Our Lady of Guadalupe

The next big celebration in the Mexican and Mexican/American calendar is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.  The festivities begin around midnight with a serenade by groups of mariachis and other singers that is kicked off with Las Mananitas, the Mexican birthday song. The Virgin of Guadalupe has symbolized the Mexican nation [...]

Gastronomic tour of Catemaco and the Los Tuxtlas Area in Veracruz

Catemaco and the surrounding area is one of the most beautiful places in Mexico with some of the best food in all of Veracruz and maybe Mexico.  No wonder that ancient Mexicans thought that this was the paradise where all good souls went to rest and play for all eternity.
This weekend we are featuring a [...]

Ask Zarela: Where can I get hoja santa?

Question: Hi, I love your books!  Do you know anywhere to order Hoja Santa online?
Answer:
Generation Farms1109 North McKinney,Rice, Texas 75155
telephone 903-326-4263; fax: 903-326-6511
www.generationfarms.com
I had written the following post on the subject but it bears repeatimg:
Hoja Santa.  I have been trying to bring true Mexican flavors to the U.S. for almost fifteen years and have had [...]

Chorizo

This is really an Ask Zarela question but I’m posting it in the Cooking with Zarela section because I want to keep all the Thanksgiving information together.
Question: Your son’s Brussels sprouts with chorizo recipe sounds delicious! I want to try it for Thanksgiving. Any chance of also getting your recipe for homemade chorizo?
Answer:  There were always [...]

Sweet Potato Casserole

Around this time every year people start calling to ask for my sweet potato casserole recipe.  It was actually not my original recipe but rather I learned to make it from my dear friend, Alex Baker, who had learned it from his friend Johnny.  But it’s mine now and I share it with you to [...]

Pavo Borracho

Many years agom New York Magazine my sister Aida’s recipe for Drunken Turkey and I still get requests for it every year.  So let’s travel to El Paso so I can put it up on the home page!

Recipe: Pavo Borracho (Drunken Turkey)
Summary: My sister Aída is a wonderful cook with an assertive hand. She developed [...]

Brussels sprouts with chorizo

You either love or hate Brussels sprouts but for those who love them here is an exceptional way fo preparing them  that my son Aaron came up with it. At my restaurant Zarela we use our homemade chorizo instead of the Spanish.
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces Spanish hard chorizo, diced into 1/4-inch [...]

Ask Zarela: Netskies Casa del Sol, Juarez, Mexico

As soon as I  published the recipe for Escabeche Casa del Sol recipe I got the following query.  I’ve been trying since then to get the recipe for the Netskies from the now sadly long-departed restaurant and finally succeeded.  Here is the conversation:
HI,
My wife’s family, the Wheatleys, frequented the Casa del Sol in Juarez for [...]

A Thanksgiving Thought: The Red Room

Every Thanksgiving, I like to personally write a note to each of my friends to thank them for making me part of their lives and being there for me throughout the year….Even before I had 337 “friends” on Facebook, that include the New York Botanical Garden and a brand of tequila, I had started to mourn how this site and others had trivialized the meaning of this once powerful and clearly defined word : “friend”.

Special Menu from Quintana Roo

I bet if I asked 100 people in the U.S what Mexican Cancun is located in, maybe one or two would know, if that many. But this gorgeous state is indeed much more than that popular but definitely not my favorite travel destination in Mexico even though there is some good food to be had there and some of the hotel have top ratings as fa as service.I prefer more typical locales in the interior of Mexico but even the now gentrified Tulum and Playa del Carmen will do when I need to get some sun and sand which is really hardly ever.

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