Cinco de mayo

I love Cinco de mayo! It is the one holiday when the media is interested in everything Mexican.  I have two exciting radio appearances coming up.  On May 4, 8:30 AM, I will be on The Morning Living Show on Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius, talking about how to create a fun Cinco de mayo party. Then in the evening my son, Food Network star, Aaron Sanchez, and I presented the award for best General Coobook to Mark Bittman who didn’t bother to show up.  He’s had so many.  The winners of the best internaltional book of th eyear were also not there but we had a great time.

Cookstr. com picks Zarela as Chef of the Day and www.womenworking.com has a feature on my secrets for success.

This morning i was  invited to the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC to be part of a panel of Mexican Americans discussing everything from immigration, border issues, education to doing business in New York as a Latino woman.  Also on the panel are Maria Hinojosa of PBS and Latino USA, Ambassador Ruben Beltran, Consul General of Mexico,  Angelo Cabrera of Masany.org (an organization I support), and  Daniel Jaquez, the artistic director of Calpulli a Mexican Dance Company. It’s always a treat to be on his show because he’s always so well prepared and is such a great interviewer.

I just finished doing the Brian Lehrer Show and, as usual, Brian was able to bring out the essence of each participant’s work and it was a most satisfying and rewarding experience.  Thank you Brian and all your staff. In case you missed it here is the link for you to download the podcast

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2009/05/05/segments/131092

Cinco de mayo also a day when people go out to Mexican restaurants and bars to party and drink copious amounts of margaritas or come in for dinner.  If St. Patrick’s Day is when all New Yorkers are Irish, Cinco de Mayo is the day when everyone wants to be Mexican.   Over just the last fifteen to twenty years the Fifth of May has gone from being the anniversary of a little-known battle to being one of the all-time Gotham fiestas.

Actually, the battle isn’t so little known to Mexican history buffs.  On May 5, 1862 in the city of Puebla, an outnumbered and (everyone thought) outclassed army from the struggling young republic of Mexico marched into history by defeating the far larger forces of an invading French-Spanish-British alliances.  After that taste of victory the battered Mexican patriots hung on, until they were able to throw out the Europeans for good in 1867. Today Cinco de Mayo is a celebration especially dear to the hearts of the Mexican community in the United States.

This year Zarela Restaurant will feature some of Zarela’s favorite dishes (see ways to celebrate 5 de mayo below.)