The Food of Mexico

I love food. What a surprise, right? I also love eating food from other cultures and one of my favorite cuisines is Mexican food. I greatly enjoy freshly made corn tortillas, all the different types of salsa, beans, pico de gallo, jicama, etc... 

Like I said in my post yesterday, Nicole took me to two of the communities where she has been working. In their culture, if they are having guests they will feed you. So, the first house we went to, in the first community, they were eating a late breakfast and they invited us to eat with them. They had a big pot of soup or 'caldo' on the stove that they dished into bowls. Then we squeezed some lime juice and spooned some spicy salsa into our soup. I enjoyed that meal very much. 

Here is the family's mortar and pestle and they made 'salsa' out of dried chilies, roasted tomatoes, and a pinch of salt. It is spicy, but incredibly flavorful and tasted great in our soup. Now that I have a mortar and pestle I am going to make this salsa all the time!

To make the soup they chopped up big chunks of whole chicken, and put them in a big pot of water with elote (which is kindof like a potato), carrots, and fresh oregano. I was lucky and got the flavorful meat from the neck. I really enjoyed breakfast that day, and I seriously think that I could eat spicy chicken soup for breakfast every day. Yum.

Can you see that huge pot in the backround? Also notice the 2 liter of coke on the table. I loved the soup, but couldn't bring myself to join them in drinking coke for breakfast. They were a wonderful family and I felt so welcomed by their hospitality. The second house we visited they gave us freshly sliced jicama with lime and salt.

One of the last meals we had together, Nicole took me to a place called Tony's where they have homemade tortilla chips and the best guacamole in town.

 We ordered the chicken fajitas to share, along with a big plate of guac and chips.

These were by far the best fajitas and corn tortillas I have ever had. All the ingredients were flavorful and very fresh. 

We visited many more places and ate many great meals. We ate tacos, steak and beans with tortillas, roasted corn with lime and chii, and frozen yoghurt with coconut. 

Nicole and I also cooked in the community kitchen and made quinoa sushi, tomato soup and cornbread, summer rolls, egg noodle lasagna, biscotti, pumpkin smoothies, chocolate popcorn, and many other wonderful things. It was so much fun to be able to cook and eat with someone who loves eating healthy and trying crazy things as much as I do. I know that I will miss Mexico and the great times that I had while I was there. Thank you Nicole for a wonderful trip. 

I am excited because she is flying back to the states today, and during the month that she is here I am going to kidnap her for a few days and bring her up here to Homer where we will make more memories and have many cooking adventures :).