Hello all, I apologize in advance for the writing found in this blog post. Very soon, we will be heading out for the night to go salsa dancing (the second best kind of salsa in this country) (really they are both equally as great actually), so I need to finish this composition quickly. Please pardon any sloppiness and enjoy my lack of poetic touch.
Today was spent in the home pueblo of our amiga, Sarahi. At her family’s home, Sarahi’s aunt prepared us a meal of empandadas with quesillo, avocado, salsa, and some herb good for the stomach I believe?, as well as fried eggs wrapped in hierba santo (this big and yummy leaf that kinda tasted like licorice). She was a really great Mexican mother as she continued to force food onto our plates long after we were well stuffed. This was all also accompanied by atole, a drink made of chocolate and corn (an unlikely companionship but it was thick and really nice, especially to dip our sweet breads in). After the meal, we took turns being taught how to prepare fresh tortillas on the comal (more food we struggled to eat). We balled and pressed the dough, then for the most part gracelessly flung the tortilla on the hot dome.
The family’s beautiful backyard had a lot of things going on. In addition to the outdoor kitchen where we ate, there was a huge rolling barrel surrounded by raw hides and tanned leather. The smell of the products before and after varied greatly (leather requires a lot of work before it smells so fresh). Sarahi’s dad actually engineered the barrell to attach to a car motor that is able to rotate it, an essential function for the processing of animal skin (the thing has first and second gear, and goes in reverse, pretty cool). Next to this setup, was a shack where the family’s shoe business was originally housed. Inside was machinery for cutting leather, compressing the soles to the body of the shoes, and sanding the edges. However, just across the street, the family just finished preparing a warehouse that they are moving the business into, a much needed expansion in space. Inside, their team cranks out shoes of all kind, and invited us to make our own sandals!
We picked one of the many base models of shoe, found the right size of leather sole, picked out the colors of our fabric straps, cut slits into the leather and really had to push to get the straps through to the bottom. After tightening the fabric to the shape of our feet, glue was applied to the bottom and stuck onto a rubber sheet, which was cut to the shape of the leater. And voila, we all had a new pair of sandalias. After going to Israel two summers ago, I’ve always wanted a pair of Tevas, and my end result today was close enough to satisfy that!
Next, we went to the family’s mezcaleria where we leared about the process of creating this state’s pride and joy. We were able to taste cooked agave, as well as the final boozy product which was much less sweet. Then we left to the warehouse where they store their product, and tasted the variety of their differently aged mezcal. Some of us sampled more than others, but at the end of the tour, I think all of us had a greater appreciation for its smokey, sweet taste.
And now it’s salsa time baby!
Peace, love, parenthesis,
-Ryan Kutnick and Team Mexico