Pozole.....the reason for the pig

I don't eat a lot of pork, I stopped buying pork that was raised for commercial resale (most pork in all grocery stores) after I read Dr.Rex Russel's book "What the Bible says about healthy eating" and Kevin Trudeau's book "Natural Cures", both these books changed my eating habits a lot. I do not follow all the recommendations in both these books because I am just not that disciplined. Removing pork from my diet was easy because I never ate much of it to begin with......until I met Mexican Pozole. I can no longer ignore pork. I would like to believe that the pork raised in Mexico is not full of toxins like our pork at home, I"m imaging the pigs are in a large pasture and are lazily grazing and resting in freshly turned straw every night after being fed a late evening snack of organic matter like watermelon rinds, orange peel, apple cores and some oats. That's my fantasy, let me have it please. I believe the sole purpose of the pig is pozole and he is honored to sacrifice his body to it. Every Wednesday is pozole day here on the Island. There is a lady (can't remember her name) that cooks up a big pot full over the fire. She is located across the street from the carniceria. Her pot is ready at about noon-ish. Bring your own container, if you forget the first time like I did they will scramble around and find you a container, when you bring your own make sure it has a handle to carry it because this stuff is coming right out of a hot hot pot and you need to be able to carry it. It always comes with a baggie of hot salsa....oh that stuff is soo good, seriously this salsa makes the pozole do not skip this, she also gives you a little baggie of shredded lettuce. Then stop at the tortilleria and pick up fresh tortillas and at the super for a container of sour cream...do not skip the sour cream either. When you get home cut up an avocado put it in your bowl with some salsa and some lettuce, a dollop (or 3) of sour cream, pour in some soup and enjoy. I love this stuff. I love it, so please do not send me emails telling me all the reasons why my piggy fantasy is wrong, untruthful, and that I am delusional and hypercritical....I know  it's wrong which is why I call it a fantasy. Every Wednesday I am choosing to be delusional and hypercritical. Try it...you might like it too. 

All this for 40 pesos, this is 1 litre of pozole, you can easily feed 4 people with this

Venados Mazatlan

Just before Christmas I took in  baseball game here in Mazatlan, every year since 2000 I have gone to at least one game a season and every time the Deers have won, I have never been to a losing home game. This year the Deers had a very bad season, I believe they finished the season in last place, but....they won the day I was at the game 7-4 and it was a great game. I am not a baseball fan but I love the excitement that seems to flow like electricity in the stadium, it creates a sense of camaraderie...of belonging, and patriotism.....and a few other reasons....one being the sausage

opps...all gone, sorry guys, this is of course after I ate the sausage but before I licked the toothpicks

 Now to try and boost my ratings a bit here.....my favorite shot of the night

What can I say......it was all good that night

I must confess though, I didn't take this shot, I did.....but I wasn't close enough and my zoom isn't strong enough but a friend was braver than me and walked right up to this fine gentleman and was patient and waited for him to get up from his seat on the bench. Thank-you #12 Jose Garcia

Wonky Pictures

I have some catching up to do, sorry for being away so long. I have had some difficulties with uploading pictures and I know how boring it is  to read pages of text with no pictures so I just gave up an procrastinated dealing with the issue. This is what some of my pictures look like when I upload them, they look fine in my camera, they are fine on my computer and I have had no problems loading them onto Facebook, so I am convinced it is Bloggers problem. I have sent them a message and as of yet no response. Sometimes if I upload the same picture many times I will eventually get one that is not all weird, and sometimes not.

This is my excuse for being so far behind, that and life has been a bit busy...isn't it always? I did go back up north for 11 days for Christmas and a wedding, it was nice to see family and friends again but traveling so far in a short period of time is always tiring and I always feel so displaced and unorganized, especially since I couldn't stay in my own home as it is rented out....but all in all a great trip and glad to be back in the land of sun, sand and surf.....and tacos.

Happy New Years

New Years came and went fairly uneventful here on the Island. A few small fireworks and a few loud fiestas, what happened at midnight I don't really know as I was in bed way before that. I did attend a potluck New Years Eve supper at the trailer pNark at Contessa and Colin's rig  http://www.contessajewall.com/ and even managed to deep fry up a batch of German New Years Cookies, which really aren't cookies, they are more like fritters but we have always called them cookies. I rarely make these because I don't like deep frying at home and usually my mother makes them on New Years Day, but since my house here is so open and the smell doesn't linger too long I have actually done a little more deep frying here. I am having problems uploading pictures so I copied this page from  http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/  plus they are much better at photographing food than I am, and it is a great site for recipes and pretty food pictures.

I made a second batch on New Years day and invited a Mexican friend and her family but the rest of the family couldn't make it so it was just her and I. She shares her recipes with me all the time and it was nice to have something to share with her. We ate, laughed and chatted and I even taught her to play "Dutch Blitz" , A card game that you will find in almost any German house hold. At one point I left to get something from the kitchen and I come back to find my table moved...humm, apparently your table needs to be square with the world. She had positioned my table so that the corners are pointed North, South, East and West, apparently this is important, have no idea why. 

Are you square with the world for the New Year? 

This is a recipe repost from several years ago but I think it is worth a reminder today that tomorrow is the day to heat up a pot of oil, make a batch of raisin fritter batter and call your friends and family over to celebrate a new beginning to the new year.
Every year we open up our shop to our extended family.  I use a campstove to heat the oil and ask everyone else to bring something savoury to share for a late afternoon meal after the little ones have napped.

Here is Anneliese's recipe.  Pick one and begin a wonderful tradition in your home.

•  2 tablespoons yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 beaten eggs
• 1/4 cup melted cooled butter
• 2 1/2 cups warm milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4-6 cups raisins  (or you can eliminate the raisins all together as some prefer them plain)
• 7 cups flour
• additional sugar for dipping or rolling while still warm

1. Sprinkle the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar over the warm water in a large bowl.
2. Let the yeast mixture sit until it becomes foamy.
3. Add the sugar, beaten eggs, melted cooled butter, warm milk and salt and stir together really well.
4. Add the raisins and 4 cups of flour and beat hard with a wooden spoon.
5. Stir in the remainder of the flour and cover with a lid or plastic wrap and allow to double for about an hour.
6. Heat the oil to 375 and using two tablespoons drop spoons of batter into the oil.  When cooked on one side, they will naturally turn over.  Test the first few with a toothpick to be sure they are cooked in the center.  If they are not quite cooked in the middle, try making them slightly smaller. Do not overcrowd your pot.  (see photo)
7. Once evenly browned, remove them using a slotted spoon to paper towel.
8. You can roll them immediately in sugar or allow everyone to have their own technique for dipping into sugar while eating them.  If you want to freeze the leftovers, roll them in sugar first.

This has been a wonderful year for the Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity this blog has allowed us.  Without all of you who support us we wouldn't have a reason to post our recipes here or have a book that we can use to fund raise for feeding hungry children.  We are so blessed by your friendship and we pray that we will continue to be a blessing to you through sharing what God has given us in our faith and heritage.

From all of us at MGCC . ..may you have blessed new year!