A Trip To Tlaxcala 

Food, architecture and a great breakfast. 

Hallo, my beloved friends, today i have a very special post for you and it's because a few days we've been invited to travel to an iconic place of Mexico, the city and surrounding laces of Tlaxcala, but we did it to eat one of the finest treasures of the country, the chiles en nogada and we found a place where breakfast has another meaning. 

Our first stop was in Tlaxcala's downtown were we decided to have breakfast, we walked just two blocks from the parking lot and we found a place called Casa Uno Uno, we got in and the inside was amazing, a place with rock, wood, rustic decoration and the most fine furniture. While reading the menu we decided to take the breakfast number 1, it included juice, mixed fruit with yogurt on top, a cup of tea, coffee or atole, this atole was champurrado a chocolate/corn brew and also its variant without choco but blue corn and as strong meal chilaqules with chicken and enchiladas. 

Casa Uno Uno is located in Av. Juarez number 11 near the main square, is not also a place to eat breakfast, but also where traditional food can be found or just a few drinks with your mates, the place is quiet and comfortable and also the food will worth the way from city to Tlaxcala, it offers season food and sweet bread from french tradition (cuz sweet bread is a french tradition in mexico).  

 in this place breakfast has a different meaning, you can see it in the pictures below. 

red chilaquiles

green sauce chilaquiles

The champurrado

After this feast and lovely ambient we decided to visit the convent, which is in the top of a hill a few steps from the Xicohtencatl square, this square is also the place were merchandise can be bought, many kind of merchandise since typical clothes to hand crafts and also regional fruit or bread. Is also the home of Xicohtencatl, the lord from Tlaxcala in a sculpture.  

Xicohtencatl square

the lord itself

Also, it's a plce where restaurants are gathered to offer vast and wide food and drinks selections, one of the most popular drink, the pulque in its different "cured" versions. 

One of this breweries offering pulque

So up on the hill you will find more interesting merchandise sold by the town's people and also hand crafted, but one of the best things from this hill is the view, the convent and its gate, a colonial architecture can be seen here and around town, the top of the convent is form a Mos-Arabian style, very popular among Spanish colonies. 

The gate

The chapel form the convent 

From this point the Arena can be seen. 

But the main character here is the convent. 

The convent

And after visiting this convent, a religious building still, we hit the road to Apizaco to eat a well-known delicacy of the season, the popular chiles en nogada and to explain what is a chile en nogada let me tell you that: is the most popular way to celebrate mexico's gastronomy in just one meal. 

Chile en nogada at its finest

First of all you have an iconic element, the pepper, known as chile, big sized pepper, stuffed with a sweet ground meat stew called picadillo, the nogada is a or kind of sauce made out of castillan nuts and cream, it has to be sweet to contrast the not so spicy flavour of the chile, but we need to add colour, the pomegranate is the right fruit to give the meal some color, even so you are recreating the Mexican flag with this. As final trick people often add some parsley. 

We ate two versions of this chile, one deep fried on egg and the other in its natural state. 

Deep fried in egg

Among the differences both versions are tasty and it pleases the most demanding clients, but we were invited as friends and that's what it takes, a good, fresh and tasty meal to gather people around tables, not only in restaurants, also at home. 

I hope you had enjoyed this as much as me, maybe we need a wider explanation, but that will be later. so, i say goodbye by no and i remind you, to always keep your eyes peeled cuz you can find something interesting around town or wherever you are. 

  

And of course i remind you Je suis Le Mexicain, Au Revoir. 

Marauder

Walk in on your own feet says... Interpol

And finally after months waiting for this, it arrived, the new Interpol album is here and sounds as incredible as they told us it would be. 

4 years after their last album called El Pintor, Interpol arrives as a Marauder in the dark with a new record. As a fan i have to admit i was very pleased by its sound, not only by the fact they decided to keep on going without Carlos D, but also because Interpol had a huge impact in my life, playlist and many other stuff. 

In July, my friends from Bring My Noise invited me to attend a press conference where INTERPOL gave us some details from this album. And it was quietly unexpected that a band with such international success decided to create a big event in a city like mine, Mexico City. 

But let's focus on the record by now. 

What we listen is a new mix of sound with the classic Interpol style, they seem to be more obscure but also more comfortable with each other, like a pack of wolves who know each other for a long time, they have no fear to attack. 

Lyrically their songs have made them grow up as a band, we can listen to new subjects involved, Paul Banks seems to have his mind clear, which is a good thing cuz' most of the albums show a very unquiet behaviour, he told us in the press conference that he prefers to write in the beach cuz' that's a safe place for him and it really seems like. 

The peace transmitted in Marauder is also the calm behind a storm, because the instruments are explosive in tracks like The Rover (their first single), this aggressiveness hit you like a truck and then a wide calm like the sound of sea contrast. 

In resume, Marauder is an album to keep listening, Interpol can keep writing music just as a three piece band, they don't need more, like Nirvana, they can keep touring and we will never get tired of them. 

We feel very proud to have them in our country the times they want, they also called Mexico their second home... so. 

we give this album a 9/10 score and we share to you the album via spotify below.

Be sure to share it with friends who also like the band and if they do not know it yet, share it too. Also check out the video for their single The Rover, filmed entirely in Mexico City. 

La Casa de las Flores

Frivolity and tastelessness of a soap-opera drama. 

Yes my friends, a Mexican is going to talk about an "original" Mexican production by Netflix and i have a lot to talk about it, mostly bad points. 

Beginning to air this month, La Casa de las Flores is divided in different episodes which every single one of them has the name of a flower, representing a situation. But... what's wrong with this "TV series", first, is not a TV series, is a telenovela or soap-opera drama trying to imitate the classic format of the Mexican dramas where a suicide complicates the frivolous live of an upper class family. 

The ups and downs on the production are noticeable when characters star to play their role... i have never seen such fake acting, even the voice of Cecilia Suarez' caharacter is so annoying (but we got an explanation about it... simply i don't care, it's unnecessary) that paused, slow way to speak and pronounce Spanish...  please... stop it. 

The fact to Aislinn Derbez see in this Netflix series is nothing but promotion to her career, which is basically sucking his father's blood. 

Characters are so vague on their roles and the "fun" parts are forced and simple. Photography is full of colour and over saturated.

The portray of  Mexican society is completely wrong in some cases due to the fact of pride, frivolity, excessive brazenness and prepotency... but well maybe is right on that side of upper Mexican society.    

Nevertheless there are subjects and themes inside the plot with different look, the fact of placing these subjects such as homosexuality (diversity is important). This is the kind of things other studios and companies should start to talk about, give their place to diversity and people. The situation could be anywhere and to anybody. well done there.

Besides i'm talking pure trash about this series mom says: "We should support these productions, give it a change, cuz' this way studios promote investments for the Mexican TV and cinema industry" 

But let's be honest, who the hell would support a series with an old-cranky actress (Veronica Castro) and a senseless plot? 

A Mexican talks about a Mexican production... but that does not means i have to talk nice about it, it was good when Netflix produced Club de Cuervos, everything was just fine, if the studio could have done more series like that it would have been pretty good, but no, they took a basic, tasteless concept and over tropical.lized  the view of our society. 

Sincerely i ask, no, i beg pardon from all of you when you see these words, i'm not the typical Mexican who enjoys novelas or... bad TV shows, but believe me this series is such stupid, like what they did with Luis Miguel, who the hell produces a series about a decadent and irrelevant "artist"? There's no difference between the garbage we catch from regular TV and this production.

...Watch it under your own risk. and sorry about my words, sometimes we need to be strong with these matters and talk with the truth. 

Telephone Exchange

The New Alternative and The Machine. 

Hello again my friends, i haven't been able to post lately but now i will get more in touch with you. Today i want to show some music by a friend of my, Cesar Saldivar. he's been up in the underground music scene of Mexico in the last decade, being part of bands like The Surfucks, Bleak Boys and now his new project where he goes solo and fully charged as Telephone Exchange.

Is weird to explain the way i met Cesar, almost 10 years ago, to be precise it was 8 years ago, via Facebook, i saw a band called Surfucks and immediately got hooked by their sound, then he became friends and started chatting about music, travels and so. Cesar is from the state and city of Aguascalientes, a desert like place in the middle of Mexico, 2010 he joined Surfucks for a short period of time before they split and then got back together in 2014, in 2015 he formed Bleak Boys and they split in early 2016 and at some point almost disappeared in 2017.

2018 has been a busy year for Cesar who's been working and living in Mexico City for a long time and writing music for himself, recording all of the material at his home studio. He tracked all instruments and voices on the album, which is called as Maschinelles Lernen. 

He likes to mix psychedelic and Post Rock sounds to create calmed atmospheres, the sound of his music could be related to shoegaze or Lo-Fi. 

He's up-coming album is still waiting but we had the chance to listen the first single, Machine Learning, and it's quietly amazing with some influences of Krautrock, taking abstract sounds and deep voices to make it sound mysterious, we could say it's the new alternative music made for those sunny summer days or rainy cold days at home. We hope to listen to his up-coming album real soon and to have the pleasure to interview him about all the details and facts to know about it. 

As plus data, the whole album was recorded in an analog studio. Lately Cesar Saldivar is launching his own Label as El Cochinero. 

Don't be late and listen the track Machine Learning by Telephone Exchange. 
   
I leave here also his facebook pagefor you to check it out and start following this music genius. 

 https://www.facebook.com/pg/telephoneexchangemusic/about/?ref=page_internal

Kevin Morby: City Music.

Or as i shall call it "The album that changed my life".

You may ask me "Le Mexicain" how did you start to write about music? and the answer is... 2016, but when did everything go fucking nuts? and the answer is, June 2017, yes, just a year ago I was in a dilemma about to keep writing or to stop doing it maybe forever. 

Everyone shall know i started writing about shows in November 2016 for a Radio show called "Clinic Diafragma" a College Radio Station called Radio Anahuac host this show since 2004, so as i was going to attend a big festival on November I found them on Instagram and i asked them if i could write something about the Festival. They said yes and told me to write "What do i expect from The Corona Capital Festival?", you can read it right here (PS: is an article written in full Spanish).

http://clinicdiafragma.com/2016/11/03/que-esperar-del-corona-capital-2016/

And so... they published, they invited me to see a show from a local band called Maligno and after that 2017 became the year i attended more shows in my whole life, i met amazing people and have lots of stories about it, covered small shows from international bands to well produced shows at great venues. But i wanted more and a friend told me about a British site that was looking for new freelancers, i just had a six month experience streak so i felt i had nothing to loose, i contacted the site and sent an application that consisted in "My 20 Favourite Records Of All The Time" they liked the list of records i love and asked me to pick an album and review it, i remember there was Kendric Lamar 2017 album and many other and one that took my attention very hard was "City Music" by Kevin Morby. 

Kevin Morby

Now I'm Gonna talk you about "City Music" by Kevin Morby, one year after its release. 

Told by Morby itself, "City Music" brings the story of a person who just wants to live in the nighttime and spend the whole day in its apartment, some of this songs are "Come To Me Now", "Tin Can" and "Night Time". In all fo these songs Morby portrays the loneliness from our modern age, a nostalgic spirit locked in their four walls and then finding the calm and tranquillity under the night and those silent hours. "Come To Me Now" gets the low key sad song we hear everywhere and every time we are disconnected to the real world, "Tin Can" tries to see the world below us with an eager perspective maybe, but i feel is a song where funny moments can happen at same time, not just solitude and finally "Night Time" ends this short story about a lonely woman called Mabel who locked herself in her own world, the song brings peace to anyone, to you, to Kevin, to Mabel and to me.

Much of the songs on the record are related to the city, especially New York.

"Cry Baby" is a song with such a bluegrass style, similar to songs by The Babies, a previous band of Morby with Justin Sullivan, more related to a town than a city, "1234" is a great Ramones tribute, it brings the punk to the album and shouts the classic band's members names "Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy", "Aboard A Train" a kind of Bob Dylan song with great instruments on it, a piano rhythm and some slow drum strums, then some guitars are heard and the voice of Morby takes the song to another level, it becomes the strong point on the album, there are guitar solos, fluid and simple as any other solos. "Dry Your Eyes" is another ballad with sweet guitars sounding and chorus from anywhere, a calmed solo breaks the silence. "Flannery" is a spoken-word cut taken from "The Violent Bear It Away" by Flannery O'Connor, this book inspired Morby to recreate a scene from it it lead to "City Music" the songs that gives Title to the album, with a dynamic, fast and big band sounding around the room, "Caught In My Eye" is Germs cover re versioned in acoustic guitar and slow drums, the tempo is different and it can seem like a blues song, but it gives a breath of fresh air to the song, the punk is now to be folk. 

"Pearly Gates" bring the wondering about death and being lost, seeing the life in a different way to understand what could come next to it, "Downtown's Lights close the album in a sweet and calmed folk song. 

Being Recorded in a L.A. beach studio, the songs talk about the big city, any big city you like, but somehow i like it for highway trips or sunny spring days or a rainy summer day. You can listen to it anywhere and anytime you want. 

I give it a 9/10 score. 

Plus the album playlist.    

Now after the review i want to tell you that the British site didn't accept my review for the lack of time to arrange it and authenticity on it, somehow i felt very sad about it cuz i was urging for a paid job, i thought the writing stuff wasn't for me, but... then i said Fuck it, i almost leave it but didn't, i pass over it and moved on.

A whole year after this album and review i got to experience exciting stuff, i got a job... well different jobs and got the chance to meet my favourite writer Irvine Welsh... an adventure i will tell you on time. That's why i shall call this album "The album that changed my life... maybe forever".

Well that's it for today, i leave saying See you later and reminding you Je Suis Le Mexicain. Have a nice day.

#KevinMorby #CityMusic #Alternative #Review #Remindfrom2017 #LeMexicain

Today's Recipe!

Chicken Paprika Stroganoff

Hallo, Welcome once again, Je Suis Le Mexicain and today we have begun this World Cup Championship and i  am excited by the fact that Russia is hosting this celebration , the mayor football party where every country but mostly the Host Country can show their best qualities, their best players and of course some of their local cuisine surprises. 

After watching the Russian national team victory over Saudi Arabia i was inspired to cook this meal. 

For years i've been in love with Russia and its culture, so the legendary Stroganoff came to me just months ago, because of influence from the chef Gordon Ramsay, with his recipe i try it once and kinda liked how it ended up, but now i tried again today and definitely liked more. 

What you need to make this Chicken Paprika Stroganoff is: 

-One sliced pepper

-One chopped garlic clove

-Half sliced onion 

-A cup of sliced mushrooms 

-Half cup of chopped parsley

-Sour Cream 

-750 grams of sliced chicken breast 

-Paprika 

some curious picture

Our biggest star in this article

This needs a Spaetzle side but by the lack of German products in my country we can replace it with any kind of pasta you like, this time we picked some Italian penne. 

-A bag of pasta

-A tbsp of margarine or butter

-Salt

-Pepper

Process: Once you get all the ingredients sliced and chopped, place the chicken on a bowl, add oil and some paprika, mix until the chicken absorb all the red colour. Oil on pan, high flame, place the chicken on portions, once all the chicken is roasted set a side. 

On the same pan we roasted the chicken now with low flame, add more oil, and set the veggies, first the onion and the garlic, then the pepper, season, salt, pepper and some spices, move frequently, then the sliced mushrooms and the parsley, keep moving until every veggie gets soft. 

Take the chicken and add it to the veggies, remove to mix, then it's time for the sour cream to be added, take some kitchen spoons, with four or five is enough, you will see the reddish colour get a bit brown, turn off and wait. 

For the Pasta side we will just boil the pasta, recently we got a rice-maker and we boil the paste there with all the ingredients mixed to save time and keep it warm, so i recommend you to get one as soon as you can, you can add the butter or margarine, the seasoning and wait until it gets cooked. This should not represent any difficulty for people with some Italian heritage, easy peasy lemon squeeze 

Soft and seasoned

Try to place first the Stroganoff and the pasta above. 

Just like this, the final product

This meal is perfect for special dinners or just a family meeting while watching telly

A few months ago when i first tried this recipe my mother liked it so much she told me we had to repeat it and so we did it today.

I would like to dedicate this recipe and post to the late Anthony Bourdain (we will write a special post about him in further times) because he inspired me so much to creat this place, also it was a persistence by my mother she was all the time saying "Ye shall open a blog and write about what ye like, about food, music, something, do something like Bourdain would have done" and so here we are. 

So that's what Le Mexicain is all about, a safe space for you, to find music, food, places (we will focus later on the travel part) and to keep in touch with all of us, because that was the kind of person Bourdain was, a true heavy Punk Rocker. 

Rest In Peace, fella, we know you loved the world and worked so hard to be everywhere, So Long.

I want to thank all of you who read this and who see the blog because it makes me keep doing this and try new stuff, you can sahre this with your friends and people you know, by now i want to close this recipe with a few words. 

Eat, Love and Punk Rock, i leave reminding you to be happy and that Je Suis Le Mexicain. 

Au Revoir.

#Food #Stroganoff #RussiaFIFAWordCup #AnthonyBourdain #LeMexicain 

Today's Recipe! 

My Special Ginger Tea Blend. 

Hello again, Je suis Le Mexicain... again. Today we have a special recipe i like to call "Special Ginger Tea Blend" and it's special cuz ever single ingredient has a small story. 

Since i was a teenager in 2011 i always wanted to bake a pumpkin pie and one of the ingredients to make it was ginger, but unfortunately in my country and in my city it was too expensive to even get some and use it. 

It was until 2015 that we managed to introduce this root to our diet and we currently use it in various ways, most notably tea, some Chinese or Asian recipes and many other ventures i will talk about later. It was thanks to my brother who was then studying high school who needed some ginger roots to brew some ginger ale for school as an experiment for his chemistry class and so i asked for him some of those roots to shredder and let them dry, that way i could complete the Pumpkin pie (Note: in my family we have been making pumpkin pie since 2011, although sometimes we forget to make it like in 2012, 2014 and 2016). 

Then all i needed to finally (yes finaly) complete the whole pie recipe was nutmeg, for over a whole year (2017) i was looking for nutmeg and read a lot about it. Thanks to one of my aunts we have a small amount of nutmeg powder but its potential is not as strong as i wanted. A few weeks ago i saw at the supermarket a small jar with nutmeg, but it wasn't ground so after a few days mom and i bought it. 

After this amount of stories i will share with you my special ginger tea blend. This blend has helped me to overcome from throat-sores, flue, and many other miscarries. So here it is the list of ingredients.

You will need: 

1.- One lemongrass tea bag   

2.- a half teaspoon of grated and dry ginger 

3.- a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon 

and 4.- just a pitch of grated nutmeg 

Lemongrass tea bag

The cinnamon 

and the nutmeg

Steps: what you have to do now is to boil water (as always) i prefer to use a kettle because it's more effective and fast and it boils correctly, also that boiling pint is perfect to brew the ginger on its point and to mix the cinnamon and the nutmeg.

Mom... I'll put the kettle on.

Just add water and let the tea rest for a while, you wouldn't like to burn your mouth. After letting rest a bit the smell of ginger and nutmeg will get through your nose and you can enjoy every single zip you give to your drink. 

Final product, 

And this (above) is the final product of our brew. Easy to make, easy to drink. Drink anytime you want, try not to exceed nutmeg cuz it can make it a bit strong, i leave reminding you Je Suis Le Mexicain, Cheers!

#GingerTea #Nutmeg #Lemongrass #Kettle #Tea