Author Archives: admin

Source: Monterey Mexican Food, Prestons

When I arrived in Sydney to live, the first 3 weeks as a resident were completely and utterly unlike the 3 weeks I’d spent here as a tourist 8 months earlier.  I’ll chronicle my various forms of culture shock somewhere … Continue reading

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Source: Fiji Market, Newtown

About half a block away, you start to smell the cardamom. View Map Fiji Market is mostly Indian/Pakistani, but God bless ’em, in a corner on the right side of the store they’ve got a shelf of Mexican goodies that … Continue reading

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Tex-Mex vs. Oz-Mex vs. Mex-Mex

Some Sydney restaurants focus on what in Texas we called “Interior Mexican” cuisine.  Which is fine.  Love it!!! But ever since Diana Kennedy started poo-pooing Tex-Mex and Cal-Mex and border variants as inferior to “authentic” Mexican food, a lot of … Continue reading

Posted in Oz-Mex | 1 Comment

Chillies, Chiles

I am going to have to call them chiles, sorry.  I’m doing favourite, programme, colour etc the Oz way, but CHILLI, I can’t do. I knew I was in trouble on arrival in Australia when the most common chile available … Continue reading

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Recipe: Green Tomato Salsa

This is a more Australia-friendly alternative to the Tomatillo salsa recipe.  If you can’t get the real deal, this suffices.  Or you can go out and buy a jar of salsa verdes at Harris Farms. Ingredients 1 dozen small Green … Continue reading

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Mayan Art

I love this drawing from the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.  I traced it in illustrator to avoid copyright issues. News Flash! You can now buy this as a t-shirt (no markup).

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Recipe: Salsa Doña

Jalapeño Sauce Australia Note – this is entirely doable in Oz.  The main problem I find is that Coles and Woolworth’s are unable to keep jalapeños in stock (Woolie’s is slightly more reliable). The secondary problem is that pepper heat … Continue reading

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Review: Baja Cantina, Glebe

If you know me, you know my general impression of Mexican restaurants in Sydney.  So it’s with a little reluctance that I start restaurant reviews, because I don’t just want to set up a cranky series of whinging restaurant posts.  … Continue reading

Posted in Restaurants, Reviews | 4 Comments

Recipe: Salsa Verdes (Roasted Tomatillo Salsa)

Salsa Verdes (Roasted Tomatillo Salsa) Note for Australia: If there *were* any tomatillos on this continent this year, I have reports that they’ve been wiped out in the Queensland flooding. So yeah, this recipe calls for a fair amount of unobtainium.  Please see … Continue reading

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Cookbook Review: The Texas Provincial Kitchen

In 2001, I was starting to cook more seriously, which meant more gadgets, of course. I was looking for a flat, cast-iron comal or griddle, and the traditional Mexican food grinder made of hollowed-out lava rock, the molcajete. I found … Continue reading

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