"cincodemayo" news and stories

Despite evidence to the contrary, Cinco de Mayo is not Spanish for 'another excuse to get totally faced.' What Cinco de Mayo has come to signify in this country, however, is exactly that. Just like we knock back Guinness on St. Patrick's Day and gorge ourselves on beer and brats during Oktoberfest, Cinco de Mayo has become our way of showing appreciation for our Mexican neighbors in the best way we know how; by getting slobber-faced.

This upcoming May 5, we'll be raising glasses of tequila. So let's take a minute and find out exactly what is in that glass and clear up some misconceptions.

I didn't realize until a few years ago that in most other parts of the US, Cinco de Mayo isn't as huge a deal as it is here in LA. For some reason, I just assumed that everyone around the country used the "holiday" as an excuse to eat chips and salsa, drink margaritas, and shoot tequila to messy excess. Well, given that we also had the The Fight, and Derby Day yesterday, it's no surprise that I sort of "missed" my own Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Still, that doesn't mean that the gorgeous mango, lime, and margarita glass that have been sitting on my countertop should go to waste. Since Cinco de Mayo has already past, let's just call today Cinco de Mango, and enjoy the Mango Salsa from the National Mango Board, which LAist Lindsay William-Ross has already made and photograhed. The recipe for the salsa is after the jump, and for more mango recipes, check out www.mangoinfo.org.

Over the next few days, we will be getting ready for Cinco de Mayo here at Slashfood, and I decided there is no better way to start the day than with coffee. Actually, make that Café de Olla, a Mexican-style sweetened black coffee. I first had this drink about ten years ago, and still make it periodically throughout the year. The flavor is bold and sweet, laced with the subtle flavors of cinnamon and anise.

Though I have come across many different ways to prepare this beverage, the following is a simplified version I've adapted over time. If any of you have any tips on making it better, please feel free to add your comments below. The full recipe can be found after the jump.

Sometimes, holidays just beg to be celebrated with fried foods. Yesterday, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Jessica made churros and posted about them on her blog, Su Good Eats. Jessica tells us that churros got their start as a French dish, not a Mexican one, since they are based on choux pastry, which is typically used to make eclairs and cream puffs. In this case, of course, it is deep fried and rolled in a cinnamon-sugar mixture to make a crispy and delicious snack that you'll want to eat as soon as it's cool enough to pop into your mouth. Coincidentally, the recipe came from the same cookbook that was our cookbook of the day yesterday, Rick Bayless's Mexico One Day At A Time!

Source

We're nosy, yes we are. So won't you tell us what you did last night for Cinco de Mayo? Maybe you ignored it completely and it was dinner as usual, maybe you threw your own party at home with a walking taco for everyone, or maybe you left work early, went to the closest cantina for cheap Cinco de Mayo happy hour (that would be "hora especial") specials, then made your way to who knows where before finally ending up at home this morning, in the same clothes, with a killer tequil-ler hangover. If that's the case, drink some water, turn off your computer and go back to bed!

Me? I tried to go somewhere, a couple of places, actually, but realized we'd be waiting in line for over an hour, so went to have Chinese food for dinner!