SHOPPING AND COOKING FOR SUNDAY DINNER

ENTRANCE TO MERCADO HIDALGO

Sunday morning we had our morning coffee and Bob wanted to buy donuts from the “donut guy” who sells donuts from a tricycle cart about two blocks from our home. Unfortunately, when Bob went to his “store” he wasn’t there and we were denied our sweet treat. So, our next idea was to go to Mercado Hidalgo for breakfast. We wanted to go back and see the guy who sells tamales. So we went for a leisurely walk. When we got to the market, a few people were in line in front of us for the tamales. It wasn’t the same guy but a young lady. She only had mole y pollo tamales and dulce tamales. So we tried the mole y pollo. Most of the people were buying the tamales to take home. We were trying to eat ours standing. The lady across the aisle offered us two seats at her stand even though we didn’t buy anything. Once again, people are very nice to us. The tamales tasted only so-so.

TAMALE STALL

We noticed before we went into the Mercado that our carniceria (Lucia’s), which is just across the street wasn’t open yet. We thought maybe it would open at noon on a Sunday. We asked our amigas, Lucy and Carmen and they told us they were closed on Sunday. There are a variety of carnicerias within Mercado Hidalgo. When we saw our friends,

they remembered our names. They asked if we were buying anything today. We asked Carmen to recommend a carniceria and she suggested Carniceria Miguelito’s. We went over there and introduced ourselves to the lady that was working and cutting some meats. She was very dressed up to be cutting meats. Her name is Dora. She and her husband, Roberto, own the carniceria. We told her that Carmen had sent us over and told us that it was the freshest, tastiest, and cleanest carniceria in the mercado. We ordered four beef shanks. Dora looked at the ones in the counter and instructed one of her workers to go to the cooler and bring out some fresh meat and cut us fresh shanks. WOW…we were impressed. We also purchased some fresh ground meat to make a mini meatloaf. Dora cut of a chunk of fresh meat and put it in the grinder right in front of us. How fresh is that?

Now that we decided on our meats, we went back to visit Lucy, Carmen, Orlando and Esaelias. We took their picture. It was hard to get the picture because they were always joking around with each other and having fun. We purchased several items from them: tomatoes, onion, organic lettuces, red bell pepper, mushrooms, strawberries, and dried oregano. Today we decided to make spaghetti with a fresh tomato sauce and a mini meatloaf. We also bought the vegetables we would need to make the beef shank. We will be cooking them in the slow cooker.

Well, we had two more stops to make. First we had to buy some rolls at the mercado and then we went to a small grocery store for some wine and beef broth. Now it was time to head home, settle in for the afternoon and begin cooking.

The first thing we had to do is disinfect our produce. We think it is a good thing. We are not sure why we don’t do it in the states?  Much of the US produce comes from Mexico.

We chopped a lot of vegetables, celery, onions, carrots, garlic, potatoes, mushrooms and tomatoes and put them in the slow cooker with the shanks. We decided to make this dish today so the flavors could blend. Also, we plan to go for a long walk on Monday and may be a bit too tired to bother making dinner.

Bob began making his tomato sauce. He won’t publish his recipe; he says it is a secret. While the sauce was cooking, we talked with our godchild, Robertito, via the Internet on a video call. It was his birthday; he turned 11 years old. Earlier in the morning, he had sent us an instant message. He was excited to talk with us. He is learning a little bit of English in school. That made our day. The reason we are having spaghetti for dinner is because that is what Robertito told us earlier in the morning he was having for his birthday dinner.

Dinner was delicious. Bob even commented on how much he liked the organic green salad…that’s a first! The beef shanks also look and smell fantastic. You will have to wait for a full report on that meal after Monday night.

It was a full day but very relaxing and enjoyable. We are lucky bugs!