Cooking with Reyna Mendoza

Cooking with Reyna Mendoza at her home in Teotitlán de Valle was like a dream come true. We walked to the market and shopped for ingredients. Then we cooked in her outside kitchen.

Reyna heating sesame seeds on a very large comal heated by wood.

The ingredients for pipian sauce which are ground by hand on a metate.

Jitomates searing on a comal for roasted tomate salsa.

A wild aguacate which has a very thick skin.

Market in Teotitlán de Valle

The market in Teotitlán de Valle that we went to as part of a cooking class with Reyna Mendoza Ruiz, is one of the best markets that I have ever visited. It is open from 8:00 until 11:00 every day and has seasonal products grown in the area.



There are turkey eggs.



There is fresh cheese, quesillo and queso fresco, brought there daily from El Tule, Oaxaca. When you buy cheese, it is taken out of the wooden form and wrapped in fresh corn leaves.

This is the season for zapote negro, a fruit that is dearly loved by Mexicans. It is ready to eat when it is so soft that it must be handled delicately. The green skin is very thin, like a pear skin. The interior is dense, very dark chocolate-y brown, and has four seeds the size of almonds. It is served for dessert by cutting a wedge and eating with a spoon. The texture and taste is like cooked sweet potato. It is also made into ice cream.

These are fresh garbanzos in the pod.

Faces

These women are Zapotecs and were at the market in Teotitlán de Valle.

Los Niños Dios

February 2 is a big holy day in Mexico, el Día de la Candelaria, celebrated 40 days after Christmas. There are several Masses today to which people bring special dolls dressed as los Niños Dios to church to be blessed along with candles and seeds.

The people have been getting these dolls prepared for several days, bringing them to the market where they outfit the dolls with clothes, flowers, crowns, hats, shoes, special chairs, etc. for presentation in the temple. There are many different outfits to choose from, each significant to the church, but you will also see the dolls dressed as doctors, nurses, or soccer players. The dolls are available in many different sizes. It is common to see little children with small dolls and adults with larger dolls.

Tonight there are fiestas in homes with tamales, atole and hot chocolate. The party is hosted by the person who found a tiny plastic Jesus in her piece of the Rosca (special bread shaped as a ring) served on January 6. My neighbor is hosting a tamaliza for us tonight.

After the party, el Niño Jesus is placed in a special place in the house where it remains until the following Christmas when it is placed in the manger.

This marks the end of the Christmas season and tomorrow all the poinsettias will be removed from the Zócalo.

Mercado Tlacalula

Sundays are the busiest days for the market in the town of Tlacalula, about 25 minutes east of Oaxaca.The market covers several blocks and is open-air and within buildings. The bus ride costs just under a dollar one-way, but the experience is priceless.

Las manos are lined up like rolling pins ready to use for grinding.

Molcajetes come in different sizes and are usually painted like pigs or bulls. They are used to grind ingredients for salsas, especially guacamole.

These metates are painted with the message "in memory of my parents", and are ready with dried corn ready for test-grinding with un mano. You would grind ingredients like tomatoes, cinnamon, nuts, or cochineal.

If you need slingshots, I know where to get them. Garlic, anyone? Turkeys-to-go.

Juana

When I went to Teotitlán de Valle I bought a rug that was woven by Juana Chavez. Juana was gracious enough to pose with the rug that I have placed at the foot of the bed in the apartment. It is made of wool that was carded and spun by hand, then dyed with natural carmine from cochineal, and woven by Juana. The designs are Zapotecan, the largest indigenous group in Oaxaca, and Juana's ancestry.

Ways to go!

Within four blocks, within 10 minutes, I took photos of these four cars. A green Dodge. A light green Chevrolet that the owner drove away two seconds after I took the photo. An old black "vocho" Volkswagon that needed a block of wood as a brake. A blue Ford.