Mexican Christmas Traditions

Wordless Wednesday: La Iguana

1 · Feb 16, 2011 · 2 Comments

When we were vacationing in Huatulco this past December, we found our hotel had another kind of guest... It's hard to tell from the photo, but this iguana was rather large and lived in a little sinkhole between the grass and the concrete along the path to our room.

Each morning, the hotel staff set fruits and vegetables by the opening to the iguana's little cave. José tried to bribe his sister with $200 USD to stick her fingers into the cave but her answer was "¡ni de chiste!" and rightly so.

Still, we were all fascinated with this iguana – who seemed to be molting quite a bit and the end of his tail was bare, which really gave me the willies when I saw him crawling around – and he was a topic of daily discussion during our visit.

What kind of animals have you seen in Mexico that you don't normally get to see where you live?

Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad

6 · Feb 14, 2011 · 6 Comments

Today in some parts of the world, it's Valentine's Day. But in Mexico, it's called Día del Amor y la Amistad. While Valentine's Day is mostly a celebration of romantic love, Día del Amor y la Amistad encompasses love and friendship.

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day in our house, and in fact, this past weekend we sort of forgot about the fact that all the restaurants were going to be full of people celebrating Valentine's Day when we called to see if we could get last-minute reservations at one of our favorite places. Of course, we couldn't get a table, so instead we cooked dinner together at home. If you ask me, as much as I love eating at restaurants, there's something special about cooking together that makes a meal truly enjoyable.

And as any of my friends and family will tell you: a home-cooked meal is how I show my love best. Whether it's rajas con crema for José, salsa de tres chiles (video recipe coming soon!) for my mom or Crock-Pot cochinita pibil for my best girlfriends, I love cooking for the special people in my life.

Take a few minutes today to remind your friends and family how much you love them. Whether it's a hug in person, a phone call, an email or a big ol' batch of Mexican comfort food like papas gratinadas to go with dinner, there's no better feeling than to know how much others care about you, so don't forget to spread the love as liberally as you'd add queso to those papas!

If you've got escuincles, check out these adorable print-and-color valentine cards from our friends at Spanglish Baby and Viva Greetings.

And head over to our Facebook fan page if you have a chance - today we'll be talking about the foods we love – including non-Mexican foods, just for one day – including linky love to recipes from some of our favorite food blogs.

From our home to yours, ¡Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad a todos! We'll be celebrating by reminiscing about our recent trip to the beach in Oaxaca (pictured above) over a home-cooked meal.

I'd love if you'd leave a comment below to let me know which recipe from The Other Side of The Tortilla you've served to your family to show them how much you love them or what your favorite recipe is that you've seen here and why.

Wordless Wednesday: The Best Carnitas in Mexico

1 · Feb 9, 2011 · 10 Comments

When I dream about carnitas – and yes, I do dream about carnitas – this is the place where I'm always eating. This little hole in the wall has the best carnitas in Mexico City, if not in the entire country, according to José.

I'm not about to challenge his ruling (after all, he is the king of carnitas), and though I've not eaten them in every state yet, I will say that Rincón Tarasco has the best carnitas I've ever eaten in my life.

Be sure to get there plenty early, though, or else risk them having nothing left but riñones. They're only open until they sell out of everything and then they close to prepare for the next day all over again.

Those truly dedicated to their carnitas know to show up around 10 a.m. to have the best pick of available meat. They're closed on Tuesdays.

VISIT RINCÓN TARASCO:

Av. Martí No. 142 K
Col. Escandón
Distrito Federal, México

Where is your favorite place in Mexico to eat carnitas?

Eating strawberries on the highway in Irapuato

3 · Feb 8, 2011 · 8 Comments

I can't help but feel a little jealous. This past weekend my suegros and my cuñada took a road trip from Mexico City to visit Abuelita Ana in Aguascalientes. I'm jealous for two reasons: one obviously being that they spent time with abue, whom I absolutely adore, but two, that they stopped for strawberries in Irapuato on the way back to El D.F. yesterday.

One of my favorite things from our road trip to Aguascalientes this past summer for abue's 90th birthday was the quaint little strawberry stands alongside the carretera in Irapuato. It was my first time road-tripping anywhere more than a a few hours outside of Mexico City, and I absolutely loved being able to see so much of the countryside, passing through towns I had previously only ever read about or heard about in stories from family members....

Papas gratinadas

25 · Feb 7, 2011 · 16 Comments

To me, wintertime means lots of comfort foods. And pardon the pun, but during the blizzard we had here last week, I was cooking up a storm while I was cooped up inside for three whole days. One of my favorite comfort foods is papas gratinadas, a Mexican version of potatoes au gratin.

I love it so much, in fact, that while I'm writing this, I'm thinking about going to the store for more potatoes so I can make another batch. The last two times I've made this dish, it disappeared in less than 24 hours. And my friend Silvia over at Mamá Latina Tips has been asking me to post this recipe for several weeks since I told her I made it because her mom used to make papas gratinadas for her and it's one of her favorites, too.

These are a great side dish (or, um...an afternoon snack) when you need hearty, warm food to keep you full and fueled to fight the cold outside. Here's a quick video tutorial on how to make this recipe.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bseuBjSf_Q[/youtube]

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