Movie Review: "Chef" whets appetite for life

In an alternate universe, there’s a version of me scurrying around a film set, directing actors, looking over script sheets, and conferring with cinematographers and producers. In yet another, I’m whirling around a busy restaurant kitchen, chiming “oui, chef!” while methodically chopping, stirring, braising, and plating. Thus--since I am in neither universe--I hold a special spot in my heart for films about food, because they combine two things I truly love.

Chef, Jon Favreau’s newest feature, is my latest obsession. It’s an upbeat story about a frustrated chef who finds a new passion for his cuisine—and his family life—when he buys a food truck.

Plot: Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) was once the toast of the culinary world, but is now trapped in a creative rut. He’s just as stuck in his personal life, recently divorced and struggling to connect with his 10-year-old son, Percy (Emjay Anthony). Carl’s frustrations reach a boiling point when he’s panned by renowned food critic Ramsey Michael (Oliver Platt), and Carl’s public outburst goes viral on the internet.

With his career in shambles, Carl reluctantly joins his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) and son on a trip to Miami, his old stomping grounds. Inspired by the city’s colorful Cuban cuisine, he buys a fixer-upper food truck. When his right-hand-man, Tony (John Leguizamo) flies out to help with Carl’s new endeavor, Carl, Tony, and Percy embark on a road trip across the US to get the truck back to LA.

Review: This is the perfect recipe for a feel-good movie: flawed-yet-lovable characters, a lively soundtrack, and gorgeous, lingering shots of lovingly prepared food. It’s obvious that Favreau (who also produced, directed, and wrote the film) did his homework to become Chef Casper, and he moves in the kitchen as organically as a dancer does on a stage.

Aside from the all the delicious food, what struck me the most about this film was the father-son dynamic at the heart of the story. Percy aches to be part of his dad’s life, but Carl is too wrapped up in his career (and misery) to see the clever young man Percy is becoming. When Carl agrees to let Percy come with him on the road-trip, not only do the two bond, but Percy proves himself as a valuable member of the team with his social media savvy.

And--odd as this sounds--it was nice to see a movie that was so intrinsically about men and male camaraderie that had nothing to do with violence or macho posturing. Carl and Tony work easily as a team in the food truck, and Percy’s initiation into their world--and into manhood--is filled with heart as well as humor and hard work.

The only complaint I had was the neat way everything came together in the end. Perhaps Favreau saw Carl’s journey as a father as the major arc of the film, but I wanted to see a little more conflict with the food truck and his career trajectory. The ending was just a bit too--dare I say it--Dinsey-eque, but maybe I'm just a little too jaded.

Overall, Chef is not a complex film, but it is a delicious one. In a summer filled with vacant popcorn flicks, Chef is like a hearty grilled sandwich: tasty, filling, and simple. Worth a watch, but make sure you’re not hungry going into the theater!

Figs and Goat Cheese

My lunch today: smooth and tangy goat cheese spread over a thick slice of hearty walnut bread, topped with syrupy-sweet ripe figs.

I love you, summer.

I honestly don't know when my obsession with figs began. As a kid, I definitely enjoyed Fig Newtons--with their cakey outsides and thick, chewy centers--but I never really had the chance to try the real deal until I was much older. Really, I'm trying, but I can't pinpoint the moment where I went, "holy bejebus, I need me more of those figs!" Like I did a few weeks ago.

It all began when co-worker/friend of the Professor's was throwing a little birthday bash. For the first time ever, we were "those people" with the toddler at the grown-up party.

I spent a good portion of the festivities alone on the back patio in an attempt to keep Bubby away from the lovely snacks carefully arranged right at his eye level. While dashing about after a whiffle ball, I surreptitiously watched the other adults relaxing inside, sipping their microbrews and chatting about science, politics, and travel. My stimulating conversation? "Look, Bubby! Catch the ball! Catch the ball! No! Don't throw it over the fence!"

I was about to throw in the towel when another of my husband's colleagues arrived with his wife, bearing a colander full of beautiful, ripe figs. Apparently, they had a tree just bursting with the little beauties, and they sliced up a dozen figs to share with the party.

One bite of the glistening fruit--served atop a cloud of blueberry-kissed goat cheese on a slice of soft, sweet French bread--and my afternoon was saved. It got even better when I was encouraged to take home a party cup full of figs. They were gone by the next morning.

Those figs haunted me for weeks. It wasn't a constant obsession, but more of a niggling craving in the back of my head. "You know what sounds good right now? Figs and goat cheese." I'm a realist, though, and I knew that a $6.99 basket of figs at the local produce market wouldn't be nearly as good as the tree-ripened fruit that had seduced me so. Or as cheap.

Then, yesterday, my patience was rewarded. The Professor came home from work with a little green basket of figs in hand, compliments of his colleague and his wife. Craving became full-on obsession: "Damn it! Now I need goat cheese!"

It was all I could think about this morning: "Make the Bubby's breakfast. Figs and goat cheese. Pack the Professor's sandwich. Figs and goat cheese. Hey, my friend just had a baby! Figs and goat cheese."

Obviously--from the photos above--this story has a happy ending. A quick pop into Lundari's market provided me the much-coveted goat cheese, and I even splurged to get the thick, dark whole wheat and walnut bread that I knew would be the perfect base. I was right.

My lunch was everything I'd been craving: simple, sweet, hearty, and creamy all at once. A little burst of summer on my tongue.

And you know what's even better? I still have six figs. I think I know what I'm having for dinner tonight.

Crafting a First Birthday Party

Now that February has arrived, I can finally look back at the whirlwind that was November through January. On top of the usual holiday fun, we had an extra-special event that landed smack between Thanksgiving and Christmas: Vinnie's first birthday!

Hooray! We made it!

I was quite excited to put his birthday party together. I've hosted dinner parties, a Halloween baby shower, and St. Patrick's Day parties, but this was the first time I've put together a child's birthday party (even if most of the guests were adults).

As comedian (and father of 5) Jim Gaffigan pointed out, "the baby's first birthday party is not a party for your baby; it's a party for you." So, I didn't get all crazy with a meticulously coordinated theme or blow a bunch of cash on an expensive smash cake (especially since I had a feeling Vinnie wasn't even going to touch it).

Doesn't mean I didn't get crafty, though! I opted for a primary color scheme and some "Baby's 1st Birthday" plates and signage. I got a lot of my gear at Daiso, (a large, Japanese dollar-store) including serving bowls, plates, invitation supplies, and decorations. My favorite were the pre-folded tissue paper puffs; much safer and (eco-friendly) than balloons, and they're re-usable.

Party favors for everyone!

For favors, I made large gingerbread cookies in the shape of a 1. I bought the cookie cutter from an Etsy store called West Tin Works (check them out, they have lots of fun shapes!). My mama and I decorated the cookies with royal icing. We did this pretty late at night, and I think our exhaustion fed into our creativity.

Batman, zombies, vampire clowns...the usual for a 1st birthday, right?

 Mama and I also baked the cupcakes for the party. OK, my mama did pretty much 99% of the work on those, which is awesome (especially since she used to be a professional cake decorator).

I've always wanted a cupcake tower!

For decorations, I didn't want to go too overboard since I had rented a nice space in our apartment's complex. The main attraction were the galleries of photos of Vinnie, which were mounted on colorful cardstock trimmed with decorative-edge scissors. I did one section that was Vinnie at each month, one that was Vinnie with friends and family, and one that was some of Vinnie's "greatest hits." It was a really nice way for guests to see some of my favorite pictures of the little guy, since I don't post many pictures online.

I think my favorite thing we made for the party, though, were Vinnie's birthday bibs. I finally followed through on my threat to applique. I used the same "1" shaped cookie cutter to make a template for the fabric, then attached it to the terrycloth bib using fusible webbing. My mama then sewed it on with a super-close zig-zag. We made two, one for his birthday at home, and one for the party the next day.

Hmmm...wonder which party Vinnie liked better?

Not that I had to worry about my little man getting messy. As I predicted, he didn't even touch his cupcake. It was still amusing to watch.

"You want me to do what with this?"

I had a lot of fun putting this party together. I had a LOT of help from my family--especially my parents, who flew in from out of town--and I feel so lucky to have been able to gather so many people together to help the Professor and I celebrate our little man's first birthday.

My Halloween Baby Shower

Happy Halloween everyone! I thought I'd celebrate my favorite holiday by sharing some of the crafty and culinary creations that went into the Halloween baby shower I had earlier this month.

It was a joint planning effort between my mama, my mom-in-law, and myself, and together (with the help of my husband, dad, and sister-in-law) we turned my little 2-bedroom apartment into a full-on Halloween party central.

I'm super-proud of this banner. I could not find anywhere that sold Halloween-themed baby shower signs, either online or in the stores. So, using cardstock, mini-clothespins, and fun orange/black baker's twine, I made my own banner!

 My mom took the idea one step further. She taped more colorful cardstock onesies in the entryway, and encouraged guests to leave their well wishes for the baby. They were cute decorations, and now are precious mementos. Definitely more fun than a sign-in book!

Decorating was such a team effort! My mom- and sister-in-law were climbing like monkeys to get the crepe streamers and balloons up, while my mama spent the evening before making these pumpkin-esque puffs out of tissue paper. 

My contribution to the decor: these adorable Halloween sock monkeys I scored at a card and gift store. I only bought two, then after walking a block away, turned back to buy the third and last one. I also found the cute skeleton-bear at JoAnn's (I think I see a theme-within-a-theme here...).

For favors, we gave out cute tins stuffed with Halloween socks, a notepad, no-sharpen pencil, and candy. I also made little tags for them out of cardstock and "thank you" stickers I ordered to match my invitations. For the kids, we had little plastic cups stuffed with candy. We would have had more for them, but we didn't know they were coming until the day before!

 We had so much food! This is only a fraction of it. In addition to the veggies, fruit, wrap sandwiches, and cheeseball, we had butternut squash soup, spanakopita, baked potato bites, and lots of cookies.

Also, note the stack of plates in the right corner. My mama found these vintage milk glass party plates at an estate sale. I admit, when I first saw them, I was really skeptical. However, once they were in play, I can't imagine the party without them! They came with little matching cups that were perfect for the soup, and were much sturdier (and attractive) that paper plates. I'll definitely be using them again.

The centerpiece of the table: the cake! It was a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, from this awesome bakery in Berkeley called Love at First Bite. It was SUPER-rich, and one 9" cake was more than enough for 14+ guests. 

As for the message, we've been calling the little guy "The Tadpole." We're pretty much set on his name at this point, but I'm a wee bit superstitious and don't want to use it until he's actually born. Who knows? Maybe we'll look at him and decide that name choice #2 is actually more appropriate!

My mom-in-law makes some of the absolute best gingerbread cookies, and was generous enough to bake a couple of trays for the festivities. Mama and I contributed some nutter-butter ghosties, which are super-easy to make. You just dunk the cookies in melted white chocolate and add two mini chocolate chips for eyes. That's it!

After all that work, it was great to see everyone having a good time and enjoying the food and decorations. Here they are playing a game my mom-in-law coordinated, to see who could match and roll 12 pairs of baby socks the quickest. It was tougher than it sounds! As a bonus, I got to keep all the socks. 

The hostesses before the party began: my mama, myself, and my mom-in-law. Since they live so far from each other, it's rare that I get to hang out with them both at the same time, so it was wonderful having them both there. I couldn't have done this all this without them. 

As for the shirt, I saw one on Etsy that I fell in love with, but couldn't justify the price tag. As a total surprise, mom and sister-in-law gave me one the day of the shower. It was perfect!

And yes, I'm totally wearing that shirt again today. Have fun and be safe tonight, everyone!

A Song of Cake and Pie

When you play the Game of Birthdays, you win or you have cake.

Lately, my husband and I have been a little obsessed with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The Professor is reading the books out loud to me while I stitch (we're on A Storm of Swords), and we devoured season one of the Game of Thrones TV show as soon as it came out on DVD.

It seemed only fitting, then, when the Professor's birthday rolled around that we throw a little themed shindig. We had a friend bring over his copy of the Game of Thrones board game, and I planned a Westeros-themed dinner to go along with the festivities.

It wasn't hard to pick what would go on the menu. Though the books are filled with exotic delicacies, the ones that made my mouth water were the meat pies. Particularly the beef and bacon pie and the pork pie.

Luckily, there's an awesome blog called Inn at the Crossroads that is a treasure trove of recipes inspired from the Ice and Fire books. These two talented fans not only research medieval recipes that would be at home in the fantasy setting of the books, but also offer recipes more tailored to modern palettes.

I opted to try their medieval pork pie recipe, which was an interesting "sweet" pie with chopped dates and currants. It reminded me a lot of Chinese pork bun filling: fruity and flavorful without being cloying.

To balance out the menu, I also made the modern beef and bacon pie. While it had a great flavor, the meat chunks needed to be cut smaller and cooked a little longer to make them more tender. Also, I'd add more bacon next time (and oh yes, there will be a next time).

This also marked my first foray into homemade pie crust. I'm sure Winterfell cooks weren't using shortening for their pie crusts, but hey, it's what my friends at Better Homes and Gardens called for. With my pie-master friend Abena helping me roll out the crust, they came out gorgeous and delicious!

...and yes, mom, we had salad, too.

What birthday is complete without cake? Inspired by Sansa Stark's favorite tea treat, lemon cakes, I whipped up a lemon cake with lemon curd filling and lemon cream cheese frosting. I researched a few frosting recipes online, but in the end decided to wing it. The result was a delicious frosting that was like eating solid lemonade.

I kind of put the layers together upside down, though. I tried to cover it up by stuffing the crack with blueberries and more frosting. Not too shabby for my first layer cake. I might buy one of those fancy cake cutters my mama has, which would always result in smooth, even cakes.

The evening was quite a success, even if the board game did go until one in the morning (and I lost horribly)! The meal was fit for a king (or five), and everyone went home with full bellies. I call that a win in the Game of Birthdays.

12-Month Recipe Challenge Recap

I have to admit, I’ve kind of been dreading this post. I knew it was coming about sometime in mid-October, but denial is a sweet and powerful drug. Alas, the tincture bottle is empty, and I now have to face the harsh reality...my 12-Month Cookbook challenge was a flop.

Okay, maybe “flop” is a bit of a strong word. However, it didn’t have a very strong start out the gate, and as the months ticked by the project began to falter further. First it was simply recipes tried and photographed, but not posted. Then it was no recipes tried. Then it was new recipes from the same cookbook. Then it was a new recipe from a new blog…you see where this went. Utter chaos.

I kicked off with the Lentil and Toulouse (heh, Kielbasa) Sausage Casserole in January, and skipped February. I doubled up with Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes in March (cake and frosting!).

The two I photographed but didn’t share were April’s “Aunt Joyce’s Brownies” from I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, and May’s Double Lemon Bars from The Bon Apetit Cookbook.

That’s where things just petered out. Somewhere in the following months I did try the Marlboro Man Sandwich from the Pioneer Woman Cooks, a batch of Blueberry Ginger Freezer Jam from my old standby, the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and a wacky smoothie from a writing blog. I had another surge in November with Thanksgiving, with Roast Spice Turkey from Sunset Magazine and some new side dishes, but they didn’t get a post either.

In total, I tried about ten new recipes. I managed to properly post about three.

So, what has this taught me? Several things, but primarily that my priorities are pretty far from the kitchen! I do love cooking and baking…when I have the time.

I close the book on this experiment with a sort of odd satisfaction. I gave it a go, and it didn’t work out as planned. I did get to try some new recipes, and my kitchen confidence grows every year. I recently moved into a new apartment, with a bigger, sexier kitchen (granite countertops!), and I can already feel the rumblings of culinary inspiration. I’ll be cooking much more this year, but I just won’t be trying to document the process!

Bangkok: Sampeng Market (This ain't JoAnn's)

With all the flooding going on in Thailand right now, Bangkok has been on my mind a lot lately. I felt the urge to go back and share some of the happy times I had there this summer. It's resilient city, and I know, with time, it will recover. My heart goes out to the good people in this trying time.

When I was in Bangkok this summer, one of my favorite days was the crafty "girl's day out" my Thai hostess invited me to. We left the husbands and her kids snoring away, and were on the road by 8 a.m. to discover the crafty treasures awaiting us in the labyrinthine corridors of the Sampeng Market.

Located in Chinatown, this market tends to be a bit off the tourist trail. Though, if you have a crafting bone in your body, Sampeng is a must-see. It's jam-packed with fabrics, notions, yarns, and beads, as well as hair decorations, school supplies, toys, clothing, housewares, and "exotic" snacks (oh, how I miss you, salted snow plums).  Even better, it's all relatively inexpensive, though it really helped that I was with a local who could help me haggle.

Our first crafty stop was at one of the biggest bead stores in the market. I was drawn in by the walls lined with bags of colorful sequins, and followed the glittery trail back to find a cavernous room lined with sacks of rhinestones and beads. It took me a bit to explain to the nice employees that I wanted smaller quantities of beads, not smaller sizes of beads themselves, but once I did I walked out with some gorgeous rhinestones and hand-made polymer clay flowers.

 After a bit more shopping for hair accessories and gifts (as well as a new pair of embroidery scissors to replace the ones confiscated in Taipei), we stopped for lunch. We simply stepped out of the flow of traffic to a noodle vendor, and perched ourselves at the wee stall-side table while they cooked up our meal on the spot.

I have to admit, I felt a bit like an adult sitting at a child's table, though by then I was getting used to being the biggest person around. You can see just how little the stools were from the background of this picture. Comfy for Thais, not so much for plus-size Farang women.

After a tasty lunch, we browsed some more. I was in high shopping mode. I picked up a Japanese quilting magazine for my mom, tons of beautifully patterned cotton fabric, numerous spools of thread, and some fine crochet yarn for my friend back home. It was a beautiful, crafty haul.

I haven't begun projects with most of the materials yet, but I'm waiting for the right ideas to strike. These are once-in-a-lifetime treasures for me, so when I finally do make something, I want it to be the right something.

Secret Breakfast Ice Cream

What a great weekend. Got some work done on some important projects, started a new co-op video game with the Professor (yay Lego Harry Potter), and went to the first outdoor dinner party of the season. Productive, relaxing, and fun.

The food at the party was delicious: roast lamb with mint sauce, oven-roasted purple potatoes, and sauteed mustard greens. However, what keeps haunting me is the ice cream that one of the guests brought for dessert.


I'd never even heard of Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream before yesterday. This made me doubly sad since it opened just a few blocks from one of the offices I used to work for back in my nonprofit days.

We sampled two flavors, Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee and Secret Breakfast. What's so secret about this breakfast? Perhaps it's the toasted cornflakes. Or maybe it's the Jim Beam.

I am not a whiskey person at all. But the combination of creamy sweetness, crispy cereal bits, and bourbon bite had me almost swooning.I'd never had anything like it. Paired with the coffee flavor, it was the perfect decadent breakfast-themed dessert.

I think a visit to my old work-stomping grounds may be in order soon. Check out this list of flavors that Humphry Slocombe offers. I'm so very curious about the Russian Imperial Stout flavor. Or the Peanut Butter Curry. Or Government Cheese. Or...

[Photo by Krista Garcia]

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Since I've been relieved of corned beef detail for this year's St. Pat's shindig (hooray!), I've been freed up to come up with a festive dessert. "Irish Car Bomb" cupcakes it is!

Well, kind of. No whiskey, since I can't stand the stuff. But it is a Guinness Stout cupcake topped with Bailey's buttercream frosting (adapted from Dulcedo's recipe). Nummy.

Bonus is, you don't have to eat is as fast as you can. Unless you really want to.

Be safe out there if you're celebrating tonight!

PS: I'm totally cheating, but I'm calling this entry two on my 12-month cookbook challenge. I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages!

12-Month Cookbook Challenge

I have this odd addiction to cookbooks.

Much like craft supplies, I love the possibilities that cookbooks present. Just leafing through the glossy pages, I can imagine myself sitting down to the perfect provincial French supper or mastering a centuries-old Romanian recipe.

Take this seductive gastronomical fantasy, and couple it with my obsession with printed words in general, and you’ll see why I have stacks of cookbooks and beautiful cooking magazines. There’s only one problem…I rarely make ANYTHING out of them.

I hate to admit it, but I kind of suck at meal planning. I’m an impulsive chef. I have a few key dishes I always have ingredients for, and the rest I make up as I go along. I may think as far ahead as a couple days, but in the end, I rarely take the time to go through my books, make a proper list, and give myself enough time to shop, chop, and cook.

This year is the year that changes! At least, a little bit. I’ve set for myself a 12-month cookbook challenge, where I will plan and make a new dish every month from my neglected cookbooks and magazines.

I started with a cookbook I had long been admiring, but had never been able to get it together enough to use: My French Kitchen: A Book of Treasured Recipes by Joanne Harris & Fran Warde. Harris is a novelist, and as many of her titles can attest (Chocolat, Five Quarters of the Orange), food plays a huge part in her writing.

The dishes presented are surprisingly simple, calling for fresh vegetables, herbs, and good cuts of meat. There’s nothing too exotic or difficult (aside from the hard-to-find slab bacon), just a bit of time and a lot of chopping required.

This weekend I whipped up the Lentil and Toulouse Sausage Casserole. I did have the proper green lentilles du Puy on hand, though I could not find genuine Toulouse sausage at my nearby stores (and didn’t have time to take the bus to the Berkeley Bowl). So, I made a last minute substitution: turkey Kielbasa. Yes, cringe-worthy to many, but for me, it worked out just fine.

I’d never had French lentils before. I’m used to lentils being cooked to a paste, so to see the little legumes holding their shape so beautifully was a nice surprise. The taste was earthy yet herby, and perfectly warming on a cold January night. It was almost better the next day, once the flavors had a chance to “marry” a bit in the fridge.

I already think I know what book in next in the queue, but Valentine’s Day may change that up a bit if we decide to eat in. V-day is always a good excuse to get creative in the kitchen. Especially with desserts.

NaNoWriMo madness and Halloween recap

It's been a little quieter over here lately, I know. This time, I have a genuinely good reason, beyond the excitement of Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos, the thrill of the Giants winning the World Series, and the turmoil of the election season.

I have finally plunged off the deep end and straight into the vast, blue waters of National Novel Writing Month. It's something I've always wanted to do, but have always had some reason or other that I couldn't. Mostly work-related. Well, this year, little unemployed ol' me has run out of excuses.

I'm knee-deep in my first real novel, and I have to admit I'm loving it. I'm also having days of hating it, to be fair, but all in all, it's been amazingly freeing to sit down and just write every day.

All I can tell you now is that it's officially a high fantasy story of sorts (and here I thought I'd be writing a nice, marketable romance), which is as daunting as it is exciting. I never thought I'd be one of those people who wrote a book with a map in it (seriously, this was the reason I never read fantasy books when I was younger. I hated the idea of having to use a map).

But before I set out on this mad writing crusade, I did manage to squeeze in some holiday-related baking and crafting!

Usually for Halloween I go all out with the decorating and cooking, but this year I decided to mellow out a little. I'd put a lot of energy into some different holidays this year, and I felt like I deserved a bit of a respite.

So rather than baking a passel of cookies, I focused on one new recipe: quince turnovers.




This marks my first successful attempt at making pie crust, as well as with cooking with quince. An interesting fruit, that. Looks like a big, green apple, but once cooked becomes a lovely pink color.


I also finally, FINALLY finished stitching up the Halloween Ghosties I was working on last year from a free Annie Oakleaves pattern.



Here's a close-up of the brand-new one:



Last, but not least, were the touches I put together for the spouse's and my Halloween costumes.

I decided to be Maryann Forrester from True Blood, the wicked -- yet classy -- Maenad who plays the big bad in season 2. Considering my costume was mostly just a long black dress and hippie jewelry, I thought a little human heart would get the point across that Maryann is not to be trifled with:



I whipped it up in an evening out of felt and embroidery floss. I figured it'd be much more fun to have around than an ugly rubber heart.

There's one more project I have to share, but I feel like it deserves a post all its own. Not to mention, I should get writing! That book isn't going to write itself.

"Independencia" Dinner: The Conclusion

"Still Life with Parrot and Flag" by Frida Kahlo (1951)

[Note: You can read the first part of this culinary adventure in my previous post.]

When it comes to my memories of "authentic" Mexican cooking, I don't have much to pull on. From my childhood trips to Mexico, I remember mostly delicious homemade soup and restaurant food (including a Christmas Eve dinner of El Pollo Loco).

During the holidays, my mother would sometimes pull out all the stops, slaving over dishes like chiles rellenos with red sauce, bacalao (salted cod), romeritos (a rosemary-like herb) in mole, and flan napolitano. I would invariably reject these dishes (well, except the flan), wishing my Mama would make a roast or ham or some other nice, normal American dish. Now I wish I'd been able to appreciate it more.

We still sometimes do the "traditional" Mexican-American Christmas dishes of tamales and pozole (pork and hominy soup), but time and taste has keep these old-world dishes off the holiday table for years.

So, it was with a real sense of adventure that I embarked on my mole-making quest. I'd rejected the 25-ingredient black mole recipe from Frida's Fiestas, figuring the red mole would be a little more manageable.

A quick note about mole: it is not "Mexican chocolate sauce." Almost all mole recipes are chili-based, with a mish-mash of ingredients that can include a bit of chocolate. This red mole recipe didn't incorporate chocolate at all, instead relying on cinnamon, allspice, and cloves for its spice, and roasted tomatoes and plantain for its base. It also included boiled pork loin, along with some potatoes and masa-based dumplings.

It was a deceptively complex recipe, full of roasting, blending, straining, and stirring. In other words, a lot of steps that I could mess up. I soaked the dried chilies for 20 seconds, not 20 minutes. The dumplings dissolved completely into the sauce. I even burned the sauce, leaving chunks of blackened potato at the bottom of the pot (we transferred pots, though, so it didn't completely ruin the mole).

The results:

Okay, mole doesn't photograph well at all. Just image the scent of roasted chilies, pork, tomatoes, spice...yum. I'll admit, all the little errors added up to a dish that didn't quite blow my mind, but it was definitely not a failed meal...

...especially when it ended with delicious flan.


Even after dessert, there was still one last thing to do to make our Independencia celebration complete: we had to hear the Grito de Dolores.
It's not a song, but a speech that is made every year on the eve of Independence. It's the battle-cry that the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla gave in Dolores in 1810, to rally the people to rebel against their Spanish colonial government. This rebellion became the start of the full-on war for independence. Or so the story goes.
The Mexican president makes the speech from the National Palace in Mexico City, with thousands of people coming out to hear. This year's was extra-special, being the bicentennial, and was followed with an incredible fireworks display. Even if you don't speak Spanish, take a peek and see what I'm talking about:

I have to admit, I got a bit misty-eyed. Even sitting in my Bay Area apartment, with only a few loved ones, and even a day later, I felt a deep connection to my birth-country like I haven't in a long, long time. I suddenly wasn't worried about making "perfect" mole or representing my culture "correctly." I wasn't thinking about immigration reform in the US, or the drug wars ravaging Mexico. For one moment, I was just another Mexican, proud and free. It was...powerful.

So, all in all, it was a successful celebration. Mama has promised to show me how to make better mole when I come home for Christmas, and I think I may try some simpler dishes from the cookbook before then. It should be fun.

I hope ya'll enjoyed my culinary adventure/history lesson/trip down memory lane. Food is famous for bringing up feelings and memories, and this meal was no exception!