Sabroso: Canning with Tia

Calamondins are a favorite fruit amongst the women in our family. It seems everyone has a tree whose sole purpose is to bear fruit for our vodka concoctions. Our Tia Margery's tree produced more than we could drink this year so we decided we needed to find another use for this delicious fruit. Tia froze batches of them, waiting for the right moment for us to all get together for our next canning session. The last canning session, Preserving Summer Bounty, included a strawberry preserve, a tomato jam, an Earl Grey peach preserve and pickles. We kept it simple this time with a Calamondin jelly that can be used throughout the season.

Sabroso: Nieves

It has seriously been so hot in Southern California. We know most of the country endures this kind of weather every summer but we are wimps! One of our favorite desserts to keep cool is a Mexican ice cream called nieves, which translates to snow. There are hundreds of flavors and most of them are actually more like sorbets. Some of the ones we love are tamarind with chile, rose petal, coconut and guanabana. They do have some more outrageous flavors like rompope (like an egg-nog), cactus, corn and even avocado.



Our driver Edgar's favorite spot, on the way to Xochimilco.

THE spot for nieves, offering 100s of flavors, is Tepoznieves in Tepoztlan.

Food blogger De La Tierra has a fantastic recipe for a nieve that sounds amazing:

Nieve de Leche Quemada 

We will be trying this out soon!

Sabroso: Summer

Some summertime favorites: bougainvillea, dining al fresco, long days at the beach, summer sunsets.

Sabroso: Harvard Cookin' Girl

With our cousin Adriana's recent (fantastic and beautiful!) wedding, our upcoming trip and visiting family in town, we've been neglecting our dear blog. There have been several blog posts started, with each of us writing a bit here and there so this post is long overdue!

One of the bridesmaid duties a couple of weeks ago was throwing the bachelorette party. Adriana wanted a low key girls night and she is a total foodie (so are we if you couldn't tell). Candice had gone to a cooking class with Adriana and Tia and fell in love with Bibi, the owner and chef at Harvard Cookin' Girl in La Jolla. We couldn't think of a better evening to celebrate Adriana than to enjoy a wonderful meal and learn some new recipes along the way.

Bibi is well versed in all cuisines but since she is Persian, we figured we could not go wrong with that choice! We were so engrossed in Bibi's fantastic stories about herself, her cooking and tidbits about each spice and dish (not to mention the food itself!) that we did not take nearly enough pictures. We plan on returning for another class soon after we get back from our trip so we will try to capture more of her beautiful dishes. 

We started with Mast-o-Khiar, a yogurt and cucumber dip similar to tzatziki. It was a refreshing appetizer and paired perfectly with the main dish as well. 

The entree was out of this world, a Chicken Plum Braise. Along with the Bokhara plums, Bibi added very generous amounts of saffron with pinches of cinnamon, rose petals and cardamom. I mean, are you kidding me? Dream dish, right there. She chose this as the entree as it is a warm, comfort food that is often served at celebratory events. Her close friend, Marjane Satrapi, wrote a book named after the dish, Chicken with Plums, which was made into a film, Poulet aux prunes, last year. We can't wait to read/see it now.

What we love about Bibi is that she truly caters the entire night to you, engages with you and takes everything into account. The planned dessert was actually Persian Wedding Cookies which we learned are very similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies with the addition of cardamom. We went off course though when she was telling us about another dessert she had recently made that had us all drooling. Roasted pineapple with black pepper and Kahlua, served over vanilla ice cream. To die for.

We ended the meal with Bibi's own blend of tea to which she added orange blossom water. 

We cannot recommend Bibi's classes enough. She is so passionate and talented, a true delight. Thank you Bibi! And Congratulations Adriana! 

Sabroso: Bali Hai

Sometimes it's fun to act like a tourist in your own city, it makes you feel like you are on vacation. It was so gorgeous out yesterday, a perfect day for cocktails and the beach so we raced the sunset after work for some tiki goodness at the Bali Hai.

We proceeded to order a drink the size of our heads...

At least the size of Candice's!

When your drink is bigger than all of the food you consumed, you might be in trouble the next day...

But a gorgeous view and a fun, kitschy night with your best friend/sister makes it all worth it.

Sabroso: Limoncello!

Limoncello reminds us of Nonna, dancing and thunderstorms in Cuernavaca, some of our favorite things. Nonna always had homemade limoncello on hand, oddly stored in plastic coca-cola bottles in the refrigerator.

To made your own homemade limoncello, all you need are 10 lemons, 1 bottle vodka, 3 1/2 cups water, and 2 1/2 cups sugar. Zest the lemons and place in a jar. Pour the vodka over the peels, cover and steep for a minimum of one week. Stir water and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. After it has cooled, pour the syrup into the jar. Let the mixture age for a minimum of 2 weeks. Strain the limoncello, seal the bottle, and store the liquor in the refrigerator or freezer. We like to serve it in chilled glasses. Salud!

Once the lemon zest turns white, it's ready!

Our favorite part of Nonna's house was the indoor/outdoor living and dining room, perfect for the tropical Cuernavaca climate. We would rush home after our evenings out, pour ourselves a limoncello and wait/pray for a thunderstorm. There is nothing like sitting inside with your limoncello by candlelight (we love when the storm cuts off the electricity, others not so much!) listening to the thunder and watching the raindrops fall on the pool, preferably while enjoying some Mina. 

Our first limoncello of the evening, presumably, before dancing in the rain and on the coffee table ensues...

Sabroso: Risotto

So... it's turning out to be a very Sabroso week! This is a classic and one of Nonna's (and our) very favorites. Seriously, again with the fabulous cazuela!

A proud Nonna after a fantastic meal!

Tia Margery makes a fantastic risotto as well. Some photos of one of the many fantastic meals she has made for us and her recipe for risotto alla milanese can be found here.