Mexico: the racist behind the wall

Discrimination is real, and segregation is now more subtle than before, but it does exist. You could be called out if “they” see you where you aren’t supposed to be. Here, you need to know your place or someone will remind you that your kind “isn’t welcome here”. I’m not talking about the USA, I’m talking about the chill out, cool, super friendly, party-goer, flirt ass, down the road neighbour, Mexico. Yes, Mexico is a racist, homophobic, misogynist country, prove me wrong.

*gasps in Spanish

Until recently, Mexicans, through social media, dared to talk about “Pigmentocracy”, term coined by Alejandro Lipschutz, a Chilean anthropologist in 1944, to refer to the ethnic and colour-based hierarchies of Latin America.  In fact, it was a very uncomfortable topic to many, as upper middle class and higher do not believe that Mexico could be racist, mostly referring to social existing inequalities as the lack of will to “do better in life” by the poorer.

This conversation went on and on, and from it, some other terms arose, like “whitexican”, referring to those individuals who belong to these upper middle class and higher, who lacked a rough start in their professional successful career, usually fostered with family money.

According to one of its definitions in the Urban Dictionary, “whitexican” stands for “a derogatory way to refer to Mexican people who they consider to be “privileged” regardless of their ethnic background.” If you need a broader explanation and some context please go ahead and read this entry by The Mexicanist, What is a ‘whitexican’ and why does this account make fun of them? which couldn’t be closer to reality.

I’m a whitexican undercovered, and I find myself thinking that sometimes, as I do have a good job, come from a middle class working family, went to university, studied a masters abroad, and pretty much have running water and electricity all day long without worrying about shortages, I’m a privileged Mexican. But most of those things I take for granted came from the opportunities I inherited mostly, which later derived on those opportunities I created myself.

Which made me realize that discrimination can be seen in Mexico all the time. At moments it is subtle and tame, like friends talking about their maids and house cleaning services (or “muchachas”, who are now the new face of modern slavery in Latin America*) and how hard it is to find one who “doesn’t get pregnant” or one who doesn’t has the urge to get the weekends off to see her family, instead of serving them 24/7 while staying in a tiny room at their house.

*Oh, you think I’m talking rubbish here, The Guardian had something to say about modern slavery in this 2015 article: “Mexico City’s domestic workers: a life being treated as a lesser person”

Or the way newborns are given the “oh he/she is so white, lucky you!” among other expressions referring to the fact that the whiter the baby the prettier he/she is. On the other hand, I’ve heard the “regardless of being brown, she/he, is very pretty/handsome”. You know you’ve heard it (I’m talking to my Mexican friends, aye, you there, the ones who dated a brown girl and thought she was way “too exotic” to introduce her to your mum, exactly).

And don’t even get me started with Yalitza Aparicio, Oscar nominee for her performance in Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who was heavily criticized in Mexico not because of how she did in the film but for her indigenous looks. Aye, that’s Mexico, a racist, blatantly discriminatory society who justifies itself with excuses such as “we are just kidding” or “it’s just a cute nickname”.

Well, all this rant has a point. Just recently, because of what’s happening in the USA after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, and the afterwards riots all throughout the country, many Mexicans started sharing or posting a pitch black square in their social media (#BlackOutTuesday), this as a form of solidarity with the African American community in the United States. Hypocrites, that’s what we are, as we solidarize with the neighbours but we turn our heads the other way to our own people, who we call “pinches indios” (fucking indigenous), “Pinches nacos” (no translation), “pinches jodidos” (bloody poor).

So there you go, this is Mexico, a blatantly racist, homophobic, misogynist country. So don’t forget this, you, aye, my Mexican mate, before joining the trending topic with your “prayers and thoughts”, think of the way you despise your own people and segregate at will. Yes, you are equally racist, but we are just behind that wall.

Recommended articles: 

• The Mazatlan Post: “Whitexicans”: a new form of racism in Mexico against the white and wealthy?
• Pigmentocracies: Educational inequality, skin color and census ethnoracial identification in eight Latin American countries. By Edward Telles, René D.Flores, FernandoUrrea-Giraldo.
• Stand up comedian: “Mexicans Are Racist Too” | Felipe Esparza
• CNN, In Mexico, racism hides in plain view

My adopted black dog

Have I told you I adopted a dog? Oh well, this is the story of Serena, my half breed Maltese I brought from Mexico City to the arid landscape of Monterrey.

Before finding out I was going to change jobs, back in November 2017, a friend of mine told me that her beautiful super white Maltese got pregnant. Apparently, my friend’s sister sister left the dog unattended and the miracle of life happened (and by “miracle” I mean “she shagged with a random dog”). As Mexico City is a super pet friendly city and my flat was pretty  much arranged in order to have a wee dog, I volunteered to adopt one of the puppies. Well, I thought that they’ll look like the mum, but what came out of her were 5 very black dogs.

The little punk hanging out with her siblings

Serena was the youngest one, cute little piece of charcoal, extremely playful and smart. So, I waited three months, according to airlines regulations, and brought it here. She did change my routine.

In general I consider myself a very independent person, not used to being told what to do with my spare time and very tidy. Well, Serena changed this. She is a loving dog and extremely cute, obsessed with cats and butterflies, learns fast and she is a cuddler.

My best friend, who has had a dog for the last 12 years, literally took a pic of me and Serena the very first time we were finally on our own. Having a dog has taught me to commit to something in my personal life, she needs to be nurtured, walked, fed, washed and obviously (and my favourite part), loved.

Fortunately, here in Monterrey, I found a great vet who takes care of her when I’m away, which includes her vaccines and other medical procedures. I’m lucky enough to live super close to pet friendly walking paths and coffee places, so that is covered. In a city where infrastructure for vehicles is more valued than sidewalks, being closeby to parks is a privilege.

Of course, I try to walk her every day, at least 5 kms, so she stays “fit” (and so do I). Owning a dog is a huge responsibility and a great joy. I highly recommend not buying one but adopting a dog, they are super grateful and loyal.

Just one more thing, she is trained to poop and pee at a wee corner by the laundry room (and, obviously outside when I take her for walks), but every time she poops she comes running at me demanding a treat… so basically, I’m rewarding her for pooping what I feed her.

Guadalajara, Guadalajara!

This is not the first time I write about Guadalajara, however, I spent a weekend there just last year, and felt in love with this city, again.

Getting there from Mexico City is pretty simple, you either take a 50 minutes flight (around USD$70 to $100 return), or a 7 hours bus from “Central Poniente” (USD$75 return). I chose the second option, because either I’m still an adventurous man or apparently I haven’t learnt to buy my trips on advance, go figure.

I arrived to Guadalajara’s bus terminal on a Saturday, around 7 am, and decided to hop on the public transportation to get to the city centre. As, due to some previous reading, public transportation routes are easy to follow. Once you get to downtown, moving around by foot isn’t that bad at all, or at least for me, as I really enjoy long walks.                

As you can see, the day was beautiful, and as I walked from “Templo de Nuestra Señora de Aranzazú” to Guadalajara’s Plaza de Armas (its main square) stores and restaurants were getting ready to serve the peasants.

The Cathedral is incredible. Its construction began on 1561 and was finished by 1716, finally completed on 1854. To one of its side you will find the “Hombres Ilustres” (distinguished men) roundabout with all those men who contributed to either found Guadalajara or stood out for their achievements in culture, science, politics or leadership.

I continued walking through Jose Maria Morelos street and passed by Teatro Degollado. This Theatre was built during the XIX Century. Its facade is beautifully balanced by 16 Corinthian styled columns, a reminder of Guadalajara’s constant focus in culture and arts.

Just a 20 minutes walk away, in that direction, you’ll find the Hospicio Cabañas. This is a World Heritage Site, and one of the oldest and largest hospital complexes in the Americas. I’ve been there before, and I do recommend you to spend at least a couple of hours exploring it.

You might be wondering, “Luis, why did you go to Guadalajara out of the sudden?”, glad you ask. As you know, I’m from Tampico, gorgeous town on the Northeast coast of Mexico. My local soccer team was playing against the Universidad of Guadalajara’s team that Sunday, so, I packed my jersey and lots of sunscreen and just went for it.

Estado Jalisco – Leones Negros vs Tampico Madero

On Saturday evening I hung out around the Chapultepec Avenue zone, it has plenty of hipster-ish pubs, restaurants, local gastronomy, and a colourful flea market. Later that night, a good friend of mine invited me over to a party in that same neighborhood, the “Colonia Americana”.  Guadalajara and Merida have that in common, huge 19th and 20th century houses, which are part of the local heritage, some of them became restaurants or venues for fancy events. She took me to “Patán Ale House“, wonderful beer place, with local brews, great ambiance and good food, perfect for a relaxed Saturday night.

On Sunday I went to the football match, to the Estadio Jalisco, aye, you are right, my team won 2-0 and I couldn’t be happier. The funny thing is that around 400+ fans from my town traveled all the way from East coast to Guadalajara to support our team. That afternoon I made two more food stops. One at “El Negro”, a seafood joint. That was freaking heaven, fresh seafood everywhere, fish and shrimp tacos, grilled octopus, and beer as cold as my ex’s heart, amazing.

The second one, and a great reminder that I need to come back soon to keep on exploring this great city, was “La Res Publica“. Here we ordered one of the most heavenly “Bife de Chorizo” I ever had. Medium rare, solid salted crust, juicy meat and an outstanding explosion of flavours in my mouth with each bite.

That was Guadalajara for me, great weekend, and a must needed break from Mexico City. I highly recommend it, not only as a place to go for a couple of days. Guadalajara seems like the right place where to go if you want to experience Mexico in peaceful and calm way.

Ps. But of course I had a Torta Ahogada. This is a local dish made with hard short baguette stuffed with pork carnitas, and covered on hot or mild red sauce (hence the word “ahogadas” which means drowned). However, I had the seafood version, with shrimps, outstanding.

“The Cloud” vs Mexican Corruption

Digital economy is literally how we use the internet, globalization and connectivity to boost the exchange of goods and services worldwide. The gate to accomplish this came in the shape (or not really) of “The Cloud”. This imaginary universe where several online tools are available pretty much “on demand”, helps organizations to focus on their core business instead of investing on high cost IT infrastructure.

As my always reliable source says (aye, Wikipedia BRO!), The Cloud has its advantages: high-computing power, cheap cost of services, high performance, scalability, accessibility as well as availability. Therefore, it makes sense that governments shall use this to improve their finances, accounting services, budget planning, projects development and general management. Right?

It makes sense, however, underdeveloped countries see The Cloud as “risky” and “unreliable” for matters that should (as they say) be managed under internal scrutiny. Arguing that confidential information shouldn’t be put on a “hackeable” platform, countries such as Mexico pretty much underline their biggest fears: transparency and accountability.

According to http://www.transparency.org/, Mexico is ranked 95 out of 168 countries in terms of Corruption Perception, where it scores 35/100 in its Corruption Index (Scores range from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean)). As well, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention claims that Mexico does very little to enforce or combat bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions.

Javier Duarte, still governor of Veracruz, allegedly committed fraud for MX 60 million in misappropriation of public funds

In terms of controlling corruption, Transparency International published that Mexico ranked bellow average (with a -0.35%, where point estimates range from about -2.5 to 2.5. Higher values correspond to better governance outcomes), meaning that the extent to which public power is exercise for private gain is high.

If Mexico were to adopt the trends that digital economy brings, the availability of public information, budget and infrastructure expenses (as well as public officials salaries and benefits) through The Cloud will clearly reduce Mexico’s perception of being a very corrupt country.

Don’t forget that other technologies such as Data Mining, Mobile Applications and Forensic Tools are helping the international community to fight corruption. To simplify this let me quote a paragraph from a fantastic article written by Lauren Silveira (Weforum, April 18th of 2016):

“Technology is being used to create transparency across organizations by increasing automation, accuracy and frequency across processes. International organizations are at the forefront of this revolution developing innovative software to detect and deter fraud and collusion. As identified by the United Nations, more accessible and better quality data will lead to improved policy decisions and greater accountability and several of their recent reports outline how the data revolution will be incorporated into sustainable development commitments.” – L Silveira 2016

When The Economist published its article “The Mexican Morass” criticizing Peña Nieto’s administration, its high corruption levels and lack of accountability, they add this incredible statement: They don’t get that they don’t get it. Since then (January 2015), Peña Nieto has done nothing to move public budget, expenses and judicial information into open tools such as The Cloud or Big Data. The solution to fight corruption and federal fraud is right there. It seems that Peña’s resilience to move into that direction implies several conflicts of interests, frauds and lack of federal budget management.

Underdevelopment is a condition most countries experience not due to poor international competitiveness or unfair regional trade agreements, some countries struggle because of greedy and shortsighted leaders, and Mexico is an example of this.

Charro Beans (Or Mexican Soup)

I was born and raised in the North of Mexico, Tampico is my hometown and I’ll will always cherish my childhood and youth spent there. However, right when I turned 19 I moved to Monterrey, Mexico. So from 10 good years I studied, lived, worked and ate grilled meat (“carnes asadas”) at the City of Mountains and hard working Mexicans.

While there I learnt to cook “Frijoles Charros” or as I later called it in NZ “Mexican spicy bean soup”. So, don’t be shy, grab pen and paper and write down the following recipe for some kick ass spicy bean soup that will definitely be the final entrée at your home made BBQ this summer (or Fall… screw it, you know I went on holidays, so this is great for Winter too, ok? just be cool with it). Remember, this is not “Chilli”, this is a Mexican spicy bean soup, alright?

Ingredients

• 2 cans of Cannellini or Red Kidney beans in brine
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 garlic, chopped
• 3 stripes of smoked bacon (the real deal, you know what I mean)
• 1 piece of Spanish chorizo in squares
• Red, yellow and green capsicums squared (1 each)
• 1 bratwurst roughly sliced (I do prefer either Argentinian sausage or Polish burst)
• Fresh cilantro (just a handful)
• 1 smoked chipotle chilli
• Salt and Pepper to taste

These are chipotles 

What to do? 

Use a large and deep pot, add the bacon and chorizo, stir around, let those juices cover the wall of the pot, add the onions, garlic and capsicums, stir-fry. Throw in the bratwurst (no pun intended), stir around again, oh yeah, that’s it, you know it. Finally, add the tomatoes, and after a couple minutes put in the beans, brine and all.

Finally, put the chipotle and the cilantro in. The idea of using the whole chipotle, without chopping it or slicing it is because you don’t want to make this a hot soup, you just want the flavour of this smoked chilli, that’s it.

Let all the ingredients mix in the pot, now pour in 3 cups of water, let it boil. Salt and pepper to taste.

This my friends, is a great confort food. You can even not put any extra water in it and it is a great side dish for a roast (like pork or lamb).

In Mexico we can also just buy these and everybody will be ok with that. Kidding, we are not ok with this, go for the real deal

Ps. The year is almost over and we are soon to know who is going to become president of the USA. Aren’t we all excited? Not really, nor of the two options are great for my neighbours, but that shouldn’t be of my business, right? Now, if you excuse me, I have a wall to build.

 

Spanish Tortilla, Bro!

Usually when I’m bored I go for a cooking sprint, and it gets pretty nasty. How nasty does it get? You might be wondering. Well, I go to my local supermarket and simply “go for it”. A bunch of dishes starts to appear in my head, hence, an imaginary list of ingredients types itself in my mind.

This is just a wee example of my cooking sprints.

Spanish Tortilla

Pick 3 to 5 good size potatoes, the yellow kind, half an onion, slice thinly these vegetables. In a medium size pot, put a lot of water to boil, add 1 spoon of salt and put the potatoes there. Let them cook until soft but still firm. Drizzle a large size non-stick pan with some extra virgin olive oil, stir-fry the onions and a garlic clove (already cut in brunoise), until soft, don’t let them caramelize, don’t add any salt, just pepper to taste. Get those tatoes out of the water, and put them in the pan, stir gently until brown.

In a metal bowl, crack four or five eggs, whisk, add salt, pepper, 2 spoons of water, 2 spoons of sour cream, a pinch of dried parsley, and keep on whisking, who told you to stop? Now, let the potatoes and onions to cool down a little, integrate to the egg mix.

Now the fun part, use a much smaller pan, like half the size of the one you used previously, drizzle more olive oil, put the stove to medium heat, ready? Add the mix into the pan. Why are we using a much smaller pan? Simple, this will make a thicker tortilla, easier to handle while cooking, and it’ll look great when plating.

Where was I? Right! Let the mix cook in the smaller pan, you’ll notice when it’s ready to turn when the top isn’t runny anymore. I usually put a lid on to get a firmer tortilla. Now grab a plate larger than the pan, put it on top, and flip it, put the pan back on the stove and carefully return the tortilla from the plate to the pan. Let it cook for 4 to 5 five more minutes in medium-low heat.

Now plate!

You can double or triple this recipe in order to make more Spanish tortillas, this dish is a great entrée and will not disappoint.

Ps. Mexico City is currently experiencing its worst environmental crisis in 15 years. The local authorities determined that limiting the amount of cars on the streets seemed the logical first step to solve the problem. I reckon that the pollution comes from the industrial zones located in the states of Puebla, Estado de México and Hidalgo. The authorities have done nothing to regulate these zones; in the meantime, Mexico City’s administration still hasn’t presented a public transport improvement plan, just saying.

This is where I “live”… 

Oaxaca and Mezcal

 

last March I went to Oaxaca City for a wedding, no big deal, it was my second time in that beautiful city, but this weekend I committed myself to get to know a little bit more of this amazing place in the southwest-centre-ish part of Mexico.

First things first, I took a bus from Mexico City to Oaxaca on a Friday. A bus trip surprisingly enjoyable, I must say.

I traveled with ADO as my bus carrier at the 23 hrs service to Oaxaca City, leaving from the Central del Norte (the Northern Bus Terminal in Mexico City), costing around USD25 to 45. The terminal was super crowded as it was prior a long weekend, but nothing to worry about.

We arrived to Oaxaca around 7 am, and from the bus terminal in Oaxaca it takes you no more than a 25 minute walk to get to pretty much anywhere in the city. And believe me, anywhere in the city, so if you are only carrying a backpack, well, before getting to your hotel  go and explore a little.

 

For instance, from the bus terminal to Oaxaca City’s main square (commonly known as Zocalo), it’s about a 20 minute walk, but a taxi could take you there in 5 minutes for USD$3.

At the wedding there were plenty of friends from my hometown, Tampico, it was very interesting to see all these lads in this part of the country. The wedding’s reception was on that very day, at Tule, Oaxaca, a wee town located 9kms East of the city. Santa Maria del Tule is famous for a tree that lives there, according to a lot of studies, this tree could be up to 3,000 years old, 14 metres in diameter, and often referred to as the “Tree of Life”. Then, we finally got the Hacienda for the celebration, found my table and decided to enjoy a magnificent feast. As entré we had pork crackling, longaniza and Oaxaca cheese, while each table had at least two bottles of mezcal, which was “silky-smooth”, simply beautiful.

As a main we had mole negro (black mole), a typical local dish, which by the way, is the  Pièce de résistance in Mexican cuisine, and the most representative of Oaxaca’s gastronomy.

On Sunday I woke up craving some market food after a wedding with plenty of mezcal, well, Oaxaca had just the right place for me: the Juarez and 20 de noviembre markets.

There I had a quesadilla with pumpkin flower and a tlayuda with chorizo. Both markets were loud and alive, like any other market in Mexico, however, the ambiance was different as the aromas were unique and, regardless of the new look the food stands had,the cooking technique used there was refined as a result of years of experience.

Oaxaca City seems to be the right place where to go for a weekend off, a peaceful town where to forget, at least for a couple days, the loud and over polluted Mexico City. I highly recommend it, it has awesome food, great weather, but most of all, it gives the tourist a broader insight of Mexican identity and ethnicity.

Cheers…

 

2016 Resolutions

As a matter of fact, I did my research, and according to the “New Years Resolutions Act” of 1904, you have until the last week of January to publish your resolutions for the ongoing year.

My biggest concern was, of course, not having a clear mind and the right amount of ambition to enlist what I really wanted to accomplish this 2016. First, going through my last year’s resolution post, I realized of how much I did and how my accomplishments improved my life and opinion about myself.

So, let’s get started, shall we, and please, if you feel I should add something to this list, well, I’m all ears.

Traveling

I´m going to travel more, no questions asked. For one sole reason, I reckon that in life you should invest more in experiences rather than material things. But you knew that because you read plenty of that motivational literature you love to glance at while waiting in line at the supermarket, am I right? Where should I go now? I´m thinking Colombia, Panama, Belize, and, perhaps, California.

Comedy

There’s only one thing missing there

This year is the year I’ll finally find the courage to take a stand-up comedy class. Maybe one day I’ll put my videos on youtube, you know, saying rubbish about non-important stuff, and making people laugh. That’s the dream.

Cooking challenge

As on February I’ll announce my own Mexican cooking challenge. I’ll cook 31 traditional dishes from the 31 states of Mexico. I will be posting the recipes, pictures and step by step instructions, as well as uploading videos, so one day I will become famous, like Gordon, or Jaime! Hell yeah! Or at least this will serve as a good way to document my country’s diverse cuisine.

Savings

I’m aiming to save up to USD10,000 this year. This number won’t sound as much to you, but I´m Mexican and this represents a considerable amount.  What will I do with this money? Don’t know yet, but maybe I’ll spend it on traveling, abroad investments or an upfront payment for a property here in Mexico. Who knows, it is just money, you know?

Well, those are this year´s resolutions, let’s see how the first half of this 2016 develops. In the meantime, my advise to all of you is simple: Be nice to others, take bullshit from no one, be kind to your loved ones, and smile a lot, there’s always a reason.

Paella by Mexicans

As part of many things The Americas inherited from the Spanish settlers, I reckon, the most important one was new ingredients and cooking techniques. Not only we got some great Spanish recipes, but this “Mestizaje” resulted in new and thrilling cooking methods, the incorporation of exotic ingredients, flavours and textures. The The Latin American cuisine was born as a rich, exuberant,and voluptuous (I always wanted to use to that word to describe food, far out!) pallet of flavours and emotions.

It was actually rougher than this. A very bloody and violent cultural assimilation.

… Anyway, so, a few days ago, we decided not to go for the traditional Mexican dish, nor a North American craving (remember, we are from the north, close to the border with the US and A, so, aye, we love HEB and Texan massive portions), instead we went for freaking Spanish food.

Why Spanish? Well, I’ve recently bought a “Paellera”, which is a special pan for paella, as shown bellow:

I got the rice and the spices, then my youngest sis and I headed to the “San Juan” Market, which, I reckon, needs a post of its own, as it is an impressive place full of the most exotic ingredients, meats, veggies and a wide high quality charcuterie stands.

Colours… edible colours …

Among other things we needed for the paella, we also went there to get the seafood, as northeast Mexicans from the Gulf of Mexico we do value fresh, high quality seafood. So, let’s get started, shall we?

Utensils:

• A 30 cms paellera
• Cooking tongs
• 1 medium size pot (for a 1 to 2 litres of chicken stock)
• 1 wooden spoon
• White piece of cloth

Ingredients (usually for a 4 to 6 people paella):

• 600 grams of rice (preferable the “bomba” or “calasparra” variety)
• 300 grams of chicken meat (I used chicken thighs, deboned)
• 200 grams of pork in cubes (I recommend pork chops, deboned and leave some fat, always leave the fat)
• 300 grams of large shrimps, skin and head on
• 200 grams of white clams
• 200 grams of squids (ask your vendor to clean them up before weighting them)
• 100 grams of fried chopped tomatoes (I used two, and worked great)
• 50 grams of sliced Spanish chorizo
• 1 tsp of sweet paprika
• ½ tsp of saffron
• Pinch of oregano
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• ½ chopped onion
• Handful of chopped parsley
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 to 2 litres of chicken stock

Now what?

First, turn on the heat to meadium, on the paellera pour some olive oil (2 to 3 spoons are fine), level the paellera, you want to cook rice evenly, always. Next, throw in the pork and the chicken, you want to brown the outside of these meats before moving to the steaming process needed for the rice. Add the chorizo, the onions and the garlic, then the tomatoes, and the rest of the spices (saffron, paprika, oregano, pinch of salt and pepper).

All set? Awesome, now, the secret of a great paella rests in the stock you use. Please, put as much love to make the stock as you do to prepare this paella. Oh well, screw it, you can buy chicken stock too, so anyway, where was I? Aye, put a good amount of large spoons of the stock in the paellera. As soon as the stock touches the hot pan your kitchen will be filled with amazing aromas, sounds and excitement (not the same sort of excitement we all felt while watching the first trailer of the upcoming Star Wars movie, but pretty close). Cover just half of the paellaera with the stock, let it boil.

Is it boiling now? Add the rice, distribute it nicely along the paellera, use your wooden spoon and distribute the hell of that rice, oh yeah, distribute it good… you are loving it aren’t you? Now pour more stock in it until you entirely cover the rice, lower the flame, and let it cook. Regarding the saffron, some put it while they stir-fry the meat, whilst others add it right after covering the rice with the stock. I used the first technique.

Ok, so your rice is cooking, your stock is simmering, you’ve poured yourself a good glass of Tempranillo (because cooking and drinking is always mandatory), now, what’s left? Oh right, the seafood! Start arranging the shrimp, squid and clams in the paellera. Gently push the ingredients into the rice, they’ll cook fast, that’s the reason we didn’t cook them with the meat at the beginning. Pour a little bit more of that stock, you don’t want to burn your rice (unless you like socarrat, which is super delicious).

At the last phase, when you notice the rice is almost ready, the seafood cooked (just check if the shrimps turn into that lovely pink colour) turn off the heat and cover the paella with that white piece of cloth you were wondering why I listed it in this recipe. Let it rest for good 15 minutes, it helps to settle and finishing cooking the rice.

There you go, now take some nice pics, upload them to Instagram, use a nice filter, and share it with the rest of the world.

Ps. Did you get the chance to watch the Republican debate yesterday? I didn´t, but it seems that Trump is doing his best to keep on surprising us. He is a jerk, but really popular, the lad might have a chance to compete against Hillary for the US presidency.

Ps2. Veracruz, that Mexican state in the shape of a wrinkled banana, by the Gulf of Mexico is now the one most dangerous places on earth for journalists. Javier Duarte, governor of that state, during an event with journalists warned them that the authorities knew which one of them were hanging out with the bad guys. Last Friday, Ruben Espinosa, photographer, allegedly threaten by Duarte’s administration, was found murdered in Mexico City. “Espinosa was the 13th journalist working in Veracruz to be killed since Governor Javier Duarte from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) came to power in 2011.” published The Guardian, regarding this event. Shame on you, Duarte.

Due to Trump’s Recent Remarks…

Due to the recent derogatory statements made by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, specifically Mexicans; Tacos and Politics’ staff (myself and my mate who proofreads the posts before I publish them), its board members and collaborators (still my mate and I), is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.

We are addressing either him or his hair…

We deeply regret these racist and inappropriate remarks, which not only offend the Mexican community in Mexico, but those who have crossed the border pursuing the American Dream (which nowadays is known as the Canadian Dream, but hey, still neighbours, right?).

Pretty much the routes Mexicans take to get into the US

Even though we are a tier 3 online media outlet, not at all relevant to the American public, nor capable of reverting the effects of Global Warming, Tacos and Politics has decided to halt any current or future endeavors with Mr Trump (Take that, Trump!)

Or his hair…

We deeply condemn those who applaud and agree with Donald’s expressions full of hatred. You are supporting a hateful and narcissistic individual without any kind of values, both personal and business wise. As well, by supporting Trump’s presidential aspirations you are also supporting a growing trend of bigotry and division in the US and A.

Love

T&P Staff

Ps. If you haven’t watched or heard what he recently said, please feel free click on the following youtube clip:

Ps2. Here, have a Trump Piñata, which are becoming very popular on this side of the border.

You know you want one…