Perfume de Gardenias

This is going to be a very unsatisfactory but romantic story.  Why unsatisfactory?  Because I can’t name names.  The main characters, and I don’t use the world loosely, are long time customers of mine, people of character,  who are very private and they wouldn’t want their names used.  At least,  that’s my  sense of them.
Soon [...]

New York Book Fair – Segunda Edicion

If you’re interested in Mexico and want to find some treasures go visit this yearly event.  Segunda Edición is a temporary forum for independent art publishers and artist editions that brings together the best and most varied art
publishing initiatives in Mexico. It was originally created at Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City in [...]

Celebrate Mexico Now

Celebrate México Now is New York City’s first—and only—annual festival of contemporary Mexican art and culture. Encompassing cuisine, dance, film, literature, and music, Celebrate México Now provides New Yorkers with a glimpse of the most intriguing artists and ideas pouring out of Mexico today.
The Mexican Cultural Institute is sponsoring many exciting programs as is the [...]

Gallina Pinta or Pozole de Pobre

Pozole is soup-stew traditionally made with a special variety of dried corn called cacahuazintle that is soaked in a solution of calcium hydroxide to remove the outer skin and meat, usually  pork  and the best includes the pig head, and/or chicken and served with assorted garnishes such as shredded lettuce, radishes, chopped onion, oregano and [...]

Best Pozoles in Mexico City and at Zarela we have it this weekend

A few weeks ago I gave you a list of Raul Zorrilla’s ten favorite tacos in Mexico City. Now here are the best places to eat pozole, another Mexican classic according to the daily newspaper El Universal. The text is in Spanish and if you read it, you’ll be able to enjoy the [...]

Eggplant – Berenjena

We seldom ate eggplant at home when we were little though it was always a favorite at Italian restaurants. But it’s eggplant season and they are glorious now and I’ve been experimenting.  I’ve turned eggplant parmigiana into berenjena a la veracruzana and dropped the cheese, resurrected a recipe my first chef Tony Collicchio created at [...]

Backyard Rabbit and Artichoke Paella

This is not one of the easiest recipes to prepare but it is one of my favorite way to entertain.  For staff parties I have a HUGE 40 inches across paella pan and it feeds them all and their spouses.  The recipe originally appeared in the grill issue of Gourmet magazine in 2008 and have [...]

Labor Day Mexican-style

For Latinos “every day is a blessed event and a cause for celebration” but families usually  gather for holidays, particularly long weekends associated with government holidays like Labor day, 4th of July and Memorial Day,  when the entire family is off work.  Usually the party is held at the parents’ house and as the kids [...]