Tag Archives: food
{10} Cherry Tomatoes
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Posted in The Colors
Tagged brown, color palette, color palettes, colorful, food, food photography, green, orange, vegetables
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A Sunday in {La Roma}
I left Mexico 7 years ago to go to college, and every time I’ve gone back I’ve increasingly learned to appreciate many things that Mexico City has to offer, including its beautiful historic neighborhoods and amazing food spots. It’s like visiting your hometown with the eyes of a tourist – places look new. It’s refreshing.
The {Colonia Roma}, commonly referred to as {La Roma} by locals, is a wonderful neighborhood or {colonia} close to Mexico’s historic center that has become a hotspot for bars, restaurants and galleries in the past years. It has revived to attract the young(er) generations of artists, hipsters, bohemians, writers and such.
You can walk around and see a contrast of old buildings, devastated by the 1985 earthquake, new buildings built after that, and historic buildings that have been conserved to preserve the area’s historic and architectural heritage. People walking and street vendors found along the tree-lined streets, parks and plazas add to the unique charm of {La Roma}.
A couple of Sundays ago I spent the day in {La Roma} with some friends. After walking the streets for a while, we stopped at {El Duke} and had a scrumptious juicy burger with a crisp, cold beer. I have to say, I am not a big burger eater in Mexico. After living in the states, burgers don’t get much better anywhere else, but when I took a look at it as a waiter set it on the table next to us, I couldn’t resist myself.
After that we headed to {El Toscano}, an Italian coffeeshop/restaurant in front of the {Plaza Rio de Janeiro} offering simple food like paninis, salads, soups and such. I just love spots like this. Not pretentious, laid-back, cozy sidwalk cafés with a European feel. Rustic wood floors, communal tables, hand-written menu on the chalkboard columns and the open kitchen all add to the comfy, mellow feel of this place. We just had a few bottles of wine there, so I couldn’t really write about my opinion on the food, or the coffee, but I can say {Cafe Toscano} could be my go-to spot for a lazy weekend brunch.
Posted in My Travels, Restaurants and Cafes
Tagged cafes, food, mexico, restaurants, travel
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Graphic Nostalgia in {Cielito Querido}
The story of how I ended up working on this post is pretty peculiar.
I was paying the bill after having lunch with a friend, emptying my wallet of useless receipts I usually just dump in there. I saw one that grabbed my attention because it wasn’t mine. How it ended up there, I have absolutely no idea, but I took my phone and Googled the name of the place just in case I was somehow confused. No, in fact, I had never been to that “Cielito Querido Café”, but I thought the design of the website and how it portrayed the place were so cool that I told my friend, “We’re going for coffee there – now.”
Cielito Querido Café has several locations, including one I had actually already seen but hadn’t really paid much attention to, in Parque Duraznos. We went to one with a lot more character -definitely because of its location – in the Colonia Condesa, a popular hipster/bohemian area in Mexico City, home to great bars and restaurants.
Cielito Querido Café is inspired in Mexican “history and the symbolism and the graphic design of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th” in a playful, colorful, poetic way. The creators of Cielito Querido Café, Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena considered every single element in the Cafe – tiled floors, decals on the glass walls, graphic material including cups, menus, packaging and the products sold such as notebooks, cups and bags – to generate a retro modern space with a warm Latin feel. The beautiful typography and graphics in a brown-white-pink-baby blue color palette create a timeless, somewhat nostalgic space.
You can find a wide variety of references to pop culture at the Cielito Querido Cafe. The place itself is a reference to the traditional, popular Mexican song “Cielito Lindo.” Hot beverages are sold in cups reading (these are translations): “here we say small, not tall”, “it’s not grande, it’s medium” and “you don’t call it venti, you call it large” mocking their competitor, Starbucks. Plates are sold with phrases such as {pan nuestro de cada dia}, “our daily bread” and {pan comido}, a Mexican expression used to say something is “very easy”.
The place offers a wide variety of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit smoothies and {aguas frescas} with a strong Mexican influence. Among the favorites are the {horchata} and the hot chocolate with {chile}. You will also find {pan dulce} and a variety of sweets and pastries – all of them with a Latin flavor.
Posted in Restaurants and Cafes
Tagged coffee, coffee shop, design, food, graphic design, interior design, mexico, packaging design, restaurant design, travel
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{2} Hot ‘n Spicy
Posted in The Colors
Tagged color palettes, food, food photography, mexican, mexican food, mexico, Photography
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Flavors + Colors in the Coast of {Mexico}
Breakfast with fresh “pan dulce” (typical Mexican pastries) straight from the local bakery. Shrimp cocktail while you’re sitting at the beach. A cool, crisp beer at the poolside while overlooking the ocean. A fresh squeezed juice with quesadillas at the local market. The best mole tamales you’ve ever tasted on New Year’s Eve. This is how life tastes down in the coast of Mexico.
This New Year we went down to Puerto Escondido, a surfing spot in the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico I’ve written about before. Besides enjoying the beach + the water + all the good food I just mentioned, I also paid the market a visit – where the eating continued, of course.
Tourists and locals alike visit the market in search of fresh everything – fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, tortillas, salsas (hot sauces), cheese and chapulines (seasoned and toasted grasshoppers, which taste way better than that sounds).
From the bright painted signs to the vibrant color of the apples, oranges, papayas and all sorts of fruits and vegetables – the market radiates color everywhere you turn, not unlike other markets around the country.
I love stopping by the market to pick up a fresh squeezed juice – only here (and in Mexico in general), you not only get the typical orange, grapefruit and carrot juices, but there’s beet, celery, papaya, mamey, banana, strawberry, kiwi – you name it. You can drink the single-fruit juice, or the interesting mixes like my favorite, jugo verde – made with spinach, celery, parsley, pineapple and orange juice. Besides the juices, there’s the licuados (smoothies), quesadillas, sopes, tortas and all sorts of Mexican “antojitos.” Come by with $50 pesos (less than $5) and be prepared to eat, drink and walk away with a very happy stomach.
Street Food in {Istanbul}
I’ve missed this place! It’s been a while, I know. As much as I absolutely love and adore blogging, sometimes other things require more of my time than usual. In this case, it’s been work, something I rarely talk about here.
I own and run a brand called Tiklari – a brand of handcrafted jewelry + textile goods with a happy soul. Tiklari brings different cultural influences together in a harmonious line, combining the magic, talent and handwork of designers, artisans and jewelers from several parts of the world. It started off as me bringing in some bracelets and necklaces from Turkey and selling them to friends. Now it has turned into a real business for me – a full-on job that doesn’t feel like work because I enjoy it tremendously. Simple perfection.
One of the things I do is travel every now and then to work with jewelers and artisans on new designs. I was recently in Turkey – a country I fall more in love with every time I go. Not only is Istanbul an intriguing, powerful city - – but its people are just amazing. I work with quite a few people there, and they’ve been more warm and welcoming to me every time I go back, which makes me want to go back again and again.
Something I love about Istanbul, which makes it very similar to Mexico, are the street food vendors. Men carrying fresh bread, lemons – others selling candy, toasted nuts, fruit, roasted corn, salep (a traditional Turkish beverage), and fresh juice. You can find all sorts of goodies on the streets – I just can’t photograph them enough.
Food on a stick is quite popular these days – and you know how much I love colors, so it makes sense when I tell you that my favorite in Turkey is the “Osmanli Macunu.” It’s basically, colorful sugar on a stick. Men stand around, stirring this gooey candy in a metal pot, which they twist and twirl around a wood stick and finish it off with a hint of lemon to create a colorful (and extremely sweet) “lollipop”. Now, when I say extremely sweet, I mean I couldn’t even finish half of it (and I’m the kind of person who can eat, drink and breathe dessert) – but, it’s definitely picturesque and worth trying.
Then there’s the markets – in particular, the Spice or Egyptian Bazaar in Eminonu – nuts, spices, herbs, tea, coffee, Turkish delight (candy) – so much flavor and eye candy! As you can see, Istanbul flourishes with culture and flavor – and it’s hard to get enough of it.
A Day at the { Market } in Coconut Grove
Last weekend we went to check out Coconut Grove’s Organic Farmer’s Market. I don’t know why I had never been there – I love and always shop for organic food – yet I did not know this place existed! The market is organized by Glaser Organic Farms – a local company that grows all sorts of organic produce and prepares gourmet raw vegan food (freshly squeezed juices, pies, sushi, etc) – and it’s all available at the market.
It was cool to find organic mango, tunas (no, not the fish, the fruit), mamey and papaya (sneak preview: soon I will share a delicious mamey mousse) – I had never really seen them organic before. I also saw all sorts of fruits and vegetables I had never seen or tasted such scuppernong grapes, monstera deliciosa (from Mexico!), and all sorts of turnips. I tried the very-healthy-antioxidant-rich muscadine grape for the first time ever!
Now, I am not vegan or vegetarian or anything, but it was cool to find delicious vegan (lactose-free of course) ice cream – (fun fact: ice cream is my absolute favorite indulgence!) You would have never thought the pistachio ice cream I ate was made with nut milk and agave nectar and contained weird stuff like spinach juice. I couldn’t tell the difference (and I’ve tried a few of those nut milk and coconut milk ice creams… and they’ve all tasted funny to me). Ice cream that is not made with funky ingredients but actually contains healthy food? WOW. I’m definitely going back for that one.
Heirloom Tomato + Feta Cheese Salad
I love a good salad. They are easy to toss, healthy and wholesome! This one is very, very simple, and yet it is delicious and beautiful as well. I do not give exact quantities for salads sometimes because I believe when it comes to salads, you can be pretty free.
Heirloom Tomato + Feta Cheese Salad
You need:
Heirloom tomatoes (any variety you can find, and preferably organic)
Feta cheese crumbles (to taste)
Fresh parsley (finely chopped)
Olive oil
Sea Salt
To Prepare:
1. Cut the tomatoes into fourths or eights, depending on the size of the tomato.
2. Mix with feta cheese
3. Serve with olive oil, sea salt and parsley.
Whole Wheat Semisweet Brownies
Whole wheat, semisweet brownies might not seem very appealing, but believe me, these are good! If you are looking to satisfy your chocolate craving but don’t want to break your healthy eating regimen, you may want to give these a try… and when you want to break the rules (because let’s face it, they are made to be broken), put them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Whole Wheat Semi-Sweet Brownies
Makes 24 brownies
You need:
1/3 cup cocoa
½ teaspoon dark rum
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons boiling water
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups sugar (I used Splenda brown sugar blend)
1¾ cups whole wheat flour
¾ teaspoon salt
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
To Prepare:
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 F.
2. Line a 9×13-in. baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving about a one-inch overhang on all sides. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk cocoa, boiling water and rum together in large bowl until smooth.
3. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate melts. Whisk in melted butter and oil.
4. Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated.
5. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces.
6. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
7. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours. Brownies can be stored for about 4 days.
Posted in Recipes { Sweets }
Tagged chocolate, desserts, food, food photography, food styling, recipes
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Figs with Greek Yogurt + Honey
A very simple, fresh and delicious breakfast or snack.
You need:
Organic Figs
Greek (strained) yogurt
Bee Natural Honey
Preparation:
1. Serve yogurt in a small bowl
2. Cut figs in fourths and place them around the yogurt, decorating as you wish.
3. Drizzle honey {to taste}. Enjoy!
{ photos by karla diaz cano }
