Hola! We're Back From Mexico!

Ernesto and I returned earlier this week from our long Mexico trip.  What a great experience! If it is even possible, I am more in love with Mexico than before.  If you are interested in all the details, I have written quite a bit about the different cities we visited on  VivaCindy. We ate so much and truly enjoyed the food in Mexico and were inspired by so many dishes, and I can't wait to share them with you on Viva la Cocina. I ate several things that I had never tried before too. I thought I would share some photos of the food highlights of our trip first, and I promise to get a recipe up here soon!

(note: some of these pictures are not the best quality, as I only had my small camera, and sometimes low light)

{pulpo, or octopus grilled with a spicy chile sauce}

{fruta, or fruit served with lime, salt and chile powder}

{elote or corn, served with your choice of mayo,cheese, chile powder, lime, salt}

{granada, or pomegranate seeds, served in a cup with chile powder, lime and salt}

{chapulines, or grasshoppers, served dry with lime and hot sauce}

{espiropapas, or spiral chips, served with, you guessed it, hot sauce}

{pozole, or meat stew served with raw cabbage, onion, chiles, radishes, oregano}

{huarache, a foot long tortilla taco that is folded in half to eat}

{churros, Mexican donut being cooked up on the street}

{escamoles, or ant larvae, served in a green sauce, eaten in a tortilla}

{torta ahogada, a sandwich stuffed with carnitas [fried pork] and drowned in a spicy salsa}

{tacos de pastor, pork tacos served with onion, cilantro and lime and a tomatillo salsa}  

{huitlacoche quesedillas, a fungus that grows on corn with cheese in a tortilla}

{chiles en nogada, a chile stuffed with ground beef and dried fruits, covered in a white walnut sauce and topped with pomegranate seeds. Red, white and green, a patriotic Mexican dish}

{La Ideal Panederia, a bread store in Mexico City as big as a Kroger}

I love to visit the fruit and vegetable markets in Mexico, they are a feast for the eyes with so much color. A photographers dream. If only I had had a better camera with me. 

 {limones, limes}

{nopales, cactus}

{chiles, a mountain of serrano peppers}

{chiles secos, bags of dried chiles}

{mole, balls of paste are sold for many different kinds of mole}

{nueces garapinadas, candied walnuts and pecans}

Please stay tuned as I have some great new recipes coming your way.  If you would like to see the non-food side of Mexico please check out VivaCindy