Independence Week Trips, Part 1 of ?

In between, having too much academic work and fun, I have clean forgotten about this blog. Was primarily supposed to be way to keep in contact with friends and family, but with MSN and skype, no real need for a blog huh? But this is something I must blog about!

It started with the Mexican Independence day, 16th September, Tuesday. Since we were given holidays on Monday and Tuesday, it gives us a super long weekend. We (Melvyn and I) decided to travel from 13th to 20th September.

Highlights as follows!

- Melvyn eats a lot, you see him buying food all the time (and i'm not talking about the fixed meals we have)

Fresh Roasted Peanuts

Something that looks like cocaine on water

Tlayudas! Think gargantuan tacos with the awesome Oaxaca String Cheese

TUNA ice cream! Tuna actually refers to the red cactus fruit

The very awesome Oaxaca String Cheese! It looks like chicken when shredded, and has a chewy, springy texture!

I love it so much i bought some to bring back to Monterrey. It is supposed to not need refrigeration for up to 8 days... haha... PS. I threw it away after getting back to Monterrey after 6 days tho... it just doesnt feel thaaaat safe... haha..

Okay.. Mole... it is like the traditional traditional stuff used to make their mole sauce, apparently from 50 different ingredients... if you ask me, im just okay with it... looks scary this way tho...

My lang bei look. Bread in left hand, water in right hand for supper. Paulina Hostel is the best damn place to stay in Oaxaca! Amazing clealiness and awesome breakfast...

Aye... im gonna stop here now for a while... the bed calls... damn, i sure am a lazy blogger...

While waiting for classes to start, I might as well update a bit. OMG... i have not been updating!

We went to Zacatecas for the weekend, but more on this on a later date! for now, its what I owe you guys... Gastronomical adventures!

On one fine weekend, Melvyn and I tried to recreate 2 local dishes... the Chilli Crab and the Roti Prata.

Long story short, and pictures speak a thousand words. So here they are...

1st up, Chilli Crab Sauce!

there is an unwritten rule that top chefs either have to look moody or perenially pissed.

Crabs are hard to find in Mexico, so boh bian... use chicken... 爱心 meal okay? got heart shape somemore

Ta dah!!! Spaghetti and whole chicken thigh in Singaporean Chilli Crab Sauce!

AAR for Spaghetti and whole chicken thigh in Singaporean Chilli Crab Sauce

• Sauce tasted a little sourish
• Probably because of the use of green chilli
• BOUGHT DRIED RED CHILLI FROM ZACATECAS! It should work the next time!
  

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And so it's on to the Roti Prata

This is how successful prata flipping should look

Disclaimer, this is not my video, but the prata man is pretty darn good.

So with a recipe found off the net, I begin...

Looks alright.. so far so good... The texture also reacts as how the recipe suggests

Except that the recipe insists that I use a wet cloth to cover the dough as I let them rest. Anyone cares to enlighten me on this?

And so I begin after covering the table with aluminium foil

Fast forward past the embarrasing flipping moments...

As you can see from the shape of the prata, I probably did not get it right. There were plenty of holes in it and once you have a hole in your prata, you can't actually mend it

Actually it looks pretty alright if you can forgive the shape. The outside is pretty fine, but the inside does not have the stretchy and chewy texture that defines good prata.

I'm still wondering what went wrong... probably gonna try again this coming weekend... haha...

Apologies for the abrupt end, but I'm off for boxing now!

Stayed tuned for more gastronomical adventures!