This morning, Robin and I rode the bus to Ley, the supermarket at the edge of Guaymas - mostly to look for some sort of Croc knock-off for him to wear down on the beach. We didn't find that, so he bought himself a pair of pink flip-flops with "Sayonara" printed on the upper soles. Very fetching. They were the only ones with really thick soles, I gather. We picked up a few more things and caught the bus home. Although last night was fairly cold, today has turned out to be lovely - dusty, but lovely.

When we got home, I set about making a batch of corn tortillas, which turned out rather thicker than the ones I can buy at the store, but tasty. I'll work on making them thinner, I guess, but even as they were they would have been very, very good with this filling that Maria apparently told the class this year (before I got here). Here we go - the first recipe of the season, hot off the presses. Chantal jotted the ingredients down for me.

The recipe had no name, or at least I didn't get one, so I shall name it Hamburguesa San Carlos. Furthermore, there are no cooking instructions or specific amounts, just a list of ingredients, so I'm going to make everything else up as I go along.

Hamburguesa San Carlos

1 pound of hamburger
1 medium potato, diced
one handful each of raisins and olives!
2 tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced

Brown the meat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until the onion is transparent. Add the diced potato and cook until the potato is tender. Add the tomatoes, raisins and olives, and cook a further five minutes.

Use this mixture as a tostada or taco filling.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it? I'm going to try it later this week - with another batch of homemade corn tortillas. I'm tempted to dice a chile of some description into the mix, but I'll try it first just as it came to me.

While we were talking, Chantal found another recipe. This came from Karen, whom Chantal met before we got here this year. I missed Karen, but apparently there's a good chance she and her husband will be going to the Yucatan next year with Robin and Roger and Chantal and me. I hope so. She seems to be a good cook. ;>) I'm not sure where she found the recipe, but she adapted it to make it Mexico-friendly.

This one is called Chiles Rellenos Casserole.

1 cup half and half
1/3 cup flour
1/2 lb. Jack cheese, grated
1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz. tomato sauce
2 eggs
3 whole chiles, cut up

Beat half and half with eggs and flour until smooth. Split open chiles, rinse out seeds. Mix cheese, reserving 1/2 c. of cheese for topping. Make alternate layers of cheese, chiles and egg mixture in deep dish. Sprinkle with cheese and tomato sauce. Bake at 375F for one hour.

Karen used roasted and peeled poblano peppers, evaporated milk in place of half and half, and a pound of Chihuahua cheese. For a fluffier casserole, she says, whip the egg whites first, then fold in the egg yolks and cream/evaporated milk. She also suggests that a homemade chile rojo salsa would probably be better than tomato sauce. She's probably right.

The casserole seems to be a party dish - it's a little too rich, I think, for everyday, but it does sound good.

Now I have to go sort through the clothes that we brought down for the children in a nearby village (Robin and Roger visited there last year when they went on their fishing trip), because I think we're going to go see Russ today. He lived next door to us last season, but he has now bought a lot of his own and set up his trailer there. He will take the stuff out to the village for us.

Speaking of the village, I was delighted to hear that Roger and Chantal celebrated Christmas by buying a shopping cart full of food and sending it out to the village, where apparently the need is great.

Off I go, then.