Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of LeNell's liquor store. She's owned her own whiskey label called Red Hook Rye and has been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.
The moving truck rolls into Brooklyn this week. The big international move to Mexico has been brutal to organize, but -- lucky me! -- I had the very cool cats called Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC) host a splendid Hasta Luego shindig in my honor.
One of the members, Elayne Duke, served up an original creation she called "Little Bit of Country," that's perfect for the chill coming in the air these days. Her cocktail pretty much sums me up: kick of bourbon, little sweetness, nice tartness, touch of spiciness and just enough bitter to balance it all out. My Granny sent me a fabulous leopard-print dress to wear that just had to have a pink feather boa for the party ... and I sported my cowboy boots for a "little bit of country."
Caesar's, the restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, credited with creating the now-mainstream Caesar salad, closed last week over a rent dispute.
"I showed up for work on Monday and I found all the furniture outside," Miguel Angel Ventura Oros, a waiter at the restaurant, told the Associated Press. "The manager told us there was an eviction for not paying the rent."
Few of us want to make a complicated lasagna for solo dining -- by day six, you'll never want to see lasagna again! In this series, AOL Food intern Sarah LeTrent taste-tests simple recipes suitable for a "table for one."
For singletons, it's pretty easy to throw together a sandwich at home. Simply consider the bread a canvas and whatever's on hand the paint. Nearly any combo could end up delicious in the hands of the trial and error gods.
As any good sandwich should, this one starts with quality bread (in this case a crusty Kaiser roll bought at the local market for a mere 79 cents.) The motivation behind the toppings were not only the existing contents of the fridge, but a recent trip to Mexico packed with plantains and pollo (chicken). If only we had a paleta around for dessert!
Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of LeNell's liquor store. She's owned her own whiskey label called Red Hook Rye and been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.
I'm not above a little hell-raising, but I swear I was not doing anything illegal a few weeks ago in Mexico when my sweetheart Demian and I got pulled over by the police on the way to the beach.
Demian was accused of drinking and driving.We were eating homemade pesto while driving, but last I checked that wasn't illegal anywhere in the world.We did have an unopened bottle of Champagne iced in a cooler.Demian showed the officer the pesto and the bottle of bubbly.In the end, the cops accused Demian of speeding. His excuse?
Margaritas are lovely, yes, but sometimes the liver needs a break. And Mexico, of course, is no one-trick culinary pony. In fact, while ambling through the famously taco- and torta-laden neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, last weekend, a compadre proselytized wildly about a maple-walnut popsicle right before running into traffic to lead us to the deli where it lived.
Traditionally no friend to the walnut unless it is candied, we were inclined to pass. Then we noticed that in this popsicle, walnuts were a minor player relegated to the stick end of the treat. We politely accepted a small bite. And then another.
And then we turned on our heel and ran back to the deli to rummage frantically through the cooler gleaming on the sidewalk: mango-lime, pistachio, egg nog. Egg nog?! Walnut! Where was it? Pops flew everywhere as, like a dog frantically chasing a mole burrowing underground, we went shoulder-deep into the icy cooler. Thank the stars, a lone, innocuous "nuez" pop remained.
I have to admit, I was a little put off by the greenish stuff oozing out of the side of these cupcakes. But once I heard it was mole, I was all about it.
Originating in Mexico, mole refers to a variety of sauces whose recipes vary but usually contain chiles, nuts of some sort, spices, and (often) chocolate. These vegan cupcakes, from Norwichnuts on the Slashfood Flickr pool, are filled with a rich mole made from mild chiles, ground sesame seeds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and cinnamon-spiced Mexican chocolate.
The cupcakes themselves are chocolate Devil's Food and the frosting is vegan pine nut "buttercream" with a sprinkling of brown sugar and nuts. Me gustan mucho!
Tequila is probably the last thing you'd choose to drink after filling your stomach with fine dining. It'd be like getting dressed up in your best clothes--then spilling something on yourself right as you walk out the door. However, Agavero is a tequila-based liqueur that can be savored after any meal. As it first hits your tongue, it's rich and almost has hints of wood and coffee, then it smooths out into a lighter, almost herbal taste
Agavero is created by separately aging blue agave anejo and reposado tequilas in oak barrels. The two liquors are then blended with essence of Damiana flowers, which grow in the mountains of the Jalisco region where Agavero is made--some Indian tribes there believe that Damiana is an aphrodisiac. While mostly designed to be sipped on its own, Agavero can also be used in mixed drinks such as the Mexican Cosmopolitan or to spike a post-dinner coffee. The bottle is designed to look like the spiky flower of the blue agave plant, with embossed leaves creeping up the sides.
When I think of my mom, two things usually don't come to mind: beer and Frank Zappa. Which made it odd earlier this week when I opened an email to find she had sent me the following quote: "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
Now, I'm not a big Zappa fan and have never heard this quote. I'm guessing that puts me in Group A of two possible groups, with Group B consisting of huge Zappa fans who have heard this quote a million times. But the quote did get me thinking that there are a number of countries that I associate with one specific beer. Yes, I realize they have more than one beer, but every time I think of said country, one specific beer immediately pops into mind trumping all others.
Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying these are the best beers each country has to offer, or even a list of my favorite international beers, but for this week's Slashfood Ate beer edition, I present the 8 countries that through experience and marketing I most associate with one specific beer.
I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour (until I run out), so please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight witching hour (until I run out), so please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
Have you heard about this? I think this is one of the funniest stories I've heard all day. Absolut Vodka pulled an advertisement it was running in Mexico because it offended some people in the US.
According to Reuters, the ad shows a map of the US and Mexico from before 1848, when Mexico lost a war and lots of territory to the United States, with the text "An Absolut World." It seems that some Mexicans are still a little sore about this, so the advertising makes sense in that country. Still, if you know the history, I suppose I can see why Americans would be offended.
I think it's pretty funny. I don't really know the history very well, and to me what's done is done. I am having trouble seeing what all the fuss is about, but I'm pretty entertained by Absolut's advertising woes.
This is a simple vegan take on Huevos Rancheros. It has all of the flavor and substance of the original dish, but is a great healthy alternative. Mexican Tofu Scramble From: Moosewood Restaurant New Classics Serves: 3
You will need: 6 small tortillas 2 Tbsp. veggie oil 1 cup chopped onions 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup chopped red bell peppers 1 cup chopped green peppers 1 green chile, minced 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. ground coriander 1 tsp. salt 16 oz. soft tofu, pressed between two plates for 15 minutes, then drained 6 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped 1 1/2 cups salsa
Wrap tortillas in foil and warm in a 300 degree F oven for 10 minutes.
Heat oil in a wok, and then saute onions for five minutes. Add garlic, peppers, chile, and all spices and herbs, and saute for two minutes more.
Crumble the tofu and cook for 5 minutes (don't stir) until moisture evaporates. Then, stir and cook for two minutes more.
Remove tortillas from oven and mound scramble in each shell. Roll them up, cover with salsa, and set in warm oven until serving time.
Have you ever sat on your sofa late at night, maybe watching Dancing with the Stars, and you think to yourself, "hmmm...I wonder if there's a way to make skulls out of sugar?" Well, yes there is! And this can show you how.
Last year we told you about Day of the Dead chocolate skulls, but these are even more frightening, with their blank, white skull faces looking through you from a pile of molded sugar. The site has a real nice step by step tutorial, with pics.
This gem comes from the press release announcing Cold Stone Creamery's expansion into Mexico and Southeast Asia. I'll admit it's a better turn of phrase than "taking the international sweet tooth by cavity." Full disclosure, I've never eaten the Creamery's ice cream, I suppose I should since there's one in a mall near my house.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based purveyor of fresh-made ice-cream that's blended to order with mix-ins on, you guessed it, a cold stone, started scooping up international markets back in 2005, when it opened its first overseas store in Tokyo. Since then Coldstone has opened 22 more stores throughout Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan.
Its first Mexican store will open in September. There's been no word yet as to whether the Creamery stores South of the Border will forgo the signature stone slab in favor of a gigantic molcajete y tejolote to mix the ingredients with the ice cream. The company's next international markets will be Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. I don't think it's gonna happen, but I'd love to see the Creamery's Southeast Asian stores use young coconut, jackfruit and some of the brightly colored gelatinous squiggles that are a staple of the region's frozen confections.
Before we get into Happy Hour recipes for the celebrations this weekend, I wanted to draw attention to this non-alcoholic Mexican drink that admittedly sounded strange to me until I tried it - now I am hooked.
Though there are drinks under the name Horchata in other cultures, the Mexican version is made from blended rice. It looks (and even tastes) like a milky drink, but there is absolutely no dairy in the recipe. It is rumored that this drink helps to cure hangovers, so you may want to whip up a batch if you plan on indulging at all this weekend.
If you want to try the drink but don't want to go to all the effort of making it yourself, Rice Dream apparently makes a version that is already prepared, though I've never tasted that myself. You can find the full recipe after the jump.
When I think of my mom, two things usually don't come to mind: beer and Frank Zappa. Which made it odd earlier this week when I opened an email to find she had sent me the following quote: "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
Have you heard about this? I think this is one of the funniest stories I've heard all day. Absolut Vodka pulled an advertisement it was running in Mexico because it 
Before we get into Happy Hour recipes for the celebrations this weekend, I wanted to draw attention to this non-alcoholic Mexican drink that admittedly sounded strange to me until I tried it - now I am hooked. 
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