Long overdue update

If you've been refreshing Viva Robusto for the past couple weeks in frustration, your patience is about to pay off. I have finally been able to upload the final pics from Mexico, as well as a whole bunch of delicious food pics from our return home.

Diving right in...

On our way to Mexico City from Puerto Escondido and the Oaxacan coast, we got to spend a few nights in our old apartment in Oaxaca City. And that meant another chance to enjoy tacos arabes from Salomon Tacos on Independencia. These are a little like al pastor tacos in that they only contain meat carved from a spit, but they're served in a fluffier, pita-like flour tortilla. Delicious.



Our last of many bus rides. Cause for celebration.



Mural by Diego Rivera in a government building near the centro historico.



One of the biggest "pinas" we ever saw. (Note: not actually a pina.)



More from the botanical garden at the same building.



More shirt-sightseeing coordination.



Mexico City is the biggest city we've ever visited; it's the 2nd largest in the world behind Tokyo. Look at how far ahead of us they are in walking-replacement technology!



This, unfortunately, is the last picture our sad little elph camera will ever take. It survived a drop in Florence, countless sandy beaches and took well over 10,000 photos (not even counting ones we deleted) before finally giving in. Liz was mad because this particular photo was just a poker-related in-joke.



So... that's it for photos from Mexico! It's a little anti-climactic, I know. But we did have a brand-new Canon Digital Rebel xTI waiting for us at home! We didn't know how to use it very well at first, but we could tell right away that it was capable of taking some amazing photos. Muffins at my parents' house.



We finally reunited with our dog! Poor Ash had gained about 10-15 pounds and was consequently pretty lethargic at first. But now that we've got him on Atkins and a strictly regimented workout plan he seems to have regained some of his youthful energy.



After riding scooters around in Asia and Italy, it was nice to come home to a real bike. Once I got the battery charged she ran like a dream despite sitting for over 10 months.



Speaking of dreams, American Dream pizza. This is the stuff I was obsessed with all year long. All that buildup and anticipation, and it was still even better than I could have hoped it would be. If you're ever in Portland or Corvallis, do yourself a favor and try it for yourself.



The sunsets in Portland rival the most beautiful we found anywhere else in the world.



Right away we had occasion to ditch the T-shirts and flip flops for a wedding.





We're still eating pretty dang well. The wedding was catered by Papa Hayden.





We may have left Mexico behind, but a little bit of the culture will remain with us always.



Too bad we didn't have this camera during our trip. Low-light photography is no longer impossible!



Just a heads-up: About 99% of the rest of our pics are of food. So if you don't care about that, check back in a few days for a final Viva Robusto wrap-up - Viva Robusto by the numbers.

After the wedding, we headed up to Crippen Creek to see Liz's family and continue indulging in amazing food. I'm usually not much for beets, but these were home grown and actually pretty tasty.



Don putting the final touches on dinner.



Which was homemade biscuits....



... fried chicken, mashed potatoes and beets.



A few of the veggies from the Speranzas' hoop house. First, basil.



Some kind of pepper.



Eggplant.



And baby bok choy.



Okay, now the rest of the pics are really all just food. There's always a pile of fresh-baked focaccia around at Crippen Creek.



Kitty's award-winning sticky buns.



Did you know that you can make dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweet and condensed milk? Me either. Google it before you try anything; according to Don, explosions can be an unwanted side-effect if this isn't cooked properly. Anyway, this went into homemade dulce de leche ice cream.



Homemade cinnamon roll and scrambled eggs from their own hens. Doesn't get much better than that for breakfast. I take that back. It will be slightly better when their pigs are mature and we can have home-raised bacon too.



I made up an extra batch of dough so we decided to try focacetta as an appetizer. According to my grandmother, you just make your regular focaccia dough, cut it into small pieces and roll it flat. Let the dough sit for about 10 minutes, then deep-fry it in oil. That's it. The results are dozens of fluffy, airy dough pockets that you can rip in half and stuff with prosciutto, salami and/or cheese. Or for a dessert, you can dip them in a cinnamon/sugar mix.



Steak with homemade chimichurri sauce. Don was paying attention to the Argentina portion of our blog and wanted to try his hand at some chimichurri. I think this was the best one I had.



As if that weren't enough, we also had risotto that night. Incredible.



From one feast to another... back in Portland, our friend Aruna invited us to a dinner party where she would be preparing Indian food. She's a great cook; how could we say no?

Her homemade samosas next to an assortment of spices.



This is a store-bought sauce but it looked pretty and tasted even better, so what the hell?



Everything else was from scratch, including saffron rice, a couple curries and several other excellent dishes that I feel ashamed to not know by name.



Ok, at this point we'd been home from Mexico for a couple weeks and I was craving Mexican food again. Here's a quick black bean, rice, chicken and homemade salsa dinner I threw together.



Last but not least, one of the prettiest pizzas I've ever made. This will be important evidence when my book comes out because I rag pretty hard on certain countries for not being able to produce a decent pizza. I should at least know how to make one myself if I'm going to criticize others.



Here's how it turned out. Bellissima.



That's it for now! I have one more travel-related post to make, and then I think I'll just keep on updating this as a food blog. I'll also continue to post news about the book here, so stay tuned.

Mezcalritaville

Thought we'd check in again from Oaxaca before we head to the beaches and, ultimately, back home.

If the content has been a little thin, I apologize. Truthfully I needed some time to unwind from all the traveling we'd done, so I haven't really been up for doing much here in Oaxaca. I've mostly been sitting around working on my book, playing a little bit of poker again, looking forward to coming back to Portland.

However, we've been more active in the past week or so. Oaxaca is growing on me more and more as we find new favorite places to eat and hang out.

Backing up a few weeks, here's a picture of the teachers' protest that marched down our street. When we arrived in Oaxaca, the zocalo (town center) was overtaken with striking teachers. Here's the short version of the story: The teachers have been striking every year for a long time. A few years ago (2006), the government cracked down and there was a huge riot and massacre.

Since then, little has changed. The same people are still in power in Oaxaca, and the teachers still strike every year. The march was the culmination of weeks of camping out in the zocalo, and was scheduled on the same day as the riots a few years back. Nobody knows if the government will crack down again, but for this year anyway, the march was allowed to continue in peace.

It's not as dangerous as it sounds, especially for tourists. Now the teachers are out of the zocalo and everything is back to normal. Anyway, here are some of the protesters as seen from our balcony.



One day we took a collectivo up to Tlacolula de Matamoros to do a little shopping in the market. This poor kid is going to be goat-phobic for the rest of his life.



Almost bought this.



Did buy this.



As I mentioned, Oaxaca does feel completely safe. But you do see an awful lot of dudes with giant machine guns. The picture is terrible, I know, but I didn't want to get caught taking a picture of a guy with an M-16 who probably didn't want his photo taken.



On the way back from Tlacolula we stopped in El Tule to visit the largest tree in Latin America.



It's big.



And we tried some of the nieve, which is a bit like a snow cone. A little sweet for our palates, though.



This is Marta, one of the two cats that live here. She has been acting a lot like Ash -- trying to get into our bed at night, and sleeping on our clothes in the daytime.



Dinner at the pozoleria near our apartment. I'll let wikipedia explain what pozole is:

Pozole is a traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew from Mexico. It is made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chile, garbanzo beans and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, radish, cilantro, avocado, lime juice, etc. There are a number of variations on pozole, including blanco (white or clear), verde (green), rojo (red), de frijol (with beans), and elopozole (sweet corn, squash, and meat).

You can also see some tacos de carnitas (rolled) in the background. Altogether this meal was around $11.



Garcia Vigil, the main tourist drag, pictured on a quiet night.



A few shots from a concert and dance in the zocalo.



After the first band played (classical music), we went to get some lunch. They were showing the next band on TV live as we ate.



The biggest ants I've ever seen. Apparently these guys only come out once or twice a year, but we've been lucky enough see them twice already. They're pretty slow-moving and apparently not a threat to bite. In fact, when they do come out, people collect them by hand to eat later. Yum.



Not everything is cheap here, but limes sure are. 20 will run you about $1. Cheap limes + "Controy" (fake Mexican Cointreau) + tequila = great margaritas.



In El Chaltan, Argentina, Liz met up with Marlene (left) from Denmark. Turns out she was coming to Mexico too, and she and Liz have stayed in touch. We met up for margaritas and dinner at La Olla.



It really is a pretty town despite the graffiti, noise and pollution.









It's not uncommon to stumble upon a random dance practice out in public.



Liz knows a cool Vespa when she sees one.



She's also been volunteering a bit of time at a center for kids here. This little dude is really working hard on his watercolor.





Balloons are big here.



This is a tlayuda from the Farmer's Market.

Again, I'll let wikipedia do the honors.

Tlayudas, sometimes spelled Clayuda (IPA /kla'ʝuð̞a/), is a part of Mexican Cuisine, consisting of a big crunchy tortilla covered with a spread of refried beans, asiento (unrefined pork lard), lettuce, meat (usually shredded chicken, beef tenderloin and/or pork), Oaxaca cheese or other cheese, and salsa. They are a popular antojito, or snack food, in Oaxaca, particularly around Oaxaca City.

Here's where we get flowers every week.



Liz with her Spanish teacher.



A few shots from a nearby museum. I didn't go. I just find it hard to get enthused about another museum or waterfall or cultural event at this point. But apparently it was quite scenic.





One thing I am enthused about: mezcal. I wrote a little about it in the previous post, but basically it's a variant of tequila that they produce in the Oaxaca region. I've tried probably eight or nine different varieties and haven't been disappointed yet. Like tequila, it's made from blue agave cactus (maguey en espanol).

Not sure if these are blue agave cactii or not, but they sure look like it.



And here's the best mezcal I've tried so far. It only costs $5.85 for a liter, but I think it tastes better than Patron or Don Julio.



And it has a worm!



That's all I've got for now. We're heading to Hierve el Agua tomorrow, and our friend Jenny arrives on Saturday. So the next update should be even more action-packed. Until then...