Last Meal in Patzcuaro

This really wasn´t even my meal. I had tacos. Alpastor and Bistec tacos. And they were delicious. No, this was the meal that my three companions shared. The picture doesn´t exactly capture exactly how large this meal is. I had it once before and its a real bargain. For $7 you can feel 3 or 4 people. Its tacos dorados (golden tacos aka friend rolled tacos). They are huge and there are nine of them. Together the three girls could only eat 6 and a half. Then there is chick, potatoes, lettuce, cheeses and other vegetables. Oily and delicious, this meal is huge.

However, the meal isn´t what this post is about. The meal is the condiment to the drink. Thick and of an off white color, behold the glorious Atole! Atole is , like everything else that lies in the heart of mexican cuisine, made of corn. Its sweet, kinda thick, but delicious. Well its not all sweet. There is a plain corn favor which is not so sweet. The sweet ones come in a variety of flavors including chocolate, canela, and guayaba. Its sold on the streets and occasionally restaurants. Always made fresh (I have not seen it bottled anywhere), it is a delicious treat to go with such meal that this post is not about.

¿Sugar Water?

For those of you who have been to Egypt, your mouths are probably already watering. To those of you who are confused right now, let me explain. This greenish-brown beverage here is jugo de caña, Asaap for you Egyptians , or, for you gringos, sugar cane juice. That's right. Sugar water. And its delicious. In the background you can see the canes themselves which are stripped of the leaves (which I can tell you from experience can splinter and really hurt). You can chop up the thick stalk and chew on the center or you can put them through a press to extract the sweet elixir that is sugar cane juice. The juice is surprisingly refreshing even with the main ingredient after water being sugar. It is always make fresh because any juice that is left around too long will ferment and go bad. This particular glass was not as good as the aanab in egypt, but it definitely hit the spot. It was made with a hand press as opposed to the large machines that extract the juice in Egypt. I found this vendor while walking around the mercado libertad in Guadalajara. If you have never tried this sweet tonic, hop on a plane to Egypt, Mexico, or one of the various other sugar cane producing countries and treat yourself to a nice tall glass. It´s cheap too, if you exclude the cost of the airplane.

Tequila, Part 2

After the cores of the Blue Agave are collected, they are steam cooked in ovens for 36 hours. This process breaks down the starches into sugars. The plant then has a very (overly) sweet taste. Next the juices are fermented. This is an essential process as it converts the sugars into alcohol with the help of yeast. The

fermentation process takes 18 hours. The resulting process is a wine of Agave (pictured). The wine is distilled twice to produce the Tequila! Next is a trip to the cellar for the aging process (pictured). The type of tequila produced depends on how it is aged and for how long. White tequila, or Blanco, is aged for only 15 days in steel tanks. Reposado, the most common form of Tequila, is aged for up to a year in white oak barrels. The barrels are charred inside for flavor and better aging. Añejo is aged longer, more than a year but usually between one and three years. The result, a delicious and authentic Mexican alcohol.

Be wary in purchasing your tequila as most low end tequilas are not truly tequila. Tequila is only tequila if it is 100% de Agave. Lower end bottles usually are comprised of 51% de agave (the bare minimum to mark the bottle as tequila), and 49% grain alcohol or the like.

As for drinking tequila, by far the most popular way in the United States is margaritas, followed by shots or caballitos (little horses in Spanish) with lime and salt. However, margaritas are not traditionally Mexican. The Mexican prefer a drink they call Palomas. To make a Paloma fill a glass 3/4 full of ice then add,

-2 ounces of Tequila (100% de Agave!)

-Grapefruit soda (difficult in the US since the most popular "Fresca" is always sugar free) to taste

-Club Soda

-Juice of a Lime

-Salt

The portions of Grapefruit soda to club soda varies. I have had some with only a dash of club soda and some with only a dash of grapefruit soda. Its up to you. You can use any type of tequila, Blanco being the smoothest and Añejo being the most flavorful. But no matter what, for the love of Tequila, never use anything less than 100% de Agave.

Tequila, Part 1

Last weekend, we visited Tequila, a small town about two hours outside of Guadalajara. The town was named after the drink, not vice versa. Tequila is made from the blue Agave plant using techniques introduced by the Spaniards in the 16th century. The indigenous peoples knew about the Agave plant, but the modern tequila is made with European distilling techniques. Outside Tequila there are fields of agave for miles. After the Agave is harvested, everything is cut off until only the stump remains. To learn how tequila is made, we took a tour of the Jose Cuervo factory....

Langosta por la Laguna

Lobster by the lagoon. Need I say more? No, but I will anyways. One weekend, we took a bus up the coast of Michoacán coast, along Highway 200. We got off the highway and walked to the small beach town of Maruata. There we stayed in cabañas and ate amazing seafood. Every "restaurant" had shrimp and fish on the menu, and thats usually it. This one restaurant featured freshly caught lobster for half the price of a cheap seafood dive in the States. The average lobster cost between 120-150 pesos (12-15 dollars). But, since I don´t get such a luxury very often, I decided to order la más grande. this babe here was one of the largest lobster I had ever seen, and cost me 200 pesos. It was worth every centavo.

It´s just not Mexico without Chiles

Need I say more?

Nieve de Pasta

If you were to walk along the portals in la Plaza Vasco de Quiroga (Plaza Grande as it is commonly referred to). You would see several of these glass counters lining the streets. Inside long metal cylinders bathe in ice; the contents of which is the local specialty and ever-so-delicious nieve de pasta. Like icecream, but with a thicker consistence parelleling that of a custard. The taste is somewhat custardy and I have a feeling that it is made from condensed milk (but maybe just heavy cream). The best part about Nieve de Pasta is the varity in flavors. They come in two varities, from cream and from water (similar to a sorbet). The flavors are everything from tequila, to cheese, to strawberry to peanut, pistachio and date. If you ask the locals however, they will all tell you that the best is the plain (not vanilla, thats another flavor), which is simply called pasta.
Even in the heavy rain storms that fall ever few days, I´d still spring for a cup filled with nieve de pasta.