A Saturday Brunch at Home

[Don Cuevas]

We are hosting a brunch today at our house. It's partly to welcome home some of our part time expat neighbors, a gatherng of friends, and also to take advantage of the wealth of fine produce available now.

A week ago yesterday, a new, one day a week mercado was opened in Pátzcuaro as a sales outlet for some very fine specialty produce, baked goods, some ducks, and, this week, homemade fresh sausages,. It's called "Mercado Buen Provecho". Some of the exotic vegetables have never been seen in mercados or supermarkets here before. Of course, they fetch a premium price for their superior freshness and taste. You can read more about it on my blog.
mexkitchen.blogspot.com/

Due to various unfortunate circumstances: a hailstorm Monday devastated the crop of greens; I went to the traditional mercado without sufficient change; I was tired, excuses excuses...I didn't get all the produce I really wanted for the brunch.

But I'm good at improvising in the lkitchen, and below is the menu as it stands at ths very moment.

Sangría Marías or Gin and Tonic.

Platón de frutas de la temporada. (Platter of seasonal fruits; contributed by a friend.)

"Gazpacho" Salad

Angel double-raised Biscuits with crisped cecina.

Herbed and pimentón dusted roasted baby potatoes.

Huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs): choice of sweet peppers, rajas de chile Poblano; onions, tomatoes, Oaxaca string cheese; bacon or combined.

Revuelto de gambas y ajetes, (creamy scrambled eggs with shrimp and garlic chives.
Salsa Poblana Cremosa, optional. (Roasted fresh green chile crema salsa)

Angel Biscuits, butter. Conservas Santa Rosa. Miel de Abeja. (Tropical and other jams, marmalades and honey.)

Café Americano
Brioche au raisin et canelle.

[bazfaz]

That sounds an excellent brunch.

[Don Cuevas]

Jul 11, 2009 11:26:03 GMT bazfaz said:

That sounds an excellent brunch.

You and Mrs. Baz are invited! Can you be here by 11 a.m.?

[bazfaz]

In the Eurropean Union Council meetings when they cannot reacg agreement by the deadline they stop the clock until the matter is settles, sometimes for days.

In this case you may have to stop the clock for longer and I fear the food will all have been eaten.

[Deleted]

It really does sound delicious, but my biorhythm is completely incompatible with brunch, unless it is served by 8 a.m. I could never have a brunch in Paris because they are generally understood to stretch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

[cigalechanta]

i'll be right over!!

What is a sangria maria?

[Don Cuevas]

Jul 11, 2009 16:28:56 GMT cigalechanta said:

i'll be right over!!

What is a sangria maria?

A very spicy Bloody Mary, made with Tequila instead of vodka. They were very potent, both in alcoholic content and piquancy.

By the way, it was a great success. One guest didn't show up, but one of our neighbors brought a different guest, so it all worked out.

The cecina with Angel Biscuits was interesting; some of us applied the very rich yet picante Salsa Cremosa Poblana, to great effect.

The huevos revueltos, (scrambled eggs) with crispy-chewy smokey bacon, fresh shrimp with garlic chives and queso Oaxaca was extreme and a taste sensation.

The little garlicky potatoes with thyme and olive oil, had a touch too much coarse sea salt, but no one complained.

No one had room for the coffee cake, so we cut it up and sent it home with our guests.

"GC", one of the returned neighbors, was in charge of photographing the feast. I haven't seen the results yet.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

[bixaorellana]

Isn't that a sangrita, rather than sangria?

[Don Cuevas]

Jul 11, 2009 20:26:41 GMT bixaorellana said:

Isn't that a sangrita, rather than sangria?

Yup. Estás correcta.

Actually, I hate sangría, but I tend to love sangrita.

[bixaorellana]

By the way ~~

whereas "estás correcta" is not exactly incorrect, it would be far more idiomatic and natural to say "tienes razón", or even "así es".

[Don Cuevas]

Jul 11, 2009 22:45:47 GMT bixaorellana said:

By the way ~~

whereas "estás correcta" is not exactly incorrect, it would be far more idiomatic and natural to say "tienes razón", or even "así es".

Oy! Such a pain!
Take this to Speaking in Tongues.
OP topic is Brunch.
Thank you.

[Deleted]

Nobody invites schoolteachers to brunch anyway!

[bjd]

Last spring in Berlin, my friend and I decided to go for a Sunday brunch. Had to hang around till 10 am and, although the food was good, there is no way I can eat that kind of stuff in the morning.

I could imagine eating DC's brunch stuff in the evening though. It all sounds good.

[bazfaz]

Last brunch I went to (way back in 1984) was in Washingtom DC. It began with a pint glass of Bloody Mary. There was a stick of celery upright in it. What was this for? Decoration? Snacking on? It sure doesn't give any flavour to the BM if you swirl it round.

[bjd]

They ran out of swizzle sticks?

[Don Cuevas]

Jul 12, 2009 10:32:05 GMT bazfaz said:

Last brunch I went to (way back in 1984) was in Washingtom DC. It began with a pint glass of Bloody Mary. There was a stick of celery upright in it. What was this for? Decoration? Snacking on? It sure doesn't give any flavour to the BM if you swirl it round.

It's a fad that has lingered on. We had celery sticks as an option for our guests to either leave it or stick it.

By the way, we started at just after 11 a.m and everyone had gone by 12:50. Perfect.

Addendum: there were some leftover ingredients, so this morning, I scrambled some of the eggs with bacon, potatoes onions and cheese.

The rest of the cooked shrimp, bacon, and some cheese is going into a large quiche later today. I wish I had some spinach or chard for it. Maybe a layer of sliced potatoes would be nice???

[Deleted]

Those seem like relatively good hours if one has to have a brunch, Don Cuevas. I was forced more of less against my will to host two brunches once and some of the people didn't even show up until 2 p.m. I wanted to snatch their plates out of their hand and throw them out the window. (Both the plates and the people.)

[Don Cuevas]

Our neighbors did have some chard which they gave me. I blanched it and squeezed it well. Then I used to as part of a serious heavy duty, industrial strength quiche.

If it hadn't been so good, it would have qualified for the Abominable Foods Gallery, just by its ingredient list.