TGIF

After a long week - finally the weekend. A lot to do. Travel plans cancelled. But at least still eating well. My roomie Fabian is the perfect testing partner.

Fabian and Fabian

R. and R., two other roomies of mine.

Summer rolls.

Spinach ricotta lasagne.

Roastbeef honey ciabatta.

C. (Denmark), K. (Canada), F. (Mexico), and me.

Everything for Pozole.

 My roomies recommended to try Pozole - a stew made with giant hominy corn and loads of veggies. Ingredients vary, my version came with small radishes, scallions, salad, lime wedges, oregano, and tortilla chips.

Mixed Pozole.

Yummy! By the way - the real version of course features lots of meat. For all the carnivores out there - here the mouth watering description of the original preparation:

"[...] the meat used in the pozole was human. After the prisoners were killed by having their hearts torn out in a ritual sacrifice, the rest of the body was chopped and cooked with maize." Source: Wikipedia

But don't worry - nowadays you don't have to become a man-eater in order to try this dish:

"After the Conquest, when cannibalism was banned, pork became the staple meat as it "tasted very similar", according to a Spanish priest." Source: Wikipedia

It was good, but the presentation of C.'s sandwich was certainly wittier:

Happy meal - literally.

 On Thursday, K. organized a Mexican Movie night - we watched the comdey Nosotros los Nobles, which deals with the idiosyncrasies of the Mexican over-privileged upper class. Sometimes I recognized my roomies, who are too fresa (snobby) to eat on a "normal" market - how unhygienic! Better to mount the own car and drive to Papa John's and Krispy Kreme instead. Especially the vocabulary used in the movie was extremely the one of my dearest room mates.

K. (Canada) - Hey guys, how about working, instead of staring and taking photos ;-)

Tostadas!

R. (Japan), C. (Denmark), C. (France), K. (Canada), C.'s visitor (France), and me in front.

Recently, I had my first burrito in Mexico - so famous in Tex-Mex restaurants all over the world, but actually not that common here. But when prepared properly, it's authentic Mexican food, indeed - not Tex-Mex. I wonder what my Mexican friends in Germany meant when they said that everything on the menu in German Tex-Mex restaurants is not Mexican at all. Actually, I have already eaten a lot of food here, which is very similar to the stuff I tried in German establishments... Exaggerated national pride?!

Burrito with rice, cream, refried beans and Mexican Manchego Cheese.

Queso Manchego (Manchego Cheese) comes in a lot of dishes here and I always wondered where it is, because cheese here doesn't have anything to do with the one I had in Spain. Know what? It is simply not the same:

"[...] manchego [...] shares its name with the Spanish cheese, but in Spain it is made with sheep’s milk and Mexican manchego is made with cows’ or cows’ and goats’ milk." Source: Wikipedia

At least it doesn't have much taste, so I can get it down - the burrito indeed wasn't that bad.

What else. Ah yeah, about 2 weeks ago I finally got my permanent resident card, which is valid for 1 year. Quasi Mexican - yeah... Doesn't matter that the whole process took twice as long as initially indicated. As long as it's running and bureaucracy is busy, you are not considered an illegal overstaying visitor.

Recently, I'm on apartment search with my roomies, as we intend to move in together, but outside the really expensive dorm. Let's see...

Today I attended a presentation about the Mexican economic outlook. USA? Halted. Brazil? In fashion ten years ago. Mexico? Ne plus ultra. Everything fine here. Perfect outlook. No problems! Erm ya, that's how I imagine a differentiated outlook...

Have a nice weekend!