el origen

Today we went back to El Origen, where we had our welcome dinner and our session with La Teca. However, this time we were being taught by El Origen's chef himself.

Chef Rodolfo took us to Mercado Abastos to shop for produce - conveniently the one big market I hadn't gone to yet. When we came back to the restaurant he sat us down and gave us the low-down on the five course meal we would be creating. And by low-down, I mean everything he came up with between the market and the restaurant. Because he didn't have a set menu.

In the kitchen, Chef didn't divide us into stations. He had his hands in everything, and so did we.

The first dish on the menu was sopa de guías, or soup of the guides, so named because it utilizes all parts of the squash plant (the squash vines guiding you to all parts of the plant).



Besides squash blossoms, vines, leaves and the squash itself, the soup also had corn and lots and lots of fresh herbs. Whose leaves had to be picked by hand, by Jen and I. (And this is why fine dining restaurants are like sweatshops.)



The second dish was the famed grilled octopus salad, which we had the chance to enjoy before at the welcome dinner. Beside octopus there was purslane, other herbs, radish, avocado criollo (local, with edible skins), mustard vinaigrette and artichoke chips.



The octopus was cleaned and boiled in a court bouillon until soft (at that point it tasted almost like boiled pork!) Then it was cut apart, marinated in a chili paste and grilled over wood charcoal. Krizol and I helped with cutting it.



The third course featured seafood - namely crawfish and grouper, beautifully presented. Hidden between were caramelized spring onion and carrot, garlic chips and an orange shrimp sauce to go with.



For this one I helped halve the crawfish, which were then seasoned with oil/salt/garlic and grilled. The grouper was poached in seasoned olive oil.



The fourth course featured pork tenderloin, and was accompanied by a creamy quince sauce and mole manchemantel (onions, ancho/guajillo chiles, thyme/oregano, cinnamon/clove/allspice). As is typical in mole manchemantel, plantains/sweet potato/pineapple were all present.



After being brined in a flavorful liquid including oranges, the pork tenderloins were wrapped in hoja santa and then bacon. I got to wrap one :)



The last dish was a twist on baked alaska. Mamon bread (Mexican sponge?), cooked pineapple, leche quemada (burnt milk) ice cream, and torched meringue on top. I helped make the tuna (cactus fruit) coulis which dotted the plate.



All in all very fine dining, and very contemporary Oaxacan cuisine. I have a feeling I would learn a lot just hanging out with Chef Rodolfo...

forage & fish

Today Susana took us mushroom foraging and then to a trout farm. The morning started out with an hour-long drive up into the mountains, some 10,000 meters above sea level. The scene that greeted us was rather prehistoric-looking, like we were lost in the land before time with these giant agave plants.



We trekked and trampled about in three different forest areas to find mushrooms. The first two hikes generated very little finds. Almost all of the mushrooms we did find were inedible. Like this one.



And this one.



In the middle of the second hike I found this mushroom and got very excited. Sadly, the guide pronounced it no good because it smelled bad (or, as Chef Mark put it: "Jo found a doo-doo mushroom!").



The high altitude and the hiking and the lack of mushrooms tired me out really quick. I spent most of my time looking down on the ground and photographing flowers.



Toward the end of our second hike, it started raining. Hard. Despite our best efforts to book it toward the van, we still got really really soaked. And once inside the van, some of us (including me) didn't bother to get out again for the third foraging location, even though the rain had stopped by then and the edible mushrooms proved plentiful.



Then we drove to Doña Lucia's, a cabin in the woods with trout ponds in front of it. We dried ourselves off by the wood fire in the back of the house, then netted enough trout for us each to have one.



The freshly caught trout proved very jumpy - almost leaping out of the bucket that contained them. We were shown how to gut and clean the fish, but I was reluctant to because I didn't want to make a jumpy fish a non-jumpy one. So I waited until the fishes became non-jumpy in the bucket and then gutted and cleaned an already dead one.



Inside the cabin, the cleaned trout were cooked for a late lunch. Some were grilled over coals.



Others were seasoned (chipotle or garlic) and cooked in foil wrappings.



Although we were all starving by the time that food was ready, everything was worth the wait. We had breaded and fried mushrooms, marinated mushrooms, mushroom soup, then all of the fresh trout. Fish never tasted so good.

seasons of my heart

Today we went to Susana Trilling's reknowned cooking school, Seasons of My Heart. We started off with a cheese demonstration from a woman named Silvia.

There are three main types of cheese here: queso fresco (similar to ricotta), requesón (made from the reheating of whey leftover from queso fresco), and quesillo (similar to mozzarella and known as Oaxacan cheese outside of Oaxaca). Silvia showed us how to make queso fresco and quesillo.

For queso fresco you take raw cow's milk (preferably straight from the cow) and pass it through the stomach of an animal (where there are enzymes to curdle the milk). The milk is then left to curdle for about half an hour, when the curds will start sinking. The mixture is passed through a cheesecloth to drain out the water. And then you get queso fresco, not unlike ricotta. (The water (or whey) that's left over can be reheated, and the curds derived from that are called requesón).



For quesillo, the curds from queso fresco are left to ferment. The fermented curd is then rehydrated by adding hot water, which makes the curd melt. The melted curd is stirred, and then the water is drained off and the resulting cheese is kneaded like a dough.



The cheese is then stretched into a long rope, and rubbed all over with sea salt. The rope is then wrapped around itself to form balls.



For special occasions Silvia will make the cheese balls extra fancy, with the help of some toothpicks.



Then we had an almuerzo (almost like brunch) of tomato soup, queso fresco, black beans, and tortillas. Stomachs full, we listened to Susana go over all the dishes we would be making in the afternoon (huitlacoche empanadas, garlic squash blossom soup, beet salad, pork mole amarillo, and chocolate budin). Then we were divided into groups to tackle the dishes.

Jennie and I ended up together on the dessert, chocolate budin (bread pudding). The recipe was created by Susana to showcase Oaxacan chocolate.



First we soaked some raisins in mezcal, and simmered that on the stove til the raisins absorbed most of the mezcal.



Then we cut bolillo bread into cubes and toasted them.



Then while Jennie melted Oaxacan chocolate with coffee and salt I mixed together eggs, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, cream and sour cream. Then everything we've worked on up until this point all got combined.



The mixture was spooned into buttered glass cups, which went into a baking pan filled with hot water. That went into a 350F oven to bake for a little over an hour.



While the chocolate budin cups were baking, we set to work on the accompanying sauce. First we juiced a bunch of oranges. The juice was combined with sugar and reduced over heat until the juice became syrupy. Then pureed strawberries and cointreau were added.



We also whipped some cream with vanilla and powdered sugar for garnish. After that there wasn't anything left to do so I went around helping other stations and snapping photos.

When the chocolate buding was ready (knife inserted came out clean), they were taken out of the oven and the cups were upended over a rack to cool. We were then told to sit down while the school's staff plated and served us.



Huitlacoche (and quesillo) empanadas



Garlic and squash blossom soup (with hierba santa, cubes of manchego cheese and toasted bread pieces)



Beet salad



Mole amarillo with pork, vegetables, rice and plantains



And last but not least, the chocolate boudin dessert.



Overall a very satisfying day. Susana even gifted us each a molinillo and a packet of Oaxacan chocolate! Now I'll be able to make chocolate con agua at home.

free weekend: 2 of 2

Woke up early today for a massage with Margarita, the healer at Casa del Angel. While Cris had his massage I wanted to get a pedicure, so Margarita called her friend over. Her friend thought I had wanted fake nails, so she didn't bring any of her nail polish. She called somebody else to bring some for her, but all the shops were closed since it was Sunday. So I offered to go with her to her house. That started an hour-long adventure in which I walked a long way with her mom and aunt, got to practice my Spanish, and ended up at the Mexican version of Costco in front of this nail polish display.



Chose the color I wanted and got to take public transit back to Casa del Angel. It seemed to me that Ann, my pedicurist, didn't actually do pedicures, but with the both of us working on my toes we actually got it done. And then I had my massage with Margarita, who literally shifted the energies in my body - I could feel the heat emanating from her hands. Also she told me that my left shoulder feels dislocated. It's a lot lower than my right shoulder, most probably from years and years of carrying my purse on my left side.

After the massages we went to Marco Polo, a restaurant known for its seafood. I got wood-fired red snapper, covered in shrimp and corn and bell pepper and melted manchego cheese.



Then we wander downtown for museums, and it was just our luck that Sunday = free museum day! First we stumbled upon the stamp museum, where there were stamps from all around the world, as well as an extensive collection of Mexican stamps and artifacts, including letters written by Frida Kahlo and even certificates of stocks she purchased!



Then we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, where we ran into Chef Mark and looked at lots of what he called "weird things". I liked this wall decal/graffiti the best. The words read: "don't die with your music still in you".



Afterward we went to the frozen yogurt place right next to Burger King. The toppings were extensive, as with any Pinkberry or Yogurtland back in the states. But the yogurt was very different. It was like whipped cream, only with that yogurty tartness.



For dinner we tried out the Moroccan place a couple blocks away from the hotel. I got the chicken & vegetable couscous, which was very much like comfort food. Our bill wasn't comforting though - just like lunch, we paid as much as we would've for a restaurant meal back in the states. Might have to resort to eating leftovers for the rest of the trip...

free weekend: 1 of 2

This is our last weekend in Oaxaca, and also a free weekend. There was talk of going to the beach (6 hours away) or paragliding or rockclimbing, but with the hurricane/tropical storm coming through, all plans were scrapped. Just as well, because I'm happy to take it easy.

First thing in the morning was pochote market, a pop-up market only on Fridays and Saturdays. I had it on my shortlist of things to do in Oaxaca, but as with the other things on my list, I don't write down why I want to go there so I had no idea what to expect.

Cris and I spent a hour walking in circles and asking different people for directions (with all of them saying different things in differing levels of certainty). In the end we found a taxi driver that actually knew where it was, and thank goodness too because we were about to abandon all hope. Turns out it was close to our hotel and we should have just followed Chef Mark's instructions.

So the distinguishing thing about this market is that it sells organic (local/sustainable/etc) stuff. When I saw this bike-powered blender (and coffee bean grinder), it reminded me of Brooklyn and made me realize that the market was targeted toward gringos.



But nevermind, we walked through and sampled things, ecstatic to find delicious goat cheese and honey and chocolate nut bread. The Italian man running this stand gave us a bunch of samples, including Korean-style sushi!



On the way back from the market we saw this graffiti, which has become my favorite. In the women's hair is written "liberty", "equality", "respect".



Afterward we went and got lunch at my favorite, El Quinque. Cris got the breakfast burrito, which was delectable (bacon, egg, mushroom, cheese, rice). The burrito was grilled after assembly which made it crispy outside and gooey inside. Mmm...



Then we went to the museum located inside Sainto Domingo church, in what used to be the convent. It was a beautiful space with gothic arches, columns, and breezy walkways. What marred the experience though, was that the ticket lady shorted us change, and even after I confronted her and she gave me a couple more coins, I was left to discover that she shroted us again. This left me really indignant because she must be shorting visitors right and left to fill her own coffers...



Anyway, in one corner of the museum was a library filled with centuries-old books and ancient manuscripts. Some of the covers had completely worn away. Reminded me of how awe-inspiring the rare book collection at the Morgan Library is.



The rest of the museum featured exhibits of Oaxacan/Mexican history, from the pre-Columbian era to the present. There were also artifacts salvaged from the tombs at Monte Alban. Lots of amazing figurines.



For dinner we went to Burger King. I know, I know. But in our defense Cris had gotten sick from eating at a food stand and didn't trust local food anymore. Burger King wasn't that great. We might try McDonald's?