 La Vida (Photo by Lady) Bad peach. Bad plum. I chuck them both in the trash. Took a chance yesterday and got fruit from the big box grocery store, Chedraui. I usually go to a street vendor or traditional market for produce.
I go to the big box store for packaged foods, cheese, yogurt, sometimes meat, and convenience. I suspect that the meat is on the shelf too long, though. When I walk by the fish department, I hold my nose. It’s really vile. My favorite part of Chedraui is the humungous baked goods section. There are five long racks of various sweet breads. Mexican baked goods usually look better than they taste. They match the form, and raise hope, but usually fail. One time I bought a brownie and it was like they’d used five times as much flour as should be in the recipe in order to trim costs. The brownie was even kind of pale, not a full rich brown. But Chedraui does have good pain au chocolate, muffins and fresh sesame hard rolls of various sizes and shapes. The big box store is huge, but it is monotonous. For example, one half of an aisle is devoted to mayonnaise. The other half is canned peppers. And not much variety, either. Can after can of the exact same thing. When I eat dry tortillas here it’s all I can do to keep from upchucking. I suffer tortilla fatigue. I suffer fatigue from Mexican food in general. The tacos here are not like tacos you might find at taco bell or chi-chi’s. Tacos here are made of suspect parts of animal bodies. Lots of gristle. I’ve not yet seen one made from hamburger. You have to have a kind of faith in humanity to order a taco from a taco stand. I’ve gotten dysentery at least twice here. I’m dying for a bagel, and some fresh pita. I would like hummus with tahini, a thick steak that I don’t have to worry about, fried chicken that isn’t stringy and barfy… most of all I miss the wide variety of spices I can find in the supermarkets up north. One plus: the spices here are FRESH and cheap. And herbs too. I can buy a big fresh bunch of cilantro for 20 cents or basil for 50 cents. Chedraui is new to Oaxaca. A friend tells me the big box stores started arriving here five years ago. She looks forward to the new Chedraui which is being constructed in her neighborhood. She says, “I go to these stores and walk around, cool down. I don’t buy anything. I can’t afford it. But I like to look.” One day I bought a cake made of sweet corn. “Where’d you get this?” she asked. “Chedraui.” My friend says she doesn’t know how to cook much. Her mother cooks the family’s food. So she watches me cook and writes down the recipes, tho I usually cook from scratch without a specific rules & ingredients in mind. I make food for her every week. The first week it was fajitas. “How do these compare to Mexican fajitas?” I ask. “These are better than what the restaurants here make,” she said. “This is not a regional dish of Oaxaca, though. Fajitas are from the north.” HOW I MAKE FAJITAS 4-6 limes Marinate the chicken in half the limes and half the garlic. In a separate container, marinate the onion, pepper in the rest of the lime & garlic, and a splash of olive oil. About 2 hours is fine. Fry the peppers & onions on high heat until onions are translucent. I like to fry them until they burn. Add chicken until it’s just cooked through (test middle of a thick piece). Garnish with fat free sour cream, avocado chunks, cilantro & tomato salsa and hot sauce, or as desired. No salt is necessary because the lime & garlic should sufficiently season the fajitas. |
You’re making me hungry!