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Gourmet Magazine!
and other recent publicity |
Last November, Kempy Minifie joined us for the Chile Lover's Tour, our most rough and ready tour.
Please look in the May issue of Gourmet (page 164) to read about her adventures. Available at newsstands now.
See also the May issue of Sunset Magazine (2nd of the Top 10 Smart Vacations...)
And in Spanish, the May issue of Elle Mexico.
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| Andrew Zimmern's Review of the Cookbook |
Having had the opportunity to eat, travel, and cook with Susana Trilling, I am of course biased, but after returning from Oaxaca last month where I spent a few days with her, I reexamined her book...
read more...
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A Season in La Cocina
by
Cynthia Clampitt |
A southern kitchen called me, and I came.
It's owner/chef -Susana is her name-
Gives lessons, and I hoped that I would learn
The secrets of tortillas, chiles' burn,
Oaxaca's seven moles, how to make
Fresh salsa and tamales, for the sake
Of knowing old and new, present and past,
Of seeing which techniques and dishes last,
Of using a metate and comal,
Of cooking many things and eating all.
Seasons of my Heart has proved to be
A season of conviviality,
Good food, and learning. Now it's time to part.
I won't forget this season of my heart.
Taken from Cynthia Clampitt's blog
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Seasons of my Heart News
Welcome the Spring Rains!
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May 2008 |
Greetings!
Saludos de Oaxaca! I hope this newsletter finds you well and enjoying the fruits and vegetables of springtime. Cacao and chocolate have been our focus and passion lately, and we are about to depart on our maiden cacao tour to  Chiapas and Tabasco to participate in the festival of San Isidro in Comalcalco. It will be exciting to see the plantations and learn more about what others do with the cacao as we are always busy here in Oaxaca making chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, I was thrilled to be invited to the beautiful Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens Cacao Festival last January in Miami and look forward to returning next year. Peg and I just returned from the IACP conference in New Orleans seeing old friends and our peers and showing our chocolate and other products at the information fair. And with chocolate on the brain, (of course it never travels very far) I have been busy dreaming up recipes for the upcoming Ice Cream Festival in July for the Rosa Mexicano Restaurants. What's fun about this special menu is that ice cream and sorbet can be used in appetizers, salads and soups as well as whimsical and flavorful desserts. I have also enjoyed my work for Rosa Mexicano developing a regional Yucatecan menu inspired by our many culinary tours there. Several of their chefs and managers journeyed to our kitchens in Oaxaca for a conference and we had the great pleasure of hosting our own Iron Chef cookoff. It was exciting to all of us to taste the wonderful dishes they prepared in record time, and I was lucky enough to be a judge! My kids were so impressed that now Kaelin, my older son, has decided to follow in my culinary footsteps! Working with so many talented chefs from so many countries these days has inspired an entirely new 'Chefs Intensive' course this October (2nd to the 10th). We have invited participating chefs from Yucatan, Oaxaca and Veracruz to share their recipes, techniques and fun personalities with our students. Please come and cook with us in our kitchen in Oaxaca or travel with us on an unforgettable adventure to discover the culinary delights of our beloved Mexico! As tourism returns to our beloved state of Oaxaca and so many fun and interesting projects are starting to unfold, I have to give thanks and be grateful for all our blessings that the Spirits and the Virgin de Guadalupe have bestowed upon us. And to all of you, our families, students and friends who have supported us from all areas of the world, we thank you. May you think about sustainable living, protecting our Earth and imagine that we are all living in a peaceful loving world. Un abrazo, Susana photo by Marcela Taboada
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Guelaguetza
July 17th to July 23rd
Summer in Oaxaca is even more beautiful than Winter as the rains turn the hills and valleys several shades of green. This is the time of year to celebrate life and community. Indigenous peoples from around the state flock to the central valley to share their traditional dances and culture with each other and with you.
Like so many of the festivals in Oaxaca, Guelaguetza is a mixture of prehispanic culture with modern. The feast of Xilonen, goddess of tender corn, has blended with the feast of the Virgin of Carmen.
Other events have grown around the festival - some original indigenous traditions, especially in the villages, and some more modern innovations such as the contest to select the goddess Centeotl who presides over the festivities.
Join our Guelaguetza Course as we learn to cook dishes from the seven regions of Oaxaca, go hunting wild mushrooms in the forests and join in the local celebrations.
!! Special Offer !!
Anyone who signs up before the 1st of June gets one free cooking class with market tour. You can use this on the day before or after the Guelaguetza Course, at another time, or you could even give it as a gift to someone.
Sign up now!
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Oaxaca's Hidden Market Treasures
From: Fortune Small Business
 Humble, ubiquitous, and utterly intriguing, a Mexican market resembles an American supermarket about as much as a tamale does a hamburger. Even the conquistadors were charmed. Writing home about the New World, they filled their accounts with what they had seen and tasted in the great market of Tenochtitlan: fried crickets, avocados, gopher, frog, and bee tamales, not to mention the cacao bean. Read more...
Sign up now for our 'Cooking Class + Market Tour' package. |
Bizarre Food...?
Last summer Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods came to Oaxaca to try some specialities. Click here to see Andrew explore the market, visit the Seasons of My Heart Cooking School and prepare tlayudas with Susana. |
Spotlight on our Staff
Yolanda Giron Morales tour leader, teacher,environmentalist, organic gardenerYolanda was born in San Lorenzo Cacaotepec where our school is located and where she lives with a parrot, macaw, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and a flock of chickens. She raised a family and travelled widely. She is Mixtec, one of the two largest groups of indigenous inhabitants of Oaxaca. Her mother taught her about plants and trees, their uses as ingredients in food and medicine. In her spare time, now that her four children are grown, she works in her organic garden, plants trees with a local organization and works to develop recycling options. Yolanda takes our students on the market tour and teaches classes. She learned to speak English by listening to the conversations of her American husband and his friends.
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 La Escuela en Travesias
Después de viajar por varios sitios de Estados Unidos, incluida la ciudad de San Antonio, donde descubrió la cocina mexicana en la cocina de sus abuelos, Susana Trilling se instaló hace 17 años en Oaxaca. Desde entonces ya condujo una serie de programas para la televisión estadounidense sobre la cocina oaxaqueña y escribió dos recetarios. Gracias a estas experiencias se familiarizó con la cocina del estado, la cosecha de hortalizas e intercambió conocimientos con la gente y las cocineras locales. Ahora, estos conocimientos los comparte en su escuela-rancho, localizada en el Valle de Etla, a 30 minutos de la ciudad de Oaxaca.
Susana pretende que en sus clases no sólo se aprenda a cocinar, sino que los asistentes también conozcan la cultura oaxaqueña, de ahí que visiten mercados, los pueblos vecinos al rancho y, en algunas ocasiones, hasta el monte si es que van en busca de hongos. Tiene clases de un día (los miércoles, 75 dólares), para "puentes" (5 y 6 noches, desde 1050 dólares), de una semana (8 noches, 1695 dólares) y también ofrece recorridos por otras regiones del país (2300 dólares).
Las clases de un día inician a las 9 de la mañana con una visita al mercado para comprar los ingredientes, siguen con un almuerzo ligero, la preparación de una comida de cinco tiempos en el rancho y a las 6 de la tarde, uno está de vuelta en el hotel. En cursos más largos se visitan, además, panaderías, molinos, así como fábricas de queso, chocolate y mezcal.
Hay talleres prácticamente durante todo el año, pero los favoritos de Susana son el del Día de Muertos, donde enseña a preparar mole negro, distintos tipos de tamales, calabaza en tacha y tejocote en dulce, y el de la Guelaguetza, en julio, cuando se elaboran platillos de las siete regiones de Oaxaca.
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Tracking Rare Chiles and Green Parrots
From: SpiceLines
 Somehow we wound up at a raucous baptism, drinking shots of mescal and dancing to pulsating music. A few years ago, I took a summer cooking class in Oaxaca with Susana Trilling. One day there was a surprise invitation to a fiesta. After... Read more...
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