I know I use exclamation points a lot, but this deserves one: I’m giving away some Mexican goodies!
I’ve been wanting to do this for months now, as a way to say thanks for reading. I really appreciate every single comment you guys leave — at least, the nice comments anyway — and I’m just honored that y’all take the time to spend a few minutes here.
This little tray of goodies, all of which were purchased at La Nicolasa, includes tejocote jam (so fabulous I started buying loaves of bread, just to have something to spread it on); piloncillo en polvo; a package of peach ate — perfect for slicing and serving with Mexican manchego; and a package of dried xoconostle, which is the sour tuna fruit. When it’s dried, it has a pleasant, sweet-and-tangy flavor that makes it perfect for salads, rice, trail mix, etc.
The pretty plate in the picture above isn’t included, because it’s my mom’s. (Thanks for letting me use it Mom!) Also, in the interest of complete transparency, I purchased these things with my own money — La Nicolasa didn’t give me anything for free.
To win, all you have to do is answer this question in the comments below:
What is your favorite Mexican food memory, and why?
I’ll pick one person randomly as the winner on Monday. Thanks for playing, and thank you again for reading.
oooooh. Me likes. I never win, but love to play. My fave Mexican food memory(ies) would be late ex-mom-n-law’s tamales. She made THE.BEST.TAMALES.EVER!!! Which really screwed me up, because now I find every tamale lacking.
The other memory is barbacoa, I still remember the first time I bit into the that taco and how surprised I was by the earthy, mild, delicate flavors. Damn, now I want a barbacoa taco.
I remember going to Oaxaca many years ago and eating incredible freshly-made salsas and moles along with a salad made with nopal.
My favorite Mexican food memory would have to be when my mom and I lived in my dad’s condo. We used to lay out a big sheet on the floor in order to hold all the homemade flautas, tostadas, fresh chips and salsa, guacamole and the habanero poppers. My dad, who’s 100% polish but makes the BEST mexican food I’ve ever had, and my brothers decided it would be a great idea to make the jalapeno poppers they always made with habaneros instead. It was hysterical watching them scarf them down, tears and sweat dripping down their faces, before going up for seconds! Haha!
Another of my favorite Mexican food memories is having my aunt make homemade tomales, the one thing my dad doesn’t make. They are soooo heavenly. Yum!
Great question. So many memories to choose from! My favorite Mexican food memory is from when I was studying in Mexico. My family came to visit, and when in Mexico City we went to a restaurant recommended by our hotel. My dinner wasn’t that great, but for dessert a number of us ordered Flaming Mangoes. (I’m not sure if the restaurant called them that, or if that was the name we gave them…) We still talk about them from time to time now 8 years later. So delicious.
I had to think long and hard about this, because there have been so many Mexican eating adventures that were very special.
One of them would be when we visited a family near Santa Clara del Cobre, a town famous for its copper crafts. We watched a group of brothers “team strike” and turn a slab of copper into a beautiful pot.
Afterward, we were invited to stay for mole. Of course we accepted, but didn’t know how long it would be until we actually sat down to eat. Soon, we heard a large turkey squawk and the blow of an axe. We both looked at each other, realizing this meal was in its very beginning stages. The women folk commenced to make the mole sauce. More time passed. From somewhere a birthday cake appeared. It was to be a birthday party for a small boy in the the family.
Many hours later, we all ate an incredible turkey mole dish. When the cake was brought to the table, the little boy’s face was pushed into the frosting, much to our great surprise! We had never seen this practice before. I think we were both too full of turkey mole to be able to eat any cake.
Kathleen
I’ve got to say that my favorite memory has got to be my first jalapeño experience. I was about 3 or 4 yrs old and kept bugging my dad that I wanted to eat a jalapeño. Against my mothers advice he let me take a bite and of course my mouth burst into flames. My mom had to give me spoonfuls of sugar and water to calm me down. I know its not a meal experience but it definitely had an impact on how I eat my food. A meal just doesn’t feel like a real meal if my mouth isn’t burning with spicy food!!
I was picked on in junior high a lot. After one particularly bad day at school, I remember coming home and smelling the familiar scent of my mom’s tomatillo enchilada sauce. As soon as I inhaled the delicious scent in seemed as if the weight of the day was suddenly lifted off of me. I don’t particularly remember my mom saying anything comforting to me, and looking back on it she didn’t have to, the enchiladas spoke all the comforting words she didn’t, and gave me all the warmth I craved for on the inside.
-claudia
p.s. I love your site, I forget how I stumbled upon it but I’m sooooo glad I did. Keep up the good work, hope to someday make it to Mexico and take your food tour.
p.p.s. I live in the Los Angeles area and my cousin told me that in a swapmeet in orange County there is a vendor selling tostilocos! She said the stand is always swarmed with people, can’t wait to be amongst them soon.
Thanks Claudia! Definitely holler if you’re ever in Mexico City — we’ll most certainly get a food tour going.
My favorite memory is morning time still drowsy from sleep, when my adopted Mexican familia made hot Oaxacan chocolate. Dip some pan dulce and we were set! Thanks for the chance to win, love your blog, in fact, I’ve got you linked to mine:)
My Grandma, Maria Candelaria Esparza, was the best cook ever. When the family came over – there were 9 siblings plus their children (that’s me) – Grandma would be in the kitchen. She always made flour tortillas. She was an expert at rolling, stretching and throwing them down on the grill. Soft and so delicious, they melted in your mouth.
But it wasn’t just the tortillas. It was her Chcken Mole. My Grandma was born in Sonora in Northern Mexico. I suspect that her method of making Chicken Mole was regional because there was NEVER any chocolate in her sauce. Red mole, chile flavored was her way. I wish I knew the recipe. I don’t. I suspect though that after years of making red mole with real chiles, grinding them into a pulp, browning, etc, she got tired. I remember in her later years a lot of chile powder being used, flower and chicken stock. She browned the flour, added chicken stock, chile powder and other seasonings. She used a big pot. The mole cooked for a long time with the chicken simmering. The end result was amazing! The chcken was so tender it fell off the bones. Together with her flour tortillas, it was a meal made in heaven. Lots of finger licking, lots of tortillas used to gather up the last bits of mole sauce on your plate. Grandma Candelaria was a master at her chicken mole and flour tortillas. I don’t think I ever told her but I hope she can hear me now.
Thanks Grandma. Memories of your cooking and those times will always be close to my heart. Love you!
I don’t even remember what we ate, buy my favorite memory is of being in San Juan del Cabo with my Grandmother and best friend – we went to a little restaurant and ordered a ton of small plates and shared them out on the patio…everything tasted fresh, there were spicy, sour, smokey, etc. tastes – it was such a wonderful experience…
I, too, have so many memories that it’s hard to pick one. I was in San Felipe, GTO in January for a wedding and they slaughtered a pig for the reception. I got to enjoy so many different tasty dishes made from various parts, including a blood sausage. But I think my favorite memory is the first time I tried my mother in law’s enchiladas. They’re the red chile type with queso fresco and served topped with sauteed potatoes and carrots, a piece of fried chicken and always a plate of pickled jalapeños. I’m getting hungry just typing this…
One of my favorite mexican food memories is eating tacos. Outside of the Tacubaya outside metro. My dad was getting his shoe’s polished, and we where free to wander around. That’s when I saw one of the many taco stands, the smell was wonderful! I ordered dos de saudero, dos de chorizo, dos de al pastor, y uno con todo. They tasted, looked, and smelled amazing! I ran back to where my dad was getting his shoe’s polished, and offered him one. He said no, that he would not eat dog haha. He was born and raised in Mexico City until he was 18. And I was born and raised in Southern California. And im more of a street foodie than he is. He really enjoys bringing it up and making fun of me six years later. If he only Knew hoe I spent my four months in Mexico on my last trip 🙂
Another great memory is when we took a trip to my grandparents house in Puebla. When we stopped to in Cautla to get on the second bus, that would take us to our final destination. There was a stand outside, with a variety of insects. I was thirsty, so my brother offered to buy me some horchata if I would eat the small squirming green “stuff” in the bowl. Let’s just say I got my horchata! I wish I would have asked what it was I ate that day.
Wow Wendy! You’re hardcore. I’m not sure I would eat a bowl of squirming green stuff. A morsel, maybe. Followed by a liter of horchata. 🙂
The smell of corn. It is a signal that I am in Mexico. Doesn’t matter the town. When I catch the first whiff of masa whether I am walking down a street or in a mercado or in a taqueria, I know I have arrived. Corn from Mexico has its own smell and taste. It evokes happy memories of trips past and always causes me to take in a big breath and hold.
My favorite Mexican food memory was watching my mom multi-task in the kitchen and the smell of tortillas de harina cooking on the hot comal. They were warm and bubbly and with a little persuasion, she’d let me grab one or two hot off of that comal, no butter needed. I remember the house being hot because we had no air conditioning, but that never deterred her from making those tortillas de harina every single day. Along with those tortillas, she’d stay on top of the stove mashing frijoles, and making carne con masita. I remember hearing the sizzle of the cumin/ajo/tomate/sal/pimienta que molia en el molcajete hitting the pan where the rice was toasting and then the smell emitting from that, oh my! My kids are now enjoying abuela’s cooking and they are spoiled rotten eating those same fresh tortillas de harina, gorditas de azucar, caldito, and her endless list of goodies. Watching her inspired me and shaped me so much. I once told my daughter that I wish I could cook all day and she responded ‘you mean like grandma does?’.
I also remember sitting around the table on cold winter evenings with 2 bags full of pan dulce y una taza de chocolate. My hubby and I now make sure we do the same with our kids and call this time ‘family meeting’.
So I guess my favorite memories are those I can pass down. Hm, I’ve never thought of that way, but they made such an impression on me.
The first thing that comes to my mind is the first time I had fish tacos on the street in Ensenada. It’s just a little lady’s stand, one block off the main tourist strip, outside of a sex shop. The big huge Mexican flag on the harbor billows overhead. The tacos are absolutely sublime. All of the fixins are perfect. Best hangover food you can imagine, especially with a coke.
My first visit to Mexico was with my high school Spanish class in 1978. I was from a rural area of Ohio, so everything I saw and smelled and ate was completely new and fascinating to me. All the different flavors of cream soups (I only knew Campbell’s cream of tomato), chicken soup with a whole drumstick sticking out of the bowl, the aroma of street food mixed with bus exhaust, the corn roasting in Alameda Park, an elegant dinner at Restaurante del Lago–it was all fabulous and exotic. I knew then that my life would be filled with travel and wonderful experiences…and it has.
Hmmm, favorite Mexican food memory huh?
Growing up, I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle. My Aunt was Spanish on her Mom’s side, and grew all of her own salsa ingredients, including the peppers. There are videos of me in a highchair, eating salsa, crying because it’s so hot. When they took the salsa away from me, I screamed to have it back!
So began my love affair with hot foods…and to this day, I could honestly LIVE on chips and salsa 😀
Have fun with your contest, and thanks for the opportunity to share, that was fun!!
When I was growing up, we would have roast turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and all the other trimmings, prepared by Mom, just like many other American families. The day after Thanksgiving, however, was Dad’s day to cook, and he made a huge production of it, involving all the kids.
First, Dad would set us to work pulling all the remaining turkey meat off the carcass. While we did that, he whipped up a big bowl of thick masa meal mush and cut up squares of tin foil to just the right size (a few times we actually used corn husks, but back in the 1960s, they were really hard to find). We’d all sit around the kitchen table talking and laughing and assembling turkey tamales. Before we finished, Dad would start toasting spices and stuff in a frying pan, then fussing over a pan of his “secret sauce with chocolate” (mole sauce, I learned years later). Chocolate for dinner?! Scandalous!
Steaming took hours. We always had FAR too many tamales for the five of us to consume in one or two meals, so Dad would freeze them in batches. Oh my! Even better than the day after Thanksgiving was New Year’s Day, when my Mom would defrost a ton of tamales and secret sauce and we’d all dive in!
No one in my family is Mexican, by the way. My father spent part of his childhood in Tucson, Arizona, where he fell in love with tamales. When he fell in love and married the daughter of a Swedish immigrant from New York, he realized he would have to learn how to make tamales himself.
Melodie: What a fascinating story! I can see your dad standing over squares of aluminum foil, filling them with masa and turkey. What a neat experience to have as a child. Thanks so much for sharing.
Barbacoa de res!
Todos los domingos en la mañana mientras vivió mi papá….( en Monterrey la barbacoa es de res) olía temprano a café y tortillas de harina y de maíz con la barbacoa recalentada en baño maría en papel aluminio para conservarla caliente y jugosa para que cuando cada quien se fuera levantando hiciera sus taquitos. Una salsa súper picosa y deliciosa en molcajete y unas rebanadas de aguacate hass eran todo el complemento…café y periódico si te levantabas tarde o las nietas que iban a desayunar todos los domingos.
Adriana: Se me antoja un taquito de barbacoa, caliente y bañado en su vapor. Con una salsita picosita… suena riquísimo. Gracias por compartir!
One of my favorite memories was going down to San Diego to visit my uncle and cousin. They had a friend that had invited them over for a Cinco de Mayo party & we joined them. It was such a great time. There was so much food that I can’t remember all of it, but I can still remember the taste of the homemade tamales and the fresh salsa that was never ending. It was delicious.
I can’t recall how I found your blog, but I’ve been reading for a few weeks. It’s very enjoyable.
There are so, so many wonderful memories of Mexican food from my childhood and from my adult travels. The absolute best is the memories of my sweet Nana, who was legally blind, making stacks and stacks of the best tortilla I’ve ever tasted. How she could make each one exactly the same size and a perfect circle is just beyond me. Of course, nothing was measured so I don’t have the recipe, but I am working on recreating it. I’m getting very close to the taste of hers, but mine aren’t nearly as round as hers.
Elizabeth: Wow. So amazing. Your Nana sounds like a unique woman — I wish you the best of luck in replicating her recipe. I’m sure you’ll get the shape down sooner than you think!
The first time I ate a taco. It was 1958 and I was fourteen. A friend of my mother’s was shocked that neither one of us had ever heard of a taco, let alone eaten one. To rectify this, she took us to a diner in Santa Monica where the tacos were a pale golden brown, crunchy and filled with ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes and pico de gallo. Within moments we were inhaling these delicious things, juices running down our arms, all ladylike tendencies forgotten. It only got better after that.
I have so many food memories of Mexico, I don’t know that I can pick just one favorite! Certain foods remind me of different family members and all kinds of different stories. Tejocotes remind me of my husband’s abuelita materna and her ponche navideño. Chiquiadas and torrejas remind me of his other abuelita and spending time with her in Aguascalientes. Empanadas de platano y frijol (like the ones from El Bajio) remind me of my suegra and all the stories she’s told me about growing up spending summers in Veracruz. Tacos–of any kind–remind me of my husband because we fell in love over tacos. Our first date, he taught me how to make tacos de chuleta y cebolla con queso, and the rest, as they say, is history. Guayabas remind me of my cuñada because she can’t stand the pungent smell and once my husband played a trick on her by hiding a bag of ripe guayabas in her bedroom. Cecina reminds me of my suegro and the first time he took me to Los Cuatro Vientos on a trip to Cuernavaca. When I think of my tias, I think of frijoles charros, rompope, pastel de datiles and many other delicious treats. Much of my life’s happiness is wrapped up in food memories and my family.
Hi, Lesley, Like other readers, I also have multiple favorite food memories. Thank you for giving everyone the chance to tell us more great food stories. I’m enjoying your cooking class stories espeically, and still think you live the BEST life ever!!
Here are two of my Mexican food memories to share:
One year I couldn’t be in Oaxaca for la navidad, and I was so sad, pining away. I went to LA to visit friends, and they saw how sad I was and took me to Guelaguetza (the old one) for dinner — Oooohhh! Real estofado de pollo, one taste and felt like I was in the zocalo for Noche de Rabanos –stuffing my happy face with estofado and of course tasting the dishes of the friends, too – mole negro and the famous Oaxaca style taquitos de pollo y quesillo con guacamole. Thought I had died and gone to Oaxaca.
Another year, a friend and I decided to make tamales for Christmas gifts. We got started, we made all the fillings during the week, a big production of going around and buying a flat of tomatoes, lots of white onions and jalapenos, and then we went to buy masa because we were going to make a lot of tamales! The shop had made different varieties of masa for the season, and we wanted to try them all! We ended up with 25 lbs of masa, we had to buy additional supplies right then, and then we made 500 tamales that day! Insane. We cooked for over 14 hours, until we were so tired we could barely stand up. But our tamales were very well received, and to this day people ask us for them again! Ha! They’ll have to wait for another fit of tamales insanity to hit us! (Though I did make 200 the following year, alone, my friend was tamale’d out!)
500 tamales? 200 the following year?! And here I was complaining about grinding on the metate for 2 1/2 hours. You totally take the cake. Although, I admit half of me really wants to make 500 tamales one day. Just to see what it would be like.
Are you sure? It’s really exhausting. I think you have to have a fit of insanity combined with lust for tamales, a kind of spacy zone where you don’t think about how much time is this really going to take!! And you need a lot of fridge & freezer space available, something we didn’t plan for either. We made a lot of different kinds, sweet ones too. I usually only make chicken and a second one that is cheese (with stuff in them besides those ingredients of course). Tamales are great! The street kids eat them like fast food snacks, they have biodegradable wrappers, too.
Firstly, thank you for your blog. I’m a first-time visitor. I love Mexican food! My most memorable experience is my most often repeated experience- eating Chimichanga.. I like both the Chicken and the Beef varieties…and I love them when they are fried!
I like them more than any of the Puerto Rican dishes that my wife makes. (She is Puerto Rican and does make some great dishes.) I have to get this typed and sent before she reads this comment. Keep up the good work, Girl! Todo Bien!
Hey, thanks Don. Welcome to the blog — I’m glad you found me!