Everyone needs to eat to live. That is a basic truth. Now, what you eat depends on what is available and that varies from country to country and even region to region within a country. The local variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, fish and spices all affect what you will eat and how it is prepared. Through the wonders of refrigeration and modern transportation methods, you can enjoy foods from other regions without having to travel there.
When I was taking classes at the New York University Language School in Manhattan, I would leave home early so that I could have a meal at different restaurants in different ethnic neighborhoods before class, with cuisines from Italy, India, Ukraine and Afghanistan, among others. When I gave my son my car, we drove it together from Maryland to his home in Denver and enjoyed many foods typical in The Southern States.
Living in Mexico, I get to enjoy Mexican food. However, because I am intolerant to chili peppers, I need to be careful when eating out. When I am in my own home, I prepare the local produce according to my own taste.
Recipes for baking are often configured to yield enough food for many people, not just a single person. Since I love to bake, I have often shared the resulting meals with my neighbors, and one of the first things I shared was my apple pie.
Freshly made apple pies for the weekend crowd
Since my neighbor Lourdes had opened her restaurant, La Casita del Café, she shared the pie with her customers and they loved it, so she asked me to begin providing them for her menu. Since the customers felt that individual-size pies were more appealing than slices from a large one, I bought molds and now make them as personal-size pies. However, if someone is having an event, I do occasionally make one large pie by special request.
Apple pie ready to be served to a customer
The next dish I made was vegetarian lasagna. I was very surprised at how the Mexicans loved my non-Mexican food. However, the preparation of the pies, starting with a crate of apples, and the preparation of the lasagna was very time-consuming, so, while I still make the pies, I taught Lourdes how to make the lasagna. I’m very specific about the ingredients, and I’ve learned not to make any changes myself. I once switched out the local spinach that I use for a “new variety.” Turns out, the new variety was very bitter. I hadn’t told anyone about the change, but the customers hated it. Lesson learned.
Lasagna served with bread, salad and salad dressing
Enjoying my lasagna dinner at La Casita del Café
For a while, I also supplied ice pops (popsicles) – water-based made with fruit. With those, I was told something that I had not anticipated. I was told to add green food coloring to the lemonade pops. When I asked why, I learned that the color yellow is associated with pineapple, and what we call limes are called “limones” and are green. It is extremely rare to find anything with yellow lemons here, so “limonada” is made from limes. Therefore, even though I had bought imported yellow lemons to make the popsicles, they wouldn’t sell unless I added green food coloring. However, they still didn’t sell enough to make it worth while, so I no longer make them.
In my family, my mother had a recipe for chocolate cream cheese brownies. Once grandchildren were in the picture, they were referred to as Grandma Ryan’s Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies. They are difficult to make, and therefore a bit time-consuming, so I rarely made them in the past and now I only make them by special request for special occasions. They are also a big hit here.
Grandma Ryan’s famous chocolate cream cheese brownies
So, even though it is a bit of a joke among my family and my friends in both countries that I am a caricature of a gringa who cannot tolerate hot, spicy food, I have built a bridge through baking. Below are photos of the various items on the menu.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the culinary adventure that I have had here in my little corner of Mexico, and I wish you safe travels and as wonderful an experience trying different foods, even if it is in a different state or a nearby neighborhood.
American-style food
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