Cochinita Pibil

• 6 pound boneless pork shoulder (not lean), cut into 3-inch chunks
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 3 Tbs. lime juice
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon whole allspice
• 3 tablespoons achiote seeds
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 fresh or thawed frozen banana leaves

1.  Put pork in a large bowl and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons juice.
Toast peppercorns, cumin, and allspice together, then cool slightly. Transfer to grinder along with achiote seeds and grind to a powder. Transfer to a small bowl.
Mince garlic and mash to a paste with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt using side of a large heavy knife. Add to ground spices along with oregano and remaining 6 tablespoons juice and stir to make a paste.
Toss pork with paste to coat well.

2.  Line roasting pan with banana leaves, shinier sides down, by arranging 1 leaf lengthwise and 2 leaves crosswise, letting excess hang over sides. Trim overhang to about 8 inches on all sides.
Transfer pork mixture to banana leaves, then fold overhang of leaves over pork to enclose completely. Cover pan tightly with foil and chill, at least 6 hours and overnight preferably.
Put oven rack in middle position, then put pan with pork in oven and heat to 400°F (to take chill off pork gently).
Once oven has reached 375°F, bake until pork is very tender, 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 hours.
Discard foil and open banana leaves, then serve pork with salsa, pickled onions, sliced radishes, and tortillas.

The Erotic Poems by Ovid

Ovid was a poet during the lengthy time that Augustus was the emperor of Rome.  He was from an equestrian family in the north of Italy, but unlike Virgil, he loved Rome.  He loved the plays, the music, the parties, and the people.  He thrived on the city life.  Unfortunately for him, he made a mistake and Augustus banished him to a distant, cold, and inhospitable place for the rest of his life.  The work that he is best known by lay folk like me for was Metamorphosis, which he wrote while in exile in the hopes that Augustus would be pleased and allow him to come back to Rome.  No such luck befell Ovid, but his work relied upon many ancient sources, some of which no longer exist, so he did modern man a favor, or at least those modern men who wanted to know more about the myths and legends of the ancient world.

The Erotic Poems were the work of Ovid's heart.  The Amores are elegaic poems that were written by a young man.  They describe a consuming love, fueled by equal parts passion and jealousy, that ends badly.  The emotions are strong, almost frightening at times, and always frank.  The Art of Love poems are written in middle age, when passion has cooled a bit.  They are instruction manuals for men and women interested in fomenting love.  He is a teacher of the art of love, an apprentice at the knee of Cupid.  The Cures for Love are intended for the man who cannot survive love.  Ovid is a healer, giving instructions in how to manage an addiction to love that had failed.  The writing is frank, understandable, and in many ways it seems quite contemporary.

Boyhood (2014)

This is one of the best three hour movies ever.  I am still a big fan of the 1950's epoch movies, many of which clocked in at or about the same length of Richard Linklater's movie, but none of them took over a decade to finish.  So a number of richly deserved Oscar nominations came out of this endeavor.

The movie itself is a deceptively simple endeavor.  Mason and Sam are Olivia's two children.  She had them prior to finishing college and their father took off for a place far away and seemingly failed to provide much emotional or economic support for the early years of the kid's lives.  Olivia (Patricia Arquette) packs up the kids, moves to be near her mother so she can get some childcare support and goes back to school.  She makes a series of unwise choices in men and picks up the children to move them on a basis that suits her fine but is far too frequent for their taste, and over the course of 13 years they all grow up.  For better or worse.  Nothing dramatic happens--the movie ends with Mason going to college.  Their father (Ethan Hawke) makes a serious attempt at being their father throughout their teenage years.  He doesn't berate Olivia for her choice in men, nor does he try to alienate the kids from her.  He came to fatherhood too early in life, but he has good father material in him.  It is a film that feels like watching life unfold, and I mean that in the best possible sense.

Oaxacan Caesar Salad

The big substitution here is a serrano chili for anchovies.  Heat instead of unami, but it works.  Dress the salad lightly, and save the leftover dressing for another night.  It is a great accompaniment to a Mexican dinner.  Adapted from Rick Bayless.

The Dressing

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 Tbs. sherry vinegar
• 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 fresh serrano chile, stemmed and halved
• Zest of 1-2 limes
• 1 egg
• Salt, about 1/2 teaspoon

The Croutons

• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 cups stale bread cut into 1/2-inch cubes

The Salad

• 2 heads romaine lettuce torn into bit sized pieces
• 1/4 cup finely crumbled Mexican queso añejo or Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro
• 1/4 c. toasted pepitos
• 1-2 avocados diced

1. The dressing. Combine 1/2 cup of the olive oil plus all other dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender and process one full minute. Scrape into a small bowl and slowly whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. Taste and add more salt if you think necessary.
2. The croutons. Turn on the oven to 350 degrees. In a small (1- to 1 1/2-quart) saucepan, combine the 1/4 cup olive oil and the garlic. Set over the lowest heat and stir every now and again until the garlic is very soft, about 20 minutes. While the garlic is cooking, spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, until completely crisp and dry, about 20 minutes. Gently mash the garlic in the oil to extract as much flavor as possible, then pour the oil through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Toss the oil with the bread cubes to coat evenly, return to the oven and bake until nicely golden, about 5 more minutes.
3. Finishing the salad. In a large salad bowl, combine the lettuce and a bit of dressing. Toss to coat thoroughly, adding more dressing if needed. Add the croutons, cheese,  avocado, cilantro and pepitas and toss again. 

Leaving Tabasco by Carmen Boullosa

My spouse is a man who has a great deal of difficulty leaving a free book behind.  He has read countless books that he would have returned to the library had we taken them out but that he cannot leave in the seat pocket on a plane.  As addictions go, it is a benign one but that is how this book came into our lives.  We were staying at a hotel in the very center of the tourist section of Oaxaca, where the staff spoke remarkably little English, but which had a little impromptu book exchange shelf right outside our gorgeous room.  He left something there that my mother had given him and he picked this book up.

The heroine of the story is Delmira.  She is raised in an unapologetically emotionally austere home in Tabasco.  Her mother and her grandmother are singularly unappealing and unfeeling women, and in the case of the grandmother, she has the magical realism of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez character.  Delmira sees her grandmother float above the bed when she sleeps.  But that is not all--stones turn to water and there are other strange goings on.  There is a backdrop of the political changes that were going on in Mexico in that later part of the 20th century, and all in all it is a good book to read when you are enjoying some Mexican sun in the dead of winter.

A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

This is a very silly movie complete with juvenile jokes, potty humor, and flagrant sexual humor.  It contains sexism, racism, and religious intolerance, all of which are probably meant to make you think about those things but maybe not.  There is something offensive in this movie for everyone.  So what does it have going for it, you might ask.

Surprisingly, the answer would be that it has a lot going for it.  The first thing is the cast.  Charlize Theron is great as the reluctant wife of the baddest ass in the west (played somewhat ironically by Liam Neeson--not exactly your traditional American outlaw).  Sarah Silverman and Neil Patrick Harris are excellent in their supporting roles.  The script, written by 'Family Guy" Seth MacFarlane and is entirely consistent with his previous work.  So while this might look on the surface like it would be unbearably dumb, it is not.  It is entirely well tolerated, not for the young, but would definitely be perfect for teenage boys, but not to watch with their mothers.

Sauteed Zucchini with Garlic and Lime

There is no way to make a zucchini dish this simple look delicious, but trust me, it is.  Especially if you serve it along side a meal heavy with meat and carbohydrates (we had tacos, rice, and beans) and you need something to lighten everything up a bit.  The lime flavor is spectacular.

1 lb. zucchini (about 4 small), cut into 1/2-in. pieces
1 scant tsp. salt
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 Tbs. lime juice
Generous 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbs. chopped parsley 3 servings

In a colander, toss the cut zucchini with the salt; let stand over a plate or in the sink for half an hour. Rinse and dry the zucchini.

About 15 min. before serving, heat the butter and oil over low heat in a skillet large enough to hold the zucchini in a single layer. Add the garlic and stir until light brown, about 3 min. Do not burn. Scoop the garlic into a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl, then scrape the strained butter mixture back into the pan; set the garlic aside. Raise the heat to medium-high.

Add the zucchini to the pan and fry, stirring frequently, for 8 to 10 min. until browned and tender but still a little crunchy. Remove from the heat. Add the lime juice and toasted garlic and toss thoroughly. Sprinkle with pepper, oregano, and parsley, then mix. Taste for salt, and season if necessary. Serve in a warm dish.

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

This book is a young adult mystery story--a kind of updated Nancy Drew, except that it is a duo who take on the role of detectives and solve what is going on.  Greenglass House is a former smuggler's house that is now run by the main character Milo's parents.  They have more than their fair share of modern day smugglers as guests, but the one thing that they could always count on is that Christmas would be quiet.  Not so this year.  On one dark and stormy night a guest appears unexpectedly, and then another and another until there are five guests who show up on the doorstep and even weirder, they seem to know something about each other.  Then things start to disappear and while Milo's parents are at a loss as to what to do, Milo and his new friend Meddy, the cook's daughter, investigate.

The reason I liken this to Nancy Drew is that in addition to being a mystery, the overall tone is nice.  It is something that you could read out loud, or pick up before bedtime.  It is not scary nor does evil reign.  It is something an adult would enjoy reading out loud to children.  There is a touch of magic, and some things to make you think, and overall it is a very good book of it's genre.

Neighbors (2014)

This movie is perfect for a movie night where you do not want to think.  It is apologetically juvenile and in that genre it pulls that off beautifully.  I found it tolerable but my just graduated from college son loved it.  In a lot of ways he straddles the two worlds that the movie portrays.  On the one hand, there is the frat with it's complete faith in the eternal party, brotherhood, and women as sex objects.  Zac Efron's character is the party boy who doesn't know his GPA but is pretty sure that it does not crack a 2.0.  He has not given a thought to what he going to do when college ends and he has to move out on his own.  Seth Rogan's character is one step further along the road to conventionality.  He has a wife and a baby, but he has not lost his college boy priorities.  So it is hard for him to send a clear message to the frat boys that they need to obey the neighborhood norms if they are going to live off campus. 

So there is no heavy intellectual thinking in this, a fair number of laughs, albeit some of them are cheap shots, and in the end everyone grows up just a little bit.  Enjoyable for what it is.

Rice Pilaf with Roasted Chilis, Corn, and Queso Fresco

This is a recipe adapted from Rick Bayless, and is a great addition to a Mexican meal.  We recently served it as a side dish, but if you have vegetarians at the table, you can use it as part of a taco filling.  If you have vegans, put the queso fresco on the side.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup long-grain rice

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 3/4 cups stock

Salt, to taste

4  poblano chiles, roasted peeled, seeded, and diced (or more)

1 cup corn

3/4 cup crumbled Mexican queso fresco

Cilantro or parsley for garnish

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the rice and onion and cook until the onion is translucent but not brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the stock to the rice mixture along with the salt, chiles and corn and bring to a simmer. Stir well, scrape down the sides of the pan, cover and simmer over medium low heat for 15 to 18 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the crumbled cheese and toss with a fork. Scoop into a serving bowl, sprinkle with cilantro or parsley and serve.