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Month: December 2015

Breaking Conventions

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Jo Ann and I have always tried to break the mold when we plan our weekly meals. Whose to say that an evenings meal must be completely French or Northern Italian? I am guessing this is how the whole fusion concept evolved.  To just give you a few examples, two nights ao we had a fairly light dinner of BBQ salmon, a wonderful Mediterranean rice pilaf paired with a full bodied yet inexpensive Malbec. Now I would classify our BBQ salmon as a standard American recipe as it is only seasoned with olive oil and pepper. However the rice pilaf is really a standard Mediterranean fare. Then pairing this meal with a full bodied Malbec, I don’t think this would fit anyone’s definition of a “traditional” meal.

Last night we continued to break convention as we had an excellent Sopa Tarasca with some excellent asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto which was then grilled on the BBQ. These two recipes were then paired with an inexpensive Grenache from Spain, which is typically paired with gamier birds or country stews.

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Sopa Tarasca together with BBQ asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto

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Sopa Taraca on the stove

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Ready for the BBQ

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Chilies grilled and ready for the soup

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Toasted tortillas

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Toasting the tortillas

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Grilling the chilies

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Some colorful vegetables that I just thought looked cool together.

Basmati Pilaf with Dried Fruits and Almonds together with BBQ Salmon

Basmati Pilaf with Dried Fruits and Almonds together with BBQ Salmon

Basmati Pilaf with Dried Fruits and Almonds cooking on the stove

Basmati Pilaf with Dried Fruits and Almonds cooking on the stove

Somewhere Down There is Lake Pátzcuaro

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Christmas morning and it was too cold and foggy to do our normal Christmas Day bike ride.  So we decided to hike up to the top of Estribo, one of our close by hikes.

As we were climbing we were enclosed in the fog, but then when we started to reach the summit, we could see that we were over the fog level.

A very beautiful hike and not long after we started to descend we could see that the fog was breaking up.  By the time we got back home, it was another clear and beautiful day in Pátzcuaro.

Mexican Posadas

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Last night our street kicked off the posada season for our colonia.  It was a very nice to see all of our neighbors in one setting, kind of like the old block parties up north of the border.

Quoting Wikipedia, here is some background information on Las Pasadas:

Las Posadas is a nine-day celebration with origins in Spain, now celebrated chiefly in Mexico, and portions of the Southwestern United States, beginning December 16 and ending December 24, on evenings (about 8 or 10 PM).

It is said in plural because it is celebrated more than one day in that period. The nine-day novena represents the nine months of pregnancy, specifically the pregnancy of Mary carrying Jesus.

The procedure has been a tradition in Mexico for 400 years. While its roots are in Catholicism, even Protestant Latinos follow the tradition. It may have been started in the 16th century by Friar Pedro de Gante. It may have been started by early friars who combined Spanish Catholicism with the December Aztec celebration of the birth of Huitzilopochtli.

Two people dress up as Mary and Joseph. Certain houses are designated to be an “inn”. The head of the procession will have a candle inside a paper lampshade. At each house, the resident responds by singing a song and Mary and Joseph are finally recognized and allowed to enter. Once the “innkeepers” let them in, the group of guests come into the home and kneel around the Nativity scene to pray (typically, the Rosary). Latin American countries have continued to celebrate this holiday to this day, with very few changes to the tradition. In some places, the final location may be a church instead of a home.

Individuals may actually play the various parts of Mary (María) and Joseph with the expectant mother riding a real donkey (burro), with attendants such as angels and shepherds acquired along the way, or the pilgrims may carry images of the holy personages instead. Children may carry poinsettias.[6] The procession will be followed by musicians, with the entire procession singing posadas such as pedir posada.[4] At the end of each night’s journey, there will be Christmas carols (villancicos), children will break open star-shaped piñatas to obtain candy and fruit hidden inside, and there will be a feast.[4][7] Piñatas are traditionally made out of clay. It is expected to meet all the invitees in a previous procession.

To share our experience here are just a couple of photos from last night’s celebration.

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Jo Ann and I also had a good time preparing our Posada Bags, which go by the same name as the Christmas bonus we pay all our employees  “Aguinaldos”.

If you are interested in what goes into this process, here is a good article.

Culinary y Vino Conquistadors First Edition

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We formed the Cookbook Club “Culinary y Vino Conquistadors” last month and this past Sunday had our initial feast in Tzurumutaro, Michoacán.  The basis of Sunday’s gathering was for each member to prepare a recipe from George and Piret Munger’s Cookbook.

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Rita and Ellis, as hosts of our initial feast, choose the cook book from which the recipes were chosen.  During their time living near San Diego they frequented PIRET’S restaurant numerous times and loved their offerings.

Since  PIRET’S restaurant and cookbook are focused on California and French foods,  wine pairings were based from the same regions.

The Location

Our first meeting was held at Rita and Ellias’ beautiful home which was decorated for the Christmas holidays as you see below.

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The Appetizers and Sides

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Appetizers chosen were Salmon Rillettes (shown above) made with a combination of poached and smoked salmon seasoned with a hint of nutmeg and shallot.

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Also on the table was Paula Wolfert’s Tapenade (shown above) made with plenty of anchovies, garlic and grainy mustard.  This was served with freshly baked Red Onion and Walnut Bread.

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Next on the menu was a luscious Ratatouille (shown above) glistening with eggplant, tomatoes and a myriad of vegetables.

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One of the most visually appealing dishes was a Lentil Salad (shown above) served in individual butter lettuce leaves accompanied by crispy bacon bits served on the side.  The chef of this dish mentioned that this salad was composed with little spice except for a clove studded onion that the lentils were cooked in.  She said she was surprised that there was not even a mention of salt or pepper in the recipe.

Main Courses

Rita, as the hostess of the event (Rita said she does the cooking and Ellis does most of the dishes) was in charge of the main course and outdid herself by choosing to make two dishes from the cook book.

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A real winner is shown above, Roast Lamb with Onion Sauce.  The lamb was moist, napped in a flavorful Onion/White Sauce that can be made ahead therefore making it a great dish for groups.

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Here is Rita in her element plating up her second main course of Poulet Supreme Maurice.  She said the recipe appeared very easy when she read it through the first time, but it took more time then expected due to stuffing and rolling up the chicken.  Regardless, all agreed that the results were outstanding!  What a great cook she it!

The Final Result

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A beautiful table to look at and everything tasted wonderful!  A fun afternoon was had by all……..  and yet to come was dessert!

The Dessert

The afternoon  was topped off by a Lemon Bavarian Cream with a Raspberry Sauce that was devoured by all.  I am usually a lover of all things chocolate and gooey, but this dessert was a perfect mix of sweet and tart. Ellis’ son was visiting,  joined in the afternoon’s indulgences and even helped Ellis serve up some great espresso.  Sorry, but I was enjoying dessert so much that I forgot to take photos of this show stopper!

Upcoming Meetings

For our January meeting we will be focusing on the various cookbooks from Diana Kennedy.  Members can choose a recipe from any of her  thirteen cookbooks that she has written.  That number is according to  Wikipedia, may be more, may be less.

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And for February we will be making a long transition to the California Asian Fusion of Ming Tsai from his cookbook “Simply Ming”.  If members do not have easy access to this cookbook, one can also choose one from his website Ming.com that has hundreds of recipes from his cooking shows over the years.  What fun!

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If you are interested in joining us in one of our future meetings, please leave a comment to this post below with your email address and I will contact you about participating in our future meetings.

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Le Chocolat Chaud con espresso

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When we lived in Sonoma County many days we would end our bike rides with a special hot beverage at Flying Goat which was a combination hot chocolate and espresso.

Here in Mexico there is nothing similar that we could find to have as a post ride treat after a long ride on a cool/crisp morning. The closest we found was in Guanajuato at a cafe called Cafe Tal.

I have been reading some of David Lebovitz’s cookbooks and found this excellent Parisian Hot Chocolate. It got me thinking about trying to duplicate the special Flying Goat beverage I so longed for.

Well yesterday I think I found the correct mixture. I used half of David’s Parisian Hot Chocolate, split between two cups and added a double espresso to both.

To start you need excellent chocolate cut into small pieces.

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Plus a cup of organic whole milk:

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You warm the milk and then stir in the chcocolate (pardon the burr in this photo I was trying to whisk the chocolate while holding my iPhone).

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Pour into two cups and add the espresso, it will warm you up and bring you great taste on a cool/crisp morning.

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Making Fresh Mozzarella

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Sunday morning and Jo Ann and I are still too ill from this virus we are fighting from our trip back from Minnesota. So too ill to ride our bikes we decided to make some fresh mozzarella.

We purchased five liters of fresh cows milk (fresh from the cow this morning) and started by heating up the milk.

After getting the milk properly heated and after adding the rennet, the milk started to separate into the curds and the whey. Once everything has properly heated we were able to separate the curds from the whey and drain them in a clean cheese cloth.

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From here we squeezed the curds to get all of the whey out of the curds and let them settle in one large slab.

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We have have a great slab of mozzarella cheese that just needs to be stretched into the smaller balls.

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The final result looks pretty good for our first time.

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Tonight we have fresh linguine with fresh mozzarella and our freshly picked tomatoes. Can’t get much fresher than this and of course it is clearly all locally grown and produced.

Bird’s Nest Pie

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Dinner last night was a new pizza called “Bird’s Nest Pie”. Here is the process along the way, starting with Jo Ann preparing the pie:

Jo Ann preparing the pizza by ensuring the asparagus is properly positioned.

Jo Ann preparing the pizza by ensuring the asparagus is properly positioned.

To what it looks like before being put on the grill:

The pie just prior to heading on to the grill. We cook all our pizzas on the BBQ.

The pie just prior to heading on to the grill. We cook all our pizzas on the BBQ.

and the finished product.

The finished Bird's Nest Pie, ready to eat

The finished Bird’s Nest Pie, ready to eat

Awesome pizza and very healthy.

Templo de El Sagradio en Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico

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Probably the most photographed building in Pátzcuaro, the Templo de El Sagradio is just a beautiful piece of architecture. I have probably shot it over 30 separate times, in the morning, in the evening, mid-day, HDR, etc. etc. No matter whose image I see there is something magical about this building.

Up, Down And Anything But Flat

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Today we rode the new tollway running from Pátzcuaro to Capula and returned to the tollbooth.

This route is anything but flat, you are either riding up hill or down hill.

Reminds me of the rides around Durango Colorado, the climbs were not hard, but they were extended steady climbs.

For the time being the new toll road is not being ridden much, so you have this great new tarmac with not a lot of traffic to contend with.

Great fun.

Elevation

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Pappardelle with Spring Vegetables

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It is spring time and the mercado is fully of fresh new spring vegetables.  We found this great recipe in Fine Cooking authored by Ronne Day. It is a great light dinner especially with Jo Ann’s home made pappardelle.

If you would like a copy of the recipe, you can get it here.