International Cooking

http://globaltableadventure.com/

I discovered this incredible website about cooking foods from all over the world.  Although I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, I love cooking and intend to try it someday soon and I wanted to share it with you too in case you love cooking and international adventures as much as I do!

Mexico: Part II

Our second outing to explore Mexican culture in Houston had a few hits and a few misses.  This actually was a good lesson for kids for many reasons: 1) parents aren't perfect and sometimes aren't prepared for every situation, 2) things change...sometimes stores close down or move and 3) sometimes what you had heard was a great place might not meet your own standards of great!  In other words, it's good to be flexible!  It's always good to have more ideas than you can cover in a day in case of hiccups in your plans, so print out this list of Mexican attractions in Houston and keep it handy.

Our 1st stop was at a wonderful shop in the Heights on 19th Street called Casa Ramirez Folkart Gallery. The store was filled with hand embroidered Mexican dresses and shirts, guayaberas, straw hats, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) art, beautifully detailed Mexican dolls, games, toys, jewelry, books, etc.  The kids loved looking at and trying everything on or out.  We could have "played" here all morning long.  The kids also discovered some yummy Mexican wedding cookies close to the door as we were leaving which sweetened the adventure!

      

    

  

Our 2nd stop was supposed to be at The Little Piñata Shop, but when we arrived there was nothing there.  If anyone has a recommendation for a piñata shop, I'm all ears! 

Our 3rd stop was at Granel Spice Market, just off Airline across from Canino's Produce Co.  As soon as you walk in, it smells of chili powder (so if you're allergic to chilis, this is not the place for you).  However, I loved the smell and was impressed with the cleanliness of this store as well as it's organization and the shear variety of spices they offered.  If you are in search of spices not found in your standard grocery store, try shopping here!  You could also find a variety of teas, candies and other odds and ins.

  

This is the colorful & creative fence made of pallets in the parking lot!

The 4th stop was a short walk across the street to El Bolillo, named for the traditional Mexican bread that is akin to the French baguette, but shorter in length.  It smells of fresh baked bread as soon as you walk in and stacks of cookie sheets line the perimeter of the store.  The procedure for shopping here is to grab a large round metal tray and a pair of tongs and proceed to load it with all of the breads and sweets to your heart's desire! Other attractions here included the ladies making the fresh tortillas and cooking them on a fancy tortilla machine, the display of huge decorated cakes and the domed ceiling painted with colorfully dressed dancers.

  

   

Our 5th stop was an unplanned detour on Airline Drive to take a picture of a cultural mural that seemed significant to the neighborhood but I couldn't find any information about online.

For lunch we made our 6th stop at Spanish Flowers.  I can't say whether it's authentic or not, but it was close by and we were hungry and it satisfied our parched throats and our growling bellies.

Finally, we stopped by St. Joseph/St. Stephen Catholic Church in Historic 6th Ward, in hopes of getting a glimpse of this 1901 historic building and perhaps a few parishioners, but alas, it was closed.  That said, it would really be best for us to visit it on a Sunday at 12:30 pm for the mariachi service.  I bet it's an incredible experience!

To embark on your own Mexican adventures in Houston, click HERE and print my list of attractions.

Adios amigos!

Mexico: Part I

Being that Houston has almost 600,000 people of Mexican origin, it's not hard to find places to visit that are influenced by this culture.  Unlike Chinatown, the influence of Mexico is not concentrated in one place in this city, but all over...so my tactic for exploring Mexico in Houston is choosing one area of town and trying to visit 3 or so places at a time (given our 4 hour time constraint and interest/engagement levels of 5 and 7 year olds)!

Our first day of exploring Mexican culture in Houston was primarily focused on Canino Produce Co. located on the north side of town, just inside Loop 610 on Airline. This open-air market is a good representation of a Mexican market, except I would argue it is cleaner and smells better. My kids loved looking at all the toys and candy, I liked reading the labels for the herbal medicines and we all enjoyed trying some fruits for the first time (like dragon fruit and lychee).  Each kid was allowed to buy one toy and they also enjoyed small mangos carved into flowers as snacks!  Although produce is the main attraction here, you can also find dried herbs, cookware, Mexican sodas, candy, hats and toys for kids.

Tips: 1) Be sure to bring cash since most vendors don't take credit cards.  2) Consider trying to bargain.  I didn't think to try, but I bet the vendors would have been willing to bargain for most things, especially the cheap toys. 3) Pack a cooler and some ice in the car in case you're not going home immediately after your visit to store your produce and some cold drinks (need to stay hydrated on your adventures).

Front view of Canino Produce Co.

spices

herbal remedies

A woman carving mangos into flowers.

Watch out for the mango snatcher!

Our 2nd stop was at MECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts), located in the Historic 6th Ward.  Although no performances were scheduled for this day, we were able to get a private tour from my high school buddy, Armando Silva, who works there.  MECA does a ton of amazing work to teach arts and culture to underserved kids in this community which has a high concentration of hispanic families.  The biggest event of the year is the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration.  It is scheduled for October 28th & 29th 11am-7pm this year and it's on the calendar!

MECA's aluminum can sculpture of the Virgin Mary

A version of the Aztec calendar

G tries out the huge guitarrón, played in mariachi bands

powerful prison art done by children in detention centers

kids in MECA's camp learning traditional music

MECA camp kids learning traditional dance

Me, Armando (our tour guide at MECA), and co-adventurer Sharon, all classmates from HSPVA

We ended our adventures with a Mexican lunch at La Mexicana in Montrose.  My favorite discovery there was the milk candy at the check-out counter which was basically like fudge without cocoa (which I loved). 

Adios amigos!  We look forward to many more Mexican adventures in Houston!

China: Part II

Since our explorations of Chinese culture in Houston were limited by time a few weeks ago, we decided to make a second trip. Really, we could explore for several weeks and not do everything, as evidenced by our long LIST of Chinese Attractions in Houston. This time I really wanted to visit a Buddhist temple or three!  Thankfully there were several clustered together just west of Chinatown proper.  As luck would have it, the most impressive one was our first stop.  Click HERE for my map of Chinese attractions in Houston.

We knew upon approaching the Teo Chew Temple that it would be impressive because we could see the beautiful tiled roof from Bellaire Blvd, just beyond Arthur Storey Park. I called ahead of time to see if visitors were welcome but the person who answered didn't speak English. I decided to take my chances and drive by to check things out anyway.  Thankfully the parking lot gate was open as well as the doors to the main hall of the temple.  My daughter immediately pointed out that the fountain in front of the temple contained all of the animals representing the different years of the Chinese calendar. We quickly parked the car and ventured inside. One tip: you must remove your shoes before entering the temple, so bring socks if you want to keep your feet clean!

The kids were hungry after this first stop, so we tried out another dumpling place (in the same plaza as Xiong's Cafe where we first ate dumplings).  The dumplings at The Golden Dumpling were delicious too and the price was right here as well.  Be sure to bring cash, though, as they don't take credit cards.  This time we ordered boiled pork and leak dumplings, pan-friend pork dumplings and steamed chicken dumplings.  We brought home at least half of this and ate it again for lunch!  Again, I spent less than $20 for this feast.

After lunch the kids wanted to explore a few shops next to the restaurant, so we peaked into Jade House jewelry and a porcelain shop.  If you are in need of beads to make your own jewelry, Jade House probably has everything you need.  The proprietor of the porcelain store was super sweet to my kids, offering them a piece of traditional candy and answering all of their questions.

We decided to continue our exploration of temples after lunch.  Our second temple was the Chùa Linh Sơn temple.  It was closed, but they had a nice small garden where we took a few photos.

The third stop on our Buddhist temple tour was Jade Buddah Temple.  The receptionist spoke perfect English and invited us to give ourselves a tour.  Again, we removed our shoes before entering the halls.  They had a large hall and a smaller one...much like a church and a chapel.  In fact, I suspect this temple used to be a church at one point in time.

The large hall

The small hall

As a reward for a great day of exploring the Chinese culture, we treated ourselves to strawberry and mango shaved ice (more like ice cream) at Star Snow Ice.  Note to self: Only order one shaved ice for 3-4 people.  This dessert was huge!

To embark on your own Chinese adventures in Houston, click HERE and print my list of attractions.