What's for Breakfast?

[bixaorellana]

Hmmm. This is interesting on a number of different levels. That second photo is a classic tenate, albeit a teeny one. And yes, the ones used around here for tortillas as they come off the comal are certainly larger than a one-liter capacity.

It's interesting that people in your area don't use the Náhuatl word, since one of the significant facts about the Purépecha is their long and successful resistance to the Aztecs. In fact, their use of tenate seems more to have come in from Mexican Spanish. Thus, María's usage can't be said to be imprecise.

Okay -- wrote the above, then went and looked up taxcal in the Dic.deMex., which knocked my theory of Michoacano rejection of Náhuatl into a cocked sombrero. It says:

taxcal. (Probablemente de náhuatl tlaxcualchiquihuitl, de tlaxcalli 'tortilla de maíz' + chiquihuitl 'cesto, canasta, chiquihuite'.) m. Caja, cesto, o huacal para guardar tortillas de maíz.

I looked up huacal, too: basket of woven strips of wood.
And guaje/huaje seems to be reserved here for the edible pods of the guajal -- a type of acacia from which purportedly came the name "Oaxaca".

I'm waiting for someone to chase us over to Where Words Collide.

[Don Cuevas]

(I'm moving to Where Words Collide now.)

[Don Cuevas]

Breakfast today May 21, 2010: Buttermilk Biscuits with Homemade Sausage Gravy, freshly squeezed orange juice.

[Don Cuevas]

Breakfast today May 23, 2010: reheated pho, new noodles (this time, the more delicate flat rice noodles) and new vegs and herbs. No bean sprouts, so thinly sliced cabbage is substituted.

[Don Cuevas]

Later, a brunch at a splendid country restaurant:
mexkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/05/birdsongs-in-april-mornings.html

[lagatta]

Mung beans are very easy to sprout. I have to remember to do some.

[Deleted]

I met some friends this morning,actually,just a few minutes ago,for breakfast at a local cafe. I had a crawfish quesadilla,sauteed crawfish tails with onion,green pepper,mixed with two scrambled eggs,a nice salsa on top,inside a soft taco. Not something I would normally eat,it was rather heavy for my delicate constitution. But,it was delicious. No lunch or afternoon snack for me though after eating that much so early in the day.

[hwinpp]

Didn't have breakfast today.

[Deleted]

I ate a banana. It was insufficient.

[bixaorellana]

I never eat breakfast unless I'm leaving the house for an extended period and don't want to eat out. My experience is that unless you have protein for breakfast, you might as well not bother. It might taste good, it might fill you up, but only protein has lasting power.

[hwinpp]

Three hours ago

[bixaorellana]

Mmmmm ~~ protein & noodles, a heavenly combination. What makes them yellow, do you know?

[hwinpp]

Those are the western style maccaronis. No idea why they're so very yellow but I doubt they colour them. Maybe egg yolks?

[Don Cuevas]

Breakfast today, May 29, 2010: reheated Baked Garlic Cheese Grits with green chiles; black beans stewed with carnitas.

I need to get dressed and go out to see if the molino de nixtamal is operating. 4:57 AM

[Don Cuevas]

I'm already back from the molino, and it was definitely a low key experience.
I don't want to go into a description here, other than to say nixtamalized corn meets machine and masa is made.

The photographs I took were lousy for the most part. The other thing is that I came unaccompanied by either amiga, landlady or María. I had somewhat of a sense that my presence made the ladies somewhat uncomfortable. This was emphasized when I asked a later arriving señora if I might take her picture, and she gave me a very funny look. I could tell she wanted to say "no" but couldn't. So I said "¿No?, Está bien.". Then I packed the camera away and bid them gracias and adios.

EDIT: Much MUCH later, June 27, 2010:
I got an email yesterday linking to a food blog with a lot of cool things going on in Erongarícuaro, a small pueblo about 10 miles west of us, across Lake Pátzcuaro.
www.cookingforcommunity.com/

It has some photos of women bringing the nixtamalized corn to the molino, and then, a good picture of the corn being ground!


But, they are not carrying the pails on their sholders, as do all the women here!


We know several people in "Eronga", but we don't know these folks yet.

[bixaorellana]

Been there, done that, Don Cuevas. The worst thing about it is that you feel you suddenly turned from just one of the neighbors, albeit a foreign one, to something green with antennae.

[Don Cuevas]

We visited María last evening, and our friend Rosa joined us to view the Tejabán video and photos on my iPod. They were delighted. We also viewed scenes of people they knew and the beautiful scenery hereabouts. I was gratified that they enjoyed the experience.

I then told about my sense of discomfort at the molino, and María assured me that it had been perfectly all right for me to have been there. But I think it was a good thing on my part to stopped taking photos. By the way, as none of the pics were satisfactory, so they have all been deleted.

Anyway: breakfast yesterday were Huevos Albañil, at an upscale hotel restaurant in Pátzcuaro. We were with the Tuesday morning retired men's breakfast group.

Although the eggs, first scrambled, then bathed in a spicy salsa were good, the meal was over priced. Some people seem to be attracted to fancy venues, where I believe they are paying for the ambience and getting poor value for the money for the food.
Each of us paid the averaged price of $80 MXN, including a tip. Better food and a more complete breakfast can be had elsewhere in Pátzcuaro for $55 to $70 pp, all served nicely in a decent setting.

[bixaorellana]

Ain't it the truth about paying for ambience! To a degree it's understandable -- the setting and the menu can make you think you'll really be getting something special. But what I don't get is how people continue to buy into the fantasy, once it's been determined that it's not above par.

OP related: I just finished a hard-boiled egg. I want to lose some weight & "they" say to eat breakfast. I forgot all abut it until I saw this thread, then went & got the egg. Even so, 10:30 in the morning still feels too early to face food.

[Don Cuevas]

Just finished a breakfast of "Healthy Start Sandwiches", at tthe Courtyard Hotel in Newark Airport area. The sandwich consists of scrambled egg whites, spinach and Havarti cheese on a whole grain bagel. Good. I need protein to sustain me through the day.

It was quite tasty, although oozing with Havarti Oil, the spinach was a green fleck or two, and I was temporarily mystified by the scrambled egg white, which looked like ricotta cheese. The price per wasn't too bad: $7.95 and it came with a nice little fresh fruit cup.
So, my tentative conclusion is that the food at the Courtyard Bistro is high priced, at least it's very tasty and comes with extra nice paper napkins and heavy duty, real, metal utensils.
There's pretty good. free, serve yourself coffee but you can buy Starbuck's coffee at a premium from the food counter.

Used to be that they offered an all-you-want-to-eat breakfast buffet for about 7 or 8 dollars. But the last time we stayed in one was in Laredo Texas, just before crossing the border while moving to Mexico. That was almost 5 years ago, and things have changed.

[Don Cuevas]

At our new hotel location, breakfast is included in the price. However, this morning's breakfast bodes no one well. The main course was small, obviously prefab diced ham and veg "omelets" with optional fried diced potatoes. It all tasted as if it came from a factory, and even the nice looking bagel had the tasteless, texture of wood pulp. The link sausages ware marginally tasty. The OJ tasted canned, the coffee was like what in Mexico is jokingly called "agua de calcentines" (water from socks). There was some organic smoothie drink in plastic bottles, which we grabbed to take to our room fridge.

The make your own waffles smelled good, but I already felt bloated with carbs.

Later today, we'll go out shopping and get some decent breakfast foods. The coffeemaker in our room makes bad coffee, but even that is better than what is served from urns in the breakfast rom here.
In the end, I'd rather drink Nescafé Cafe Soluble Instantánea. (We brought some.)

[Deleted]

Sounds dreadful DC!


Local peaches in season here,had a big bowl of yogurt with peaches,a smidgen of honey added to and a fresh toasted bagel with just plain ol' butter on.There's a fellow here in town who delivers freshly baked bagels to the neighborhood coffee shop and we get one or two during the week.

[Don Cuevas]

It got worse, Casi! A couple of mornings later, I opened the chafer lid only to see hundreds of little, prefabbed "fried" eggs staring at me, all cooked well-done and looking as though he management had bought out a jokes and novelty factory. I ate a pretty fair waffle instead. Later, the sausages were cooked browner and more appetizing, and yesterday a.m., I ate 4. However, the eggs had reverted to the little yellow folded blotters form and were nearly uncuttable with a good knife.

Now we are in a different hotel 100 miles or so away, a Courtyard By Marriott, and we have been happy with the breakfast buffets in these lodgings. However, there are scores of independent restaurants within a short drive, so we are not captive.

I started my day with a very good croissant au chocolate from the CIA. There's another in the attractive box right in front of me, but I have to give Sra. Cuevas a chance at it.

[Don Cuevas]

Today, breakfast in our room: an Italian salami and Swiss cheese sandwich on rye; a fresh tomato each, and a V-8 juice. Economical, as we bought the ingreds at a supermarket earlier in the week.

"Free" coffee from the lobby urns.

[Don Cuevas]

When we checked in at Newark International Apt yesterday a.m., we were offered an upgrade to First Class for a surcharge of only $79 each.

Although Sra. Cuevas was hesitant, I encouraged her, and we took the offer.

Besides the advantage of lots more leg room, free movies, etc; we had a choice of beverages. As it was morning and I had yet to take my medicine, we forwent the alcohol and had coffees, waters and orange juices.
Of the menu options, Sra. chose French Toast, and I a quite good cheese omelet, accompanied by a delicious potato and onion lamina. I had a rich U.S. style biscuit and a not so great croissant. There were also muffins.

Mine came with a thick slice of Canadian bacon and a generous sausage patty. There was a real china bowl (as all the service was on china, not plastic) of fresh fruit. The strawberries and pineapple were especially good.

Later, as we approached our landing in Mexico City, we were served hot chocolate chunk cookies.

To top it off, our dedicated flight attendant was a warm, outgoing woman originallly from Sri Lanka.

I'd do it again in a blink if we were offere such a deal.

[bixaorellana]

Oh, good for you, Don Cuevas! I have the same frugal tendencies as Doña Cuevas, but travel is so unpleasant any more, it's nice that y'all did something pleasant for yourselves, especially on the return trip.

[lagatta]

In French we say "jus de chaussettes" (sock juice) for bad, weak coffee. I've seen both chaussette and chaussettes... Is sock water weaker still?

I am out of coffee. Shit.

[Don Cuevas]

I have not been well the last three days, suffering the Dreaded Revenge of Moctezuma. So my meals havd had to be lght, bland and greasefree, such as rice, broth, toast and yogurt.
Although Friday morning saw a tremendous burst of energy when I went marketing, by afternoon I was done in, and I slept 12 out of 24 hours. Same yesterday.
I went to the doctor yesterday a.m. and now, with massive ciprofloxacina doses and Lacteol-Forte, I am greatly improved.

¡Venceremos!
I plan a serious comida for later today.

[Don Cuevas]

Since my last post, life has been difficult, but now, things are looking up. Refortification was necessary.

I started the day with a bowl of a sort of minestrone with leftover spag noodles plus a dab of pesto. In s hours I was starving, so we stopped by La Surtidora on Pátzcuaro's Plaza Grande, under the Portal Hidalgo, where we met a friend. He was feeling generous, so he bought us breakfast.

I had one of the especialidades de la casa: Nopal relleno de queso con frijoles on the side. I'd had this before but today it was extra good. The grilled cactus pad came out covered in a mild to medium picante salsa verde. Even the beans were good. I had a couple of tortillas de maíz with it and a large café Americano with hot milk. For finishers, I selected a concha pan dulce from the attractive selection in the basket of "pan casero", "homemade bread" but it's available at selected spots around town.

Today I found a huge basket of the same bread on the counter of my Internet Service Provider when I went to pay the ISP bill. Five pesos a piece of pan dulce, on average. Here's a picture of such a bread basket.

[bjd]

I would eat one (or two if they are small) of those breads for breakfast with a cup of coffee. I don't know how you manage to eat all the rest.

[Don Cuevas]

Jul 1, 2010 10:18:44 GMT bjd said:

I would eat one (or two if they are small) of those breads for breakfast with a cup of coffee. I don't know how you manage to eat all the rest.

Most people don't eat the rest.
They are there for you to make a selection.