layers, layers and more layers...

I have these neighbors here in Mexico. The husband is Italian and the wife is Romanian. The man, Giuseppe, is a really good suit maker (I'm sure that has a name), and travels all over the world working in factories that make men's clothes, and abotu 4 years ago, they ended up here in Pachuca. They've lived in Italy, Korea, Portugal and alot more places that I cant recall at the moment, and that makes for a really hard time understanding the man talk. He mixes Portugese, Italian, Spanish and English, and I'm lucky if I understand half of what he says. The wife speaks Spanish pretty well, so I can understand her. Anyways, they are the nicest people and they have us over to dinner alot. The lady, Mariana, is an AMAZING cook! She makes all kinds of delicious Romanian and Italian food for us.
A couple weeks ago, we had a dinner to celebrate Giuseppe's birthday and Mariana made an overwhelming amount of food. She sent us home with huge plates of left overs, and this was what I ate for breakfast the next day:



The first layer is a delicious, flaky, homemade puff pastry. The second, a layer of thick cut bacon.
For the third layer, we have shredded carrots and leek. And right in the middle, we have juicy, mouthwatering pork loin.
Man, was this good. I cant even begin to explain how good. I have yet to get the full recipe from my neighbor, but i have the basic idea of how she makes it. She just basically wraps everything in the puff pastry she makes and then bakes it till the pork loin is done. She also makes something similar with a baguette. She hollows out the baguette, wraps the pork loin in bacon, and then stuffs it into the bread and bakes it until the pork is done.

calabazas asadas/ grilled zukes and an explanation.

So i've been away awhile.
I was in training for three weeks to get a job as an english teacher at a school here in Pachuca. It was a very rigorous training as they have their own methhodology of teaching, and i barely had enough time to do anything else, especially cook. but after 3 weeks of this training, i began to realize that they were making a lot of false promises, and to make a long story short, I will not be working there. I will stick to teaching the Korean children that ive been teaching for the last 3 years.

anyways, on a brighter note, I was given more zucchinis by MIL and my FIL taught me a great new way to prepare them:

Just drizzle on some olive oil, sprinkle with S&P, throw them on a hot comal till they char, and voila! Delicious grilled zukes!

I think Ive mentioned comals before. They are basically a removable iron plate that come on stoves here in Mexico. They are used to warm tortillas, grill tomatoes for salsa, and to heat various other things.

big zucchini, baby zucchini

zukes on the comal

zukes in all their grilled goodness...

Long time no blog!!!!!

sorry about that!

ive had a lot on my plate right now. i got a new job as an english teacher at a school but my visa has expired so im trying to figure out what i need to d0 to fix that. plus ive been in training everyday for 3 weeks for the new job, but that ends soon.

So regular posting should begin again soon!!!

forgotten cookies

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. man, these 3 years have gone by so fast. He took me to a Brasilian restaurant to celebrate. I ate so much that I never want to see meat again.

I made forgotten cookies the other day but didnt get to post them, because a friend had a baby (!) and I was with her all day.

my boyfriend and the baby

I got the recipe for forgotten cookies from my roomie when I was studying in Guadalajara. She had to make something American to take to her Spanish class, and she decided on these. They were sooo hard to make because we had no electric mixer and had to take turns mixing the egg whites by hand. And then, when we went to take the cookies of they tray the next day, we realized we hadnt greased it. We had to use a knife to get them off, and our host mom got really mad when she saw the tray because it was all scratched up. oops...

• 2 egg whites
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
   
2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until whites form stiff peaks. Fold in the vanilla and chocolate chips. Spoon onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Put the cookies into the preheated oven, shut the door and turn off the oven . Let cookies sit in the turned off oven for 5 to 6 hours or overnight.

BBQ...and the end of a diet :(

Well, I'm sad to say that my boyfriend's diet lasted all of 12 hours.

He got home from work Monday and pulled out another one of those giant tortas that i posted about the other day from his lap top case and dug in. He about 3/4 of it and washed it down with 2 glasses of sprite.

Yesterday I made some pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches with zucchini chips and a lite apple crisp in hopes that all that would fill him up, but it didnt. A couple hours later his parents invited us over because some friends of the family dropped by, and my bf chowed down on about 10 chalupas. A chalupa is fried corn dough toppd with lettuce, salsa, chicken, and radish.

But anyways! Sorry for the rant. I really dont know what to do about him. I guess it's just a decision he will have to make for himself, but in the mean time i can continue to cook healthy meals for him. sigh.




You can find my BBQ recipe here. The buns were homemade, but nothing to write home about, so I wont bore you with the recipe.

swiss chard with wild mushrooms

My mother in law gave me some weird looking mushrooms the other day. Anyone have any idea what kind they are??

I dont like mushrooms, as I have previously stated, but in light of my boyfriend's new diet, I decided to put them to good use. I had some swiss chard (called acelgas here in Mexico) that I needed to use up, so i just sauteed that with some garlic, salt and the mushrooms. My boy friend loved it!


Swiss chard with Wild Mushrooms (for 1):

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp oil
• a couple handfuls of swiss chard
• about a cup of sliced mushrooms

1. sautee garlic and musrooms in oil.
2. add in swiss chard and sautee until wilted
   

Stuffed peppers...the start of a diet!

Today, my boyfriend finally agreed to start a diet with me. I've been trying to get him to eat better for a long time. It's not that he eats alot of bad stuff. He eats relatively good foods, he just eats so much. He's a big guy (6'2'', 220 lbs) and I like how he looks, but its his health I'm concerned about.

But so far so good. Today was the first day in 3 years that I saw him eat meal without 4 slices of bread! I just hope he sticks with this diet.

I knew I had to make something healthy and filling, so I decided on stuffed bell peppers. They filled him up all right!




Stuffed Bell Peppers (for 2):

• 2 big bell peppers (whatever color you like)
• 1.5 - 2 c cooked rice (depends on how big your peppers are) I cooked my rice with tomatoes to give it a nice flavor
  
• 4-5 slices turkey bacon
• .5 c black beans
• diced onion and minced garlic (however much you want)
  
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut peppers either in half or cut the tops off. I cut mine in half length-wise.
2. Devein peppers.
3. Sautee onions, garlic, and bacon a few minutes. Add beans and cooked rice, and sautee a couple minutes more. Season with Salt and pepper.
4. fill peppers and pop in the oven at 375ºf for 25-30 minutes. ( you can add cheese on top if you are so inclined)