mexirish...nz

Yesterday we went to Dunbar Sloan auctions in Wellington to see if they had anything interesting.  We hadn't been before, but I'd been told by a friend that it's worth a look. The list contained 407 items and number 401 was the one I wanted to make a bid on (I'll come to that shortly..).  We arrived about an hour before it was due to start, and had a good wander around the various lots.  There was lots of lots ;) They had (from memory) 10 or so boxes of old books, boxes of old electrical items,  china, glassware, kitchen stuff, fridges, beds, old stereos and pretty much everything else you might think of :) A few things caught our eyes.  Jacqui liked the look of a porcelain doll, there was a pretty little single chair and number 401 was a guitar & amp.  There was also a box of microphones that I liked the look of. First up was the box of mics.  I put a bid of $30 on it (how exciting!) but someone went up to $50, and that was too much. Ther...

I'm currently reading Richard Dawkins' latest book The Greatest Show on Earth .  It's been described as a book that really shouldn't need to be written.  The evidence for evolution is everywhere we look, and having to point it out to people like this seems like overkill.  People should already know this stuff! However, since a very large percentage of the educated world (and an even larger percentage of the uneducated one) seem to think we were all poofed into existence "around the time of the domestication of the dog" it seems that this book is not only important, but vital. I've been engrossed since the first page.  OK : there might be a certain amount of preaching to the converted here (I love that phrase when applied to atheism!) but it's excellent reading well written prose by someone who knows their subject well.  It's obvioulsy not my first Dawkins book, and I'm 100% sure it'll not be my last. One of the terms the book introduce...

Well, I experienced my first Mexican Posada on Saturday night.  I have to admit, I was a little trepidatious before it.  As you may know, I have little time for all thing religious.  It just gets under my skin, and makes me feel like my brain is being sucked out.  Don't get me wrong : I have a lot of respect for the kind of person who can, in the face of mountains of contradictory evidence, still insist on believeing the various tenents of any of the world's religions.  I mean : talking snakes? Jeeeeze... Anyway, I digress.  I was very nervous about people coming into my house to take part in what is, after all, a religious cermony. I really needn't have been.  As I might have guessed, most people where only really interested in the food, the drink, the dancing and the piñata.  Yes, there was the part where they ceremoniously re-enact the nativity.  But it was actually very pleasant. This is where some of the the people go outs...

We worked long into the night finishing the Piñatas and the tamales for the posada party. Our good friends Tom and Alfa came round, and helped us - then (finally - after getting a bit lost) Michaela arrived to lend a hand too.  The 5 of us worked hard - mixing the dough, making the mole & salsa roja, constructing the tamales and finally getting them cooked.  But even after everytone left, Jacqui and I stayed up, finishing the tamales and putting finishing touches to the Piñatas.  While waiting for the tamales to finish, I also made several batches of Fairy Cakes (or cup cakes - same thing I reckon).   Hard work, but absolutely worth it. Here's some photos of the preparation.  I'll do another post after this one with some images from the posada proper. The Piñata; complete. Isn't it beautiful? Tom getting his hands messy - making the tamale goo (thanks tom!)   Mole - delicious chocolate & chilli sauce.  Goes in the tamale...

My da (hi da!) has pointed out that the reason our First Conchas Attempt didn't work out so well might have been because : ...the yeast didn't get fed enough or long enough & the paste was  overworked.   This is usually the reason for hard bread etc.   Well, that's interesting.  We've managed to improve our conchas quite a bit, but the actual reason has always been something of a hit & miss mystery.  I'm going to make 'em again in a few weeks, I'll bear dad's advice in mind when I do.

I must say jacqui's making excellent progress with the piñata.  The colours look great, and it's really starting to come together! She carefully cuts the tissue paper, and uses a spoon to make it curly. The coloured tissue paper gets glued to the base. And more colour gets added... I reckon it's looking great.  It's a bit of a shame that it's going to get smashed to bits come Saturday ;)

This month we're preparing for posada, the Mexican pre-Christmas party. We've decided somewhat rashly to invite "The Entire Mexican Population Of New Zealand" to our house on saturday. We're expecting anywhere from 10 to 600 people... Anyway, A big part of this is the piñata , and jacqui is hard at work making two excellent examples of the art. Here's the progress so far: This is the first step - papier mache over a balloon. At least 4 layers : allow each layer to dry c ompletely before applying the next. Pop the ballon, and pull it out! Make some cones from card. We used this shiney stuff. Stick the cones onto the balloon base at these sorts of angels. It's hanging in our garage here... That's a far as she's got up to now. The next steps will be to decorate it with coloured paper: This is the coloured paper we'll use. We'll post some more when there's more to post!

Turns out Conchas made properly are fan- bloody - tastic . The extra kneading takes it's toll on your fingers and hands, but the final result makes up for it. I guess this is true for all bread recipes, but it's cool to realise the fact through results. They turned out rounded, plump and were sweet and tasty. The sweet bread reminds me a little of a French Brioche, but the topping makes it less poncy. They contains lots of eggs and butter, so I guess this is why they taste so good. So we brought the second attempt to our Mexican friends for them to try, and the were very impressed, so I reckon that's pretty cool. I'm making some more tonight. I'll not bother posting any more about this mind you. I think you get the idea.

Well, the Rosca we made a few days ago went very well. We brought it to some friends (from Mexico) to let them try. They seemed to enjoy it! The tradition is to eat it with Hot Chocolate - we used a Mexican brand called abuelita . We dipped the bread into the chocolate. Extra delicious ! This is the baked Rosca. With baking in mind, we decide to try another well known Mexican sweet bread - Conchas . Conchas are sweet little rolls topped with a crunchy biscuity topping. They can be flavoured in various ways - chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, or just plain. They contain mucho butter, mucho sugar, and mucho flavour! To be honest, you probably shouldn't eat them every day but once in a while, these beauties will do your soul good! I'll not bother typing the recipe here - that's not really what we do here at Mexican Irish. But it's basically a standard sweet bread - flour, butter, sugar, yeast, eggs and salt. The first attempt was... interesting. They came out quite ...

Well, tonight we're making Rosca de Reyes . Rosca de Reyes is a traditional Mexican bread cake that's typically made in January, but we're a bit seasonally maladjusted, so we're making it in August. We're getting ahead of ourselves. This is supposed to be the amazing first post : the great start to a remarkable new blog. Well, failing that, here's a brief rundown of who we are: We're a Mexican/Irish combination living in New Zealand. Most of the posts on this blog will be about food. Irish, Mexican or otherwise. We might also post the odd thing about whatever else interests us. Who knows! Anyway : back to the bread. We bought most of the ingredients for the bread months ago, and then proceeded to store them in our cupboard. There they've sat, potent and ready, just waiting for us to gather the will to make the cake. So : what's in it? Pretty normal bready mixture : flour, eggs, sugar, yeast, butter. But it's a bit special because it...