The recipe we use for the meat is one I got from Simply Recipes. It doesn't have quite the authentic taste I'm going for but it's still pretty good. I've pretty much just made it according to the directions. I add a little worcestershire sauce too since I know that in Mexico they use that to flavor (of course when I add this I don't add any additional salt because it tends to be a little salty). I also by a jar of nopales from the Mexican food section of the grocery store. Normally we just reheat these on the stove and put them in our tacos. I also purchase a bunch or two of bulb onions. This last time I put them in the oven with some oil and salt on them, trying to soften them up a little befor I put them on the grill. When I was living in Mexico we had this awesome taco stand within walking distance from our house and they made these onions and would pretty much boil them in the grease that the meat was cooking it (I know it may sound gross to you but put a little lime and some salt and those are so yummy!). So we always make those and some times they are better than others. I also buy the Guerrero brand of tortillas (they are normally on the bottom shelf of the tortilla shelf or occassionally in the refrigerated section). I like the flour fajita ones. These tortillas are not cooked so you have to cook them on the stove before serving - it makes them so much more fresh tasting! We also slice up so avocados, little Mexican limes, get a can of green salsa, and cook some rice and beans. It's such a fun meal, both to make and to eat.

So on Friday night we made plans to make this meal. However we found out Jeremy wasn't going to get off work until 6 and by then we're normally pretty hungry so I set about getting it all ready before he got home. I must have been very energized after work on Friday because I started laundry (washing and drying), decided that I needed to run the dishwasher, and began cooking my meal which took up all four burners and the stove. Maybe you can sense what's coming even though I didn't...I lost power. I looked at our little braker box in our laundry and it didn't look like I'd blown a fuse but when I waited about 15 minutes and still no power, I started to panic a little - what would have to my Mexican dinner! Luckily Jeremy came home right about that time and went to investigate. He had to go down to the main building brakers that were outside, find ours, and fix it. Luckily we got back up and running (without the washer and dryer for the time being) and Jeremy was able to help finish cooking the tortillas. We sat down to a yummy meal and some Mexican beer I had picked up at the store.

You should totally try this (just don't turn on every appliance you own while doing it!). And if you just don't feel up to it, give me a call and Jeremy and I would love to have you over for some yummy carne asada! And if it's your first time to eat cactus - nor worries it tastes so good with the meat!

So here's what I did.  Of course I took some time to do some crocheting.  I had recently purchased some yarn that was 100% cotton.  It was coarse on my fingers, and dried them all out.  Sugar n Cream  is good on baby blankets, but is awful when it comes to crocheting with an E or F hook.

Lately my mom was REAL jealous of Jermaine because I have been working on his project and I've been putting my energies into it since January of this year.  So I had to appease her jealousy by making her something unique. And what I made was inspired by, yes you guessed it right, Ana Paula Rimoli. I know my mom has a green thumb, but I'm not too great on making flowers just yet. So I made her the next best thing. It's something ALL mexicans (and if you don't, then you need to eat more) love to eat. NOPALES! hahaha I made my mom a cactus plant, and even made it a decorative pot to sit in. She loves it (or at least that's what she has told me), and has it sitting next to her Mr. Mousey I made her. The picture though was taken in the outside of Table Ranch so you can see how the weeds are blooming back. :) And the name for the cactus is *drum roll* Senor NOPAL. *how original is that? it means Mr. Cactus* hehehe

Then my hands were begging for more so I made something for my future brother-in-law, Juansolo. Whenever we're in his FJ, I always see a big stuffed turtle sitting on the dashboard. I guess it was a gift from his mom. Regardless I can't stand seeing that little turtle sitting by himself. So I made him a little companion, a mini ami turtle from again, Ana's book.  I give him by name Tootle because it reminds me of my sister-in-law's nephew who says "poorple" in a cute accent. So there you have it. And of course Johnny thought it was wierd, but I'll try redeeming myself and my creations with another amigurumi project for him and my sister later on this week. :D

And of course I couldn't stop from being creative. Lately my pet poodle, Chinito (meaning Curly NOT little Chinese), has been sleeping in my room. And when I'm asleep I can hear him making noise, but my room is too dark to see where he's at. Sometimes he'll be playing with the messenger bag he sleeps on, and clanking the D ring on the wooden floor. Or perhaps he'll be playing with my shoes which he likes to chomp on since he's teething. And sometimes he'll be playing with his bean bag friends.  Or he'll even be gnawing away at my door. He's teething real bad. Since my light is allllllllll the way on the other side of my room (it's only 10' x 10' so I'm exaggerating of course), I decided to buy a night light from work and decorated it with some lime fabric.  I don't think he likes it though since it keeps him awake. Silly dog. But I at least know what he's up to when he's in my room. :)

And finally I was trying to make my mom happy. I promised her (since I wasn't going to go back to school for awhile and I'd work at making money) that I'd obey her and try to help around.  So whenever she asks me to do something, I try not to talk back and do it. Just this weekend she was so proud of her gardening skills. I'm not too fond of the organization of her garden, but I must admit that individually speaking the flowers are coming out gorgeous. She loves the fragrance of roses, and like me, appreciates flowers in the ground and not in the flower shop. She even loves a wild flower here and there. So here is my rendition of mom's flowers.

I also got plenty of sleep last night because for the past few days I've been working in the morning shift. But I'm glad that will soon be over because as of next week I will start working in the framing department. Hurray! :D

Soooooooooooooo, how was YOUR weekend??????????????

It grows just about everywhere throughout the Americas. As a cactus, it isn't commercially grown much in the U.S., but is intensely cultivated in Mexico both for human and livestock consumption. And, given one other of nopal's medicinal properties, is exported to Korea:

A few years ago some Koreans were experimenting with caning some fresh Nopal and shipping it to Korean after a day of eating Nopal with various amounts of vinegar and sugar they finally reached a formula they liked. They went out and had a big party to celebrate this momentous occasion. The next day everyone felt good and wondered why no hangover? Because of all the Nopal they ate? Yes.

Since that time Nopal has been sold as a hangover preventive in Korea. 2 tablets taken before going out and drinking a lot helps your digestive system cope with the overload of alcohol.

Before I moved to Mexico, about the only nopal I ever ate was the pickled nopalitos you sometimes saw in Tex Mex cuisine, and in some Houston supermarkets.  Since moving here it's become a regular part of my diet (in part because it's so damn cheap!).

It would be the perfect food... if it wasn't for the nopal's one negative.  And -- for those without a few milenia of Mexican mamis behind them to show them how to cook the things -- it's a huge problem.  Babas... that nasty, bitter scum that you boil out, and has the consistency of snot.  Eeeeewwww!

On one of the message boards a few years ago, there was a long discussion of how to deal with the babas... one person insisting that the only way to deal with them was to add a pre-1959 U.S. one-cent coin to the pot.  What do those of us who sold their coin collections before they moved to Mexico do?

Karen Hursh Graber, of Mexico Connect has more sensible recommendations:

To boil nopales, wash them and cut them into small squares or strips, if they have not been purchased this way. Place them in a pot with cold water to cover, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Some Mexican cooks say that by adding a few tomatillo husks, the sticky liquid (commonly called "babas") will be more completely extracted from the vegetable. Others say that a pinch of baking soda accomplishes the same thing. I have tried both and found the baking soda to be more effective, but use only a pinch and add it at the very end. Using more may cause the water to foam up and run over.

Or... you can save the snot for archeologists.  Really!

Babas have been used for centuries as a cheap weatherproofing paint.  Although it stinks for a while, it lasts for years and there's always plenty of babas around.  Mexican archeologists -- having the huge task of preserving a seemingly inexhaustible supply of crumbling monuments they continue to dig up, not to mention all those colonial facades threatened by acid rain and air pollution -- are experimenting with baba-sprayers in Mexico City, with so far promising results.

And then I read that people eat this stuff. "Right," I muttered, "and they wash it down with nice broken glass. Prickly Pear, when prepared, creates something wonderful called "Nopales" (which means cactus in Spanish), or more often, Nopalitos, a great snack food.

The broad flat leaves of the prickly pear cactus and the stems are edible. So is the fruit, which is often turned into jelly and a gum-drop like candy.

The leaves are cut and the spines pulled out. Then the eyes of spines are removed. After that, the cactus is cut into small, regular pieces. Most people cook them. Ugh. Not me. There is a strong okra-reactions when cooked. When left raw, they taste almost exactly like raw green beans sprinkled with lemon juice. Much better. No slime. You can also grill them, which avoids the problem and adds a nice smoky taste.

The best news is that nopales are sold in Mexican markets, cut up, cleaned and ready to use.

Yesterday, I experimented with some preparation ideas. I found the best way to prepare them raw was to marinate them. Use any of the marinates below, soak them for about an hour, drain the marinade (don't rinse) and serve with toothpicks for stabbing and eating.

Marinades for Nopales

• The easiest (though not the best) is bottled Italian dressing. Cover, soak for an hour or 2, drain, serve.
• Mix dark sesame oil and rice wine vinegar (twice as much vinegar) to make a tart marinate. Cover, etc.
• Drain a jar of pickles, use the juice as a marinade. Cover, etc.
• Pour a jar of sweet pickle relish (hot dog relish) over the nopales. Cover, etc.

• Mix a cup of raspberry vinegar with a tablespoon of olive oil. Add a dollop of raspberry jam, and a shot of hot pepper sauce or a few grinds of tellicherry pepper.
• Pour a bottle of salsa (Spicy is good) over the nopales and marinate. Do not drain. Eat with chips.

Don't miss this great treat. Enjoy!

Imagees: prickly pear cactus: www.moplants.com nopales in pan:www.ranchogordo.com,

--Quinn McDonald is a writer who likes to cook. She's married to a personal chef, and together they make great calories together. Quinn is also a writer and artist. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

In [a] five-year program, community workers taught El Paso residents how to improve nutrition while enjoying their familiar Mexican-American border diet. El Paso's 72 percent Latino population embraced the program and got strikingly more healthy.

By 2006, partly because of Que Sabrosa Vida, El Paso tied Austin for the Texas city with fewest obese adults. The number was 23 percent, down from 30 percent in 1996. Fifteen percent of the city's eighth-graders were obese, compared with 19 percent in 2003.

...In El Paso, Que Sabrosa Vida applied the FDA food pyramid to Mexican and Tex-Mex food. [The program] should go further, explaining the medicinal traits of traditional Mexican foods.

In a recent book called The Jungle Effect, physician Daphne Miller studied the Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon, Mexico, and found that their diet — tortillas, beans, salsa — contributed to some of the region's lowest rates of diabetes. The secret, in addition to the Taruhamaras' athletic lifestyle, was the way those foods were served.

First, the Tarahumara drink very few sodas or other sweet drinks that raise blood sugar and put on pounds.

Beans, though demonized as a high-carb food, actually can be diabetic-friendly because they release sugar into the body very slowly, especially if they are simmered simply in water.

Served alongside them, corn tortillas' sugar release also slows down. Because the corn is traditionally soaked in an alkali lime solution, corn tortillas are highly nutritious, full of extra calcium and niacin.

The dishes historically served alongside tortillas and beans have medicinal traits, too. Nopales — tasty cactus leaves still a staple food in much of Mexico — control blood sugar, possibly by mimicking insulin.

Even the Tarahumaras' spices and greens such as cilantro, cumin and cinnamon — flavor and texture agents now overshadowed by lots of processed flour, high fructose corn syrup, oil and meat — are anti-diabetic.

"When we talk about soaring rates of diabetes among Mexican-Americans," Miller said, "it's not just because they're eating a highly processed Western diet. They've lost their traditional medicinal foods."

]]> http://smartborders.wordpress.com/?p=158 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:35:48 +0000 Matthew Webster http://smartborders.wordpress.com/?p=158 Gandhi once wrote, “In the dictionary of the non-violent there is no such word as an external enemy” (Satyagraha, 93). This concept is key to understanding the dynamics of India's liberation movement, King's civil rights movement, and the ongoing use of nonviolence. For Gandhi, an “enemy” is just someone who doesn't realize they are his friend yet. If one views opposition as a potential ally, then reconciliation is the aim rather than victory. Victory is achieved together through mutual progress.

Relocating to la frontera, one is confronted with a host of new cuisine. Barbacoa (stewed beef cheek), tamales veracruzano (corn paste baked in a banana leaf), elotes (roasted corn swimming in mayonnaise), menudo (spicy stew made of cow intestines and touted to be the ultimate hangover cure) – all these new foods astound newcomers to the border and remind us all of limitless creativity.

But the food I love best here in Brownsville and Matamoros are nopales.

Nopales are prickly-pear cacti. Their fruits, tunas, are a delicious mix between honeydew and pomegranate. But it is the spiky cacti themselves that are a delicacy here on the border. De-spined, the green fleshy vegetable is diced and stewed for hours. It is often served with eggs for breakfast – mmmm, huevos con nopales in the morning.

I am struck by the nonviolence this food embodies. Most people when confronted with a cactus write it off as something to be avoided, a painful and dangerous plant. Other people would try to clear these cacti from their land, equating them with weeds and scrub. But the Mexicanos and Tejanos on this border look at these short, spiky plants and see nourishment. Instead of a nuisance, nutrition; instead of an enemy, an asset.

In life, there are those who view people as assets, and those who view people as liabilities. Those who call for the mass deportation of 12 million people, even at the staggering cost of $100 billion dollars, see people as liabilities. Homeland Security currently views people as liabilities and threats so much that it is willing to disregard 39 laws protecting men, women, and animals in order to rush the construction of the border wall. Nativistic dialogue from xenophobic showman highlight the worst in us humans, while neglecting to show the millions of individuals committed both to their family and this country.

We must recognize that every person is an asset to our nation if this is truly to become a fully-integrated Beloved Community. As a teacher and a nonviolent social activist, I must look at people and see their potential for goodness rather than their capacity for evil. In the end, everyone's a nopale – it simply depends on how we look at them.

So I present them to you here verbatim:

Episode 3

I <3 tacos!

Rick Bayless is a GEEK

You MUST try Nopalitos/Nopales

Manuel-Spanish much?

Lisa - not upscale but tasty (skirt steak IS tough!)

Andrew - NICE (he looks coked up!)

Spike - looks awesome...

Richard - impressive, great plating

Erik - poopy presentation (constantly)

Richard wins everything! Fakely modest

Bimbo giggles, write down that dish so we can go get it at that place (Topolobampo)

Where the HELL are they?!! 
- just say the 'hood! Driving us crazy!

Spike is growing on me

everyone loves sliders & mini corn dogs

Ryan is a bumbling fool

Velveeta is tricky business

those corn dogs look AWESOME

Spike's hats just get worse and worse

We cannot get over wondering where this is!!! Richmond Ave paella! wide street

Taco salad - craveable 

LOVE the s'mores lollipos

Because the Red Team is playin and having fun the Blue Team thinks they (the blue team) lost?

"Smart People" movie ad

I like how Rick Bayless implies that he knows how to use Velveeta but Nikki doesn't

they won for a fuckin sugar/cinnamon coated friend wonton?! LAME

Eve is gonna get shafted for pasta salad

Fuck yeah Andrew! "This is my house!"

Waldorf salad looked nasty

True - someone should have decided that corn dogs were a bad idea b/c of the transport/steam issue

BOO

Fucking Ryan can't do anything right!!! and Zoe made BLAND pasta salad! I've been making pasta salad since I was 5! (it didn't always taste great, but it was certainly NEVER BLAND!)And Erik got shafted b/c he didn't think about what happens to corn dogs after 2 hrs in the warmer?I call BULLSHIT

(p.s. When they first went to the neighborhood for the block party, I said to Bimbo "that looks like my parents' 'hood! the one we're in right now!" She was skeptical but willing to go along with it. Later we looked up Richmond Ave, which is actually Richmond St., and it is indeed very close to my parents' house, near the park where i took tennis lessons and went ice-skating as a child. It's right by the river. So that was REALLY COOL!

p.p.s I think the cheftestants live in Lincoln Park, does anybody agree/disagree/know something I don't?)

Hundreds of people of Japanese descent made a 110-meter-long sushi roll on Sunday in celebration of the 110th anniversary of Japanese people's immigration to Mexico.

Representing friendship between the Japanese and Mexican people, attendees of the event held at the Japan-Mexico society here used rice, fish cake and a Mexican specialty, edible cactuses, to make the sushi roll. The sushi was called an "Azteca roll."

"The rolled sushi, a mixture of Japanese and Mexican food, symbolizes the integration of both cultures," a 64-year-old man of Japanese descent said.

About 1,000 people were present at the function.

A total of 35 Japanese people immigrated to Mexico in May 1897. About 17,000 citizens of Japanese parentage live there now.

This is nonsense, but there is a real threat to Mexico looming (besides GM Corn):

 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico said on Wednesday its crude oil installations were safe, after a Saudi wing of al Qaeda called for attacks on U.S. oil sources around the world.

Mexico, which ships about 1.4 million barrels per day of crude to the United States, tightened security around its Gulf of Mexico oil rigs in 2005 in line with international norms, a spokeswoman at state-run oil monopoly Pemex said.

...

The Mexican border is seen as a soft point in the U.S. war on terror. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants cross it annually but reports in recent years about Arab terrorists attempting to enter the United States from Mexico have turned out to be false.

Blogotitlan wonders if this "new" Al Quada "theat" doesn't have more to do with immigration, and U.S. interests than anything in Mexico:

En preludio a la visita de Michael Chertoff, secretario de Seguridad Nacional de EU, se difundieron presuntas amenazas de Al Qaeda contra instalaciones petroleras de México. Buena ocasión para que los gringos se ofrezcan a vigilar yacimientos.

This is the real threat:

Cactus-eating moth reaches Mexico

Buena ocasión para que los gringos se ofrezcan a vigilar yacimientos.

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — A non-native moth whose larvae threaten to decimate Mexico's emblematic flat-leafed cactus has invaded the mainland for the first time, experts said Wednesday, an event that authorities have feared for decades.

Lab reports indicated that at least one moth trapped in the resort city of Cancun since January is a South American "nopal moth," a species detected last year off the coast on Isla Mujeres, said Hector Sanchez, Mexico's director of plant safety.

... the moths probably flew across the narrow strait that separates the island from Mexico's Caribbean coast or caught a ride on a ferry. He added that workers have set out more special moth traps and are inspecting the region's cacti.

Known as Cactoblastis Cactorum and native to Argentina, the moth was exported to Australia, South Africa and islands throughout the Caribbean starting in the 1920s to eradicate cacti that occupied valuable farm land.

But in countries like Mexico — where flat-leafed Opuntia cactuses known as "nopales" are a food source, an important part of the ecosystem and a national emblem — the moth poses a major threat.

About 50,000 Mexican farm families make a living from the $100 million annual market for boiled, tender cactus leaves and prickly pear fruit.

Scientists say the moths were probably carried onto Isla Mujeres by visitors or blown there by a hurricane from nearby Caribbean islands, where they have been sighted since the 1950s.

The moths — whose larvae eat away the cacti's insides — also appeared in the United States in 1989.