Headquarters and Tucson Tony’s Kitchen… also some discoveries.

In this part of the blog I will not indicate cost, even though we are keeping our food budget under control we have a guest with us and together we are buying the ingredients we need to make most of our meals

Café La Parroquia (in front of the Malecón).
This coffee served in Veracruz Port is delicious and exciting. You will not get hot milk poured in your glass, of course after you have got concentrated coffee from an Italian machine, unless you make noise with the spoon by hitting the glass to call the waiter. How can we miss noise in this activity?, everything is quite noisy here but at least this is exciting!!!



Pizza Chuey.
This pizza recipe comes from Eating for Energy without deprivation THE 80-20 COOKBOOK from Patricia Chuey, a friend of us. We had to change the recipe slightly due to the fact that we could not find all the ingredients indicated in the recipe. The results were fantastic and we had a great evening, a healthy pizza is always good and to be honest cooking is much more rewarding than buying prepared food. Not only that, but cooking brings a lot of interaction and peace at the same time for friends. If you don’t have the book I have from Patricia Chuey I would recommend acquiring this valuable tool.





Wonton Soup.
Perhaps is not the most difficult dish in the world but it is certainly time consuming. We made this dish at our friends’ house and had an entertaining evening full of joy and delicious food, it took hours to complete, and we ended up having dinner at 11pm.
The best part of the soup for me was the watercress (in Spanish berros), I never enjoyed berros so much…




Heineken.
Guess who got to try a beer out of the first batch of Heineken produced in Mexico? Yes I did. I had a fantastic meal, I consider a beer a full meal sometimes. We visited Cerveceria Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in Orizaba as part of Brian’s Spanish class, had a tour and got to taste some beer. Why Heineken? Because this beer is going to be produced in this factory.
Delicious!!!



Restaurant La Palma.
My uncle Fernando recommended this restaurant, it is a little shack on the side of the road to Coscomatepec. Family operated business is run with pride and love. Food is fantastic and economical, what kind of food? Seafood. Weird but truth, some of the best food I have had and it is not served in the Coast???
The tostada is called Tostada de cazón; cazón is a small shark, the meat is cooked with some spices and put onto this big tortilla chips…
I am sure Tony enjoyed the meal and I enjoy when others enjoy… Uncle Fernando was right!!!





NO NAME RESTAURANT.
Yes, no name restaurant. My cousin Rosy invited us for lunch to this restaurant owned by a friend of hers somewhere close to Cordoba, it only opens on Fridays and it only offers pork. The owners not only raise pork but they utilize everything from them. We had: brain tacos (of course we found that out after we had eaten them), guisado de puerco and chicharrón (pork fried skin). Everything was delicious and spicy to the point that Tony made the mistake of eating some hot peppers as if they were water and ended up with a red face and almost choking.





Restaurant El Manguito.
This is my favourite restaurant in Cordoba for several reasons, not only the service is great but the prices are reasonable and food is really tasty. It has been a family operated business for several years and they offer authentic Mexican food. I prefer a special BBQ chicken wrapped in banana leaves, but unfortunately when we took Tony there they had no more chickens left, however we ended up having another great dish: a meat platter with guacamole, refried beans, hand made tortillas, spicy sauce and others. I forgot to tell you that as an appetizer the restaurant offers potato tacos and little picaditas at not cost.
Everything you find in the menu is excellent and if not, you just talk to Martita and she will ensure you have a good experience.

Many more traditional findings from Veracruz, Mexico.

Sopa de tortilla.
This soup is not just delicious but healthy. The main ingredient: fried tortillas, about four tortillas per person. The other elements of the soup: different peppers mixed with chicken broth, cheese, avocado and sour cream. The cost: $30 .0 pesos for a pot that fed 5 people, about $6.0 pesos per person.


Pretty soon I will actually have "Many more traditional findins from Veracruz, Mexico"...

Even more traditional findings from Veracruz, Mexico.

Reminder: $11 pesos approximately equals 1 Canadian dollar.

Salsa de puerco.
This is my favourite dish. I love when my mom cooks for us or Antelma (an employee of my mom who is more like family, an aunt). My mother was very dedicated to us and always had something to feed us, healthy and delicious, great memories… Now, I am able to taste these memories again and fortunately Brian loved this dish too.
It is cooked pork with a spicy tomatoe sauce. We calculated the cost and it comes up to be $90 pesos and we were able to feed 8 people, that means: $11.25 pesos per person for a fantastic meal… And let me tell you, this meal was accompanied with rice, beans and tortillas (for that cost).



Caldo de res.
Today was beef with a lot of veggies and fruit. It is almost like a soup with corn, calabazas (zucchini), carrots, chayotes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, plantain, cilantro, mint, garlic and spices. A very spicy sauce goes with this and of course tortillas cannot be missed. For a huge pot we were able to feed 12 people, the cost = $75 pesos, $6.25 pesos per person.



Tacos al Pastor!!!
Every Thursday we cannot miss to eat tacos in Cordoba in Avenida 11; the name of the place is “PASELE JOVEN”. Some people say these tacos are made out dog meat, great use of those lonely dogs I may say. There is a promotion of $22 pesos per order of five tacos with one order for free, on Thursdays, which means that you get 10 tacos for $22 pesos, 2 X 1. Awesome!!! We cannot wait to have Tony in Cordoba to go with him to enjoy these tacos.




Huevos.
Eggs are fantastic here in Mexico, they taste good with anything.
Eggs with boiled beans and epazote (a herb), eggs with chorizo, eggs with gasparitos (flowers), you name it… eggs with pretty much anything are just fantastic and economical.
You can buy 30 eggs for $38 pesos, a piece of chorizo for $3 pesos, a bunch of gasparitos for $5 pesos and a kilo of tortillas for $6.5-$10 pesos.





Tezmole.
I tried cooking this dish for Brian 8 years ago and it tasted horribly. Of course, as a polite Canadian, he ate it and did not say a word. Now that he gets the opportunity to try the real dish he confessed his feelings about my poor tezmole. Tezmole is made with chicken, a spicy sauce, dough balls with cheese and epazote inside; it can be served with beans and rice. I absolutely love it, Brian not so much!!!
The cost is about $40 for a pot to feed 6-8 people, which means about $5 pesos per person.



Ponche.
Hot drink traditionally made during December for Christmas season. It is a hot juice of different fruits from sugar cane to guava. It is absolutely delicious, sweet and comforting. Brian enjoyed more with the addition of rum; the best so far has been at Layfer Hotel in Cordoba. The cost of this drink is about $90 pesos for 20 litres or you can buy a litre of ponche for $20 pesos without having to go through all the trouble of getting the ingredients and making it yourself.

More traditional findings from Veracruz, Mexico.

There will be lots of findings from the place where I was born. I will try to capture just those that are really enjoyable otherwise I can seriously write a book of a million pages, although by the time I finished it I would conclude that tacos are the best… no doubt!!!


Pan de Coscomatepec.
Coscomatepec is a beautiful-wonderful city where my mother was born. It is still a small town with great traditions; this is the exception to men hanging out in the corner just for fun rather than crime.
Bread here is the best, especially the one made in my family’s bakery. The bakery is called “La Fama” and was founded in 1924 by a family member and it is considered one of the best and most typical in the state of Veracruz, perhaps in the country. Bread is cooked in a wood fire oven and each piece has a name e.g. peine “comb”, underwear “calzones”, conejos “rabbits”, etc.
My favourite is “cubilete”, looks like a muffin filled with cheese.
Each bread goes from $0.30-$6 pesos.



Carlota.
This used to be my favourite dessert, a combination of Maria’s cookies and a creamy mango sauce made out mangos and two different types of milk (other fruit can be used e.g. strawberries, lemon, etc.). After the ingredients are put together the dessert is left in the fridge for couple of hours to gain the consistency needed. At the end it can be decorated with some strawberry chunks.
My brother made it to celebrate my cousin’s birthday and we really enjoyed it. He is a chef, a great one!!! I will ensure I get some tips to improve our cooking on the road…



Pan de burro.
It is not made by donkeys but it is called Bread of donkey. It is a regular type of bread, soft but with body, brown sugar is typically used to make it and a donkey figure is drawn on top of it.
Price per piece: $13 pesos, you can probably feed 20 people with this big piece, add coffee and it is a meal.




Sopa de Nopales-mom’s style.
My mom makes this great soup similar to the cactus soup we made once on the road. The main difference is that the broth is spiced with different types of peppers previously boiled and blended, with the addition of cheese and boiled eggs on top when served.



Café y galletas “Samy”.
My step brother owns a business making different products with coffee. Coffee and cookies are wonderful!!! One day you will be able to taste. You can buy the coffee to make it at home or you can enjoy a cup of coffee at his coffee shop.
Cookies vary on price from $12 pesos for a package of 10 cookies or $95 pesos for a 600 g container. You can easily eat the entire container yourself, they are that good!!!

Traditional findings from Veracruz, Mexico.

In Mexico there seems to be a diet called “Diet of T” which requires to eat tortillas, tacos, tamales, tortas, tostadas… you name it, anything that starts with “T”.

I will show you the tostadas we had in Veracruz on the side of the road. Tostada is a hard tortilla (fried or roasted) with some ingredients on top like fried beans, lettuce, tomatoe, salsa, cheese, chicken or anything you may wish… A little bit messy but enjoyable.
How much? $5 pesos each. One is enough for breakfast but if you have two you are still doing well…

We will have many more dishes to share with you from Veracruz for the next two months but could not wait to share this one to begin…

Traditional findings from Hidalgo, Mexico.

In our way to Pachuca Hidalgo we stopped on the side of the road to have breakfast-lunch. A lady had just opened her “changarro” (business) and is doing great, great cook and lots of motivation since her husband cannot make enough money and she has to support the family. Her husband grows corn but can only grow it once a year so… not enough. I asked her why she waited so long to start her own business and her answer was: -Porque soy muy floja (-Because I am very lazy).

Gorditas de huitlacoche y quelites: once again these are made out of corn flour; it is a tick tortilla with a topping. In this case we had some with huitlacoche which is a mushroom that grows on the corn, it is basically a parasite. Sounds nasty but it is AWESOME!!!
Quelites are wild and eatable plants.
$7 pesos per gordita.

Café de olla: this is made in a pot or “olla” and some cinnamon and sugar are added…
$4 pesos a cup.

-Gordita de huitlacoche-

-Gordita de quelites-

-Café de olla-

-New business on the side of the road-

In Pachuca Hidalgo we were invited to enjoy the following meal!!!
Barbacoa de borrego: barbequed lamb.
This is quite a process. Starts with excavating a hole in the ground about 1.5 metres deep, adding a layer of stones and a layer of maguey (Mexican cactus), then a big pot goes in to collect the juice of the lamb that later on will be eaten as a soup or “consomé”. A rack is placed to support the lamb which is wrapped in maguey leaves and previously seasoned. Another layer of maguey and then a layer of dirt will go on the very top, the cooking begins with fire and after 12 hours this dish is taken out of the hole to be served.
Along with this we had a “tlacoyo” which is a tick oval long tortilla filled with different mixes, we had “alberjón” which is a type of grain that was previously cooked and seasoned.

-Barbequed lamb-

-Selling the delicious lamb on Sunday morning-

-Police officers also enjoying lamb-

-Tlacoyo-

More traditional findings from Guanajuato, Mexico.

In the city of Dolores Hidalgo in Guanajuato we found couple of enjoyable things especially after having a morning full of activities and heat.

Nieve de tequila: this is basically an ice cream made out of water and fruit. We found really weird nieves in this place, for example: avocado, tequila, beer, etc. I had “una nieve de tequila” prepared with tequila, grapefruit, orange, pineapple, chamoy and zest lime.
Chamoy is a Mexican salsa made out of dry fruit, hot pepper, salt, sugar, vinegar and water. It has a very delicious flavour: sweet, spicy and acidic at the same time.
How much? $10 pesos per nieve.

Torta de cochinita pibil y milanesa: this is a traditional Mexican sandwich. Often times bolillo (bread) is used and anything can go inside… We had one made with cooked pork (with different spices) and one made with pork steak.
How much? $17.5-$30 pesos per torta depending on the choice.

-Nieve de Tequila-

-Weird flavours...-

-People making tortas-

-Menu-