Dinners and Chiles en Nogada

Last night (Friday) I had the chance to cook dinner for the family that had me over last week. It was kind of funny--since I don't have a lot of space in my apartment, I had to ask them if I could borrow their kitchen to cook for them. And all week, when I would invite people to the dinner, I'd have to say it was in someone else's house...not a normal party invitation! But it went over well; we had about 10 people, with lots of conversation til past midnight. I have no pictures, but hopefully will get passed some when I get to the office on Monday...

Today, the 28th of August, is the Day of Chiles en Nogada, a famous regional dish that is very popular. It is a chile stuffed with a mixture of fruits, meats, and nuts, topped with a creamy walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds. In a neighboring town, they have what is billed the "Largest Chile en Nogada in the World." It is actually made up of 2000 chiles en nogada and shaped to look like one giant chile. Here is a picture of them making it. This dish is incredibly labor intensive due to the number of ingredients and having to hand-cut them all (you have to remove the inside brown peel on the walnuts, etc.).





And looks like they are setting up for another concert tonight in front of our local church...not sure for what. But I will probably go check it out and see if I recognize anyone from the neighborhood.