Thursday

chowing in mexico city: my advice to you

the first day or 2 you should watch what you eat & not eat on the street. once your body is acclimated, just be mindful of your surroundings. I always think that a healthy squeeze of lime and a generous amount of chile helps kill the bacterias. the only time i've gotten serious food poisoning has been off some mushrooms that i prepared at home.

in my experience, expensive restaurants have always been a disappointment: hostal santo domingo, cafe tacuba, area, the cave at teotihuacan... I did have an outstanding pan-asian meal at the Nikko. It wasn¥t even super expensive - $200 peso buffet & a $250 peso bottle of wine. Though its trendy to serve spring rolls & dumplings now, mexico lacks decent asian foods- maybe cause the asain community is so small. I know that there are a ton of Korean places on the edge of the Zona Rosa, but so far i haven¥t got past the grocery.

I want to try El Bajio, too, but it cracks me up that for some reason its on every gringo list of PLACES THAT ARE SAFE TO EAT AT along with Hostal san domingo, cafe tacuba, all the ex-haciendas...maybe when i get that expense account job...

And compared to the deliciousness found at normal fondas, restaurants & puestos. Lately I am not a norteamericana tourist-my boyfriend & i work for pesos- that combined with a not long ago career in waitressing & a life in nyc- makes so many of the above average $ places not worth it for me. Food served cold and really bad service ( ie the waiter not being able to tell you whats in the house special cocktail,waiting 45 minutes for a drink) drives me insane. So discovering a perfect salsa at a fonda or the freshest agua de piÒa or hyper delicious al pastor rocks my world you will find that mexico city is a bazaar. the sidewalks are lined with vendors & comedors. follow your senses! look for homemade tortillas!

some random reccomendations:
churros & chocolate at churreria el moro. its near the Alameda & a d.f. institution. i've had better churros on the street but the chocolates are fantastic

have a pombazo sandwich at the weekend market at coyocan. then have a buÒuelo & an atole. also have a coffee at any of the el jarochos in the neighborhood.

buy alegrias, little amaranth bars sold everywhere for 1 peso

enjoy the seafood. esp cocktales Boca del Rio on San Cosme has decent cocktales for d.f.- though they don¥t touch the freshness of the shrimp coctales, eaw oysters, or langostinas i ate sitting outside in La Barra & Sontecompan.

sanborns is great for clean bathrooms & magazine browsing. the food is not so hot. in all the reading i had done before coming to mexico city, every one was like Sanborns is so great...i was disappointed that it seemed like a Denny¥s Mexicano...and a friend got food posioning there. After living here more than a couple of months, i began to love Sanborns- for the clean bathrooms, the public reading room (so many of my favorite us magazines are just not worth 75 pesos!) and then i started noticing the merchandise: swiss chocolate, PUPa cosmetics from Italy, pretty books, rollos de chocolate... I did all my christmas shopping at Sanborn¥s and I had it prettily gift-wrapped - in like 20 minutes!
And i love how Sanborn¥s is used for business meetings!

have lunch or drinks at a cantina

look for barbacoa on saturday or sunday in residential areas. there are places that just pop up on the weekend.

eat lots of mexican candy

eat quesadillas, sopes &/or hurraches that are sold by little old ladies on street corner during the day. this is the real deal- she makes the tortilla with fresh blue corn masa, you can try prehispanic delicacies like huitlacoche or flor de calabaza, and the homemade spicy salsas.

tacos el pastor are better after a couple of beers

tepoznieves ice cream, if its not too cold. I think Tepoznieves is great, b/c they consistantly have more tropical flavors & higher quality...and way cheaper than a $100 peso pint of Hagan Daz... Too many La Michocanas serve ice cream that has been melted and refrozen 20 times... Love zarzamora y queso or mamey yogurt at super soya, too !

if you go to a grocery store buy nestle's guanabana yogurt. its amazing- one of the best things in mexico.

there is so much amazing homemade food available. to me this is the best- 2nd only to eating at some one's home.

Oh, yeah, i've never had anything exceptional eating at the city markets. except juices or licuados.

Eating in the provincias! Now that¥s another page!

cross-posted on lonely planet and chowhound

thanks for all your comments!


Tuesday

Just when you felt recovered from the holidays...

BANG! Another holiday springs up on you! Today is Dia de los Reyes Magos!!!

Last night we had to go to Wal-Mart after work at 10pm. The street market was live- everyone we saw was carrying toys and gifts! It had to be their busiest day of the year.

Wal-Mart, which has had an additional warehouse full of toys opened since the end of November, was open 24 hours as was the city that was built on the plaza of the monument to the Revolution. These places were packed not just with shoppers, but also beggars, craft vendors, parking guys, and guys selling extra strength garbage buys- oh and the camotero that passes by my house at 7:30 was still there when I went to sleep at 1:30am!

January 6 is the day that the 3 Kings bring Mexican children toys! Kids write notes & stuff them in balloons that they release to the magical Kings. In some places, they leave shoes outside to be filled with treats!

Last night, Jorge brought home Rosca de Reyes the food mascot of this holiday. Its a crown shaped sweet bread topped with candied figs and containing little doll babies that represent baby jesus. They say don¬¥t cut the rosca with a knife because, you could kill the baby jesus. This morning I found the doll or muÒequito in my 1st bite! I guess I¬¥ll be having a tamale party on Febuary 2!

Of course, at wal-mart, they had supersize Rosca de Reyes- the size of a truck tire!

check out the fotogaleria

how to make Rosca de Reyes

going home to hot chocolate & more rosca!

yesterday i was feeling fresa

so i went to the Condesa.

actually i was craving fashion and scenesterism after 10 days in Tampico, so i dragged Jorge to La Condesa to cruise the vibe.

La Condesa (the countess) is a beautiful tree filled neighborhood that is built around several pretty plazas (including Parque Mexico & Parque Espa–a). I read somewhere that it has the highest concentration of art deco buildings out side of my old stomping ground, Miami Beach. It«s considered fresa-which translates top snobby/prissy- because its a hot, expensive neighborhood full of cafes & bars. The cafes, shops & foreigners give the area a slightly more cosmopolitan international vibe that your average mexico city neighborhood.

Our first stop was the super cool Cooperativa 244. Its a cooperative of 7 designers of jewelry, accessories & clothing. They have gotten a lot of press for a gorgeous wool dress that has little balls on the chest. Surprisingly, I can«t find a photo of it on the web.

i was so happy that the designs were clever and the craftsmanship excellent. There wasnt anything i really really wanted to buy...well there was but it was either too small or too fancy for my current lifestyle or too expensive for what it was.

my favorite things were this pink A line skirt that comes with interchangeable patches to decorate ($1300 pesos- U$120), a bathrobe made of a bright flower pattern cotton knit, a groovy flower pin with a fat rock of turquoise in the center ($1100 pesos- less than U$100), oh and the strapless wool dress ($8000 pesos- almost U$800) and they have great shoes from spain, argentina & guadalajara. Also brilliant corsets & mini skirts- some made of odd curtain-y & tablecloth-y fabrics.

There was nothing I could buy at the moment but its good to know that they are there and if i land my dream job with a decent wardobe budget i will buy clothes there. The women working were eager to custom alter the designs.

Later we ate mexican-japonese food at Japon Nez Sushi Lounge. What is it about sushi-ish places that try to be discos ? Hello Sushi Rock, Planet Thai, Swim, Avenue A Sushi! Japon Nez has a DJ thursday thru saturday and hip urban style, but it took 40 minutes to get a cocktail. THe green tea ice cream (the first time Jorge tried it) made it all worthwhile.

We checked out a couple of other cute boutiques in the neighborhood. Lots of restructured, punky t-shirts & t-shirts with silly or crude sayings. ...a cool denim shop full of denim corsets, jackets made of pants and skirts...also very cool floors in a couple of these shops... good to know its there.

Monday

notes from christmas vacation-

12.20  fought like hell to get out of the city...nearly knocked over
by families lugging couch sized cardboard boxes & suitcases the size
of bicycles. it took half an hour to get our bags in the bus...but it was
cool how everyone was talking to their seat mates- all going home to the
Tuxtlas

12.21 arrival in Catemaco around 8 am. walked up the street to where the
pick ups to the other towns. sucked down a hot rice with milk drink (arroz
con leche
) and it was a quick ride to Sontecompan- the next town towards
the coast- no idea what would lie ahead, but a lake. The boat captains that
greeted our truck said that a boat to La Barra, the mouth of the sea was
$300 pesos, as we stepped out with our backpacks, the rate became $20 pesos
for a collectivo and yes, the captains knew a Juan who rented rooms.
15 minutes & a private boat ride later, we happily discovered the perfect
place to unwind. Rancho Los Amigos. 6 cabanas ascending a hill on the lake.
We chose the highest, nestled among the pines planted by the dueño-
a view of the sea. Later took a 5 peso boat ride to the beach. sat down for
a fresh seafood feast and many chelas then walked off for the next
populated beach-  Playa Escondida- an hour by foot, they said... maybe
3 sun & wind drenched hours later we arrived in a little hotel/restaurant
on the corner of beach. It was Jicacal. Gorgeous area.

12.22 another day at chilled out all morning...tried to visit another beach,
but the pick-up trucks weren't really cooperating so we took advantage of
out location & took a dip the lovely pozo de los enanos- spent the rest
of the afternoon in an open air bar restaurant eating amazingly fresh seafood
and caguamas where we were the only eating customers but many were
crowded around a blue demon film.

12.23 arrived in pueblo Viejo, veracruz. our arrival was celebrated by a
huge breakfast of scrambled eggs with blender salsa and a mountain of lard
fried black bean bocoles.

12.24 noche buena dinner: chicken stuffed with a mixture of ground beef,
pork, carrots, peas onions; mexican style spaghetti*, a dessert of apples,
canned pineapple, grapes in crema topped with chopped walnuts.

*spaghetti served with a sauce made of melted american cheese (queso amarillo)
& margarine with a few pureed tomatoes tossed in. oddly comforting, very
much like norteamericano macaroni and cheese.

12.25  bussed over to Playa
Miramar
the beach at Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas- a suprisingly nice beach,
clean, big, nice sand, lined with rickety wooden beach chairs and umbrellas
and practically in the shadow of PEMEX  headquarters. it was cool, but
people were swimming. we opted for drinking beer on the beach, and supporting
the beach front economy by partaking in stuffed crab & seafood empanadas.
also chased seagulls and walked almost to the end of the beach. i would stay
there, maybe at the ritz or one of the other inexpensive looking hotels.

12.26 Tampico was annoying full of christmas shoppers. None of the 1 hour
photo places would deliver my film in 1 day. We drank delicious fruit aguas
in the plaza. Then went to the cinema to see Lord of the Rings 3- only to
walk into Aragon speaking spanish.

12.27 rancho of jorge's grandmother. an hour in the back of a pick up truck
from Tampico is the river town of Panuco, Veracruz. Follow the river way
down a dirt road though corn fields is Tampuche and Jorge's mother's mother's
ranch. They grow corn & beans, have several goats, a couple of trees,
numerous chickens & 2 cages full of parakeets hanging in one of the trees.
i helped pick black beans from the milpa and gather lemons, limes, green
guavas, & mandarin oranges from the trees. Unfortunately bananas, plums
& papayas were not in season.

12.28 Tamuin, San Luis Potosi. ate a delicious little torta de pierna,
very much like a pulled pork sandwich back in the USA. saw some ruins. walked
around and around in the zocalo with the rest of the young people of the
town. slept in a road house type place. they sold bacon wrapped hot dogs
with real fresh buns- not bimbo

the north winds arrived in the night making it a hell of a lot colder.

12.29 Xilita pretty little mountain town. visited sir edward james former
house and surrealist sculpture garden. lots of walking and stair climbing
in the jungle. ate dinner in a 17th (?) century house, La Casa Vieja. my
first salad in a week.

12.30 in Xilitla, we checked out the market & tianguis. i bought some
fluorescent pink yarn, ate gorditas, and churros fresh from the kettle. In
the afternoon we returned to Pueblo Viejo- via Ciudad Valles. a short walk
from the bus station is the museum of the Huasteca, a lovely modern building
that holds a of of information of the discovery & excavation of the pyramids
at Tamuin. including many small artifacts donated by local people. 5 peso
donation.

12.31 another midnight supper with the family: toasts with cidra (alcoholic
sparkling cider), pierna (leg of pig- what do we call this in english- roast
pork?) that marinated in chilies & other spices for 24 hours, then simmered
on top of the stove all day, mashed potatoes, mexican spaghetti again, apple
cream salad again.

1.01 visited the only upscale part of Tampico i saw- sanborns. cappuccino.
movies

1.02

1.03 returned to d.f -greeted by sunshine & empty streets

more old photos of Tampico

will add more detail as soon as i have time. The Sontecompan area especially cool...