I think I want to say a few things about the Teotihuacan shooting. This is so rare in Mexico. They’re like, well there was on in Monterrey in 2017, and one in a school in 2001 and then there was that drunk soldier in 1967. Can you imagine? Mexico has far tighter gun control laws than the US, high capacity magazine and military style weapons are explicitly illegal, there’s actually a separate permit to own a gun in the home and to carry one literally carry, there’s only one authorized gun store in the whole country. And actually about 3/4 all the guns sold in Mexico have been smuggled in illegally from the US. So the US may not like the drugs from Mexico, but Mexico has its own justifiable complaints. I don’t say this to undermine the cartel violence that plagues Mexico, but they actually call this type of shooting ‘gringo style’.
In other Mexico news, Leo is no longer a mutt. Leo is a Caramelo. That’s right, the state of Mexico has officially recognized the most common stray, a tan, medium sized dog. Back in the States, mutt. Here, caramelo. Yes, I doubt the broader sanctioning of this designation, but maybe this is how all dog breeds start? If a doodle can be a breed, why not a caramelo?
Well. I bought a madeleine pan. So I’ve been eating lots of madeleines in order to discover the most perfect recipe. Thus far, Serious Eats is winning for producing the most impressive humps. I have yet to try another recipe I found that advertises “no resting time”. All the recipes to this point have advised a minimum of 3 hours of fridge time for the batter prior to cooking. Madeleines are so yummy. This may next week’s adventure in baking.
Sometimes I have mixed feelings about being to cook and cook well. Like I can always make myself something unhealthy but deeply satisfying. Right now I have Gougères in the oven, which in case you’re not familiar are basically the cheesy version of cream puffs. And what does it take? Flour, egg, milk, butter, cheese. This is just a little too accessible a treat. I love a pâte à choux, choux (shoe) pastry if you’ve been watching Bake Off. This is a dough where you melt butter, milk and water and add your flour and cook it a bit stove top. Then off the heat beat in eggs and whatever else you want. Then you pipe it on to a tray and toss it in the oven for 20ish minutes. And they poof. I’m sure I could google the science behind it and I have some theories, but I really have no idea why it works. It defies everything I know about making airy dough. And I adore the feel of magic behind it. When it comes to cooking I wield the word “Science” exactly like I might say magic.
School is so close to over. I present next Saturday and turn in my final paper as well and then I basically just watch other presentations. Then in 3 weeks, I head to Europe.
Wow. I’m feeling under prepared.
All that to say, nearly all this weekend was about paper writing. I am so much worse at it than I used to be and I’m really struggling with identifying my hang ups. That is one of the downsides about the amount of change I’ve experienced in the last bit here, it’s very difficult to tell where what is stemming from. Am I unfocused cause I spend all my time figuring shit out, including like words? Because depression? Because perimenopause? Because I just wanna go to do new things? Because I’m intimidated? Because I’m unhappy that school is harder than it used to be? Cause I don’t really want this? Cause I don’t know what I’m doing? It used to be I’d have a sorta gut check on one of these, a moment “oh yeah, there we go.” That’s not been true of late.
Tacos of the Week: La Buena Birria
This little shop has the advantage of being round the corner from Fran’s new place. And it has tables. There its advantages stop. From pre bottled aguas frescas to insipid birria. Which is bizarre cause birria is all they do from tacos to tortas to birria ramen. We tried the taco and the quesabirria. In it’s favor the meat was lean, well shredded and juicy. How they made the juice so utterly tasteless is anyone’s to imagine, I was at a loss. There were a vague flavor of chili powder (NOT a Mexican ingredient) and maybe some achiote, based on staining alone. It just made me want El Compita. Sad taco week.
Year One Project 
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