TORTILLAS

Some of our Mexican friends have told us that the best tortillas are the hand-made ones.  I was skeptical--same ingredients, just made by hand instead of by a machine.  But it didn't matter because we had never come across a tortillería that sold hand-made ones.  That has now changed.  This is what we found a couple blocks from our house--in a direction we generally don't walk:

The machine-made tortillas are 12 pesos.  The white, yellow or blue hand-made ones (cooked on a comal) are 17 pesos.  So we bought half a kilo of the yellow ones.

 

Here's a shot of the woman making them:

They were sooooo much better than the machine ones--tender and delicate with a more subtle corn flavor.  We're hooked!

The machine ones.

  We bought some totopos too:

Can't wait to go back for more.

THE GREAT VODKA DRINK OFF: PART 1

El sr J and I started with 4 tastings from our current stock:

#1  (from left) Zubrowka.  Polish.  The "original bison grass vodka," a stalk of which is included in the bottle.  $276 MXN

  #2 Wyborowa.  Polish.  Rye.  $127 MXN

  #3 Stolichnaya. Latvia.  Wheat and rye.  Don't know price.  Probably around 250 MXN.  The small bottle came free with a long-gone liter bottle.

  #4 Oso Negro.  Mexico.  Doesn't say what it's made of.  Hopefully not bears.  I'm embarrassed to  

        say we also had this one on hand. We used it to make slivovitz, which we can't seem to find here.

El sr J's preferences were:  2, 1, 3, 4.  He must have been Polish in a previous life.

Mine were: 4, 1, 2, 3

So we both like Wyborowa best!  And it's really cheap!  However, there are many brands left to try.  We should live so long.