Today is stir fry day.
One aspect of Mexican life I looked forward to when I moved south three years ago was food. Or rather the raw ingredients for food.
Mexican food tends to combine about three different ingredients in varying manners. But they remain the same three ingredients repeated over and over. And, with time, they get rather boring.
But I anticipated the vegetables would be far tastier than in my Salem Safeway -- if for no other reason than they would be fresher. And I have not been disappointed. Freshly-harvested vegetables are available all year in my village.
Before I moved down, whenever I cooked at home (which was seldom), I started using the stir fry method. My goal was to cut down on the amount of meat in my diet and to increase my intake of vegetables.
However, I did not put that plan into full operation until I moved. The combination of a vegetable-intensive diet and a lot of walking resulted in 30 pounds coming off of my short frame in the first two months I lived in Villa Obregon.
Due to my recent travels, it occurred to me that I had cooked very few meals in the last six months. So, yesterday I did my first big vegetable run in a long time.
I have listened to my neighbors complaining about how expensive food has become here. That may be true. But my purchase yesterday seemed like a bargain.
You can see what I bought in the photograph. Two large tomatoes. Two white onions. Five carrots. Four small zucchini. Seven Serrano peppers. One sweet red pepper.
All of that for $33 (MX) or about $2.59 (USD). It is hard to compare those prices with Salem. After all, the cost of transporting the same goods thousands of miles north is not part of our local cost. But it still seems like a pretty good deal to me.
And it will be even a better deal when I stir fry the lot this afternoon with a little bit of left-over grilled chicken and a nice semi-homemade hoisin sauce.
Buen provecho to me.
One aspect of Mexican life I looked forward to when I moved south three years ago was food. Or rather the raw ingredients for food.
Mexican food tends to combine about three different ingredients in varying manners. But they remain the same three ingredients repeated over and over. And, with time, they get rather boring.
But I anticipated the vegetables would be far tastier than in my Salem Safeway -- if for no other reason than they would be fresher. And I have not been disappointed. Freshly-harvested vegetables are available all year in my village.
Before I moved down, whenever I cooked at home (which was seldom), I started using the stir fry method. My goal was to cut down on the amount of meat in my diet and to increase my intake of vegetables.
However, I did not put that plan into full operation until I moved. The combination of a vegetable-intensive diet and a lot of walking resulted in 30 pounds coming off of my short frame in the first two months I lived in Villa Obregon.
Due to my recent travels, it occurred to me that I had cooked very few meals in the last six months. So, yesterday I did my first big vegetable run in a long time.
I have listened to my neighbors complaining about how expensive food has become here. That may be true. But my purchase yesterday seemed like a bargain.
You can see what I bought in the photograph. Two large tomatoes. Two white onions. Five carrots. Four small zucchini. Seven Serrano peppers. One sweet red pepper.
All of that for $33 (MX) or about $2.59 (USD). It is hard to compare those prices with Salem. After all, the cost of transporting the same goods thousands of miles north is not part of our local cost. But it still seems like a pretty good deal to me.
And it will be even a better deal when I stir fry the lot this afternoon with a little bit of left-over grilled chicken and a nice semi-homemade hoisin sauce.
Buen provecho to me.
It is hard to tell people NOB of the luxury we have here in the pricing. I purchase 3 kilos of carrots yesterday for my daily carrot juice, and it came to 12.85 pesos, and a bunch of cilantro was .98 of a peso. Last time I bought cilantro at Safeway it was 89 cents.
ReplyDeleteSo ,who can afford to live better down here?
Should of moved here sooner.
The stir fry sounds delicious! Yum.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Of course, whenever I have an urge for Tillamook extra sharp cheddar, I pay premium for my exotic taste.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are correct.
ReplyDeleteOkay, now I'm hungry.
ReplyDeleteThat looks good. I will fix that for my dinner.
ReplyDeleteIt is always a tasty choice.
ReplyDeleteMission accomplished.
ReplyDeleteThought I smelled something good cooking nearby...buen provecho.
ReplyDeleteGracias. But that is probably La Rana.
ReplyDeleteDon't think they have stir fry. I passed by it accidently 3 times today and didn't realize so don't think so...
ReplyDeleteSEVEN chiles serranos? I hope that you don't plan to put all in your stir fry at once.
ReplyDeleteToday, I repurposed two left over pieces of leftover pollo asado from El Tejaban in Tzurumutaro.
I cut up some red onion, garlic, celery, sweet red pepper and ginger. I cooked that a bit and added a round of fresh pineapple, cut in cubes. Then some water, a chicken bouillon cube, soy sauce, brown sugar and some pineapple vinegar. When all came back to a simmer, I dropped in the boned, diced cooked chicken. (Just 2 pieces of chicken were left.)
Then a little suspension of cornstarch in cold water to thicken slightly, and finished with a drizzle of Asian style sesame oil (made in Mexico).
This made three generous servings, served with leftover steamed white rice plus freshly cooked green beans to the side.
Saludos,Don Cuevas
Tanch, we shopped in the Pátzcuaro mercado today. Mostly excellent pricing, except for celery, which looks abundant until you cut off the leaves. A modest handful of stalks was $14 pesos.
ReplyDeleteDC
Sounds good. But, yes, all used all the serranos. I like my stir fry to have a kick.
ReplyDeleteYes, the veggie bargains are hard to beat. I've recently tried to cut back my eating out, mostly to reduce meat and oil consumption. I have never been one to plan my week around shopping (which I dislike extremely), but discovered that a local market has marked-down prices on vegetables each Tuesday. So now I make the trip over and load up once a week. Last night: two bags of potatoes, carrots, mangoes, grapes, apples and an assortment of other very, very fresh stuff. It's worth it.
ReplyDeleteStir fry has been my best way of increasing my vegetable intake. Otherwise, I tend to eat lots of starches and meat.
ReplyDeletethe tomatoes alone would cost more than that here. but we buy them anyway. no steak though. can't say i've really found any i'd like to buy but what i have seen is outrageous! g oing to sasebo next week where we lived when we were stationed here 25 years ago. we will eat steak at the o'club. it's something i rarely eat but have been feeling like some lately.
ReplyDeleteteresa in nagoya
Steak is something I seldom eat in Mexico. It is too tough for my taste.
ReplyDelete