On Sunday, Mimi and Alain's last day here, Mimi and I wanted to have lunch in the market. The spouses were not too keen on this idea, but you know who won that debate. We decided to embark early on our big adventure, at noon, because the food stands are small and we wanted to beat the crowds and be able to sit together.
We paused at this one, Fonda Tomasita, because it was on a corner and there was room for the four of us if two sat together on the empty benches on each side of the corner angle. While we were consulting about who would sit where and looking at the menu, the woman below hauled out a table and four chairs, positioning them in the aisle. We had to sit down. Together. At a table. In the aisle.
El sr J, after many years of our traveling together, knows not to ask me to translate the menu. I generally have no idea what food the words on the menu refer to. My custom is to surprise myself by ordering something I've never heard of, hoping that I don't get any organ meat or other parts of animals I would be loathe to eat. In Querétaro, for example, there are gorditas (little fatties), sopes, sincronizadas, and volcanes. Agua fresca, which you would think would be fresh water, is fruit-flavored water with sugar added. On the Saturday tour (previous post) I saw a food place advertising gringas. Female Americans? I asked the Mexicans what they were. Graciela, from Tijuana, had no idea. Papa Rabadán described them as ham and cheese in a tortilla sandwich.
The signboard at Fonda Tomasita said the daily special, the comida corrida, was 40 pesos. It also said there were twelve guisados. Guisado is a word I've seen around, and I thought it meant something like a dish or platter. Tomasita, the gordita in the photo, named the twelve guisados she offered, of which I remembered only the last two, mole rojo and mole verde. I ordered the mole verde. Then she gave me a choice of meat, pork or chicken. I chose chicken.
Mimi, who speaks Spanish really well and is usually not shy about asking questions, just folded for some reason and ordered the same thing. Alain, who is French, depends on Mimi to order something for him and she got the same thing for him.
This is what we got. A chicken leg covered in green mole, with beans and rice on the side. Big deal.
El sr J, not taking any chances, ordered huevos rancheros. Eggs in any form are his comfort food. While we ate, we watched Tomasita's young son gnaw on a plate full of boiled chicken feet.
When we got home I looked up "guisado." Guisar: to cook. Guisado: stew. You can see my problem, but it's nothing to stew over.
I'm always afraid I'll get a big plate of pig ears or something equally yummy You are Brave!
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