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After a couple of days, we finally figured out how to get the wireless internet to work in our room (and the cell phone too - HI MOM!) My first time in Oaxaca, and I'm already seduced and smitten... time here moves at a different pace, and I have slowed down to it... Since I'm admittedly a "foodie" when I'm not a "beadie" we're definitely exploring... looking, smelling, tasting.... One of the first thing we did when heading out, is to go to the market. This is the Benito Juarez Market, a large (mostly food) market. Usually crowded with women, buying stuff to cook at home. All the women are really short, and none of the women you see in this picture are over 4 feet 3 inches...so at 5'9" I feel like a basketball player here.
We're staying at an adorable bed and breakfast, with only two rooms (and right now we're the only guests), and the proprietor Oscar Carrizosa is a very charming host. The place, like many Oaxacan buildings has a plain door facing the street, and then a lush inner courtyard, from where the rooms open. This is the inner courtyard, and the door to our bedroom is just to the left of the two arched windows.
I'm amazed at how picturesque disrepair can look here. Pretty much everywhere you look, whether "nice" or not...there is a picture waiting to be taken. This is half a block from where we are staying, and it is some sort of Engineering outfit.
This is from inside a church, looking out. (It was too dark to take any pictures inside the church, since you weren't allowed to use a flash. But it is beautiful I promise!) Lot of the downtown are is restored, and some streets are blocked of from traffic. Houses are painted in bright colors I love it, it looks so good here, but it wouldn't work almost anywhere else...It is something special about Mexico!
Today, Oscar was going to give us a cooking class, and Leo had requested to learn how to make chocolate. So this morning, we headed to another local market to pick up the ingredients. Then back at the inn, Oscar showed us how to toast the Cocoa Beans on a Comal ( a ceramic plate atop the gas stove.) We also toasted some almonds...Then we brought the almonds, cocoa beans, cinnamon sticks and sugar to the local chocolate "grinder."
Here are the ingredients ready for milling the firs time (it happens twice, first without the sugar, then with sugar.)
After the milling, we brought the "loot" back to the inn, (but not before stopping on the way for a taste of the warm cocoa paste. Mmm....) The friction turns the cocoa fat warm, which melts the fat in the ground cacao beans and the whole mixture is just delish as is!) But we headed back, where we patted the chocolate paste into little molds, that eventually will be dried/set. And I'll be bringing some of my own self-made chocolate home!
Of course we couldn't wait for the chocolate to set completely before making a pot of hot chocolate. Here is Oscar serving the freshly made hot chocolate. Sweet, chocolate-y with a hint of cinnamon and almonds...Heavenly!.
The fruit of our labor....(re-defining home-made hot chocolate) served with just some plain white fresh bread. I REALLY think it is the best chocolate I've ever had...(Joaquin, you would have loved it! We'll save you some!)
Tomorrow we're going to take another cooking class with a woman who lives in a village outside Oaxaca. I'm bringing my camera...Oh, and I bought some handmade ceramic beads today- but I haven't photographed them yet. Maybe tomorrow! BACK TO THE....main page |
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GREETINGS FROM OAXACA-
MEXICO
