“Bad girl turns good” or why Mary Magdalene is so popular.

This weekend my dear friend Antonia, choreographer, yoga master and healer is putting on a show based on Mary Magdalene, the fallen woman who mended he ways and was declared a saint. It was quite a performance with sacred chants, dance and very much unlike the celebration they hold in her honor in Xico, Veracruz [...]

Skirt Steak

At least once a week a customer asks  why we don’t serve chicken or shrimp  fajitas.  My answer is that fajitas refers to a particular cut of meat, not a way of cooking, and that I am dedicated to serving traditional Mexican food.  Fajitas in Tex-Mex cooking means chicken, beef or shrimp sauteed, broiled or [...]

Ask Zarela about Pollo Borracho

Question:
I have been looking for a recipe I saw on TV years ago in the San Francisco area(PBS?). I think it is yours.
I would like to know where I could find your version of Pollo Borracho.
Answer:
The recipe you  saw was probably “mine”  because it was a favorite for 20 years until I decied to give [...]

The Food of Coastal Veracruz

The food of coastal Vera Cruz
Chef’s specials for Memorial Day Weekend 2009
Sopa
Huatape de Camarón
Huasteca style shrimp soup stew with green chiles and masa dumplings
10.00
Crepas de Mariscos
Thin crepes filled with shrimp, crabmeat and tilapia.  Served with
creamy tomatillo sauce and topped with white cheddar cheese
12.00
Tamal de Camote
Corn and sweet potato masa stuffed with black beans and chorizo
steamed [...]

Will you mentor me?

I t’s always an honor when someone ask you to be their mentor but it is not possible to accept the responsibility of mentoring any more than the four or five young women I’m currently trying to help.  I prefer to use my website, writing and interviews to get my message:  You can make it! [...]

Viva Solimar and other Latino students graduating from college.

As my family partied in honor of my stepdaughter-in-law’s college graduation in El Paso, Texas, another special celebration was being held at Zarela. One of our hostesses, Solimar whose name in English means Sun and Sea. an apt name for this young woman with a sunny disposition and the depth of the deep blue [...]

Mi familia moderna – Celebrating Mary’s graduation

It was 1971 and I was living at the ranch ALONE with my father, relishing his company, getting to know and understand him, and working out “my adjustment reaction to adolescence.”  He sat me down one afternoon and gently pointed out that I was 22 years old and it was time for me to make [...]

The food of Catemaco: The place where ancient mexicas thought paradise was

When people ask me what the most beautiful place in Mexico is,  I look at them and say you’ve got to be kidding.  Mexico is a beautiful country with scenery and  attractions to please every taste and every mood.  I can’t narrow it down to one.  However, if they ask me what the most beautiful [...]

Ways to celebrate and honor your mother

Mom or me? I like to ask people what the best gift they’ve ever  given is and what is the best gift they have ever gotten.  The second one is more difficult for me to answer because I have many loving friends who pick their gifts with great care but the best would [...]

Piloncillo or Panela (Brown unrefined sugar loaf)

Piloncillo:  The sugar cane planted by the Spanish in the New World gave rise to several distinctive foods found in Mexico.  One of these is our more flavorful equivalent of American brown sugar — the hard cones of unrefined sugar sold as piloncillo.  You can sometimes find these in Latin American markets, in large or [...]

Next Page »