These are called flavor bombs in forms of birria, pozole, and menudo bombs. They are supposed to contain all of the herbs, and spices needed to make, respectively, 2k. of either pork, or beef, 5L of pozole, and/or menudo.
Ivan watched a few videos on YT recently, that showed them using these “bombs”. We bought them on Mercado Libre, and they were delivered to our condo. Here, actually, it what notification I got when they were close to being delivered. I think it’s pretty neat.
We can watch, in real time where the delivery driver is, and how soon our item will be delivered.
Anyway, the “bombs” have been delivered, so I’m going to make another batch of menudo, (because we both love it, and I have 1 1/2 k. of panza (cow stomach) in the freezer). We both have high expectations for these things, so we’re hoping it will be flavorful. I’ll let you know.
I told you I’d talk about the avocados you saw in the photo of the ginger process in the post “Ginger in bulk”.
I forgot.
Here it is though, just in case you missed the other post.
What I wanted to tell you is that the color, and unripeness of the avocados, as you see in the above photo, is what makes them almost completely unblemished when you go to eat them. They are so hard they don’t seem to get bruised like more ripe ones do.
Because I’m sensitive to unripe avocados, (when too unripe they make my mouth, and throat itch, and my lips swell), we wait until the outside shell is quite dark green verging onto black, with a significant softness when gently squeezed. If more than one avocado is to that stage of ripeness, they all go into the fridge, on the top shelf.
When I cut into them, this is how they look.
That avocado was bought 2 weeks prior to being cut, as above. This is how almost all of our avocados look now that we’ve discovered “the secret”.
The avocados sit in the hanging veg basket until they turn that amazingly dark green/black color, then, if they “give” a bit when gently squeezed, into the fridge they go.
I hope you’ll try buying your avocados this way, and give it a try. Of course, you can cut, peel, and eat your avocados at any stage of ripeness that appeals to you, and yours. But give buying them hard, and unripe a try, and see if the end results are more to your liking. Let me know.
In October, I started looking for a small 2025 “desk” calendar with which to keep track of our bills.
The previous calendars that I have had all had Mexican motifs, very colorful, bright, cheerful, but all were a single year, with weekly schedule spaces.
When I went to look for said calendar this time, I was looking for just a monthly view. As I have absolutely nothing to do requiring any conceivable type of schedule, I certainly didn’t need anything daily.
This is what I currently use. This is what it looks like inside; I’m sure you have one yourself, or have seen them in stores.This is how I use mine, with the highly classified amount due for each bill redacted for security purposes 😉This is the newest calendar. Note the 3 year span.Inside. Easy peasy.
This is going to be so much easier, I can’t tell you. Can’t wait to get started. Easier is almost always better in my mind.
Until next time, stay safe, and happy. You know how.
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.
That my friends, is what is commonly known as a cow’s foot. The ankle is coming up shortly.
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.
Looks just like honeycomb, doesn’t it?
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.
The ankle, as promised. Mrs. Santa’s little helper.
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.
This is what it looks like after being refrigerated. It’s the gelatin that does that. Yummy.
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.
There areso 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 stillno 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.
They’re delicious. Here’s what I did, and a tiny bit of how I managed.
Making the masa. After 2 1/2 hours of boiling the pork, and a half hour making the masa, here’s the start of some holiday deliciousness. The helpers. Just before going into the pot for a sauna.The end results. 1 1/2 dozen.
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.
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.
Steaming the small pieces of meatloaf without it falling apart.
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 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.
The second batch of mushrooms, partially cooked, frozen, and vacuum sealed in single use portions.
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.
