Happy Friday fam! You did it–another week down and another weekend incoming!
The bite I can’t get over
I’ve never been massively into squash; however, squash blossoms are a whole nother story: they are fantastic. I can’t recall a single time I had a squash blossom dish that I didn’t love.
My last foray with squash blossoms was no exception. Last Sunday, we went to Lardo for a late Sunday lunch. I had mostly wanted to go to Lardo for two reasons: 1) every time I venture into an Eleyna Reygadas culinary establishment (Panaderia Rosetta, Rosetta, etc.) it is sublime; 2) I had noticed they had a fried, ricotta-stuffed squash blossom (I’m one of those people who ingests a menu prior to going to the restaurant and just pretend like I’m not sure what I want when I finally get there).
To no surprise, it was divine. A spectacular bite with tremendous texture, delicate and strong flavors, and perfectly balanced. However, I did encounter a surprise shortly after that transcendent experience: the flor de calabaza frito rellenas ricotta was not the best bite (or dish) of the day.
The honor of best bite–and subsequently the bite I can’t get over–belongs to the crujiente de chocolate y avellanas or chocolate and hazelnut tart.
A brief aside: whenever I travel (at least in Spanish-speaking places), I always prefer to ask for a Spanish menu. In a perfect world, I ask for one Spanish menu and one English menu. The reason for this is that sometimes places lazily translate dishes. The above is a perfect example of this. To call what we ate a tart (while it looks like a tart) would be a disservice. Whereas the Spanish titled crujiente (or crunchy) is much more apt. The crunch at the bottom of the “tart” changed not only the texture but the dish itself. It elevated it from a chocolate dessert to something almost spiritual.
I do not have a sweet tooth, but I often find at nicer restaurants the dessert is often my second-favorite or favorite dish. A video of our lunch at Lardo will be coming soon to a YouTube near you!
flores de calabaza rellenas de ricotta
pulpo, curry rojo, chilacayote (Mexican squash) y farro
crujiente de chocolate y avellanas
A movie I’m “stoked” for
Pixar really knows how to pull on the heartstrings. After watching Soul through an eyeball carwash, I was delighted to see a physical ad for Luca.
To be completely honest, I have absolutely no idea what Luca is about short of Luca probably being the name of the protagonist (based on the below gif I’m feeling less confident) and that the story/movie takes place in Italy. Based on the poster, I (correctly) assumed Luca is a Disney Pixar movie, and that is enough to have me excited to watch it one of the next few days!
Book I’m currently reading
Moonwalking with Einstein is a book about a recent college grad cum journalist/author’s exploration into the world of memory and mental athletes. The book kicks off with the author, Foer, interviewing amnesiacs before meeting mental athletes who compete in memory championships.
Foer walks through the history of memory and explains why memory has been devalued in modern society. He also walks through mnemonic exercises and “memory palaces” where people place vivid images in a physical place they’ve visited to strengthen their memories.
Throughout his interviews, Foer comes under the tutelage and training of famous memory gurus and ends up training to enter the US Memory Championship. I’m about 80-85% through the book and Foer is about to enter the Championship.
Something I’m looking forward to / What I’m up to this weekend
While I have loved my time in Mexico City (this is my 7th or 8th time here, but I am more in love with this city than ever), I am excited for our next city: Puebla. Many people probably never visit Puebla–and those who do may only do a day trip from Mexico City–I am very much looking forward to spending time there.
I don’t recall exactly what originally led me to want to go to Puebla, I am looking forward to a smaller, more compact city for a change of pace. Our accommodation is about as close to the city center as one can be, and I think 90% of the places we want to go/see/eat at are within a 15-20 minute walk. There are also a handful of larger parks scattered around the city center, so I hope to get back into running shape (weather permitting).
Based on research, it looks like Puebla has a great mix of nicer/high-end restaurants as well as more casual/street food places to eat. I will probably spend (too much) time later today mapping out the restaurants I want to eat at and which meal(s) we plan to get there.
I am also looking forward to a day trip or two while in Puebla. The first that comes to mind and one I’m sure we will do is Cholula. A quick 30-60 minute bus west of Puebla is Cholula. There are a few restaurants I’d like to check out and a “city” of containers with bars scattered about.
Lastly, Puebla is where our first round of friends may come to visit–shoutout to Carli and Dylan!
An update on last week’s “stress”
For anyone who tuned into last week’s stress, I have good news: we have come to a resolution. After a few cocktails last Thursday, I had the liquid courage to pull the trigger on flights and accommodation. Our frontrunner, Playa del Carmen, won out and will play host to our last city before returning to California for the holidays.
While Playa del Carmen does get a lot of bad flack for being superficial, commercial, and party-centric, I’m very happy with the accommodation we found, the restaurants I have looked into, and the nearby day trips I plan on (planning?) taking.
Content coming down the pipeline
Last week’s content prediction was murky at best. Next week my (ambitious?) plan is to post a finance article on Monday, YouTube video of our lunch at Lardo (please see above) on Tuesday, PV best food/restaurants/bites blogpost Wednesday, Polanco neighborhood tour of Mexico City video Thursday, and the third installment of Friday Freestyle on–you guessed it!–Friday.
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Have a great weekend and write to you soon!
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