Mexico over Christmas and New Years

I am going to open up this post on Mexico with my 2 favorite things to eat there: Tacos and Sopes. Oh how I love sopes, especially for breakfast...

Sopes originated in the city of Culiacan and are made from maza, like the kind used in traditional tortillas, but is smaller and thicker than a tortilla with slightly raised edges. These edges allow you to pile up all the tastey ingredients you want and not make a mess, they are still a bit messy. 80% of the time sopes begin with a layer of refried beans then are piled with meat or chicken and then cheese and salsa. Some times they will have lettuce, tomato and Mexican creama witch is similar to cream or sour cream just thinner. Here is a picture of my sope breakfast from the "Sope Guy" in Tequisquiapan (aka my home town).



"Sope Guy"

 If you look closely you can see that these have both green and red salsa and are topped with white cheese (the Mexican flag).






Now I will talk about Tacos... There is certainly a Taco for every occasion and this trip that occasion was Bull Fighting. Mexico City houses the largest Bull Fighting ring in the entire world known as the Plaza de Toros Mexico. It is a very important facility not just for its size but its credibility as well. If you are a bull fighter and choose to be inducted there are only two rings in the world that will facilitate an induction fight, Plaza de Toros Mexico and then I believe the bull ring in Madrid.

When the bull fights come to town El Villamelon opens its door to sell the patrons tacos, really good tacos at that. The decor alone is worth fighting the crowd, and since this place is only open Thur-Sun when there is a fight there is always a crowd. The walls are adorned with mounts of bulls from fights past, portraits of Matadors even a replica of a famous Goya painting. You can see the employees cutting down meat and chorizo for the tacos and cooking away. And did I mention there is a great view of the Bull Ring entrance since it is just accross the street?

Unfortunatley since my dad orderes that Tacos I am not entirely sure what was in them but I'll give it a guess... Bistec (which is thinly cut steak), chorizo, chicharones (pork rinds), and cheese. Yummy!
We also had quesadillas with Bistec and beans.

My brother Tito crying over how good his quesadilla was... what a clown

Cochinita Pibil
In my opinion cochinita pibil is the coq au vin (cocovan) of Mexico. This dish is made in Yucatan by slow roasting an entire suckling pig in citrus such as lemon, lime, bitter oranges as well as achiote. This gives the dish its red color. The final product looks much like a southern pulled pork and is eaten with vinagered onions and chilies, guacamole, and tortillas.

We ate this at a beautiful Hacienda outside of Queretaro and had Escamole for an appetizer. Escamole is an aunt egg dish. The eggs are harvested in the state of Hidalgo in early spring and look a bit like cottage cheese with a slight nutty taste. They are eaten in a taco with guacamole.

Finishing with something sweet:

While we were walking the city of Bernal my mom and I spotted the most fabulous looking bread of all varieties. Next to the bread stand was a young girl grilling some sort of puffy pastry on a flat top. Lets just say it was one of the BEST things I have ever tasted. Hot, fluffy, light (in texture not calories haha), and made from nata which is a sweet cream. DAMN!!!