otorrinolaringólogo

Did you know that's one of Chef Mark's favorite words? Well I didn't know either, until today, when I had to see one for myself. It means otorhinolaryngologist, or ear nose throat (ENT) doctor.

My worsening sore throat had me worried, especially since it coincided with another flare-up of the canker sores I've been carrying around for a month. So Chef took me to the dentist around the corner from the Instituto, who probed around in my mouth and took pictures with this baton she inserted into my mouth cavity.

She suggested topical treatments (iodine rinse and anesthetic), which we purchased at the pharmacy. Chef took the opportunity to get a free consultation with the doctor stationed at the pharmacy for the ENT things he'd been experiencing. (Honestly, they should have free doctor consults at pharmacies everywhere.)



While I was gone, my culinary cohorts were instructed by Señora Soledad on how to make potato leek soup (seen here being colored/thickened by hard-boiled egg yolks mashed to a paste with some broth). I was eventually able to try some of this but the potatoes were still too hard for me to swallow.



They also made caper sauce, with poached chicken pieces added in as seen here.



I got back in time to help with some of the prep for mole negro tomorrow. We seeded three different types of chile, in order from left to right: chilhuacle (the most expensive and often omitted), pasilla mexicano, and mulato.



Of course, the whole experience of seeding chiles reminded me of my time making mole in Chef Hammerich's section, except there were no bugs this time.



The other prep we did for mole included toasting the peppers, frying bread, and sauteeing onion/garlic/almonds/sesame.



To take advantage of the tamarind tree on the Instituto grounds, we went pod-picking. Nick, being the tallest, was tasked with getting the pods while I simply held the bucket.



Then all of us went to town separating the flesh from the pods. Tomorrow we'll be making a tamarind drink out of this.



In the afternoon I went to an otorrinolaringólogo, as the dentist suggested. He prescribed many things, including an oral gel mouth rinse, an immune system-boosting liquid, and an antiviral. Despite the supposedly mouth-numbing properties of the mouth rinse, it still hurt badly to eat, so much so that I cried while trying to coax down porridge.



Thankfully there are more liquid foods in the supermarket, and I was able to stock up in the evening with some variety: yogurt drinks, jello, soup packets, and... baby food! Baby food is delicious. I'm sure one day I'll be feeding it to my baby and sneaking spoonfuls for myself.

la casa de los sabores: day 2

We assembled at the cooking school once again, prepared to be divided in half so one group could go to the market while the other prepped. But Chef Pilar took us all, instead, to the Benito Juarez Market. It was huge and filled with stalls crammed with items of every sort. Brought back memories of other markets in other countries.



We bought dried chiles of many kinds.



And also a lot of vegetables - this is Chef Pilar's favorite stand.



There we discovered the Mexican specialty of huitlacoche - basically moldy corn but with a flavor comparable to blue cheese/mushroom/truffle.



After grocery shopping a couple of us lingered too long (ok fine, maybe we were buying things) at a piñata stand and got separated from the rest of the group. We managed to make our way back to the cooking school despite Chef Mark not picking up our phone calls.

The menu for today focused on chiles - two types of chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles) and some super spicy salsas.

One of the chiles rellenos was stuffed with picadillo - chicken (or any other meat) sauteed with tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, almonds, raisins and lots of spices (allspice, clove, cinnamon, oregano, thyme - which I got to ground up with pestle and mortar).



The chiles for this were dried pasilla chiles, which were rehydrated before being stuffed.



Then they were floured and battered in meringue (which included a bit of flour and some yolks for color) before being fried.



The other type of chiles rellenos were made with fresh chiles de agua, and stuffed with black beans and cheese.



As with every meal, we had to make lots and lots of tortillas. Chef said he wouldn't let us leave the country unless we learned how to make a proper tortilla. And it seems simple, with the tortilla press and all, but they can rip easily, and the hardest part is laying them down on the comal flat. I got really into it and laid down a bunch of flat ones (after the first one failed).



By the end of everything we had a sizable feast assembled.



I tried to place a shot of mezcal on my plate but it fell over. But the alcohol soaking the food wasn't even a problem compared to how spicy the meal was! All of us were grunting and panting in agony (but kept on going because everything was tasty). I think the habanero salsa (disguised as green chile sauce) got a lot of us.



Afterward I went back to the Benito Juarez Market and got myself a new pair of sandals because my other ones got broken. The first two stands I encountered had merchants that were not very nice, but then I encountered a nice old lady and rooted myself at her stand, determined to buy from her just because she was being so patient and kind while I tried on pair after pair. I left a happy customer.



It was very hot so I went back to the hotel to get into the pool, where the water was colder than our showers. By the time I got out I longed for a hot shower, thinking it wouldn't be possible. But I got in the shower and hot water miraculously poured out - my first hot shower in Oaxaca! Hopefully it won't be the last.

Had dinner at a sushi place - more expensive than the local food of course, but there's only so much tortilla I can eat, even if I do love making them...

la casa de los sabores: day 1

We headed over to the cooking school in the morning, a couple of us toting knife bags from home. But lo and behold, everything we might ever possibly need was already laid out for us on this table:



Since our group was so large, we were split in half so one group could go to the market (mainly to get corn ground up) and the rest would stay and help prep. Since I wasn't feeling that well after diarrheal episodes during the night, I opted to stay.

These cubed mangoes and pineapple were the only prep we did. It made me feel like a volunteer really, at least where I work the staff takes care of everything and we just come up with small tasks so volunteers have something to do and feel useful.



When the market group came back that's when the real prep began in earnest. Some of us (mainly the guys) made tamales filled with a savory corn mixture (mainly corn with some cream and a bit of sugar).



The corn husk tip was folden down and the sides folded in, and the bundle was tied with a corn husk string.



The wrapped tamales were set in the steamer to cook.



Meanwhile others (mainly the girls) made sweet tamales with a pineapple filling.



Chiles and tomatillos were grilled on the comal for green salsa.



Everything was ground up with mortar and pestle.



We also made tortillas. Lots of them. The masa was first rolled into balls.



Then flattened with the tortilla press and either grilled plain on the comal or filled and folded into empanadas.



The empanadas were fried in oil.



Sadly I felt too sick to help anymore so I went and laid down, and was out for pretty much the rest of the day.

Managed to make it outside to forage for dinner - got carrots and yogurt from the supermarket, rice and hard-boiled eggs from the lady outside the supermarket, and mangoes and cucumbers from another lady down the block.



Not bad for a foraged dinner.

first day

Stayed up late last night waiting for everybody to arrive. Apparently a volcano near Puebla, Mexico, erupted, so flights were delayed an hour (and no wonder Mexico City looked so smoggy in our plane transfer). After everybody checked in, some of the guys were hungry so we ventured out... to a sandwich stand in front of a hospital. It was the only food around, it being midnight and everything. This lady assembled sandwiches in the dark. (No, none of us got sick.)



The morning started early at the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca (ICO), where we had a surprise awaiting us in the kitchen - breakfast! We assembled eagerly around this long wooden bench.



Señora Soledad, a cook since the age of 9, taught us how to make hot chocolate the Oaxacan way. You start with hot water and bars of chocolate. Once all the chocolate is dissolved you pour the mixture into a jarro (jar) and roll the molinillo (wooden implement) between your hands until the chocolate foams up.



And then you pour it into a cup and enjoy it with some bread (or pastry of choice).



Then we had an introduction to all the traditional kitchen implements we'll be using, such as the mortar and pestle (el molcajete y el tejolote), the tortilla roller/spice grinder (el metate, which Soledad demonstrated on her hands and knees as it is traditionally used on the ground), and all the different clay jars that impart earthly flavors upon the dishes.



After that we had a short orientation to Oaxaca, and then onto Spanish class. We were separated into different levels depending on our level of fluency, with me and two others in the intermediate/advanced class. We talked all about food, which was brutal considering it was the afternoon and we hadn't even had lunch break yet. Also some mosquitos bit me through my leggings, which was vicious and scary since I didn't think it would ever happen here.



After class Chef took us to La Hormiga, the best torta stand around. The lunch crowd was huge.



I ordered a torta tinga (spicy chicken). We ate it in the square where all the couples make out because they can't do it at home (socially conservative Catholic country and all).



For dessert, Cris and I got churros at this small place that pretty much only sold churros. And all the churros were piped by this cool machine.



After lunch we went on a walking tour of Oaxaca city center, where many many churches abounded. We stopped at the beautiful cathedral I mentioned in the last post. Apparently the inside is even more beautiful (all gold, and everywhere).



The tour ended at El Origen, a famous restaurant here in Oaxaca. The chef, Rodolfo Castellanos, is currently competing for the title of Best Chef in Mexico. And later he'll be teaching us a workshop!

Dinner was exquisite, featuring such delicacies as soft-boiled egg, octopus, and this sous vide chicken.



By the end of the day we were very full (in all senses of the word). Can't wait to actually get our hands on and start cooking tomorrow!

landed!

Spent the last week in Guadalajara (with side trips to Puerto Vallarta and the town of Tequila). Today Cris and I flew from Guadalajara to Oaxaca, where we will be starting a three week culinary program led by our beloved pastry chef instructor Mark Hodgson.



Since we arrived earlier than the rest of our CCSF cohorts, we had some time to explore Oaxaca. Our transfer to the hotel was facilitated by a super enthusiastic foodie of a taxi driver (and thank goodness too, because as it turns out there are two Instituto Culturals in Oaxaca, so we had to do some asking around). Even though I knew that our small villa of a hotel was equipped with a pool, I still found it to be nicer than expected.



The first thing we did after dropping off our stuff was to find sustanance. At a small cart around the corner was a lady selling these gorditas - corn tortillas filled with shredded chicken and some finger-lickin' good yellow mole sauce.



We ate and walked to a restaurant we had passed earlier in the taxi, called El Rojo Gato. They had a menu del dia (fixed daily special) of spaghetti, beef milanese, ice cream and hibiscus tea. We ate and then went across the street to Carmelita Bakery for a lime meringue tart.



The afternoon was spent settling in. Each of our rooms is equipped with a kitchenette so we can do some light cooking.



This is the bedroom I'll be sharing with Sydney!



For dinner we walked around town until we found a tucked-away spot with colorful tablecloths and traditional Oaxacan cuisine. We ordered the platter that had a little bit of everything: tamale, plantains, emapanadas, pico de gallo, tortilla chips, all sorts of meat.



Then of course we had to walk all of that off, and discovered that Oaxaca is quiet yet still active at night.



And now we wait for the rest of the group to arrive!!!