Birthday Feast!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Today was a great day and a great way to end a long month at my grandmas in Ojocaliente.  My aunts decided to throw me an early birthday party since I will be spending my 31^st birthday on a bus on my way to Juarez.  Early in the morning everyone was up getting the house ready for was going to be a good time.  Here no one needs an excuse to have a good time but when one happens then it is enjoyed by all.  I knew it was Sunday and that my aunts, uncles and cousins come to visit grandma and share a meal but I didn’t know the day’s festivities would be in my honor.  Grandma warns me and tells me I better take a shower because more people would be coming today.  I ask her if people are coming over to say good bye to my aunt and I who are headed back home and she tells me that today’s dinner is in honor of my birthday.  My birthday is not for another week but I am happy that while I am away from my husband and my family that someone else has taken an interest in my special day.  I am in the back picking up sticks for wood to burn to take a shower and I suddenly realize that this will be the very first birthday I spend away from my family.  Every year weather they remember or not I am always home to spend my birthday with my family and this year I was thousands of miles away and no one to share it with.  For the last three years my husband makes a bigger deal out of my birthday than me and he is such a great man that he always makes sure to make me feel special and alive.  He takes me on trips, buys me flowers and always writes me thoughtful and tearful birthday cards.  Today I would have none of that.

Aunts mobilize and the house is a fury with people running back and forth cutting and chopping meats and vegetables.  They sent me out to buy oranges, tortillas and chocolate.  Mole, yesca, nopalitos, ensalada de zanahoria, frijoles, rice, pastel de dulce de leche and arroz con leche were all on the menu today.  This is the time where you read this and your mouth begins to water.  Mole is a traditional Mexican dish that is made with several types of red chilies, dark chocolate, cinnamon and orange peals.  It may not sound good to you yet but what they make is this red paste that is watered down with the chocolate and the orange peals and this delicious semi sweet chili sauce emerges.  It is then poured over various types of meats, in our case we chose shredded chicken.  The chicken had been killed yesterday, boiled, plucked and clean for today’s celebration.  Yesca is something that was new to me but was by far one of the most delicious foods I’ve eaten.  Butchers take the pork skin and sometimes some of the meet and deep fry it in a large pan or “caso”.  The fried pork skin is eaten as “chicharron” and the fried meat is eaten as “carnitas” when it is all over the little left over parts that remain in the pan at then end are gathered, dried and pressed into a large brick.  The butcher later sells the bricks by the kilos.  My aunt chops it up into small bits, fries it a little and cooks it with green and red chili.  Nopales are also traditional to Mexican cooking, they are the cactus most of us in California are used to seeing, round and prickly and on the side of the road.  Here they take the cactus and remove the thorns with a knife, cut the cactus into smaller parts, boil it and remove the slimy part of the cactus.  Once removed from the boiling water they can be cooked in many ways for today’s dish it was served cold with tomatoes, onion and green chilies.  Lastly was a carrot salad with shredded carrot, crème fresh and Mexican mayonnaise.  If you’re wondering there is a difference between the mayonnaise we eat in the U.S. and the one in Mexico here it’s made with lots of lemon and people leave it un-refrigerated until it’s all gone.  Fresh home made beans left to cook slowly in the pot half the day, delicious white rice with vegetables and the meal is complete.  Desert was no joke either there was home made sweet rice which is rice made with whole milk, sweet and condensed milk, cinnamon and raisins.  Lastly for the cake there was a decadent and moist cake covered in caramel and whipped cream. 

I won’t talk about how sad I am not to be spending the day with my husband and family.  I will only say what an amazing day it was and I am glad that after 23 I could share it with family I haven’t seen in many decades.