holidays, I spent a special day with friends exploring a few places I had never been before. Thanks to the abundance of cultural activities the city has to offer, there’s always something new to discover. I was thrilled to hear that the Museo Dolores Olmedo was on the itinerary they planned since I’m a big Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera fan.

Dolores Olmedo Patiño, also known to many as Doña Lola, was an aggressive collector and patron of the arts and is still revered today as one of the biggest individual benefactors and promoters of Mexican art and culture. At age 17, she met Diego Rivera by chance in an elevator at the Ministry of Public Education when he was still working on the murals there (that can still be seen today), and he ended up asking her to model for him. According to the museum, she modeled in nearly 30 nude sketches and then was the subject of other later paintings by Rivera. After separating from her husband, British journalist Howard Phillips (whom she married in 1935), the well-to-do single Olmedo made a career as a partner in a construction materials firm in the late 1940s. In the mid-1950s, she reconnected with Rivera and eventually became his benefactor, caretaker and eventually, executor of his estate and that of Frida Kahlo.

In the early 1960s Olmedo acquired Hacienda La Noria, a 16th-century Spanish colonial hacienda located in Xochimilco (a neighborhood in the south of Mexico City). At the time she acquired the property, it was a shell of its original state and so she set out on a mission to restore and preserve the hacienda. In the late 1980s, Olmedo announced plans to convert her hacienda into a museum, which opened in September 1994. Olmedo passed away in 2002 but her legacy still lives on in this charming museum she left behind for all to admire just as intended.

Here are my top ten reasons to visit the Museo Dolores Olmedo
the next time you’re in Mexico City…

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Visiting the ex hacienda de Apanquetzalco in Yautepec

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In October, I traveled to Mexico for a cousin’s wedding. It wasn’t your typical church wedding followed by a reception at a banquet hall. Instead, it was held at a beautiful ex hacienda in the town of Yautepec, located in the state of Morelos. Not far from Cuernavaca, Yautepec is a short trip (about an hour and a half drive) from Mexico City. If you go, I recommend a stay at the very hospitable Villa Iyautli, where our family often stays. This area is incredibly rich with history and I was thrilled to visit and learn all about it.

THE HISTORY OF THE AREA AND EX HACIENDA APANQUETZALCO…

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Muralismo Mexicano: “El Pueblo a la Universidad y la Universidad al Pueblo”

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A few years ago on a trip to Mexico City, I had the pleasure of working with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to document photos of the campus for a UNESCO project. If you’re not familiar with UNAM, the university is the oldest in the Americas (it was founded in 1551) and its main campus (Ciudad Universitaria) is recognized as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. This is definitely a cool place to visit if you travel to Mexico City.

One of my favorite things about the campus is the amount of public art incorporated into both the buildings and open spaces. And I especially love the murals created by some of Mexico’s most famous artists.

During my visit, I got to spend some time up close to one of the murals that I’d only before ever seen in photographs—“El Pueblo a la Universidad y la Universidad al Pueblo” by David Alfaro Siqueiros on the side of the Torre de Rectoría….

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Mexican Candy: Fruta cristalizada

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I’ve always been fascinated by frutas cristalizadas (candied fruits). I spotted these in the Mercado de Coyoacán a few weeks ago during my visit to Mexico City. Pictured clockwise from left: naranjas (oranges) that were hollowed out, tunas verdes y rojas (green and red prickly pears), chabacanos (apricots) and higos (figs). My favorite kind is calabaza cristalizada (candied pumpkin), and I brought back a big piece that I don’t plan to share.

  • What’s your favorite kind of fruta cristalizada?

Wordless Wednesday: Churros for dinner

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During my trip to Mexico City a few weeks ago, there was one night that it got very chilly (and by very chilly in Mexico City in September, I mean about 57 degrees F). It doesn’t sound that cold—at least not to a Chicagoan used to blizzard weather—but without a jacket and the need for something warm in my belly, I wrapped myself in a fleece blanket while I chatted with my suegra and my cuñada about what we should have for dinner. After little discussion, we all agreed the best option was a trip to El Convento in San Ángel for churros and chocolate caliente. Pictured above is what ended up rolled in sugar and in my tummy. (Well, not ALL of it, but you get the idea.)

If you’re more than a few miles from the closest churrería, check out my recipe for making your own churros at home.

  • Where’s your favorite place to eat churros?

Discover Las Bahías de Huatulco

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Looking to plan your next vacation or just need a destination to daydream about? Las Bahías de Huatulco is the place!

Last year for La Navidad, our family spent a week in Huatulco relaxing and enjoying the nature, the food and the local culture. It was one of my favorite vacations we’ve ever taken. Watch the video to get a little taste to whet your appetite.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xfTwU9cMJw[/youtube]…

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Wordless Wednesday: Estadio Olímpico Universitario

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I snapped this photo of the Estadio Olímpico while zipping through C.U. (Ciudad Universitaria, the main campus of UNAM) on my last visit to Mexico City. The stadium opened in 1952 and was also used for the 1968 Olympic games. The mural on the outside of the stadium as pictured here, titled “La Universidad, la Familia y el Deporte en México,” was created by the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. The stadium is one of our favorite places, especially because it’s the home of the Pumas—our favorite soccer team. Read more about the history of the stadium in Spanish on UNAM’s website.

  • Have you been to the Estadio Olímpico? What’s your favorite part about it?

Tercer año

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On this day three years ago, we took our wedding vows in front of family and friends. First, in a small Catholic church ceremony with our parents and witnesses at the historic Misión de San José del Cabo, and then a beach Mass* with all our family and friends. This is one of my favorite photos from our wedding day, sharing a private moment steps from the deep blue rolling waves in a small cove between two rock crops.

You can read more about our wedding, including details on the church, more photos, the reception… and of course, the menu, in last year’s anniversary post. Lately I’ve been thinking about recreating recipes from our wedding menu, so hopefully I can get in the test kitchen soon.

If I got the chance to do it all over again, I’d do just about everything the same, but in slow motion so it wouldn’t go by as fast! Lucky for me, I have a wedding video to remember every moment by. We’ll be watching it and toasting with champagne over the weekend.

I’ll have to dig out some more photos to share here soon. Many friends reminded us today of their memories from our wedding extravaganza week and it made me want to go searching for photos from different parts of the day and the reception to take it all in and have each and every moment rush back into my memory.

Thanks for reading The Other Side of The Tortilla and following along on our journey. Please join us in toasting to many more years of wedded bliss!

José: te quiero con todo mi corazón. Siempre. —Maura

*Catholic Mass is not typically celebrated outside of the church; we brought our own family priest who agreed to perform a second ceremony on the beach after we had a ceremony in the church. Most beach weddings in Mexico are symbolic or civil ceremonies.

Wordless Wednesday: El plátano macho

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I love plantains, known as plátano macho in Spanish. They look a lot like big fat bananas, but they aren’t quite the same and the peel is much thicker than on a regular banana. You can buy them green or yellow with black spots like the ones pictured above depending on what you’re using them for. My two favorite ways to eat them are plain and fried with a little crema Mexicana or as empanadas rellenos de frijol, which is a recipe that comes from Veracruz (and is a family favorite) that I’ll have to share with you soon.

  • What’s your favorite way to eat plantains?

Win a trip to Huatulco from Mexico Today!

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Photo provided by Secrets Huatulco

I’ve written several times about our trip to Huatulco last year when we spent our Christmas vacation in Mexico. Lots of you have written to say you loved the photos and the stories, and even the video I took from the beach. Huatulco is, hands down, one of the most beautiful, peaceful places we’ve been in Mexico.

Now you have a chance to win a 3 day/2 night stay at the brand new Secrets Huatulco Resort & Spa!

Mexico Today is hosting a giveaway on their Facebook fan page for a trip for two that includes airfare, hotel accommodations and spending money for you to enjoy and discover Las Bahías de Huatulco. You must be a fan of the Mexico Today page to enter. You must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the U.S. or Canada in order to be eligible to win. The sweepstakes ends July 20 at 6 p.m. PDT. See the official rules and more information at the Mexico Today Facebook fan page….

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Daydreaming about Guerrero

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My friends at the Mexico Tourism Board office here in Chicago posted this tourism video about Guerrero on their Facebook page yesterday and it had me totally captivated! They’ve been doing a state-by-state campaign (in alphabetical order) to share highlights that different states have to offer and I’ve really been enjoying each week since they started. I’m learning tons of new things about some of the states I’ve never been to as well as some of the states I have visited, but not extensively. It’s also planted a seed about starting a list of all the places I really want to visit in the next few years. I’ve been daydreaming about visiting the Pacific-side state of Guerrero since I watched the video, though, and thought I’d share with you.

The good thing: I have a trip planned to visit the state of Guerrero for a friend’s wedding in Acapulco later in the year. The bad thing: The trip is still several months away. (Insert sad face here.)

But until then when I can share photos and video of my own experience visiting Guerrero, here’s a little something to whet your appetite…

¡Feliz fin de semana!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDiaq8kM-8o[/youtube]…

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¡Hoy es el cumpleaños de Frida Kahlo!

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Today marks the 104th anniversary of the birthday of my favorite Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo!

If you’re not familiar with Frida’s life, work, or the famous Casa Azul, you can read more about them on the Museo Frida Kahlo website (in English). And if you’re ever visiting Mexico City, Casa Azul is one of the places you absolutely must visit.

It’s a magical place where you can feel her presence in just about every room and in the garden as well.

At the time I last visited Casa Azul, a stunning and thought-provoking private collection of photographs of Frida, Diego and their family and friends, entitled “Frida Kahlo: Sus Fotos,” was on display and many of the photographs were taken by Frida herself. It was an incredibly interesting glimpse into her life and how things looked from her point of view. You can read more about the photo exhibition, which ran through December 2010, on the museum’s website (in Spanish).…

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A trip down the canals of Xochimilco

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Xochimilco is both the name of a delegation in Mexico City as well as the famous canals that are remnants of a vast water transport system built by the Aztecs.

Colorful boats, called trajineras, take visitors on cruises down the canals while food vendors, artisans and mariachi bands float past hoping you’ll buy a snack, a souvenir or a song. The atmosphere is fun and festive, especially on weekends, and although this activity is definitely touristy, lots of locals still frequent the canals.

When we were visiting Mexico in December 2010, it turned out that my dear friend Ana and her family were also visiting at the same time. We were determined to see each other, and after some previously derailed plans thanks to illnesses we finally settled on a date and an activity. We’d check out the Museo Dolores Olmedo, the floating gardens of Xochimilco and then have lunch together on the day after Christmas.

I was so excited when Ana and her family picked me up – first because I’d be exploring some places I’d never visited before, but also because I was so happy to be able to share in these experiences with someone who I knew cherished them as much as I did. Thank you, Ana, Alan, Camila and Patricia for sharing this special day with me.

Xochilmilco has been a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. 

The following passage is from UNESCO’s description of the area and why it’s protected.

The lacustrine landscape of Xochimilco constitutes the only reminder of traditional ground occupation in the lagoons of the Mexico City basin before the Spanish conquest.

The zone of Xochimilco, 28 km to the south, is the only remaining reminder of the lacustrine landscape of the Aztec capital, where the conquistadores destroyed the monuments and drained the canals. On the edge of the residual lake of Xochimilco (the southern arm of the great dried-up lake of Texcoco where the Aztecs had settled on a group of islets linked to solid ground by footbridges), and in the midst of a network of small canals, are still some chinampas, the floating gardens that the Spanish so admired. This half-natural, half-artificial landscape is now an “ecological reserve.”
–UNESCO

Read more about Xochimilco en español.

Wordless Wednesday: Dulces

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José returned this past Sunday from his trip to Mexico City for Semana Santa. Among the presents he brought home for me… ¡Dulces! In pretty much any taquería in Mexico, you’ll get some kind of candies delivered with your check. Some of my favorites include the dulces de tamarindo (tamarind and chile-flavored candy) and the paletas picosas (spicy and sweet lollipops) pictured above from El Charco de Las Ranas, El Califa and El Fogoncito.

  • What’s your favorite candy when you visit a taquería?

Wordless Wednesday: Las Bugambilias

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If you’re a frequent visitor here or on our Facebook fan page, then you probably already know that I’m completamente loca about bugambilias. In English, they’re called bougainvilleas, and they’re one of my favorite species of flowers. These particular flowers were photographed on our family trip to Huatulco in December 2010. The bright pink color just stirs my soul.

  • What kind of plant life reminds you of Mexico?