Tortillas in Tepoztlan

I want to write about tortillas. There is a trend in Mexican tortillerias to add flour to the corn meal, adulterating the tortillas. This is such a problem that I have seen many tortillerias with signs proclaiming their tortillas free from additives, "100% puro maiz!"
In the market in Tepoztlan, though, they do things the old fashioned way. You can go there and buy handmade, real, 100% corn tortillas, for about 9 pesos/dozen. I ate there one day, when I was staying with Mariana for those 10 hideous days. And I took these pictures for posterity. Actually, at this stall I ate one sope and one quesadilla. They were fantastic.

Mr. Egg

I keep having these epiphanies that I need to use this blog instead of stupid FaceBook. So I'm gonna try to get back into the swing of it.
This is a store that we pass every day coming home from work in the Tux Van. I love the Mr. Egg sign. And, you can't see it in the picture, but there are bins of ground corn alongside the sacks of dog food and animal feed. If you want to make corn bread, you can't get cornmeal any other place. You have to go to the animal food store. Heh heh.

Las Mascaritas

Well, I labeled this under Jenny Winny Wino, but it might not exactly qualify. These are some pictures from a local bar called Mascaritas, "The little masks." Joe and Cita go here often, but I don't drink like those fish. I go sometimes. The bar is tiny but has the best jukebox in Tuxtepec. It is hot and the blood-sucking bugs get in, but it can be a fun place. They serve peanuts with chile powder and lime juice, and corn puff things with hot sauce on the side when you order a bunch of beer.
Odd, how I am living in the cradle of beer-land here (we are surrounded by mega-breweries for Corona in Tuxtepec. Well. One anyway.)and I would rather have wine most of the time. Go figure.

A Taste of India in Luxor

We met Dani and Katja and Dr. Onstine at this Indian Restaurant I believe called "A Taste of India" and the food was very very good. Luxor was decked out for Christmas so I had to get this picture from a tiny park-like area beside the road. Like Alice in Wonderland on acid in a happy kind of way. I love it, love it, love it!!!!

Casa Italia Arrival

We are officially part of the Italian Archaeological Mission of Luxor since we are working in their tomb. So, we get to stay in the Casa Italiana. It is fabulous and has a an awesome staff with a chef who is either magically great or I am too used to my own crappy food. I had reached a point, I thought where I was actually making good food. Then I came here. And tasted the culinary masterpieces of Abdul Nassar. Now I am abashed and humbled.
Aside from the food, which I could rave about for days, the house itself is cool. It is on the edge of the desert with a gorgeous view of the mountains that surround the Valley of the Kings. We can't actually see the necropolis, but we can see the buses going in and out and the mountains around here and the desert are beautiful.
And the flatware is all printed with the Casa Italia logo which is totally cool.

Daddy in Memphis

Daddy came to visit me to bring me my mail and we went to eat at the Rendezvous. But it was CLOSED!!!! Horror!!! So we had to go to Beale St. and find somewhere else to eat.
We ended up eating at a place kind of in the middle of Beale St. - I can't remember the name - but when I said I was vegetarian they insisted on me getting a vegetarian lasagna dish. I want to know why the hell does everybody seem to believe that toadstools are an acceptable substitute for meat?!?!?!?! People pile on the mushrooms if they find out you don't eat meat. But there ARE those of us who are not big fungus fans. Well. Not since a particularly horrid experience in Auburn. Thanks Randy. You know who you are. Anyway...
The restaurant was pretty good after all- how can you go wrong with a portrait of the King!??!!?
Here area few pictures of us. It's always fun to hang out with him because he is funnier than I am :)
And he took me to the grocery store and paid for my flu shot. Yay!

Around Talaat Harb

A few pictures from around my hotel. This is a nice area downtown and there are some good places to get cheap food.

The Beauty Shop Restaurant

Here is Raymond's crab plate. I can't remember the name of it. All of the food here was fabulous.

Irish Pub time

To kill some time until our next scheduled restaurant opened, we had to drink pints in an Irish pub down the street. This was in Midtown, by the way, an area that Raymond loved. It was in this pub that Amy told us about kissing the Blarney stone on one of her trips to Ireland. She had a lot of other stories but I remember the part about the Blarney stone the best.

The Throne

Or...the booth of the King.

The Arcade Diner, again

Here we are in the very same booth where once upon a time Elvis sat, scarfing eggs and sausages. We are trying to mimic the Elvis snarl. Poor Jenny and Ginger and Raymond. They ARE from the south. Bless their hearts.

Breakfast at the Arcade

This is where Elvis ate. At some point in his life. Or so they say.
I do recommend the breakfast. The sweet potato pancakes are excellent and Amy can almost say that like a southerner. Poor Amy. She's not from the south. Bless her heart.