Dia de los Muertos in Los Angeles

My "Dia de los Muertos" altar in Los Angeles, California

My memories of "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) at the cemetery of Xoxo in Oaxaca, Mexico live on in my California home every November. I honor those who have been in my life and celebrate their lives. The last week of October, I begin to collect my photos, objects in one spot and buy fresh marigolds from the farmers' market. My bookshelf slowly begins to transform into a beautiful altar to remember important people in my life - this year primarily in my thoughts were my grandfather, my cousin Josh and my friend Josh Clayton-Felt, as well as the "Ayotzinapa 43" (the forty-three students who were "disappeared" in Mexico). Each item on my altar is carefully selected and holds special significance. Candles, copal (incense) and marigolds are among the gifts that welcome and guide the spirits' return.

My altar lit with candles at night 

Altar detail

Altar Detail

Altar Detail

Altar Detail

Altar Detail

Among these gifts you will also find water and food, which often was a favorite of the deceased. Potatoes and eggs are offered for the spirit of my grandfather who taught me to make fried potatoes with which he often topped with a fried egg. "Pan de muerto" is a special bread that is made for Day of the Dead. It is slightly sweet, spiced with anise, flavored with orange and topped with sugar. My loaves are made with traditional bone shapes on top, but this year I switched it up and made a full skull shape with crossbones.

Ingredients ready to make "Pan de Muerto"

Making "Pan de Muerto" at home

"Pan de Muerto" at my altar

Crew of Bones Muhroni and my friend, Anselmo, with make up and ready to party.

With our large Mexican community here in Los Angeles, "Dia de los Muertos" has long been a community tradition. The most popular of celebrations is usually sponsored by Self-Help Graphics. This year people gathered around the altars built in Grand Park and celebrated with traditional dance and song.

City Hall in DTLA behind the Grand Park celebration for "Dia de los Muertos"

Downtown LA altar detail

Giant skull on altar in Downtown Los Angeles

The candle on this altar reads "Justice for Tayvon Martin"

Bringing the Perfect BLT to Mexico City

( Xhico in Mexico City )

I'm going to be making deliveries in Mexico City soon! So I've been working on some classic American recipes to bring to the mouths of the people in Mexico via ComeCasero. I decided to start with one of my favorites, the BLT, sometimes the BLTA.

The perfect BLT on Ciabatta from Panadería Rosetta

That's right, the simple Bacon Lettuce Tomato and add Avocado if you want it California style. Who thought getting this sandwich right would be such a challenge. First, of course, there was the bacon. I had to figure out where to get good bacon and an efficient way of cooking large amounts in a tiny kitchen. First of all, finding good bacon in the grocery store isn't going to happen. The butcher there will not have it, so I needed to head to a carnecería at my local market. That took me to one of my favorite places, the mercado, Mercado Medellín to be exact.

There amongst the fruits and vegetables toward the back corner you will find the meat men. An array of butcher stands that specialize in poultry, pork, fish, beef and sometimes other things. I began to collect samples of bacon as I visited a few stands and made sure to hit up the butcher where I bought that amazing chicharron prensado from the trip before. Mostly because I like it when the guy calls me "patron".

Butcher cutting my smoked bacon into slices

After testing all the bacon for flavor, thickness, fat content and how it held up after cooking, the butcher that calls me "patron" was the winner. Their bacon was smokey and perfectly marbled and the butcher could cut the bacon to my preferred thickness. Now I had to figure out how to cook large amounts of bacon in a tiny kitchen. After some skillet tests and oven tests, the oven was going to be the method. Now I thought I had it down.

Perfect smokey, marbleized bacon from Mercado Medellín

I just needed good bread now. Then I realized that I'm in the land of tortillas. There aren't many bakeries around and most of them specialize in pan dulce - sweet bread and other pasteries. Finding a good fresh loaf of bread was not easy. I started with the supermarket bakery. This made me appreciate my supermarket bakery in Los Angeles much more. There was no beautiful loaf of brioche. The bread here was dense and mealy, and the interior crumb, was just that – crumbs. The loaf was beyond disappointing. This challenge led me on a hunt for the best bread that I could find in Mexico City.

Making my bread at Panadería Rosetta

Going for coffee at Panadería Rosetta

I hit up some of the bigger chains like La Espiga and Globo, as well as some artisanal bakeries. They were all dissapointing (though those donuts in Globo smelled and looked delicious - I had to resist, because I'm was on my mission). I had a few more high-end artisanal bakeries to explore. My friend, Tanya, had reminded me of a bakery we went to once to have pan dulce and coffee, Panadería Rosetta – but it was too busy and we went down the street to La Puerta Abierta.

Ciabatta Test: Panadería Rosetta (left) vs. Pan Verde (right)

I finally made it to Panadería Rosetta for a coffee with Tanya. We sampled some pan dulce and it was delicious. The roll was airy and light and the scones were fluffy, moist and had a nice outer crunch. I had a good feeling about this place. I left with ciabatta and a loaf of pan blanco (which is the closest thing I could find to sourdough or good white bread). I arrived home with some bread from other bakeries as well.

3rd Place: Ciabatta from Pan Verde

Slicing, buttering and toasting was how it spent the next hour and a half. Making notes and taking pictures in between. Then I had to make sandwiches and see how they all held up. This brought me down to the top three breads to use for my BLT. They were Cibatta from Pan Verde and a Ciabatta and Pan Blanco from Rosetta. Ideally I would have used the pan blanco because it was more like a traditional BLT slice. But the bread was difficult to slice into even pieces because of the shape of the loaf. This left me with the two ciabattas and Panadería Rosetta was the clear winner. The ciabatta had a wonderful cloud-like inside with a slightly salty crust and they were easy for preparation.

2nd Place: Pan Blanco from Panadería Rosetta

1st Place: Ciabatta from Panadería Rosetta

After nailing down those two main ingredients, my BLT was well on it's way. It just need some lettuce, tomato and some of my secret sauce. It will remain a secret, but where to find amazing bread in Mexico City won't. Panadería Rosetta is the bakery where you want to be buying bread.

Panadería Rosetta
Colima 179
Colonia Roma, Mexico City

I went back for a Torta de Pierna con Mole

As I said, it was pretty hard for me to pass up the Torta de Pierna con Mole on the way in to Churrería El Moro. While we were eating churros, Tanya was ordering from the small kiosk outside the churrería. They only had three menu items, but only one of which I remember: Torta de Pierna con Mole. I;m pretty sure they had tacos, but that's irrelevant when it comes to this sandwich. The idea of that tender pork leg, drenched in mole sauce on a bolillo roll was sounding more tempting as I saw Tanya devouring hers. So I made the decision to have a midnight snack after my midnight snack. This is a decision I did not regret.

This is a damn good torta!

Meatland Bakery? Wah?

With a name like "Meatland Bakery" and the product described as "Sweet Bread and French Rolls", I am wondering what kind of sweet bread it is... "Wheatland Bakery" may have been a better choice for branding.

First Real Food I had in Colombia

Yes, the first thing I had in Colombia was a Coffee from the Juan Valdez Café at the airport in Bogota. But once we scrambled around all morning and ended up on a six hour bus ride to Barranquilla, I was definitely getting hungry. I needed a snack.

Indian and Coco Bread hang from sticks wrapped in plastic bags.

Man selling Coco Bread on the bus in Colombia

Delicious Coco Bread in Colombia, the first thing I ate.

Fortunately at all the toll booths, there are men and women selling all sorts of things. There are armfuls of fried savory snacks with cheese, plain and bacon flavors. There are sweets and breads, popsicles and soda pops. Often people board the bus selling these delicious treats when you stop in village or at one of the local toll booths where they walk up and down between the cars and hop on buses for a short ride. I was very grateful for this service.

Stuffing my face with Coco Bread

At one point a man boarded the bus with several sticks loaded with bread hanging. What he described as "Indian bread" was apparently naan. I love naan - it's one of my favorite breads. Luckily for me he also had a "coco bread" which was naan laced with coconut. I went for that and it was incredible at the first bite. The bread was moist and slightly oily from the coconut. The inside was flecked with coconut shavings. Sweet and simple - I couldn't have asked for a better snack.

Slightly oily, but full of flavor - Coco Bread

Coconut flakes inside the wonderful Coco Bread

English Muffin

I saw this cardboard box for english muffins laying on the street as a I walked in the rain. It made me want McDonald's.

Pizzle with Pesto

I got to go to one of my favorite sandwich shops today for lunch... Ike's Place on 16th and Sanchez. I love The Pizzle on Dutch Crunch. I swear the Dutch Crunch bread almost tastes like Round Table Pizza crust. The Pizzle is Chicken, Cheddar, Bacon, Ranch, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle - I pass on the Onion and Pepperoncini's. The guy recommended trying pesto on it. So, of course, I did. It was pretty killer. Grub!