Guisados, as its name suggests, specializes in tacos made from rich, traditional stews. The chile verde was especially tasty.
Here’s the website: http://www.guisados.co/
Guisados is one of the participants in tonight’s event East LA Meets Napa, a fundraiser for AltaMed at Union Station. The event features Mexican restaurants from all over Los Angeles, as well as Latino-owned wineries.
Here’s the website: http://www.altamed.org/eastlameetsnapa
I’m really looking forward to this event on Friday – at Union Station, of all places! A long list of great Mexican restaurants and Latino-owned wineries will be there, and I’ll have the opportunity to try all their wonderful specialties.
The photos are a selection of Moles from La Huasteca, and quesadillas from Lotería Grill. Both restaurants will be represented on Friday. Here are their websites:
Here’s the website for the event, with the list of restaurants and wineries, with a description of Alta Med, the beneficiary of the fund-raising:
A huge mural painting of iconic singer Gloria Trevi. Near Mac Arthur Park in downtown Los Angeles. October, 2010
This is one of Mexico’s most famous desserts, and for good reason. You’ll find it on menus from the most upscale restaurants to the most basic, and it’s always delicious. I was in the mood for a tres leches cake one night in Monterrey, and found a slice in a plastic container at a Soriana supermarket, and even that was delicious. Here’s a recipe:
Original recipe makes 1 10×15-inch cake
Ingredients –
6 eggs, separated
1 cup white sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 cup whipped cream(optional)
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries(optional)
Directions –
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease a 10×15-inch baking dish
Beat egg whites in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high until stiff peaks form; gradually beat in sugar until mixture is glossy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, combining each yolk before adding the next. Reduce mixer speed to medium and add flour, about 1 tablespoon at a time, to the mixture, beating continuously; beat in baking powder, milk, and vanilla extract. Pour batter into prepared baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cake cool for 15 minutes.
Pour 1 cup cream, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk in a blender and pulse several times until well blended. Pour three-milk mixture evenly over the cake. Refrigerate cake until cold and the milk mixture has soaked in, at least 1 hour.
Cut in squares and top each serving with a dollop of whipped cream and a few sliced strawberries. Refrigerate leftovers.
Another great photo from the Facebook page “La Ciudad de México en el tiempo.” Avenida Juárez – not hard to recognize the spot.
Vista de la avenida Juárez a la altura del cruce con Humboldt en 1956. Entre muchos detalles, se aprecia el Edificio Corcuera con su anuncio de llantas Goodrich, y a la izquierda de éste, el Banco del Valle de México; del lado derecho está el edificio de Juárez 97, que aún existe, y en la misma acera destaca la antigua sede de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, demolida junto con los inmuebles vecinos para ampliar el Paseo de la Reforma en 1964.
My rating: 4 stars
Winner of the Premio Letras Nuevas 2012, Krause’s new novel takes up where his earlier novel, Cuervos (see my earlier review) left off. Now 28, Matías returns from 6 aimless years of self-imposed exile in New York, to learn that you can’t go home again. Not that he really wanted to go home, but his father’s death was a surprise and a huge emotional blow.
6 years earlier, he published a tell-all novel showing the very worst sides of his thinly-disguised friends, and expects to be held accountable. It is somewhat troubling, however, to learn that none of his friends took the trouble to even read it. Instead, he finds that his friends’ and family’s lives have moved on without him, and he doesn’t really fit in any more. Suffering from the same anger and frustrations that prompted him to write his destructive novel in the first place, Matías sets out to do as much emotional damage as possible, some directly, and some passive-aggressively.
In an intense, first-person account, we see Matías destroy a little of himself with every destructive, vengeful act he brings upon his former friends and family. We also see him grieving for the good things he left behind all those years ago, including his childhood pet, his first love and most of all, his father. It takes hitting bottom, and his near destruction to force Matías to focus on a path to potential healing.
A powerful, intensely personal story of a young man forced to confront both the past and the future.
Desde Libros Gandhi:
TRAS UNA LARGA ESTANCIA EN NUEVA YORK, MATÍAS VUELVE A LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO. NO REGRESA POR GUSTO NI LO MUEVE LA NOSTALGIA: LO HA SORPRENDIDO LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE. REINTEGRARSE AL PASADO LO LLEVA A ENFRENTARSE A TODO AQUELLO DE LO QUE SALIÓ HUYENDO Y EL PAÍS QUE NUNCA HA SIDO PLENAMENTE SUYO LO CONFRONTA CON UNA REALIDAD SOCIAL INESPERADAMENTE VIOLENTA, DEGRADADA Y VACUA, Y CON SU PROPIO PASADO: LA FAMILIA, LOS AMIGOS, LOS AMORES. POCO A POCO IRRUMPEN LOS AGRAVIOS INSATISFECHOS, LAS VENGANZAS LARGAMENTE INCUBADAS, LAS CUENTAS PENDIENTES, LAS TRAICIONES INCONFESABLES, LOS SUEÑOS FRUSTRADOS. UNA EXTRAORDINARIA NARRACIÓN SIN CONCESIONES NI TREGUA, QUE SE PRECIPITA DE MANERA BRUTAL E INCANDESCENTE CUANDO MATÍAS HACE FRENTE A SU HISTORIA, DESTROZANDO LAS VIDAS DE TODOS A LOS QUE DEJÓ Y TODOS LOS QUE LO HAN QUERIDO, SIN ESPERANZA CASI DE SALVACIÓN. FALLAS DE ORIGEN ES LA NOVELA GANADORA DEL PREMIO LETRAS NUEVAS 2012
These were my choices one evening in Tuxtla Gutierrez. I ordered the tacos al pastor, but I should have gone for something more exotic… I don’t imagine they could have surprised me too much.
Despite the name, I believe they’re a Mexican group. I couldn’t find a live performance, but this is one of my favorite cumbia songs, so I posted it anyway.
I try to blend in wherever I travel.
Here’s an old-school singer we can appreciate for her camp value, or her straightforward artistry, depending on our mood. This is probably her most famous song. Translated as Rat With 2 Feet, it’s directed at her ex-husband, and features the nastiest, most vicious lyrics I’ve ever heard… wrapped in a sweetly delivered tune.
Bruce Critchley's Mexico Here and There 