Singing, Eating and Shopping in Tlaquepaque

Like cooking, singing is my therapy.  I do both when I’m  happy, when I’m blue, to relax when I am anxious, to forget things that are bothering me but I can’t do anything about.  When I cook, I’m making an offering to my beau or my guests but I sing for my sole pleasure and few things bring me as much joy.  Because my children are embarrassed when I break out in song, when I was planning my trip I warned my friend Pedro that I intended to go to El Parian, a courtyard restaurant-  bar where tourists hang out in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco on the outskirts of Guadalajara, and hire a trio or a guitarrist to accompany me and sing until my voice gave out.

I didn’t have to do this.  As I strolled down the red-tiled streets closed to traffic with Ricardo Santana, arguably Mexico’s finest couture designer,  leading us on  a private tour of his charming  little hometown that is almost but not quite gentrified, we came upon a blind duo sitting on a bench singing songs  I learned from my mother. I asked if she would harmonize with me to one of my favorite songs La Malpagadora.  This heavy set, neatly dressed seventy-year old woman with long braids  wore a pinafore to hold her money,  has the voice of an angel and we sang that and another favorite, La Embarcacion, right there in the middle of the street as my friends watched in amusement. I asked if she’d be willing to accompany me the next day to a cafe near her post and sing a few songs with me.

We drove all the way from Guadalajara the next day to do just that and sat at El Patio cafe, an adjunct to a warehouse-like store full of exquisite pieces of crafts. Hens and roosters seemed to be the main theme I lusted over a brightly painted tin rooster but I bought some pillow cases with gorgeous intricately cross-stitch  roosters that were easier to carry.

It was the just the first stop on a tour that at moments transported me to another time which is why I love Mexico so much.  A candy store filled with old-time Mexican candies  in packaging I remember from years back beckoned and I bought two rolls of guava paste filled with cajeta, a traditional  sweet from Puebla, gigantic kaleidoscopic caramels .But they also had the delicious envinados, wine-soaked sweet potato confections and powdery  mazapanes.

My fortune was about to be read by a canary in a brightly painted cage. An extremely elderly couple had supported the 26 children they had in their 60 years of marriage by training little birds to  pick pieces of paper from a carefully arranged box to reveal the person’s fortune.  Mine  were remarkably accurate.  An organ grinder played a few steps away.

We walked past well kept buildings  painted in earthy  colors that house  restaurants, cafes and  arts and crafts stores stocked with a tempting array of pieces.   I just had to have but I had promised myself to show restraint and I  had succeeded until I met  street vendors selling  spectacular intricately beaded  Huichol necklaces  and some  made of beans and other natural products.

Tlaque paque is a potter’s town and we stopped at the Museo del Barro and learned about the different processes  that give each piece its distinctive look and determine  its price.  I wasn’t in the market for pottery in this trip but if you are it helps to know. However, I was on the look out for Day of Dead objects to decorate this year’s  altar in honor of Budd Schulberg and I was about to meet one of the best known ceramic artists.

We were expected for lunch at the newly redone Casa Tlaquepaque,who bills itself as a boutique hotel with a mission:  to promote local artists and artisans and each room is decorated in the style of a certain artist. Some of their works are available for sale. It is a lovely place where guests have the personal attention of the owners, Lorena Mora and Alejandro Sanchez,  They  had arranged for two master artisans, Pablo Paredes Goche who specializes in whimsical figurines of devils, Day of the Dead fancily dressed catrinas and catrines and frequently teaches in the United States and Mario Reyna, a sculptor to explain and demonstrate their techniques.  Te conversation was so good we never did get around to this.

They served us a delicious lunch of sauteed carp roe, a specialty of nearby Lake Chapala that my beau could not believe I liked since I’m normally pretty sqeamish.  But I’d had them during my college years and  had a termendous craving to have a taco de hueva.  Lorena also made the  best dried shrimp patties with nopales, cactus paddles, in red chile sauce I had ever tasted.  Before Thai food became popular in the United States, customers rejected any dried shrimp dishes I presented but tastes are changing which makes it much more exciting for me as a chef.  But my main quest were salsa recipes and Morena gave me her recipe for a delicious salsa martajada (crushed sauce) that I  will test and post along with the shrimp patties  that she promised to send.

While Victor took a siesta among the Day of the Dead figure I had been looking for and would soon be packed and ready for me to take, we had a tour of the charming rooms of the hotel which you can see on flickr.com in the Tlaquepaque set.  It was an unusually warm day and I wondered if they planned to have any sort of air-conditioning and they assured me that fans were on the way. Otherwise, I can see myself spending a week there meeting the artists and getting to know their work.  If this sounds a little like a reportaje, it is in a sense because I never did stay at Casa Tlaquepaque so I can’t tell you if the beds are truly comfortable, the sheets soft, the towels thick or any other first hand experience. But knowing the owners, I feel confident that they will do anything o make sure you have a cmfortable and pleasurable stay.

We set off in a rush to look for handmade pottery gelatin molds but soon learned that they would have to be made to order.  I guess even in Mexico this type of dessert is not as popular.  Too bad! I love them and plan to make a lime jell with pineapple buts, toasted pecans and potted cheese I used to eat when I lived there as soon as I get back!