I went to the supermercado with my suegra a few days ago and saw these three things next to each other in the produce section. Nothing says La Navidad like guayabas, tejocotes and caña in a little ponche navideño, ¿Verdad? And it's perfect to keep you warm at any posada.
Mexico City is notorious for its horrible traffic, but especially so right before the holidays. This past Sunday evening, we went out to run a few errands and on the way home we hit a horrible spot of traffic because Avenida Revolución was closed for a big stretch due to a caravana de Coca-Cola, a Christmas parade sponsored by Coca-Cola. The streets were suddenly flooded with parents and children and an incredible quantity of peddlers making cotton candy right on the street. We eventually had to turn around and go miles out of the way to cross Revolución in an area where the parade wasn't going to reach, so we spent more than an hour in traffic just trying to cross one thoroughfare.
And with the traffic here comes the constant variety of horn noises. If you think you've heard horn-honking in the U.S., I can assure you what you know is nothing compared to the claxons in Mexico. In fact, there's even an iPhone app called Claxons Mexico that has 12 different sounds with horn noises very common to Mexico City. To be honest, José and I have only ever heard about half of them, but they're all pretty funny. When I showed the app to my suegro he was definitely amused with it!
Anyhow, while stuck in traffic last week, I found myself next to a delivery truck full of Boing in glass bottles. It took everything in me to not get out of the car and grab one! You can sort of see at the bottom of the picture that on the lower shelves of the truck were empties with popotes (straws) still in them. This is one of those photos that I tuck away in my mind as a recuerdito of my times in Mexico.
A few weeks ago I attended a dinner given by the Mexico Tourism Board and Chef Carlos Gaytan at his restaurant, Mexique, in honor of the recent UNESCO designation of Mexican cuisine as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Tourism Board over the last several weeks has hosted authentic Mexican dinners in a number of major North American cities to celebrate, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Miami, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, so I was thrilled to receive the invitation.
Did you know that French recipes and cooking techniques during the French occupation of Mexico in the 1860s became an important element in the evolution of modern Mexican gastronomy?
Gaytan’s concept behind Mexique is modern Mexican food with French influence. Hailing from Huitzuco, Guerrero, Gaytan’s love of food helped him rise from pantry cook to executive chef. He trained with French chef Dominique Tougne of Bistro 110 (Gold Coast) and has also spent time in the kitchens at Bistrot Margo (Old Town) and the Union League Club (Loop), all in Chicago. If you live in Chicago or are visiting, I highly recommend you visit Mexique for a meal.
One thing that left an impression on me at the dinner was when Carlos explained why he doesn’t serve mixed drinks in his restaurant: they take away from the palate and so instead, he serves wine and tequila. And God bless him for telling everyone in the dining room that tequila should be sipped. Someone at a table near me chimed in that "only heathens drink tequila shooters," which caused an eruption of laughter at my table.
And I can’t end without showing you what we ate. It was a lovely four-course tasting meal with excellent wines and ended with tequila. I can't wait to return to Mexique for another meal!
PRIMERO: Ceviche
Ahi tuna, avocado mousse, chipotle aioli, mango habanero galette...
The nine days symbolize each of the months that Mary was pregnant, and that’s also why Christmas Eve is more celebrated in Mexico than Christmas Day like in many other countries.
Posadas often include traditional foods and drinks, especially things like tamales and ponche navideño. There are many different ways to make ponche, and each family does something different. Another holiday favorite of mine is rompope, an eggnog-like drink that comes from the famous nuns of Puebla, located about two hours outside of Mexico City.
From hosting las posadas to putting out nativity scenes, and making preparations for Noche Buena and La Navidad, here are some of the ways families in Mexico celebrate the holidays.
There are lots of typical dishes and drinks served during the holiday season in Mexico. From ponche navideño and rompope to champurrado and chocolate caliente, there’s a warm drink to make everyone’s belly happy. Tamales, pozole, ensalada de Noche Buena, turkey, bacalao, buñuelos, cookies, and more make the holidays the best time to become acquainted with the rich traditions of Christmastime in Mexico.
Mexican Christmas punch, called ponche navideño, is a stewed, warm drink that is served during las posadas, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and even through Día de Los Reyes Magos.
Every family makes their ponche a little differently. Some are made with jamaica (hibiscus flowers) or tamarindo.
Rompope (pronounced "roam-poh-pay") is a Mexican version of eggnog made with milk, Mexican cinnamon, Mexican vanilla, egg yolks, sugar, aguardiente (cane sugar liquor) and sometimes nutmeg.
The piñata is also a staple of posadas, and everyone from the youngest to the oldest gets a turn to try to break it. Piñatas are traditionally shaped like a star with seven cones, and the cones represent the seven deadly sins.
The custom of being blindfolded while hitting the piñata is supposed to symbolize one’s faith, and the stick used to hit the piñata is supposed to symbolize virtue. And traditionally, the piñata is made of an olla de barro, a clay pot, covered in paper maché and decorated with colorful tissue paper and streamers.
Many people still fill their piñata with fruit such as tejocotes, oranges, and guavas, or cane sugar sticks and nuts but it is also common to fill it with candies such as tamarindo or even modern candies like one of my favorites, a strawberry jelly and marshmallow candy bar covered in chocolate called Bubu Lubu.
Below are the lyrics to the piñata song, “Dale, dale dale” which is sung during each person's turn to hit the piñata.
Dale, dale, dale , no pierdas el tino
porque si lo pierdes, pierdes el camino.
Ya le diste una, ya le diste dos, ya le diste tres, ¡y tu tiempo se acabo!
The “peregrinos” sing verse A and the “innkeepers” sing verse B.
Canción para pedir posada
1a. En el nombre del cielo os pido posada, pues no puede andar mi esposa amada.
1b. Aqui no es mesón, sigan adelante. Yo no debo abrir, no sea algún tunante.
1a. No seas inhumano, tennos caridad, que el Dios de los cielos te lo premiará.
1b. Ya se pueden ir y no molestar, porque si me enfado os voy a apalear.
2a. Venimos rendidos desde Nazarét, yo soy carpintero de nombre José.
2b. No me importa el nombre, déjenme dormir, pues que yo les digo que no hemos de abrir.
2a. Posada te pido, amado casero, por sólo una noche la Reina del Cielo.
2b. Pues si es una reina quien lo solicita, ¿Cómo es que de noche anda tan solita?
3a. Mi esposa es María, es Reina del Cielo y madre va a ser del Divino Verbo.
3b. ¿Eres tú José? ¿Tú esposa es María? Entren, peregrinos, no los conocía.
3a. Dios pague, señores, nuestra caridad, y que os colme el cielo de felicidad.
3b. ¡Dichosa la casa la casa que alberga este día a la Virgen pura! ¡La hermosa María!
Then the peregrinos enter and the tune changes while all sing.
Entren, Santos Peregrinos, reciban este rincón, que aunque es pobre la morada, os la doy de corazón.
Cantemos con alegría, alegría, todos al considerar
Que Jesús, José y María, y María, nos vinieron hoy a honerar.
It is very common to see nacimientos, or nativity scenes, displayed as decorations in homes, businesses, stores and outdoors in Mexico. There are all types of materials they can be made from, such as corn husks, wood, or even aluminum.
My mother-in-law has a beautiful nacimiento made of corn husks that she displays every year at Christmastime.
This one below was an outdoor nativity scene at a Mexican resort we spent the holidays visiting.
Yesterday for a late breakfast we drove all the way to José’s favorite place for carnitas, only to find that all they had left were maciza (the “white meat” with no fat or bone), hígado (liver) and riñones (kidneys) – which was not exactly what we were hoping to eat. Unfortunately, when you arrive later in the morning, you risk them running out of the best parts. So we turned around and headed back to the car and resolved to show up earlier another day.
We hadn’t eaten breakfast in anticipation of eating carnitas, so we were starving. The friend we brought with us recommended another taquería not too far away called El Borrego Viudo, or The Widowed Sheep, which is supposedly one of the best taquerías in Mexico City, especially after a night of drinking.
There are only seven items on the menu: al pastor, suadero, longaniza, sesos, lengua, cabeza and tepache (a drink made of fermented pineapple and sugar).
We stuffed our panzas with tacos de suadero, longaniza and al pastor, and drank an apple-flavored soda called Sidral Aga. According to Chilango magazine, it’s the taquería’s red salsa that people love the most but the truth is that José and I didn’t think it was anything phenomenal. What was phenomenal though was the longaniza, which was perfectly spicy and not greasy at all....
