So Much for My Diet

During the three months that I stayed at home in Ohio, from May 6th until my return to Mexico this week, I was on a diet.  Except for occasional meals out at a restaurant with friends, I did not eat any bread, pasta, cheese, desserts or red meat.  The diet was very successful.  I lost fifteen pounds and my cholesterol went down by forty points.

Of course I knew that any pretense of being on a diet would go out the window once I was in Mexico again.  On the day that I arrived, Alejandro prepared spaghetti in meat sauce for dinner.  It may not have been authentically Italian, but I thought it was very good.  It reminded me of the spaghetti that my mother used to make.  He made more than enough for the entire family.  I don't know if it is common practice among Mexican families, but in Alejandro's house leftovers from dinner are often served for breakfast.  So I had spaghetti again for breakfast!

Spaghetti - the Breakfast of Champions!

Supper or "cena", which in Mexico is a light meal served around 9 P.M., consisted of hot chocolate and "pan dulce"... Mexican pastries.

One of the reasons that I usually come to Mexico in August is to celebrate my birthday.  Of course that involved more feasting on foods that were not on my previous diet.  On the way home, Alejandro's sister stopped at a taco stand that we all like, and bought tacos.

As you can see from the grease stains on the paper wrapper, these tacos would never be classified as healthy eating... but they were so delicious!

And for my birthday cake, Alejandro found something I had never seen before... in Mexico or in the United States... "baklava cake".  I thought he was joking when he told me what he had bought, but when he unwrapped the cake, sure enough, it was baklava.  

Actually, the bottom was cheesecake, and it is covered with slices of baklava.  It was very good, and everybody liked it.  Baklava is something most people in Mexico have never heard of, much less tasted.  The only reason Alejandro was familiar with baklava, is that he had some  when we went to the West Side Market in Cleveland on one of his trips to Ohio.

Of course the family sang "Las mañanitas", the Mexican birthday song, followed by a chorus of "Happy Birthday to You".  It was a festive and fattening celebration with my Mexican family!