Thanksgiving in Oaxaca

While Thanksgiving is strictly an American holiday, the locals give thanks along with the gringos.  And, like everything else in Oaxaca, it's done with great gusto.  Stuart and I enjoyed a huge covered-dish feast at the Oaxaca Lending Library Thursday.  Friends cooked several turkeys and hams, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, and everyone brought a dish to share.  Our favorite rock-and-roll band played on the roof afterwards, and we danced and laughed until we'd worked off most of the meal.

Michelle, Bob and Jose in the kitchen...

Tere B, dancing off the Big Meal...

Katz, Job, Dr Z and , playing the songs we all love!









Saturday, we feasted and gave thanks again at Michelle's beautiful house in Teotitlan.  She and Carol cooked turkeys and ham, and again we brought covered dishes to share.  Spence and Alex brought their guitars to entertain us until the moon came up.  Another fabulous day! 

Larry, who is FIRST in line!  It truly was a feast.

November in Oaxaca

I'm out of clever titles for the day.  Maybe tomorrow!

As I read this before posting, it should have been about three posts.  But, here it is anyway!

The month has flown past.  Friends Beth and Fish arrived in Oaxaca a couple of days after we did, and settled right in at the pretty Casa Colonial.  They wasted no time in hitting the streets the next day, while Stuart and I were in Teotitlan with friends for a fabulous afternoon of cooking and eating and sampling mezcal.  Fish managed to buy not one, but two rugs within the first 24hours in town!

While Beth and Fish shopped, we headed to Teotitlan with Tom and JoAnn.  Michelle hosted chef Jose Luis in her spacious house in Teotitlan, set on the side of the mountain just across from San Francisco Lachigolo, and invited friends to help him cook.  And, taste his family's mezcals.  Several of us joined Jose Luis at the small mercado in Teotitlan to do the shopping, and then we took turns in motocabs which hauled us up the hill to Michelle's house with three people and several bags of food in each cab.  Once at Michelle's, I admired the view from her patio, and joined in the washing and prepping tasks.  Jose Luis started a fire in the grill with hand-made charcoal we bought at the mercado, and a team began roasting chiles, squash, tomatoes, garlic and onions.  Another team peeled and chopped chayotes, quesillo and raw tomatoes.   Someone cooked the tasajo, and then some chorizo while the rest of us chopped, mashed and stirred together three of the most delicious salsas I've ever eaten!  (Recipes below)   After eating until we couldn't eat more, we moved out to the patio to enjoy the afternoon sun and conversation, and more mezcal.  Eventually, JoAnn and Tom, Stuart and I shared a cab back to the city.  It was a wonderful way to begin our winter in Oaxaca!

Beth and Fish came to Oaxaca to study spanish at Oaxaca Spanish Magic, the language school I've attended off and on for three years.  Flor has a great staff of teachers, and an efficient agenda tailored to people who are here only for a couple of weeks at a time.  The classes are 3 hours daily, in the morning. Beth and Fish worked hard in the mornings, took a break for comida, and hit the books again most afternoons. We met after class most days for comida, laughing that we ate our way through Oaxaca with them!  Not to be missed:  Los Danzantes, La Cuisine, Itanoni, our favorite tlayuda puesto in the Juarez mercado, nieves in the park, tacos everywhere, drinks on the gozobi rooftop...where is my list?!?  The Sunday rock-and-roll concerts at Casa Colonial began while they were here, and we had a terrific time polishing our singing skills with all the other old rock-and-rollers on the lawn.  We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Tlacolula, Tule and Sn. Martin Tilcajete. 
The photo below:  Stuart, Fish, Senor Joaquin Hernandez (wood carver in San Martin Tilcajete) and me enjoying a shot of Sn. Hernandez's personal mezcal bottle.  Fish and Beth hauled home beautiful treasures from his shop!

Stuart and Sue, Beth and Fish, in the beautiful cactus-fence alley, in the Oaxaca Ethno-botanical garden.




below:  evidence of Francisco Toledo's incredible vision and planning in the gardens.

Sue arrived, to spend a week with us.  We began the eating circuit with her, much to our pleasure!  Sue is a great tourist, and wanted to see everything possible. She and Stuart went up in the mountains to La Cumbre on the Hooking it in Oaxaca weekly hike while I stayed in town that day to work on the Libaray Bazar prep.  In the week Sue was here, we also went to Tule, the Sunday market at Tlacolula, hiked up the Escalera to watch the sunset and see the lights come on in the Three Valleys, toured the world-class Ethno-botanical gardens and went to Monte Alban.

Sue, in a beautiful embroidered blouse from San Antonino.  A great find!

A pair of earrings similar to these Sue found may find their way into my possession!

 Did I mention food?  This is a pitaya, otherwise known as dragon-fruit.  We had great fun talking about this for a couple of days before we actually cut it open....beautiful inside!  Texture a bit like a kiwi, with a taste similar to an asian pear.  Not a very good description!

Stuart and Sue, taking a break on the wall by the Sto. Domingo.

 Back at Teotitlan...recipes are below.
 Below:  Michelle and chef Jose Luis, just before we serve the main courses. 

 Chayote wrapped in hierba buena:

Stuart and Michelle...yes, there was mezcal involved in the apron choices!

Here are the basics of the dishes we prepared with Jose Luis.  The beginning of almost all Oaxacan cooking begins with roasting the vegetables, chiles and tomatoes.  We devoured the salsas with grilled tasajo, and with the best chorizo I've ever tasted, on hand-made tortillas.  If you can put your hands on some good guavas, the dessert is to die for!  These are truly seat-of-the-pants recipes,without portions or serious instructions!

Salsa #1

Roasted Tomatillas, raw garlic minced, salt. 

Peel and roast tomatillas, grind in mocojete, stir in minced raw garlic and salt.

Salsa #2

Roasted jalapenos, avocado, roasted garlic, roasted onion, cilantro

Blend in a blender, adding egg yolk, tiny bit of oil and line juice.  Stir in salt.

Salsa #3

Roasted tomatoes and pasillo de Oax chiles, roasted garlic and roasted onion. 

Grind the tomatoes and pasillo chiles in mocojete, stir in  chopped onion.

Salsa #4

6 roasted tomatoes, 1.5 roasted onions, raw garlic. 

Grind the tomatoes and garlic in mocojete, stir in chopped onions.

Chayote wrapped in Hierba Buena

Chop chayote, onions, garlic, plantains and quesillo.  Saute until soft, with a very little oil.  Add salt at the finish.  Put a spoonful on hierba Buena leaf, add a bit of quesillo, roll, and bake about 25-30 minutes until leaves are soft, not browned.

Jose Luis’ chicken

Boil chicken pieces, quartered onion, smashed garlic and salt in water until the chicken is cooked through.  Cool, and shred chicken.  Reserve the broth.  In a baking dish, layer banana leaves, shredded chicken, solid layer of avocado leaves.  Cover with banana leaves and foil.  Back 25-30 minutes.

Dessert

Guavas. Cut the guavas in half, scoop out the seeds.  Lay the fruit flesh-side-down in a baking pan.  Sprinkle sugar, pour crema and whole milk, chopped basil.  Cover with foil and bake until thickened.  Cool, grate chocolate on top!

Day of the Dead, Oaxaca

It has been said that nowhere in Mexico is Dia de los Muertos celebrated with as much gusto as in Oaxaca. The comparsas, or parades begin a couple of days before the actual Day of the Dead holidays. Just as in the States, All Hallow's Eve is celebrated, but here it is in anticipation of seeing dead loved ones beginning Nov 1. All Saints Day is November 1, is the day for remembering dead children and infants, sometimes known as The Day of the Innocents or Day of the Little Angels.  All Souls Day is November 2, for remembering passed adults.  It is a joyous week!  Families build altars in their homes, with much input from the children.  Many businesses and restaurants build elaborate altars, with orange flowers, candles, photos of dead loved ones, and lots of food and drinks to invite the spirit of the loved ones to return for the day. We have been in some villages where the family takes the favorite food and drinks to the cemetery, along with a piece of burning copal. The spirit then returns home with the living family, to enjoy a meal together, before returning to the Other World.

I'm sad to see the commercialization creeping into the celebrations here.  Every year I see more gruesome masks and costumes, mostly on teen-agers.  Catrina, dressed in all white is a common symbol for both adults and children.  The face painting is terrific!  But, the altars are still the center of attention, and the meals and trips to cemetery begin at midnight tonight, and will continue for the next two days.  Families will hold quiet vigils, with many huge white candles and wheelbarrows full of orange flowers on the graves. In some cemeteries the celebration will be quiet, in others there will be bands and parties and much laughter.  Every village and neighborhood has a distinctly different celebration.  But, they all include food, flowers and drinks!

Mescal is often shared with people watching the comparsas.  The woman in the photo above is pouring a mescal for me!   I've been handed cups of mescal, sandwiches, cups of atole, small pumpkins and woven items.  Last night, a comparsa member handed me her candle and shield!  The photo below is the "sag wagon" following a band and comparsa. Notice the keg of beer in the middle of the photo.

 The San Pablo museum hosts a courtyard of altars, decorated in the various styles of the groups of people living in the State of Oaxaca.  This one below was particularly pretty, even if the photo doesn't show it.

 A special bread is baked and sold everywhere for Dia de los Muertos.  There is always a facebaked into the loaf, a sweet egg bread, always served with cups of hot chocolate.  Mescal is served with everything!