Catemaco, Sierra de los Tuxtlas

In the heart of Sierra Los Tuxtlas theres a beautifil hidden place , Catemaco is full of all existing green shades colors, home of an amazing large variety of tropical plants, trees and fauna. Sorrounded by Volcano San Martin Los Tuxtlas and Sierra Madre, Catemaco is not a crater lake. The lake was formed millions of years ago, when lava flow from Volcano San Martín Tuxtla and blocked its current northern end near Coyame, and now stands at 1,115 feet above sea level. Its located at southern Veracruz Mexico, Catemaco enjoys a rich mix of tourism, cattle ranching, fishery and agriculture.

El Parque

Here we have Miss Ipomoea Violacea, one of the many local flowers, it can be found anywhere around the tropical rain forest that the place has. This trippy flower drop out its seeds when it start dying and get dry.

Estofado de Pollo - Chicken stew

Ingredientes:

6 pieces of Chicken (cut up)
3 table spoon of cooking oil (corn or olive)
3 medium slices of cinnamon
1 garlic clove finely chopped
2 bay leaves
¼ cup of raisins
¼ cup of cored and chopped green olives
¼ cup of dry sherry wine or 1 tbsp of brown sugar
1-2 medium potatoes (or 1 big) peeled cut up into bite size pieces
2 good size carrots peeled cut up into bite size pieces
½ onion, chopped
1 ½ chopped tomatoes (fresh)
2 Fresh jalapeño (whole)
1 cup of water
salt and pepper

Directions:
Season the chicken on all sides with salt, pepper and garlic, peel off the skin before you season it, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the chicken and brown well on both sides. Remove chicken pieces as they are brown and set them aside.
Place the carrots in the saucepan and sauté them in the remaining oil until tender, stirring constantly, Return the chicken to the saucepan, next
combine all the ingredients except the wine (or sugar) , stir in well for 5 minutes
Bring the stew to a simmer and cook another 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a pinch or two of salt. It will thicken at this stage. Add the wine (or sugar) and stir in for 2 more minutes.
If you want a thicker stew continue simmering until your get the desired thickness.
Taste and correct seasonings
Serve with white steamed rice.

Any comments or doubts contact me!

Horchata

There`s a particular drink that I LOVEEE, and besides being yummm is also nutritive! :P, Im talking about the famous drink Horchata! its very easy to make and you can find those ingredients at your local market; kids loves it here in Mexico, wich is good instead of giving them trade mark softdrinks, this is healthier!





i n g r e d i e n t s
2 cups of white rice
5 cups water
2 more cups of water for soaking
2-inch piece of cinnamon bark
1 cup sugar
1 cup of evaporated carnation milk
2 Tablespoon of Vanilla extract





Soak the rice and cinnamon in the soaking water for 2 hours. Drain just half of the water, pulse rice and cinnamon and water in a blender until its finely granulated. In a large jug, add the mixture of cinnamon & rice, and the 5 cups of lukewarm water, let it stand for 1 hour. Strain the mixture in to a large Pitcher through a fine sieve or cheesecloth a few times to remove any grittiness (we only want the rice milk). Finally add the sugar, carnation milk and vanilla extract; stir until it is dissolved and chill. Serve in large tumbler glass with lots of ice. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon, if desired.






We have two flavors of Horchata: RICE AND COCONUT. Here’s the recipe for coconut milk Horchata




Coconut Milk Horchata
i n g r e d i e n t s:

2 cups white rice

4 cups water

1 cup coconut milk, or coconut fruit pulp

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup sugar


Same process than before ! Just add the coconut milk after you strained the rice. Or if you get the fruit pulp, process it along the rice to obtain the milk and strain them (rice and coconut pulp) .

Tamales

Tamale come from the náhuatl word tamalli and its an amerindian dish, originally from México and from here to South America where their diet is corn based. Tamales are basically corn dough softened with lard and stuffed from veggies and spices to all kind of seasoned meat or a combination of both , also can be suffed with beans, and they are wrapped in banana leaves or corn leaves and steamed. There´s a large variety in Mexico since every state has many kind of tamales.

There is no particular date to eat them, but Tamales are usually associated with some festivities, as Feb. 2nd that is St. Candelaria´s Day , those who had a piece of "rosca" (bread -->) on Jan 6th and got a tiny baby toy on their bread are designated to bring the Tamales for Feb 2nd, its always like that, but lately some people start to forget or pretend to forget so they dont bring the Tamales! Its a fun Tradition where theres usually lots of Tamales and Hot chocolate.

Also Tamales are commonly served on "nueve dias ( nine days) it means when someone passes away there will be small religious ceremony everyday for nine days at the decease`s, and on last day (9th) will be carried out the last ceremony when the gravy cross is taken, and tamales will be served to relatives and friends at the end of the ceremony along with hot coffe and pieces of bread, I know it can sound strange for some that mexicans eat and drink while someone passed away, but I think it helps people on the process of letting someone loved go. Theres a wide variety of Tamales flavours and colors, I`ve seen pink tamales too and those are always sweet and are served on the side.