Mexican Culinary Vacations

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more mouthwatering dish than the taco. It's cheap, it's portable, it can comprise a wide range of ingredients—meats, veggies, cheese, salsas—and textures (if you've never had crunchy chicharrón atop your taco, drop everything and go find some). I love the tacos I’ve found all across the U.S., but admittedly, nothing beats the motherland. 

Walking into the kitchen at Casa Carmelita, one is instantly drawn to the imposing cursive inscription on the wall: “Acercate al amor y a la cocina con desenfreno imprudente,” which translates to: “Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.” While the Dalai Lama should be given credit for the original quotation, it seems Estella and Jon, the proprietors of the Mexican Home Cooking School, have found a way to embody those sentiments at their tranquil Bed and Breakfast in Tlaxcala, a state in Central Mexico.

The Groupon/Social Living offer arrived in my mailbox in June, just the day after I had given up on trying to plan a trip to Sicily. Well! My traveling companion speaks Spanish and is a very good cook. Would she be equally agreeable going to La Villa Bonita instead? Yes, she would. We made our reservations for October and booked our flights. Five months later, we boarded our flights on to our culinary destination! Robb, Chef Ana’s husband, met us at the airport in Mexico City with the couple’s youngest son. The drive along the tollway was swift and beautiful, and we soon arrived in the small town of Tepotztlan. Its narrow cobblestone streets and colorful buildings were charming but not surprising, as both Shirley and I have lived previously in various parts of Mexico.

If you consider yourself a food lover, I’m sure you would agree that one of the best ways to know about a new city or country is through its cuisine!