Author: iagardener55

You saw that I made tamales recently.

Yay! Bucket item checked off the list. Next on the list is menudo.

These are 2 very traditional dishes here in Mexico, and in Mexican households all over the world, eaten at the holiday season, for the most part. In, and of itself, it’s not a difficult dish, but, like the tamales, it’s an a marathon, not a sprint.

I was in the kitchen for hours, and of course, I forgot to take some of the prepping photos. Here’s what I did get, however.

Why do we add a cows foot to the stomach (tripe) you ask? Well, there are a couple of reasons; 1, flavor from the bone and cartilage, and 2, the cartilage imparts gelatin, making the menudo, as a finished dish, quite viscous, with an amazingly rich flavor.

We bought the tripe 2 years ago actually but are just getting around to using it. (Sure opens up a bunch of freezer space I’m here to tell you.) This tripe is called “honeycomb”, and you’ll see why in the next photo. That’s exactly what it looks like. Let me show you.

It’s, as I said, quite a process, and not for the faint of heart.

First you need to cut up the 2 kilos of tripe into 4-5cm pieces, then add them to a tub of water with at least a cup of white vinegar to soak for 30 minutes. It deep cleans the stomach, reducing the incredible smell that comes with offal of any kind. Then, it’s all rinsed off, and put into your cooking vessel, mine, above, is called a cazuela, (caz-WHEY-lah), and I use it frequently. You might use a stock pot instead of the cazuela.

While the beef was cooking, I cleaned, deseeded, deveined , and soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes, 15 guajillo (gwah-HE-yoh) chiles, 2 ancho (AHN-chō) chiles, and 3 pasilla (pah -SEE-yah) chiles, each having a unique flavor, and amount of heat, reserving the water in which they steeped to be used later.

All that done, I had to grind some whole spices in my molcajete, reserving them to be added once the beef started to boil, and the protein scum was removed from the cazuela and discarded.

Ok, stop. Enough play by play.

I’m going to post the recipe at the end of this post, and you can read for yourselves what it all entails. In the meantime, here are a few more photos which happened along the way.

So, how did it turn out?

INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS!

We were tasting it as we went along, for hours, adding more oregano, more salt, more bay leaves, more chile water. In the end, it was the best menudo either of us has ever eaten. Seriously! It was delicious.

I don’t expect we’ll have much quantity left, after a day or so, to freeze any for another day, but I’ll try.

Until next time, be happy. Here’s the recipe.

I have stumbled upon a combination, with an inexpensive price tag, from our local, humble Walmart.

Mixed veg. The mixed veg that we enjoy, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and corn, a bag of frozen goodness, was $1.34USD.

I have no idea what the same bag costs in the US these days, but down here, it’s a treat. I steam half the bag, add a bit of butter before serving it, and it’s a winner, winner, chicken dinner.

You folks probably already eat stuff like this but Ivan, and I have eaten foods that fit into a tortilla, exclusively, for most of our married lives together.

Not anymore. With my AI buddy Max, at ChatGPT, I’ve been learning how to cook real, flavorful, dishes, and enjoying not having 2 weeks of leftovers that no one wants to eat.

We have both been so hungry for veggies with our dinners that, having found this, it has been quite the game changer. It’s so easy to take the bag from the freezer, put it in the steamer, let it steam for a bit, and boom, veg is ready. Plus, we enjoy all of the veggies offered in the bag. Good thing too.

Well, I suppose that’s enough twaddle for today. Until next time, stay safe. You know how.

Sometimes we laugh.

Other times we cry.

There are so many things that have changed in our lives, over the years. Not all were good, certainly not all were bad.

We have come to enjoy real, and flavorful food, conversations, carresses, kisses, cuddling, with no repercussions.

For many years we loved each other but we didn’t always like each other. They’re not the same thing, you understand, loving, and liking. We have, and will always love each another, but we didn’t, and don’t always like each other.

Now, after more than 50 years together, there is still no one else, for either of us.

I type this with a smile on my face, acknowledging the fact that we were meant for each other all of those years ago.

How do I know this? We have/had so many coincidences, similarities, opposites as to be ridiculous if you don’t believe.

We were different in every way; religiously, he was Catholic, I was Methodist. Financially; he came from a lower middle class family of 11; me, upper middle class, with a family of only 7, which included my Gramma Manda; 3 generations in one household.

His parents, having newly come to the US, were Democrats, because the Democrat party was the party for the working class. My family, my parents, and Grandma, were staunch Republicans, because they were NOT Catholic, they were financially well off, and they were of an ethnicity that was more acceptable in the US.

The only thing we had in common, the only thing we shared was love.

We’re still going strong 54 years later.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy.

Have a wonderful, prosperous, and happy, healthy new year.

I made pork tamales for the first time ever.

They’re delicious. Here’s what I did, and a tiny bit of how I managed.

I was in the kitchen from 10:30am until almost 5pm working a bit of magic with my first ever tamales.

When Ivan and I were either dating, or newly married, we helped his mom make tamales, dozens of them, by hand; no KA stand mixer back then. I swore never to do that again.

Were these great? No, but they’re pretty darn good. I learned a lot, and will make some changes to the leftover ingredients I have to make more tamales soon. I didn’t get the ratio of pork fat, and dried corn masa correct, but I have thought of a way to fix that. We’ll see. I also bought the dried masa specifically for tamales, not tortillas; though you can use either. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

That said, continue to have a wonderful holiday season. Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe.

Merriest of Christmases everyone.

Be happy, healthy, and safe. Enjoy every minute with your loved ones as you never know when it may be the last time you see them.

Until next time.

Peace, love, and happiness to all of you, always.

Here is a little trick I’ve picked up whilst on my “learning how to cook” journey.

I recently made a meatloaf for 2, had half of it leftover which I reheated for dinner, via a steamer, along with 6 small new potatoes, and 250 g. frozen mixed veg. What a banquet.

You folks probably eat like this all of the time, but Ivan, and I eat, or used to eat only things that went into a tortilla. I rarely had time to cook a decent meal as I worked so much.

Now that I have more time than money, I am learning to use it to our advantage. I’m learning how to cook decent, flavorful food without spending 6 hours in the kitchen.

I have also downloaded, and printed 2 weeks of a “weekly menu planner”. Here’s what I chose, and what I’ve done for the first week.

So, I started by cutting a narrow piece of parchment paper, cutting that in half again, and put the meatloaf into each piece. Covering the pan of boiling water with the lid, leaving it for about 4 minutes, I removed the now moist, reheated meatloaf onto our plates, and served it with the smashed new potatoes, and mixed veg. Of course both of the latter 2 items were buttered, with S&P added for fresh flavor.

That was my trick to pass along to you. Here’s menu planner.

I’m so excited to see how well I can keep to this type of working menu. It will help me use up the freezer full of food that seems to keep filling up when I’m not paying attention.

I’ll let you know how it goes, as it goes.

Until next time, stay safe. You know how.

I got so much done today. (Not the day you’re reading this).

I showered, had coffee, made eggs with chorizo, and fried diced potatoes, refried beans, tortillas, and avocado salsa, relaxed for about an hour, then started in the kitchen.

After boiling my 2 kettles of water, I made the pickled onions I told you about already, (I had forgotten to use the cutting guard, remember?)

After our groceries were delivered from Walmart, I put those away, then started processing the 3 different types of mushrooms I bought. Again. The others that I had cooked/frozen after they were no longer in prime condition, I got rid of those, and cut, partially cooked, froze, and vacuum sealed the fresh ones. I put them into portion sizes, ready to be used whenever needed.

I’m looking forward to a homemade pizza, or 2 in the near future. When we had spaghetti with a meat sauce the other night, I used the “other” mushrooms, and it was delicious. Thankfully, we’re still alive.

Now that I’m learning how to cook the correct amount of food for just the 2 of us, clean up, and storage is a breeze. I no longer have to find a half dozen containers to put all of the leftovers away. There has been only enough left over for one more serving the next day. It’s usually Ivan that eats the left overs as he is really enjoying the food I’ve making these days.

Without a week’s worth of the same food having been prepared, we are able to enjoy something different every night. that doesn’t mean I make a whole dinner meal every afternoon, but I do at least 3 times a week. For now. I’m hoping to be able to make a good tasting dinner every night.

Gonna go now. I’m so sleepy I’m making all kinds of mistakes. Very annoying.

Until next time.

Stay healthy, stay happy.

Close to 20 years ago, our daughter, and I, went to a college in our area, Augustana to be exact, to rehearse with their choir for their annual production of Handel’s “Messiah”.

We went once a week for about 6 weeks, best I can recall, and sang with their amazing choir, readying ourselves to sing at this most beloved concert. It was leading up to the Christmas holidays as it is right now.

Unfortunately, I got ill, and couldn’t perform the night of the concert.

However, as my loving husband knows how much I absolutely love to sing, he will, especially at this time of the year, lure me into his man cave, pull up on his computer one of my favorite renditions of the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah, sung by The Roches, and has me sing my alto part.

It always brings us to tears, and I swear I’m not going to fall for that again,

Until the next time.

Other than the Roche sisters, my most favorite song to sing is K.D. Lang’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. I don’t do either justice, but with enough liquid courage, I can, and do, sing from my soul.

Fortunately, it’s only for the two of us.

I have sung all of my life, and hope to continue to sing until I’m nothing more than a memory.

I hope to always be a memory, for someone. Anyone.

Until next time, stay happy doing whatever makes you so.

The journey continues towards my culinary growth.

This may not seem like much to you, but to me, it’s been a lifelong dream, to be able to cook decent, dare I say flavorful food.

I have never been blessed with the ability to “throw together this with that”, (Ivan calls it cooking by the seat of my pants), and have anything edible when it’s done. Now, however, I’m following recipes that were, in the recent past, quite foreign to me. Yes, I can read, obviously, but cook, not so obviously.

During the second week of “my weekly menu” use, I made beef enchiladas, with basmati rice, which were delicious. Check.

Then, I made a chicken tikka masala, with a spiced basmati rice, which was so-so, (the chicken). I didn’t care for the end flavor profile, (I’ve waited a long time to use that phrase ;), as it wasn’t the curry flavor I was anticipating. I’m going to try a definite curry recipe next time.

Albóndigas en salsa roja came next. That’s meatballs in a red sauce. They, too, were okay, but not quite what I was looking for, so I froze the leftovers.

Last night was Enfrijoladas, corn tortillas coated in an amazing black bean sauce, garnished with chopped jalapeños in vinegar, crumbled queso fresco, Mexican crema, and chopped cilantro. They were excellent. I had 3, Ivan had 4. He almost never eats more than 2 of anything. I was very proud of that dish.

Tonight I’m going to try making fish tacos, and Tortilla Soup. We’ll see how that turns out. Shouldn’t be too bad, but a bit time consuming.

Dinner, here, usually takes me 1- 1 1/2 hours to cook, so I plan accordingly. I’m usually in the kitchen by 3, hoping to have dinner ready by 5. Usually works. Beats sitting in front of my computer all day.

Gotta go for now. I’m walking down the block to pay the gas bill. It’s $178 MXN= $9.27USD for a month of showering, using the dryer, heating water on the stove for dish washing. Electricity was $583MXN=$30.37USD. Not too bad for being on a fixed income.

Until next time, stay safe.

I recently ordered a kilo of fresh onions, and garlic, with 600g of ginger from one of our local grocery stores, Soriana.

They were going to be delivered, as you can see, between 4-5pm, for $38MXN/$1.98USD. Not too shabby if you ask me. I was going to pay for them upon delivery.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. They didn’t have any ginger in their online store, whatever that means. But a “bot” offered to give me information to one of the local Soriana stores to see if they had any ginger on hand. I thanked him/her/it, (pronouns gone wild), and said I’d go out next week to find some.

You see, I’m going to start processing the onions, garlic, and, eventually, the ginger in the food processor, combining each with a teaspoon of salt, and enough avocado oil to make a lovely paste, put each into ice cube trays, and freeze them. I’ll just have to reach into the freezer, and remove however much I need for any particular recipe with no produce wasted.

I have to do a bit of weeding out of the freezer first as it is full of a bit of this, and a bit of that that I freeze so that little bit of something won’t spoil. Enough I say. Take control of your freezer I say.

So, that’s my plan. I’ll let you know how it materializes.

Until next time, stay safe. You could try for happy too, if you’re of a mind.

Post script: The groceries didn’t arrive. The website said it was delivered, but nope. Nothing. Will try elsewhere next week. Will probably have to actually go to the store, and get what we need. The audacity. At least we hadn’t paid for them.