Fiesta!

[changeling]

I'm going to have my birthday party in late August (it'll be my 23 & 6 months party), and I'm going to go with a Mexican Fiesta theme. It'll be fun and exciting for me, because I'm going to do some research and go as authentic as I can with the food.

On the other hand, it'll be difficult as all hell challenging, as much of Mexican cooking relies on meat and cheese. Some dishes I've adapted, but there's a whole lot (particularly quesadillas) that I haven't even tried yet. I don't think I've made a Mexican soup yet, but I'm interested in the tortilla soup (it's a dry soup, or pasta. I'm learning stuff!) I don't want to resort to pretend food like fake cheese or fake meat. I may recant this for the sake of trying out a vegan quesadilla, but I'd rather such a thing be a bonus rather than the main thrust of the meal.

The other problem is that there's stuff you just can't get here. I've never cooked with cacti for a very good reason – they're generally not considered food here. I've never seen a tomatilla. Hell, I've never seen blue or white corn, or green tomatoes. The chaps in mexicanfood mentioned a herb I've never heard of (epazote?). I don't really believe in importing food, or using tinned food, though I might see if I can get canned cacti (I forget the Mexican word for it and it's too late to look it up) from USA Foods. I'd like to make everything from first principles, as it were. So, I hear you ask, why make life so hard for yourself?

Because I love Mexican food. I really, really love it. I love a vegetarian chili almost drowning in cumin. I love adding cayenne, paprika and chilli. I love what a good combination of tomato, red onion and corn can do. I love tortillas. I love home-made salsa and guacamole. And I love challenging myself to find ways of making non-vegan food.

I already know I'm going to include sweet empanadas, in ode to the recipe I begged off saunteringdown and then didn't get around to cooking before she defriended me (all her posts are friends-only, so I just can't get back into it. Sigh). I've also got this idea for making chocolate-stuffed chocolate-covered chillis based on this recipe – though mine will be stuffed with some sort of chocolate mole, I think, and then half-dipped in chocolate the way strawberries are. And I'm going to make wholegrain Mexican wedding cookies as per 101 Cookbooks. I'm probably also going to make my orange-spiced dark chocolate mudcake, not because it's Mexican, but because it's bloody delicious, and made with freetrade Central American chocolate.

I have what seems to be a pretty good resource book in my Mexican Cooking book, by Roger Hicks (that I borrowed from my parents), but I don't want to rely on it for all my recipes. I'd like to get as many "authentic" recipes as I can, ideally from friends and so forth, especially since there seems to be a dearth out there on teh intarwebs, and on Livejournal (shock horror!).

Also the number of my friends and family that I invite will affect what I cook, and how much. I'd love to have a sit-down meal – based on what little I know of the Mexican comida – but that's obviously impractical since I'll be inviting more than four–six people. It's clearly going to be a stand-up buffet sort of thing. I'd still like some sort of concept of courses, though.

Steph said that the day of the party she and I should eat In The Mexican Way, complete with marienda (second breakfast – which always reminds me of Hobbits) and siesta.

And now a final thought from my love, who hijacked my computer when I went to turn off the heater and blow out the candles:
It's the sleepy time now so I have to go byebye and turn off the heater and come snuggle.

sleepying time.


I have to go. I have so many more ideas to note down, and so many more plans to make, but my love is mewing for me to come to bed, and I can't resist that. Not to mention the now physical as well as emotional pain that she's in due to work.

To bed.

Comments

[aphephobia.livejournal.com]

D00d... there's a Mexican Shop on Bridge Road... would they be able to help at all? Petri and I were there maybe five years ago and he bought cookbooks and spices and shit...

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

*blinks* YOU'RE KIDDING. Why have I never heard of such a place?? *immediately plans scouting trip to Bridge Road*

OMG I LOVE YOU LIKE WOAH.

[dorukai.livejournal.com]

Quesadillas are fine with beans instead of meat. I make them quite a lot. Yummmm :)

You have my chilli recipe right?

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Quesadillas are glued together with cheese, though. Being vegan, I don't eat the cheese. That's actually what I have a problem with in terms of trying to think of a substitute: you just can't substitute for the cruxpin of the dish.

My recipe book has a photo of these quesadillas chopped into quarters and arranged on a plate with a big dob of refried beans in the middle. YUM. There will definitely be refried beans in there somewhere.

I did, but I'm not sure where it is. >_>

[aphephobia.livejournal.com]

I forget exactly WHERE, but Petri and I found it somewhere nearish to Passionfruit.

Will see if I can find more details for you. :)

[dorukai.livejournal.com]

One particular brand of vegan cheese works fine for me for melting (in sandwiches and stuff). Comes in a yellow roll with green writing I think? Damned if I can remember what it's called.

Actually though, you can glue them together with refried beans or similar and it works pretty well. Won't taste the same, but care factor isn't high :D

http://www.dominia.melb.net/chili.txt

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Near Passionfoods? Steph's mum is always telling us to go there.

Please do!

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

It's OK, I'm not exactly crying that I can't make quesadillas. I may try making them some time if there's a true vegan cheese around (all the ones in our local supermarket still have casein in them, which is what was used in studies to grow cancer, so I think I'll pass), but I'm not very in to fake food.

[dorukai.livejournal.com]

Yeah. There are two brands in the supermarket that have no casein IIRC. That one, and . . . some other one. Heh.

Definitely not as good as real cheese.

[dorukai.livejournal.com]

Oh, might be worth looking at soy cream cheese too. Can't remember the casein status of it, but hmmm. Sounds nice.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I've already been using soy cream cheese for baking. It doesn't have any casein in it. It's actually dairy free.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I have used tofutti before, which has no casein, but it is not available in either of our local supermarkets.

I don't really miss cheese much at all. Certainly not on its own merits, though I sometimes miss a dish that might be made using it. Steph misses mac and cheese sometimes, but that's palatable with a white sauce and some vegan cheese. Apparently nutritional yeast is what one needs to add to that to give it a "cheezy" flavour, but we've not tried it.

[discordia-intus.livejournal.com]

Firstly, I will say as a great fan of Mexican food-age, that when in Mexico you will have very little cheese, if any. In the entire fortnight I was there, I had no cheese at all.

And also, I will say that you won't find tinned cacti at USA Foods (nor at many mainstream shops actually in the US). They have a very limited range of things and OH how I wish you could special order, but they say it's just not feasible with the import costs.

I so can't wait until your party!! <33

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

See, this is what is so useful: having someone who has more concrete experience than I do.

Shame. I was looking forward to introducing people to a new ingredient. :D Still, I'll have a look around at the fabled Mexican shop in Richmond and see what I can find.

Me either!

[daharja.livejournal.com]

Phwroawr! Mexican yummies!

I'll have to dig up my ultra amazing guacamole recipe for you - it's the best recipe I've ever found, and incredible.

I'll also have a look through my vegan cookbooks for you, and see what I can find that looks good.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I'm interested, but my guacamole recipe's pretty darn good. I'll have to try yours for a change!

That'd be good. I think I'm mostly fine in terms of recipes, but I always like to hear about alternative ways of doing things, and so forth. New ideas.

[daharja.livejournal.com]

I'll have to pass over some of my recipe books for you to borrow.

In the meanwhile, check out http://www.veganchef.com/

Yum!

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Will do. Thanks!