moving to mexico? don't forget your pot

-- and pan.

In her series on moving to Mexico, Babs included "excellent cookware" on her list of things that cannot be found in Mexico.  High quality cookware is extremely hard to find down here.

Even in higher-end department stores, the usual Mexican cookware set looks a bit like the pots at the top of this post.  Colorful, but so thin that scorched food is a constant danger.  At best, they are a step above aluminum foil.

I knew all that when I decided to move to Mexico -- from the advice of other bloggers.  One of the virtues of the company I worked for was its practicality in retirement gifts.  No silly gold watch.  No useless plaque.

The retirement planning committee simply asked me what I wanted.  Within a certain price range, of course.  Something the departing soul could enjoy.

For me, it was a new set of cookware for a Mexican kitchen.  Something with efficient heating elements in the bottom and heat-resistant handles that would stay attached.  And something sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of travel.

If you have visions that my kitchen is stocked with Alessi's 23-piece cookware set for $4500, you must think I worked for either General Motors or the IRS.

My retirement present was an 11-piece Circulon set from Costco.  Functional.  And far better quality that I have seen anywhere in Mexico.  I told you about the gift in loot and praise.

It has turned out to be the most useful of the few possessions I brought south.  In five years, the pots have suffered a few dings.  But my food cooks up quite nicely in the set.

That contraption to the right, though, is not part of the set.  It is the pan I use more than any other in Mexico. 

My wok.  Of course, no one who has ever taken a Chinese cooking class would call it a wok.  With its flat bottom, non-stick surface, and now-terribly-cracked wooden handle.

I use it for my stir fry.  To cook up spaghetti sauce (don't call it bolognese).  To whip up tapioca pudding.

And, of course, to create those Mexican fusion dishes I write about occasionally.

I owe a gift of gratitude to several of my fellow bloggers for putting me on the correct cookware path before I headed south.  Without them, I would not be eating as well as I do at home.

I just need to do it more often.  "Eat at home," that is.  The general eating part I do quite well down here.  Thank you very much.