Gettin' my learn on!

Didn't sleep well - the air is dry in Mexico City in February. I have since remedied that with a humidifier for the room. Should do better tonight. So...this morning was cooking class. I headed out to the "hip n' trendy" Roma district where the cooking school has set up. CDMX traffic can be brutal, but that wasn't so bad. Enjoy my taxi ride with me!

After arriving, I was greeted and went up two flights of a narrow spiral staircase to the teaching area. A couple from Austin, TX joined me and we were off!

Our chef-instructor Krys(tal) showed us the different types of corn grown around the country

They make 2 sizes of corn tortillas at the tortillaria: a small one for the taco restaurants, and a medium one for everything else. We went around the corner to see a tortilla making operation in action

The finished product goes for $0.90 per kilo (about 40 tortillas).

We turned another corner and had a made-to-order quesadilla with blue corn, cheese, and squash blossom. Delicious! Eating before cooking - not a bad idea at all

We went to the market and tried lots of things. The fruit was great - I will go to a better market and take pics. Also, I ate bugs. Crickets, flying ant bodies, grasshoppers, agave worms (mercifully salted). I ate em all.

I made tamales and they were different. No masa! Not steamed, but cooked on a comal (thin steel griddle). These had cactus, onion, tomato, cheese, chile, and no bugs.

We also made a white mole sauce and served it over chicken breast. Nuts, seeds, golden raisins, chicken broth, etc. We made salsas using a molcajete and now I want one - it's a mortar and pestle setup made out of volcanic rock. My favorite thing we made, though, was this corn cake. Thankfully I got the recipe.

So that was it for cooking class. I was stuffed and changed my 7:15pm dinner reservation to Monday, went back to the hotel and watched the NBA rising stars game, then headed out for tacos. The one place I wanted to go was about a 30 minute walk. I found a place that was much much closer and went there instead.

Well...

I'm going to call it a night. I've got a tour of his historic center tomorrow. I hope you're enjoying this even a little. Cheers!