Mexico

Doug and I got married in April of 1992.  Here we are - babies!   We were living in San Antonio, Texas back then.  Doug was working as a newspaper reporter at the San Antonio Light and I was a producer at KTSA, a talk-radio station.  We'd been in San Antonio for about two years and loved it- great part of the country to explore together and we had a wonderful community of friends, mostly transplants like us who worked at the paper with Doug.  It all changed that October when Hearst, the owner of the Light, announced that it was closing its own paper  and buying the competition, the San Antonio Express News.  It was a bizarre and disorienting time.  Because they were creating a monopoly, the justice department had to approve the sale, and this took FOUR MONTHS.  Four months in which 600 people knew they were going to lose their jobs, but they didn't know when.  For us, and our cadre of young and singles, it was disruptive but not nearly as difficult as it was for those who had built their career and were raising their families there.  It was rough.  The only upside is that we took full advantage of that time, visiting every nook and cranny of south Texas, not knowing which weekend would be our last.  Finally, in February, the sale was approved and it was over.  Our friends and colleagues took jobs all over the country.

Doug and I took a different path.  We pointed that 1985 Bonneville south, and we went to Mexico.  For six months. 

Mexico in 1993 was a very different place.  This was shortly after NAFTA had been signed (in San Antonio!) and Carlos Salinas, a Harvard educated economist, was president.  His tenure wasn't perfect, but he succeeded in drastically reducing unemployment and opening Mexican's economy to investment and competition.  It was a hopeful time. So Doug and I decided to travel south of the border and spend six months learning Spanish and freelancing.  Doug had lined up a couple gigs to ensure we would have a little guaranteed income, and we took our meager severance package and hit the road.  Best decision of our married life, hands down.  Well, besides having our children.

We crossed the border with very little Spanish and a pretty vague plan and left six months later with lasting friendships, solid Spanish and a HUGE appreciation for all things Mexican.


 
We started in Cuernavaca, at one of Mexico's oldest language schools.  Very old school style of teaching (we literally had to memorize air force training dialogues) but we lived with a lovely family who tolerated our terrible Spanish and treated us like family.  After that, we spent a month in Guadalajara, home of both tequila and mariachis,  reporting on the aftermath of an oil pipeline explosion that decimated an entire neighborhood.


On our way we stopped in Michoacan, which houses the sanctuary to which all of north america's monarch butterflies migrate each year.  Well, before their population began its tragic and steep decline.    It was stunning.

After that, we decided to hit another language school, and had heard great things about Oaxaca.


Thus began the heart of our time there.  We spent a wonderful month in the amazing town of Oaxaca. Oaxaca is a gorgeous, colonial-looking city in the mountains of southern Mexico that has held on firmly to its indigenous traditions.  The city itself is stunning, but each village around the city has its own artistic niche:  Monte Alban and Mitla for their Zapotec ruins, San Bartolo Coyotepec for the black pottery, Arrazola for the painted wooden animals, Teotitlán Del Valle for the weaving.  Tule has the biggest ass tree you've ever seen.   It's just phenomenal.

We lived with the Jose Luis Zamudio and Rosa Maria Topete family in Oaxaca, and we still keep in touch with them today.  They had four kids and a small room off the house they rented to us.  Without knowing us, they took us in and made us part of their family, and we loved every minute of it.

For that month, we studied at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca.  We spent the mornings studying Spanish, and in the afternoons we had the choice of studying weaving or Oaxacan cooking.   Duh.  We took cooking.  

Carmen was our teacher, and Doug and I still have vivid memories of Carmen making tortillas, slapping the masa back and forth from hand to hand, telling stories about her childhood and how she learned to cook.  We learned how to make tortillas, tamales, chicken amarillo, salsa roja, sopa de ajo and, of course, mole negro. 

I had never heard of mole (pronounced mo-lay, emphasis on the mo) before living in Mexico but all these years later, if it's on the menu I simply cannot order anything else.  It's an epic sauce made from dozens of ingredients ranging from chili peppers to bananas to pumpkin seeds to chocolate, and, at least with Carmen, it took two days to prepare.   It.  Was.  Incredible.   If you find a good Mexican restaurant that serves real Mexican food, try the pollo con mole negro.  If not, give it a shot yourself when you have plenty of time and access to a good ethnic market. 

Chicken with Mole Negro

another version - with more authentic but probably harder to find ingredients.



Finally, for our last month, we lived in Mexico City, with Rosa Maria's mother, surrounded by her siblings and their children.  It was an amazing adventure.  We had a few bumps:  I got hospitalized with food poisoning, our car got broken into and ALL of doug's clothes, plus his guitar, were stolen.  I had to pay a bribe to avoid the car getting impounded once.  Oh, and we lost reverse gear in our car about halfway through.  But man, what a great experience.  Mexico is a country rich in history and culture.  It is stunningly beautiful,  has the warmest people in the world and some kick ass food. 

Viva Mexico!

In the meanwhile, on a busy Tuesday night, when you need to throw a meal together for your family, give this one a shot.

Throw three or four chicken breasts in the crock pot.  I like bone-in because they don't dry out so much.  Top them with some taco seasoning and throw in about a cup of chicken broth.

Cook them on low all day, about 8 hours?

 Shred the chicken.

 

 Sautee on high heat some onions and bell peppers with salt & pepper & oil

Cook up some brown rice and when it's almost done add some salsa, salt & pepper and some taco seasoning or just chili powder to it.

Heat up some tortillas and put out some shredded cheddar, salsa and beans if you so desireand you've got yourself a hearty, healthy meal.  

Buen provecho!