Food thoughts...

The cold, rainy snap has my mind swimming in thoughts of comfort food. Last night, as I was waiting for sleep to overcome me, I recalled my weekend's reading that included the November issue of Food! from the Food Network.
I paid particular attention to the pie recipes because it is the one thing I'd like to bake. And low and behold, each of the recipes called for making the crust in a Cuisinart processor. No cutting butter into flour, no needing. I am inspired.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I have a thought of making papaya pie. I made the filling last spring or so, dicing the papaya and cooking it lightly with brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice. If you click the link, you'll get basically that for a recipe. It was awesome and Carmen and Sergio both loved it. So, papaya pie it is!
This morning, I was still cold after getting my hair cut, so I stopped at Carolina's loncheria, which will be named Carol's. Americanized is how she sees it. It was 11am and my stomach was empty.
I had a flouta and that held me over until...Carmen came by with a huge bowl of chicken mole and rice. Mole (mole-ay) is the dark salsa that has cocoa in it, but also about 50 spices. It is warming on a cold day.
After my siesta (it really is part of the neighborhood culture) I will have a huge green salad. I might break open the white balsamic vinegar I bought with Mio minutes after he picked me up at the airport.
He wanted to shop for Italian items for his family's table, so we went to an Italian deli-grocery. I also got a risotto mix that has diced sun dried tomatoes in it. All good for cold weather eating. But here, greens are always welcome because even the green grocers don't seem to place much stock in them.
Those are all pleasant dreams!

You better be good!

Sergio decked the halls yesterday for the arrival of Santa Claus. Parades were launched for the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. Anticipation built for the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe. And Christmas carols filled the air. Boca, Sergio's little helper, ate papaya and ate cooked papaya for a pie and then ate papaya pie.
Everyone at Zina's Guest House enjoyed papaya in pie, season with cinnamon and nutmeg. OK, I like it a lot better than pumpkin. Who knew? Thanks for mentioning that it can be done, Michelle!